Track Genius Best of 2013: Albums

If it seems like an overwhelming amount of great music was released in 2013, that's because there was. Maybe even too much good music, if that's even possible. That's why we need "Best Of" lists. In the information technology age, there's so much data to process on a daily basis, that a fatigue sets in easily. This goes double for music. Well, Track Genius is here for the people. Through a lot of debating with my friends and colleagues, I've selected what I believe are the 30 best albums of the year, and a lot of other albums that were excellent in their own right.

If it wasn't already obvious. this is my personal ordering of the years best albums. What I listened to the most, what I loved listening to, what innovated, what shook our pre-conceived notions of how music was structured, what it sounded like, and even how we listened to it. Even if something wasn't on the best of list, it's probably in the Honorable Mentions section, and every album in this post is worth a listen. Is this probably a rehash of every single album that got a BNM award? Probably. I am wrong in the ordering and did I miss some great albums on the list? Definitely. Does this give a pretty decent view of all the important and great music that was released this year for someone who's been living under a rock? Absolutely.

2013 was a one of the most stellar years for music in a long, long time. Let's keep it up. With all that being said, I officially present Track Genius' Best Albums of 2013.

30. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual 

In the 7 years since their last album "Silent Shout", Swedish electronic duo The Knife were laying low, cooking up something that was a complete 180° turn from their electro-pop opus. Silent Shout was only a glimpse of what was to come from the adventurous duo, as they decided to release one of the most innovative and abrasive electronic albums of the year, and the move payed off in spades. Scattering synth blasts and manic drum patterns paint a claustrophobic dance floor scene, as singer Karin Dreijer Andersson's voice pounds out with immediacy and shrill effect. Songs like "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" sound like something straight out of the Kid A playbook, while the almost 11 minute beast of "Stay Out Here" runs the entire gambit of droning distortion and haunting electro effects. Brash and discomfortingly beautiful, Shaking the Habitual took listeners to a sonic plane that most had never visited, and we were all the better for it.

Highlights: Full of Fire, Raging Lung, Wrap Your Arms Around Me, Without You My Life Would Be Boring

29. Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus

From the opening track "Brainfreeze" with it's prolonged dark synths and pounding beat, to the final exciting chords on Hidden XS, Slow Focus grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go for a pulsating and exhausting 52 minutes. Benjamin Power and Andrew Hung created an album with pieces that start out simple, and then build like piles of metal that eventually get so tall and large that they implode all over themselves. The melodies are more accessible but the textures surrounding them are as interesting and wonderful as ever. The album sounds like it was made by a computer than came to life and decided it wanted to make music, as all human touch is stripped away from the rhythmic blasts and mechanical turns. It's a tiring, completely compelling, and beautifully sculpted piece of music, and that is exactly what makes it one of the best albums of the year.

Highlights: Stalker, Brainfreeze, The Red Wing, Sentients

28. Pusha T - My Name is My Name 

As half of the rap duo the Clipse, the other half being his brother Malice, Pusha T spit some of the most ruthless and mean bars in rap in the groups almost decade long career. If your mom didn't scorn you every time you asked for new pencils because you broke all of yours replicating the "Grindin'" beat on your school desk while your friends free-styled, your adolescence wasn't real. However, after the duo took a hiatus and Malice became a man of God, Pusha decided to continue his solo career without his brother. He put out some great content, but there was always that spark missing. No longer did he have the bouncing and dark grooves of Pharrell's production, and even at his best, he seemed to be categorized mainly as a coke-rapper. That is until the deft hand of Kanye West steered Pusha's train in a different direction, giving him an aesthetic to work with and a sense of consistency. That's where his first real solo effort, "My Name Is My Name" comes in. No more noise about Pusha being a coke rapper or how he's nothing without his brother. This album is straight fucking fire. The middle part of the album is marred with some reaches for pop-appeal, but even those are saved by moments of sheer brilliance, like when Pusha does a perfect Mase flow over a bouncing 90s stylized instrumental on "Let me Love You". The album is at its heights when all pomp and circumstance are done away with for straight crack verses and no holds barred viciousness. Numbers on the Boards alone cemented this as one of the most ruthless and disgusting displays of lyrical prowess and character in hip hop this year. Everything else was just white icing on the pound cake.

Highlights: Numbers on the Boards, King Push, Hold on (feat. Rick Ross), Nosetalgia (feat. Kendrick Lamar)

27. Jon Hopkins - Immunity

On his sophomore album "Immunity", multi-instrumentalist and producer Jon Hopkins pulls away from the cold computer chills and thumping electro-house of his 2009 debut Insides, and instead creates an album that takes disparate noises and influences into something melodic and dense. Even though all of the album is repetitive house and techno, the textures that Hopkins adds with his spacious pianos and textured beats create a quality of . A song like Open Eye Signal is a good view of what Hopkins is doing, with jarring beat changes and thick bass lines. Each song is a monster within itself, most stretching above 6 minutes, and even far further than that. From the subtle acid-house on the opener "We Disappear" to the pounding chill of "Sun Harmonics", Immunity doesn't get monotonous or drag. It simply invites you in and then wraps you in velvet textures of electronic music you didn't know existed. Then it slaps you in the face. And you like it.

