#rio da young og

[dustedmagazine]

The Year the Stars Crashed: Ray Garraty’s 2023 in Rap

Peezy is writing the most disgusting rap in 2023

Let’s be honest: we can’t just have exciting years in music. The year people stepped on the Moon was more exciting than the one when they didn’t. We love to cheer when during a year we discover new talents, when we are buried under tons of great stuff which just keeps coming. But we shoegaze when our favorite musicians fall off. We tend to stay silent about it.

And in 2023 I mostly watched artists I admired go wrong. It was painful and embarrassing but also sobering. It is a price artists pay when they enter this game. They are creative and genius and entertaining until they are just not.

Mac J was hooked on the Auto-Tune, so his latest tapes were full of bad singing and not very good lines. EST Gee and Lil Yachty went even more mainstream which in political terms would mean far far right. The Alchemist did a lot of production for the artists that don’t deserve it. ShittyBoyz drifted aimlessly, and their best album this year is not even under their name (it’s Lando Bando’s Family Business). Cash Kidd is not so funny anymore (kid you not). BandGang Lonnie Bands got too caught up in his mind games.

Yet it is Peezy and Valee who had the most embarrassing fall in 2023. Which is hardly surprising for those who have followed them since day one. Valee now is a proper elevator music artist, filling his anemic songs with AI-generated lines. Peezy, top-5 worldwide just a few years ago,  is now writing the most disgusting rap music, and he even admitted that. Signs of rot were visible in both last year, so nothing really new is here.

I just kept trying to follow the ones I liked (mostly Michigan-based), and the one who grew up from a Rio Da Yung OG sidekick (and a blood brother) to a fully mature artist with his own unique style is Louie Ray. While Rio is still locked up, Louie Ray is keeping his torch. I enjoyed nothing more this year than his solo tapes, and his collabs with YN Jay. Let’s hope the next year will be better than this one.

Ray Garraty

Tapes

Cellow — Ghetto Takeover

Rio Da Yung OG — The F Tape

Louie Ray — Even Stronger/We Still Don’t Grind The Same

Rio Da Yung OG, GrindHard E, RMC Mike — Ed, Edd n Eddy

Lando Bando — Family Business

Philthy Rich — King of Oakland

Mike, Wiki & The Alchemist — Faith Is A Rock

Production

Wayne616 — Talkin Crazy (Rio Da Yung Og)

Marc Boomin — No Big Homie (Rio and RMC Mike)

The Alchemist — Scrabble Jam (MIKE and Wiki)

Kmoney — Heads (Rio, Louie Ray, RMC Mike, GrindHard E)

Sav — The Getback (Rio, RMC Mike, GrindHard E)

Danny G — Dirty Pop (Rio, StanWill)

??? — Special (Cash Kidd, OhGeesy)

Wayne616 — April 14th (Louie Ray)

[aktionpak]

I was gardening in the rain next to a massive lake this afternoon and got sad-sack frustrated a couple of times because i was wearing work gloves and couldn't press my rubber fingers on the skip button. Past the songs i don't want/need to hear anymore. Because there are only so many hours in the day for music that kicks me in the teeth just the way i like.

So i started thinking about creating a playlist. Favourite songs. Forever songs. The best songs. Ride or die songs.

But when a mental list turns into 300 songs before i even look at screens or physical media. And what do i do with all the the sounds i love that are like 20 minutes long and just hang out in the air like some of the best music does? This recent Richard Youngs album is a wonderful thing. And a good example. I could never put it on a playlist to share with my ALTERNATIVE ROCK-loving car friends. Or maybe i could try it.

Like many from the dozens of albums by Richard Youngs, this one almost works best if you walk into it part way through, without any context. There is so much confidence in Youngs' way of casually hanging around a concept until it is just almost about to overstay its welcome and turn into a stale lump. But he never overstays. **subscribers to the cdr sub. series might say different*

I keep thinking about this new Lower Plenty record. Songs one and two hit hard up front. Instant pop and then a journey into a new emotional thing. i've had the album on regularly and still don't have a proper grasp of it.

Every Lower Plenty record has a handful of all-timers.

jfk this man is a force

[babybratzmaraj]

31 & 53, please...🥺

31. gee golly! idk what i wanna spill abt me😔

anywho!! 1, i started writing when i was a teenyweeny brat baby 🥰 2, Im from flint! same as terry crews, same as ms sheilds, same as rio da young og! 3, i am a diehard lover girl but we tryna convert into a hoe.

53! OK BOOM

YOU A BAD BITCH

YOU ARE A TALENTED SOUL

I GLAD I MET YOUS

you are pretty🥴

and your writing makes my coochie hard!!!

[end-of-violence]

2024ラップ②

G.T. / Dog Out a Pup

Babyface Ray / Money On My Mind

Babyface Ray / Shy Kid

Babyface Ray / Glory

Sada Baby / Flight Back

Damedot / LIE TO MY FACE

Los / Above The Law

Peezy x Nice / Harlem

42 Dugg / Win Wit Us

YN Jay / I Ain't Done Yet

ShutupShy / Still Lit

Chief Keef / Runner

Ballout / Big Glo Flow

Lil Migo / Hello Kitty

Baby Jamo / 6 Foot Chaser

QuisActive / Order Up

Paco Panama / Ezal

HavinMotion / Vibe 2

Skino / FDM

Traphard Swagg / 2 in 2

Lil Wet feat. Wizz Havinn / Sexii Redd

Wizz Havinn / Loco

Wizz Havinn / Tunka Truck

BossMan Dlow Ft. GloRilla / Finesse (Remix)

ATM Tana / Keep Movin

Fatpocket / Live From The Trenches

C Stunna & Skrilla / Curtis Jackson

J1 & Kickkone / Squeeze

Tyte, Trigga500k / Motion

Loe Shimmy feat. Luh Tyler / Aretha Franklin

Loe Shimmy feat. Veeze / Dirty Soda Junkie

ALLBLACK / R.I.P. DRAKEO

Carns Hill ft Knucks X Youngs Teflon / COLOURS

アルバム

Chief Keef & Mike WiLL Made-It / Dirty Nachos

Chif Keef / Almighty So 2

Ballout / No Radio

Lil Flash / Did You Miss Me or You Ain't Care?

