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luuurien · 2 years

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Otoboke Beaver - Super Champon

(Hardcore Punk, Noise Rock, Metalcore)

The Kyoto punk quartet's sophomore album is a blisteringly-fast sugar rush of ferociously fun garage punk that continues to kick back against traditional norms and shows Otoboke Beaver's ability to fit so much into an almost preposterous runtime. Fitting 18 songs into just 21 minutes, Super Champon is nothing if not high-octane, bubblegum-scented glory.

☆☆☆☆½

Super Champon is more songs in less time than Otoboke Beaver's debut, and somehow ends up even better for it. Otoboke Beaver's music has always called back to the classic hardcore punk style, songs that are rarely more than a minute that fit as much as possible into every bar at unthinkably fast tempos, and they do it so well that you never feel like they're lacking in content to dig into. Being their sophomore album after their debut ITEKOMA HITS that mixed new versions of their older songs around all-news ones, Super Champon challenges the band not only to bring a whole batch of new songs to the table, but to spice things up and give a new take on their delightfully frantic sound, and they've unquestionably achieved that. Titling the album after the Japanese term "champon," which refers to a sort of clutter or hodgepodge as well as a type of Nagasaki soup thrown together in a similar way, Super Champon's wild mix of genres into the hardcore format makes for some of the most insanely fun songs this year, blends of mathcore and riot grrrl and thrash metal and J-pop and whatever else pops into Otoboke Beaver's heads that never stops being a total delight. Where ITEKOMA HITS' power often came largely from its vocal performances atop simplistic but thrilling instrumentation, Super Champon ups the ante on both fronts. Some of these instrumental transitions are so abrupt and surprising it's remarkable that it all fits into only a minute or two at a time: how PARDON? swaps from throbbing garage rock with increasingly manic singing with rhythm changes happening all over into a thrashing hardcore breakdown where the group's thorny chants of "Shut Up! Shut Up! Shut Up!" never let up to the 43-second George and Janice where they somehow are able to stop for seconds at a time and still make so much happen within the track that it ends up one of the most electrifying moments on the entire LP. Early highlight YAKITORI throws down a genuinely grindcore drum fill as Accorinrin shouts out "Destroy!" before yelling out a hellish screech that goes right back into the bubbly J-pop style hook without a second for you to breathe. Sharp turns and blood-boiling bursts of energy are Super Champon's modus operandi, the base for which Leave me Alone! No, Stay With Me! brings on its mathcore downpour of guitars and First-Class Side-Guy is able to earworm its way inside your mind, but by being just barely over 21 minutes, the album never gets too heavy on the ears and the light bounce to all their songs ensures the music never fatigues you. It's always a ton of fun seeing what they'll do next, and Super Champon always has something new in store for you. It also builds upon many of the ideas of individuality and rejection of Japan's societal norms that they started digging into on their debut. Where the scenes of ITEKOMA HITS often landed in more general territory, there's an unusual intimacy to the anger they have here that brings to light just how intertwined so much of their lives are with oppressive gender and relationship norms. The tense vocal introduction of I Checked Your Cellphone sounds like the seconds waiting for your partner's phone to connect to the internet before finding out what they've been doing behind your back: “I couldn’t help looking into / And he found a match on a dating app!” the band spits with a venomous tongue. They speak little of the details, but you can tell he fucked up, but Otoboke Beaver leaves it up to you to decide just what he's been doing in the shadows. The intense nature of the music doesn't take away from the narrative, but rather supports it, the internal fury of a woman being taken advantage of by an uncommitted boyfriend. I Am Not Maternal and I Won't Dish Out Salads knock down the expectations of child-rearing and casual misogyny with a comedic edge and a commitment to themselves, their powerful instrumentation and tightly-wound group vocals making it clear Otoboke Beaver are not to be fucked with. They're still a fun band by all measures, poking fun at how absurd and backwards many of these long-lived societal standards are, but as they continue to dig deeper into their relationships with modern relationships and social relations, Otoboke Beaver shows they are ready to take them down through the motivation their music provides. Everything about Super Champon screams confidence, a quartet who understand exactly what makes their music click and makes it all so intense that you can never look away. It's such a fun album that it's hard not to scream out every word alongside them, the band taking you from 0 to 60 miles an hour like the most twisty rollercoaster you can find that never stops for a second. It's the most sour neon candy in the grocery store that blows up like a bomb the second you open the package, coated with heaps of sugar that leaves you wanting more by the time it's all over. And even while the feelings of the songs say the same, Super Champon imbues so many new musical ideas that it ends up a huge step forward from their past music, proving that modern punk doesn't need to stray too far from home to still feel progressive and forward-thinking. Though they're not the most prominent punk group out there right now, they certainly have the tenacity and power behind them to continue growing and cementing their status within it over the years, Super Champon a fantastic development for them in that regard. Otoboke Beaver's got their finger on the trigger, and when it's time for them to let the ammunition belt fire off, they don't ever miss their targets once. If you're not standing behind them, there's no chance they'll let you get away easily.

