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Music week in review: The Cool Kids, Foo Fighters, Blood Orange, & more
Somehow it’s the middle of September.
I’m not sure how the hell that happened but we got some fire music to listen to to take your mind of the fact that it’s basically fall.
Foo Fighters –Concrete and Gold
The Foo Fighters are still fuckin’ doing it. Their newest release Concrete and Gold is actually a pretty refreshing listen for fans of good ol’ American rock music.
As wall of soundy and big chorusy as Foo Fighters have gotten over the years, this record feels like a pretty awesome return to form for the band.
Concrete and Gold is a retrophilic rock romp with grooves more steeped in classic rock than we’ve heard from Foo Fighters in awhile.
On “The Sky Is A Neighborhood” there’s some southern rock influences and “Make It Right” sounds more like Queens of the Stone Age than any recent Foo Fighters release.
It’s a good album and unlikely to be brutally inescapable on pop rock radio.
Ariel Pink – Dedicated To Bobby Jameson
Ariel Pink’s return with Dedicated To Bobby Jameson is a rather triumphant one. Pink is back with his trademark brand of psychedelic synthpop full of layers and influences spanning the music world.
At times, New Order guitar licks make it sound like ’80s new wave like on “Feels Like Heaven,” then it sounds like ’70s AM pop radio on “Dedicated To Bobby Jameson” and “Another Weekend.” “Time To Live” is early 2010s chillwave at its finest.
All the while, Pink is weaving a musical masterpiece, as his lasery synths puncture the drum machines.
Ariel Pink is an incredibly diverse and multi-talented artist and Dedicated To Bobby Jameson might be the best project yet from the Los Angeles artist.
The Cool Kids – Special Edition Grandmaster Deluxe
It’s fuuuckin’ lit. The Cool Kids are back for their first album since 2011. It’s been a minute since The Cool Kids came on the scene with songs like “Black Mags” and “Mikey Rocks” and helped revitalize the alternative rap scene.
I mean, can you really name any other artist that was more influential on the ‘backpack rap’ movement than The Cool Kids? Well, the new album is more of the same.
With retro-style production and lowkey brags in laid back flows, Chuck Inglish and Sir Michael Rocks are bringing backpack rap back. It feels like 2007 up in here and by God it’s fire.
Young Nudy – Nudy Land
Ok so if The Cool Kids represent the hipstery backpack rap of the late 2000s, Young Nudy is a very 2017 trap rap artist, basically on the complete other side of the spectrum.
The Atlanta kid has been accruing a shitload of hype in recent months with a series of bangers over the past year.
Production from Pi’erre Bourne of “Magnolia” fame has Nudy Land sounding sleek and smooth with that trademark ATL sound. Nudy, who is 21 Savage’s cousin, has subject matter very similar to his older cuz. “Cancer Stick No Pressure” with Offset is definitely a standout.
Shouts out to anyone who plays The Cool Kids and Young Nudy at the same function tonight.
Blood Orange – “BOWERYLDN EDIT 6 15 SEPTEMBER”
https://soundcloud.com/bloodorange/boweryldn-edit-6-15-september
Dev Hynes, aka Blood Orange, set the music world on fire with last summer’s Freetown Sound and he posted on Instagram recently that he’s working on a new Blood Orange record.
Hynes quietly posted a new track to his SoundCloud entitled “BOWERYLDN EDIT 6 15 SEPTEMBER” this morning. It sounds kind of like a more musical version of early Weeknd and even more like Frank Ocean.
The song is a little more downtempo than a lot of Freetown Sound. Whether or not this is actually on the new record remains to be seen, but every Blood Orange release is very important to me.
Marilyn Manson – “WE KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKIN LIVE”
Fresh off the revelation that Marilyn Manson chills with Lil Uzi Vert and wants to help him make a rock record, Manson has released the new video for his first single off his upcoming album Heaven Upside Down, due on October 6th.
The video, in typical Manson fashion, is disturbing as fuck and extremely NSFW. Watch very much at your own peril!
Jamie XX – “On Hold” (Remix)
Jamie XX is a gem. In his newest release he’s remixed The XX’s “On Hold” into a deep house jam. He posted to his own Instagram earlier this week saying “It’s been a while since I’ve made something that I’ve had so much fun playing out in clubs.”
You’re gonna have just as much fun listening to it. This is an absolute banger.
It just makes me think that we need a Jamie XX remix album.
Post Malone – “Rockstar” (ft. 21 Savage)
“I been fuckin’ hoes and poppin’ pillys man a feel just like a rockstar” says Post Malone to begin this song. Ugh.
Post is completely intolerable but this song is annoyingly catchy and the 21 Savage feature is a coup for the best industry plant in the game.
God damn you Post Malone!!