Cinema Scope: A Review of Dirty Beaches' "Drifters / Love is the Devil"

Alex Hungtai aka Dirty Beaches

In the last couple minutes of David Lynch's 1977 film, Eraserhead, there's a scene where the main protagonist (Henry) is suddenly surrounded by a white, pristine light and then embraces the woman who has been living in his radiator. This scene follows a film full of terror, violence, confusion and disturbing images. There's sort of a plot that runs through the film, about a man who must take care of a deformed baby, after his wife has left him. He also talks to the woman next door, and the lady living in his radiator. But in the scene stated earlier, it's a beautiful moment, with Henry embracing the woman and being surrounded by the light.

Eraserhead covers a lot of ground in it's 90 minute duration (many would disagree with this statement though). Love, death, loss, loneliness, the universe around us, and who controls our fate. Alex Hungtai,  who makes music as Dirty Beaches has cited more filmmakers than musicians as his influences. It may be over analytical to relate his follow-up to 2010's great LP, Badlands (a reference to the film by Terrence Mallick), to Eraserhead but the excellent double album Drifters / Love is the Devil plays like a film. It is cited as  a double album, but both discs are packaged together, and the best way to listen to it, is all the way through. Drifters is the violent, sometimes frightening portion of Eraserhead and Love is the Devil is the last five minutes of somber acceptance.

Alex Hungtai has matured in the three years following Badlands. He's grown out of his 50's greaser obsession (i.e. James Dean), which The Gaslight Anthem are still having trouble doing. He's cut his hair, and has thrown away what he's referred to as "a fucking character. That's not me".

Drifters / Love is the Devil

This change is reflected in Drifters / Love is the Devil, and not just in aesthetic. You weren't the only one who felt cheated by the 20-25 minute lengths of Badlands and the Double Feature - EP. Both were such promising albums, that could have benefited from maybe a couple more minutes of music. Drifters  is 37 minutes and Love is the Devil is 38. Overall, it goes for 75 minutes. Songs like "Berlin", "Alone At the Danube River" and "Mirage Hall" are all pushed past the 7 minute mark effortlessly.

On Drifters, his recording style has remained the same, with distant guitars, creepy organs, rolling bass and minimalist drumming.  Songs like "Night Walk" and "I Dream in Neon" feel like the ghostly rockabilly tracks that were featured on Badlands. Out of the two records, Drifters is the most similar to Badlands, but there's still much experimentation to be found on it. "Aurevoir Mon Visage" is sung in broken French, with the lyrics translating to "goodbye my face, it's just a mask." "Mirage Hall" is 5 minutes of a dance party in a haunted house, before it segues into Hungtai grunting and yelling in Spanish for the remaining 5. It's bloodcurdling music, very similar to Pharmakon's recent Abandon. And like always, there's that sense of displacement on Drifters. On the best song of Drifters, "Casino Lisboa", Hungtai is wandering through an unknown, neon lit city. On this album's instrumental closer, "Landscapes in the Mist", we get a sense of loneliness.

But, Love is the Devil is where we really see the growth of Hungtai's music. It's much more experimental that Drifters and some of the songs are almost unlistenable. But it's undeniably ambitious. He has been welcomed to the ranks of musicians who make heart breaking ambient pieces, like David Bowie and Grouper. The David Bowie comparison is also exemplified on the final song, "Berlin". "Greyhound At Night" and "This is Not My City" give off that air of displacement again. The only time we hear Hungtai's voice on Love is the Devil is on the beautiful ballad, "Like the Ocean We Part". After an album prior of yelling in different dialects, it's nice to hear his voice similar to what it was on songs like "True Blue" and "Lord Knows Best". It's a breakup song and gives context to why "Love is the Devil" and the breakup Hungtai experienced before recording this.

The best song, out of both Drifters and Love is the Devil, is "Alone At the Danube River". It's a 7 minute long song, of guitar chords similar to those from Jim Jarmusch's 1995 film, Dead Man. Lonely guitar notes that are soon overtaken by ambient synths. It's the most beautiful moment of the whole record.

Back to the Bowie comparison, and the final song "Berlin". Bowie recorded his three (arguably) best albums while in Berling. Low, Heroes and Lodger. He also changed himself, by ditching the Ziggy Stardust character and freeing himself from the throes of cocaine addiction. He took inspiration from Brian Eno, and recorded beautiful ambient pieces like "Warszawa" and "Subterraneans". Hungtai pulled a Bowie, with Drifters / Love is the Devil by recording this album in Berlin and reinventing himself, and all for the better.