#otoboke beaver #super champon #damnably #garage punk #garage rock #hardcore punk #indie punk #indie rock #mathcore #math rock #noise rock #post-punk #punk #punk rock #riot grrrl #rock #2022 #9/10

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moviecriticseanpatrick-blog · 3 years

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#The United States of Insanity #Violent J #Shaggy 2 Dope #Juggalo #film #movies #movie review #movie #film review #film critic #movie criticism #film criticism #movie critic #juggalo #icp #insane clown posse #mathcore #nu metal #emo

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machecazzonesoboh · 2 years

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#the tony danza tapdance extravaganza #Tony danza #mathcore #baby j #spite #darkous #darko us #deathcore #metalcore #metal #djent #rock #rolling stones

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deadcactuswalking · 3 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 22/05/2021 (Olivia Rodrigo, J. Cole’s ‘The Off-Season’, Nicki Minaj)

Yeah, it’s a big week, given the impact of J. Cole, Jorja Smith, Olivia Rodrigo (more on that next week) and the remaining impact of the BRIT Awards. There’s a lot of nonsense on this chart, a busy as hell one at that, but this surprisingly did not affect the #1, as the remix to “Body” by Russ Millions and Tion Wayne spends a third week at the top. Let’s just attack this head on. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

First of all, let’s get this nonsense out of the way: what happened to songs already on the UK Top 75 chart, which is what I cover? Well, a fair few of them dropped out. Any song that spent five or more weeks in the chart or peaked in the top 40 is considered a notable drop-out, and this week, they include “Wants and Needs” by Drake featuring Lil Baby off of the return last week, “Track Star” by Mooski, “Heat” by Paul Woolford and Amber Mark, “6 for 6” by Central Cee, “Patience” by KSI featuring YUNGBLUD and Polo G, “Hold On” by Justin Bieber, “We’re Good” by Dua Lipa, “Commitment Issues” by Central Cee (Gosh, didn’t think J. Cole would take a chunk out of this guy’s audience specifically), “Up” by Cardi B, “Streets” by Doja Cat and finally, “Get Out My Head” by Shane Codd, but also interestingly “i n t e r l u d e” by J. Cole dropping out off of the top 40 debut despite the album boost. This doesn’t mean it didn’t perform well but rather this is demonstrating this silly chart rule where in the top 100, one artist can only have three songs, preventing album bombs that you see on the US Billboard Hot 100. It makes the chart less accurate but arguably more diverse and hence fun for me to talk about.

There are also a few returning entries to add some fuel to this chart fire, one that has already combusted in the US this week, as “Slumber Party” by Ashnikko featuring Princess Nokia is back at #70 thanks to the video, “All You Ever Wanted” by Rag’n’Bone Man is back at #51 thanks to a delayed album boost, and the same can be said for “Addicted” by Jorja Smith at #49.

Then we have our notable losses, songs that fell at least five spots down the chart this week, including “WITHOUT YOU” by the Kid LAROI at #18, “Higher Power” by Coldplay falling big off of the debut at #25, “Your Power” by Billie Eilish at #26, “Didn’t Know” by Tom Zanetti at #28, “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals at #30, “Leave the Door Open” by Silk Sonic at #31, “Don’t You Worry About Me” by Bad Boy Chiller Crew at #39, “Latest Trends” by A1 x J1 at #46, “Last Time” by Becky Hill at #52, “All I Know So Far” by P!nk at #55 off of the debut, “My Head & My Heart” by Ava Max at #57, “Martin & Gina” by Polo G at #58, “Miss the Rage” by Trippie Redd featuring Playboi Carti dropping hard off of the debut at #60 (Really, what was expected here?), Travis Scott’s remix of HVME’s remix of Travis Scott’s “Goosebumps” at #61, “Cover Me in Sunshine” by P!nk and Willow Sage Heart at #63, “Don’t Play” by Anne-Marie, KSI and Digital Farm Animals at #65, “Sunshine (The Light)” by Fat Joe, DJ Khaled and Amorphous at #66, “Tonight” by Ghost Killer Track featuring D-Block Europe and Oboy at #71, and finally, “Calling My Phone” by Lil Tjay and 6LACK at #73.

That’s not to say there weren’t any notable gains however as we do have some interesting remnants of BRITs excitement and some other reasons for our gains this week, which include “One Day” by Lovejoy (more on them later) at #54, “It’s a sin” by Elton John and Years & Years at #47, “Way Too Long” by Nathan Dawe, Anne-Marie and MoStack at #43, “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo at #35 off of the success of “good 4 u” (again, more on that later), “Black Hole” by Griff at #23 thanks to the BRITs, and finally, “deja vu” by Olivia Rodrigo at #11. Really, all of this is just me stalling because this is a massive week – I’m writing this early – let’s just get through this... starting with—oh, for God’s sake.

