THE REPORT: 8/30/24
TODAY WE CELEBRATE MELT-BANANA
Melt-Banana’s been rocking for over three decades, and yet they’re still more radical than many 20-somethings currently burning down the highway in a sputtering minivan. Make it make sense! After all these years, nobody is doing it quite like them. Their recent no-drummer configuration has pushed the signature Melt-Banana blast into a more “contemporary sonic space,” and the Tokyo band’s new one—their first since 2013—is as good as anything they’ve done. Look, as an aging rainbow rocker, it is my duty to keep certain legends alive. True happy hardcore.
heartstopmiami “b0red in da crib”
“We was bored in the crib / So we hopped out the crib.” Producer Feardorian laced a washed-out shmacker for heartstopmiami that will have you and your whole team levitating as you cart on over to the Denny’s. And those white noise swells have the ability to puncture the dome of even the most hardened cloud rap enthusiast.
The year’s jungle yield: robust. Take, for example, “Body Talk” by Nectax, which has both atmosphere and grit. The track’s detailed drum programming bounces off of a dubby diva sample like a round ball off of a brick wall. I’m not really happy with that last sentence, but I’m kind of in a time crunch.
The Martorialist has spent their summer posting a grip of great new Bay Area rap. “LIL LAD” might be my favorite of the bunch. The song’s chorus connects multiple generations of NorCal, in both form and content. It’s a timeless two minutes of rap music, made to be played over and over again. That’s what I’ve been doing, at least.
They Are Gutting A Body Of Water (Feat. Sword II) “ana orint”
Philly meets Atlanta for a hazy breakbeat stumbler. I’m feeling the pocket: It’s somewhere between Len, Dean Blunt, and Drop Nineteens. When that fuzz bass comes in, I’m back on a Greyhound bus with busted AC trying to make a dumb dream a reality. It’s a confusing world out there, people. Take it one day at a time.
More bodybuilder bubblegum from the most aggro act to come out of Providence since Olneyville Sound System. If a super ripped guy singing poppy melodies through Auto-Tune doesn’t do it for you, you might be a more reasonable person than me. “OXTAIL” is JELEEL! out of rage and into a dancehall mode.
It’s not just TisaKorean. The silly movement is picking up steam globally. Josiah Hughes is a Canadian Twitter legend and previously part of the world’s foremost Blink-182 podcast. SILLY is his new musical project. It rocks with a confusing mix of inputs—essentially, it combines Phil Elverum-style indie rock with fast skate punk drums and electronica-ish production flourishes—and it works. I would expect no less from a person who once curated an entire compilation of covers of “Lips of an Angel” by Hinder.
Here's three bands at the peak of their powers, playing in the middle of a halfpipe. I did not know that The Promise Ring had the bones of what would become “Make Me A Mixtape” in their bag all the way back then. That is why I spend too much time on YouTube.