🐣 OKAY(K) — FRANK OCEAN [初演 • PREMIERE]

⌾ LISTEN TO FRANK OCEAN BY OKAY(K) ⌾

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The gooey shimmer of the guitar in 'Frank Ocean' by okay(K) is the track's soulful foundation, the fuzzed out, lo-fi quality of it echoing his recent New York EP. It's a mellow mood-setter that balances between emotion and total chill, which is reflected in the lyrics, breathlessly, nonchalantly recited in a stream of hefty layering and warp that puts a cloudy distance between listener and emotive lines.

Things like, "Nike kicks are in the dirt / I don't ever wna work / What are Nikes even worth" as well as "She gon show up where I live / please don't show up where I live" summon a kind of nihilism, ceasing to care but without the outward doom that goes with it. Even when okay(K) mentions "demons at my neck" they are merely "gross", the same sense of humour that also has him rhyming "lazy" with "Lays-y" (the adjective describing Fritos obviously).

The (mostly) seven syllable lines of the track's midsection give every statement a natural pause, staccato space for the lyrics to breathe, to be thought about, furthering that pensive mood; hearing his actual recorded voice in the gloop and crunch of the layered vocal effects becomes poignant after a while.

All set to a clanking, slow shuffle of a beat, okay(K) succinctly explained the horizontal R&B feels of 'Frank Ocean' when we asked about the track over email: "the ocean be flowing man," he wrote to us. "im just tryna flow like the ocean, to be frank." It's a moment of self reflection, as witnessed through a prism of lyrical versatility and skewed chill.

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• 🔔 Listen to more okay(K) over on his SoundCloud.

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☟ okay(K) Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ tumblr ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify ⚘

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🐣 R.BLACK — ALIEN MONSTER

⌾ LISTEN TO R.BLACK ALIEN MONSTER ⌾ There's a lot to like about 'Alien Monster' by R.Black. The synths twisting and melding with each other in the background definitely effuse a sense of, well, alien-ness and that's the first thing: this unobtrusive instrumental that, without getting in the way of what Houston-based, Jamaica-born musicmaker is doing with his voice, still conjures this bizarre backdrop of retro UFOs and pixellated, far-off galaxies.

Vocally, and lyrically, 'Alien Monster' is a gem. There's this hushed, rapid rap to begin with – featuring the no-bullshit of "I'm young and reckless / I'll snatch your breakfast" – and later on this slower, playground rhyme kinda rhythm, that kicks off with "Lover not a fighter / not a coward I'm a writer."

With this and other references to the literal craft of rapping, the skill of hopping on the beat, contending with nouns and verbs, R.Black has some originality that makes listening to his bars almost like hearing an alien man from outer space, which he mentions throughout. Combine with prime useage of reverb on some lines, brazen inexplicable yells and yelps for ad-libs, and you get a feel for the unique hype that is at work in 'Alien Monster'.

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• 🔔 Get to R.Black's SoundCloud to hear more (since 'Alien Monster' the tracks have mostly been produced by others and don't have the same soul, personal touch or DIY charm present in this track).

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☟ R.Black Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ youtube ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify

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🐣 RALLY CLUB — TWELVE TATTOOS

⊚ LISTEN TO RALLY CLUB, TWELVE TATTOOS ⊚

Conversational lyricism weaves through the sunny strumming jangle of Rally Club's 'Twelve Tattoos', the effect basically feels like climbing inside the head of its female protagonist. Her observations and thoughts sprinkle the lyrics, whilst she's also described her in third person from the point of view of the singer.

The chorus, with its hook-laden far-off broken radio vocals, mentions this explicitly: "I gotta feeling that I’m seeing what she’s looking through / cause she talks in her sleep, she talks about being with you."

The sparkle of its chords feel like starfish washed up on the beach, the breeze shunting clouds across a cool blue sky, the tinny bump of the drums skittering in coastal somersaults. There's this surf feel, with these effortless vocal harmonies that feel Beach Boys crossed with beat poet – or West Coast Weapon-era Brand New – as you can see from Rally Club's opening gambit:

"She looked pretty even keeled if you looked from afar. Her makeup barely covered up her blatant reactions to songs as she mumbled the words if she knew them at all.

She looked pretty damn full from all the meals in her car; the times she spent driving chasing constant attractions added up and the math in her head was getting harder to solve."

There is this delicious wordy detail in the strings of words that whirl around, rhythmically solid and pulsing with the bounce easy scansion. Even the ABCABC (bones, palate, remind her / known, mallet, behind her) rhyme scheme feels poetically sound.

Next to the detail, the words remain methodically cryptic; lines like "Twelve tattoos in the entire home, the perfect situation to display on the surface" and "A polished reputation, could it really be worthless? she thought as she filled in all the cracks in the living room wall" – as well as the sad "nobody found the letters she was leaving behind her" – mix everyday minutiae with mystery.

And then besides the airy detached jangle, there's this angular guitar riff that jumps in loaded with chorus; the sort of glitzy, towering thing you'd expect from some early metal band, but with a lovely lack of distortion. Besides the superficial everyday of the protagonist, the light strumming, there's the inner turmoil of what she's actually going through, displayed in the mild aggression of the thumping riff sections: clutching at reality and trying to make sense of it.

