The Tape

J. Irvin Dally exists in his own galaxy, somewhere between homemade folk music and the daunting nebula that is “indie rock.” His Despistado EP is a lesson in creativity, with each track adding something beautiful and unique to a wonderful collection of tunes. As a whole, the EP is fantastic, but it’s even better when analyzed track by track. Dally’s voice is sweet and fairly high pitched, giving him an extra instrument to use in his arsenal. I wouldn’t classify his vocals as classically beautiful, but he uses his voice in such a way that it sounds perfect. “The Little Ones” opens up the EP, and within the first few seconds, the listener knows that they’re in for a treat. Harsh acoustic guitar chords sprawl over random percussion and scarce electronics, until his voice comes in and quiets the storm. It’s as if his voice pacifies all the chaos, even though the chaos is still occurring beneath his voice. The EP moves forward with “Brasil (Adelir de Carli)”, a stellar track and an EP standout, if every other song wasn’t so good. His melodies are a bit more fleshed out on this track, and the instruments have a bit more focus and drive than on “The Little Ones.” “Brasil (Adelir de Carli)” also features an extremely catchy hook, something we don’t see from the first track. “Wild Things” comes next, and is once again one of the best tracks on the EP. A sweet jam with pedal steel and floor tom percussion, and a chorus that Local Natives would be jealous of. “Salt Water” isn’t labeled as part of the EP in my Itunes, but Jordan sent it along with the EP, so I figured I’d mention it. “Salt Water” is one of the only true folk jams Dally has to his name, although it doesn’t last long, as noisy guitars enter the picture fairly quickly. The vocals are great, displaying the immense talent this young buck has.

I’m willing to go all in on this dude, I really think he’s that good. It’s so exciting to see that this dude is from LA, hopefully he can be some kind of LA troubadour or something. Anyways, it’s of my highest recommendation that you purchase this record, because you don’t want to deprive yourself of something this great. You can buy the EP right here, it’ll be the best five bucks you spend all week. Download a couple of tracks below, and catch him on tour if you’re living on the west coast (why wouldn’t you be?).

J. Irvin Dally- Wild Things

J. Irvin Dally- Salt Water

Consistency is something seldom seen in hip-hop these days. Not in the sense that most rappers can’t record multiple good songs, because many can, but in the sense that not too many rappers are recording albums as a cohesive unit of songs. Hip-hop records are often riddled with multiple producers, and the results frequently reflect this collage. This is why I love Curren$y’s latest record. He enlisted Ski Beatz to produce most of the record (he’s involved on 11 of the 13 tracks), and its consistent pace and feel allow it to be one of the years best records. Curren$y’s lack of lyrical content actually works to his advantage, with the listener having a firm grasp of his marijuana, video game, and lady habits. It’s fun, it’s loose, and the beats are fantastic.

“Audio Dope II” is a good example of what the record is all about. Ski produced a great beat, with fat drums and a perfectly placed bassline. Some sort of slightly distorted arcade game/organ type noise is on loop throughout the whole track, putting the listener into a similar trance Curren$y was probably in while recording. “King Kong”, the record’s first single features a dream-y synth that is a perfect stoner beat. Bleeps and bloops are surrounded by swirling synthesizers and hilarious musings, with a few of my favorites being:

Everybody round this bitch got money /we ain’t never gonna run out of weed

Tearing through the city snatching bitches/top of the building/king kong ain’t got shit on me

