Mighty Bay, TisaKorean, three! “Whiteboy Wasted”
In the video for “Whiteboy Wasted,” TisaKorean and friends enter full frat mode. They wear red hats, boat shoes, and khaki shorts. They go crazy at the gas station, throwing around cans of Twisted Tea. They party like a rock star. Beyond a few details, the song feels like a retro gesture, sitting in a larger lineage with 2000s-era classics like “Surf Party” by F.L.Y. and “Wasted” by Gucci Mane and Plies. As always, TisaKorean twists the tropes of ringtone rap like Devo covering “Satisfaction.”
Voyeur is a band with a lot going for them. For one, their drummer is kind of ripped and has long hair that falls in front of his face as he rocks. You can’t really go wrong with that. “Give It To You” features Daydream Nation chords and a slow-burning open road intensity that makes me want to drop out of everything and start a band that nobody likes.
England's number one Millennial Poptimist teams up with Dylan Brady and The Dare to make a tune somewhere between “My Neck, My Back” and “Technologic.” What do you want me to say? It’s pure bank holiday electro house magic. On a similar tip, at least vaguely, I have succumbed to “BAND4BAND” by Central Cee and Lil Baby. It’s music for kids to blast out of a Beats pill as they wait in line for a sneaker drop, but I like it anyway. One day, I hope to hear it playing inside of an O'Tacos.
Indietronica hasn’t schmacked this hard since that one time I heard Múm ringing out inside of a second wave coffee shop. “Point b” is jaunty and poppy. If I were younger, I would probably be able to reference a video game soundtrack to describe it. What I do know: it has vocoder and glitch-ish production and a delightful little synth melody. I might put on a tricorne hat and play air bugle.
Is Mello Buckzz going on a little run right now? First, there was the juking “Move,” and now there is “Bad Guy,” a song whose chorus sounds, at different points, like both a statement and a question. The beat has no such ambiguity. With its Tay Keith-ish bounce, it's meant to be slotted into a summertime turn-up set alongside all of Sexyy Red’s finest.
MIX OF THE WEEK: Gavin Hardkiss “Live at The Lions Den”
Well, it’s been a minute since we dipped into the legendary Mixtape Magic archive. I conducted an interview with the man behind the YouTube rave channel early in the John’s Music Blog run. It’s sort of insane how many interviews I have done over the past year and a half. Anyway, the Hardkiss brothers are Frisco legends and master DJs, and this 1995 mix is a varied 90 minutes of dance music, done with the trio’s trademark trippy Bay touch—actual progressive house, if you know what I mean.
Mello Buckzz is great, I'd missed these singles. Love "Move," a juke beat made from Beastie Boys samples feels custom made for me. my other fave No More Heroes act, DCG Brothers, dropped a great juke-influenced track called "On the Ground" last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZUnjISv_J4