The Cool Kids might not have put out an album in the five years as a rap duo, but they certainly have stayed productive, either releasing a mixtape or EP every year since 2005. Tacklebox, the most recent edition to the series of When Fish Ride Bicycles album prelude finds Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks with a more mature tone. Unlike 2009’s Gone Fishing Mixtape, Tacklebox’s production draws from the basic beats from The Bake Sale EP, and improves upon it with slick rhymes and soulful, almost Hip-Hop Golden Age-esque mistique. Additionally, Inglish produces the majority of the album, and keeps production cameos to an appropriate level, none of the DON CANNON bullshit.
It’s damn good. Fuck albums, I’ll take a Cool Kids Mixtape. Get it for free HERE
It’s going to be difficult for Trent Reznor to shake the shadow of Nine Inch Nails; not to say that the self-titled debut EP by his new project, How To Destroy Angels, is undeserving of a nod. Reznor’s collaboration with recently-married Mariqueen Maandig and Atticus Ross sounds like a sequel to NIN’s 2008 release, The Slip. In this case though, the presence of Maandig and Ross adds a much appreciated trip-hop feel to a Reznor who has begun to shift towards a catchier dark ambiance. Still, its impossible not to hear The Downward Spiral on HTDA’s “Parasite” or the resemblance between NIN’s “Only” and “Fur Lined”.
All in all, Reznor has his stylistic equation down to a sport. Let’s hope he can reach the same success in the future, but through different means, for variance sake.
“Power”, the first track off of Kanye West’s upcoming album Good Ass Job (due out in September), leaked this past week. Listen to the stream below to hear the first new material by Kanye since 2008’s 808’s and Heartbreaks. The new album is expected to include a cluster-f*ck of featuring artists, ranging from Kanye protogé Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, Drake, Eminem, and possibly Nas.
Since Trent Reznor’s Farewell Tour with Nine Inch Nails and marriage with former West Indian Girl singer Mariqueen Maandig, he has busied himself with a new project. The music video for “The Space in Between”, the first track off of the upcoming debut EP by How To Destroy Angels (which includes both Reznor and Maandig, as well as Atticus Ross), shows Reznor and wife being burned dead. Not burned alive, burned dead. Watch the video above
The Arcade Fire have posted a teaser of the track “The Suburbs”, the first song off of their upcoming third album (due out this summer), on their website along with the above postcard. The follow-up to 2007’s Neon Bible has been finished, according to Billboard, and does not yet have a title. Click here to hear “The Suburbs”
The Dead Weather play for the Jack Daniels’ and the Phillip Morris’ of America. The Jack White lead blues-garage rock supergroup have returned with a polished sequel to 2009’s Horehound. Where their debut dragged at times, Sea of Cowards progresses, most notably through evenly split vocal duties between White and Alison Mosshart on tracks like “Hussle and Cuss” and “Die By The Drop”. Mosshart on Sea of Cowards reaffirms her mystique through her vixen-turned-singer sex appeal. In “Gasoline”, she coos “To be afraid is a luxury /So cool your engines for me / I don’t want a sweetheart / I want a machine”.
Less than a handful of current mainstream bands have been able to capture the dirty zeal that bands like The Stooges and Boss Hog pioneered. Not only have the Dead Weather contained this energy and made it their own, but they haven’t stopped touring since then. Whether you like the band or not, its safe to say that if everyone had the Jack White work ethic, the world would be a better place.
Two unofficial tracks off of the upcoming album, This Is Happening. Check out the songs at We All Want Someone To Shout For. If the rest of the album is as good as these two tracks, we are in for a great third album.
The Dum Dum Girls‘ debut I Will Be offers little variance that sets it apart from other contemporary lo-fi bands, most notably Wavves and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. The throwback surfer-sound glazed with fuzz feels as if Dum Dum Girls are riding a wave that has been done before without bringing anything really new or memorable to the table. It’s not that I Will Be is a flop, just not very distinguishable among its genre. “Jail La La” and “Everybody’s Out”, are decent blips on the radar, everything else remains.
The Cool Kids might not have put out an album in the five years as a rap duo, but they certainly have stayed productive, either releasing a mixtape or EP every year since 2005. Tacklebox, the most recent edition to the series of When Fish Ride Bicycles album prelude finds Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks with a more mature tone. Unlike 2009’s Gone Fishing Mixtape, Tacklebox’s production draws from the basic beats from The Bake Sale EP, and improves upon it with slick rhymes and soulful, almost Hip-Hop Golden Age-esque mistique. Additionally, Inglish produces the majority of the album, and keeps production cameos to an appropriate level, none of the DON CANNON bullshit.