NEW ARRIVALS

#75 – “Taunt” – Lovejoy

Produced by Cameron Nesbitt

Two weeks in a row, ladies and gentlemen: Minecraft YouTuber-core. How this happens I have no idea but regardless, the people of the UK seem to enjoy this Wilbur Soot guy’s new band. Is the new single better than the last one that charted from this EP, at least? Well, yeah, it is, mostly because at least this one’s an actual pop rock tune that, whilst derivative again, has more hooks than “One Day”, especially those stop-and-start-again verses that give me mathcore flashbacks, just with less of a catharsis to come from it other than that infectious, trumpet-laden chorus. The content is pretty gross if anything, seemingly focusing in on this past relationship from secondary school in which Wilbur tears into a girl for being insecure despite her privileges... for seemingly no reason. I mean, surely, you’ve moved on, right? Thankfully, Wilbur does get his comeuppance by the end of the song as the girl throws his drink at him, but it does leave the rest of the song with a pretty spiteful taste in my mouth that can’t be avoided by some pretty, 2000s indie rock-esque instrumentals. It doesn’t help that Wilbur Soot is such a non-presence as well, which I can see improving as the band goes on to record more material but the problem is with this early stage is that for now, it’s all rather primitive... yet it’s still charting. Oh, and if any people happen to find this that are fans of this guy, I am terrified of you so I’ll clarify that I don’t dislike this band at all, I’m just not a fan of what I’ve heard. I just wanted to put that out there because I value my personal information.

#74 – “Crocodile Teeth” – Skillibeng

Produced by Adde Instrumentals and Johnny Wonder

So last week, Nicki Minaj re-released her classic 2009 mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty onto official streaming services for the first time, with a remastered mix of some of her classic remixes as well as some new tracks or fan-favourite loosies sprinkled in. Why do I say this in reference to some random unrelated track, you ask? Well, we’ll get back to Nicki later but this song was actually remixed by Nicki and appears on that mixtape, despite baring no resemblance or relation to that mixtape at all, given this was released in 2020. The UK Singles Chart is particularly inconsistent is crediting remixes however, so we have the original here and, for what it’s worth, I quite like this. Skillibeng isn’t the most interesting presence but does his job in being vaguely menacing and violent over this cheap piano-led Afroswing instrumental with some questionable bass mastering. The song is in Patois but you can get the gist that it’s gunplay and flexing, typically stuff you’d hear in any UK drill track and it’s generic for sure but catchy enough to ignore. This version of the song is completely passable but I do think it is elevated by Nicki’s short introductory verse on the remix. I’d obviously have preferred there be more interplay but the remix was probably only known to Skillibeng when Nicki’s lawyers reached out anyway.

#72 – “Straightenin” – Migos

Produced by DJ Durel, Atake, Sluzyyy, OSIRIS, Nuki and Slime Castro

So Migos are finally preparing to release their highly-anticipated record Culture III as the boys are back together after some time apart, in which they have had varying levels of success, with Offset probably delivering the best solo material because he has both the best qualities of Takeoff and Quavo and always delivers on guest verses... I’m sorry, what about this needed six producers? This beat is not bad by any stretch with some vague flute loop eerily played under a rote trap beat, of which the bounced 808s are probably of most interest, but I do not understand how one person, let alone just an AI, couldn’t have made this alone. Regardless, the beat is good enough to make Quavo sound like he finally cares, even if he’s just going to talk about how he just saw Tenet – a bit late to the party – and how he turned a pandemic to a “band-emic”. Yeah, okay, so we’re going to ignore Mr. Quavious and move onto Takeoff and Offset who... at least have some good flows, albeit just the same triplet deliveries they’ve had for years. I think the most interesting part about this whole song is the slippery backing vocal that follows Quavo in the later choruses, which shows an attention to detail I missed from these guys. There’s only so much I can hear Quavo say “don’t nothin’ get straight ‘bout straightenin’” before I lose my mind, though, especially by the time we get to that awkward outro, so I can’t call myself a fan of this. If we’re speaking trap-rap from acts on hiatus, I really would have preferred “Lay wit Ya” by Isaiah Rashad and Duke Deuce to chart but I guess these guys will do.

#64 – “Independence Day Freestyle” – Fredo

Produced by Handz

By the end of this episode, I will never want to hear skittering hi-hats ever again. For now, however, we’ve got the same genre, different country as we go home to Fredo, a British rapper who’s pretty consistently good to be fair to him and did release an album I liked earlier this year. This is just a random freestyle he dropped last week because he felt like it, and here it is on the chart. Okay, well, it isn’t an actual freestyle because nothing that’s called a freestyle actually is in 2021, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a trap banger in itself and it’s got the foundation for it. I love the eerie chipmunk vocal sample that adds a touch of soul to the menacing keys before they get drowned out by trap percussion and Fredo going through his typical rags-to-riches commentary and memories of gang violence in one massive verse that somehow keeps my interest throughout the entire three minutes. The flow is about as smooth as it gets with UK rap, typically a lot stiffer, especially in drill, and the mixing’s fine, so yeah, I can’t really complain. I’d have preferred a chorus, obviously, and there are extended freestyles we’ll talk about later that do this a lot better, but for now, I can dig this, especially considering it’s pretty damn quotable for what it is. “If I fell off, I must have fell off the stairs into some elevators” is a bar, as is when he says he’s got more foreign cars than an Asian wedding or when he calls himself “Lord of the Bling”... okay, maybe that one’s not as impressive.