Another thing I love about this record is that the LP’s title actually makes some sense. Yes, there is the whole “pilot’s fly high in the air, we smoke a lot of weed, we’re as high as pilots” side of the coin; but Curren$y does a fantastic job inserting the word ‘pilot’ in appropriate places throughout the track. “Seat Change” is almost a perfect track, but Snoop Dogg’s verse really fucks it up. Curren$y takes a real laid back approach, taking cues from Ski’s miraculously chilled out yet frantic beat. Everything’s all good, even great, until Snoop steps up to the mic. His verse starts off with “Playa/playa/laya/spraya/on the real loco, I should be the mayor/compassionate writer/fly to a spider”, and it only gets more pathetic. I love Snoop, but at a certain point dude’s just gotta throw in the towel. “Breakfast” is one of the record’s best tracks, with Mos Def killing it with the beat. The production credit goes to both Ski Beatz and Mos, but the horn line has Mos Def written all over it. Some sort of New Orleans slow romping trumpet makes this track so fantastic, that Curren$y could be rapping just about anything and I could enjoy it. Mos moans “You’re the best… around” for the chorus, and it’s just so damn charming. An old school funk guitar riff and that killer trumpet line end the track, helping the listener feel real classy before the record proceeds. “Skybourne” features Big K.R.I.T. and Smoke DZA, which is cool to see. K.R.I.T. seems to be the odd man out on this track based solely on the fact that he doesn’t talk about weed nearly as often as DZA or Curren$y, but they really make it work. It’s also really cool to see two of the younger stars in hip-hop (K.R.I.T. and Curren$y, no offense to DZA) hop on a track together. “The Day” is an absolutely killer track. A grimy horn line is accompanied by a fantastic cast of characters. If Curren$y isn’t enough for you, Mos Def and Jay Electronica hop on the track just for shits and giggles. Curren$y’s verse ain’t bad, but Mos and Jay steal the show. When the horns ascend and the excitement is palpable in Mos’ voice, I can’t help but yearn for a new record from him. Yes, Pilot Talk is a great record, but I haven’t listened to “The Day” once without hoping for a new Mos record sometime in the near.

Curren$y emerged from rap purgatory and created one of the best (not just hip-hop) records of the year. It’s a real feel good record, simply making the listener feel good. This record has my highest recommendation, and you can pick it up right here. Download a couple of tracks below as well.

Curren$y- King Kong

Curren$y- The Day (Feat. Jay Electronica & Mos Def)

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) are doing things backwards. In an age of instant gratification and accessibility, Nic Offer and co. are really making us work for it. At first listen (and maybe even a few after that), this record doesn’t make sense. Tracks aren’t rewarding enough for how long they are, and they just seem too jam-oriented. But after a certain amount of listens (it could be one for you, it was four for me), the record makes sense.

The band should have never released a single for this record. Sure, the internet latches onto anything tangible, but no single track on this record is tangible… On its own. Strange Weather, Isn’t It? shouldn’t consist of individual songs. I can’t blame them for separating this record into nine tracks – no listener would have listened to one 40 minute MP3, but that is how this record should be approached. Yes, the two singles “Am/Fm” and “The Most Certain Sure” are two of the catchiest tracks the record has to offer, but I don’t think they’re good enough to be released on their own. For the record, I think Strange Weather, Isn’t It? is great; potentially !!!’s best work. I just would have loved to see the group show some real guts and represent the record the way it should have been represented. Whether that’s not releasing a single or offering the record as one continuous track, they should have done something to simply establish the intentions of this record. Yes, my assumptions of their intentions could be completely off base, but if they are this is one of the biggest disappointments of the year. If they’re actually buying into this record as an LP composed of many great tracks that happen to work well together, they’re simply wrong. The only track I thoroughly enjoy on its own is “Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass”, and that’s because Shannon Funchess adds a dimension to the band we’ve never witnessed before.

This record will have a difficult time garnering mainstream praise, because I assume that most people won’t have the patience to consume this record in one sitting, multiple times. For those up to the challenge, you’ll find an engaging LP that’s as funky as it is smart. Nic Offer is a genius if you’re looking at this record as a whole; which I’ll assume was his initial intention, because I really want to like it (which I do). So, I highly recommend you check this record out, but don’t give up after a few tracks. Listen to the whole thing, digest it as one piece, and do it again. You won’t be disappointed.

