Music War!

“I’m lost, thank god I’m lost.”  Goodbye Seattle and Siren-hatted lady; it’s been real. Hello Salesforce “ohana” -- can’t wait for the next chapter to begin. (CdB) 

I literally just reviewed the 25th anniversary re-release of Singles for Magnet and was reflecting upon what a force Cornell has been in the Seattle music scene -- his brief/funny cameo in the film notwithstanding, Cornell was an intensely private guy with demons nobody seemed to have fully understood.  Like everyone else in our town (and seemingly, the world), I was a huge Soundgarden fan and so excited to see the band back out on the road playing their insanely over-the-top brand of drop-D heaviosity.  (Mize and I caught Temple of the Dog’s reunion show in Seattle just a few months back.) But what really grabbed me about Cornell was his magical ability to distill complex emotions down to a deceptively simple snip, as he does here, a Led Zep-alike that goes way beyond mere pastiche. I’ve had KEXP on all morning here in Tokyo and am pretty much in total and complete shock.  We’ll always have his music, but goddamnit, this one stings the same way that Elliott’s loss also did. I hope that, with his tragic passing, maybe Cornell will finally find the peace he sought. (CdB) 

And that’s really my question -- this is beautiful stuff, totally my jam and an instant earworm over the past few days, post-discovery.  So I don’t mean for my commentary to sound critical, or reductive -- and there are other songs in her catalog that lean much closer to punk or even revved-up electro pop (she does an interesting cover of Empress Of’s “How Do You Do It?”). But the resemblance here is well and truly striking and leads me to believe that the singularity the XX represented back when they debuted (meaning, uniqueness) has now become “singularity” in its more modern sense -- a vast, infinite quality that has permeated the mainstream in a way that Romy, Oliver and Jamie xx probably all marvel at here in 2017. (CdB) 

If this is the kinda thing we’re likely to hear more of in a posthumous Prince universe, then yes, more of the above, please. A deluxe edition of Purple Rain is slated for release in June and it evidently includes 11 previously unreleased songs from the Purple One’s infamous “Vault.” If you all dug that so-called Minneapolis Sound as much as I did back in the day, and adore the notion of prime-time Prince skating effortlessly between stylistic lanes (part electronic, part Quiet Storm, all of it pointed toward the boudoir like some kind of jazzbo neon arrow) a la “Something In the Water (Does Not Compute),” you’re gonna LOVE this. (CdB) 

I don’t know a ton of backstory here aside from trip-hop artist Emancipator taking one part Mobb Deep (one of the best hip-hop tracks ever recorded), one part Sigur Ros (”untitled 1/Vaka”), and stirring to taste. A classic that local morning DJ John Richards will periodically spin which always reminds me of how great a truly inspired mashup can be. (CdB) 

From the moment we hear Jay offhandedly say “turn the music up” and then casually introduce Frank’s vocal line as “sidebar,” it’s clear that 2017 is going to be a very different (read: liberating) year for messrs. Ocean and his erstwhile OFWGKTA collective. Having broken the formal links to / responsibilities of a label contract, Ocean is free to drop new tracks like stray breadcrumbs, forming a digitally savvy trail that traces the steps of his development in a much more organic (and true) manner than the every-four-years-I-come-correct of his majors era. On his Beats 1 show “blonded RADIO,” Ocean has been slyly working new tracks into the playlist -- episode 001 introduced his Calvin Harris and Migos collabo “Slide,” episode 002 saw Ocean premiering the standout material-goods lament “Chanel” and now episode 003 re-introduces Tyler the Creator to the world as one of the three voices on “Biking,” which at first blush appears to form a triple-entendre allegory (one part bling, one part regret, add self-belief, stir) about what it means to trick out on your metaphorical bike, creatively-speaking.  It’s right in line with the red-eyed-and-blue beats that formed the backbone of blond’s hazy personal backstory, but with lyrics that point the way toward a newfound (muted) confidence in Ocean’s vision and direction. I dig it. (CdB)

Portland, OR in the house.  Dude’s beat and flow are totally Missy circa 2001 -- and if he manages to single-handedly kill off trap it’s cool af with me. (CdB) 

DKVPZ are two young dudes from the favelas of Sao Paulo – Matheus Henrique and Paulo Vitor, both of them 19 from what I can gather in my broken/bad Portuguese – dropping beats and having fun. And the sheer joy of the music they’re creating kind of obviates any need to know more about them other than “you should go to their Soundcloud page (or Joe Kay’s Soulection page, which I’ve written about here before) and check out their white label EP,” which perfectly represents what they sound like now. Baile funk on a tourist visa to a New York City nightclub with a drink in one hand and the other waving in the air. Dope. (CdB)

Today Pitchfork put out a list of their top 50 Brit Pop songs. Overall pretty good, but one BIG miss, IMHO, is not including this gem. And also Avenging Angels! (mize)

Might be my favorite track of this newish year so far. And the video homage to Temple of the Dog, is pretty rad. (mize)

My favorite weirdo band of 2017 so far -- two brothers from L.I. who sound like they’ve subsisted on a diet of nothing but Scott Walker, Bacharach and the Left Banke (if you close your eyes, maybe the Zombies or the strangest Big Star fits in here as well?) since high school. As the video’s director explains at the end of this mini-movie, “Love is for the desperate who can’t get by on their own.” Just my kinda heart-totally-outta-space-and-place jamz. (CdB) 

This mashup is a few years old now but aside from its inherent cleverness, it occurs to me how much sadness is embedded in Biggie’s music (beats + rhymes combined) and how this is mirrored in the “outsider” qualities that The xx also bring so effectively to the table. There’s a whole mini-album of this stuff available online and revisiting it today only reminds me of just how profound a loss it was when Christopher Wallace and Tupac Shakur were both killed in the worst of the East Coast/West Coast beef of 96-97. Big remains an all time rap great and for as little work as he produced in his lifetime, it all stands up amazingly well today, two decades down the line. Peace. (CdB)   

I’d call them the Jeff Tweedys of their generation but that description probably does none of them any favors.  They’re all unique singer/songwriters who just happen to have a mean OCD streak painted right through the middle of their creative yet mathematical minds. (CdB)  

Just returned from a week in Europe, the last two days of which were in London. Suffice it to say that all these years post-Dizzee, grime is still major -- and Stormzy is its boy king of the moment, reigning over the album charts and generally stirring shit up just like back in the day. Literally heard this joint everywhere we went in the city, which tells me that grime is still very much a cultural currency in the UK rn. (CdB) 

So you wait 20 years for one of your favorite bands ever to record new music (after seeing them reunite on tour the year before, sounding as fantastic as you’d remembered), and then they come out with TWO NEW TRACKS IN TWO DAYS and they’re both great. Like “top records of the year” great (not just “hey not so bad for a reunited band” managing-expectations great).  Then you remember that Slowdive also issued new music less than two weeks earlier and IT sounded amazing, as well.  And then you realize that Shoegaze is going to save us all in 2017. (CdB)