#I heard some Blur and Oasis in 2015

[aeolianblues]

Occasionally I get messages from people that only know my music taste from the radio show I do, which in fairness to them is close to my actual taste in music because I wouldn't ever play something I genuinely disliked, but the radio work doesn't cover all of the music I like. And so people are sometimes surprised when, for example I end up talking about well-known American bands (the show is on new and upcoming British and Irish music). I closed out last week's Osheaga-themed show with Green Day and Chappell Roan, and had someone say they hadn't had me down as a Green Day listener because I guess they'd imagined I was on the Britpop side of the 90s rock music scene war. When in fact I grew up 90s grunge!

[collapsedsquid]

Today, Exarchia is a graffiti-bedecked anarchist stronghold, home to squats, cafés, bookstores, and social centers—to the self-managed Navarinou Park, where, in 2009, anarchists wrested gardens from a broken concrete parking lot, and to Steki Metanaston, the twenty-year-old bar founded by leftist organizers and immigrants. Because police seldom ventured beyond Exarchia’s outskirts, and anti-fascist groups have made the neighborhood a no-go zone for members of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, Exarchia’s streets have also long been an oasis for immigrants without papers. After the mass arrival of refugees in 2015, anarchists teamed up with migrant activists, to provide refugees with a roof over their heads while they waited for smugglers to help them reach the German promised land. In the years since, thousands of refugees lived in squats in and around the neighborhood. Walid, an undocumented Afghan man, told me, “Exarchia is a super-nice place. It is peaceful for me here—there is no one to arrest me.”

Recently, drug cartels began to take advantage of this freedom. Cartel leadership was largely European, but many of the dealers who worked Exarchia Square were impoverished men from North Africa and the Middle East. Ecstasy, weed, and cocaine were the drugs of choice, sold to European tourists by youths with frayed nerves and elaborately jelled hairdos. When I stayed at a hotel off the square last year, fights between rival gangs woke me up most nights. Conservative media blurred together the figures of anarchist, refugee, and dealer into a spectre of degeneration. An article in EleftherosTypos, written after the Spirou Trikoupi raid, described raids on squats and raids on drug dealers as part of a single effort to “limit the phenomena of delinquency and drug trafficking.”

[...]

Once some E.U. borders slammed shut in 2016, refugees who had hoped to eventually reach Berlin, or Stockholm, or London, were in Athens indefinitely. The squats became more than waystations; they represented the first stability that refugees had known in years. Refugee children went to school, and their parents worked, shopped, and socialized in the neighborhood. I sketched kids in Jasmine School, a squat near Exarchia, that had been shut in the latest round of raids. The building was a leaky Beaux-Arts wreck, without reliable power or water, but volunteers had provided piles of food, clothing, and medicine, and the residents cooked a collective lunch to the sounds of the Lebanese diva Fairuz. Spirou Trikoupi had a bar, a library, children’s classes, and weekly assemblies. “Ninety people were building a common life together, in a community that was alive,” one activist told me. “Day by day, we were becoming better by learning from our mistakes.”

Walid, a   law-school graduate from Kabul who had spent almost two years in Trikoupi, spoke about his time there with a sense of loss. He had spent ten days sleeping on the streets with his wife and his child when a friend told him about the squat. Once installed, he took easily to the anarchist model of boss-free self-organization. Trikoupi “was like a village, but with different nationalities,” he told me, smiling gently. There were weekly assemblies, residents’ committees to clean and protect the building. “I learned many things about how to live, to help each other,” he said. “We had rules: no sexism, no racism, no fascism, no violence.”

When Walid heard the police outside Trikoupi’s door, he knew he had to run. He led a group of Eritrean girls to a nearby balcony, where they hid for hours under the hot sun, with only dirty water to drink. “They destroyed everything and showed video to media. The media says anarchists use refugees, that they put us in a bad place that is dirty. Not true!” Walid said, his voice rising with indignation. After the raid, he had nothing but the clothes he had worn. He has been staying at a space belonging to friends, along with the other refugees who escaped the raid. On social media, activists posted photos of a hastily built camp, in Corinth, where many of those who were caught were sent—white tents marooned in a mud field. “My friends in the camps miss Trikoupi a lot,” Walid told me. “We want to come back.”

