414BigFrank, Sunny Lou “There It Is”
It’s hot as hell outside! For a tune that steps up to meet the punishing climate, there is “There It Is,” a horn-driven Milwaukee shmacker from a legend so local he has the city's area code in his damn artist name. Music for: Brewers tailgating, park partying, maybe a BBQ before a basement punk show. I will be crawling into a dark room and staring at the ceiling.
Time for some proper emo. Febuary: The misspelling is intentional and the live footage I have seen veers into performance art territory. Between them and Crochet, Vegas seems to be producing bands that are one or two clicks more interesting than the majority of the contemporary scramz pack. I think I was 12 the first time I saw a screamo band play live. Here I am, decades later…
Justin Bieber (Feat. Sexyy Red) “Sweet Spot”
When I’m feeling positive about the whole Mk.Gee and Dijon cinematic universe, I can almost process the music on some “Prince making Tusk” type shit. Sounds good on paper, but rarely delivers on that promise for me; that goes double for the new Justin Bieber record, which the two worked on. There are a few tunes on it that almost remind me of Nourished by Time. Those are my favorites.
Sickpay is one of the many aliases of Mike Birnbaum, an artist and musician who, over the past 20 years, has made tracks in almost every style imaginable, from dub to punk to chillwave to a little something we like to call rainbow rock. Here, he tries his hand at freestyle. Would “Susan’s X’s” pass the Bay Ridge summer car test? I would like to think so.
From the perfect rap single “Beating Down Yo Block” to the Miami bass-like “We Not Humpin,” Monaleo had a pretty good run a few years ago. Last year’s “Don Who Leo” wasn’t half bad, either, and “We On Dat” is better. The track brings to mind peak Trina damage. Look, it’s too hot for me to be rummaging through SoundCloud, looking for something with a little replay value. I’m an Aging Millennial Hipster. I’m going with the tune.
JOHN’S MUSIC BLOG PRESENTS… THE BONUS THREE
John Says: “More Columbus bubblegum chaos rap. Need even more Ohio? Scope this excellent Cleveland drill mix that I found on the Twitter account @dubbobubbo.”
John Says: “The artist who coined the term ‘Girl EDM’ comes strong with a banger about the dangers of formative internet use.”
John Says: “Glo Gang’s Tadoe is getting older. He’s getting sober. But he keeps making good music.”
Keep the Milwaukee bangers coming. There have been some gems the past few months