Highlights: We Disappear, Open Eye Signal, Collider, Sun Harmonics

26. Disclosure - Settle

With the explosion of the electronic music scene in the past few years, it's incredibly easy to get lost in the droves of artists claiming their brilliance on the scattered Soundcloud pages of the internet. Grappling to represent a million different sub-genres doesn't help either. That's what makes British dance music duo Disclosure's "Settle" such a necessary and brilliant album. It fuses disparate electronic influences into a electro-pop structure and unleashes the years most catchy and evocative dance music on to the public. The thumping 4/4 beats and cavalcade of guest singers seem obtrusive and redundant on the surface, but a close listen shows the effortless brilliance of what Disclosure is doing. This is the electronic dance music of the past, present, and future, synthesized into an aesthetic that is all at once familiar and new. It takes only a simple listen of January feat. Jamie Woon) or the brilliant sampling and clattering xylophone-esque electronics of Grab Her! to be impressed by the album, and if you don't catch yourself subconsciously moving your hips to these evocative and intoxicating tracks, the music probably just isn't loud enough.

Highlights: When a Fire Starts to Burn, Grab Her!,You and Me (feat. Eliza Doolittle), Latch

25. Mikal Cronin - MCII

With his sophomore album MCII, singer-songwriter Mikal Cronin meshes pop sensibilities with some of the most confident and loud guitar work this year. Bombastic and clearly defined, MCII wears its influences on its sleeve. Shoegaze, 70s rock, psychedelia, beach pop and rock, and noise all defiantly and perfectly packaged with some of the most immediate and catchy lyricism in recent memory. Take for example the opener "Weight" with its shrill reverb guitar and painful lyrics about needing help from yourself, all coated with catchy pop melodies. Much like last years Lonerism by Tame Impala, Cronin takes the most disheartening and tear-jerking writing and paints them with a coat of gloss and beauty as if to say "it won't be OK, and that's totally OK". The songs signal the sense of millennial confusion about life and difficult relationships, in a very relatable and fun way. The hard rock spaces that songs like "Shout it Out" occupy and the sounds of glory-pop that push songs like "See It My Way" and "Don't Walk Away" over the edge are where the brilliance of the songwriting and composition structure truly shine through. It's a compelling record through and through, and every listen feels like you're coming back to it 30 years later, finding the dusty LP in your attic, and there it is, waiting for you in all it's beauty.

Highlights: Weight, Shout It Out, Don't Let Me Go, Turn Away 

24. Darkside - Psychic

In a year filled with so much cerebral and luscious electronic music, it might seem like Darkside, the collaboration between brilliant producer Nicolas Jarr, and Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington, who did a track-by-track remix of Daft Punks Random Access Memories under the pseudonym Daftside, 

couldn't possibly fill up any sonic space that hasn't already been done to death. However, against all odds, and like so many other great electronic albums on this list, "Psychic" presents us with something totally weird and new, and then treads this new land at the highest level possible. Like "Settle" and "Immunity", Psychic takes the disparate elements of electronic music and gives them human life. Unlike those albums, Psychic is a no holds barred ingenuity fest, taking genres like disco, acid-house, and impressive prog-dance beats, and breaking them down to the umpteenth degree. Slowing everything down, songs like "Golden Arrow" create an atmospheric haze that accompanies the pulsating and down-played rhythms of the song. Wavelike, contemporary snyth bass are smattered all over the album, and the live instrumentation from Harrington is what truly takes these tracks over the top. The album might be jarring at first, maybe even a little foreign, but after a few listens in a dark, smoke filled room, it's clear to see why "Psychic" is one of the best electronic productions of 2013.

Highlights: Golden Arrow, Paper Trails, Freak/Go Home, The Only Shrine I've Seen

23. Deerhunter - Monomania

Deerhunter was always a pretty cool indie rock band, but their 2010 magnum opus Halcyon Digest vaulted them toward the front of the pack in the overly saturated genre, and songs like Helicopter and He Would Have Laughed lifted them to the top of the mountain on a wave of glaring pop melodies and incredible guitar work. They say that there are only 1 or 2 good guitar bands a year now, and if that's true, a strong case could have been made that Deerhunter was one of them. That's why Monomania was so jarring. Stripped away is the glittery sheen of Halcyon Digests tracks, and in its place is jangly, blues-rock influenced, cool as all hell contemporary Americana. It's a brave move for a band that was so hailed for their last album, but if there's a common theme in 2013, it's that established acts must evolve or die. Deerhunter did just that, with front man Bradford Cox's songwriting becoming more forward and sharp. Monomania signals a group of artists that are completely self-aware and make some of the best alternative music out there. It was a strange but natural evolution, and what's most exciting is where they'll end up next.

Highlights: T.H.M., Monomania, The Missing, Punk (La Vie Antérieure)

 

22. Chance the Rapper - Acid Rap 

Chicago hip-hop has brought us so much great music, that it seems like anything more at this point would be asking too much of the city. Obviously we've got Kanye West, Common, even Lupe Fiasco at one point. And now, with the rise of the drill, trap, and house scenes with artists like Chief Keef, Fredo Santana, and King Louie, it might feel to some that Chicago has lost its soul. The shift from Kanye's chipmunk soul and luscious R&B of the city were done away with and along came house music inspired beats and angry, sometimes lazy lyrics. However, there was one light of glimmering hope for Chicago hip-hop this year. One rapper who took all the influences of Chicago music, jazz, blues, soul, and made something never before heard in rap music. That hero is Chance the Rapper, and if his name didn't plainly state it, he's pretty deft on the mic. Mixing soulful, bluesy instrumentals with one of the most original voices in hip-hop, Acid Rap must truly be heard to be believed. From the down-tempo introspection of  "Acid Rain" to the tear-jerking blues-tastic thank you's of "Everything's Good (Good Ass Outro)", Chance waxes poetic and has so much fun with it, you can't help but have a huge smile across your face. This is one of the best listens of the year, and the future of this young MC is brighter and weirder than all the acid in the world.

