THE REPORT: 1/9/26
HELP ME! I CAN’T STOP BLOGGING!
It’s a new year, but the mission over here at John’s Music Blog is unwavering: I will continue to push through unhealthy amounts of self-hatred in order to bring you interesting developments in contemporary rap, rock, and rave. “MERRY GO” is a jazzy, stripped-down take on the Milwaukee sound. Roc Marci to AyooLii’s Raekwon?
Cooper B. Handy + Elliot H-R “Silver Bullet”
Where Cooper B. Handy finds the time, I’ll never know. Between LUCY, The Taxidermists, Club Casualties, Safe Mind, and his work with Gods Wisdom, the Western Mass legend nerfs a lot of tunes into cyberspace. “Silver Bullet” is a cozy and tense collaboration with another hero of the region; music made for American wasteland parking lot contemplation.
I might post too much Lil M.U. on the blog. Last year, “Top Of Cars” was a top-ten single. “Rodeo” took things in a country direction. Now, the Chi hope is stomping through various dance modes, mega-mix style, one click away from those tracks that get used to soundtrack collegiate cheerleading routines.
The artist MallBat makes nice-looking animations that, in their own vague way, call back to the first few iterations of the PlayStation, which seems to be a popular style to work in these days. But this is not John’s Retro Graphics Blog, so what we are focusing on is the music that is in the background of the artist’s sizzle reel. “Ditto” is a breakbeat smash-up, like a chilled Crooklyn Clan or Girl Talk at 50 percent, that takes elements from SOPHIE and Skee-Lo and Sugar Ray and turns them into a sunshine pop stroller sticky enough to transcend any one-dimensional Y2K revival notes. It’s warm out there somewhere.
From Jay-Z to The Prodigy, Max Romeo’s reggae classic “Chase The Devil” has been used as source material for a hell of a lot of belters. Here, JIALING leans heavy on the latter for a flip of a flip, a clubby re-rub of a rave classic that continues to, more than three decades later, take brains to another dimension.
Wiki “Grande / Bori’s in Ireland (Feat. Starker LTD)”
It’s never not a treat to hear Wiki rhyme, even if it is in collaboration with a “lifestyle brand” called Brigade USA. Am I supposed to know about this shit? The company’s “Biggie Jacket” comes in at under $400 and has 100 percent Goose Down Fill. It looks like a pretty decent parka to me, actually. And there you have it: sponsored content works.
MIX OF THE WEEK: Shams “Post War Later 20th Century Classical Emo”
For emo-curious Zoomers and swooshy banged Millennials alike, this emotional hardcore history mix my friend Jonathan made a decade ago is required listening. Hell, maybe even my Generation X readers might get something out of it. Who am I to say? Class is in session: Let Professor Coward guide you through the basement, through the pit and the fetal position freak-outs and the odd odd time signature. Additional mixes from Jonathan: Post War Later 20th Century Classical Emo Volume ll, Post War Later 20th Century Classical Hardcore Appendix A., Post War Later 20th century classical post hardcore, and Post War Later 20th Century Classical Emo Volume lll.
MISCELLANEOUS WINTER LISTENING
Charles Mingus Mingus Plays Piano
Wolf Eyes Dread
Autechre Tri Repetae
G Herbo Lil Herb
His Name Is Alive Stars on E.S.P.
I mean, if you're going to cover The Prodigy might as well make it Outta Space, right? (Charley is also permitted. Anything with Pop Will Eat itself is to be avoided like the plague.)