Bowie, Eno, Jarmusch, and Lynch comparisons aside, Drifters / Love is the Devil stands alone as a fantastic piece of music. Other musicians today are being cited "as the new visionaries of post-punk" or claim to "Give Life Back to Music". Existing outside of the miasma of hype and other bullshit is Dirty Beaches' Drifters / Love is the Devil. It'll be that record for a lonely night alone, a walk in the rain or for those who may have fallen out of love. So, this record isn't for everybody.

But this record's for you and me.

Dirty Beaches - Drifters / Love is the Devil 
9.5/10
Recommended Tracks - "I Dream in Neon", "Casino Lisboa", "ELLI", "Aurevoir Mon Visage", "Mirage Hall", "This is Not My City", "Love is the Devil", "Alone At the Danube River", "Like the Ocean We Part", "Berlin".

Loosen Up and Empty Out Your Head: A Review of Yabadum's "Yabadum"

   Here's a couple of things that happened when I went to see Yabadum live at Funkadelic Studios:

   1) Three men well over the age of sixty were smoking weed in the men's room.

   2) Some kid with an afro, who couldn't have been over four feet tall, was the one starting all the moshing.

   3) The band had some kind of makeshift roadie, who danced in the corner behind the drum set for the duration of the forty minute set.

   4) I wore all black, which was a bad idea, considering we were in a room with about fifty people which was only supposed to hold thirty.

   5) I got to see my new favorite band play my new favorite album in it's entirety.

So why is Yabadum my new favorite band? And why is Yabadum my new favorite album?

Well....

Because the music is amazing.

Unlike countless New York bands, that are making music based on lo-fi indie bands from the 90's, or the wispy dream pop of the C-86 era, or just lo fi noise overall, Yabadum get their influences from elsewhere. They are kids who obviously grew up listening to Is This It and Bitte Orca instead of Alien Lanes and Psychocandy. They bring back the sounds of bands like LCD Soundsystem, The Strokes, Interpol, Arcade Fire, The National and Sufjan Stevens.

Indie music obviously isn't what it was back in it's excellent early to mid 2000's run. Back when The Strokes, Interpol and The National owned New York, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, and The Futureheads made the U.K. their stomping grounds, and when Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade were the best thing coming out of Canada. But then in 2008, no-fi and lo-fi became the new "cool" thing, and many of these bands lost their footing. LCD Soundsystem broke up, Interpol have been on indefinite hiatus, Yeah Yeah Yeahs have ceased doing everything that made them great, and The Strokes are trying to convince themselves that they're still relevant.

But how does this relate to Yabadum's Yabadum? Because Yabadum feels like one of those good old NYC indie records. One that you could throw on in your apartment party in Brooklyn, after you and your guests got tired of listening to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah over and over again. Or that record that you listen to while walking through Park Slope in the Spring. That kind of album.

The album starts off with "Winter", which begins with keyboardist Charlie Schine playing a cabaret/baroom piano line. Then lead singer Laszlo Horvath comes in with some "doo-doos" and "da-das". Then Will DeHaven's drums kick in and guitarist Chris Rivera plays a distant guitar line, that grows throughout the song into a great solo. What's so surprising about "Winter", is how fleshed out of a song it is. It goes from 4/4 time to 6/8, while the band rushes along, and Horvath's voice soars and croons over them. "Winter" works great as the opening track with each member of the band showing off what makes them great. Especially Horvath's voice which switches from baritone to tenor to falsetto flawlessly (my favorite point is when Horvath sings "sit still / AND SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!").

The album than moves onto it's first single, "Cosmos". It contains jerky guitar, bass, drums and keyboard. Throughout "Cosmos", Horvath's lyrics are pretty abstract, but sometimes they come off as self loathing ("look at me, I'm such an animal, I'm incomplete", "I turned myself into a monster and scare myself to bed"), and he also seems to be questioning why "the cosmos never let us settle down and rest". But than comes the lyric that can perfectly sum up Yabadum: "loosen up and empty out your head". It's an invitation to dance. And boy, do I dance when I hear this.

"Me All Mighty" is the next song, and it's almost reminiscent of The Killers circa Hot Fuss, with the way Horvath sings and the keyboards. Following "Me All Mighty", is "Little Rooms", one of the album's best songs. In it, the lyrics seem to be addressing how mundane life can be with lines such as "it starts again, there's another one, the days all seem to blend this time" and "yeah I got a brand new suit, a window in my office, I can see all these people, obsolete." The song features an organ, and MIDI-drums, and a guitar that isn't showy but does the trick. At the end of the song, the band descends into an Okkervil River/Titus Andronicus shout along and the real drums come in and crash away. It sounds like it would have been a lot of fun to record a song like "Little Rooms".