#62 – “The Great Escape” – Blanco and Central Cee

Produced by LiTek and WhyJay

Central Cee is a more familiar name but you may not know Blanco who, despite the collaboration with Cee making it ripe for comparison and comedy, is not a French white rapper. Rather, he’s from pioneering drill group Harlem Spartans and this is actually his first solo charting song thanks to Cee’s appearance. As you’d expect, this has some loud drill production and vague acoustic guitar loop as well as some stuttering vocal production peppered with dark 808s (that do bang here in all honesty) and pointless alarm sounds. Whilst drill is so standardised now, I do actually like this beat because it’s what I want to hear Cee on; sure, it’s got the guitar and the flutes but it’s also got a sax riff, which is what made “Loading” so fun. Blanco himself is also a more charming presence than Cee and their two energies bounce off of each other pretty well, even if the most witty their punchlines get are just referencing Powerpuff Girls characters... and when they’re not basic, they’re borderline incoherent but whatever, this is a fun slice of misogyny and violence that you’d expect from the genre with at least some care put into it. Not bad at all.

#56 – “Bussdown” – Jorja Smith featuring Shaybo

Produced by Riccardo Damian, Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman and Kal Banx

This is the break-out single from the most recent “project” from Jorja Smith, going the Drake route of not bothering to name it an album, mixtape or EP, and this one features London rapper Shaybo in a track about materialism but not as much embracing it as becoming increasingly alienated by it as whilst wealth may bring you luxury and connections, it detaches you from reality, which is the point in Shaybo’s verses about being Miss Naive, someone who is increasingly aggressive as a result because, well, she always gets what she wants, right? This is not a project I listened to but the content is promising... until I actually hear the song, with its awkward, clattering percussion showered in overwhelming vocal mixing that fails in whatever intimacy it attempts to present, and that’s before the decidedly unsubtle air horns and guitar licks. The song is minimal enough for the content to kind of fall flat as well, as a song like this feels like it deserves more than a slick bass groove, rather some kind of maximalist yet subtlety eerie production. I’m thinking Shaybo would actually make more sense there than she would here as well as her awkward, pathetic-sounding flow is delivered in the most dead-pan cadence, so much so that it drifts off fully into background “vibe” music but even then, it feels too distracting in the mix to work as that. I did want to like this but it just ends up as a really disappointing track from Jorja Smith, once again.

#42 – “Seeing Green” – Nicki Minaj, Drake and Lil Wayne

Produced by GOVI and Kid Masterpiece

We’re half-way through our batch of new arrivals and what better way to celebrate than a posse cut by three rappers long past their prime by now without a chorus that pushes six minutes? Normally, that would be sarcastic, but in this case it is absolutely not as this is awesome. I love 2000s hip-hop and a chipmunk soul-inflected beat blended with early 2010s era proto-trap production is obviously going to appeal to me as that type of contrast is what I love about more lyrical hip-hop, hell, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was said this was a Kanye beat or more accurately perhaps one by Harry Fraud. It helps that over that gorgeous soul sample we have all three rappers proving they still have it as performers, with some detailed verses from the classic Young Money crew that if nothing else provide a perfect nostalgia button for their era of dominance in hip-hop, not that it’s ever stopped since. I also just love hearing Lil Wayne hungry again, because I am a pretty big fan of his voice, delivery and even some of his wordplay and one-liners, all of which he expresses perfectly in his high-energy verse that switches through flaws as if it were all some off-the-top freestyle, and knowing Wayne, it might as well could have been. I love how he starts his verse off by shooting a guy and then saying it was his bad for doing it because he was a “good cat” and somehow it gets more off the rails afterwards, as he calls his girl a vacuum and says he’s peeing lean, before this self-proclaimed “badonkadonk bikini fiend” reminisces about his bisexual ex from Atlanta in a pretty clever use of repetition in rap. This is all with his sludged drawl of a delivery, which becomes especially important when he calls us all back to 2010 as when Wayne was in prison at his career peak, Drake always said “Free Weezy” and now 10 years later, Wayne’s saying “Free Drizzy” because Drake’s locked up in Canada because of the COVID-19 pandemic... because of course. I know it just seems like I’m itching out tiny little details in the verse but that’s what’s so great about repeated listens to detailed and great rap verses. That’s not to say Wayne is the only stand-out here either as Nicki Minaj impresses with that confident delivery she’s known for as she clarifies her beef with Cardi B being less about her “copying her homework” as it was about her up-hill battle with the industry, she recites how bitches are infamously her sons and delivers some pretty clever and quotable lines of her own, like “brand new Vanilla Maserati, I’ve been Haagen-Daszin’”... which again sounds like a bar straight out of 2010. I think the best verse here might actually be from Drake as much as I hate to say it, with bravado out of the gate that seems pretty deserved for someone with as immense success as he’s had. Not only is he referencing back to 2010 and even his Degrassi days, comparing it to the run-up to his upcoming album since he’s back on two crutches, but he’s also delivering some of his most interesting and quotable lines in years, and it all runs off so effortlessly and smoothly, but with a constant hunger and conviction reminding me of some of his deeper cuts like “Dreams Money Can Buy”. I won’t go further than I already have with this song – even though I could gladly quote practically the entirety of Drake’s verse, even when he aspires to be Vladimir Putin (I guess it’s better than accidentally comparing himself to Hitler) – but I’ve rambled on enough about this wonderful track. Triumphant lyrical rapping over soulful vocal loops will never be a thing I stop having a fondness for; these are some of my nostalgia biases creeping in – especially since these aren’t close to being the best verses any of the trio have delivered – but it’s so great hearing all three back on form together. Check this out if you haven’t as it’s absolutely a highlight off of the mixtape’s re-release.