Highlights: Acid Rain, Chain Smoker, Cocoa Butter Kisses (feat. Vic Mensa & Twista), Everything's Good

 

21. Youth Lagoon - Wondrous Bughouse

Ah chillwave. A genre so influential and wide-spread that its death seemed almost unbelievable. But like that chain smoking alcoholic uncle, it had to come eventually. When chill-wave did die, not many artists were able to escape the limiting label, and the one's that did make it big enough to do so, like Washed Out and Toro Y Moi, were slightly crippled by it's history and association. Youth Lagoon's first album, "The Year of Hibernation" came out during this time period, and it was well received enough, but with a little perspective, that was Tumblr, anime, soft-grunge, VHS teen theme music. Cool enough, but pretty uninspired. Thankfully, Wondrous Bughouse takes all the best parts of that aesthetic and adds layer of quality. The difference's are even clearly indicated by the albums covers. Year of Hibernation featured a cavernous like darkness, while Wondrous Bughouse looks like a beautiful child's drawing if that child was hanging out with the Beatles when they were visiting India. Beautiful piano work, crisper vocals, and luscious instrumentation make this one of the most pleasurable listens of the year.

Highlights: Mute, Dropla, Raspberry Cane, Pelican Man

  20. Foxygen - We are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic

If Tame Impala spearheaded this whole retro psych revival last year,  then Californian experimental rock duo Foxygen are the ones who are carrying the torch in 2013. It isn't difficult to see the reverence for all things weird and 60s style occult here. Just look at the title of the album and the clean cut style of the cover. That being said, the music here is anything but clean cut and smooth. Heavily influenced by bands like the Stooges, Ramones, and the Velvet Underground, and drawing from genres like acid rock, R&B/Soul, and even 70s singer-songwriters (on songs like San Francisco), Foxygen creates something totally their own. The record is full of surprises too, switching tones from spastic and loud to mellow and acidic within the span of 30 seconds, and maybe even more than once per song. It's nice to see bands like Foxygen pay such heavy homage to genres and artists of yesteryear whilst still making something so beautiful and original, and that is exactly why they've placed on this list.

Highlights: San Francisco, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic, Oh No 2, No Destruction

The Velvet Underground & Nico - Heroin

Rock n' Roll is a beautiful thing.

When I was in 8th grade my favorite albums were The Velvet Underground & Nico, More Songs About Buildings and Food, and ATLiens. The Talking Heads album was awesome because it had "Girls Want to Be With the Girls" and that made me feel better about being ugly and not having any girls talk to me. At a little over 2 minutes, I wished it was a bit longer, but hey, so did the girls who knew me. Outkast's ATLiens was crazy as all hell and my dad drove a beautiful (read 'really shitty') Chevrolet Caprice Classic, so "Two Dope Boyz (In a Cadillac)" was played every time I got I popped into the car with my friends. It wasn't a Cadillac but it was the best we had at the time, and I loved it. Years later I was taking a government test and one of the questions was "Who was the first African American woman elected to Congress" and I only knew the answer because I loved "Spread" off of "The Love Below". The album I hated just a year earlier was by a group named The Velvet Underground. I was in Orchestra, so my dad had told me to listen to it because it had some nice string arrangements. I hated all of it, especially the song we're talking about in this post "Heroin".

The Velvet Underground & Nico peeling banana stickers in the studio and making music

I listened to the album the whole way through and thought it was noisy, distorted, depressing, and trying too hard to be pretty among all the anger. Heroin in particular was the most noisy, distorted, and depressing. I had never done heroin at age 13 so I felt like I couldn't relate to the song either. I guess hindsight is 20/20 and if I could I'd give a good talking to my 8th grade self. It gets better man, you get less ugly, and you'll end up loving The Velvet Underground. I kept listening to it over and over again, wondering why I hated the song so much, and one day, it just clicked. The beauty in the darkness, the noise textures, the pained vocals, the buildup, all 7 minutes and 13 seconds of the song made sense. I didn't know it at the time, but it was crazy that this album was from 1967. All the guitar textures, background harmonies, nihilistic beauty, every element that took me time to appreciate was revolutionary. This was more than 20 to 30 years before Psychocandy, Daydream Nation, The Soft Bulletin, Nevermind, Is This It. PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING REALLY. That's what's really amazing about Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground. That they've influenced so many bands, great albums, amazing artists, and musical movements. If they never made anything again, they could forever have this one album and be held up as rock Gods. You can't put a price tag on that. Lou Reed embarked upon a pretty crazy solo career, and Metal Machine Music basically paved the way for industrial, so we have a lot to thank him for.