[purkkaklubi-blog]

Shoegaze

a Bit background to one of the most underappreciated genres of the 90s, how the revival of the scene has brought a whole new generation of youth to redefine the genre and what impact the woozy, spinning, swirling, distorted guitar sounds has on me.  

I heard about shoegazing first time in 2015. I was listening to quite a lot of Sonic Youth at the time which I guess was the reason on how I found My Bloody Valentine through Spotify algorithm. First thoughts were okay this is nice but doesn’t really evoke any special feelings in me. I just thought it was less poppy and more ’indie’ spin on the 90s alternative rock and grunge scene. Surely now I know I will always go through a small fact and background check on artists, genres, labels and albums before I make any further assumptions on how artistically remarkable something is. Back then I was a bit ignorant on popular-cultures music history. I knew the basics, Elvis and The Beatles, how white men made Disco cool for the white audience, Punk Rock scene breaking out in UK and across the sea beginning of the Rap and DJ scene, synth sounds in your every favorite 80’s aerobic videos, Kurt Cobain’s sudden death shaking the whole rock world, shiny pop stars rising and falling.

I thought back then that good music is good music. Music being boxed into a certain genre didn’t bring any new artistic meaning into it and putting on labels was only limiting and blurring our minds from the actual sounds. Now it seems like the only way I know how to wrap my head around new music is to put labels on them. Maybe i’m not a free soul anymore finding only pleasures in sounds that elaborate with my every unspoken thought and emotion in the comfort of my own bedroom and in the warmness of my bed. Maybe i’ve become and seem to some of you like a boring music square who is ready to start battling you with my non-existing musical knowledge while being blissfully drunk at the que outside the entrance of a club. Maybe I’m overthinking and actually me taking interests in the backgrounds of different music scenes show that i’m passionate and appreciative towards this beautiful art form that has been given to us. In this world where I can’t see sense and find reason behind anything I find it calming that I can analyze and make clear distinctions between different musical styles. That sounds more like this and this sounds more like that. i’m not an absolutist but obviously through history people have always tried to find answers to their questions. We feel anxiety and nervousness when we’re on a mind puzzle we cannot solve. It being possible that music can be pinned down and defined brings me tranquility.

Well, Shoegaze is a bit different for me. I can’t completely pin down what it is cause it feels and sounds that it has gotten influence from so many genres and the origins of where it all began is very blurry.

Shoegaze began to rise somewhere middle of the 80s. In my last post I mentioned about this Scottish ethereal gothic band called Cocteau Twins. Robin Guthrie the guitarist of this certain band began to use the effect pedals in his guitar work. Back in the day he stated that the idea of using pedals came from the lack of sound and texture in electric guitars but later on admitted that it was actually the lack of his own technical skills that made him start to use the effect pedals. Whatever the reason behind it was I’m grateful that he began to use them. Pedals enabled the possibility to create guitar sounds that were atmospheric and otherworldly. Using effects like delay, reverb, distortion, fuzz etc created these layered textures called wall of sounds that combined many genres at the same time. Noise, Drone, Psychedelic, Progressive, Lo-fi even Ambient. Maybe that’s why I’m so fascinated about it. It’s one specific genre but same time you also hear the inspiration coming from the 60s psychedelic bands, Gothic Rock, Noise Rock etc. You get lost because you think it’s a genre on its own balance but then you start to put the pieces together and find out that it has combined all these things together to make it as one. Then again you know it has its own definite style and not just any kind of music made with pedals can be defined as Shoegaze. You need that woozy, head spinning, swirling guitar that takes you on a musical trip. I feel like shoegazers are the ultimate music fans and their process of making something new was looking back at the bands and the music that they loved.

But besides Cocteau Twins or Jesus and the Mary Chain and their noise pop sound it was the defining moment of 1988 debut album Isn’t Anything by My Bloody Valentine and the single You Made Me Realise that a genre was born. From My Bloody Valentine bands like Slowdive, Ride, Chapterhouse, Swervedriver etc got inspiration for their work that on.

