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My Weekly Artist - Captain Murphy

For the final blog post, I wanted to choose an artist that I thought was truly something special. I was having a difficult time choosing, until I heard one sound that made me remember an entire album. That sound may seem very peculiar, but it means a lot to me in various aspects.

  I was at my girlfriend’s house and like usual we were browsing the infinite but slim selection of Netflix. We both enjoy animated shows, so when I saw that a newly released animated Godzilla movie had been added, I lost it. I had enjoyed Godzilla movies since my youth and even had Godzilla video games. I had to convince my girlfriend a little bit to watch but since I had watched some dumb romantic comedy the previous day, she went along. When Godzilla let out his iconic roar, I had flashbacks to 2013. As his roar was sampled in a VERY interesting album.

 That album was entitled “Duality” and is by the artist known as Captain Murphy. For the grand finale blog post, I thought Captain Murphy was the perfect fit. I don’t even remember how I found out about him because all of 2013 was obscure, but I do know that I would not my 15-year-old son listening to it.

 I have no idea on where to begin on Captain Murphy, so bear with me. His only album, “Duality” was released in late 2012. It seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, it was the only music someone under the moniker of Captain Murphy had ever released. To add on that mystery, nobody seemed to know who Captain Murphy actually was. What made things more creepy was the music and its content. The “Duality” album was and is a genre bending project, although it can mainly be identified as rap. The lyrics of the music were extremely vulgar and covered the topic of world domination through cults and mind control. A combination of all these elements bred a dark enigma that took the underground rap scene by storm.

Here is a gif of his “logo”

The music of Captain Murphy is unique as hell. It has a TON of samples in it from media such as Godzilla, Star Wars, Batman, it even has parts of the Heaven’s Gate recruitment (a cult famous for mass suicide) tapes riddled in the songs and a bunch of things I can’t identify. I have listened to this tape multiple times and I found it most impactful when you’re alone driving late at night. I honestly was getting a little scared because of its themes. It has a sample that seems to be the audio of a sacrifice to the devil.

  The production on the tape is a collection weird beats that seem not to belong in rap music. Captain’s Murphy voice is cleared altered and shifts pitches often, mostly appearing in a deep pitch. The lyrics are extremely, dark and sometimes playful. The only word to describe it is unique.  

 Looking back and knowing what I know now, the whole Captain Murphy project it was kind of a PR stunt. Here comes this anonymous guy who puts out one album about world domination with clear, powerful connections and is instantly popular. It was about six months later that it was revealed that Captain Murphy was the doing of an artist known as Flying Lotus. Flying Lotus is a record producer and Captain Murphy is his only project where he is the vocalist.

 “Duality” is a strange album that I think drew me in because of its artistic value. It has a visual that goes along to the album that is equally as dark and eclectic. Even if you’re not a fan of the music, there’s no denying that this is some of the most creative shit in existence.

Here is a link to the visual album that is VERY NSFW:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI3kdGmk6Jo

Here is the song with the Godzilla sample, it has a title I’m not comfortable typing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4amEWUw6t4&t=58s

Captain Murphy – Shake Weight:

This song has my favorite production.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4cT5mLu2ME

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My Weekly Artist - Higher Brothers

In the span of two weeks from the last blog, something really cool happened. The band I wrote about last, Kero Kero Bonito, came to Indiana and I went to their performance. It was honestly a dream come true even though the crowd was full of smelly weirdos. My friends and I made the trip to Bloomington on April 2. KKB did something I didn’t expect. They performed all their songs with different instrumentals. I was surprised but not upset. The songs sounded a little different but I appreciated that because it reflects’ the artists current interests and taste. So that was a quick little update for the last blog post.

I am an avid fan of traveling and of other cultures, so I wanted that to be the theme of this week’s installment. The artists I want to focus on this week is the Higher Brothers.

The Higher Brothers are a Chinese hip-hop group that originates from Chengdu. They are a rap group of consisting of members MaSiWEi, DZknow, Psy.P and Melo. They are on the record label 88 Rising which consists of mostly Asian and Asian-American artists.

I can’t remember the first time I heard the Higher Brothers, I think it was sometime in 2017. However, I do remember the first time I heard Keith Ape, who is also on the 88 Rising label. He had a viral song in 2015 entitled “It G Ma” that opened the doors to Asian rap for me.  I wanted to focus on the Higher Brothers because they have the most songs that I enjoy out of the Asian rappers I listen to.  There is truly an Asian revolution in popular music and 88 Rising is spearheading that revolution.

