We're deleting that comment. I wasn't joking or anything. It was more like "fuck, this poor kid, I can't pay attention to this song." If it came across as sarcasm or anything like that, I'm sorry.
If someone wants to write an argument for why this is a classic Wu-banger, I will listen. I wrote like 2000 words articulating my position on that YG album. As it stands, I like every song on 8 Diagrams better than this. (8 Diagrams is deeply, deeply underrated.)
This is an awesome idea, but there are a lot of blurry edges there. Like is the Beta Band's "Dry the Rain" a post-Beck single? Or "Novocaine For The Soul"?
Produced by the Dust Brothers in the immediate aftermath of Odelay, busy breakbeat shuffle, DJ scratching deep in the mix. It's not a blatant rip like "Pepper" or whatever, but the influence is definitely there. Also all three Hanson brothers absolutely had Beck-esque haircuts.
I haven't put it on Heavy Rotation because I'm not listening to it very much. Can't speak for the rest of the staff. If it would be possible to Heavy Rotation just the parts that sound like Madonna's Ray of Light, I'd do that.
Damian's kids were in school when I was with him. I certainly didn't see him doing any neglectful parenting, and I'm pretty sensitive to that kind of thing. (Also, people without kids should not judge how people with kids deal with stress or anxiety. You have no idea. Just saying.)
Worth noting: 924 Gilman is still around, and now it has a "conscious hip hop night," which yee. If you guys are in town, you should go see Loma Prieta there tonight.
I don't really get this one and I was planning on writing about Dum Dum Girls, but I like everything Miles says about it here. (Also, don't sleep on that new Pontiak, it's good.)
It's nice of Hunter Hayes to give us the first deeply shitty performance tonight; someone had to break that barrier and make it safe for everyone else.
I also liked how "egchk, what an artist" could be either a good thing or a bad thing, like something Angela Chase might say after seeing 30 Seconds To Mars.
This is literally hours late, but here are my top 10 honorable mentions:
Action Bronson & Party Supplies - Blue Chips 2
Ka - The Night's Gambit
Pusha T - My Name Is My Name
Kevin Gates - The Luca Brasi Story
Cut Copy - Free Your Mind
Free Energy - Love Sign
Meek Mill - Dreamchasers 3
Mikal Cronin - MCII
The So So Glos - Blowout
Charli XCX - True Romance
Listen: As someone who made like $22,000 a year and found room in his budget for 2 CDs a week and had no computer to download music, I listened to every album I bought a million times. I couldn't make it thru that one more than twice. I went from excited to "ugh, jesus, what the fuck is THIS?!?" in like half a song, and that's how I've felt about every single thing they've done ever since. Getting assigned a Xiu Xiu story when I was working Pitchfork's news section was the worst; it was always like "we're burning our pubic hair and bottling the smell and selling the bottles at our merch table" and I'd do nothing but shudder for the rest of the day.
I mean, non-gender-specific toys certainly exist, but as the father of a 4-year-old, it's been pretty nuts to go full-immersion and see how much deeply gendered stuff there still is for kids. It's not like the 80s, when cartoons were clearly delineated as boys' cartoons and girls' cartoons' but you should see the psychic hold that the entire Disney Princess Industrial Complex has on kids, it's crazy. And even if they are selling something plastic, it's at least directed toward physics and inventiveness and important stuff like that.
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