There's the next album highlight, "The Mountain Man", but before it is the album's only interlude, "Lonly". "Lonly" features that cabaret piano again, and there's chatter over it, similar to the kind that popped up all over Tame Impala's Lonerism. "Mountain Man" is just a straight up crescendo, starting with just Schine's keyboard plinks, some bass and Horvath's voice, in which he sings about "the Mountain Men" who play "hide and seek, a dangerous game". The band steadily gets louder until the end, when all the band crashes along and sings "so tumble backwards (tumble backwards!)" and "da-da-da-da". It's at this point where the push pit starts.

So what's the overall topics of Horvath's lyrics? Two perfect examples are the last two songs, where he sings about love and life. In the accordion laden, acoustic shamble of "Swift Buck", he begs someone not to run away from him. On the final song, "Earth It Shakes", the drummer takes a break, Horvath picks up and acoustic guitar and Rivera breaks out the singing saw(!). "Earth It Shakes" is the most emotionally potent song on the album, with Horvath wondering about his friends and why he even talks to them before asking "who am I?". Then he starts singing the chorus of "Cosmos", and the rest of the band sings with him. It's a truly beautiful moment.

So maybe I'm a bit biased. After all, I went to middle school with the drummer (Will! I voted for you to become class president in seventh grade!) and the guitarist sits behind me in my math class. But Yabadum is a great piece of music, especially considering the members' ages (15-16). Young bands can make a lot of mistakes. But they could do great things. Look at Iceage and Odd Future.

So don't screw up guys...

because I want to see you go far.

Yabadum - Yabadum
9/10
Recommended Tracks - "Winter", "Cosmos", "Me All Mighty", "Little Rooms", "The Mountain Man", "Swift Buck", "Earth It Shakes"
Download the album here.

Caged Dogs Run Wild: A Review of Milk Music's "Cruise Your Illusion" and Merchandise's "Totale Nite"

Merchandise and Milk Music are more similar than you'd think. After all, Legs McNeil, the man who coined the term "punk" described it as being "obnoxious, smart but not pretentious, absurd, [and] ironic", things that both Milk Music and Merchandise display. Sure, Milk Music play like the SST bands of the 80's with some Neil Young thrown in, and Merchandise come from punk roots, but play like new wave bands like The Cure and The Smiths. But the term punk didn't apply just to music, back when Legs coined it, it applied to the people as well. It's something like an aesthetic.

Let's start with Milk Music. They hail from Olympia, and their excellent debut EP, Beyond Living was released three years ago. Upon that initial release, the band garnered comparisons to Dinosaur Jr. and Husker Du. But in an interview, guitarist Charles Waring said that main songwriter Alex Coxen didn't like these comparisons, even though he is a Dinosaur Jr. fan.

Got that? Good, because we're moving onto the album now.

Cruise Your Illusion is a 12 song, 42 minute long album (maybe also a play on Guns n Roses' Use Your Illusion?) and it's... awesome. Sure, it has it's ups and downs, which I will get into soon, but as a whole, Cruise Your Illusion is a fun and well written indie rock record. Also, Alex Coxen is an unsung genius, when it comes to the fact that he's written all the songs himself, and put them through what Waring calls the "Milk Music machine".

The album starts off with "Caged Dogs Run Wild" (hey! that's the title of this review!) a minute long rock instrumental with some tinges of country added. The first real song on the album, "Illegal and Free", which sounds like a (pained) mission statement from the band. I say this because of the contrast in the lyrics. Coxen and his friends get high, and run from cops, but this is because of "a world that keeps turning on" them.

Alex Coxen is definitely the driving force of Milk Music. Atop the guitar fuzz, is his voice, cracking and howling along. I can't really think of another singer who sings like him, his singing style is truly unique. It helps that Coxen writes great lyrics. He lives in his own world (or maybe just Olympia), and steals cars, has friends who steal from your kids, gets blown around by "the joker wind" and hangs on falling stars. On "No, Nothing, My Shelter" he listens to the King and Hendrix when he's got the blues.

