Cardi B – “Invasion of Privacy”
Year Released: 2018
Like: Princess Nokia, Rhapsody, Jamila Woods
Songs to Try: ‘I Do,’ ‘Bodak Yellow’
Pitchfork.com, the undisputed titan of modern online music reviewing, gave this album an 8.7/10. With the greying repetition that plagues Cardi’s flow and writing style, I feel as if dissecting this album would not be worth my time. Beside the cut with SZA on “I Do,” to listen to any other songs beside “Bodak Yellow” to know what topics will be chatted about (stripping, fashion, and … Offset from the Migos being her fiance?) would be unnecessary.
The remainder of this review will be a highlight of hip-hop albums (of which I feel are better than this 2018 stylistic gruel trough) that P4k gave a lower score to.
Clipping. – Splendor and Misery (5.3), Travis Scott – Rodeo (6.0), N.E.R.D. – No_One Ever Really Dies (6.2), Princess Nokia – 1992 Deluxe (6.2) The Cool Kids – When Fish Ride Bicycles (6.9), Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak (7.6), Earl Sweatshirt – I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside (8.0), Death Grips – Bottomless Pit (8.1), Lil Ugly Mane – Mista Thug Isolation (8.2), Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition (8.5), Common – Be (8.6).
Daniel Avery – “Song for Alpha”
Year Released: 2018
Like: Jon Hopkins, Aphex Twin, Modeselektor
Songs to Try: ‘Diminuendo,’ ‘Sensation,’ ‘Stereo L’
The long-awaited sophomore album by the London synthesizer himself, Daniel Avery, made its way into streaming services and CD shelves in the first week of April 2018. Following up 2013’s “Drone Logic,” “Song for Alpha” plays more around Avery’s technical strengths, highlighting his distinct style of house bangers and ambient sonnets.
Only a select few of the songs on “Alpha” have an actual beat behind them, and when I say beat, I mean it in the most minimal amount possible. What normally happens on tracks like “Glitter” or “Sensation” is the song kicks off with a simple kick drum rhythm, leading way to hi-hat patterns or electronic bleeps that kick the skull into a fury of whiplash.
The styles of music that Avery approaches on his 2018 album are ones that have been trifled over, repeatedly. Ambient, minimal, downtempo techno has existed since the early drum machines and synthesizers, but to the keen and serious eye, “Song for Alpha” is everything an electronic album needs to be in an age of our conveyer belt music releases.
Due to this project being incredibly well produced, just like Avery’s “Slow Fade EP” which came out earlier in 2018, I would recommend headphones over desktop speakers for listening. Where “Alpha” shines for me is not in these ginormous club tickers, but in the small passages that intermingle between the longer, more conventional tracks. Ambient interludes (such as “TBW17” or “Days From Now”) act as micro-breaks for the listener, allowing them to breathe outside of the bass-driven slappers, and within these sonic bubbles that could have been stretched out into full-fledged songs (or even a whole album).
Daniel takes risks on this album, through distortion, questionable repetition or even abstract digital passages (specifically on the song “Citizen // Nowhere,” which almost sounds like an Autechre track from their Tri Repetae era), that ultimately turn into choices with an eventual pay off.
As an experienced electronic listener, I can respect the tension Avery creates in his music, as well as his approach to turning seemingly 30-year-old concepts for songs into modern, synthetic revitalizations. In most songs you’ll find a checklist pattern of kick-drums and glistening hi-hat loops, but to the attentive listener, Song for Alpha showcases how electric currents can translate into moods, landscapes and feelings, without the constant thought of “when will the bass drop?”
The Cool Kids – “When Fish Ride Bicycles”
Year Released: 2011
Like: Clipse, Injury Reserve, N.E.R.D.
Songs to Try: ‘Sour Apples,’ ‘Penny Hardaway’, ‘Summer Jam’
Underneath an album title that makes zero sense is an album where sound makes up for the questionable cover art.
The Cool Kids are a hip-hop duo from Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish, the latter being known for producing songs for the likes of Mac Miller, Kid Cudi and Freddie Gibbs. The style of his production takes influence from SoCal G-Funk and New York Boom-Bap, finding a mesh that seems to take obvious inspiration from Pharrell Williams, who co-produces the last track on the album, “Summer Jam.”
But unlike his production for the gangster vibes that a song from Gibbs would need, on “Fish Ride” we get a consistent feeling of these songs all being written on a good night out. Funky jams like “Boomin” feature distinct, vibey organs and relaxingly plucked guitars over heavily resonated synthesizer lines, a song that would fit nicely between the side door speakers of an ’86 Cutlass.
However, the materialistic approach that hip-hop normally takes is downplayed on this project. The act of bragging about cars, cash and chains takes the sideline, yet these items are sporadically mentioned in a humbler style than most modern MCs. A key example is the track “GMC,” named after the brand of mid-range SUVs that have, for years, been the signature of a true G in the rap scene. While the song speaks of the items that Rocks and Inglish have acquired, they don’t allow the motive to take away from the sound. They spit multi-syllable thick bars over a neck-breaking beat, featuring huge sub-bass hits underneath head-nodding rhythms, accentuated by quick claps and applied delay to the MCs’ voices.
The group had been relatively silent since 2011, until dropping a new studio album in 2017. But despite this new project, their sound on their debut album, which flew underneath multiple radars, still has incredibly catchy undertones, while still staying modest about their experience and knowledge of the hip-hop scene.
A line spit by Rocks from “Sour Apples” projects the headspace the two reside in over the course of the record.
Rem Jensen can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Remington__J