Archive | July, 2017

Young Thug – Beautiful Thugger Girls

31 Jul

Inimitable, enigmatic and ever exciting, Thugger is the kind of rapper that you should be paying attention to. Beautiful Thugger Girls follows JEFFERY and Barter 6 in coherence and thus approachability. Great guest spots, including Future’s personal cuts in “Relationship”, Quavo in the excellent “You Said” and vintage Snoop bars in the appropriate “Get High” further the album’s broad appeal without compromising anything. Additionally, the album opener “Family Don’t Matter” leans far more on singing than normal for Young Thug, and thus softens the album as a whole. The majority though, is still Thugger yelping and squawking his way though songs as only he can, and the album closer “Take Care” does that as well as he ever has, as does “Tomorrow Til Infinity.”

It is however inescapable that Young Thug is not for everyone, and if you don’t like him, you won’t like this. Personally, I’m always interested when he puts out something new and Beautiful Thugger Girls does not disappoint. You should definitely try it out.

– @murthynikhil

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Marvin Gaye – Here, My Dear

21 Jul

Here, My Dear is a singular achievement in music. Marvin Gaye took the entirety of his divorce and put it on a record to pay the alimony for that same divorce. Tender, bitter and very, very human, Here, My Dear is a classic that everyone should listen to.

Musically, it is nothing short of gorgeous. Marvin Gaye was blessed with a beautiful voice capable of layering a song expertly, and he uses it fully. While this is an album that is built to flow, delving into the grooves is deeply rewarding. It’s a surprisingly smooth album given the subject matter. The funk of “Time To Get It Together” is extremely strong as is that of “Is That Enough” and the latter is exquisitely bitter as well. Similarly, the jazz in the background of the instrumental version of “When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You” has a large amount of space to play in and is excellent therein and Marvin Gaye himself sings beautifully.

Speaking of “When Did You…”, the phrase acts as a motif for the entire album. There are no less than three songs with that title in the album, and the simplicity and directness of the question really brings home the painfulness of the situation. It’s an album that swings from emotion to emotion and from thought to thought, sometimes contradicting itself over the course of a single song. The overriding emotion though is bitterness. A song like “Is That Enough” holds nothing back in its barbs against his ex-wife and “You Can Leave, But It’s Going To Cost You” is unabashedly one-sided in its presentation of Anna’s criticisms of Marvin’s infidelity.

And yet, “I Met A Little Girl” is heartbreakingly tender as it tells the story of Marvin meeting Anna, and their coming together and falling apart. Again, it doesn’t pretend to be fair, but it doesn’t forget the good times either. Similarly, while “Anna’s Song” is satirical, Marvin Gaye’s voice imbues it with a fascinating longing.

The album takes an interlude after that song to revisit “When Did You…” but then goes into something completely different with “A Funky Space Reincarnation”, an eight and a half minute side trip about sex on Pluto. It seems disjoint, but conveys the restlessness accompanying a major break-up in a way that a more direct statement could never have gotten across. We then take another moment of bitterness, but close with “Falling In Love Again”, which while clearly meant to wound, also reaffirms Marvin’s belief in love, only to undercut it again with the final cut of “When Did You…”. How else could Marvin Gaye have ended the album but with those two statements?

– @murthynikhil

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Nick Finzer – Hear and Now

15 Jul

Hear and Now manages to perfectly walk the line between depth and accessibility. The pieces are all remarkably easy to listen to and effortlessly captivating. Despite that, they are all remarkably intelligent and greatly reward any effort that you sink into them.

In addition to the above feat, the album is remarkably varied. This version of “Single Petal of A Rose”, while not quite as clean or as challenging as the Duke’s original, would still have fit in perfectly with the music of the time. “Again and Again” on the other hand is pure modern jazz. The very human and very excellent “Love Wins” draws out beautifully clean notes while “We The People” opens the album by lighting the stage on fire. Finally, “New Beginnings” is a classic no matter how you look at it.

If you are listening to the jazz of today, you should be listening to Hear and Now.

– @murthynikhil

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2 Chainz – Pretty Girls Like Trap Music

10 Jul

It’s not surprising that the upswing of trap music resulted in 2 Chainz’s best album to date, but it is a little surprising just how good an album it is. It takes full advantage of the A-list cast that 2 Chainz assembled. In particular, Nicki Minaj does a great job on “Real Lies” and the full cast on “It’s a Vibe” build an actually incredible vibe that 2 Chainz himself converts beautifully before Jhene Aiko ends it perfectly. Drake bounces off 2 Chainz excellently in “Big Amount” one moment and Migos team up with him to make the addictive “Blue Cheese” the next. Additionally, there are some standout solo moments sprinkled through the album. The chanted hook of “Rolls Royce Bitch” swaggers well and I personally love the statements on fungibility in “Sleep When You Die.”

There is just a little too much filler for me to recommend this album without reservations however. The rapping is a little pedestrian in places, and there are extended stretches where nothing that interesting happens. However, there is more than enough here to get your teeth into. If you’re looking for some good trap in an age of good trap, this is a great place to start.

– @murthynikhil

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