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Ghostpoet: Shedding Skin

5 Jan

ghostpoet-shedding-skin

British underground rapper Ghostpoet has a sound that is distinctly his own. His rap has always been hazy and mumbled and very, very atmospheric. I loved Some Say I So I Say Light for that. His new album, Shedding Skin, is probably the only rap album to be closer to The National than to Jay-Z. Sadly, that’s not really a compliment.

While this is probably the most approachable of Ghostpoet’s albums, and his literate, urban middle-class rap is something very worth approaching, it is also the least varied of his albums. like the aforementioned National, the album is pleasant to listen to, but the alt-rock beats tend to bleed into themselves quickly. All of the songs feel the same. There are bright spots, notably the title track which could be out of one of the quieter parts of Hotline Miami and Ghostpoet’s trademark ennui is delightful in points. Only he would run a chorus of “It’s just you’re forgettable / I think that’s the issue, babe.”

If you’re new to Ghostpoet and new to alternate rap, I would recommend this as a stepping stone to the rest of this interesting little corner, but for everyone else this album might just be too forgettable.

– @murthynikhil

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Kamasi Washington: The Epic

27 Dec

Kamasi Mike

I’m just so happy that this album exists. A jazz album in 2015 that is so deeply in love with the post-bebop era of jazz is an unexpected treat. Getting one of this quality just seems unfair.

Above everything else, Kamasi Washington plays a mean sax. Listen to just how impassioned “Final Thought” is and you could be forgiven for thinking that you were back in one of the peak eras of jazz. Similarly, “Change of the Guard” evokes Coltrane with his classic quartet. This is no throwback album though. Ideas enter it from all over the place, both within the history of jazz and without. This is an epic of an album at just under 3 hours and it makes good use of all of it.

It is at its best when it relaxes into hard bop though. The rhythm section lays down backing that manages to be intricate without overpowering the rest of the sound and their solos are fantastic. The bass solo on “The Magnificent 7” and the piano on “Leroy and Lanisha” are both excellent, skillfully setting a refrain and moving everywhere in the space they contain. Similarly, the dueling horns of the energetic “Re Run Home” dance around a central conceit in the greatest of jazz traditions.

From its first moment to its final one some three hours later, The Epic is very simply a jazz classic. I highly recommend it.

– @murthynikhil

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The Internet: Ego Death

10 Dec

Ego Death is the most relaxing album that I have heard in a long while. The soft, calm R&B here is just a pleasure to listen to. Syd the Kid sings deeply personal snippets gently enough to remove the sting and only leave the emotion.

The soothing nature of this album in no way detracts from the quality though. Your work doesn’t need to be ragged to be passionate or true. “Girl”, for instance, is beautiful in how simple it is. This is the first album I’d recommend for relaxing after a bad day and is a strong choice for if you just want to listen to some very good R&B.

– @murthynikhil

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Lupe Fiasco: Tetsuo And Youth

28 Nov

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Lupe Fiasco approaches hip-hop like no one else. His raps have a chain-mail sound to them, intricate and tightly linked and his subject matter is pleasantly unique. With Tetsuo and Youth we have one of his best albums, but it’s hard not to feel a little disappointed.

Lupe jumps right into the album with the “Mural”, a song dense with meaning and robust enough to last almost 9 minutes with no hook. His strengths are just undeniable, he has been an unapologetic auteur for his entire career and his devotion to the form is evident throughout. Songs like “Adoration of the Magi” and “They.Resurrect.Over.New” (featuring an excellent Ab-Soul verse) showcase his approach to lyricism. His words all slot into place perfectly, not only does every line work perfectly with the ones surrounding it but every sound plays with the ones next to it. His lyrics have always tended to the cryptic due to this, but the flow is incredible. Similarly, his viewpoint remains as fresh as ever. “Prisoner 1 & 2” goes through an entire prison, looking not only at the inmates but the guards as well and “Deliver” talks about a neighborhood that pizza men will not deliver to.

Yet, it’s hard not to feel sad that this album is not something more.”Tetsuo and Youth” just isn’t the masterpiece that Lupe has always had in him but never really been able to realize. There’s too much in there that just doesn’t do enough. The beats are mostly too generic to hold up the raps and the album doesn’t really have a stand-out track like Food and Liquor‘s “Kick, Push” or The Cool‘s “Superstar”.

This is still a good enough album to deserve a listen and I would be shocked if that does not lead to many more. After all, isn’t it a statement on the ability of the artist that I wish it was a little more?

– @murthynikhil

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Grimes: Art Angels

19 Nov

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Art Angels is entirely the album of an auteur. That means a care and dedication to the craft that, while increasingly common in pop, is still rare and noteworthy. It also means a number of idiosyncrasies. This is very much an album of an individual. That should be fantastic and mostly is, but this is an album with personality and I have yet to find a person with nothing to dislike.

I love so much about this album though. “Kill V. Maim” and “Flesh Without Blood” for instance are just perfect pop, effortless to fall into and deep enough to keep you in. There are so many ideas in these songs and all of them are good. Grimes here presents an unapologetic idea of pop that she completely owns and that is both imaginative and exceptional.

