Welcome to the 14th installment of Deep Cuts, a new monthly segment highlighting standout tracks that weren't given a spotlight to blossom. All songs listed below have been released in the month of June on albums where they weren't previously released as a single. The only condition I've imposed upon myself is that no artist can have more than one song.
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Busdriver's 10th LP Electricity Is On Our Side is, thus far, the most ambitious, creative, and daring Hip-Hop album of 2018. With 23 tracks, there's numerous standouts scattered amongst Busdriver's tongue-twisting flows, like 'I'm From A Different Time' and 'improvisers anthem.' However, the sheer audacity of 'The Year I Became A Mutherfuckin’ G,' featuring Dntel and Lorde Fredd33, narrowly takes the cake. Sporting a brash hook that finds Driver's confidence reaching a new zenith, 'The Year' takes off to the next plateau thanks to Dntel's intricately-wacky production. Hearing the instrumental and one would be shocked to learn a rapper proved capable of rhyming over the Wonky flair, yet that's exactly what both Driver and Lorde Fredd33 accomplish. Better yet, the six minutes spent dialing every glitchy fader to its maximum output allows for 'The Year' to evolve consistently over time. Suddenly, what began as a tangled web of synthesizers ends - like a spider spinning its landing zone - with an even greater web for us listeners to get caught up in. The depth and claustrophobia sported quickly becomes intoxicating, like a poison meant to lure you into submission.
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On his 8th studio LP, Kanye West's personality and artistic endeavors became one and the same. What better way to display one's mental struggles than to corroborate them inside the music, caring not for any refinement or precision along the way. Ye was a half-assed mess of demo reel ideas, unestablished songwriting, and lackluster performances. It also achieved exactly what Kanye set out to do. No track of the seven best exemplified this approach than 'I Thought About Killing You.' Direct and to the point, Ye's opener found the inconclusive rapper speaking carelessly over the darkest of his intentions. The spoken word elements were both playful and new for the aging West, unlike the rest of the LP which borrowed from previous accomplishments. The sparse production of the first half helps to further extend the divide between West's bipolar mind state, as the second half's Industrial-bent percussion exhibited more of his internal conflicts than any moment that would follow. While much of Ye felt fun and slapdash, it was 'I Thought About Killing You's' final verse that soared above the rest, finding an invigorated rapper flaunting a catchy flow over squawking synths and pitch-shifted vocals.
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Over their sorely unrecognized 12-year career, Big Blood has proven capable of achieving greatness in every sub-genre of Folk there is. Their talents and admiration of art knows no bounds. Over the past few years, approximately since 2011's Post-Rock collaboration with The Wicked Hex, the husband-wife team of Colleen Kinsella and Caleb Mulkerin have begun dabbling in more aggressive tones. Nowhere is that seen better than on Operate Spaceship Earth Properly, and especially its nine-minute beacon 'Olamina.' With daughter Quinnisa manning the guitar, strumming with the disgruntled drone of an aged musician whose seen the world's hellish corner, Big Blood tackles an increasingly-anxious body that's paranoid over Sci-Fi fantasies replacing God. The panic-induced angst of the percussion bears resemblance to Swans' third iteration, the closest Big Blood has ever gotten to the sole group they've occasionally been compared to. Kinsella, an unmatched singer capable of embracing every role, takes on the position of a defiant cult leader, singing with an unwavering tonality that would make others worship with fright.
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Like countless Death Grips tracks that came before, 'Disappointed' breaks borders with ease. The jarring finale to Year Of The Snitch powers through a whirligig of abrasion, combing over the destructive pleasure principles found all over their latest project. Ride's unhinged rhyme styles - alternating words with punky volatility - bears resemblance to a gimmick Daveed Diggs would pull off through clipping.'s Industrial intersections, blasting through a bipolar panic in ways Kanye West only hoped he could've pulled off with ye. Beyond that though, 'Disappointed' continues to do what Death Grips does best; poke fun at its fans while awarding them what they insatiably crave. As Ride scatters off a flurry of abstract disses ("Uninformed unit, forlorn regime"), impersonating aforementioned legion with wailing cries in the chorus, he incorporates a slight gesture towards introspection. A total tonality shift pressured by Ride's boiling anger ensues, culminating in the seething "whyyyyyyy me!," as if the rapper has finally questioned what misfortune caused him to be at the center of the Internet's most distinguished band.
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SOPHIE - Immaterial
Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides | Bubblegum Bass
During the heat of Pride Month, the ever-elusive SOPHIE dropped her official debut Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides. A blunderbuss of genre-smashing, the futuristic Pop masterwork has been in my rotation ever since. Sharp, impactful, and artistically-rich, the nine-track collage of Bubblegum Bass and Post-Industrial peaks at its cheapest moment. On tracks like 'Ponyboy' and 'Faceshopping,' SOPHIE - as we saw on her outstanding collaboration with Vince Staples on Big Fish Theory - commandeered the listeners' attention by smacking extremes together. The seven songs prior to 'Immaterial' unveiled a figure capable of testing uncharted waters without a lick of hesitation. That's why 'Immaterial,' the plastic track filled with pink-flavored wanderlust, excels. SOPHIE celebrates the revelry of ultimate expression, choosing to make a nauseatingly good Pop song - one of the best I've heard in years - because she wants to, because she can, because no one's going to stop her. Cecile Believe's vocals ooze Barbie, offsetting the stiff side of the doll that SOPHIE engages with stabbing synths with weightless vocals impassioned by a love for individuality.
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