@@@ Soul Glo: Songs to Yeet at the Sun (Secret Voice, 2020) I have a regular reader with a screen name of Mr. Whirly and he sent me a note asking what I thought of this punk EP. What I originally concluded was a messy hardcore shitshow indeed has a lot of threads to it — a little Rage Against the Machine, a little Bad Brains, and some mathier bands I can’t pull of my hard drive at this point. Maybe a schmear of Fugazi, but the special gold star goes to the singer who is absolutely losing his nut. He sounds both sped up, pissed off, having a good time, and generally taking a well deserved shit on society. I don’t know what ethnicity the singer is, but he does have a HR thing going on where he gets worked up but maintains a tight rhythmic flow on the same time. The third tune flips it to a hip hop and ambient flow alternately where somebody is going rando spoken word and then into a drum machine with some trash ass 808 beats. The Bad Brains aspirations come to a head on the fourth tune Mathed Up, where the rhythm is tight as shit while the sound is just spillin’ up all over the place. I’ve always been a sucker for some hardcore shit that is tightly rhythmic and exploding. If you’re a young person, check this out, if you’re a crusty old fuck check it out too!
@@@ VAUDOU GAME: Bella (Hot Casa, 2021) One of my favorite African bands appeared on the WRIR weekly playlist email but a different single showed up on GooglePimpTube and the Apple Music. The first track (clipped below) is some breezy and funky Afro-disco complete with cowbell. Regular readers know of my undying love of cowbell, there’s no track out there that doesn’t benefit from a generous helping of cowbell. In addition to the cowbell there is a lot of call and response vocals going on, a funky drumkit beat and a spaceship synthesizer. Make sure to check out the B side which is entitled ‘Be My Wife’. Be My Wife sports the same vocal approach but a brisker tempo and a more driving set of components. Big ups for the distorted synth organ sound. This might be an appetizer for an upcoming full length but check out the two previous Vaudou Game for some overpowering African funk.
@@@ Lil Baby & Lil Durk: Voice of the Heroes (UMG, 2021) #1 in the Apple Music hot tracks section. It’s mainstream major label hip hop which requires an epic chorus, in this case something about being the voice of the heroes. I have no clue what that’s about, at first I thought might be related to Memorial Day. The sounds are presented well but the synths are cheesy and combined with the hook in the chorus it’s a bit of a Hollywood trap situation. I checked the lyrics on Genius and it’s a mish mash of pill taking, panty quaking, and fast cars and more pills. I’m definitely not the judgy type and I’m also a low IQ gent but if this tune is trying to say something I don’t understand. If it’s a vibe track I get that but I don’t love that big Hollywood rap star lifestyle vibe, I could give a shit.
Deep In the Music 