So, why is it called Shoegaze? The term was invented by music media, actually specifically by one NME journalist who referred the artists as shoegazers because of their way of performing on stage. They lacked of presence and connection with the audience due the heavy use of guitar effect pedals which led them to stare at their feet all the time so they could switch their pedals right. Often times they were kind of like step dancing through the sets because of the amount of effect shifting. Shoegazer was a slur word in that time and was only used in an offensive way. There wasn't really a lot of appreciation and understanding shown towards the scene. Grunge and Brit pop scenes were hitting hard on that time and music media was praising enormously acts like Nirvana and Oasis. Anything that was considered Shoegaze or related to it was doomed to get bad reviews when it was released. In the end supporters and gigs got smaller and smaller and labels like Creation had to let their Shoegaze artists go. 

The history with how Shoegaze was perceived saddens me. To me the music sounds and feels that it was a way ahead of it’s time. Electronica and the so called ’indie pop’ music we have now wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for Shoegaze. Music medias harshness made it hard to be taken seriously and made the scene look like wimpy angsty teens mocking rock music with their amateurish noise playing. Luckily the change of that has come.

Through the whole 00s Shoegaze and Dream pop stayed as an underground scene but in 2010s it began to come back on surface. In 2013 My Bloody Valentine released their 3rd album called MBV, 20 years later when Loveless the 2nd album was released. I think the most significant moment of how Shoegaze is being known again pin points to the digital era we’re living now and social media. Internet and the possibility to access information nowadays is easier and travels faster. You don’t have to go into a record store anymore and spend 8 hours of searching and listening to different albums you have probably picked because of the cover or the name of the artist or band or on what ever genre section it’s in. There is of course nice and authentic feeling into it but all i’m saying is that it takes time and what we have now you can be minutes away from your favorite music. Problem in the 90s was that they didn't have enough promotion and a proper platform to be shown on. Now people can make more decisions based on their own mind and not on what the industry and critics are promoting us. Of course you have to be willing to go searching different informative platforms because the music is not handed to you. Music that is handed has the most radio playing and pop on your recommended page on Youtube, Spotify etc. That music has the most skilled promotion and advertising which means the industry is placing more of their finances in them. It’s strictly business. On Spotify I’m not talking about the recommended artist page which can appear if I listen to a certain artist. That’s based on the algorithm of what other listeners who listen to that specific artist also listen to. I’m talking about the browse page where the first playlists you see are probably something like ”Hits right now!” or ”Top 50 Viral” which are promoted playlists including promoted artists.

Thanks to the internet as a platform Shoegaze has started spreading again without the help of the industry and critique reviews. New bands have come who are inspired of Shoegaze and are making music influenced by that genre. The musical form of the 90s movement has moved on to being Nu-gaze. Nu-gaze is a term to describe a new wave form of Shoegaze. New bands like Wild Nothing and Deerhunter are infusing the old characteristics with other genres and new producing techniques. Also the original form of the genre is very tied to the period it existed in and is a 90s youth scene more than an actual genre so there’s a reason it’s impossible to be a traditionalist in that sense.

Things are looking up. Literally. Because the media can’t crush these new up-comers with their name-calling or ridiculous criticism of being the ”scene that celebrates itself”.

They’re not consistently gazing at their shoes, they’re gazing at something new.

I’ve made a list of 4 essential albums which includes the so called Holy Trinity of Shoegaze. Imagine of having this family tree where these three bands are the founders and when you go up, the branches are separating into other sections of noisier -, dreamier - and ’indie rockier’  Shoegaze. Then there’s a 6 album list recommended by me which contains traditional Shoegaze and Nu-Gaze. The 4 essentials are a must-know if you want to engage with this scene and understand the stylistic features of the music.  

4 essential albums

1. Jesus and the Mary Chain - Psychocandy

Psychocandy isn’t actually a Shoegaze album more like Noise Pop and avantgardist Proto-Punk but I listed it here as an essential because of the impact this album did have on this genre that was about to come. The guitar lead blurred by noisiness in the whole album was one of the main

inspirations for Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine. Distorted Guitar leads are defining sound of Shoegaze and this album gives a wide spectrum of static sounds like the pixel rain in your old tv.