Camu Tao’s solo debut is so passionate and brilliant, listening to the entire record creates a bittersweet feeling after consumption. King Of Hearts is everything I look for in a record; it has feeling, it’s extremely well crafted, and the songs are great. One can’t help but get sad when listening, because Camu’s tragic death prevents more of this amazing music from ever being released. Yes, it is considered hip-hop, but it’s unfair to peg it as just a rap record. Hints of post-punk filter throughout the entire record, with Camu’s pained yells being precisely backed up by meticulously crafted, yet edgy drums. The whole disc has a certain fuzz to it that’s always present, yet always wanted. No song is much longer than four minutes, but Camu didn’t need more than four minutes to convince a listener how excellent this record is. King Of Hearts kicks off with “Be A Big Girl”, which features everything a great Camu song has to offer. Catchy hooks, razor sharp guitars, and well placed drums are all on this track, starting the record off on the right foot. “Death” features quick drum rolls and Camu shrieking hardly intelligible lyrics, but it’s impossible to stop listening. There is so much character within each note he sings, so much tension between his words. “Fonny Valentine” is another favorite of mine. If Cudi created the perfect song in his mind, it would sound something like “Fonny Valentine.” Kid Cudi often mentions Camu as an influence, and you can hear what Cudi mimics in this track. “My fonny valentine/my sweet little valentine” are almost moaned over dragging drums and piano, switching back and forth between singing and rapping. “Actin A Ass” is the track that sums up the communal heartbreak felt over Camu’s death. An aggressive banger that features some of Camu’s most ferocious raps, the track ends as quickly as it started. It clocks in at only 34 seconds long, simply because he never had time to finish it. “Ind Of The Worl” is one of the more depressing tracks on the record, with lyrics like “It’s the end of the world baby so let’s have fun.” For everyone around him, the world did end in a way, but no one had fun. I’ve talked about “Plot A Little”, “The Perfect Plan”, and “When You’re Going Down” before, but I’ll just reiterate how amazing all three are. If you didn’t grab ‘em before, just click on the link. The record comes out today, and I highly recommend you pick it up right here. In addition to the three earlier tracks (I’ll re-up ‘em below), you can also download “Be A Big Girl” below. In addition to FOUR tracks from the full length, you can also download an eight song EP Camu and El-P did together under the Central Services moniker. It’s grim, but it rules. Download it here (read the fine print).

Camu Tao- Be A Big Girl

Camu Tao- Plot a Little

Camu Tao- The Pefect Plan

Camu Tao- When You’re Going Down

Sometimes the indie world moves far too quickly, with bands (often consisting of only one man/woman) propelling into “stardom” after one single. Sometimes, however, the frantic pace is a good thing. Last April, Suckers released an absolutely fantastic debut EP, crafting tunes full of catchy, emotional, thrilling hooks. The band emerged from relative obscurity, although Quinn Walker released some really cool records a few years back. Anyways, their self titled EP was something I played over and over again, not really ever getting sick of it. “It Gets Your Body Movin’” is a fun, timeless track with a singalong chorus that is impossible to refuse. “Beach Queen” is frantic and chaotic, but uses all of its energy to create another fantastic jam. “Afterthoughts & TV” is their slacker jam, lazily singing about nights on the town. The EP ended with “Easy Chair”, which begins with a pulsing bass before sliding into another laid back jam. Handclaps and harmonies are copious throughout the track, the perfect way to end the EP. Where the record ended, my obsession began, thus beginning the wait for Wild Smile, the band’s debut full length.

Wild Smile is a fantastic record. It explores the band’s diverse influences in such a way that acknowledges but doesn’t copy. Wild Smile sounds like it could only be made by Suckers, and that becomes clear as soon as “Save Your For Me” begins. The first three minutes float along lazily, establishing itself as a nice, yet slightly boring and undeveloped track if it were to end that way. Then, out of seemingly nowhere, the band explodes and Walker’s falsetto comes blaring through the speakers, with an intensity matched by few others. It’s a perfect way to open up a fantastic record, setting the tone for what’s in store. “A Mind I Knew” is another favorite of mine, with sparse instrumentation loosely accompanying Walker’s meandering vocals. Once the vocals drop out, the instruments fall into this momentary psychedelic freak out that I love. The contrast between this part, and the part that proceeds and follows it makes the track what it is. Epic synths build the track into a higher place, perfectly walking the fine line between heroic and cheesy. The synths tide the listener over until Walker’s signature scream enters the track. This track is followed by “Roman Candles”, another favorite of mine, which has “hit” written all over it. A whistled intro almost always smells success, add a catchy chorus and minds will explode. While every track on the record is great, “2 Eyes 2 C” is clearly the best song on the record, and quite possibly my favorite of the year so far. Soaring harmonies and epic drum fills begin the track, before a mellow verse enters the picture. Walker’s falsetto is haunting, only breaking out of it to scream “You are a child, I am a child.” The track follows this path for another verse, with Walker moving in and out of falsetto to accent certain lines. The track then goes into this entrancing, two-minute long breakdown before Walker does his best Matt Berninger (“Mr. November” days) impression and uses his most powerful yell to sing “It takes 2 eyes 2 c.”