D30 / Snakes & Vultures

Junie3x / Way 2 Late

GloRilla / Ehhthang Ehhthang

Woodboy Gee / King Hawk 2

Medhane / Double or Nothing

MIKE & Tony Seltzer / Pinball

Bandgang Lonnie Bands / Antimedia

Bandgang Masoe / Wst

Drego & Beno / True Story

LOM Rudy & Allstar JR / Casino Bag

Damedot / PURPLEHARDT

Ace Cino / 5 Letterz

Payroll Giovanni / Have Money Have Heart - EP

Jugg Harden / Detroit USA

Jugg Harden / Get the Blicky 2.0

Prince Jefe / Tunnel Vision

Prince Jefe / Warwoundzz - EP

Shaudy Kash / The FABUR EP

Wtm Solid / Bigg

Wanski / Back From the Dead

Los / Last In Love

Rio Da Yung OG / Rio Circa 2020

Bfb Da Packman / Forget Me Not

Baby Money / H.I.M. (Hutsle In Me)

Trdee / The Greatest

J1hunnit / Nevermind, I'll Do It - EP

Mack Nickles / Quit While I'm Winning

World Tour Mafia / Tourmania 2

WTM Scoob / Scoob Wav

Pretty Brayah / Unstable

CoffeeBlack & WTM Scoob / Love at First Sight?

Certified Trapper / Trappernese

Yung Threat / Inlilahkitrust

Tae Dawg / Ooze World Order

Lil Gray / Gray

Skino / Youth Madness

Paco Panama / Southside Sopranos

HavinMotion / Motion

HavinMotion / Trappin In Beverly

3o$oma / Jedi Temple - EP

ST6 JodyBoof / Riding W Boof - EP

3coMMa$ / Heavy Rotation 3

KP SKYWALKA / Back To Granny's

Yung Maaly / Clutch Almighty

Situation Slim / Draggin & Havin

EBK Lulmaxx / Do It For Maxx 2

EBK BCKDOE / BlueMoney Music

EBK Lulmaxx / Product of The J - EP

GS Ash & EBK BCKDOE / 3 Doe's Down

GS Ash & SSRichh33 / 3300 Degrees

GS Ash & SSRichh33 / The Redacted Files 2

GS Ash & OsosubkaK / The Joy of Creation

KT8Deuce / Portlands Most Valuable Ghetto Juvenile

KT8Deuce / Aye N***a

adfrmysb / Forever Hate - EP

kpkeeparoll / Born a Steppa

Mozzy / CHILDREN OE THE SLUMS

J. Stalin / Me vs Me 2

Yhung T.O. / AFTER THE FAME

Yhung T.O. & Lil Sheik / Ballin Like Tutu

ALLBLACK / ROUND 1

Big Sad 1900 & MikeMadeThe808's / The Separation

Doddie Savage / Mr Blitz'em 2

Fl6ixer / Web Ya Block

キーフ2024

[yungxgoldin]

𝔗𝔯𝔞$𝔜

[buzzbeat]

Rio da Yung OG Announces Tour, Drops First New Project Since Prison Release: Listen

last month, Ryu Da Young or Ji He was He was released from federal prison She immediately celebrated with a new song titled “Free RioThe Michigan rapper has now shared a new project called Free Riowhich includes his latest single “WYDTFind the 10-song project, plus the new music video for “Off-Rap,” below. Rio da Yung OG was already lined up Homecoming show at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, on…

[dominiquethomas]

2024

8-ball sunk in the side pocket, couldn't lose, i put some spin on the white

Albums

Papo2oo4 & subjxct5 - We Don't Miss

gladde paling - eurodance revolutie

Kalash Criminel - BON COURAGE

That Mexican OT - Texas Technician

Crush Your Soul - Crush Your Soul

TisaKorean - MUMU 8818

che - Sayso Says

Machine Girl - MG Ultra

200 Stab Wounds - Manual Manic Procedures

evilgiane - HEAVENSGATE VOL. 1

Papo2oo4 - Mr.3000

Chief Keef - Almighty So 2

Babydrill - ScoreGod

Cash Cobain - PLAY CASH COBAIN

Babyface Ray - THE KID THAT DID

Morceaux

Papo2oo4 & Subjxct5 - Who Dat

GORDAO DO PC - MEGA PAGOFUNK 2024

DHT Lingo & 414 Jungle Baby - Red Light

BFB Da Packman x RMC Mike x Babyfxce E - Kentucky Love

Charli XCX - 365

That Mexican O.T. - Twisting Fingers (feat. MoneyBagg Yo)

Real Boston Richey - Help Me

Kalash Criminel - TRAFFIC

Olivia Rodrigo - obsessed

Slater - Race to Nowhere

Vince Staples - Étouffée

Ennaria - Monstarrr

Underscores - My guy

Six Sex - 4 noviosS

TisaKorean - EXXACTLY

gladde paling - tik tok

Wizz Havinn - 4AM at Coffee Zone

Niko B - Why’s this dealer?

DaBoii - Blindfold

Veeze & Rylo Rodriguez - F.A.F.