This 1985 debut album by band lead by two brothers Jim and William Reid is a wonder work of teenage I don’t give a fuck how I play, I just play. They didn’t care about the looks and actually about anything. Their style of playing and making music was messy, sloppy and lazy as they wanted it to be, it showed the rebelliousness they had against falling into the same patterns and roles as other musicians, not wanting to be molded as the rockstars with all the booze and women (even though they did get heavily drunk while performing). It doesn’t really contain the real social statements of punk rock but still has that familiar adolescent rebellion. Psychocandy found inspiration from 60s girl groups and was filled with easy poppy 3-chord progressions which were masterfully hid with all the noise.

Favorite tracks: Just Like Honey, Taste of Cindy, My Little Underground, Never Understand

2. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless  (Holy Trinity, part of the noisy side)

The 2nd studio album they released in 1991 after the Shoegaze pioneering album Isn’t Anything, My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless makes you think of the bright vibrant intensive colors and hues burning out, melting and mixing together. It has a tense feeling of abstraction. it’s expressed in a way of mind you can’t express it, not with words at least. Kevin Shields work seems to come from some what sub-conscious mind that is trying to tell you emotions he has. Not with words but with sounds. The whole album is strongly based only on guitar leads and in the engineering of them. Which is probably why Kevin was obsessed with getting the effects and mixing into perfection. In one of Kevin’s interviews he stated that the problem was in the recording sessions, it was nearly impossible the get even the smallest frequencies heard. This album approximately cost 250 000 pounds, it took 2 years to record and the band visited 9 studios in total. After it’s release Creation Records went bankrupt and there has been a bit pointing fingers between both parties on who’s to blame for the downfall. What ever side your on Loveless is a well-deserved masterpiece and all the trouble that went along with it had a meaning into it. I’ll always imagine though if hypothetically financial problems wouldn’t be the issue would’ve there been even more different sound layers and textures? Would’ve it taken even more time to be released? 2 years or maybe even 5? Well we can tell that MBV the 3rd album took 20 years to be released so maybe we can count from that.

Favorite tracks: Only Shallow, When you Sleep, Sometimes

3. Slowdive - Souvlaki (Holy Trinity, part of the dreamy side)

Souvlaki is personally my favorite Shoegaze album. Brian Eno the godfather of ambient worked on three songs here and you can hear the ambient touch he gave into it. This 1993 released 2nd studio album by Slowdive is beautifully made timeless classic that stands out with it’s capability to unite heart-breaking melancholy with the optimistic hopefulness of the future. This kind of music can only come out from a teenagers or young adults mind. It brings that authenticity of emotionality that carries through the younger years when you haven’t build a thick skin yet. The way how the dreamy and hazy sounds and vocals have been tied together with Neil Halstead’s sensitive song-writing builds up into this climax of a cry baby music, in a good way. Souvlaki is a breakup album between the two band members Rachel Goswell, the guitarist and vocalist and Neil Halstead, the second guitarist, vocalist, producer and song-writer. It’s like reading their open diary posts. Their love of writing, playing and producing music was bigger than the personal issues they had so they decided to push them aside and stay professional. All that was kept unsaid transformed into poetic song-writing. Both of them showed truly artistic behavior while noticing the circumstances they were working on. Unfortunately media hated it and called it a soulless and outdated piece of work. After the 3rd album Pygmalion they were signed off and left to pay the rest of the US tour on its halfway. At least they’re getting now the credit they deserved and are back on touring. 2017 they released a new Self-titled comeback album Slowdive which is highly recommendable also.

Favorite tracks: Alison, Machine Gun, When the Sun Hits, Dagger (I could pick them all though)

4. Ride - Nowhere (Holy Trinity, part of the 90s more typical alternative side)

Ride’s 1990 released debut album is a dynamic work of guitar distortion that creates a crashing wall of sound. Like the waves moving upwards and downwards while growing into spirally holes which speed up and eventually shatter when they hit the seashore. And in that same scenery the sounds of the rumbling wind that pierce your eardrums. That is the main feeling that Nowhere contains. It’s an album focused on high energy. It has more melodic and rhythmic patterning and simple song-crafting compared to the other Shoegaze essentials. Ride was signed to Creation Records in 1989 when Alan McGee found interest in them after one of their demos Jesus and Mary Chain’s Jim Reid had a hold on. They were the few Shoegazing bands that had the opportunity of experiencing commercial success and Nowhere hit 11. place in the UK charts. Andy Bell and Mark Gardener had artistic differences between what style direction the band should move on. Their childish arguments and battling with it eventually broke the band in 1996 and the members Bell, Gardener, Laurence Colbert and Steve Queralt moved on to different projects. Bell for example became the bassist of the Brit-Pop band Oasis. In 2015 they reunited on touring and released a new Album Weather Diaries in 2017. Like many other Shoegaze bands Ride wasn’t and still isn’t a fan of being categorized as a Shoegaze band stating that it’s a boring tag. They still have a place on being one of the most influencing and essential bands in shoegazing history.