I can’t imagine a world in which this Brooklyn quartet does not get huge. They have the perfect make-up, with catchy melodies and perfectly experimental yet accessible instrumentation. I highly, highly recommend you pick up this record, which you can do right here (LP or CD). Download a couple of tracks below, and make sure to catch them on tour with Local Natives.

Suckers- Roman Candles

Suckers- 2 Eyes 2 C

While I don’t like to compare musicians to their relatives, I think I can safely say that Flying Lotus is doing for electronic music what John Coltrane did for jazz, and I don’t say that lightly.

Flying Lotus, a.k.a. Steven Ellsion, great-nephew of the late Alice Coltrane, has gone above and beyond with his new album Cosmogramma. It has even surpassed it’s predecessor, Los Angeles, which is no easy task. I heard Cosmorama for the first time in full after a mind-blowing show at Coachella in which Flying Lotus brought it so hard that a friend of mine started crying stating “I have never been so moved by music before.” Before you read that and think “what a ludicrously hyperbolic statement”, do yourself a favor and see him at either of his upcoming shows in Los Angeles at the Echoplex May 14th or 15th and pick up the album on Warp Records. Cosmogramma has managed to retain all of the complex, intricate layers of electronically produced synthesizers and drum machines that Flying Lotus is so known for, while also adding in more real instruments and more…other noises. He creates a more jazz influenced, fuller sound infused with all sorts of sound bytes and clips from trains to a game of ping pong.

The album opens up with Clock Catcher, a perfect song to display to the listener a message of “this is what you are in for.” An ascending, cosmic, bleeping noise grabs you by the wrist and pulls you into the album and lets you go into a beautifully composed mixture of strings and ghostly synths, rising and falling all over the place. We then move on to “Pickled” which hits you like a train, partly because of the train horn and tracks he uses. Then a bunch of rhythmic bass chords tap dance all over the primary and secondary drums beats and clicks creating a sort of jazz-electronic beat fusion. It is hard for me to describe truly the experience of listening to this album. You have to appreciate its composition, its ability to blend together so many instruments and sounds seamlessly, its incredible complexity that is so easily listenable for its simplicity. It is one of those albums where every song you hear sounds enough like the other that you know it must be Flying Lotus, yet they are all still so unique in every way.

The album features the likes of Thom Yorke, Thundercat, and Laura Darlington on the songs “…And The World Laughs With You”, “Mmhmm”, and “Table Tennis” respectively. The hauntingly fluid vocals in “Table Tennis” are layered over a game of ping pong proving to all that John Cage was onto something. It may be the most down-beat song on the album, moving slowly like air was water instead, but it still incites something deep that made my heart jump a little in my chest for a moment.

Flying Lotus is in the final stages of perfecting a genre that I believe will be looked back upon as the music that defined a decade. It combines things like rap beats, sounds from dubstep, the glitching noises from remixing and synths and makes them more complex and technical to a degree that it can be backed by Squarepusher-esque, jazzy bass scales and string sections. At a point in my life where I am generally disappointed in the music I have heard for a while, it is refreshing to hear an album like this come out and it gives me hope that someday more music will sound as incredible as this.

