Culture Greyhound

Every Saturday, I post a 15-20 minute podcast featuring some tracks I’ve been jamming the previous week, as well as some commentary and random musings from yours truly. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

MIA – Bad Girls
Busdriver feat. Aesop Rock – Superhand’s Mantra
Mirel Wagner – No Death
John Talabot feat. Pional – Destiny

After seven long years, not only are the Darkness reuniting, they’re making new music! Take a listen to the first track from the band since 2005’s One Way Ticket. I was a freshmen in college then! The track is accompanied by an animated, completely over-the-top and awesome promotional video. No word on a new album just yet, but you can bet the festival circuit this summer will be believin’ in a thing called love.

On Valentine’s Day, LA rapid-fire rapper Busdriver returns with his new LP Beaus$Eros. The first leaked track is a pretty excellent, chaotic, energetic introduction, meaning it’s classic Busdriver material. Aesop Rock, who is also known for quick delivery, wit, and general badassery, guests on the track. Play this one loudly.

The California-based falsetto crooner is back with a 5-song collection of synth pop similar to his previous outings. As is the case with all of Voytas’ music, you either love or hate it, and that’s all dependent on your impression of his voice, which is usually peaked to the highest pitch attainable. Highlights here include the EP’s title track and “You Don’t Even Know Where It’s At.” Apparently Voytas is as laid-back and casual as his music suggests; this is the first we’ve heard from him in a long while, and he has yet to release a full-length. Perhaps 2012 is the year.

Listen to the Feel Me EP on Spotify.

Kendrick Lamar is the breakout star of the Black Hippy collective, a foursome of rappers changing the LA rap game. Probably the one delivering the darkest themes, however, is Schoolboy Q; his debut Habits and Contradictions is a far cry from the contemplative, more upbeat Section.80. Almost everything in the album is aggressive, pessimistic, and raw. While his colleague prefers to analyze our generation and current situation amongst the aura of weed rap wooziness, Q’s vibes are less pensive and more cynical. The drug haze remains in the production, but Lamar is for those who let their mind wander. Q might be smoking, but he never strays too far from the harsh realities around him.

Listen to Habits and Contradictions on Spotify.

Cloud Nothings – “No Future / No Past” Official Video from Urban Outfitters on Vimeo.

Every Saturday, I post a 15-20 minute podcast featuring some tracks I’ve been jamming the previous week, as well as some commentary and random musings from yours truly. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

Kendrick Lamar – F*** Your Ethnicity
Nirvana – School (Live at the Paramount)
Kendrick Lamar – Ronald Reagan Era
Nirvana – Love Buzz (Live at the Paramount)
Kendrick Lamar – Members Only

Wednesday night, Big Freedia brought the booty-shaking sissy bounce movement to a mainstream audience via Jimmy Kimmel Live, performing two high-energy New Orleans favorites for all to hear…and see. And believe me, if you’ve never seen a Big Freedia show, you are in store for a pretty exceptional visual stimulation this morning. Just try not to shake your rump, I dare you.

Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but Deftones’ Chino Moreno has got a pretty excellent new side project. Last year, Crosses released a dark, electro-heavy debut EP, and now they’ve returned for another one. You’ll find no reverb-heavy guitar work here, no trademark shrieking. Instead Moreno croons through optimistic melodies and synth lines. The upbeat vibe, as is best evidenced on “Purient,” is reminiscent of the feeling from Deftones’ previous, brilliant outing Diamond Eyes. The project thus far is a great distraction for those of us waiting for new material from the primary band, and perhaps a teaser into their gradual progression.

Visit the Crosses website and Listen to the EP on Spotify.