Here are some other Asian Artists to check out:

-Keith Ape

-Rich Brian

-Joji

-Kohh

-Kris Wu

Here is a link to It G Ma by Keith Ape.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPC9erC5WqU

On first listen people are very polarized with their opinions on the song. They either think what the hell is this shit or immediately like it. I am open to new things and ideas and I really enjoyed it. Just the concept of Asian Rap music fascinates me. It is the epitome of globalization across cultures. With the advent of the internet and international programming, people today are exposed to some much than ever before. That exposure leaves a notable influence and the outcome is an interesting dichotomy. The Higher Brothers use American slang and vulgar language in a government that still censors its citizens.

Being Chinese, the Higher Brothers songs are mostly in Chinese but they still rhyme in English sometimes. I think that makes them more skilled than the average American rapper. They rhyme in two different languages and some people can barely manage one.

Their songs are typically feature a verse from each member over trap instrumentals. The main critique I hear when I show people their music is that, “You can’t even understand them.” While it is true that I don’t speak Chinese, it doesn’t matter what they’re saying, what matters is how they’re saying it. Their unique flows combined with hard deliveries makes me bob my head every time.

Here are a few of my favorite Higher Brothers songs:

One Punch Man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvRdHaq19qs

Flexing So Hard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8lhZWPWhZw

Flo Rida

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r5vjA_NrK4

Won’t Believe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw9iXFXK2Es

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My Weekly Artist - Kero Kero Bonito

Amongst the chaos of the current state of my life, there is always one escape I can count on to be there for me when things are looking sideways. Music. And I guess videogames but I don’t think describing my awesome Fortnite skills would be as interesting to read about. So without further ado, welcome to the third exciting installment of Nick Johnson’s My Weekly Artist.

I have been making an effort to keep the artists I choose vastly different from one another to keep these choices interesting. With that said, this choice is rather a unique one. This week’s artist is none other than Kero Kero Bonito.

Kero Kero Bonito? What’s that? Is it a person? A contemporary art experiment? Well, Kero Kero Bonito is actually a three person group that consists of lead singer Sarah Midori Perry (known by her stage name Sarah Bonito) and producers/multi-instrumentalists Gus Lobban & Jamie Bulled. They are a genre bending trio that hails from London, England. Sarah is also half Japanese and often sings and raps in Japanese in their songs.

I first heard of them in 2016. I guess this was just a great year for discovering great music considering the last artist was also discovered in 2016. I heard a remix to their hit song “Flamingo”. A lot of their music is featured in internet videos and memes. If a KKB song is in a video, you can always count on seeing “what song is this?” in the comments.

When examining their music, the name Kero Kero Bonito is very fitting in the sense that it is mysterious and ambiguous. The band did this intentionally to get people to talk about them in a critical sense. They are most commonly categorized as a British indie pop band but their music is much more complex than that. Their early music is heavily influenced by Japanese pop, dancehall and even video game music. The production of the early music seems to not even feature real instruments on first listen. Its difficult to describe their sound but hear me out. Imagine you were teleported to a cartoon land in which everything around you is made of candy and you’re flying on a pink and blue spaceship. That is what early Kero Kero Bonito songs sound like. Very bubbly and warm. The precise production paired with Sarah’s cutesy and high voice creates a dreamy pop concoction.  

Here a few songs that epitomize KKB’s unique pop sound:

1.       Flamingo - https://youtu.be/rY-FJvRqK0E

2.       Trampoline - https://youtu.be/9Qmwsg2pyEc

In their newer album, KKB focused on a more real sound. A lot of the songs feature dialed down production and more emphasis on real instruments. This doesn’t mean they lost their uniqueness. A lot of the songs are easy listens and have themes about happiness, and self-reflection. Others have more serious and introspective lyrics. I was listening to one song that caught me by surprise called “Only Acting”. The last 45 seconds of the tape sound like the radio is dying and what is left is a haunting eerie sound that seems straight out of a horror movie. I was kind of scared because I didn’t realize it was the song at first.

Here are a few more real songs:

1.       Only Acting - https://youtu.be/sepcj45774I

2.       Swimming - https://youtu.be/0bKkyFHSJdw

Kero Kero Bonito is a very unique music experience that I think everyone should enjoy at least once in their life. If you listen to the first set of songs and the second set you can get a grasp of their incredible range and talent.

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My Weekly Artist - Yellow Days

Unlike my last blog post, nobody has recently asked me what music I’ve been listening to lately. Also on an unrelated note, the girl in my comm 375 who did ask me has since dropped the course. Could it be because of me? Whose to say? Although, she was cool and it makes me kind of sad that she left. I think she would enjoy the artist I’ve decided to feature in the blog this week. That artist is none other than the extremely talented Yellow Days.