Coxen also seems to be singing of escape on this record. On "Crosstown Wanderer" he paints a picture of some one who wanders from town to town, and on "Runaway" the wind takes him to the road outside, the one he's always wondered about. In "No, Nothing, My Shelter", there's the revealing lyric, "No, nothing is your home".

Of course, not all the songs are fleshed out completely. "Crosstown Wanderer" is two minutes of post Dinosaur Jr. reunion guitar riffs, before it ends abruptly, and "Dogchild" shapes up to be an interesting take on a country ballad, but than descends into a three minute drone.

But the one song that could make up for all of this, is the closer, "The Final Scene". An eight minute doo wop-esque punk epic. Everything the band does on this song is on point, from the interplay between the two guitars, Coxen's lyrics, and the backing vocals (some surprising "sha-las", "ooohhhs", and "whoa-ohs!").

Merchandise represent a different kind of punk than Milk Music, a type that hasn't been recreated like the SST days, or any indie band from the 90's. Merchandise sound like a post punk, new wave band from Britain in the 80's. Straight out of Manchester. Lead singer Carson Cox's voice falls somewhere between Morrisey and Robert Smith. But he's less dramatic than Robert Smith, and much easier to take seriously than Morrisey. They hail from Tampa, Fl. and emerged from the underground punk scene of the city.

Their newest album, Totale Nite, has been released less than a year later from their excellent 2012 album, Children of Desire. Totale Nite was also supposed to be an EP, but I guess it's not... anymore. It has six tracks, all but one surpassing the six minute mark, and it feels much more cohesive than an EP would.

The album starts off with "Who Are You", which begins with a snarling harmonica, and Cox singing "today the sun rose / like the hand of God". The album then moves to "Anxiety's Door", possibly Merchandise's best song of their whole discography (only rivaled by "Time"). In this song Cox wanders the streets of Tampa, where "old men sleep in the road" and he "drinks the perfumed air", these lyrics evoking excellent imagery.

The album than goes to the sort of ballad of "I'll Be Gone", a beautiful slow song that lasts for a glorious six minutes and thirty six seconds, with Cox promising to "plant [himself] in the sun, just to be free from all you motherfuckers". But than there's the title track. It's not the best Merchandise song, but it's certainly the most experimental, moving from near dissonance in the verses to one of the most catchy and melodic choruses. The album than ends with another killer song, "Winter's Dream", which is the most emotionally potent song on the album. It may be about a man's death, with Cox singing "the greatest joy I've ever felt / was killing him". Or maybe it's a version of himself, with Cox saying "I'd rather kill myself than to be someone else". He than repeats the same line, "I knew his name", until the song descends into forty seconds of Metal Machine Music style noise.

And what would Merchandise be without the instrumentation? The beautiful guitar sounds on "Anxiety's Door" and the almost frightening ones on "Total Nite". "Total Nite" also contains a sax, sounding like the Stooges, circa Funhouse.

Milk Music and Merchandise both hold a unique place in the ever growing punk spectrum that contains Parquet Courts, White Lung, Japandroids, The Men, Metz and countless others. When I try to explain these kinds of bands to those who are older than I, I like to cite them as our Dinosaur Jr. or Sonic Youth of our generation. So for all the kids who wish they wore born 1975, so they'd be 13 years old when Daydream Nation and Bug were released and 16 when Loveless was released, pick up these two albums, and listen to these "Caged Dogs Run Wild".

Milk Music - Cruise Your Illusion

8.5/10

Recommended Tracks - "Illegal and Free", "No, Nothing, My Shelter", "Lacey's Secret", "Runaway", "The Final Scene"

Merchandise - Totale Nite

9/10

Recommended Tracks - Um... all of them (there's only five anyway).

Top 5 Records of 2013 (So Far)

So I don't just like rap music. Along with Wu-Tang Clan, Cities Aviv and Odd Future, Japandroids, Sonic Youth and Bloc Party are also some of my favorite musical artists of all time. So at the moment, I feel inclined to write about something outside of rap music.

2012 was a great year for indie rock. With excellent records by Japandroids, Metz, The Men, DIIV, Wild Nothing, Grimes, Frankie Rose, Royal Headache, Titus Andronicus and Cloud Nothings (whew!), I became increasingly nervous for the albums that would come out in 2013. But the five records listed below have proved that 2013 may be able to top the amazing 2012.

The Men - New Moon

New Moon, is the third record in as many years from Brooklyn punk rockers cum Neil Young shoegazers, The Men and it may be their best yet. Like every other album by The Men, it goes in a different direction than the last and displays even more musical maturity. This time, The Men leave the grimy basements of New York and go out to the Catskills to record, and New Moon reflects this change.