Favorite tracks: In a Different Place, Vapour trail, Dreams Burn Down

6 albums i recommend:

1. Asobi Seksu - Citrus (Nu-Gaze)

This 2nd studio album released 2006 by the Brooklyn based band is lyrically a smooth mix of english and Japanese language together with poppy candy-colored tunes flourished with happiness. Citrus is a refreshing take on Shoegaze. Yuki Chikudate’s adorably pitched and pretty vocals are a candy topping on a pile of upbeat guitar leads that are washed out with loads of effects and drums which are equally noticeable. In total it’s a catchy album with some jingly-jangle Nu-Gaze pop-tunes.

Favorite Tracks: Red Seas, Exotic Animal Paradise, Thursday

  2.  Loveliescrushing - Bloweyelashwish (Shoegaze)

Recorded with a simple four-track recorder, 1993 released debut album Bloweyelashwish by Loveliescrushing is an innovative work of otherworldly and precisely structured fuzzy sounds with some interesting choices of additional instruments. Often mistaken of using keyboards Scott Cortes the guitarist and second vocalist used forks, knives, vibrators, paint scrapers and so on to find new creative ways to make his guitar work even more stretched out. His extremely reverbed and lushed guitar leads, thanks to the technical additions, builds up a gothic atmosphere into the sound landscape. The noisy sounds are hectic, evolving and moving towards to this chaotic drone that feels like it’s eating up all the space and becoming a massive blackhole of squeaky static sounds that create a sonic boom. Paired up with softly haunting and beautifully ethereal vocals of Melissa Arpin the duo has made an impressive first album that’s an escape to other world where soothing hypnotizing sounds are waves where you can float on and sink into the bottom of deep ambience.

Favorite Tracks: Moinaexquisitewallflower, Sugaredglowing, Crushing, Darkglassdolleyes

3. Pinkshinyultrablast - Everything Else Matters (Nu-Gaze)

St. Petersburg based band called Pinkshinyultrablast which is named after one of Astrobrite’s albums is a band thats inspiration runs deep in the waters of Shoegaze. 2013 released debut album Everything Else Matters is a strong mix of electronica with extremely delayed vocals of the singer Lyubov Soloveva that bounces between the walls until the ever-growing guitar lead comes in-front of it all with adrenaline pumped kiddy sort of energy. Playful melody and thunderous pop styling of the album makes it one of the many Nu-gaze albums that give a solid ground to it’s genre.

Favorite tracks: Wish We Were, Holy Forest, Umi

4.  Medicine - Shot Forth Self Living (Shoegaze)

The noise bottom of shoegazing, Shot Forth Self Living the 1992 debut album by American band Medicine is definitely not suitable for everyone but which has such an intensive and massive static explosion that it has to be noted. The screeching textures of guitar feedback seem to claw their way through your skin until it’s scratched into burning and flaming red rash caused by the noise extremeness. Medicine was the first American band that got a record deal from the British independent label Creation Records. It has been praised of being one of the closest american acts to My Bloody Valentine but I like to think that they brought their own unique touch to the noisy shoegazing scene and weren’t just a follow-ups. They dig deeper into the distorted, fuzzed almost intolerable noise sounds. I shall warn you: do not listen to this album with maximum level of volume. Especially with headphones, i’m pretty sure your hearing would get a bit damaged.  

Favorite Tracks: Love You Anywhere, To Your Friends, The Powder

5. Lilys - In the Presence of Nothing (Shoegaze)

Lilys is an interesting band considering the stylistic changes it has gone through the years. First album starting of with the My Bloody Valentine inspired Shoegaze where it took its next direction to another spaces of dream pop, then sudden not-expected obscure change to Mod Revival and the latest releases go back to the bands early roots of more psychedelic rock and shoegazing style. Also it consists only one permanent band member Kurt Heasley and ever-changing visiting members. 1992 first studio album In the Presence of Nothing is characteristically clear Shoegaze album. It has that up-front woozy and distorted guitar with vocals hid underneath that are the main basic shoegazing style My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless defined. It might be a wave rider but it has that alternative rock’s charm that stands on it’s own.    