BeenSlackin - AKON LONELY

DeadEnd Quan & Joe Pablo - Thousand Dolla Lens

El Cousteau - Words2LiveBy (feat. Earl Sweatshirt)

Laylow Lee - Blocc Bleeder

EBK Jaaybo - Boogieman

Paco Panama - Player Coach

RRoxket - Ganger

Rob49 - On Dat Money (feat. Cardi B)

Babyface Ray - Wavy Navy University (feat. Veeze)

Maxo Kream - Eye Know

DevStacks - Diamonds in My Face (feat. OsamaSon)

LAZER DIM 700 - Greg Heffley

Chief Keef - Treat Myself

YTB Fatt - Free Bank

Crush Your Soul - UNCLEJR

Faerybabyy - orange soda

Jaeychino - Going Through Shit

Big Homiie G - M&M

kwes e - juggin

Leakionn - Where i go wrong

Dina Ayada - Love Me

S5 - JUST DIS TIME (feat. Ricky Bishop & Lonebrain)

Prevention - Internalized

Lebra Jolie - FTN

Fimiguerrero - Vogue

BankBoiiz - Go Low (feat. 414BigFrank)

Lomiiel & BB Trickz - Tu Quiere Bailar

BLP KOSHER - Dreidel Bop

EBK Young Joc - Charged Up

SOPHIE - Reason Why

Lilniina - e-m@il

Babydrill - I Can’t Feel My Face

Papo2oo4 - Ooo

2hollis - sister

Haywire 617 - LAST ONES OUT

che - Miley Cyrus

POLO PERKS <3<3<3 - RAINBOW

Dee Billz - Karma (feat. Kyle Richh & G5AZO)

03 Greedo - Still Feel Loaded

Jayskino - Remember You

MCVERTT - Hate The Real (feat. 41)

ilham - uhm…ok?

Lil Dann - WIPED (feat. Lil Yachty)

Young Slo-Be - Are You Responsible

NLE Choppa - SLUT ME OUT 2 (Backseat Freak Mix)

Lil Tony Official - Times Tables

Lil Yachty - Sorry Not Sorry (feat. Veeze)

KUSH BINFLOCKIN - HEATER (feat. Headtap Gz)

SINN6R - Ay Caramba

Rio Da Yung OG - Da Ghetto

Z Money & Key Glock - Money & Glocks

Sexyy Red - Get It Sexyy

200 Stab Wounds - Gross Abuse

d.silvestre - Taka Fogo em Kiksilver

Flo Milli - Got The Juice

Quavo & Lana Del Rey - Tough

EBK Trey B - Silly (feat. SSRICHH33)

NAV - 6AM Thoughts (feat. Bay Swag & Cash Cobain)

Febuary - Slow Dance Tune For Abigail

SG Lante - Fw Esco

Rats In Paradise - Fire Starter

MANAPOOL - you all assume i’m safe here

Nettspend - Nothing like you

OsamaSon - just score it (feat. slatt)

evilgiane & SLIMESITO - BRUISE WAYNE

idkcap - # TIME

Ghost Mountain - Apollon

evilgiane - BEEN DA WAVE (feat. 03 Greedo & EERA)

Remble - Colors (feat. stoneda5th & Mozzy)

Yhapojj - Make Sum Noise

BabyChiefDoIt - Pancakes & Drugs

ZUTOMAYO - TAIDADA

Cash Cobain - problem

DJ Arana - Pes 6 Putaria Edition

Digger - The Boss

Nicki Minaj x Youngstar - Pulse x Uh Oh (Bootyspoon & Sinjin Edit)

Fimiguerrero x Len x Lancey Foux - Spanish Guitar

Butter Bullets - lu/approuvé

DJ Manny - Get Active

Tommy Richman - MILLION DOLLAR BABY (VHS)

Playlist YT et lien dl en-dessous

[thelensofyashunews]

Big Moochie Grape Shares “Wake ‘Em Up” To All Streaming Platforms

A “gigantic” force in the Memphis rap community, Big Moochie Grape is impossible to ignore. Never one to stand still, Moochie continues to put in work after ending a short prison stay, sharing the official release of his new single and music video “Wake ‘Em Up.” He debuted the track last week via 4 ShootersOnly's renowned platform From The Block, performing the new song in front of a hanging microphone the same night he left the corrections facility where he spent his sentence. The viral video has over 400k views in the past week. Produced by his favorite sound architect, PRE's own Bandplay, Moochie injects a jolt of energy into “Wake ‘Em Up,” vowing to rouse anyone who might have slept on him.

The official video for “Wake ‘Em Up” documents Moochie’s first day out from the moment he walks out the prison gates with a huge smile on his face. He shares a joyous reunion with his crew before heading to Atlanta where he embraces post-prison life, showing off his icy jewelry, getting a haircut, and counting stacks of cash.

The "Wake 'Em Up" video continues a saga that started with Moochie's new project, East Haiti Baby: Incarcerated, the follow-up to 2022’s East Haiti Baby. The high-octane mixtape welcomes guest verses exclusively from other incarcerated rappers, including YFN Lucci, who who turns in a sing-song counterpoint to Moochie's machine gun patter on "I Made It," Rio Da Yung OG on "Bars," a Memphis-meets-Michigan-style banger, and his PRE cohort Big Unccc, who tears it up on "L.A. Lakers." Notably, the project welcomes an interlude from C-Murder, a close friend of Moochie's late mentor Young Dolph, the No Limit soldier who has been locked up for decades and has much wisdom to share. Honoring the project's theme, Big Moochie Grape and Paper Route Empire partnered with the Bail Project, a non-profit that advocates for bail reform and provides free bail assistance to those in need, to match donations up to $20k in December 2023.Featuring an additional guest appearance from Bankroll Freddie, East Haiti Baby: Incarcerated is available all on platforms via Paper Route Empire.

Now that he's free, Big Moochie Grape is hellbent on stepping on necks throughout 2024 and beyond. Stay tuned for much more music from the East Memphis rapper as the year moves along.

[negorski]

Nick’s Complete List of 50 Best Favorite Songs of the Year 2023

Carly Rae Jepsen – Shadow

Lil Yachty – Strike (Holster)

Bad Bunny – NO ME QUIERO CASAR

Gunna – fukumean

Veeze – Not A Drill

Bad Bunny feat. Young Miko – FINA

Playboi Carti – 2024

Lil Yachty – sHouLd i B?