#37 – “Build a Bitch” – Bella Poarch

Produced by Sub Urban and Elle Rizk

Bella Poarch is a name I had to search up and it turns out she is another one of these TikTok stars turned pop singers and all power to them for starting their career through such a useful and culturally important platform, honestly, and realistically, anyone regardless of their career background could make a song I enjoy, so there’s no use in dismissing them as a result, especially if I actually enjoy the concept of this song. The writing tends to be a bit childish as expected – again, more on that later – particularly when she sings lines like “Bob the Builder broke my heart and told me it needs fixing”, but the song’s theme of embracing young women for how they really are instead of Photoshopped, unrealistic beauty expectations is a message I like being expressed to her audience of teenage girls; I see it as necessary in the social media age. I do think that this message could be expressed with more tact than a Build-a-Bear parody but it never goes the slut-shaming route and is more critical of the men demanding or expecting perfection from their female partners, or on a wider scale the expectation for successful women to follow fashion and beauty trends, especially by men in their industries and fields. Poarch herself is a light-hearted vocalist kind of reminding me a bit too much of a self-serious Ashnikko but the melody in the chorus is infectious enough for me to ignore how void a personality she is. It’s harder however to ignore the stiff 808s that drown out clattering, awkward future-bass production and that drop just being really gross, kind of ruining the song in how it’s clearly a lean towards hyper-pop without fully drawing itself within that lane. Either way, this is fine, and at barely two minutes it struggles to find itself as a finished song let alone anything I can be offended by. This is remarkably okay, and that’s more than I expected.

#16 – “a m a r i” – J. Cole

Produced by T-Minus, J. Cole, Sucuki and Timbaland

These songs don’t even show up when you search them on Spotify and to be honest, I was hoping that would lead to limited success but of course, it didn’t. J. Cole’s latest album The Off-Season is yet another mediocre instalment in a dull catalogue full of rambling verses from a guy who thinks he has much more to say than he actually ends up saying, and it’s exhausting to listen let alone discuss the man’s art out of a sheer lack of personality or wit that follows his every move. His Dreamville label is filled to the brim with people more consistent, skilful and interesting than Cole has ever been so it’s just frustrating to see the label boss get all of the recognition. Regardless, I’ve never liked Cole as an artist – especially not a conscious one given the ableism, homophobia and tone-deaf exchange with Noname just last year – so I’m almost glad he’s stripped off half of the pretence of making a woke, important album. He’s just rapping on this record, which gives me the excuse to run through the rest of these consecutive bores from Cole as quickly as possible. First of all, we have “a m a r i”, a barely sufferable dud from the album scored by a blend of acoustic guitars and squelching trap percussion that fails to platform Cole’s Auto-Tuned moaning, oftentimes just aggravating and barely listenable, and sometimes disguising some pretty weak, topic-less verses for a man who claims to be focused. “Want smoke? I’m a whole nicotine company” is not the silliest bar on the album, but I’m almost convinced the song ends as abruptly as it does because Timbaland’s embarrassed that he helped produce such an underwhelming beat and not even someone praised as a modern great can save it from being worthless.

#15 – “p r i d e . i s . t h e . d e v i l” – J. Cole and Lil Baby

Produced by T-Minus

One of my favourite hip-hop releases of last year was Aminé’s Limbo, a diverse selection of tracks that ranged from conscious hip-hop about his ambitions and fears about growing up and raising children in a modern world as well as typical trap-rap flexing and R&B crooners about girl problems. All of this is smoothly stirred into a pot of personality that actually attempts to bridge a gap between older and newer generations of rappers rather than just claiming to. “Can’t Decide” is not one of my favourite tracks from that record – “Compensating” with Young Thug executes its ideas just that little bit better for me – but it’s still a fun, R&B-adjacent tune with insanely catchy hooks about Aminé’s relationships. So why did we need a J. Cole remix? This guy sucks the fun out of beats like a vacuum in a bouncy castle, as he sloppily whines in an almost emo-rap cadence over a cheaper West Coast slide he just can’t convincingly sell. Lyrically, Cole focuses on the idea of pride and how it corrupts someone’s morals, criticising the flashing of money and social isolation from the family... both of which seem like Cole’s M.O. at this point, right? Success amidst independence? Platinum without features? This time around, there is a feature however from Lil Baby, who much like Cole claims to be focused in this very focused whilst pick-and-choosing between random trains of thought in his typical frog-throat delivery. Hey, at least Lil Baby flows with less strain and unwarranted, desperate effort that Cole does, and ends up out-shining the primary artist entirely, even if he’s going to “pay silly bands to have sex on the jet”. ..What?