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• 🔔 Feel free to stream or purchase this Rally Club track on their Bandcamp or the single release it appears on, Space / Twelve Tattoos'.
• 🔔 The fun hand-drawn video is by Nathan Henning.

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☟ Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram

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🐣 DOWNHAUL — HOW THINGS WORKED OUT

A story told in an intricate web of lyricism, weaving guitars, gymnastic bass and skilfully skittering drums, 'How Things Worked Out' arrives from Downhaul, a band from Greensboro, North Carolina. "So now we've got even less to show for all these years of whatever we haven't been"—the track speaks of something that was, now slightly faded in the light of present day, confessional, observational, rambling and revelling in minor but memorable details. From the very start, after a string of distorted chords and drumbeating, this is apparent: "I took your phonecall in my parents' unfinished basement."

When it's not effusing melodies math-rock-style fretboard-somersaulting, the guitar is warm, with just a little bit of grit from fuzzy distortion; in this latter way, in singular chord sweeps, it works with the slow jangle of the bass and calm smartly tuned drums to cushion sad lines like, "Well no one in my life now would even recognise your name," whilst at the same time the space afforded by these calm sections allows for the lyrics to hit bullseyes. At other times the lyrics are not necessarily sad but recognisably awkward and funny, as in "I drive an extra two-and-a-half miles east just to avoid the bank where your mom works, and I know it's total vanity to assume she had even the slightest clue as to who I am but that's all I got."

A tale of love gained, misplaced, and kindled as a set of memories and awkward constraints of movement and meeting, with all the embarrassment and half-obsession that the modern age affords, this is a post-post-breakup anthem in the form of a message never sent, strewn over the surface of this dynamic, rhythmic, melodic sea of sound.

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• 🔔 Did you like that as much as we did? If so, you'll be probably happy to learn that it comes from Downhaul's very recent four-track EP, About Leaving. Featuring three more songs, it's an extension of the sound of 'How Things Worked Out': calculated guitars, crackling distortion, jostling drums and all the everyday colloquial poetics you could ask for. You can listen and/or purchase for $1 or more at their Bandcamp.

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☟ Downhaul Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ instagram

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ALT-J ∆ AN AWESOME WAVE

Finally. Finally. Finally.

Finally, I have drummed up enough energy to write about this amazing album. It truly is. From distorted sub-bass to folk guitar and literary references, this album has it all and delivers it in such a stylishly effortless way, allowing you to sit back and soak it all up like some kind of joyous land sponge with an addictive personality.

I saw that it'd been extensively covered online, yet the word of mouth is only just starting. So please start now, and please share these wonderful sounds to all of your friends. This can be enjoyed in any country, at any time of day, with any people, in any mood, by people of any age, any class, any musical preferences, any backgrounds. I think the word is 'universal'.

So anyway, this is alt-J, or ∆ if you like. The name is how to make that little triangle on Mac keyboards. As mentioned by bassist in the band, Gwil, "in mathematical equations it’s used to show change" and it couldn't have been more apt. The music on this fantastic album An Awesome Wave marks some kind of change: it's very different to a lot of what I've heard before.

Kindly enough the band put the whole album on SoundCloud. That's a tick next to their name. Not only this but they were also kind enough to provide notes to each song. It helps explain the album, which fortunately or unfortunately (depends how you look at it), needs a bit of explaining at some points. 'Intro' for example is described as having been originally called 'Nod to Canon' and in fact acts a tribute to "everything that we have unconsciously borrowed/stolen which has unwittingly contributed to our body of work to date."

That 'canon' encompasses Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are in 'Breezeblocks', Luc Besson's Leon in 'Matilda', Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr. and Robert Capa and Gerda Taro (two war photographers) in 'Taro'. In addition to fictional/well-known influences, there's the death of a matador referenced in 'Something Good', a childhood memory in 'Dissolve Me', and a violent experience in 'Bloodflood'. It's packed full to the brim of these influences and is perhaps what makes An Awesome Wave such an enjoyable listen.



For example, I didn't know anything about those war photographers. I looked them up when I first listened to the song. Now I know about them. Things that make new connections in the brain are quite exceptional. But really, alt-J have just used the simplest and most effective formula existing to create music: as Steve Jobs said, "Creativity is just connecting things."

I've already written too much, I'm so sorry. Musically, this album is just as good as it is conceptually. Some stand-out parts, then. There are the altered, guttural vocals on 'Intro' - highlighting the strength and unique nature of the vocals in general. Similarly, the refrained, subsequently layered and sung in a round style 'Please don't go, I love you so' in 'Breezeblocks' is sheer pleasure to listen to (same in 'Matilda' - you forget the power of repetition). The shivering, lusty vocal style in 'Tesselate' is something great too, sounding like whispers from the heart of the world. The refrain in 'Something Good' is beautifully catchy, too.

