(Flying Nun)
RECOMMENDED
Read my review at Metro Times Blogs (scroll down)
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Times New Viking: Dancer Equired (2011)
(Merge)
RECOMMENDED
Read my Metro Times review (from April)
Catching up with the indie-fuzz stalwarts...
Colleen Green: Cujo EP (2011)
(Art Fag)
RECOMMENDED
Read my CRANK review at Metro Times.
Lady with a drum machine and some anthemic punk rock. Nothing better.
Curren$y: Return to the Winner's Circle (2011)
(Datpiff)
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Said it before, but: this guy is bonkers. When this tape dropped on the first of January, I was still drowning in Curren$y's two Pilot Talk albums from 2010 and bigger releases from hip hop's most diligent worker have distracted me ever since: a legit album on Warner Bros., an EP with Alchemist, and the Verde Terrace collaboration with DJ Drama. So it's only now that I come to this unbelievably raw, sick stopgap issued just a month and a half after Pilot Talk II.
Winner's Circle is a mixtape in the real sense, in that it features little beyond Curren$y rapping (usually nonchalantly as ever) over preexisting tracks, including samples of Rick Ross, OutKast, Raekwon, and Big K.R.I.T., among others. But this is some of the wildest and most adventurous work issued under his name so far, and one reason seems to be the absence of attendant expectations. He raps and tosses this stuff off like he's just breathing, and the result is his finest release of the year and a ballsy firecracker of a tape.
Because the thing blazes by at just over half an hour, you tend not to have much time to digest the ideas as they run by. Starting with the slow '90s burn of "Daze of Thunder," Circle shifts to left field with the eccentric six-minute opus "Rain Delay" marked by its sound effects and strange dialogue samples. But "Trophy Case" is where things really get started; a sample of a plane flying overhead (jet life, etc.) takes us into Curren$y's strange, jazzy, smooth laboratory with bouncy Dame Dash and Cam'ron samples; the momentum and organic energy are in a league with his brilliant Ski Beatz collaborations.
From there, the thing doesn't let up -- "Empire Monopoly" is on about "square footage" over an ominous Max B loop, "Record Deal" scores on sarcastic music-biz wisdom and outrageous minimalism both, while "Frost" inaugurates the second half with Curren$y's most breathless, rapid-fire flow on record to date. He's still talking about the same shit as ever, maybe a little more about cars and fame now but eight miles high like before, but his wordplay ("lemonade bottles" / "role models" / "bitches and Impalas") is more infuriating and delightful than ever. Indeed, "Role Model" and "Paydays" stand with "Frost" as offering the most purely impressive moments we've been given of Curren$y's sheer skill and showmanship -- he's a thrill to listen to, but it's just as telling to hear him give the floor away to others. The riotous "Moon & Stars Remix" takes on a Big K.R.I.T. track and wrings new life out of an already killer cut -- but even better, "Jets at Ya Neck" snakes along and flows body-slam irresistibly with the help of Jet Life crew members Trademark, Whizz, and Roddy, all in top form.
In fact, Return to the Winner's Circle is so good -- such fresh, smart party music with clever lyrics and phenomenal, no-nonsense rapping -- you wonder why nothing else Curren$y did in 2011 quite stands up to it. But who gives a fuck? In the last year and a half, the guy's released more music than most rappers put out in half a decade. Can't wait to see what the hell he gets up to next year.
[SEE ALSO:]
Pilot Talk (2010)
Pilot Talk II (2010)
Weekend at Burnie's (2011)
Verde Terrace (2011)
with The Alchemist: Covert Coup (2011)
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
The Chemical Brothers: Hanna OST (2011)
(Back Lot)
RECOMMENDED
Read my Metro Times review (from April)
A few things I reviewed in print earlier this year and haven't addressed in this space warrant mention, so those will be appearing over the next few days. I liked this soundtrack much more than the Chems' 2010 effort Further, reviewed below.
[SEE ALSO:]
Further (2010)
Brian Eno & Rick Holland: Drums Between the Bells (2011)
(Warp)
!! CAUTION !!
feather
houses
detergent
Burt Lancaster
shoes
pills
PILLS
pills
the fever is
THE DREAM
!!>!>!>!>!???!?!?!??!
PILLS
bleach
the middle
the middle
the middle
the middle
brainwashed
torn.
old
people
we
used
to
love
are
putting
us
on.
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