#13 – “m y . l i f e” – J. Cole, 21 Savage and Morray

Produced by WU10, J. Cole and Jake One

The first lines of this song are “Spiralling up just like a rich person’s staircase; no fly zone, please stay out of my airspace”. Cole, I thought pride was the devil! I understand that one can still acknowledge the flaws in their worldview whilst embracing it and engaging themselves in it – that’s really a lot of the point of rags-to-riches rap – but some subtlety or at least some explanation from someone who wants you to see him as focused, woke, hungry and a master of his craft, would have been nice, right? This is Morray’s first charting hit in the UK and I’m glad he’s here as he’s basically what differentiates this from the duo’s prior collaboration “a lot”, a song that not only banged harder but felt smoother and Hell, just more coherent, especially with some soulful production that this new collaboration glaringly rips off. Morray’s biggest hit is “Quicksand” but his mixtape Street Sermons is full of soulful and honest trap-rap that I’d absolutely recommend for gospel flavour on the surface and the lyrical detail behind the bravado being extensive and confidently delivered, especially standing out on his own with no features to speak of. He has the chorus on here and I’m surprised DaBaby doesn’t have the second verse so this could be a North Carolina anthem but we do have 21 Savage, who delivers his typical brand of cold-hearted (or rather no-hearted), stoic paranoia bars but at least that’s a personality. 21 Savage delivers a slick flow over this sample and spits the pretty simple yet profound bar of “I pray that my past ain’t ahead of me”, leading to probably the most enjoyable verse on the whole album. If you couldn’t tell, the new guys outshine the old guard so obviously with so little effort it’s kind of impressive on Cole’s part even. I’m glad this is the biggest hit from this album so far as not only is this one of the best tracks out of a slim selection but it’s big for both 21 and especially Morray, who I’m really rooting for against, say, a Rod Wave or Kevin Gates in terms of southern rap with a lot more soul and grit. Oh, and Cole, “know it’s on sight when I see you like I’m working at Squarespace”? Really? Again, it’s not the dumbest bar on the album.

#2 – “good 4 u” – Olivia Rodrigo

Produced by Alexander 23 and Dan Nigro

It’s pretty fitting to book-end a batch of new arrivals mostly consisting of hardcore gritty trap with two up-beat alternative rock tracks, and I’ll say I prefer this to Lovejoy mostly because, well, like I said with “Seeing Green”, my biases will always be on full and honest display, and as someone who’s a sucker for pop-punk of all eras, especially if it’s a female-fronted band with some youthful, raspy vocals, this will obviously hit for me. Throughout Sour, I found it hard to buy into the teenage melodrama due to Dan Nigro’s production often sounding too clean for its own sake, never allowing the guitars to really crash into some lo-fi, distorted noise like they seem to want to do on tracks like this, “deja vu” and especially the opener, “traitor”. Sadly, that cuts the chances of radio airplay by a ton more than it should, so we end up with mixing that slides off Rodrigo’s reverb-drenched vocals too smoothly, creating a rather formulaic album, unfortunate for its sheer excess of promise. With that said, this is one of my favourite tracks off of the album, if only for that funky bassline and some of Nigro’s most interesting stylistic and production choices, particularly in the drumming, which sounds as organic as possible for something that was programmed by him and Alexander 23. The sarcasm-laced post-break-up kiss-off is already not unfamiliar territory for Olivia Rodrigo and neither was it for Avril Lavigne, which this track tends to sound almost like an imitation of, down to the inconsistently PG-13 image as “screw you” is delivered with as much conviction as the actual F-bomb in the same verse. Regardless of how much it wants to consistently kill its own momentum, this janky songwriting actually reminds me of early Paramore, much of which holds a special place in my heart, so whilst Hayley Williams has been off doing her solo work – and Paramore seem to have moved on from this kind of bitter, petty pop rock anyway – this quenches that thirst pretty effectively.

Conclusion

Olivia Rodrigo bags the Honourable Mention for “good 4 u” as well as it’s one of two songs debuting this week I think are pretty damn special, the other one being “Seeing Green” by Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne and Drake as it grabs Best of the Week. For the worst, I mean, pick your J. Cole-flavoured poison but personally I’d say “a m a r i” can be crowned Worst of the Week with a Dishonourable Mention to... great, I don’t want to seem like I hate J. Cole but nothing else here is even as bad as his Lil Baby collaboration “p r i d e . i s . t h e . d e v i l”. Here’s this week’s top 10:

Expect two more of those spaces filled up by Olivia Rodrigo next week as whilst we may not get any new entries from her the album will have an impact regardless on the chart. Otherwise, I guess we’ll have to wait and see with how a Queen-sampling BTS song wrecks the chart – probably will give both Olivia and “Body” some #1 competition – as well as new songs from Little Mix, Lana Del Rey, Polo G and Lil Nas X popping up not too far behind it. It should be just as busy next week, folks, so strap in, I suppose. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you then!

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themousai · 4 years

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Top 10 Albums of the Decade: Lily Mou

D.R.U.G.S.

Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows

[2010]

Introducing the first “scene” album I had ever heard. Flashback to early 2010, when I was a smol little 13 year old. I basically lived my life is a Linkin Park stan not willing to listen to much else. Every day I would browse “lplive.net” for the latest Linkin Park news and leaks until one fateful day BAM, someone on that forum posted a link to the song “Mr. Owl Ate My Metal Worm”. Boy oh boy, how my world changed after listening to that song. The album is a pop post-hardcore masterpiece from start to finish, without any filler tracks. Groovy breakdowns, fun and catchy choruses, and corny lyrics. There’s nothing I would change about this album.