I originally didn't want to do one of these tributes. I never really know how to feel when someone I've never met, but whom I have a connection with, passes away. So many people come out and act like they're affected or pay tribute without any context to the artists work. It seems to come and go like a wave. No one cares, and then they do, and then they don't again. I guess that's why music is so amazing. Years from now we can forget who's singing or playing guitar on the song, and we can forget who wrote the lyrics or managed the band, and we can forget the name of the song and what album it came from. But we can't deny it's there. And we can't deny the power of the music. And I won't ever forget where I was when I first heard The Velvet Underground & Nico. In my room, with a busted ass cassette player, on my bed, in the calm, just listening. I was young and naive, and I hated it then. I think I'll do the same thing now.

Rest in Peace. Lou Reed (1942 – 2013)

As always, please share, enjoy, and spread the love. Peace.

The Radio Dept. - Every Time

Dream-pop pastel colored lights, a staple of the industry, used for full indie effect

I just got news that I have to replace my cars tax and inspection stickers. They're expiring soon, and if you don't own a car, then you probably don't know that you have to go out of your way to pay for these and get them processed, and it doesn't help that they cost 65 dollars each. On my way to the building to pay the sticker bills, I had been listening to Pet Grief by The Radio Dept., and due to my unimaginable incompetence, had been lost for a good 45 minutes within less than 600 feet of the tax building. However, in retrospect, this did not make me angry or frustrated, as the album cheered me up immediately. In a movie like moment, I saw the signs pointing towards the office as the last chords of the final song on the album, "Always a Relief" played. I payed my bill after a wait in the line, and was on my way, surprisingly joyful.

At this point, we've established that the only good bands pictures are ones in pastel or black & white, barring they were shot by Terry Richardson.

The song that stuck in my mind the most from the album was "What Will Give". There are songs with more original themes on the album like "The Worst Taste In Music" and there are even songs with better instrumentation like "What Will Give", but the reverb drenched goodness of "Every Time" gets me again and again.

The instrumental is poppy yet nuanced, as Swedish pop music tends to be, but the constant drone of reverb, and the shoegaze guitars are what give the song good effect. The tone of the piece is bolstered by breaks for a beautiful guitar that would be at home on any harmony for a song in the middle half of Loveless. Johan Duncanson, the band's lead singer, alters his vocals to a point that they straddle the line between comforting and creepy. The lyrics recall a drunken night of relationship sturggles, but are slightly ambiguous. I'm not one to pretend like I understand everything going on in a song, but the tale of difficult love is one that has been written on immemorial in music, and thankfully isn't overdone here (like a Taylor Swift song). Overall, a pretty good song on a very wavy album. It makes me happy.

So what is the point of the story and how does it have anything to do with Track Genius or the Radio Dept.? Well for one, owning a car is too fucking expensive. But secondly, life can get pretty shitty. It's not just the big things either, like the death of a loved one or firing from a job that barely keeps you alive in the first place. The minutia of the world, something as insignificant as the hand dryer in the public restroom not working at the full technological efficiency that an invention of the sort should work at in 2013, or something as necessary as getting your car stickers updated. In the world of minor inconveniences and perpetual misery, everyone finds solace in something, whether that something be their girlfriend or their favorite TV show. I find that in music, and listening to something relaxing and something that hit all the pleasure centers of my brain, reminded me of what music is really all about. And for that, I can thank the Radio Dept.

As always, please share, enjoy, and spread the love. Peace.

The Shoes - Time to Dance (feat. Anthonin Ternant)

Denim & beards. Takes me back to my time in Paris when I was in the military. You see, the year was 1944..

 

There's a lot of bands called "The Shoes". Not any sort of specific type of shoe either. There's no famous bands called "The Loafers" or the "High Top Black Lace Flat Ankle Oxford's". There are however, a lot of bands named The Shoes, and the particular one featured in this Track Genius are an electro duo from Reims, France and they make quite exciting dance music. The duo consists of Guillaume Brière and Benjamin Lebeau, two bearded Frenchmen on a mission to create the most infectious and danceable electronic music that the human ear can fathom. Their debut album "Crack My Bones" came out in 2011, and featured a number of guest appearances including Esser, CocknBullKid and Wave Machines. They've even done work for the likes of Shakira and had some great remixes of Ladyhawke, Marina and the Diamonds and Golden Silvers. The album was positively received, and featured some good tracks from the group, but one particularly stood out as the most exaggerated and hype worthy dance hit of 2011. That was the aptly named "Time to Dance".

I'll make this quick.  There's no point in explaining how amazing the video is, because it has to be watched to be experienced in its full brilliance. Jake Gyllenhaal takes a stunning turn as a Patrick Bateman psycho killer, feeding off the denizens of the night. The American Psycho influences are explicit, but more vicious and immediate. I never thought that Bubble Boy would be so perfect as a cold-blooded killer, but the juxtaposition of the immediately danceable music and the brutal imagery is a treat with Gyllehall at front and center. The song itself is spoken for in its title. Pumping bass and catchy vocals roundabout the exciting melody, but the track feels refined rather than something you would faint on molly too. It's a gentleman's dance song, and one that seeps into your soul in the best way.

Faronsavvy

Hijack the ipod dock from that asshole playing Skrillex at the next house party you attend, and play this record. Hopefully the song kicks into full gear before he tries to drunkenly fight you for the right to DJ, and he begins to convulse in dance. You'll be the man of the hour. Guaranteed.

As always, please share, enjoy, and spread the love. Peace.

Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up

Marvin, oh Marvin, where art thou? We miss you so.

It's Saturday evening and I'm feeling happy. The good vibes are emanating through my body as the holy ghost of Mr. Marvin Gaye soulfully swoons about the subjects of love, happiness, and the existential musings of life (like a 17 year old who just finished The Stranger). The sweet sounds of classic "get down and party" and/or "get down and make love" (do one or both, you just gotta do somethin') music from the soul legend, groove through my overpriced living room speakers as I boogy alone on the equally overpriced and over-sized Persian rug (the center does indeed, look like Galaga). "This music needs to be shared with others!" I think, mainly for an excuse to go lurking for another humans touch. Instead of going to a party I wasn't invited to and playing this song after jacking the iPod from the speaker set whilst everyone asks "Who the fuck is this guy?", I decided to write a blog post about it. It only seemed right. For the people. Viva la whatever etc.

Which Marvin song did I particularly want to get down to? It could be the political powerhouse of his most legendary album, What's Going On, or maybe the divorce inspired heartbreak ballads of Hear My Dear, an equally powerful and beautiful record. Maybe not, as they would both have me curled up in the form of a scared armadillo on the floor crying about the plight of the peoples of the world or the girlfriend I never had. Then I saw it, seemingly placed there like a beacon of light shining its eternal brightness onto my face. Live at the London Palladium. After his move to Motown, Gaye was told to make more commercially accessible funk and dance music, because that was the way the industry was moving. As with every other genre he touched, he did it incredibly well, and the album, which featured live performances of many of Gaye's hits, and also came with a new track that was recorded in the infamous Marvin's Room recording studio. That original song is the subject of this Track Genius, and one of the most infectiously groovy songs ever. This is Got To Give It Up.

Gaye has been sampled an innumerable number of times in hip-hop & pop music, and it's plain to see why. Not only does this song have major cowbell, and a groove that straddles the line between country funk & R&B sexiness, but Marvin Gaye sings in a perfect falsetto. Not forced in any way, a little bit of echo on it, and one of the most heavenly voices ever to grace this Earth, create something funk & jazz inspired, that sounds like a nouveau-disco track from a throwback party in 3010. This song plays in some movie about an awkward white kid asking a girl to prom, and in a desperate attempt to impress her, builds up the courage to get on the floor to this song, surprising all the people who gather around him in a circle. Cutaway to a group of black kids cheering him on and saying "white boy has groove!" and a montage of him dancing with a bunch of girls who thought he was a loser. He has become the social butterfly he never thought he could be, and his date says "I had a really nice time" with a coy smile and a kiss on the cheek. 5 years later she turned out to be a lesbian, but that didn't matter for Tanner. Anyway, the song is straight sexy.

Top 5 beards of all time, right up there with Ayatollah Khomeini.

Marvin Gaye just makes the most timeless music like it's nothing. It comes as natural to him as breathing or rocking an awesome beard. And for that, we thank him.

~ BONUS TRACK ~

Robin Thicke & Pharrell basically redid this song and put a T.I. verse on it, making Blurred Lines, one of the biggest pop hits of 2013. That doesn't matter however, because they did it justice, and it is still awesome (regardless of the sexist undertones). Good to know that the spirit of Marvin is still alive, and appreciated.

"Pharrell and I were in the studio and [...] I was like, 'Damn, we should make something like that [Got to Give It Up], something with that groove.' Then he started playing a little something and we literally wrote the song in about a half hour and recorded it. Him and I would go back and forth where I'd sing a line and he'd be like, 'Hey, hey, hey!' We started acting like we were two old men on a porch hollering at girls like, 'Hey, where you going, girl? Come over here!'"

The cowbell is still intact (awesome). And you can watch the uncensored version here (more awesome).

As always, please share, enjoy, and spread the love. Peace.

Tame Impala - Apocalyspe Dreams

Like any respected dream or psychedelic band, Tame Impala has plenty of high quality pictures of pastel lighted and reverb soaked live shows. You don't need to use Instagram filters for these.

I didn't want to sound pretentious or incorrect when I described the sonic landscapes of the subject of this Track Genius, Tame Impala, the rock quintet hailing from Perth, Australia . I could go the usual Pitchfork route and grab my big bag of unnecessary adjectives and words like "over-produced" and "dream-pop" that really mean nothing, but we all know I'm better than that (I'm not). Thankfully however, the band did it for me in the soul of conciseness & brevity.

"Tame Impala makes psychedelic hypno-groove melodic rock music"  

That's what the band's official website says at least. The description would be perfect, except for the omission of "Incredibly awesome" before it. For indeed, Tame Impala is the beautiful dream-like crossroad where past meets future, and the muses of rock guide you along a vinyl paved road to the top of a cold and windy mountain where the pinnacle of music lies. It is here that Tame Impala exists in an unheard singularity of old and new. Speaking of old, here's a little history on the band.

Tame Impala's aesthetic is a perfect example of what you'll feel when listening to their music.

