THE REPORT: 11/1/24
THE REAL NOVEMBER SURPRISE: MYAAP SAMPLED YEAH YEAH YEAHS
Note: The blog will be taking a break next week. Regular programming resumes on 11/12/24. As always, thank you for rocking with John’s Music Blog.
Wisco clap chaos rap over a “Maps” sample? Myaap made it happen. Today the world is a better place, and that’s not just because Young Thug is free. It’s because “Wait” dropped. The mash-up lover buried inside of me is grinning, Chester Cheetah style. Let’s call it what it is: rap rock.
Thine Retail Simps “Wedding Singer”
Retail Simps are an Actually Good Garage Rock Band in the year 2024. They are pure pot-bellied WFMU bait, no question, but they do stumble with a certain studied elegance. “Wedding Singer” hits like Belushi at a food fight. It’s so retrograde that it’s almost radical. Get on that drunk uncle wavelength, visualize a lampshade on your head, and learn to love some damn rock and roll music. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the world does not need another beatdown hardcore band.
New Impressionz “Watchin’ (Live)”
I don’t think we have posted any go-go before on John’s Music Blog, which is actually kind of crazy. As a remedy, here is a recently-released tune that samples Aretha Franklin's "One Step Ahead,” which was famously flipped by Mos Def for “Ms. Fat Booty.” The references don’t stop there. It also fucks around with Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me.” The drums are in the pocket, both locked and loping, and the laser noises are set for club mayhem all over the twisted district.
B L A C K I E “Noise God Freestyle”
If anyone has earned the right to call themselves a noise god, it is B L A C K I E. That’s the name of his new album, and the final track on the record is one of the most realized distillations of his sound to date. It’s the long-lost Wolf Eyes and Kool G Rap collaboration we have all been waiting for. It’s five minutes of inspired rap formalism over snarling—what can I say, it's snarling—circular distorto crunch.
London’s YT has been swimming in online-brained rap waters for a minute now, but I haven’t heard him spit out a hook as addictive as “Prada or Celine.” The chorus is good enough for both aging Giggs fans and youngsters enthralled with the general idea of Myspace. The single’s cover art is meant to be lodged in a slimline jewel case. The song is meant to ring out in a chippy after the pub closes. I feel bad about writing that last sentence. Oi!
“They keep telling me to rap with a little more class / I ain’t no teacher’s pet.” Mello Buckzz is a reliable source of bars. She sounds straight perturbed over big bells and Technotronic-style orchestra stabs. I have a stomach ache from eating too many of the bite-sized candy bars that I passed out on Halloween. I’ll see you all in twelve days.
MIX OF THE WEEK: Pictureplane “Dungeon Rap Mix”
Earlier in the week, the legendary Pictureplane hit my line to let me know about a mix he put together of instrumental-leaning rap beats “mostly made by a few producers in Ukraine, Russia, and Eastern Europe.” It’s a combination of a few ultra-niche genres you may have heard of: dungeon synth; witch house; phonk; cloud rap. But maybe you haven’t heard of those genres. Maybe you have lived a more meaningful life than myself—maybe you haven’t wasted decades keeping up with “important developments” in underground music. In that case, I don’t know if the following sentence is going to help you either. This music is the midpoint between Lil Peep and Boards of Canada. I’m in too deep!
Have not listened yet but hoping Bloodhype is in the Dungeon rap mix. Seemingly slept on project
B L A C K I E always.