Flying Lotus- Do The Astral Plane

It was exactly 364 days ago that we first posted about Avi Buffalo, and we do so again on the eve of the bands debut release. The self titled record is 2010′s best debut (so far), filled with classic pop gems that are too mature to be written by Avi Zahner-Isenberg, the 19 year old band leader. The dude’s signed to Sub Pop a good two or so years before he’s 21, shit’s insane. Anyways, Avi and Co. are much more than some young folks making pop songs, because they make incredible sounding music. One of Avi’s guitar mentors summed it up perfectly when he said “You know why it’s good? Because it sounds OLD, but it’s NEW!” 60s folk revival thrown in with some Chutes Too Narrow create a wonderful combination that is all over the debut record. There’s also a lot of subtle sexuality floating through this record, especially on tracks like “Summer Cum” and “Five Little Sluts.” “Summer Cum” is especially graphic, with lyrics like “I’ve waited for your love, I got lost in your summer cum. Leave all your stains with me.” I’m hoping there’s some blatant double meaning that I’m just not seeing, but props to Avi for being bold. The record begins with “What’s In It For” which is simply an instant classic. It’s lyrically, melodically, and technically flawless, with one of the catchiest choruses I’ve heard in quite some time. The track goes on a bit too long, but that would only be a problem if the chorus wasn’t so fucking good. The next track is “Coaxed”, which is another one that has been floating around for a while. It reminds me of a busier Rain Machine track, with a folk revival guitar line and smart melodic phrasing. “Summer Cum” is another favorite of mine, with the graphic lyrical content and the subtly pulsing rhythm section. Simple and direct, the percussion leads the track, keeping it from dragging.

Avi Buffalo’s self titled record is dense, but well worth the effort. Nine tracks span a little over forty minutes, including a few over the five minute mark. This record takes focus, and I highly recommend you isolate yourself while listening. The structures are complex but the melodies are undeniable and catchy. Avi Buffalo have really created something wonderful, easily a favorite of the year so far. I look forward to seeing this band around for a long, long time.

Avi Buffalo- What’s In It For?

Avi Buffalo- Remember Last Time

While The National may be getting the majority of Bryce Dessner’s attention, it was only a month or so ago that he was focused on Clogs, his band of nine years. Their 5th record, The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton came out March 2nd on Brassland Records. I’m a bit late on the release, but it coincides perfectly with High Violet, so now is as good of a time as any. The group consists of Bryce Dessner, Rachael Elliott, Thomas Kozumplik, and Australian composer Padma Newsome. The record also features some awesome guests, including Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond, Sufjan Stevens, Aaron Dessner and Matt Berninger of The National, and the Osso String Quartet. Shara Worden is featured on many tracks, including the album’s opener, “Cocodrillo.” “Cocodrillo” features layers upon layers of operatic vocals, sung by Worden and later accompanied by a choir of voices. The song is completely acapella, showing off the band’s diverse influences. The track leads into “I Used To Do” which features wonderful strings and excellent guitar work, reminiscent of Dessner’s other project. The overlapping ideas between The National and Clogs are different enough to establish which band is playing, but the similarities are evident as well. Marimba’s mirror the guitar part, effortlessly gliding along, fading in and out of the spotlight. “Red Seas” is another favorite of mine, feeding off a slow crescendo that unravels itself into a beautiful sea of orchestrated pop music. The vocals on this track are a bit more accessible, leaving the opera influences behind, but still flexing an impressive range. “Last Song” is my favorite on the record, featuring Matt Berninger of The National on vocals. Between the guitar part and Berninger’s vocals, this track reminds me of “Racing Like A Pro”, although I don’t enjoy comparing the two bands. Soft horns slowly build before Berninger comes in, softly crooning self-reflective, rhetorical statements. The difference between this track and a National track, is the way this song builds. Clogs establish the song’s foundation, expanding but not building the previous ideas. The way The National make music is far different, building upon an idea until it becomes too tall and explodes into something brand new. Each band follows their own formula pretty consistently, almost becoming a trademark of sorts.

I highly recommend you seek out the latest Clogs record, it’s a masterpiece of well constructed operatic based orchestral pop that will not disappoint. Download “Red Seas” below.

