forkcast tracks

Thursday, June 11, 2009

"Heavy Cloud Hustle"

Blind Man's Colour
"Heavy Cloud Hustle"

[Kanine]

6

"Heavy Cloud Hustle" by Blind Man's Colour-- does it get any more appropriate than that? I'm no synesthete, but the song brings pretty clear images to mind: relaxing on the beach, clouds grazing overhead, toes digging into the warm sand. But the pigment's missing, as if bleached, left out in the sun too long. I don't know where the warmth's escaped to, but those heavy clouds up there are awfully gray. Might even rain. This 19-year-old duo's got all the trappings of good tropicalia: sparkly glissandos over shimmery keyboards and all sorts of shaking and thumping percussion. But where's the melody? It's carried entirely by the vocals, which aren't quite up to the challenge. With a Flaming Lips-like spaceyness, they hover delicately but detached from the rest of the mix, like a disembodied narrator in a documentary. Sometimes it works-- the verses move in a Panda Bear shuffle that's just inviting enough to sway you like a palm tree. But then the chorus hits, everything slows down and stilted declarations like "I'll find these truths like a maniac" take center stage. They're hard and jarring, and without strong instrumentation to provide support, the song deteriorates into gloss and tropical pastiche. This repeats twice over the course of four minutes (though they could halve that by cutting down on aural white space), and then the last 45 seconds float away in a glassy psychedelic haze, swirling whites and grays and steely blues. A nice mood, but a bit more color would go a long way.

MP3:> Blind Man's Colour: "Heavy Cloud Hustle"

— Sean Redmond

"Forever"

Ghostface Killah
"Forever"

[Self-Released]

7

Ghostface Killah is arguably the most prolific post-Wu-Tang member, so when rumors started to swirl about his next album being an R&B-inspired release-- or at least as R&B as the emcee can be-- a common response was likely a knowing shoulder shrug. A far cry from his weight-pushing slang rap of Fishscale and The Big Doe Rehab, "Forever" is basically what you might expect from a Ghostface R&B release: his signature deep storytelling, girl-you-so-fine rhymes, and Ghostface getting his grown man on. The song's lineage can most closely be drawn to Jay-Z's "Girls, Girls, Girls", from the poorly sung chorus to the East Coast hardcore rhyme spitter paying homage to his various women. Even the production sounds like a Roc-A-Fella classic (read: Kanye West beat), having the strings of Twista's "Overnight Celebrity" and the classic sample-flow weaving of so many of Kanye's greatest works. And that's to say nothing of Ghostface's pinpoint flows; he seems more focused and sharp, possibly having exhausted all of his crack-rap metaphors and being exposed to an entirely new, wordplay-ready topic.

Stream:> Ghostface: "Forever"

— Chris Gaerig

"Foreign Thoughts"

There Will Be Fireworks
"Foreign Thoughts"

[Self-Released]

6

There Will Be Fireworks is the latest entry into the already crowded field of climactic, emotional Scottish rockers-- see also: Frightened Rabbit, the Twilight Sad, We Were Promised Jetpacks, etc. And the Glaswegian quartet clearly picked their name hoping it would be the perfect introduction to their anticipatory, explosive music. And for the most part, it is. "Foreign Thoughts", for example, is a building, buzzing tune in which guitars and gutturally accented vocals keen with equal intensity. The ticking, tapping cymbals and insistently repetitive riffs that haunt the song's background illustrate the underlying unease of the track's protagonist, a girl who "barely sleeps, and when she does it's fitfully." Vocalist Nicholas McManus has a familiar brogue that calls to mind many of his musical countrymen, but he doesn't so much "sing" as spit his words rhythmically. And that percussive delivery (along with the way he coils run-on sentences tightly around his expressive, if not particularly dynamic, vocal melodies) makes him seem a bit like Craig Finn in a kilt, albeit without such clever, literary lyrics. "Foreign Thoughts" is a bit of a tease, though; its payoff-- the moment when its churning, itchy melody finally threatens to go over the edge-- is surprisingly unsatisfying given the theatrics of its build up. It's the product of a lot of volume and drama, as McManus shouts the final verses over a crescendoing hum of instruments, but the tune-- despite the band's best intentions, not to mention its moniker-- never quite  manages to detonate.

