Track of the Day 365: (Other) Good Music

Steely Dan - Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me) What do you think off first when you hear the words “classic rock?” Jimmy Paige’s majestic guitar solo on “Stairway to Heaven?” Roger Daltrey’s primal scream on The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again?” The menacing riff that opens Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man?” Whatever your answer, it’s probably irrelevant. My point was that it’s almost definitely not related to Steely Dan. Too reserved to induce panty throwing ala Mick Jagger but too damn good to ignore, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have been one of classic rock’s most consistent outfits since breaking out in the 1970s. Consider that when Eminem released The Marshall Mathers LP, it was Steely Dan’s Two Against Nature which beat it out to win the 2001 Grammy for album of the year. Definitely  Probably a snub, but you get the picture.

Cardi B - Bodak Yellow

2017 has been weird. More home runs have been hit than ever before. People are kneeling during the national anthem. Men in Silicon Valley are complaining that women have become too powerful. Cars are driving themselves. Kevin Durant is making egghead Twitter accounts to bicker with guys like me. There is an ice dragon and John Snow did the dirty with his Aunt. Truly, a time to be alive.

But my favorite story is the one that’s as old as time. A good ol’ rags to riches story that sounds good around the fire. Cardi B was once a stripper. 

Read that last line again.

But she didn’t stop there. She used the money she made to get out of an abusive relationship and go back to school. She then flexed her personality on social media into being the star of Love and Hip-Hop: New York. Then she tried rapping. And you know what? She worked to get good at that too. Spend a little time on World Star and you realize that Bodak Yellow didn’t appear out of the ether. This chick put out song after song, put in veneers, got her top and bottom done, and just like that, she’s butting out Taylor Swift’s new wack attempts at angsty pop-EDM into the number 1 spot on the Billboard Chart.

Kevin Lyttle (feat. Spragga Benz) - Turn Me On

Daniel Caesar - Neu Roses (Transgressor’s Song)

Daniel Caesar picked a great time to drop his second LP, Freudian. Ever since The Weeknd came out with the now massively successful Starboy in late 2016, at least 3 male vocalists along the R&B spectrum have produced some of 2017s best offerings.

First there was Sampha’s strangely beautiful and crticially praised - yet commercially underappreciated - Process. Sure, it was a little slow, but there’s a reason this guy has worked with the likes of Drake and Kanye.

Next there was Khalid’s American Teen. Buoyed by the success of its hit single, “Location,” many more were lucky to find Khalid’s album and fall in love with his voice, House Party afro, and pop-ready production.

Limp Bizkit - Break Stuff

I feel like everyone who studies for these big, life-changing exam all goes through the same phases. At first, your drive is at it’s peak, you’re knocking down practice Qs like an ambidextrous man with 2 hammers playing Wack-a-Mole. Flash forward to a few days before your exam and you just kinda wanna....break stuff. Or maybe write a blog post, who knows. It doesn’t happen often, but whenever people my age talk about Limp Bizkit it’s always like we thought the band was a complete joke. It’s easy to forget, but Fred Durst and co. sold MILLIONS of records and had just as many kids wearing backwards red fitted 59/50s. And let’s be honest, if you tell me you didn’t own SIgnificant Other or Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water, you’re probably a big fat liar.

DJ Khaled - I’m The One (feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper, Lil Wayne)

Calvin Harris could’ve had the song of the summer. “Slide” was that good. But he fucked up. Instead of getting people interested with the lesser “Heat Stroke” and following it up with the certified radio hit, he did it the other way around. Now both are slowly finding their way out of Spotify rotations and radio stations faster than brunch patios and rooftops are filling with a fresh batch of warm-weather weekend warriors.

Enter DJ Khaled. Say what you, the guy knows how to put an all-star cast together. With Bieber on the chorus and verses from Chance and Quavo, this one’s sure to get on the radar of even the least musically inclined friend in your group. Lil Wayne’s feature ends up being the old-guard icing on the cake, but that’s totally OK because you could bob your head to this beat all summer long.

French Kiwi Juice - Time for a Change

No time for something long today, but if chill-wave was ever your thing during a college/stoner/going-out-blows-staying-in-is-much-better/etc phase of your life, I hope you found your way to some sweet FKJ. He’s proof that being a quality artist doesn’t necessitate reinventing the wheel. Just do your thing extraordinarily well.

Warbringer - Silhouettes

When it comes to thrash, metalheads never seem to be able to stop reminiscing on the glory days. It’s kind of like we’re a bunch of beer-bellied former varsity quarterbacks who pop chubs as at the site of a state championship ring. Yeah, yeah, Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer were really good at what they did. It doesn’t help either that they’re still putting out music, unintentionally hogging all the spotlight that the metal community wants to give this slice of the sub-genre pie.

Warbringer, though, are part of the new breed of thrash bands along with Vektor and Havoc that have recently put out some quality headbangin’ goodness. “Silhouettes” is the lead single off of their upcoming album Woe to the Vanquished and it does not dissapoint. The riffs are nice and varied, the pace is consistent, the bass is audible (!), and the solos are well composed.

They’re currently touring in Europe, but keep your eyes peeled as it’d be surprising if they didn’t promote this bad boy in the States.

Snakehips - Don’t Leave (feat. MØ)

Flying under the radar, Snakehips have slowly built up a respectable catalog of hits featuring some great collaborations. “All My Friends” with Chance the Rapper & Tinashe as well as “Cruel” have a good number of streams, but they’re still too...how do I put it...college for the radio. Very laid back and beat-centric featuring artists most popular in the late teens to early 20s is a great way to find your way into a hotboxed dorm room but not the airwaves.

