There were a lot of Big Name releases this week from Daft Punk to The National to … French Montana. Here’s the stuff that I checked out.
Listen:
French Montana aka Karim Kharbouch or better known as the dude who created “Pop That” released a full album this week. Excuse My French’s opener “Once In A While” (which samples both Kanye West and Three Dog Night) is interesting enough but it’s probably not a good sign when his raps are completely lost on me. Being a rapper is hard enough––this I can totally understand––but nothing really pops out as intriguing or memorable. Even Lil Wayne with his mostly asinine catalog has found a place in my heart, but Excuse My French has few stand out moments, only songs I truly enjoyed were “When I Want” and of course, “Pop That.”
Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories definitely lives up to its name in the random sense. Alt Citizen’s Roselyn wrote more about that here. I think she liked it way more than I did, but the fact that it includes “Giorgio by Moroder,” a nine-minute ode to the Italian producer and songwriter is perfect. It’s quickly become one of my favorite Daft Punk songs of all time.
Radical Dads have always been one of those band I’ve known of but didn’t know much about, at least not much more than their awesome name. Who doesn’t want/know a radical dad? Anyway, their new record Rapid Reality is packed with great shoegaze-y tunes and guy/girl vocals, which as you may have noticed are some of my favorite things. I don’t want to really pick out specific songs because Rapid Reality is definitely my favorite album of the week and probably one of my favorites of the month. What I am saying is LISTEN TO IT NOW.
Watch:
Charli XCX covers Backstreet Boys in a synthier and maybe even sexier way—except for Brian Littrell. Charli can’t beat Brian’s sexy.
Read:
Shea Serrano continues documenting his failed attempts at making his sons try to listen to the music he loves.
“You know what’s cute? Twins doing the ‘Gangnam Style’ dance once. You know what’s fuuuuuccckkkkiiinnngggg horrible? TWINS DOING THE ‘GANGNAM STYLE’ DANCE EVERY 30 SECONDS FOR SIX DAYS. Those little fools just Gangnam Style all through the house now. Hand to God, I was watching the Spurs/Lakers game two weeks ago and, like he materialized from the thin air, one of the boys came Gangnam Styling across the room completely naked (he was previously in the tub). You can’t forget seeing tiny balls Gangnam Styling, man. You just can’t.”
People who enjoy throwing shade at Kanye for dating and impregnating Kim Kardashian are boring as fuck. There I said it. This person says it in much more concise and clever terms.
“In reality though, Chief Keef isn’t white America’s worst nightmare. Because while he scares the living shit out of them in person, he fits neatly into the trope that many racist white Americans need young black men to fit into: violent, uneducated, aimless. They expect this kind of character, and in turn know how to strip him of his humanity, dismiss him, and avoid him.
Kanye West is white America’s worst nightmare. Because as much as one may attempt to dismiss him—by calling him an asshole or classless or deranged or various other adjectives that fill the comment sections of literally every article about him—you still have to turn on your regularly scheduled late night comedy program and stare him in the face. You can’t avoid Kanye. He’s made very sure of that.”
Random Nostalgia:
The Clash is forever.