Young Thug – Mad Dog

Carly Rae Jepsen – Kamikaze

Young Nudy – Okra

Carly Rae Jepsen – Stadium Love

100 gecs – Hollywood Baby

Sexyy Red – SkeeYee

Bad Bunny – LOS PITS

Lil Yachty – running out of time

Lil Yachty – SOLO STEPPIN CRETE BOY

Drake feat. Lil Yachty – Another Late Night

Rio Da Young OG – Talkin Crazy

Lana Del Rey – A&W

Carly Rae Jepsen – Aeroplanes

Drake – The Shoe Fits

Babyface Ray feat. Veeze – Bosses Linking With Bosses

Veeze feat. Babyface Ray & Icewear Vezzo – 7sixers

Young Nudy feat. 21 Savage – Peaches & Eggplants

Young Thug feat. 21 Savage – Want Me Dead

Kendrick Lamar & Baby Keem – The Hillbillies

Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist feat. Vince Staples – Mancala

BigXthaPlug feat. Ro$ama – '02 Lakers

Bad Bunny – MONACO

The Rolling Stones feat. Lady Gaga – Sweet Sounds Of Heaven

Young Thug feat. Juice WRLD & Nicki Minaj – Money

Veeze feat. Lil Yachty – Boat Interlude

Lil Yachty – TESLA

Westside Gunn feat. Stove God Cooks – House of GLORY

Babyface Ray & 42 Dugg – Ron Artest

Carly Rae Jepsen – Anything To Be With You

Olivia Rodrigo – bad idea right?

White Reaper – Pages

PinkPantheress feat. Ice Spice – Boy's a liar Pt. 2

Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams – LYTD (Vocoder Tests)

LUCKI – Tunevert

Southsidesilhouette – Walk Away

Fred again... Skrillex & Four Tet – Baby again...

Foo Fighters – Nothing At All

Skrillex feat. Nai Barghouti – XENA

Veeze – Weekend

That Mexican OT – Skelz

Rio Da Yung OG & RMC Mike – Lucid Nightmare 2

JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown – Burfict!

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 9, Number 4

Photo of Angel Olsen by Luke Rogers

Dust is everywhere these days, but that’s a good thing.  April may be the cruelest month, but it’s also when the release calendar swings into full gear and local concert announcements proliferate.  We’ve made it through the long dark void.  It’s time for beers outside and portable speakers.  What are we blasting?  Oh, lots of things.  Australian punks and Michigan rappers, German death metalists and French composers, piano deconstructers and freaking Arto Lindsay.  This month’s contributors include Jennifer Kelly, Ray Garraty, Jonathan Shaw, Bill Meyer, Tim Clarke, Ian Mathers, Patrick Masterson and Jim Marks.

Blowers — Blown Again (Chaputa!/Spooky)

Blown Again LP by BLOWERS

“Wipe My Ass” materialized in my inbox on a slow day. It came all the way from Australia with blunt force scatological humor, and yeah, I clicked on the link. Why not? It’s dead brute simple, this song, starting with a girl (also the drummer) yelling out the title phrase, and picking up first a buzzsaw guitar lick and later, the somewhat wistful, surprisingly hooky chorus of “I just want somebody…to wipe my ass.”  These songs are all raging ID and very little super-ego. “Shut the Fuck Up” is catchy as hell, in the vein of Jay Reatard’s late-career, alternative-universe hits, and “Let’s Age Disgracefully” aims a firehose of guitar nose straight at the speakers, so that you have to step back a little bit. Leonard Cohen, it’s not, but if you like giddy, joke-y, irrepressible garage punk from people who can barely play their instruments, well, prepare to get blown.

Jennifer Kelly

Cellow — Ghetto Takeover (Jugg$treet)

There is literally no information on who this guy Cellow is, and this EP won’t change the situation. In a dozen of years we will be just saying “Oh, remember that dude that did a little tape with Rio Da Yung Og?” It looks like Cellow took a deal Rio was offering before he got locked up — to record an EP with an artist for $50k — but Ghetto Takeover didn’t surface until now. After 20 listens, hardly a line written by Cellow stays in your memory, possibly due to his total lack of charisma. Rio Da Yung Og completely steals the show here, on all the tracks he’s featured, and he’s in a full ignorance mode: “Fuck Obama and I ain't vote for Trump neither \ Stupid-ass white boys, Butthead and Beavis.” It’s the Flint MC who’s taking over Ghetto Takeover, not Cellow.

Ray Garraty

Ch’Ahom — Camazotz Cult (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)

Camazotz Cult by CH'AHOM

Ahead of a new LP from German black/death band Ch’Ahom, the sharp-eared freaks at Sentient Ruin Laboratories are releasing this compilation LP, and they’ve done us a solid. Camazotz Cult is as confounding and queasy as it is unpleasantly intense, precisely the sort of thing some of us look for in underground metal. What might possess a bunch of young German dudes to disappear into the mythos of a Pre-Columbian bat god, to the extent that they are compelled to form a band to write and record songs about it? This reviewer can’t shed any light on that—and likely the reasons should remain shrouded in dank, noisome darkness. If the denizens of TikTok and Telegram are alerted to the existence of the band, the ethno-purity police will show up to lodge their complaints: some will wring hands over cultural appropriation, others in black metal circles will bum out over the idea of Northern European kids digging on gods from the Global South. So goes our contemporary conjuncture. Meanwhile, songs like “Raid of the Tzitzimime” and “Noh Ek” churn and burn. To add to the cultural confusion, Ch’Ahom have covered a few tunes by Danish wackos Sadogoat, who went on to release more music under the even more inspired name Sadomator; Ch’Ahom’s rendition of “Female Goat Perversion” is as awful as you might expect, and it’s also pretty great. For sure, it’s the right soundtrack for 2023’s latest iteration of our global shitshow. Release the bat god, please.

Jonathan Shaw

Dippers — Looking for a Sphere (Goner/Tenth Court)

Looking for a Sphere by Dippers

The Melbourne garage punk rippers known as Thigh Master made two taut and scrappy full-lengths before ending their run. Now, a couple of years later, the two principals Matthew Ford and Innez Tulloch are back under a new name, Dippers, and a greatly altered sound. Looking for a Sphere, along with the single “Tightening the Tangles” make a case for fractious jangle but also psychedelic dreaming. Dippers do both. The single, out about a month ago, hews closer to the Thigh Master template with scratchy tunefulness, jabbing guitars and a noodle-y meander of keyboards. On the Sphere EP, however, even the relative bangers are slower, sweeter and edging into a gritty variety of twee. “Mazing,” the lead-off cut, is arch and witty like the Monochrome Set, jaggedly surreal like certain Pollard songs. It cuts and slashes and tootles in a sleepy-eyed way, in line with what Terry has been up to over the last several albums. “Drift Space” is even more stretched and blissed out, with its widely space guitar chords, its long shudders of tambourine and its languid psychedelic choruses (“Inwardly imploding, the pressure inside will not worry me, turned off the air, I floated out there, then turned off the screen.”) The two instrumental tracks are the surprise however, built of long expanding synthesizer tones and harpsichord like natterings; they extend in every limpid direction from a still center. But if Mikey Young can dabble in ambient electronics—and he can—then why not Dippers? Garage punk is so much more interesting when it brings in ideas from outside.