MP3:> There Will Be Fireworks: "Foreign Thoughts"

— Rebecca Raber

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

"Kobe Bryant"

Lil Wayne
"Kobe Bryant"

[Self-Released]

5

Lil Wayne's forays into sports journalism are a lot like his forays into rock music: sure, get excited that OMG IT'S LIL WAYNE DOING IT!!!, but the truth is, he's really fucking bad at both. Fortunately, "Kobe Bryant" works from his position of strength-- as a fan, not as an X-and-O analyst. Even in these times, it's the sort of track we hardly get anymore, working for five entertaining minutes around a central athletic metaphor, and hot off the presses just in time for the Finals (he even offers condolences to LeBron James). Seriously, where was State Property when the Phillies needed them in October?

Still, I don't totally buy it: it's easy to admire Kobe's game as an aficionado, but his methodical, joyless pursuit of dominance stands in stark contrast with whatever it is Wayne does. Simply put, a more FreeDarko player deserves Wayne's plaudits, and you can't tell me that, up to and including a love of illegal substances, BET celebrities, legal troubles, and terrible tattoos, Wayne didn't have a million reasons to pull for the Nuggets instead. Decent track, some nice punchlines, and hell, it's great to hear Wayne rapping without Auto-Tune and sounding excited about it, but demerits for a) robbing us of the Chris Andersen mixtape we all deserve; and b) Wayne not going the whole nine to commemorate Kobe's stillborn rap career with a Tyra Banks hook.

— Ian Cohen

"Audacity of Huge"

Simian Mobile Disco
"Audacity of Huge"

[Wichita]

6

Huge? It's got that pair of English guys who did "Hustler" and "I Believe"-- whose old band did the song their loucher peers Justice turned into a transatlantic model for late-2000s house-as-rock hedonism. Huge? It's got that guy with the lusty shaman quaver from Yeasayer. Huge? It's got that Chemical Brothers. You know it's got that Barack Obama. It's got that "grape Kool-Aid-filled swimming pool," with bass-line pool furniture and pitch-tweaked choral Marco Polo, all under a lofty laserarium sky. Huge.

In short, new Simian Mobile Disco single "Audacity of Huge"-- from upcoming album Temporary Pleasure, the follow-up to 2007's small-scale smash Attack Decay Sustain Release-- is a limber, name-dropping, ear-catching body-mover, sleek and uncluttered and populist. Just to seal the deal, one of the most crossover-friendly electronic dance groups works with Chris Keating, singer for one of Brooklyn's more popular hippie art-rock groups. I can see "Audacity of Huge" being... well, pretty big. So why can't I get that into it?

— Marc Hogan

"Halcyon Days"

So Cow
"Halcyon Days"

[Tic Tac Totally]

7

Filled with crazy hormones and just criminal moments of embarrassment, there's no more awkward phase of life than the pre-teen years. Even the formerly popular kids will tell you that. But as bad as you think you may have had it, believe me, the shy guy had it even worse. Irish indie-pop tunesmith Brian Kelly, who goes by the quirky handle So Cow, was one of those guys. Over a catchy surf-punk arrangement of whining guitars and crispy snare hits, Kelly packs a full school term's worth of dread and clumsiness into two minutes of crystalline pop in "Halcyon Days" (the tongue-in-cheek title tells you all you need to know), a song included in a recent self-titled singles collection. For those of us who saw our peers easing into pre-adulthood and wanted simply to play Sega Genesis in sweatpants, his lyrics are almost painfully prescient. "Had a cigarette, I got sick. Met a girl and escaped quick," he deadpans. Pinpointing the scary realization that childhood is officially over, Kelly wonders if he'll ever mature, singing, "Knew one day I'd have to grow up, but I doubt it's in my make-up." The fact that some of us in our twenties and thirties still wrestle with the same question makes it even more potent.


— Joe Colly

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

"In System Travel"

Jamie Vex'd
"In System Travel"

[Planet µ]

7

If you've heard their 2005 full-length, De Generate, you probably have a solid idea of what two-man dubstep crew Vex'd specialize in: aggressive bone-snap beats and bass blown out to rave-sized, edifice-tumbling proportions. (If you haven't heard it, just look at those titles: "Thunder", "Crusher Dub", "Fire", "Destruction".) The In System Travel EP, Jamie Vex'd's first major solo outing, does keep that massive pulse going strong-- but keeps it on the B-side, putting the title track front and center as an unexpected low-key detour. Woozy lounge jazz is slowed to a crawl and submersed in atmospherics that make it feel like a soundtrack for underwater sleepwalking, with smothered strings and warped-pitch wordless vocals bobbing like jellyfish. The bass is a foot-dragging presence that threatens to melt and congeal into the gelatinous hum that coats the rest of the track. And the beats, slow as the tempo is, get all their energy from their twitchiness, sparking like synapses and surfacing as needling shards of synthesizer or truncated trap drums. Sounds like hotboxing inside a bathysphere.