Favorite Tracks: There Is No Such Things As Black Orchids, Elizabeth Colour Wheel, Tone Bender

6. M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts (Nu-Gaze)

Unlike the other Nu-gaze or Shoegaze picks I’ve selected in here 2003 released 2nd studio album Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts by M83 focuses on heavy robotic synthesizer sounds instead of more organic and analogically produced guitar effects. French Electronic Group assembled together by producers Anthony Gonzales, Nicolas Fromageau, Nicolas Barlet and Morgan Daguenet have concentrated producing more of instrumental tracks than ones backed up with vocals. The small amount of vocals this album has are filtered with effects that create an artificial human sound. Signature move of creating heavily breath-taking and majestic chord-progressions which overflow into softly tuned harmonic static until peacefully vanishing away Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts is a standout piece of electronic noise producing. Last song of the album Beauties Can Die floats gently into this complete silence near middle of the song and rises back up from the dark void with evolving synth strings. Something that I haven’t heard more in music producing. Don’t know if it’s just the cheap quality of my speakers that can’t capture all the frequencies of the sound waves or is it just meant to be that way, it brings a fascinating structure to the song anyways.  

Favorite Tracks: Run Into Flowers, Be Wild, On a White Lake Near a Green Mountain

Last Words:

In this album listing I tried to focus on recommending albums where you can clearly hear the layered guitars. Especially with the Nu-gaze picks where you can tell it’s definitely influenced by shoegazing. This time there was more experimental albums than albums that could reach a pop success. The focus mainly still was on guitar textures and producing. There’s a bit mixed opinions between what is and what can not be considered Shoegaze. I switched up the albums back and forth from the list cause I wasn’t satisfied with the guitar textures and felt like they were too distant from shoegazing after all which is the reason this post took time to come out. Also back a while ago I found this Tumblr post that was a take on one of Kevin Shields interviews where there is revealed that the actual inspiration for shoegazing was drawn from the american grunge scene. I tried to search how legit it was but couldn’t find a source proper enough in my opinion so I decided to stick with the story that media and all the music enthusiasts support. Went through podcasts, interviews with the artists and old concert footage to find more information. I’m obviously not a skillful writer but I focus on giving accurate information and I hope I managed to get to the bottom of this genre in the most simplest way.

Rey

[therappundit]

Welcome to Rap Music, First Quarter 2018...

Q1 2018 is a (w)rap, folks.  

Since late 2014, I have been saying that the quality of rap music is trending upwards. Yes, of course there are dips here and there, but what happened in the fourth quarter of 2014 was a shift back towards a skill-set which speaks more to the components of what had traditionally been the key ingredients of good rap music for much of the 1990′s: lyricism, soul, creativity, and message.

Even though the first quarter of 2014 had kicked off with Freddie Gibbs & Madlib’s critically acclaimed Pinata, that release felt more like a bottle of water in a desert oasis, a project intended to keep an increasingly niche underground audience alive rather than an album that was indicative of where hip-hop was going at that point. That year went on to be dominated by catchy but vapid fare like Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” or Young Thug and Birdman’s “Lifestyle”, until there seemed to be a palpable swing of the pendulum when Run The Jewels 2, DJ Premier & Royce Da 5′9′s PRhyme and J. Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive all dropped at the tail end of 2014. What we were witnessing at that point was another Big Bang in hip-hop, the shattering of the genre into a series of sub-genres, meaning that for better or worse, rap music was never going to be the same. 

I continue to believe that this trend is a good thing, and the best case scenario for a genre that has gone from being the sound of the boroughs of New York City, to an incredibly lucrative global phenomenon. The diversity of rap styles, the constant shifting of the wall between underground and mainstream (and what those terms really even mean anymore?) continued through 2015, 2016, 2017 and now through early 2018. While we can only speculate on where rap music will be by this time next year, I can tell you some of the storylines that make rap music so special right now:

- Kendrick Lamar has ascended to the Mt. Rushmore of rap legends

- After being on life support for years, classic underground hip-hop is en vogue

- And after losing track of the initial message, trap music seems to have plenty to say

In some capacity, the above threads all played a role in making the first quarter of 2018 one of the strongest that rap music has ever seen. It was far from easy to narrow down my favorite songs of January through March, but here are my picks for the top ten rap records of 2018 so far...