Jennifer Kelly

Bruno Duplant — Insondables Humeurs (Granny)

Insondables Humeurs by Bruno Duplant

Bruno Duplant made nine albums in 2022, so pardon me for not getting around to writing about this one until now. Mind you, my tardiness does not mean that you should not listen. This album is part of a recent series of longform pieces on which the French composer and occasional instrumentalist has taken on the full-time task of performance. Insondables Humeurs earns its title, which translates as Unfathomable Moods. Its two tracks loom and stretch, with long harmonium drones taking plenty of time to lure the listener into a state that feels at once enveloping and uneasy. Electronic treatments, piano notes, and arhythmic percussion intrude periodically, amping up the apprehension. This is the final installment of a trilogy of sonically disparate but similarly disposed efforts; one gets the feeling that Duplant is deeply concerned about the ongoing state of things. The resulting sounds cannot be denied.

Bill Meyer

Exploding Corpse Action — Interdimensional Annihilation: Complete Transmissions 1995-1997 (Armageddon)

Inter-Dimensional Annihilation: Complete Transmissions 1995-1997 by Exploding Corpse Action

The redistribution of heavy music’s extensive back-catalog of hyper-obscure, underground releases continues apace, and sometimes one wonders about the intent. Filling in untold histories, or filling hipster collectors’ record bins? Creating archival records, or “deluxe edition” records as pricey commodities? Interdimensional Annihilation: Complete Transmissions 1995-1997 is a newly marketed collection of the relatively slim output of Albany-based death metal band Exploding Corpse Action, and the record provides a good occasion for thinking on those questions. We’ll stipulate to the excellence of the band’s name, and there’s some fun to be had; tunes like “Light Speed Impact Crater” and “Robotic Surgery Malfunction” are endearingly demented. But do we really need two marginally different takes of “Decompression: Anal Prolapse” in the interest of a “complete” set of recordings? Do we really need this record in the first place, when a quick inspection of the latest sounds on Bandcamp yields any number of death-metal-related experiences imbued with the same sort of goofball depravity? History seems to have been indifferent to the band’s existence, and none of the participants in Exploding Corpse Action went on to make more subculturally significant music. Maybe if you live in Albany, you feel differently about the band’s relative importance, and in that case, I’m sorry — not about the band, but about Albany.

Jonathan Shaw

Grandbrothers — Late Reflections (City Slang)

Late Reflections by Grandbrothers

The concept behind the fourth album by Erol Sarp and Lukas Vogel — the follow-up to 2021’s All the Unknown — is an interesting one: these ten pieces all feature grand piano as their sole sound source, recorded at night in Cologne Cathedral when the building was closed to the public. As expected, there are plenty of moments of quiet, gently reverberating reflection, building into exultant crescendos. However, what’s most surprising — and perhaps most disappointing — is that the piano is often so heavily processed as to render it indistinguishable. When crunchy beats kick in on a track like “Infinite,” one can’t help but wonder why a live kit couldn’t have been substituted instead; it certainly would have sounded more natural and more in-keeping with the album’s sound palette. Nevertheless, it’s often engrossing to follow how the duo’s multi-part compositions unfold.

Tim Clarke

Arto Lindsay — Charivari (Corbett Vs. Dempsey)

Charivari (Black Cross Solo Sessions 7) by Arto Lindsay

Three years is not so long ago. That’s how long ago that locked-down improv fans discovered, during the first Quarantine Concerts on-line festival, that Arto Lindsay had a few things to learn about adjusting the rotation of his cell phone’s video camera. The experience of watching him with a 90 degrees tilt may have obscured what a swell thing he had going, but this album will set you straight. If, like this writer, you have sometimes felt that larger settings dilute Lindsay’s singular integration of guitar noise, samba sway, and social anxiety-stirring provocation, this unaccompanied setting is the neat shot you’ve been waiting for. While occasional loops trick you into thinking that the earth’s rhythms can be trusted, marvelously jagged chunks of guitar noise topple while Lindsay croons and gasps fragments that let you know that you just don’t know. The numerologically inclined should be aware that this album is volume seven of Corbett Vs. Dempsey’s Black Cross Solo Sessions, a series of solo statements that the label commissioned from locked down artists. There are eight in all, each encased in a glossy reproduction of Christopher Wool’s titular cross. Collect ‘em, trade ‘em, but keep your bubble gum sticks away from ‘em. Inspirational lyric: “Resistance yoga.”

Bill Meyer 

Mute Duo — Migrant Flocks (American Dreams)

Migrant Flocks by Mute Duo

Chicago’s Mute Duo refer to their setup (Sam Wagster on pedal steel, Skyler Rowe on drums) as a “sandbox” and their play on Migrant Flocks bears that out. Whether on the flute-assisted (courtesy of Emma Hospelhorn), expansive centerpiece “The Ocean Door,” the harder-charging “Trust Lanes” and “Landmusik” (the latter featuring Doug McCombs and Andrew Scott Young), or the more ethereal ranges of “Moon in the Flood” and the closing “Bisrāma,” the duo refuses to be pigeonholed into what you might guess a pedal-steel-and-drums record might sound like. Some of this is technique (Wagster plays more conventionally guitar-like registers at times, Rowe mostly sticks with brushes), but it’s more the varied emotional and sonic palette they wield so astutely. At times the sound touches on anyone from later-period Earth to “Mogwai Fear Satan” to the Dirty Three, but always with a quality that marks Mute Duo as their own thing, and worth watching.

