WORTH A LISTEN: Gucci Mane - Lemonade

You'd be remiss if you didn't think the chorus to the (overrated) Gucci Mane's "Lemonade" sounds a little hipster. Attention: Girl Talk. This is both a gift and a mandate: mix away. In the meanwhile, let Gucci slur along loopily, in anticipation of the youthful, multi-layered non-sequitor that pleases but never quite satiates: "Lemon in the shade with my feet up...lemon pepper wings and a freeze cup."

WORTH A LISTEN: Beach House - Norway

Beach House bring an impressive amount of energy and life to their latest Teen Dreams, but manage to maintain their trademark haze throughout. The bending warp of guitar wafting throughout "Norway" provides the essential uneasiness to an otherwise densely upbeat rhythm. The sound is entirely euphoric, like the drugs are finally kicking in.

THE BREAKDOWN: BK One - Radio do Canibal

Essential Tracks: 

The True & Living (ft. Raekwon & I Self Divine)

Blood Drive (ft. Slug)

Philly Boy (ft. Black Thought)

A Day's Work (ft. P.O.S.

Oh man, hip hop was due for a quality release. Sure, Raekwon, Mos Def and Brother Ali dropped some pretty impressive rap albums last year, Kid Cudi piqued some interest, and Wale didn't entirely disappoint. But Bk-One's Radio do Canibal mix combines the novelty of a mixtape with album-worthy production that is an entirely different manner of compelling.

There's not really a dominant theme here; Bk-One favors latin rhythms on the few interludes throughout, and on the impressive instrumental "Tema do Canibal," but the tendency only subtly invades much of the rest of the album. For instance, he favors a (Sean Connery era) 007 aesthetic for Slug's "Blood Drive," while providing a shadowy Spanish-tinged backdrop for the Brother Ali and Scarface duet "American Nightmare."

All of the MC's are near the top of their game, and Bk-One wraps into a tight, digestible package. The highlights are many, and the lulls are few.

The True & Living feat. Raekwo...

Blood Drive feat. Slug - BK-On...

THE BREAKDOWN: Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Band: Gorillaz
Album: Plastic Beach
Sounds Like: Gnarls Barkley, Basement Jaxx, the other two Gorillaz albums that you own
Sub-sub Genre: Much-Anticipated Mainstream Hipster-Mixtape Hybrid
Essential Tracks: Rhinestone Eyes, Melancholy Hill


Plastic Beach is a beautiful, tumultuous world in which Lou Reed and Mos Def hang out all the time, the American public revels in buoyant inanity, and Snoop Dogg is the greatest rapper alive. Gorillaz have further established their presence in that saddeningly rare niche of simultaneous popular and critical success, alongside wonders like Radiohead and Pixar.

Damon Albarn's production is insanely crisp and contagious, particularly sparkling synth-pop gems like "Rhinestone Eyes," "Melancholy Hill" and "Some Kind of Nature." Plus, the album floats along on networking skills alone: almost every track has an interesting guest appearance, somehow stuffed together into the same 61 minutes. If anything, Plastic Beach suffers from a lack of cohesion to a greater extent than either Gorillaz or Demon Days, perhaps stemming from the lack of an interwoven captivating hip hop presence (Del and DOOM clearly outmatch this ragtag bunch). Setting aside the (commendable) experimentation-gone-awry, this album deserves a place on the same shelf as its two brilliant predecessors.

Rhinestone Eyes - Gorillaz

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Fela Kuti - Gentleman (Edit Version)

This 'track' from legendary Nigerian protest singer is jazzy and angry and smart. Check out Fela Kuti: Best of the Black President if you like this sound.

Gentleman - Fela Kuti

Or for the You tube version see here

THE ANTI-HYPE: Felt - Felt 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez

Man, this thing is muddled. Just a murky, repetitive mess.

Aesop Rock, I loved your last album. The production was amazing: eclectic, upbeat, and perfectly attuned to you unique stream-of-consciousness delivery. Whoever produced that album did a great job.

But I see you decided to go a different direction on this one.

An odd choice, to use the same thudding bass drum on every track, thus ensuring that this 20-track smorgasbord (about ten tracks too long) was both boring and unnecessarily brooding.

Slug and Murs, you also decided to bring your C-game, preferring generic first draft quality to your normally more polished narratives. Check out this laziness courtesy of Murs ("The Prize"): "We grew up in the same environment, shared the same spray paint and markers and shit/Now you lookin' for an early retirement because every day you hate on me you talk like a bitch/Scared the hell out you didn't I? Sitting with your girl on the couch watchin' You Tube/ Couldn't even look me in the eye, tried to play it off like 'what's up my dude?'" I guess it was one of those you-had-to-be there kind of stories.

Way too long. Way too sloppy. This duo just dropped a few notches in my book.

A reminder of the infinitely better Felt 2:

Morris Day - Felt

SONG OF THE MOMENT: She & Him - Gonna Get Along Without You Now

Zooey Deschanel gingerly swaggers through "Gonna Get Along Without You Now," sounding like she's on her way to a picnic and she'll step all over you to get there. You pissed her off, so it's actually quite pleasant to her back on top of the world: ."uh huh (uh huh), hm hm (hm hm)/Gonna get along without you now."





Here's a link to the original (1952!) if that's more your style.