1. “Respected” - Roc Marciano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LirimXNqnxA

(You won’t find a better rap intro than this one. Very short, but tightly written, this verse defines Roc Marciano as an artist, and overall this track could be used as a template for how to define the mood of an album in less than 30 seconds. From Roc’s opening bars of “fox furs on my evening coat...I gave these heathens hope”, you know exactly what you can expect with Rosebudd’s Revenge 2. And boy does he deliver.)

2. “King’s Dead” - Jay Rock feat. Kendrick Lamar, Future & James Blake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwAnsAUYnw4

(The Black Panther Soundtrack is a legitimate album of the year contender. The impact of the film has been tremendous, but the force of the music inspired by it is of equal quality. Don’t overthink this rambunctious single...just kick back and enjoy it - because that’s clearly what Jay, K Dot and Future did!)

3. “Tent City” - Roc Marciano 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go7n9-JefoQ

(”Walkin’ in the clooooouds”…Roc’s bars simply knock this one out the park: “...can’t hit reverse and pay for things that I ain’t earned / I heard the herb was dipped in sherm, bitches’ vision blurred / the German engines purr like leopards / couldn’t get a gig at Eckerd, they said my past was checkered / my ghetto pass is good, I never had to check it…”)

4. “Sell Me This Pen” - Evidence feat. Alchemist & Mach-Hommy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EWrReYix08

(This is just a perfect Alchemist cut, am I right? Ev, Al and Mach work a sinister sample oh so well.)

5. “Roaches” - Maxo Kream

https://soundcloud.com/maxo-kream/roaches-prod-wlderness?in=maxo-kream/sets/punken

(If you slept on Maxo’s Punken tape, let this track be a reminder that you made a mistake.)

6. “Expensive Genes” - Phonte

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_nvRMuOaUs

(Phonte is so strong on No News Is Good News, but his writing on “Expensive Genes” feels better than great. “Expensive Genes” may be a career defining song in the catalogue of an already hall of fame bound lyricist.)

7. “Era” - PRhyme (DJ Premier & Royce Da 5′9 feat. Dave East)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8ONsRbOuos

(I don’t care if you weren’t feeling it, it’s just unfortunate that you slept on a great rap record. DJ Premier, Antman Wonder, Dave East and Royce Da 5′9″ tried to unite eras with their first single off PRhyme 2, and in spite of conflicting opinions I would say they were successful. They tried something different here, and I enjoyed the final result.)

8. “Paramedic!” - SOB x RBE feat. Kendrick Lamar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2_A89qTgwM

(This one just kept growing on me. SOB x RBE is a crew to watch, and if they are capable of cranking out more energetic west coast bangers like this one, their future is looking bright.)

9. “Proud” - 2 Chainz feat. YG & Offset

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nUW3nIOOOg

(2 Chainz is poised to have a huge 2018. And if his EP is indicative of how good his next album is going to be, we’re all in for a treat.)

10. “Dedication” - Nipsey Hussle feat. Kendrick Lamar

https://pitchfork.com/news/kendrick-lamar-joins-nipsey-hussle-on-new-song-dedication-listen/

(Victory Lap is not the classic many dubbed it to be when it dropped, but it is a very, very good album. On the surface level this song is not a remarkable one, but once you absorb the words, and the vibes from these talented young men who both survived harrowing situations during their childhood to become older, wiser and more successful for it, it really takes the music to another level. “Dedication” is a strong record.) 

So to Roc Marciano, 2 Chainz, TDE, Black Milk, Skyzoo, Evidence, Royce Da 5′9″, Conway, 38 Spesh & Benny, Cozz, Willie The Kid, Rome Streetz, Rigz, Nipsey Hussle, Maxo Kream, Phonte, SOB x RBE, Jamal Gasol, Earth Gang, Elzhi & Khrysis, Chuck Strangers, Murs, CZARFACE & DOOM, Jean Grae & Quelle Chris, Valee and plenty of other talented artists, too numerous to mention...thank you for making the early months of 2018 so special. Salute!