Ian Mathers

Paal Nilssen-Love Circus — Pairs of Three (PNL)

Pairs of Three by Paal Nilssen-Love Circus

The Norwegian drummer and bandleader Paal Nilssen-Love has lived a pretty international life. That has influenced his choice of associates — he’s played with musicians from the USA, Japan, Ethiopia, Brazil and all around Europe — and the distances he has traveled in order to play with them. This all changed when COVID came around, and he found himself confined within his home country’s borders, but improvisation is just another way of saying you’re good at solving problems. The members of Nilsen-Love’s Circus, who convened to record this album in the summer of 2021, all live in Scandinavia, but between them they can dial up any corner of the world in a second. The music changes by the second, jumping from accordion-led chanson to agit-prop punk to timbral improv, while singer Juliana Venter similarly leaps from tongue to tongue, with digressions into back of the throat, hackle-raising extended techniques. This music is a world unto itself, full of possibility.

Bill Meyer

Nondi_ — Flood City Trax (Planet Mu)

Flood City Trax by Nondi_

Best I can find, Tatiana Triplin has been releasing music since 2014, but Flood City Trax is her first away from the netlabel she runs, HRR, as well as her first for Planet Mu (not a bad place to greet a broader audience). The years of juke, footwork and techno intake make themselves felt across this album, which trips all over itself rhythms-wise but, more than anything to me, recalls the dreamily rough, lower-fidelity beats of Actress. Triplin says this album is inspired by the moods of her hometown of Johnstown, Penn., a place (in)famous for its flooding, and suggesting the music doesn’t carry with it some of that water weight, conscious or otherwise, would be misleading. More tangible than vaporwave but less fully submerged than Drexciya, Nondi_’s most prominent, cohesive album statement is also one of the year’s most excitingly pleasant surprises in the realm of electronic music.

Patrick Masterson 

Angel Olsen — Forever Means EP (Jagjaguwar)

Forever Means by Angel Olsen

For all of the ambition and willingness to push further stylistically that Angel Olsen has exhibited in the last half a decade, it’s clear she’s never lost sight of her greatest strengths: deftly sensitive songwriting and that otherworldly voice. Dipping her toes into the swollen decadence of All Mirrors or the ‘80s synthpop cosplay of Aisles remain diversions from her more traveled roads beaten with a guitar and a mic that can handle her pipes. The Olsen I fell in love with was Burn Your Fire for No Witness, and she seems to have come back around on that more restrained swagger lately with the All Mirrors reworkings Whole New Mess, last year’s excellent, settling Big Time and, now, leftovers from those sessions in the form of Forever Means. The sax and organ solos that run out of gas on “Nothing’s Free” and the afterthought of a trumpet on “Time Bandits” feel like failed flourishes, so you can see why she dropped them, but the title track is as good as she gets and none of these four tracks is obviously lacking for quality. No matter how much change she goes through — and heaven knows she’s had plenty of that recently — her gifts shine brightest when there’s less to hide them behind. The center continues to hold.

Patrick Masterson

ShaunMusiq, Ftears & Xduppy — “Bhebha (Feat. Myztro, Mellow & Sleazy, QuayR Musiq & Matuteboy)” (Kgaday)

The reigning sound of South Africa has been amapiano for several years now, and understandably so: Its relaxed rhythmic pace, airy melodies and “the pianos” from which the genre derives its name allow for plenty of creative space. One name taking recent advantage of the style is ShaunMusiq, who’s had a small but solid stream of singles since 2021’s SkrrThang II and here heads up a crew remixing a song that’s been blowing out cheap car subs and irritating parents around Pretoria since 2005. It won’t surprise you to learn this blew up via TikTok and that’s probably the impetus for this official video, which belatedly arrives a month out from the single’s release, but what might surprise you is how heavy that bass rolls as the three protagonists pass sleepy bars off to one another in the Bantu Tsonga language. Heavier still is just how committed this video is: From the dancers to the decked out Toyota Hiace, nothing’s left on the table. Get in, loser: We’re going to whatever party puts this on loudest.

Patrick Masterson

Silver Moth — Black Bay (Bella Union)

Black Bay by Silver Moth

The band Silver Moth is a pandemic-era coming together of Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai) and his wife, singer-songwriter Elisabeth Elektra; singer-songwriter Evi Vine, plus her guitarist Steven Hill and multi-instrumentalist Ben Roberts; Abrasive Trees guitarist Andrew Rochford; and Ash Babb, drummer in Burning House and Academy of the Sun. The seven musicians convened at Black Bay studio on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland for a short stint of writing and recording, and these six songs are the result. Given it was all pulled together in the studio, the coherence is impressive, especially on opener “Henry,” which sounds like Mogwai fronted by Beth Gibbons, and “Mother Tongue,” which has the airy, exploratory feel of Meg Baird. The second half of the record is dominated by the 15-minute “Hello Doom” (a very Mogwai song title), which sounds exactly as you might imagine, searing fuzz guitar and all. Though occasionally lacking in its own distinct personality, there’s definitely sufficient chemistry on Black Bay for further Silver Moth music if the band has the time and inclination.

Tim Clarke 

Skooly — “08 Wayne” (The Real U)

Lil Wayne recently passed through Chicago on tour, and reports from the evening have it that he was rapping songs here he hadn’t touched in years (if ever). For hip-hop fans who’ve struggled with the genre’s post-Drake decentralization, it was a nice reminder of simpler times when it was easy to tell who was on top — and who knows, maybe Weezy’s “I’m Me” tour was the impetus for Kazarion Fowler’s latest single, too. The former Rich Kidz member would’ve turned 14 in 2008, so while more wizened heads might have it that Wayne’s peak was a year or two earlier, Skooly’s of the age to speak with authority that in high school hallways, there was no doubting Wayne’s imperial phase was in full effect by the year in question. Skooly doesn’t look to ape that level of language-busting dexterity, instead opting for a confident sing-song lilt with an irresistible chorus that wraps on “Cold propane / This shit is dope cocaine / I feel like ‘08 Wayne” while Buddah Bless tinkles his way across the ivories and adds just a touch of funked up synthesizer for color. In every respect, this is one to feel good about.