The Men work their way through twelve songs of punk energy ("The Brass", "Supermoon"), country twang ("Bird Song", "The Seeds", "Open the Door") steel lap and harmonica ("Half Angel Half Light", "Without a Face") and Neil Young meets Dinosaur Jr. fuzz ("I Saw Her Face", "Electric"). New Moon is another evolution for The Men, and they've already confirmed that they have another album recorded, so I'm excited to see where they go next.


Foxygen - We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

Foxygen may be influenced by bands of the past like The Stones, The Velvets and The Beatles. But through the duration of their excellent We Are The 21st Century... they make it clear that they're making music of their own. When listening to anything by Foxygen, you don't think of who the song sounds like until it's over. 

Front man Sam France may seem like the driving force of We Are the 21st Century... especially when he stretches his voice out across songs such as "Oh Yeah" and the title track, but Jonathan Rado and the rest of the band provides stellar instrumentation on songs like the driving "On Blue Mountain" and the trippy "Oh No 2". Foxygen have confessed to not listening to any new bands, and where some may say this is a pretentious statement, it makes sense. They don't let the surrounding bands influence them, allowing them to make excellent, and original music of their own.



Iceage - You're Nothing
Danish punks Iceage are similar to Foxygen, because both bands synthesize decades of music into their own. Though, whereas Foxygen draw from classic rock, Iceage draws from early 70s NYC punk, British post punk and dark Californian punk and wrap them in shoegazey, no-wave guitar hooks, and loud and messy bass lines and drum fills.

You're Nothing is definitely a step up from New Brigade in lyricism and musicality. Frontman Elias Rønnenfelt's lyrics are displayed more at the forefront on this album, and he recalls the late Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, in both subject matter and delivery. The rest of the band has also improved considerably, providing melodic hooks on songs such as "Wounded Hearts" and "In Haze" and adding piano to the album highlight "Morals". You're Nothing is definitely a catchier affair than it's predecessor, and by listening to "Ecstasy" the second time through, you'll be screaming "PRESSURE! PRESSURE! oh God no" along with Rønnenfelt.


Youth Lagoon - Wondrous Bughouse
From the opening instrumental "Through Mind and Back" and the follow up "Mute", with all of it's electronics and delayed guitars, you can tell Trevor Powers is not interested in making The Year of Hibernation II. The Year of Hibernation reveled in intimacy, with Powers singing in a near whisper at times about childhood stories and nostalgia, but Wondrous Bughouse is notably more expansive in instrumentation and lyricism than its predecessor.

Powers employs much more electronics and effects, making the music almost sound like Animal Collective, especially on the song "Dropla" where strange noises pop up all over the place and beautiful piano on "Raspberry Cane". Powers is also looking more out than in on this record, wondering about death, God and the metaphysical world as a whole. These heavy subjects seem like they may be hard to pull off from the guy who sang about finding snakes in his backyard, but Powers pulls it off quite well. The Year of Hibernation was a record that could only be made at a certain place in time for Powers, so I think it's safe to say he won't repeat on other albums. So I feel that we should be content with what he's pulled off considerably well on Wondrous Bughouse.



My Bloody Valentine - m b v
Even though this event (yes, this release is classified as an event) happened at the beginning of February, this will probably be remembered for years to come. That on the night of February 2nd, a new album from My Bloody Valentine, who hadn't released anything for 22 years, suddenly appeared on the internet and it was available for purchase. So naturally I bought it.

My Bloody Valentine are the god fathers of shoegaze, and they've been silent since they're perfect album Loveless, released in the early 90's. m b v isn't better than Loveless but it's still nothing short of amazing. It also shows some musical growth, with the organ led "Is This and Yes" and the insanely layered closing track, "Wonder 2". 

I've let this record set in for the past couple months, to make sure that it didn't sound as good as it did because of the hype surrounding it. And it's survived the test. With the countless shoegaze bands that have come and gone after My Bloody Valentine, Loveless still felt like a timeless peace of work and no doubt m b v will be the same. I can't wait for their next album.


