Tracks of the Week 4: 29/2 - 6/3

Yo! I got some more choice cuts from new music released over the past seven days. Just as last week, I was really impressed with the quality of new music that I've been hearing recently. If you liked/hated any of these selections, let me know with a comment. That being said, here are my five favourite new tracks.

case/lang/veirs – “Atomic Number”

Teaser single for the upcoming project by Neko Case from The New Pornographers, country/pop superstar k.d. lang & singer-songwriter Laura Veirs. Although I do particularly like the backing instrumentation of acoustic guitar, light percussion and string sections, what really struck me was the trio of female voices weaving in and out through the piece, each distinct in their own way. Makes for a captivating concoction of pop, country & indie pop aesthetics. 4/5

JMSN – “Cruel Intentions”

Smooooooooth soul. Feels like a classic D’Angelo joint from the Brown Sugar era. Featuring some bluesy guitars, punchy horns & laid-back grooves, it’s the quintessential slow jam. JMSN croons as if he was born to dish out heavy doses of soul. 3.5/5

Kendrick Lamar – “untitled 06”

 

Okay, so I had a tough decision to make here. Kendrick’s untitled unmastered. has several standout tracks, and I’ve been noticing a lot of hype around 02, 05, 07 and of course 08 a.k.a. “Blue Faces”. But as a massive fan of OutKast, it was 06 that stood out to me the most. It plays like something out of Aquemini (is it a coincidence that Kendrick muses about his star sign – Gemini – on the intro?) with Cee-Lo singing the hook, and production handled by Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge. It’s definitely added a LOT of hype for me in regards to his upcoming performance at Auckland City Limits. 4.5/5

Yeasayer – “Silly Me” 

Brooklyn-based psychedelic/electronic quartet Yeasayer aren’t a group that I’m all that familiar with, but after hearing this track ahead of their fourth album Amen & Goodbye due out on April 1, I might have to start diving into their discography. It’s surprisingly catchy considering how odd and heavily layered the instrumentation is, and the vocals really give me vibes of Andy Bell from 1980s synthpop duo Erasure. 3.5/5

Your Old Droog – “Hip-Hop Head”

Had a good laugh while listening to this. Your Old Droog delivers a couple of funny verses about a girl he meets that really loves hip hop, hence the title. There are some fairly clever humorous lines, for example “Fuck with Bun B, then she givin up the Buns, B”. It’s produced by Alchemist, who gives it an old-school style beat with some druggy horns and a steady backbeat. It’s the kind of comedy rap that I don’t hear very often in modern hip hop, akin to what Biz Markie was doing during the 1980s. 3.5/5

- Karl

Why I won't care if Kendrick loses at the Grammys

Last year, Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city was nominated for Best Rap Album at the Grammys. He lost out to Macklemore’s The Heist. Kendrick fans were enraged, and I was one of them. It was a farce, Macklemore even felt it necessary to apologise to Kendrick. It didn’t make sense to me.

Back then, Kendrick was still an up-and-coming rapper. He put out a really solid debut album in 2011 called Section.80, a year later he dropped a few singles for his follow-up record, which performed well on the R&B and Rap charts, but failed to crack the top 10 on the Hot 100. However, the album was a success, hitting #2 on the Hot 100. A remarkable achievement for anyone, let alone a 25 year old making a commercially successful Hip Hop concept album. How often do we see concept albums anywhere nowadays, let alone those which hit #2 on the charts?

When I first heard good kid, m.A.A.d city, I reckoned it was a game-changer. Subtitled “A short film by Kendrick Lamar”, the album is an overwhelmingly ambitious piece of art, with first-person narratives of Kendrick’s experiences growing up in Compton, dealing with issues such as gang violence, drinking culture and drug addiction, and crucially the incredible production handled by Dr. Dre gave it the substance it needed. Hip Hop hadn’t seen anything like it since the golden era. Yet it still lost. This is nothing new when it comes to institutionalised award ceremonies, commercial success is often the deciding factor. What deserves to win doesn’t always win.

Things are different this time around. Kendrick’s no longer an up-and-comer. He’s established himself. He’s the King of New York. Hip Hop fans don’t hesitate when calling him the best rapper going around. He collaborates with his closest rivals, there’s no animosity between them. In fact, come next year we could see a project between Kendrick and J. Cole, if the “Black Friday” release is anything to go by. More importantly, To Pimp a Butterfly has had much more of a significant impact, not just commercially, but in terms of affecting cultural consciousness. The singles are wildly infectious, and for the most part, preach positive, uplifting and hopeful messages. People are singing “I love myself” and chanting “we gon’ be alright”. The same couldn’t be said about the singles from good kid, m.A.A.d city, as great as they were.

For the 58th Grammy Awards, Kendrick has received a staggering 11 nominations, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year (“Alright”) and Best Rap Album. He might win all of these. He should win at least one. Does that mean he’ll win any? No. I’ve learned my lesson from last time. He could easily lose Album of the Year, most likely to Taylor Swift or The Weeknd. I won’t care. Kendrick’s well past the point where getting one or many small replica gramophones actually means anything. He’s attained a far greater achievement – the hearts and minds of his listeners, and judging from the interviews I’ve seen of Kendrick talking about the album, that’s exactly what he set out to do. In that sense, he’s already won.

- Karl