For all of that though, the album has flaws. For one, the lyrics are throwaway. This is largely fine for an album that is clearly not focused on them, but it is hard not to be a little disappointed when they turn out insubstantial. Additionally, given the variety in the album, it would be hard not to find some things to kick against. “Venus Fly”, for instance, lets down an energetic chorus with a muddled and repetitive song. Similarly, “California” and “Butterfly”, while both great songs do have moments where they seem to try to skate by a little. Also, I honestly just dislike “SCREAM”. This is the album of a person and it’s hard not to find little things about people that grate.

Overall though, this is a great pop album and it fits neatly into the current advent of female pop auteurs. I would call it a mold, but given how individual each of these artists and their albums are, that just seems disrespectful. I highly recommend this album.

– @murthynikhil

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The Weeknd: Beauty Behind The Madness

6 Nov

Beauty Behind The Madness is the Weeknd striking out for more mainstream success. The is the end of the path that his Ariana Grande collaboration “Love Me Harder” started. This is still a Weeknd album and still has some interesting stuff, but feels something of a miss.

He had a specific emotion that he was emblematic of. The Trilogy is the feeling of walking home at night while knowing your relationship died at birth. His lyrics and his singular voice both pushed the theme to the point where the music became shorthand for the emotion. This has shades of that, and shades of a more mature look at it, in this album but it has missteps and diversions enough to distract from that core. This is not a bad album, but it is hard not to feel a little let down. “Shameless” and “The Hills” are where his music was always headed, both lyrically and musically and “Can’t Feel My Face”, while new ground for The Weeknd, is indisputably a great pop tune, but “Dark Times” for instance is just lazy tripe.

It’s hard to know who to recommend this album to. Weeknd fans will find some stuff to fall into and so will people looking for off-beat pop, but anyone looking for more than a serviceable new album is bound to feel disappointed.

– @murthynikhil

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Speedy Ortiz: Foil Deer

31 Aug

Foil Deer is an impressive step forward for an already impressive band. Their lyricism, always unparalleled, seems stronger than ever as especially seen in the posturing of “Raising the Skate” and storytelling of “The Graduates”. Complemented by the noisy, aggressive melodies underlying the lyrics, their entire album has a density of ideas that are rarely seen and are a pleasure, if an intense one, to listen to. This album exemplifies what has always seemed to be the Speedy Ortiz promise; well-crafted and intelligent indie rock.

– @murthynikhil

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Snoop Dogg: Bush

12 Aug


Snoop Dogg is as much of an institution as an artist. He’s been everywhere, knows everyone and now even does everything with what is legitimately a funk and R&B album, Bush. Sadly, as with much of his recent work, this quality is not quite all that it could be, but it is a very pleasant listen with some stand-out moments.

First of all, the music video for “So Many Pros” is excellent in all the right ways. Snoop Dogg has always been about personality as much as music and that is really what allows him to carry this video off. The simple density of imagery in that video is astounding. The song itself is also very good, continuing the trend of R&B/funk rap that seems to be making itself known.

Additionally, “Edibles”, “I’m Ya Dogg” and even “California Roll” make great work of their guest stars. Kendrick Lamar puts on a clinic in the latter, if a slightly antiseptic one, and while T.I. is quite overshadowed by Snoop’s inimitable laid back flow in the former, the song is wonderful. The album as a whole runs slightly dry after these brief spikes, but is never unpleasant to listen to. It’s only real fault is in the lack of an edge to the whole.

– @murthynikhil

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Earl Sweatshirt: I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside

12 Jun

I_Don't_Like_Shit,_I_Don't_Go_Outside_An_Album_by_Earl_Sweatshirt

Earl Sweatshirt is busy making his own music. I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside is dark, honest and minimal in a way that is almost anti-commercial. It is also much harder than any of its peers. With his last album, Doris, he was already far in his own lane. Now, he has set up home there.

This is a confessional of an album. The stark beats perfectly frame his tales of depression and make his paranoia and pain even more jagged. He cuts through it with struts, going from “Focused on my chatter, ain’t as frantic as my thoughts/Lately I’ve been panicking a lot/Feeling like I’m stranded in a mob, scrambling for Xanax out the canister to pop” to “Fishy niggas stick to eating off of hooks/Say you eating, but we see you getting cooked, nigga” in the excellent “Grief” and from “And I’m low and I’m peakin/It’s cold in the deep end” to the anthemic “Ain’t no bitch in my DNA” in “DNA”, but the core is dark. It takes a lot from the artist to bare himself like this, and the fact that most don’t dare makes this all the more powerful.

I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside requires work from its listener but this is a person laid bare, and a person who doesn’t require effort is a person not worth listening to. This album is definitely worth listening to.

– @murthynikhil

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Young Thug: Barter 6

4 Jun

This would be a unique album by any standard, but dropping The Barter 6 into the modern rap scene is almost iconoclastic. Young Thug does draw his fair share from Lil Wayne’s well, but his sound is very immediately distinct.

This album in particular does a masterful job of presenting what exactly that sound can be. His singing and rapping meld into each other smoothly, aided in part by his borderline unintelligible flow. There is just an awareness of sound here that is exceptional. His voice harmonizes with the beat enough to groove you in and then chops it to jolt you back up. While he lacks the awareness that normally comes with rap (despite a Mike Brown line in OD, this is not by any means a political album) this makes for a very new sound.

This is not a flawless album, some of the guest spots in particular leave a lot to be desired, but this is still a very good album and a very intriguing one as well. I can’t promise that you will like it, but you should definitely at least try it.

–@murthynikhil

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