Records to Look for in 2013
Milk Music - Cruise Your Illusion, Release Date: April 2nd
Wavves - Afraid of Heights, Release Date: March 26th
Merchandise - Total Nite, Release Date: Sometime this Spring
The National - Title TBA, Release Date: Sometime this May
Cloud Nothings - Title TBA,  Release Date: Sometime this Fall
Deerhunter - Title and release date TBA

'Twon the Illest Out: A Review of Antwon's "In Dark Denim"

I've probably rewritten the intro for this review about ten times now. Because, how do you start a review about an Antwon album? Sure, he's from the Bay and he'll make a cloud rap song, but than the next song will be an industrial, hardcore, punk influenced song. He's impossible to pigeonhole. People like to compare Antwon to Biggie and Rick Ross, but that seems just because of his voice. Antwon is more like Ghostface Killah circa Fishscale (had Ghostface been an internet rapper and released free mixtapes), a rapper who just goes balls out and will rap about anything or everything.

Across all of Antwon's projects (apart from My Westside Horizon) Antwon raps about sex, death, love, food, depression, thrift stores, drugs and even more. And what's so interesting about Antwon, is that he's able to pull off rapping about all of these things so successfully.

And now we have In Dark Denim. Is it Antwon's best release? Probably not, but that's because it's impossible to compare them. But In Dark Denim is a damn good mixtape.


The first thing that strikes you about In Dark Denim is the production. It's louder, noisier and more cluttered than it has been on past releases. But these beats suit his deep voice perfectly. The loud and chaotic "Dark Denim" produced by Froskees, the strange piano loops and soul samples of "Still Gaurded" produced by Cities Aviv and the grimy pulse of "Boomerang (3 Deep)" produced by Teams. With beats this good, you have to rap pretty well to not get lost in the mix with them. Which is exactly what Antwon does.

What's great about In Dark Denim is how fun of a mixtape it can be. "3rd World Grrl", produced by Froskees is a prime example of this. It's as close to a love song that Antwon gets on this tape, and has some hilarious lines like "two mexican pizzas / charge it to the game, girl / no visas." The sex jam "Werk 4 Me" finds the MC half of Shadowrunners, Himself The Majestic, dominating the track with an intensity. "It'll All Make Sense" is a nice breather from the rest of the noisy album, with it being a nice back in the day song. And on "Downtwon", Big Baby Gandhi shows up in the last 30 seconds to spit a rapid fire verse and disappear until who knows when.

But like Danny Brown's XXX, a mixtape that can be a lot of fun as well, In Dark Denim has a dark side to it. Once Antwon wakes up after all the sex, drugs and partying, he realizes what's wrong with himself and the world around him. To Antwon, the world is ending, as told by the lyrics on "Dark Denim", "in remembrance / all times are ending / I lay awake / inside of dark denim".

Sometimes, Antwon sounds like he's on the verge of madness, such as the B L A C K I E produced "Burn Away". This dark, noisy track has lines such as "childhood friends all hooked on meth" and "I wanna die / and I hate my life / I'll take any chance I get." By halfway through the song, Antwon reaches the end of his rope and just yells "ugh, fuck!".

On the closing track, "Still Gaurded" Antwon has lyrics similar to all his other songs about sex, but there's a much darker subtlety making it one of his most interesting songs yet. There are lines like "she got my pleasure zone so hard / I can't speak." But there's lines like "my thoughts so typical / they only distress me" and "rose petals touch my lips / feel like glass shards". "Still Gaurded" is a darker take on a friends with benefits song, where the woman he loves just has sex with him and moves onto his other friends "next week" so Antwon feels like "a throw away nigga".

It's great that we now have rappers like Antwon, Cities Aviv, B L A C K I E and Death Grips who make noisy, experimental hip hop. They're exciting figures of internet rap, just like Odd Future and Das Racist used to be. Antwon's layered songs about sex, love and depression are a pleasure to listen to and the internet needs more rappers like him.

In Dark Denim 
9/10
Recommended Tracks: Dark Denim, 3rd World Grrl, Rare 2000s, Burn Away, Still Gaurded
Download here.

Kool Aid's Here: A Review of Kool A.D.'s "19/63"

Those were the words shouted by a photographer at Antwon's show at Santos Party House last February that I attended. At first I thought I would be able to hold conversation with her, based on her also noticing that Hot Sugar and Nasty Nigel were in the audience. But his name's Kool A.D. Not Kool Aid. He even says his name in countless Das Racist songs ("Kool A.D. / aka Victor Vasquez / second best rapper with glasses / after E-40").

That's why the solo mixtapes from Kool A.D. and Heems are so important. Whereas some of them are better than others (best ones so far are Heems' Nehru Jackets and Kool A.D.'s 51), they help carve out a personality for the two. They're no longer Das Racist. I wish they still were, but they're not. They're making their own music now.

