Top 10 mp3s of the Week (5/25)
Staff Writer Childish Gambino Feat. Heems – “Tell Me” Photo by Heather Kaplan The teaming of Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) and Das Racist’s Heems seemed like a natural fit; their love of pop culture and insistent sense of humor, though, didn’t really translate on their shared track on Heems’ Nehru Jackets mixtape, “Womyn 2″. When the new track opens with Heems chuckling, and repeating the words rap and hip-hop blithely, and then Glover name-drops tUnE-yArDs over a silky smooth, soulful beat, this track shows a marked improvement. Considering the brief length, it’s a fair bet that this comes from the upcoming mixtape, the third impressive new track in as many weeks from the Childish Gambino camp. -Adam Kivel [soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/47441151" iframe="true" /] Just Friends (Nicolas Jaar and Sasha Spielberg) – “Avalanche” (Leonard Cohen cover) Covering Leonard Cohen has long been an appealing endeavor for musicians, but minimalist electronic auteurs aren’t usually found engaging in the act. However, Nicolas Jaar is an unusual artist, and this rendition of Cohen’s Songs of Love and Hate cut “Avalanche” doesn’t seem all that unlikely. Snatching up Steven Spielberg’s daughter Sasha for these six minutes, the song plays out through sparse piano and Spielberg’s airy, Regina Spektor-evoking voice. And since CoS is named after one of Spektor’s songs, you’d better believe that’s a compliment. -Mike Madden Kendrick Lamar – “War Is My Love” For his contribution to the fresh-out Ubisoft video game Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 3: Future Soldier, Compton’s great young hope Kendrick Lamar aimed to put himself “in the shoes of the Ghosts from the video game and capture that feeling of being willing to wage war and do whatever it takes to claim victory.” The track that was produced from the effort, fittingly, features the Black Hippy rhyming about love for war and the thrills it produces, for good and for ill. Even better, the steady stomp of the beat mirrors boot-camp marching, making the song that much more suited to combat’s mentality. Stream it below, and be on the lookout for CoS’ report on Minnesota’s Lamar-featuring Soundset Festival, running next week. -Mike Madden Kendrick Lamar – “War Is My Love” Lupe Fiasco: “Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free)” Sampling Pete Rock and CL Smooth’s irrefutably classic “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”, whose beat is maybe the most distinguished of all time, Lupe Fiasco’s “Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free)” is a welcome return from the pop excess that was all over his 2011 LP, Lasers. Ever the politically revved-up rhymesmith, Lupe goes in on Hurricane Katrina, Baghdad, and planned obsolescence in a way that might irk some of his opponents. Luckily, just about anybody can get down with that chorus. Off Food and Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, out September 25th. -Mike Madden Oh No Feat. DOOM – “3 Dollars” Mysterious, powerful verbalist DOOM’s familiarity with the Jacksons (no, not those Jacksons) produces some outstanding results. After joining forces with older brother Otis (AKA Madlib) for the legendary Madvillainy collaboration album, the masked man has now teamed up with younger brother Michael (aka Oh No) on an early cut from the upcoming album, Ohnomite. As always, DOOM’s dada stream of consciousness is good for a few hearty laughs (“ain’t no thing/but a chicken wing/it’s like the quickening/quit your sickening bickering”), and Oh No’s head-nodding production and slick verse are sound promises of what should be a great disc. -Adam Kivel [soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/47105447" iframe="true" /] Princeton – “Grand Rapids” (RAC Remix) Originally released on Princeton’s recent solid LP, Rememberance of Things To Come, “Grand Rapids” started out as a wobbly bit of indie pop excellence. Thanks to a remix from Remix Artist Collective, however, the track has been stripped of its off-kilter synths and frenetic percussion, leaving in their place an sugary summer jam that relies on fuzzy guitar and a simple drum machine to carry the listener off on a light breeze. A strange remix to say the least, RAC took Princeton’s already airy style and pushed them out into the ether rather than amp up the intensity, a wise choice considering the ultimately pleasant result. -Adam Kivel [soundcloud width="500"]http://soundcloud.com/hit-city-usa/grand-rapids-rac-remix[/soundcloud] Redd Kross – “Researching the Blues” The lead single/opening title track from the first Redd Kross album in 15 years, “Researching the Blues” is a slice of angular, soaring punk-pop. The group features brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald (the latter plays bass for punk supergroup OFF!), and their power on this track is undeniable. Playing together since they were teenagers in the early 80s, it sounds like the pair hasn’t aged much in the interim, Jeff’s angsty vocals and Steve’s thudding bass powering things to a rich, shout-along aggression. -Adam Kivel Redd Kross – “Researching The Blues” Rick Ross feat. Meek Mill – “So Sophisticated” Between these Maybach Music titans, almost 4.3 million mixtape downloads have been made at DatPiff alone since January (that’s 1.3 milli Rick Ross’ Rich Forever, almost 3.0 for Meek’s Dreamchasers 2). However, this one, “So Sophisticated”, is not from a mixtape, but an album, Ross’ long-awaited God Forgives, I Don’t, out July 31st. After the obligatory Funkmaster Flex drops, a menacing beat kicks in and Rozay is off to the races, waxing far nimbler than he could have even two or three years ago. Later, Meek also spits out a 16 that can be described with adjectives that mean the opposite of the first part of his moniker. -Mike Madden [soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/47145628" iframe="true" /] Whitney Houston and Jordin Sparks – “Celebrate” (Prod. R. Kelly) From Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” to Biggie Smalls’ “Nasty Girl”, posthumously released singles have topped charts for decades. Maybe the next song to earn that distinction? “Celebrate”, from the film Sparkle and the last song Whitney Houston recorded before her passing. Featuring both a beautiful cameo from American Idol alum Jordin Sparks and keyboard flourishes courtesy of R. Kelly, it’s one grace note that sounds like it was meant to be. “We love you, Whitney,” indeed. -Mike Madden [soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/47099448" iframe="true" /] YACHT – “I’ll Be Your Mirror” Photo by Summer Dunsmore Whether its using a PowerPoint presentation in their live show or putting their philosophy together in a book called The Secret Teaching of the Mystery Lights, electro-poppers YACHT have made a habit of making surprising choices and winding up with outstanding results. The next in that line is their outstanding cover of Velvet Underground and Nico’s “I’ll Be Your Mirror”, in which vocalist Claire Evans smokily pours out her best rendition of the German Nico’s original part. The bleeping, trippy electronics underneath her have a downcast edge to them, wonderfully updating the nearly 50 year old track. The group just recently set out on a tour stretching across the southern U.S. from San Diego, CA to Miami, FL, so here’s hoping they’ll trot out this new gem for the occasion. -Adam Kivel [soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/47104344" iframe="true" /] ...
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