Yellow Days is the moniker of George van den Broek. Yellow Days is another young prodigy, the 19-year-old hails from Haslemere England. He sings about love, his love for recreational drug use and even the creative process. His haircut alone is enough for articles and stories to be written about him.

 I first discovered his music in the summer of 2016 and instantly fell in love. In my opinion his music is best played turned up loud in a car with the windows down on a sunny day. It makes it seem like everything is perfect in the world and nothing can wrong. Since then I’ve have turned my friends on to his music and they have turned their friends on to it as well. My friends and I have made the journey up to Chicago TWICE to see him perform with his band. Those experiences will live on in my memories forever as these ethereal times of pure bliss that I wanted to last forever. I remember questioning how one person could be so talented. That is the effect that his music has.

So, you might be wondering what kind of music can produce such profound? Well this is where things get tricky. The easy explanation is “alternative” music but that’s a cop out. I am not anywhere near technically versed in describing music so I hope this makes sense.

Yellow Days’ music is like soul music mixed with psychedelic melodies topped with jazzy undertones. His impressive voice wails over spacey instrumentals all while pouring his heart out into each song. His inspiration from the greats like Ray Charles is clearly evident in his music. He frequently posts the music he listens to on his social media and its almost always soul music that I’ve never heard of. The second time I saw him live he covered “I Would Rather Go Blind” by Etta James. I had never heard that song before but I instantly knew that I loved it. His voice is surprising when you hear him and see what he looks like. He has a deep voice but can hit some high notes quite well. Not only is his singing unique and beautiful but that man can tear shit up on a guitar as well. His guitar playing can be epitomized with the word funky.

In my opinion, all of his music seems way beyond a 19-year-old. I love all of it equally but here is a list with links to my favorites of his.

1.       Your Hand Holding Mine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tanIIOljUIY  

This was the first song of his I heard so I had to put it first

 2.       So Terrified of Your Own Mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og1svKY9ni4

This is a live version of this song. It is really spellbinding and encapsulates his music. If you watch one watch this one.

 3.       The Way Things Change

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YTRogx-0-o

This is a newer release. It has a cool music video to go along with it.

 4.       Weight of the World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBHOH5Z3WDM

This song has heavy lyrics and eerie instrumentals.

 5.       I Believe in Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGDxz9WAyUI

I just like this song a lot. His emotional wailing is really connective.

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My Weekly Artist

In the first week of spring semester 2019, an acquaintance in my comm 375 class asked me what kind of music I have been listening to lately. I stumbled at the question at first but ultimately uttered “Matt Ox.” A name that I’ve found in my mouth a lot lately. 

Matt Ox is a hip-hop/rap artist from Philadelphia. Now, what makes Matt Ox special is the fact that he is only 14 years old. And he just turned 14 last December, so he’s barely 14. Matt Ox has been making music for about a few years from what I’ve listened to. He gained an insane amount of publicity because of a music video he did about a year ago for his song “Overwhelming”. The music video had the whole internet talking. It featured Matt and his friends in various locations holding fidget spinners (very trendy at the time) at the camera as if they were holding stacks of money as you see many rappers do. A lot of memes were born from his music video, which ultimately brought him more attention. The “overwhelming” music video amassed about 25 million views, about 60 were from me alone.

When dealing with wild kids. I know a frequent question that arises is “where the hell are their parents?” I researched it and found an interview that he did with his mom. His father died when he was an infant. In the interview his mom said she was skeptical about the whole music stuff.. until he got paid. This made me laugh. At age 12 Matt Ox bought his mom a house and she no longer works. Safe to say his parent is an avid supporter of his music. Hearing this kind of made me want to have kids.

After his 15 minutes of fame, many people wrote him off, including myself. Some time passed and I hadn’t paid much attention to Matt Ox but I kept seeing him name pop up on my social media from time to time. In Fall of 2018, I saw him promoting his debut album and was curious. I planned to listen to it when it released. He released the track list and what I saw was surprising to say the least. He had three features and one of them was none other than Chicago artist, Chief Keef. Chief Keef is a very influential artist and is credited with popularizing drill and trap music. Just seeing he did a song with this little 13 year-old is a big co-sign on Matt Ox’s end.

The day of the album’s release came. I gave it a listen and had mixed feelings. I felt some self-dissonance because I was unironically listening to a 13 year-old rapper and liking it. I accepted the feelings and showed my friends. He isn’t the best lyricist but for the type of music he makes, lyrics don’t matter really. Since this time I’ve found myself (more than once) inebriated jamming out to a little kid.

I think the reason I like Matt Ox so much is because he’s really a product of the next generation. It just shows that in such a connected world, kids are exposed to so much and able to do basically anything they put their mind to. There’s no denying Matt Ox is just a cool ass little kid.