“Don’t Leave,” though, takes another direction, and it’s one that’s about MØ just as much as it is about Snakehips. By gearing the song towards a more FM-friendly chorus in the vein of The Chainsmokers or Flume’s recent hits, this thing was radio-ready from the second it got mastered. And this feels very appropriate, considering  MØ has also been looking for her foothold in the limelight since bursting on the scene after she was featured in Major Lazer’s “Lean On.” Her rise seems reminiscent of Sia’s, who also broke out with a feature on a widely played EDM track, David Guetta’s “Titanium.”

John Mayer - Moving On and Getting Over

John Mayer has always occupied an interesting place in music. While he played his teenage-girl-heart-throb-“Your Body is a Wonderland”-Jessica Simpson/Jennifer Anniston/Taylor Swift-dating self into fame in the 2000s, he also tried to carve out his identity as a blues guitarist with 2006′s Continuum and 2008′s live album Where the Light Is: Live From the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. For the most part, he did this really well. He never had a number one record or a number one single, but he sold a lot of records and made some pretty decent music.

After 2008 though, his career began a slow-burning down turn. Sure, “Say” was pretty good and Battle Studies and the subsequent albums that followed had some good songs, but they were largely mediocre. The public noticed, and nobody really gave a damn about John Mayer until, well, right about now.

The Search for Everything - Wave One (released today on Spotify), is satisfyingly solid. Surprise surprise, the above track happens to be where Mayer actually makes the most use of his talent as a guitarist and is easily the best composed song on the EP. It feels like “Waiting On the World to Change”-esque but with more love-centric lyrical themes and sans xylophone solo.

Diana Ross - Upside Down

More often than not, Fireball and Fernet would not be a good idea on a Tuesday night. Yesterday was not one of those nights (shout out to Christmas break). Holding down the dance floor with metaphorical makeshift caution tape constructed out of unpolished dance moves was an essential ingredient to the night’s recipe. and it would definitely not have been possible without the excellent selections that the mid-40s-something DJ was making all night long. I didn’t know this one when I heard it, and without hesitation immediately Shazam’d that shit. Yes you can still Shazam things. If someone tries to tell you to remember a lyric and look it up later, tell them to go hail down a cab instead of ordering their 4th Uber of the night. 

Justin Bieber - Love Yourself

The Grammy nominations are out and once again our attention turns to the snubs and surprises. To see both Anderson .Paak’s Malibu and Travis $cott’s Birds in the Trap Sing Brian McKnight get left out of rap album of the year while DJ Khaled’s Holy Key rode the ingenious marketer’s Snapchat feed and continuous PR campaign was downright criminal. 

In terms of surprises, has anyone listened to Sturgill Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide to the Earth? It earned an album of the year nod for some reason. Gonna have to check that out.

But back to today’s song. Bieber fever hit fever pitch when Purpose came out earlier in the year. People were surprised, mainly because it was actually pretty good. This song in particular got people’s attention, and for good reason. To my recollection, it’s one of the only songs on the album that strips down electronic production in favor of some light guitar backing with a well-composed trumpet bridge. I’ve expressed my love for this sort of departure before when I wrote about The Weeknd’s “Tell Your Friends” and “Sidewalks.” It lends itself nicely to letting Bieber use his voice, and helped that, “My momma don’t like you and she likes everyone” line stick around in peoples’ heads for months.

Vulfpeck - Conscious Club

If you dig bands with a definitively unique vibe, you should really check out Vulfpeck. Earlier in the summer, a friend and I were debating about which day we were going to go to Pitchfork. I wanted to see The Revivalists on Saturday, but she was adamant that Vulfpeck on Sunday was easily the show to see. I didn’t end up going to either day  (sad face) but after hearing their new album The Beautiful Game, I’d be hard pressed to say she was wrong. Weaving a wide variety a styles, instruments, and lyrical themes, it’s easily been one of themy most fun listens of the year.

“Conscious Club” puts this into perspective nicely, complete with skit intro, multiple funky bass breaks, and a chorus that would get the flattest of feet steppin like like someone put Molly in the punch.

The Weeknd - Sidewalks (feat. Kendrick Lamar)

With his latest release Starboy, Abel Tesfaye has  - for better or worse - said goodbye to the previous iteration of The Weeknd. He’s done this in a few ways, both shaving off the arachnid that used to live on top of his head as well as actually killing himself in the opening scene title track’s music video. However, what’s most noticeable in the album is the lack of experimental flourishes that were hallmarks of his style throughout the Trilogy era. 

While some of his earliest fans might lament this fact, I would argue he’s better for it. The album’s production has a better pace and the beats allow him use that sent-from-above voice to belt out great chorus after chorus. My favorite song off the album, though, has to be “Sidewalks” where they deftly trade the 808s for an classic drum and guitar rhythm section ala “Tell Your Friends” on The Beauty Behind the Madness.

The guitar lick is memorable, the verse is one of Abel’s best verses on the album (double props for The Untouchables reference), Kendrick  delivers another great feature, and in the context of an 18(!) song album, is a nice reprieve from the rest of the well-done but similar sounding production. 

Kyral x Banko - Zeus

Big Gigantic - The Night is Young (feat. Cherub)