That song also includes a great drop into its more folksy part at around a quarter of the way into the track, blissfully sending you out in a row boat onto a lake bubbling with new and old sounds that come up to greet you like cartoon fish. The childish, happy rhythms of 'Dissolve Me' support the conceptual childhood memory that runs through the song lyrically and there's this beautiful nostalgia that is ingrained into all parts of that song just popping out of it like fireworks.

Juxtaposition of acoustic guitars (the first interlude, for example), vocal harmonies (splendorous in 'Ms' and the stunning hidden track 'Hand-Made') and real drum sounds with meaty and nearly disfiguring extended bass notes, wildly distorted and spine-straighteningly strong, is refreshing to hear. Strongest in 'Intro', 'Dissolve Me' and especially 'Fitzpleasure' (whose now-and-again guitar riff is hollow, hard and heavy), it's an example of the 'folk-step' sound they seemed to have created.

Just as brilliant creating energy and making you feel crazy as they are being prettily minimalistic and chilled (as in parts of 'Bloodflood' and 'Taro'), these diverse musicians seem set for great things. Could write even more. Says it all. Sorry for wasting your time. Buy this album.

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• alt-J on SoundCloud
• Here's their official site
• And their Tumblr page
• Here they are on Facebook
• This is their YouTube channel
• Follow alt-J on Twitter
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ANGEL HAZE NEW YORK + WERKIN' GIRLS

This is fresher than fresh, a breath of air that's like chewing on mint gum made of ice and caffeine. Angel Haze is a hot new female artist who is set to explode and splatter all over the world pretty soon.

Why? Cause she's utterly ineffable, that's why.

Pitchfork has given a more in-depth treatment than I have, writing a veritable book on the young rapper. You can read that here (but you must know about all of the musical and artist references they make otherwise it is like reading an essay on sociology). That said, you want more info, you go there. I'm here to chat about music, not history.

Where to begin. Swagger doesn't exactly cover what these songs have. Swagger is for the weak. This is pure attitude. Angel Haze, much like Nicki Minaj, spits rhymes that are as open as space, explicit as porn, and as raw as taking a bite out of a passing cow. She is truer than Nicki Minaj, not just because of the music itself, but also because she's blown up before she's signed to a major record label, not after. They both rap. That is where the similarity ends. She makes Minaj sound like Oprah.

'New York' is drenched in daring audacity and utterly full of confidence. With a beat that sounds like a soundtrack to a march, it has all this potential energy into it, more like watching a battle about to happen rather than actually watching one happen. Two of my favourite lines: 'I am zero past a hundred / Spittin' like a dragon that were mission from a dungeon / Y'all a bunch of niggers getting trippy off of nothing / Tie a rope around ya neck and let me kick you off a bungee'. There's a careless Minaj reference in there. And then there's the un-politically correct: 'You bitches are lyrically like some fuckin' Down's syndrome, no offense'. Brilliant stuff.



And then 'Werkin' Girls', also from her album Reservation (released 17th July), is on another level entirely. It's dirty, dark and damn good. There's this huge bass that bounces out alongside a beat so slow and aggressive it feels like I could fall over just listening to it. Her bars on this one are just something else entirely, she's a fast rapper and she delivers the line so effortlessly - there's no tripping up on anything, it's like her mouth is a machine gun. But at the same time she's putting all her energy into this, you can hear her gasping for air sometimes. There's something in her aching to get out and it doesn't just get out: it bursts out like a volcano erupting.



It's such a joy to listen to not just a talented wordsmith who can weave words together, creating original rhymes and unique imagery, but also to a talented speaker who raps with the such finesse and precision that - especially on the first listen - you can't help but smile. Pure wicked joy.

Angel Haze is real. Do believe the hype. Don't accept any comparisons. She is entirely original. She's just 20 years old and she's going to be huge. As she rightfully says in 'Werkin' Girls':

'I just popped up out the blue / I'm spontaneously combusting'

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• Listen to Angel Haze's RESERVATION on her Bandcamp page
• Here's more Angel Haze sounds on her SoundCloud
• Angel Haze on Facebook
• Here's her YouTube channel
• Follow Angel Haze on Twitter!
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CULTS GO OUTSIDE VIDEO

Cults, who released their debut self-titled album like a month ago (featured here if you fancy reading what I thought), have released a new video for standout, commercial-friendly, ear-warming and ear-worming single 'Go Outside'. Directed by Isiah Seret, a few days ago it premiered on Boing Boing. See below.



It features footage from Jonestown - the scene of the Jonestown Massacre; a mass suicide/mass murder at a commune in Guyana set up by pseudo-Christian Communist cult Peoples Temple, led by the enigmatic Reverend Jim Jones. The sentiment of the video accompanies that of the song; with the happiness portrayed by members of the People's Temple and their actual contention with being unable to leave and their ultimate untimely end, set to the music of 'Go Outisde' - a song whose lyrics struggle with each other "I really want to go outside and make it light all day... You really want to stay inside and not care where you lay".

Perhaps a comment on how things seem and what they actually are like? Whether you read into it or not, it's a great song, perfect for summer - if indeed the sun ever comes out again.

• Here's the Cults official site
• Listen to Cults on Myspace
• Or just as well on their SoundCloud
• Check their Bandcamp
• And of course, you can follow Cults on Twitter

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