— Nate Patrin

"D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)"

Jay-Z
"D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)"

[Roc-A-Fella/Atlantic]

6

I guess there's a pretty thin line between being a boss and being a dad. In other words, it's one thing to birth hustlas, but it's quite another to care enough to know when to put your foot down. "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" is in large part what one would expect of such a no-bullshit title-- a (somewhat belated) wagging of the God MC's finger, so to speak. But as much as Hov wants us to know that he doesn't "need anyone to smile on this," you don't have to be a diehard to know when the dude's spitting through a grin. Yeah, Jigga's having fun again. And yeah, about 100% of "D.O.A." is classic tough-talk material, a greasy record made even greasier thanks to Kanye and No I.D.'s swag-baiting production (a wonderfully pulpy pastiche of howling sax and scuzzy Detroit guitar squeal). But much like last summer's Blueprint 3 rumored "Jockin' Jay-Z", another gleeful exercise in flexin'-for-the-fun-of-it, "D.O.A." is less defined by the what (ringtone rap, tight jeans) and who (pretty much anyone else in the game) than it is by the cool-control exerted by its maker. Sure, wrists get slapped and fingers are pointed, but I'd be surprised if those responsible for such flagrant "T-Pain'in'" would respond with much more than a sheepish, "Aw, shucks." After all, Jay's mean-muggin' has always stemmed from his unflappable acumen, which frees "D.O.A." up enough to let it operate less as a direct threat and more as a rigorous broomstick thump to the ceiling. Hey, we've had our fun, but now it's back to business. Don't make him come up there.

— Zach Kelly

"Sick Man of Europe"

Cheap Trick
"Sick Man of Europe"

[Cheap Trick]

5

Thanks to the world economy slipping its gears, the title of this tune has some unfortunate topical relevance-- according to everyone's favorite communal encyclopedia, the phrase "sick man of Europe" (or your continent of choice) is used to refer to a country that's having trouble making ends meet. This phrase also happens to be one of the original band names that Cheap Trick played under, which (thankfully) is the more relevant fact to consider here. While "Sick Man of Europe" isn't any sort of official comeback-- it's the lead single from The Latest, the group's fourth album since the original four Tricksters regrouped back in 1997-- it's got enough of a chip on its shoulder to convincingly sound like one. That Robin Zander sings potentially crabby stuff like "This ain't the new/ It's the old generation," and, "we all hail from the British Invasion" is immaterial. What matters most is that he (and the not-so-young dudes behind him) rip through this two-minute tune the way they ripped through hit-and-run barn burners like "He's A Whore" and "Hello There" over three decades ago. It's this boundless energy that almost transforms the song's get-off-my-lawn sentiment into the sort of fist-pumping foot in the ass that never gets old. Almost.

— David Raposa

Monday, June 8, 2009

"Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wallpaper. Remix)"

Das Racist
"Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wallpaper. Remix)"

8
 

It's just a couple of dudes on cell phones trying to meet at a 2-for-1 Yum! Brands franchise-- "I'm at the Pizza Hut," "No, I'm at the Pizza Hut," it pretty much goes on like that-- but somehow it's going to be one of the songs of the summer. Reactions within our staff have ranged from "I'd like to punch these guys in the face" and "this was sent here to destroy my interest in music" to "Harold and Kumar existentialism" (this wasn't me) and "a critique of commercialism/lack of a leisure culture" (um, this was). At its heart though, "Combination"-- especially this superior Wallpaper. remix-- is just a funny, stupid, silly, brainy, knowing song all at once.

Where smug hipster hip-hop like "Thou Shalt Always Kill" is all posture and preening, "Combination" retains its inner Cheech and Chong and still seems leagues smarter for it. Sure, it's a one-idea track, but that idea somehow becomes more endearing as it rolls on, and in the end this is the song you'll hear this that you're most likely to immediately turn around and want to share with someone, good or bad. After a dozen listens last week, I'm still siding with good.

MP3:> Das Racist: "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wallpaper. Remix)"

— Scott Plagenhoef

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