There are times when it is appropriate to listen to London art school bands who make music for European fashion magazine editors who don’t listen to music. But there are other times, like today for example, when I might recommend instead pointing all of your attention to a single rocking East Coast hardcore song with a perfect mosh outro. Enter the Belly of the Beast.
A little while ago, someone, I think it might’ve been Noz, retweeted something by Kool Keith onto my timeline. He essentially fired a shot at New York rappers who flow over drumless “elevator music.” The beat for “DAW” is not that, but it is fairly minimal, and it doesn’t not have an upright bass sample. The chorus, if you want to call it a chorus, consists of Keith saying the words “digital audio workstation,” which feels so classic that it almost makes me dizzy.
Deformer (Feat. David Vincent) “Blissful Pain”
Did you ever wonder what it would sound like if the former singer of death metal legends Morbid Angel did vocals over a rugged jungle tune? Wonder no more, my friend!
Mg Sleepy, Liltae2 “Dope Smoke”
Mg Sleepy and Liltae2 are a pair of Columbus heads whipping up their own brand of playful Midwest rap pitched somewhere between Milwaukee-style party mania and Flint-style punchline gonzo. “Dope Smoke” flips a Lil Jon and Ying Yang Twins classic. It’s Ohio music you can believe in—shout out to Twitter user dub, an expert on all things Bustown—and I want to hear it blasted while a shitgaze band sets up at Cafe Bourbon Street.
Tank & The Fang “10s In The Trunk”
It’s time to check in with United Jump Front, the only American hardcore techno crew attempting to bring back the lost art of Belgian jumpstyle music and dance. Tank & The Fang are two shadowy entities who are a part of the “United Jump Front Special Operations Division,” a subset of the larger squad whose actions, according to an official transmission from Jump Front HQ, go “beyond the means of the ordinary Jump soldier” and include "tactical espionage and stealth infiltration of the offensive into key foundations of club and rave." I don’t think much more needs to be said. “10s In The Trunk” is banging beyond belief.
JOHN’S MUSIC BLOG PRESENTS… THE BONUS THREE
Cameron Winter “Cancer of the Skull”
John Says: “This Cameron Winter record has slowly won me over. Some of the more endearing trad biz in the game. I just ate a vegan burrito.”
John Says: “I didn’t like Fakemink’s electroclash song as much as a lot of people, but ‘Milk’ sounds pretty good. Tough St. John’s loss last weekend.”
LaRussell, Wiz Khalifa, Mike G Beatz (Feat. Michael Prince) “I Might Be”
John Says: “Just some smooth smokers rap that I might’ve missed if it wasn’t for The Martoralist. Choon!”