THE REPORT: 3/14/25
A PRESSING POP ROCK BULLETIN
Power Pop Nation has been losing their damn mind over The Tubs, so I had to investigate the London unit. There's no way I'm the first to point this out, but their new record opens up with a guitar riff that is just an egregious rip of “Run-Around” by Blues Traveler. I can’t be mad at that! “Chain Reaction” sounds like The Lemonheads gone street punk. I guess I can’t be mad at that, either.
When I’m in the mood for some Pure Emotional Rapping, I go back to the most recent Nino Paid record. The fairly acclaimed DMV MC is good at synthesizing precise, personal lyrics with a beat selection policy that is eclectic within limits. In aggregate, it gives me a bit of a Dungeon Family feeling, but that might not actually be grounded in any reality other than my own twisted logic, which is questionable at best. “Real Life” is even newer than that album and has a fitting name.
Krust “One Stop Mr Driver (Tim Reaper Remix)”
The first entry into Reaper Watch 2025 is a predictably slamming remix of an until-now-unreleased jungle track by the OG Krust. Want some bonus breakbeats? Check out Dev/Null’s “Fall Down,” a diva-stormer taken from a recent American jungle compilation released by the Twist crew. Only mildly related: When I went to see Dev/Null spin last year, Chicago legend DJ Manny followed him, and he threw down what might be the best blend I heard in 2024: GloRilla’s “Yeah Glo!” out of a jungle track. Or was it a footwork track? All I remember is the soothing sensation of hearing a rap song go half-time in the middle of a hardcore rave.
It starts, simply, like a quality Skrilla tune: pulled-apart perc over a red sauce sample, mind-warping phasing, and a good chorus. But then Brezzo enters with a clipped, lilting pocket, and the energy shifts sideways. Try reading those last two sentences in the voice of the late Anthony Bourdain.
Lady Gaga (Feat. Gesaffelstein) “Killah”
Credit where credit is due here. Pretty decent Prince pastiche from Gaga and Gesaffelstein. It’s almost wacky enough to enter into Midnite Vultures territory. That record’s lyrical content often gets dismissed as being a string of Gen-X non sequiturs; if you have ever spent any real time partying in Los Angeles, though, you will understand that Beck understands how to articulate the surreal beating heart of the city. “Turn up the heat ‘til the swimming pool boils.”
NÜ METAL MEGAMIX OF THE WEEK: General Sloth “Scratch + Riffs: The Nu Metal DJ Tribute”
It’s seven minutes of turntable scratches over hard-ass drums and guitars, one after another, after another, after another. It’s a long overdue testament to the unsung hero of the nü-metal movement: the DJ. Does it get any better? Don’t answer that question. It won’t be much of a surprise to longtime readers to learn that this video was delivered to me by the one and only DJ George Costanza.