Tame Impala is the brain-child of lead singer and guitarist Kevin Parker, formed originally in 2004-2005 as a jazzy psychedelic band with drummer Luke Epstein, called The Dee Dee Dums. After a few small awards and local recognition, Epstein left the band, and by late 2007 the band had been renamed to Tame Impala and unveiling of a whole new line-up, including Jay Watson (synth & backing vocals), Julien Barbagallo (drums & backing vocals), and recently Cam Avery (bass) after bassist Dominic Simper parted from the group. After switching up the group dynamic and replacing the two-guitar attack for the more traditional band format, Tame Impala began the nonstop race that is the music game, and they haven't looked back. Signing with Modular Recordings in 2008, the band released a couple of EP's and single's, including their self titled EP that gave but a glimpse of their future brilliance. In 2010, the group released their first album, Innerspeaker, to critical praise and good commercial success. It wasn't even their best effort, yet Tame Impala had already won the hearts of many. What was to come next however, would be something few expected. Releasing their second album, Lonerism, in October of 2012, the critics leveled even more praise, and the people bought even more records. It was easily one of the best albums of 2012, and there were so many great cuts from it, so I had difficulty choosing one song that would summarize the album for anyone still hesitant to give it a listen. However, all the songs are so good and so different, that I realized this wasn't possible, so I ended up picking the song that I've been vibing with the most lately. That would be the infinitely wavy "Apocalypse Dreams".

There's neither an official or fan made video for this song, but I would like to comment on Tame Impala's general aesthetic. Continuing with the psychedelic and vibrant theme, the album & singles artwork for the band, as well as all the media released in general for the group, is the definition of dreamy. Faded with poppy pastels and exploding sharp nostalgia, the beauty of the band extends to their continuity of the sound aligning with the visual. As for the music, it is even more brilliant in every facet. I chose Apocalypse Dreams because of its duality. Beginning with a poppy base melody and a driving drum section, the song continues to be layered with instrumental cues and tempo shifts, sometimes slowing down for a sort of bridge, and then returning to its fast paced dream-rock arpeggio's, as Parker sings about the dream-like apocalypse and making it through life with ambition, and the end of the world. The feeling of despair and loneliness is chilling when superimposed against the heavily dreamy sonic background. The song then slows down for a psychedelic section, where guitar riffs and slides give way to alienating synths and claustrophobic sounds. I wouldn't mind listening to this song as the fiery meteor incinerated my body during the end days, and I definitely don't mind listening to it now. I've barely even begun to describe how wonderfully structured and played this song is, so really it is needed to listen to experience. I'm thinking I'd describe it as "orgasmic" but I also don't want you to stop reading this out of shame. However you'd describe the song and Tame Impala's sound, just don't pass up a chance to listen to them, or this incredible album.

Tame Impala serves up my daily helping of psychedelic life blood, necessary for a balanced diet. Like trap music.

I'd previously written about Parker's work with Melody Prochet on their collaboration, Melody's Echo Chamber, but he has plenty of other projects and collaborations with some great artists. However, where his singular vision truly shines is with Tame Impala, and I hope to see so much more music from them in the future. With their track record, it'll definitely be interesting and fresh.

As always, enjoy and spread the love. Peace.

Chromatics - Cherry

Non-slave labor waged sugar, locally sourced spices from seasonal gardens, and everything dream-popped. These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girl.

It is the fate of every self-conscious hipster since time immemorial. It is the burden we must carry. A pain so Sisyphean yet intrinsic to the artisanal craft of musical hipsterism, that the only way to quell the bleeding heart of its occurrence, is to pretend that it didn't even happen in the first place. To ignore the glory that is placed upon the falsified discoveries of Christopher Columbus, for the humble and solemn knowledge that he is the Leif Erickson of lightly blogged about music, and had been privy to this untamed landscape far before the masses of Spaniards had descended upon it, destroying it with their ignorance. The Moirai had sewn the ancient scrawling's into his locally sourced hemp pullover, but even with that warning, he did not know that the anguish would be so severe. When a man finds a song that few other have, it is like eyeing the tangible love that emanates from the fresh, rosy cheeked face of a newborn first son. It is a beautiful feeling, with nary a comparative. Yet, as with any craft of hipsterism, it can be destroyed so easily, as the plebeians come foaming at the mouth in their hordes to ravage the once secret village, and make tons of shitty remixes on their Mac's with Fruity Loops, with an added terribly tempo-shifted Wiz Khalifa verse, once they catch wind that the song exists. What can one do, but move along, and try to shield their eyes from the madness... The shrill and whirling violin chords come in and snap the hipster back into reality. He is laying half naked on his bed, laptop covering his long-neglected crotch, and the heat radiation egressing from it ensure that it will stay that way.

What I'm trying to say in layman's terms is, could I be any more pretentious, AND that I heard this song a long time ago, and I told all my friends to listen to it, and they didn't, and now it's going to be famous, and they're all going to come to me and tell me they heard this song and that I should step my music game up. It is a normal occurrence, and one that, as I said, destroys the fabric of a hipster's heart, though they'd never admit it. It is intrinsic to the label as can be. A heavy heart indeed. Let me explain.

Reverb soaked, pastel hazed, dream pop act. I have never heard this before.