Which is why the solo mixtapes are also so interesting. Heems has embraced his Indian heritage and the grit of New York rap, making for some politically charged (yet still ladened with Das Racist wit) songs. Kool A.D. is now dividing his time between New York and the Bay. On his great mixtape, 51, Kool A.D. worked almost entirely with rappers from the bay like Main Attrakionz. He's also working with producers from the Bay, like Amaze 88, Young L and Trackademics, making him rap over much more lush and inviting beats. His music's great to listen not just because he's a great MC, but because he has great production.

And that's why a mixtape like 19 could and should work. It boasts an impressive production roster with guys like Steel Tipped Dove, SKYWLKR, Pictureplane and Ad-Rock (yes, the same Ad-Rock from the Beastie Boys). But all of 19 feels like a parody of based music.

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but Kool A.D. is capable of so much more. First track "Eroika" is fun to listen to (and maybe even the best song off the tape) because at first it's funny to hear Kool A.D. go "bitch I'm Garfield". But soon it's song after song like that. The only difference may be pitched down vocals. There are some songs that are okay, but those don't make up for the amount of filler on the tape.

Luckily, Kool A.D. released 63 as well. Just by the opening song, "63 (Amaze 88 Intro)", you know that 63 will be more in the vein of 51. The majority of the songs are produced by the brilliant Amaze 88, but a handful of the tracks are also produced by Heems' in house producer, Mike Finito, making 63 sound like a mix between Nehru Jackets and 51 (one of my friends also described 63 as sounding "oceanic"). 

Besides from having some excellent production, 63 also has some great guests. "Rap Genius" and "Finito Posse Jawn" are some awesome posse cuts featuring guys like Lakutis, DVS, Mike Finito and Meyhem Lauren. Lakutis' verse on "Rap Genius" is hilarious ("ring ring / telephone / sorry it's the president / hold on, I gotta take this / hello, President Obama?"). It's also impressive to see how Kool A.D. hold his own against some of his guests. I was afraid he would get overshadowed by the Hellfyre Club rappers, Open Mike Eagle and Busdriver, but he holds up quite well against them. Ne$$ of Weekend Money sounds great over the lush "Lush" a song much different compared to his work in Weekend Money.

But this mixtape's the Kool A.D. show, not anybody else's. Who else would think to say something like "New Fidel-cash flow"? On "Exotische Kunst" there's a great line that goes, "look at my invention game / flawless / Edison, couldn't con this / Ellison couldn't see this". But the most surprising track on here is "Lush", where Kool A.D. gets the most personal I've ever heard him. At one point he goes "shouts to Das Racist / and all the fools who paid money / to see exactly how we laced it / you helped me pay rent / and eat food/ so I could say shit / for a living". This is what Kool A.D. wants to do. He wants to rap. So let's let him.

19

5/10

Recommended Tracks: Eroika, Vendedores (feat. Tray 57), NPR, Attitude (feat. Cult Days)
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63

8.5/10

Recommended Tracks: Moneyball, Froyo (feat. Detroit Cydi & Selfsays), Finito Posse Jawn (feat. Chaz Van Queen, DVS, Lakutis, Mike Finito & Davito), Get a Job, Rap Genius (feat. Lakutis, DVS, Dallas Penn & Meyhem Lauren), Question Jam (feat. Busdriver & Beans), Lush (feat. Ne$$), Bering Sea Gold, Exotische Kunst
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Playlist: For All Who Are Alone On Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day sucks. You have to hear about everyone's "valentine" or who's going to be their valentine, whereas you don't have one. Because for some reason, everyone but you is in a relationship. Of course, there are a couple of cures for Feelingdepressedbecauseeveryonehasasignificantotherbutyou syndrome. But after awhile, listening to The Smiths, eating ice cream and watching Titanic gets to be a bit redundant. Luckily I compiled a list of songs, for all who are alone on the worst day of the year.

Note: Some of the video links may not work on this page, but open them in a new tab and you will be able to hear the songs.

Antwon - SKULLKRUSH

San Jose rapper Antwon weaves a story of a destructive relationship, that he cannot get out of it. Hence his saying "I'm not around you much / but when I am / I feel my skull crush". He also raps over Salem's "Skullcrush", for good measure.

R.E.M. - So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)

From the prolific college rock band, Michael Stipe's lyrics are the highlight of this song, whereas most of the time he mumbles though them with strange non-sequiturs. But on "So. Centra Rain (I'm Sorry)", Stipe tells a straightforward story of a bad relationship with lines such as "..but you never called". But when he sings "I'm sorry!" repeatedly through the chorus, you wonder who's fault it is.