A Thousand Suns Linkin Park

[2010]

A Thousand Suns is an album that pretty much served as a gateway to experimental music for me. (This album is probably one of the reasons why Bring Me The Horizon is so experimental now too if you take into account Oli Sykes being a huge fan of LP). For most of my early years as a music fan, I mainly enjoyed songs with the “verse - chorus - repeat - bridge - chorus - outro” formula and didn’t think twice about it. This album made me fall in love with the idea of artists being able to do whatever the hell they wanted as it followed none of the normal conventions of popular songwriting and managed to keep my attention throughout.

Rest in Peace Chester Bennington, you were a legend.

The Hearts of Lonely People Isles & Glaciers

[2011]

This release isn’t even a full-length album but it’s just that damn good that it had to make the list. A supergroup featuring post-hardcore’s leading experimental artists at the time, Isles & Glaciers’ The Hearts of Lonely People is a dreamy bop with 5 full songs and 2 interludes backed with beautiful synth pads swelling in and out layered under groovy guitar riffs that really bring the boogie. Not to mention the insane tenor vocal trio or Jonny Craig, Vic Fuentes, and Craig Owens. This EP is a scene wet dream that will never happen again in a million years. And yes, I have cried to these songs many times.

No Place A Lot Like Birds

[2012]

No Place is an emo prog concept album about a dysfunctional home with each song representing a room of the house. First off I wanna say the drums on this album are on a level that is untouchable. Listen to the song Next to Ungodliness and your jaw will drop from the near impossible rudiments that flow so perfectly with the time signature changes throughout the whole song. This album is so emotionally charged and will hit home for anyone that enjoys poetry with screaming vocalist Cory Lockwood being a creative writer in his own right. Another album with endless depth, there is so much love put into each song you can always find new things in each track every time you listen to it.

5th Dimension Momoiro Clover Z

[2013]

This album is so insanely dense with chord progressions, key changes, and genres I would honestly be fine if this was the only album I was allowed to listen to until the end of time. J-pop to me is the thinking man’s K-pop. From a musical standpoint there is just so much to take in and you can never tell where a song is going to go. There’s even a song featuring Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth). With so much charm to every song you’ll find yourself wanting to go down the rabbit hole of Momokuro, and if you ever needed an excuse to listen to J-pop this is the album to do it.

Everything is Beautiful Kurt Travis

[2014]

This album is so damn pretty. What really makes this album for me is the production and the extra care to the dynamics of each instrument you hear. This R&B influenced indie album is chock full of beautiful guitar chords and dreamy synth patches that exude a dare I say: sexual energy. With lyrics that perfectly encapsulate the emotional rollercoaster that is being in love with somebody, this album is a perfect listen for anyone in any phase of love from infatuation to heartbreak. Everything is Beautiful can be enjoyed by anyone, from indie, post-rock, R&B, and emo fans.

Grievances Rolo Tomassi

[2015]

Oh my god. This album is equal parts dark, beautiful, and technical. Before this album, I had never heard such a combination, as with prog / mathcore bands I’ve heard in the past only making music that is zany, satirical, or harsh for the sake of being harsh. Every section in this album is purposeful and flows well into the next. Every time you listen closely, you will always find new nuances you didn’t realise was there. There is so much depth to this album that I reckon this should be the gold standard for prog in hardcore.

Mothership Dance Gavin Dance

[2016]

Trust me when I say that Mothership is an album that is unique in its technical mastery and catchiness. You will not find another album that will have more motifs and lyrical passages stuck in your head than this one. You’ll even find yourself humming the insane noodly guitar work that is unrelenting in its intensity yet somehow not overbearing. There is no other band that could match making an album that is so busy, yet so rich in musical substance. This album alone has converted so many of my friends into diehard fans of Dance Gavin Dance, so go and give it a jam and join the club!

Where The Mind Wants To Go / Where You Let It Go I The Mighty

[2017]

This album did not get the love it deserved and the band I the Mighty are so insanely underrated to this very day. This vocals on this album are so intricate with little bits of falsetto, breaths, and breaks throughout allowing the theme of physical intimacy to really shine. Every section in each song is not wasted and feels so well placed as they seamlessly transition into the next. The guitar work is dreamy and the drums are so tight. With this album you can really tell that the band takes influences from all over the place with semblances of prog artists like Coheed and Cambria, and Dance Gavin Dance; even having a feature from Tilian Pearson from DGD.

The Act The Devil Wears Prada

[2019]

Before this album, I always believed that metalcore that came from the peak of the Myspace era would never age well and the artists that came from it were incapable of creating anything with substance as they usually end up creating butt-rock for rednecks. Holy poo poo did The Devil Wears Prada prove me wrong with this album. I honestly can’t describe why, but every guitar riff was just so well thought out and even the chugging breakdowns (which is a pet-peeve of mine) were able to make me feel like this was the first time I had discovered heavy music again.

Listen to our decade wrapped over on Spotify!