Clogs- Red Seas

A common theme in music journalism today is the internet and how it has definitively changed the way our music is experienced, and though an infinite number of sites providing access to the newest tracks in the latest double hyphenated genre is certainly a benefit that expands music lovers’ exposure to new sounds, there is a big drawback in artists having no real control over the timing of their individual tracks or entire albums’ debuts to the world. Bands and labels deal with this by releasing material early, most often the best tracks from their upcoming albums. For me, the “leaked” lead single(s) always sets me up for disappointment when I get to hear the whole album, and this is the case once again for The National’s 5th LP, High Violet. “Bloodbuzz Ohio” is the album’s clear standout, first song released to the internet, and also coincidentally sounds like the missing climax of 2007′s Boxer.  “Afraid of Everyone”, the album’s other pre-release release, features back-up from the Sufjan Stevens and is probably the second best song on the album. High Violet abandons the deliberate, quietly powerful aesthetic of Boxer for a rougher, noisier sound on most of the tracks. Swirling orchestrations sometimes overwhelm the songs underneath them, as on “Little Faith” while, as on “England” sometimes lift them to an anthemic, more mature version of the fury of “Mr. November”. The National have always been a band in personal turmoil, as evidenced in the recent New York Times article (which includes a stream of the new album) and the songs reflect that angst, sounding desperate and in some moments strained, as on “Lemonworld” which echoes Boxer’s “Brainy,” and though both songs start in a similar place, “Brainy” takes off while “Lemonworld,” still a great song, never really catches in the same way. In spite of my attempts, High Violet resists comparison to previous National albums because of the more desperate mood it aims for, someplace new between melancholy and fierce determination that Berninger somehow hasn’t tread yet, a middle-age maturity that demonstrates that this band is still in top form over a decade in.

It’s a bit odd to call Inter Arbiter a debut record, because it feels like Sebastian Krueger has been around forever. It wasn’t so much a burst, as it was a quite entrance when he first entered the indie folk scene back in 2006. The quality of his first EP, Vestibule EP, shocked many a listener with its delicate harmonies and careful arrangement. For Inter Arbiter, Krueger took the foundation he established with the EP, and expands upon it in a tremendous way. The dark chamber pop he creates is beautiful, eclectic, and fascinating. Inter Arbiter shows what Krueger can do with the help of a broader palette, and a couple of friends.

The record opens with “[]“, which serves more as a proclamation than as anything else. The swirling piano line reminds us of past recordings, but the trio of harmonized vocals give us a peak into the immediate future. The track leads right into “Canteen” which features intricate guitar and drum work, which work as a single unit and not individual instruments. But as is the case on the entire record, the focus is on the vocals. Not just Krueger’s however, as back up vocals play an integral role on the entire record. The chorus sounds purposefully restrained, serving as an accent for a later time, similar to the chorus for “Bright Orange Air.” “Canteen” is followed by “In Which I, Robert”, which is easily one of my favorite tracks on the record. The song is led by vocals, accompanied by not much more than drums and some sort of piano. The drums slosh along while layers and layers of vocals give the track its meat. The breakdown features another piano lick, before coming to a premature halt. “Sunfed Shapes” is a perfect example of a track enhanced by his new surroundings. It starts off like a track from the Vestibule EP. Sparse guitar work accompany Krueger’s mellow croon. The only difference is the accompanying vocals, supplied by Dirty Projectors’ Angel Deradoorian. Angel did do some touring with Inlets way back when, but her addition of vocals is much more apparent on this record.The record ends with “Your Good Arm”, which features harmonies moaning along, most likely anticipating the end of this wonderful record. Electric guitar emerges, something that doesn’t appear all too often on the record. The track slowly builds up until it releases all of its energy, something that isn’t often seem from Krueger. Horns are everywhere as the manic drumming style signals the end of the record.

Inter Arbiter is a truly wonderful piece of work, that simply gets better with each listen. Each track has so much depth and so many layers, I come away with something new with each listen. I highly recommend you pick up a copy, you won’t regret it.

Inlets- In Which I, Robert