#sam herring

[sinceileftyoublog]

billy woods & Kenny Segal Album Review: Maps

(Backwoodz Studioz)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

The prolific billy woods’ second album with beat mastermind Kenny Segal is centered around touring, inspired by the idea that the road--or the lack of home--is, in itself, home. On Maps, places where people reside are as constantly changing as the landscapes that pass as you’re on the highway. It’s the perfect fodder for woods’ neuroses and pessimism, the low thoughts that occur when you have too much time on your hands but still can’t make sense of your surroundings. He’s constantly searching for stimuli--weed, food, drinks--to distract himself from the human condition. Like the titular “Houdini”, Woods escapes, even if temporarily.

Segal’s hazy production is, often by way of contrast, the perfect complement to woods’ spirals, and the two work beautifully in tandem. Segal interpolates gorgeous strummed guitars and Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” as woods looks at the birds, sun, and breeze on “Soft Landing”, lamenting that their magnificence doesn’t match his own mood. He’s more straightforward on the beat-switching “Babylon By Bus”, distilling his ethos into a declaration that, “People don’t want the truth, they want me to tell ‘em grandma went to heaven.” It often feels like he’s playing tug of war with himself, on one side his perceptions--feeling pastoral dread on the devastating “Agriculture”--and on the other, the objective, bleak truths of the world, from colonialism to police brutality. The two sides, along with Segal’s intelligent contributions, come to a head on “The Layover”, a paranoia-addled tale of no fly lists and surveillance. “Finally got it to where lies is the truth and the truth is a ruse,” woods raps over a piano line, the song sporting an ever-steady groove as if to emphasize the eternal nature of his internal struggle.

Of course, and perhaps thankfully, it’s not all dark, and Maps wouldn’t be a great album without some fun. Segal’s production from track to track feels like a road trip, passing the aux cord between friends with related, but unique tastes, the piano-looped “Rapper Weed” followed by limber free jazz bop “Blue Smoke”, the industrial “Year Zero” by the gentle, lilting “Hangman”. The guest verses include woods’ usual jaunts with Armand Hammer bandmate E L U C I D, and an unexpectedly soulful chorus from Future Islands’ Sam Herring on “FaceTime”. Yet, it’s Quelle Chris and Danny Brown that steal the show, boastful, hilarious, and intense in what ironically brings moments of levity to the record. Chris brags on “Soundcheck” that he’s so good the audio engineer should have to pay for a ticket, while Brown hasn’t sounded this manically dialed in since Atrocity Exhibition. Of course, woods himself shines alongside them, as plainspoken in his sorrow that his “taxes pay police brutality settlements” as he is uproariously confident in the adage that “You can’t fix stupid.” That Maps is filled with more than just variance, references within references, synaptic, weed-influenced connections among society’s ills, is a feature, not a bug. 

woods’ modes of thought all seem to be influenced by death, the lurking presence of it, the survivor’s guilt he feels, that his son, too, will die one day. “No need to ask who sent you, it was always just a question of when,” he raps on “Hangman”, accepting even a premature fate. It’s a desolate attitude, sure, but it’s ultimately an acceptance of the chaos of the world, one that allows him to seek out and enjoy expensive Vietnamese food and cocktails even when their very existence is a product of a losing class and racial struggle. “Death in a top hat dance a jig in the street / Don't get it twisted boy, the city wicked, it'll crush you with its feet,” woods raps on “NYC Tapwater”. With Segal behind him and a Mezcal Negroni in hand, Maps is the sound of woods dancing back.

[pneumaticshift]

Robins with robins with robins or something like that

[pondslime]

she................................................

[the-quiet-youve-been-longing-for]

Bisexual lightning everybody give it up for bisexual lightning

[distorted-prince]

finished episode 14 of the mighty nein and so far there have been at least 2 instances in which it would have been Really Nice if Nott remembered to use Mage Hand

[sellyourshadownotyoursoul]

Plant Princess Sam!!!

[piannpire]

happy out of touch dannyversary to all who celebrate

bonus textless version vv

[wanologic]

💅💅💅

[jojaxcola]

thanks for being a friend

[ jojamart mockumentary #17 ]

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[chaotixcx]

Give those guys some Sanrio plushies!!!!

[rickchung]

♫ Future Islands x "The Tower" x The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

[bixels]

the height difference between sunset and thea... don't look at me...

[chappellsroans]

The last thing she saw on Earth was him.

[astronnova]

pkmn hc time. ive thought about this lots

[dcxdpdabbles]

Damian: This is outrageous!

Tim: What's going on, Demon brat?

Damian: Someone stole all my favorite paint brands from the art stores in Gotham! Who would do such a thing!?

Tim: I'm pretty sure they just ran out of your brand. They'll have more in the next shipment

Damian: Don't patronize me, Drake. This was a blatant personal attack aimed at me.

Tim rolling eyes: Of course it is.

Damian: I'm telling you someone is going out of their way to cause enough minor inconveniences to drive me mad!

Meanwhile, somewhere in Gotham

Tucker: Why are you buying all these paintbrushes again?

Danny: I just got my Ghost King unlimited card, which means I can cause enough minor inconveniences that it will drive my twin brother mad. *Evil Cackle*

Sam: This is the first time I've heard of you having a twin.

Tucker: Please don't get him started-

Danny: We were born to inherit the mighty Ras Al Ghul's empire. Sadly, there could only be one True Heir, and on our fifth birthday, we were set to duel to find the one truly worthy of the title. I refused to fight, so I showed up without a sword. My brother did not have such inhibitions and attacked me the second I stepped into the room. I tried my best but could not beat my younger brother unarmed and was banished in shame. Now I wait in the shadows, ready to get back at the brother who turned his sword on me.

Tucker: Here we go. Look what you did, Sam; now he's monologuing.

Sam: But how will buying out his favorite things going to actually do anything for his revenge?

Tucker: *Twirling finger at his temple*

Sam:  I mean, yes, of course; I know he's crazy, but stupid? I just don't-

Damian: *Screams of outrage* WHO BOUGHT ALL THE GOTHAM RED POINT BRUSHES?!

Danny: *EVIL CACKLING* IT'S WORKING!

Sam: Well. I stand corrected.

Tucker: You get used to it. He does something like this at least once a year. Before Damian Wayne came to live with his Dad, Danny would fly out to Nanda Parbat to steal all their lotions. I've learned to let him have his fun. Plus, I get a free yearly vacation out of it.

Sam: Is that where he got the coconut and kukui nut oil lotion he lent me? My grandma loved it, and it helped a ton with her eczema.

Tucker: If you want more, Danny has twenty-five crates of it.

Danny: Come on, guys! We have to get to Gotham's aromatherapy essentials before Damian! Let's see him try to meditate with stall air now! MA HA HA HA .

[lilybug-02]

Let's hope the second conversation ends better

Bug Fact: Rolly Pollies have a marsupium pouch on their underside to carry eggs and young (similar to kangaroos). Hatched young grow by eating the marsupial fluid before leaving out into the world.

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Volume 2 Masterpost

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