Written by Lily Mou / Downfall Productions

[More decade round ups here]

#the devil wears prada #Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows #linkin park #i the mighty #isles & glaciers #a lot like birds #Momoiro Clover Z #kurt travis #Rolo Tomassi #Dance Gavin Dance #lily mou #top 10s of 2010s

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lordsintacks · 5 years

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It was a damn good year for music last year and it was so hard to narrow it down to an honest list, but after letting it all marinate for a couple weeks, I have decided these are my favorite albums of 2018 aka Year of the Sax.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Between the Buried and Me - Automata Crystal Lake - Helix Doja Cat - Amala Hayley Kiyoko - Expectations Eminem - Kamikaze Behemoth - I Loved You at Your Darkest Zhu - Ringos Desert Coheed and Cambria - The Unheavenly Creatures Unearth - Extinction(s) Gouge Away - Burnt Sugar

#Favorite #albums #2018 #anderson paak #breezy lovejoy #utada hikaru #utada #rivers of nihil #A Perfect circle #apc #centuries #rosalia #polyphia #palm #gunship #mondo grosso

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strangeandodd-blog · 6 years

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Once again, DEUCE ( ex Hollywood Undead vocalist ) proves that he can’t be stopped on his second full-length album, Invincible out NOW!!

Once again, DEUCE ( ex Hollywood Undead vocalist ) proves that he can’t be stopped on his second full-length album, Invincible out NOW!! Once again, DEUCE proves that he can’t be stopped on his second full-length album, Invincible [out December 1st on Five Seven…

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mystictreestudentsblog-blog · 5 years

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So you want to know more about me, huh?! :3 Sure, let's go!

My name is Indigo. However I sometimes go by Loki Quinn, but it's more like a perfomer/artist name though. I am an assigned female at birth genderqueer and genderfluid; my preferred pronouns are she/her/hers or they/them/theirs. I also identify as a queer sapphic-leaning panromantic asexual. I just hit level 25 almost a month ago, and slowly but surely making my way to level 26. [I always level up in December. ] Nashville Tennessee is my home.

I'm possibly the most geeky/nerdy/otaku/otome punktato ever. I love: Sci-fi/Fantasy/Horror, Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Animanga, and Gaming. I'm also very voracious when it comes to learning things. My interests are: Geek/Nerd/Otome/Otaku culture, STEM, the Arts, Social Studies, Literature, Language Arts, the paranormal/mythical/supernatural, the occult, and witchcraft. [I firmly believe that learning never ends, and learning is very much immortal. ]

I'm a loud and proud witch. I'm a pantheistic, eclectic, solitary Gray witch.

Speaking of punk, my taste in music is as eclectic as my magick. It often ranges from: Emo, Gothic Rock, Pop Punk, Post-punk, Synthpop, Geek Rock, Nerdcore, Goth, Hardcore Punk, Deathrock, Nintendcore, Mathcore, Witch House, Dreampop, Darkwave, Punk, Metalcore, Prog Metal, J-rock, J-pop, Vocaloids, Kawaii Metal, Anime Themes, Theme Songs to Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror and Comic Book movies, EDM, EBM, Industrial, and [takes a long breath ] Grunge.

I am basically a geek of all trades and actually mastered quite a few things thank you much. I work as a scare actress at Nashville Nightmare, but I also aspire to be an animanga artist and Sci-fi/Fantasy writer at some point.

So here is my introduction and I do apologize for it being wordy. I don't talk that much IRL unless it's with one of my fellow geeks/nerds/otome/otaku and punk peeps.

#welcome to my tumblr #introduction

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theart2rock · 6 years

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The Architects kommen nach Zürich

ARCHITECTS KOMMEN MIT NEUEM ALBUM NACH ZÜRICH

Mit musikalischem Können und einem ausgeprägten Arbeitsethos haben sich Architects aus dem englischen Brighton innerhalb weniger Jahre eine treue, internationale Fangemeinde erspielt. Acht stilistisch stets neu ausgerichtete Alben untermauern ihre Ausnahmequalitäten als brillante Musiker zwischen Metalcore, Mathcore, Post-Hardcore und Progressive Metal. Mit ihrem neuen Album „Holy Hell“ geht die Band wieder auf grosse Europa Tour und spielt am Montag, 28. Januar 2019 in der Halle 622 in Zürich.

Die Brüder Tom und Dan Searle drückten noch die Schulbank, als sie 2004 ihre erste Metalcore-Band Inharmonic gründeten. Tom übernahm die Leadgitarre, Dan sass hinter dem Schlagzeug. Schnell fanden sie in Bassist Alex Dean, Gitarrist Tim Hillier-Brook und Frontmann Matt Johnson geeignete Mitstreiter und machten sich in der lokalen Szene trotz ihrer Jugend einen Namen als eine aussergewöhnlich versierte Metalcore-Band.

Von Anfang an überzeugten die Jungs durch überwältigende Spielfreude. Sie tourten konstant durch kleine und grössere Hallen und gaben bei jedem Konzert das Optimum. Ihrem Frontmann Matt Johnson wurde dies allerdings zu viel, weshalb er vor den Aufnahmen zum zweiten Album durch den Shouter Sam Carter ersetzt wurde. Mit dem 2007 veröffentlichten Album „Ruin“ gelang ihnen der internationale Durchbruch im Genre des Metalcore. Ihre extensiven Konzertreisen dehnten sich auf ganz Europa aus und 2008 folgte die erste, umjubelte USA-Tournee. Nach ihrer Schweizer Show im Januar 2018 kommen Architects zurück nach Zürich: am Samstag, 26. Januar 2019 in der Halle 622 Zürich. Tickets gibt es ab dem 14. September 2018 hier.

Quelle: Good News

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The Architects kommen nach Zürich was originally published on The Art 2 Rock

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