Patrick Masterson

Sounding Society — Homecoming Medley or Society Into Sound (Gotta Let It Out)

HOMECOMING MEDLEY or SOCIETY INTO SOUND by SOUNDING SOCIETY

Man, will somebody please burp the matrix? There’s a glitch in the circuits. How else might one explain this anomaly? The cover, which is proudly proclaimed to be AI-generated, looks like the glossy cover of a 1980s-vintage sci-fi paperback. And the sounds? At first, the music sounds like a gear-inclusive (i.e., digital and analog) retro take on New Age-tinged keyboard soundtrackery. But as the music progresses, some non-ironic improvisational chops steer the music on a less predictable, if still essentially groovy, course. Several explorational interludes and one video game parlor breakdown later, you’re left wondering just what went down. Explanation — drummer-bandleader Tomo Jacobson spends much of his time in more straight-faced, jazz-oriented settings. It would seem that you can take the jazz man out of the club, but you can’t take the creative restlessness out of his heart.

Bill Meyer

Erik Sowa — Cedar Lake Recordings Vol. 1 (Sliptoh)

Cedar Lake Recordings Vol .1 by Erik Sowa

Chicagoans will recognize Eric Sowa as a drummer who pops up in both roots and improv contexts, to make these recordings, he headed to an off-the-grid location in northern Minnesota. No electricity? No problem, he just humped a car battery to power the recording gear, along with his drums, stringed instruments and bellows-driven organ. All that trouble would be for naught if it didn’t help capture the vibe, but Sowa has gotten it right. One supposes that it took considerable concentration to self-record a virtual ensemble that feels so naturally loose. Each tune represents a modest amount of rustic headspace, and then makes way for the next.

Bill Meyer 

Dick Stusso — S.P. (Hardly Art)

S.P. by Dick Stusso

Dick Stusso distorts 1970s guitar rock through a prism, twisting blues-rock riffs into haunted litanies. His big hollowed out baritone floats elegantly through post-Waits-ian junk shop arrangements, posing, preening, italicizing every line. You can hear faint sirens through the piano bar chords of “Self Reflection (Deep).” The title screams sarcasm, but Stusso plays it relatively straight. It’s a AOR ballad turning slightly green at the edges, blown out with ghostly “woo-woo” counterparts and ending with a curdled R&B solo vocal that sounds like Merry Clayton but broken and harsh. I should mention that that’s Grace Cooper of the Sandwitches, one of the reigning queens of West Coast lofi and a long-time collaborator with Stusso. His father, the jazz saxophonist Marc Russo (Stusso’s real name is Nic Russo), makes an appearance in “Garbagedump #1,” a sloppy-drunk cakewalk treading unsteadily on second-hand-shop boogie. These 18 songs are brief but vividly imagined, throwing up film noir sound-stage vistas that are convincing unless you look at them from the side.

Jennifer Kelly

Harry Taussig — 80 (Tompkins Square)

80 by Harry Taussig

Harry Taussig is Takoma school royalty. His first recordings appeared on John Fahey’s celebrated Takoma Park record label, and his most recent have been for Tompkins Square, beginning with tracks on the seminal Imaginational Anthem series. His small catalog includes three releases over the past 10 years, the name of this one commemorating his 80th birthday. The compositions, played unaccompanied and without overdubbing on six- and 12-string acoustic guitar and five-string banjo, tend to bear titles suggestive of classical music (which Taussig cites as a primary influence in the liner notes), such as “Etude for in G Major #7.” Most have an improvisational feel, though comparison of alternate takes indicates that they are constructed with care. All three instruments sound open-tuned, as the five-string banjo usually is and as is common in the Takoma school style. Taussig has never been flashy, and his deliberate and at times hesitant approach has helped him to age somewhat more gracefully as a player than Fahey did. There is a craggy beauty to 80 well represented by the brooding photograph on the cover. Here’s hoping an 85 and a 90 will be forthcoming.

Jim Marks 

Unlearn and MP Shaw—Secret Listener (Farallon)

Secret Listener by Unlearn & MP Shaw

Bright rounded bloops of synthetic sound bob in gentle syncopation, in the uncanny valley’s muted version of funk. Two Seattle-born, SF-based electronic artists—Matthew Shaw and James Key—made this disc during the lockdown casting dystopic dread into billow-y, unearthly shadows on the wall. Thus, their “Dusting the Astral Plane” grooves in a well-cushioned, unconfrontational way; picture an actual robot doing the robot, but slowly and bathed in magic hour twilight. Two “TLR” cuts serve as whooshing, enveloping meditation breaks, the soft clarity of keyboards surging then subsuming into ambient hiss. “Article One” lists woozily on blotty smudges of synth sound, the sharp click of rhythm clattering through. All of these cuts drift and loom, the dance beats wrapped in gauzy, indeterminant tone-washes. It’s more of a pencil drumming, space-staring, transcendental vibe than anything hedonistic or physical, but very nice all the same.

Jennifer Kelly

Youniss — White Space (Viernulvier)

So what exactly distinguishes a very short album from an EP? Formal considerations like number of tracks don’t really work, and ultimately it’s just going to come down to the feel of the thing. In White Space’s case, the second album from Antwerp-based Youniss holds together strongly enough as a significant statement that neither the 20-minute runtime nor the almost beat tape-esque patchwork of these ten tracks are drawbacks. Whether going full aggro (particularly on the redlined, snapped-off “Arms Bent Back”), more atmospheric on the instrumentals “Negative Space” and “Walad,” or fully embracing a melancholy of dislocation on “SO SLOW” and “Sinking,” White Space packs a lot of sonic texture and grappling with serious issues (race, perspective, artistry, context) in a brief space. All that and it’ll consistently get your head nodding? That’s an album.

Ian Mathers

[crimedawgbylaw]

ShittyBoyz - “Jackie Moon (feat. Rio Da Young OG & RMC Mike)”

ShittyBoyz run into my favorite rap duo of the moment. Shouts out to PinkChardonnay for the consistent Rio Da Young Og and RMC Mike coverage. 