The Chromatics are an electronic music band formed in 2001 and hailing from Portland, Oregon, home of dying hipsters, seasonal foodstuffs, and crippling depression. The band consists of Ruth Radelet (vocals/synthesizer), Adam Miller (guitar/vocoder), Nat Walker (drums/synthesizer), and Johnny Jewel (producer, multi-instrumentalist). I took that from Wikipedia and there's nothing you can do about it, bitch. According to the world's largest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet, the band originally featured a trademark sound indebted to punk rock and lo-fi, but after numerous lineup changes, which left guitarist Adam Miller as the sole original member, the band began releasing material on the Italians Do It Better record label in 2007 with a more dream-pop oriented sound that kept the lo-fi roots, but eschewed the punk for a more contemporary and sensual sonic landscape (we use big words that mean nothing here). They've got a couple of EP's and 4 albums as a whole, as well as assorted singles scattered throughout their career, and the band's music has even been featured on films like Drive and Taken, as well as shows like Gossip Girl (which is actually quality television. No. Seriously...). They've got a lot of great, and even semi-popular records that I could have written about, but my favorite, and the topic of this particular Track Genius post, is the song "Cherry".

So technically this isn't the official music video for the song, this one is, but it is probably the best visualization for it, as beautiful hipsters run around in a vintage black and white film filter, while they enjoy life over bubbly pop music, escaping from the existential dread and relationship oriented heartbreak that they give to each other. In reality, it's a commercial for fucking jeans. But you wouldn't really be able to tell that by yourself, and it's directed by hipster-girl heartthrob James Franco (just check any pubescent teenage girl's Tumblr for proof) for the terribly named "Seven For All Mankind Jeans" brand, the "leader in premium denim". What that really means is that they have a product called "Paxtyn Tapered Skinny in Washed Out Destroyed" jeans for $218.00 American dollars. Naw son. Not about that life, at all. Regardless of the message to buy overpriced, already used jeans (notice how they don't even try to hide that fact, since "washed out & destroyed" is literally in the title of the fucking product) the music video is quite good. I wouldn't expect anything less from a company that gave a ton of money, artistic free reign, and a camera to James Franco, who was probably on dimethyltryptamine when shooting this. As for the song, what we're really here for, it is really good. It's got all the trappings of a dream-pop rock song, with the a groovy and repetitive baseline, crescendoing snare pattern, and aerated synth stylings. Lest we forget the reverb soaked vocals of lead singer Ruth Radelet, the lyrics bring about an ominous sexuality when coupled with the video, but that probably should have been obvious with the title of the song. It's about love and heartbreak and longing, as most things in this life are, but it still sounds fresh, which, most things in this life are not *I clench the unbalanced sawed off between my weakly muscular legs, barrel facing toward my head, big toe on the trigger, continuing to type on my computer*.

Fish lens for my real friends & lens fish for my fish friends.

So, why did I end up posting about this song instead of all the other Track Genius posts I had been writing? It's simple. The hipster inside of me came raging out when I heard today that a favorite rapper of mine, Schoolboy Q, would be sampling the track wholeheartedly on a record off his upcoming album "Oxymoron". The video for "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" by Schoolboy Q's label-mate Kendrick Lamar dropped today, and a secret Director's Cut of the video, ends with a snippet from the untitled track. You can peep it at 5:05, but you should probably watch the whole video since Kendrick Lamar and this song are both awesome.

            
          

So, why did I start such a fuss at the beginning of this post? Well, I told everyone to listen to this song a long time ago! Hell, near when it came out actually, and up until now I've been telling people to check it out. I can tell the Schoolboy Q song is gonna be a hit and a summer radio smash, what with the catchy Chromatics melody and Q's inexplicable charm and uncanny ear for making awesome pop-rap tracks. I may sound incredibly bitchy (I do sound incredibly bitchy*), but I'm actually quite glad both this song and Schoolboy Q are going to get a lot more exposure when Oxymoron comes out. Big ups to everyone. Because remember Track Genius readers, what few of you there are. We're about love here. YUNG PEEPLE MUSIC YO! That's all I really have to say about my crippling hipsterism (can one really be a hipster if they are self-aware or does that defy ironic labeling?) and my love for this track. You can check out more from the Chromatics on their Facebook, Soundcloud, Label Page, or, as always, on Pitchfork.

As always, please share, enjoy, and spread the love. Peace.

MellowHype - Loco

A good picture that isn't by Terry Richardson. I'm feeling good today.

The art of sample flipping has always been an important part of hip-hop culture and music (Reminder that KRS-One never shuts up). From the early days of Marley Marl working for every big MC, to the genre defining eclectic sampling and musical styles of J Dilla & DJ Shadow, to the modern soul, funk, rock, and everything in-between sampling styles of Kanye West & Just Blaze, hip-hop production has evolved and has had more important names than most anything in music. Nowadays , thanks to Nas' Illmatic, we're accustomed to a full roster of hitmakers, from The Neptunes funkadelic inspired pop-opuses to the ethereal dream-trap soundscapes of Clams Casino, a varied group of producers on one artists album has become a staple in rap music. Besides, nobody wants their album to sound samey, so it's important to utilize a full roster of sonic styles so an MC can functionally emote his #COKEDREAMS on a grandiose Lex Luger beat, and then smoothly transition to musing over the one that got away over a sex soaked sob-fest Noah "40" Shebib instrumental. However, there was a time that a producer and MC duo were common, nay, expected, as the likes of DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (now known by his government name "Will Smith") and No I.D & Common Sense were making songs exclusively together. The intrinsic bond between DJ/producer and MC changed when Illmatic came out, and a full roster of producers became a mainstay in hip-hop. If that's good or bad is your decision, and it's not like there aren't a veritable number of producer and rapper duos these days, because there are, but it's definitely not like it used to be. Before this post becomes a vague cover for me trying to let people know how much I know about hip-hop and a list of my favorite producers thinly veiled in a badly written post on hip-hop production, lets make a mediocre segue to the real reason for this post.