[wellhello1derland]

Is it possible that the future of rock and roll resides in the voice, hands, body and soul of a 23-year-old boyband popstar named Harry Styles? Styles, formerly of One Direction, recently released his self-titled solo debut, and it's currently the number-one album in the world. That might not be too shocking, given that between 2011 and 2015, "1D" won six Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, 11 MTV Europe Music Awards, seven American Music Awards (including Artist of the Year in 2014 and 2015), and 27 Teen Choice Awards, with all five of their albums hitting number one in the U.K., and four number-ones and a number two in the U.S., with more than 25 million albums sold. But what is shocking is that in a world where the top Pop music is further from rock than at any point in history — Styles has succeeded while creating a beautiful, lush, fun, smart, rock album.

Harry Styles is not a masterpiece; it's not gonna surpass Abbey Road or OK Computer, but think about this: For millions of One Direction fans worldwide, this might be the first rock music featuring a singer of their generation that they have ever heard. That's amazing! While my son's 11-year-old friends might roll their eyes at me if I tried to explain Radiohead to them, Styles has absorbed some of the best lessons of Britpop and beyond, and incorporated them into his new sound. Similar to the move Justin Timberlake made to embrace R&B after the pop of N*Sync, Harry Styles's authentically produced solo debut is likely to distance him from his former bandmates and could enable him to establish a credible, viable, long-term career as an artist who is both popular and critically important. We often hear Current-friendly bands slide away from rock towards pop (I'm looking at you, Chris Martin), but I can't think of any point in time where a popstar went rock — and pulled it off.

If you were anything like me, you didn't even notice the success of One Direction. Boy band, whatever. Been there, done that. Then I heard Harry Styles's "Sign of the Times" — the stunning first single from the self-titled album, building from a simple three-chord piano progression (F-Dm-C for those playing along at home) to a majestic power ballad almost as large as the Rains (that's Purple, November or Right As). But the production is what set it apart: it was a rock band playing this music — with big huge drums, slide guitar, piano, bass, mellotron, and gospel choir — no loops, no programming, no samples, no discernable auto-tune or featured rap verses. It sounds like it could have been cut in 1967, 1977 or 1997, but unlike at least 99.9 percent of what passes for popular in 2017.

Next, I caught Harry Styles on SNL a week later — with Styles hilarious in a sketch impersonating Mick Jagger, and absolutely captivating in his musical performances. With most indie rockers shyly apologetic or ironically false-enthusiastic live, here was an artist unafraid to bring a song to the stage somehow both intimate and huge, with a band that was musical but also looked like they could playing the Entry next week. The weird thing about all this is that the band (and album) is anchored by Jeff Bhasker, an Los Angeles-based producer and musician mostly known for working with the likes of Bruno Mars, Kanye, fun., Alicia Keys and Katy Perry. But whatever the pedigree, I was in, and I thought, This is better and cooler than a lot of what we play on the Current. We could play this on The Current.   Then came the album, Harry Styles. After five years of near-Beatlemania-level pop hysteria with One Direction (oh, and dating Taylor Swift for a while, too), Styles apparently got lost to find himself, writing songs and chilling out in London before decamping to L.A. to find his solo voice and sound for the album with Bhasker and his new band … which is all over the map — and sure, you can hear the influences, but that's OK — maybe it's even part of the fun. A bit of Blur/Beck in "Carolina," a few Oasis-style rockers, a hint of Travis on "Ever Since New York," and could that be echoes of the Allman Brothers' "Melissa" in "Two Ghosts"? Maybe. But all are rendered with impeccable style, and the result is an album of songs that are unabashedly hooky and at the same time produced in a way that will be as new and fresh to a pop fan as it is familiar in a great way to a Current listener. It's a tough needle to thread, and certainly against my preconceived expectations, Harry Styles pulls it off brilliantly.

And while it's hard to predict where Styles will head down the road from here, at this point with more commercial success and WAY more critical acclaim than any of the solo outings of his former bandmates, we can only hope that he continues to develop, delight and surprise us on future albums the way Harry Styles has on his debut, our Album of the Week on The Current.