[raygarraty]

Best production of the year

Cypress: BandGang Lonnie Bands - Boston George

Pdot: Cash Kidd & Jaiswan - Shipping and Handling

Sav: Young Slo-Be - Asshole

Stupid Dog: Rio Da Yung Og - Free Runtz

BamOnDaBeat: Louie Ray - Success Is A Feeling

[end-of-violence]

2024ラップ⑦

SlimeGetEm / Thor

HavinMotion / Krime Pay Off

1Tappworky / storm

Lil Dude / One of Them Ones (premix)

GotKashKy ft. KP Skywalka / Aaliyah

SleazyWorld Go, Sada Baby, Coach Joey & TLG Deuce / KC

Babyfxce E / She Love Fxce

GRINDHARD E X YSR GRAMZ X BOSSILENI JAGG / OPPORTUNIST

GRINDHARD E x RIO DA YUNG OG / AINT SHIT CHANGED

DaBoii & BabyTron / ShittyBoii

DaBoii / All Black Benz

EBK Young Joc / Now I'm Mad

EBK Young Joc ft. LiRye / Trife To Mobile

EBK Trey B / No In-Betweens

Mari Montana / Federal Bond

Kodak Black / Cyber Truck

Rell Vert / Jeffery

Rell Vert / Death In The Air

Rell Vert / What It Was

JayBleeda / Applause

アルバム

AC640 / You Reach I Teach

Skino / Ghazi Living

Paco Panama & Coltcaine / Sorry 4 The Drop

Q Da Fool / Richer Than Ever

Q Da Fool / Your Opps My Opps (feat. MGM Hefe)

Turnaround Music & Fmb Dz / 4TH Quarter

WTM Scoob / L8 Nights - EP

Baby Smoove & Rocaine / THE HARDY BOYZ

YN Jay / DoonieVerse

Gudda Tezz / No Label

Gudda Tezz / Forever 16 - EP

Kodak Black / Trill Bill

Kodak Black / Gift For The Street

Wizz Havinn / Free Wizzop

6kFly / RR4 "Cassandras Son"

G40 / The Kid That Did

MAF Teeski / BIG SCOOM (Vol.1)

Screwly G / Murda Man

2glocks.red / Tweak The World

Mozzy & Kalan.FrFr / LUCKY HER

Jublockshotta / Damu Street

EBK Juvie Ju / Think God With Me

Lil Locz (feat. Luhhfatz) / STEP BROTHERS

Kodak 2024

[thehotboxsocial]

Rio Da Yung OG: Deep Features

Rio’s been sitting down for over a year now but lucky for us he left with almost 1000 songs in the form of solo albums, loosies, whole ass collabo tapes with RMC Mike and hella features. Yes your boy Rio hit the feature market hard which helped keep his 4 pockets full of somebody’s stimulus money in between fat Empire checks. And funny thing is when a rapper as in demand as Rio does 100′s of features with random rappers all across the country, some of them actually turn out fire. For the purposes of this comp we stick with the deepest of those appearances, which I have scientifically defined as under 100K youtube views. I haven’t check the Spotify numbers but my guess is a lot of these are not available at all on the service. The exception is “New Blender”, which at 320K views, has taken a life of its own through the various mashups and edits from Rio’s cult fans. His 2019-2021 run was really one of the best in a minute and now is the perfect time to catch up on some lesser known tracks. Free Rio!

Raw [Tony Rose feat. Rio Da Yung OG & Kasher Quon]

WOW! [Gringhard E feat. Rio Da Yung OG]

Talk Crazy Pt. 2 [OJ Nineteen feat. Rio Da Yung OG]

Step Brothers [3200 Tre & Rio Da Yung OG]

4 For 4 [Stingray & Rio Da Yung OG]

New Blender [HBlocc Duke & Rio Da Yung OG]

Wock Flow [Kash Addict feat. Rio Da Yung OG]

We Started That [Hazomadeit feat. Rio Da Yung OG, Louie Ray & YN Jay]

Dope Fiend [Foxxx Jugg feat. Rio Da Yung OG]

Do My Dance [Dotty Diablo, Lil Blood & Rio Da Yung OG]

Blow It [Big Swag, Rio Da Yung OG & Louie Ray]

Rey Mysterio [YN Jay ft. Rio Da Yung OG]

Free 80's [Six Ward Von feat. Rio Da Yung OG]

100 Shots [Lil Mexiko feat. Rio Da Yung OG]

We Rich [Los feat. Veeze & Rio Da Young OG]

yt         dl

[aloadedgatinmyknapsack]

2022. 25 ALBUMS

Par ordre alphabétique. Un projet par artiste.

The RIP lists now, hard to even take its measure.

AJ Suede x Televangel - Metatron’s Cube / Seattle

Bandgang Lonnie Bands - Scorpions Eyes / DE

Billy Woods - Aethiopes / NY

Boldy James x Real Bad Man - Killing Nothing / DE x LA

Chippass - Still Here / OAK

Dj Lucas x Papoo2004 x Subjxt5 - Continuous Improvement / NY x NJ

Icewear Vezzo - Paint The City / DE

Ka -  Languish Arts / Woeful Studies / NY

Louie Ray x YN Jay - Ray & Jay Here To Stay / Flynt

Lingo - Kickin’Dust / OAK

Mac J - True Story / SAC

MM4L Jayy - Hood Medicine (Deluxe Edition) / BR

OTM - Off The Mussle (Deluxe) / LA

Pusha T - It’s Almost Dry / VA

R3 Da Chilliman - Bling Bling Boy / LA

Rio Da Yung OG -  Fiend Lives Matter / Flynt

Sauce Walka - Al Rage Walka / Houston

Scando The Darklord x Mitchell - Blade Talk  / AOK

Skilla Baby -  Detroit Raised Me / DE

Sky Mask Malley - 1200 Timeline / Cleveland

WB Nutty - City Of Addiction / DE

Wiki x Subjxt 5 - Cold Cuts / NY & NJ

Young Bleed - Dare' Iza' God / BR

Young Nudy - EA Monster / ATL

ZMoney - Back 2 the Blender / CHI