Cities Aviv - W E T D R E A M

Memphis via Brooklyn rapper, Cities Aviv just left a girl he met on tour. He's on the flight back to Memphis, thinking about all the drugs he'll be taking to forget this. He's frozen like this New York City weather. Instead of crying, he lets these lyrics flow like water from his eyes.

Caribou - Odessa

Canadian electronic musician, Dan Snaith, under his Caribou moniker tells the story of a woman leaving a relationship (and taking the kids with her). Compared to the other songs on this list, it's not as depressing, because we see the woman break free from the man's stifling grip and starting a life anew.

Girls - Vomit

Based on a true story, lead singer Cristopher Owens sings about going off into the night and searching for his missing girlfriend. He's addicted to this abusive relationship, letting her just disappear whenever she wants. A song so powerful, by the time Owens reaches the end singing, "Come into my heart / my love", you feel his pain.

Kanye West - Blame Game (feat. John Legend)

On this highlight from Mr. West's, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Yeezy and his girl have just broken up. But it's not over with their splitting. They're spreading rumors about each other, try to make each other jealous and her brother uses his money to buy coke! By the time Chris Rock steps in at the end, for an end of song skit, it feels like a relief.

Gang of Four - Anthrax

This song if for all the people who vow never to be in a relationship/love ever again. Just listen to the lyrics, "love'll get you like a case of anthrax / and that's something I don't wanna catch". Gang of Four paint love to be more of a deadly disease than an normal human trait.

Dr. Dre - Bitches Ain't Shit (feat. Snoop Dogg, Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt & Jewel)

This song's for the fellas. So "Bitches Ain't Shit", is pretty sexist and ladened with misogyny. Yet, as someone who's ever felt betrayed, or used by a girl, this song hits pretty close to home.

Cloud Nothings - Cut You

Another song about a destructive relationship (there are and will be a lot of these!). What's interesting about this song, is how Dylan Baldi is the one causing the destructive relationship. Whereas in many songs, the singer is the victim. But Baldi is the one causing it, with the bridge "I miss you, cause I like damage / I need something I can hurt".

Fugazi - Promises

I don't know why, but when punk bands aren't writing political songs, they write great break up songs. Such as the case with Fugazi's "Promises". Ian MacKaye starts the song sounding like he's making a promise to someone ("we will be / forever), until the chorus when him and Guy Picciotto both scream "PROMISES ARE SHIT!" in unison.

Bloc Party - Talons

"Talons" is off Bloc Party's 2008 album, Intimacy, which is a break up album. But "Talons" is the song  where Kele Okereke lashes out at his ex. He thinks he's escaped her grasp, but every night, the thoughts of her come back. He goes through his head of what went wrong before he asks this question: "oh when did you / become such a slut?!"

Madvillain - Fancy Clown (feat. Viktor Vaughn)

DOOM gets into a fight with his alter ego (Viktor Vaughn) over his ex. A song so interesting, personable and strange, that it's something you have to hear.

Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

Of course this song would be on here. Fleetwood Mac were masters of their craft. They made radio friendly pop music, that contained personal subject matter underneath the surface. "Go Your Own Way" is basically a "screw you" song. Go your own way and do what you want. I don't care about you any more.

Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Joe Jackson isn't really depressed or angry in this song. He's just confused. He sees "pretty woman walking with gorillas" down his street. He just doesn't understand why these women are drawn to these men, leaving him to ask the question, "is she really going out with him?".

Grimes - Skin

Grimes' music is always very atmospheric and it's almost impossible to understand what she's singing on many of her songs. But when you hear snippets here and there in "Skin", you notice that the song's about a break up with lyrics such as "you act like nothing ever happened / but it meant the world to me".

Japandroids - I Quit Girls

After going through a break up that was terrible, what do you want to do? You never want to be involved with a member of that sex again in any way. This is exactly what Brian King sings about on the closing song of Japandroids' excellent Post-Nothing. "After her" he quit girls.

Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire - Build-a-Bitch

Even though the song's title refers to females, the "lesson" of the song applies to everyone. eXquire has just broke up with his girlfriend, and this time he's had it, so he decides to "Build-a-Bitch". And his bitch is perfect. She likes all the same music and movies as him. They have sex and play Wii. But soon eXquire has a realization. All these problems involving relationships are life. They'll happen no matter what. You can't build no bitch.