MellowHype has a cool group name and come from a cool clique (Odd Future). They also have a high definition picture that is again, not by Terry Richardson. Life is good.

MellowHype is a Los Angeles, California hip-hop duo made up of rapper Hodgy Beats & producer Left Brain. They are, of course, individual artists as well, hailing from the infamous Odd Future collective, comprising of the likes of Tyler, The Creator, Frank Ocean, Earl Sweatshirt, and the aforementioned 2 artists. Left Brain was one of the principle producers for Odd Future and Hodgy was one of the principle MC's, so it only made sense for them to team up. They came to prominence when Odd Future blew up, and got some buzz with Odd Future's staple "dark-toned so we labeled it horrorcore" tracks like "64" and "CopKiller (feat. Earl Sweatshirt)". The duo continues to release music, already 2 mixtapes & an album deep, with a new album coming soon (check out their latest track). They also have a tendency to take 2 words that should be separate and keep them capitalized, whilst still making them one word. Edgy stuff. One of my personal favorite songs comes from their 2nd mixtape, BlackenedWhite, and it's a track called Loco.

While this music video isn't official, it is awesome, and therefore I will comment on it.  It seems like, to me at least, there's been some sort of trend with pairing classic American images with dark music, and vice versa, ever since that game Fallout 3 came out. I'm sure people had done it before, but I feel like it really took off when the game let you blow up radioactive super mutants with laser guns made of scrap metal whilst listening to "Way Back Home" by Bob Crosby.  That's just my theory though. Regardless of where it started, this video plays with the idea well, as a classic 50's clip of a group of misfits riding their bikes through the suburbs while wearing monkey masks accompanies the song. The juxtaposition of the dark tones of the song, and the complementary French soul sampling, make the video and song have some sort of perfect ironic synergy, a word only used by businessmen who have no idea what it means (this video is it). With the aforementioned sampling, LeftBrain chose to go with Chanson D'un Jour D'hiver by 70's French jazz fusion band Cortex off their 1975 album Troupeau Bleu. Strangely enough, this was first sampled in 2009 by none other than... Rick Ross??? Yes, Rick Ross' own hip-hop group, Triple C's, which included Ross, Gunplay, Torch & Young Breed, sampled the record on a song called "Diamonds & Maybachs Pt. 2 (feat. Suede Royale)" produced by Delando "Mitrxxx the Mad Scientist" Morrow. In classic Rick Ross fashion, it was totally overblown and the sample was drowned out in an incredible amount of overproduction (a term that people at Pitchfork use like businessmen use "synergy"). Nobody except Ross & Gunplay would go on to do anything in hip-hop music, but the sample lived on in many iterations, from MellowHype using it in Loco, to Smoke DZA, Logic & Curren$y all sampling it on tracks of their own. Each had their own twist on it, but it was done best, and grimiest, by MellowHype. The soulful sample is accompanied by a drawn out and ominous bass and the looped piano chord. The child-like singing and piano arpeggio climax as a bass groove plays off into the repeat of the beat, and the snares & claps continue in beautiful monotony. Hodgy Beats spits a modern fairy-tale fantasy about wilding out with Black Panther Party members, and a second verse of braggadocio that employs a drawn out metaphor that incorporates narcissistic wordplay with various condiments. As the track fades and the sample is left to stand on it's own, an air of creepiness comes over the listener. It's an awesome track from MellowHype, and one that didn't get enough attention. I'd argue its even one of the best songs in all of Odd Future's stable of great tracks. Those are for another Track Genius though.

Totally forgot that Odd Future did a shoot with Terry Richardson. Goddamnit Terry. Foiled again.

MellowHype continues to make good songs and collaborate with Odd Future on each artists solo projects, and they plan to release a new project by the end of 2013. Here's to hoping we here more from the smoked out MC/producer duo that hail from sunny California, but make some of the darkest music around.

As always, please share, enjoy, and spread the love. Peace.

Freeway (feat. Jay-Z & Beanie Sigel) - What We Do

This was the only high quality picture I could find of Freeway. You see kids, back in the early 2000's, High Definition was still a Shootyz Groove album, and just like old pictures, it did not age well.

Damn fam... Welcome back to Track Genius. Let's get the bullshit out the way, feel me? I've brought you all here to reminisce. To put on your rose tinted glasses, and gently slide into your nostalgia pants, to come with me on a journey back to the early and mid 2000's. The years when Rocafella Records ruled the world. The records, the movies, and most of all, the artists. The greatest CEO of all time, Dame Dash, oversaw the likes of Jay-Z, Kanye West, Cam'rom & Dipset, Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, and last but not least, one of Philly's finest, Freeway. This was the gully nigga, bearded Philly Akki, west Philadelphia born and raised rapper who stole "Freeway" Ricky Ross' nickname before fake thug rap extraordinaire Rick Ross even did. Freeway was way ahead of the game in that sense. Along with all the aforementioned artists, Rocafella oversaw an omniscient steel grip over street culture and hip-hop music. It was indescribably awesome. Now we have Macklemore. Regardless, the Roc was in the building, from releases like The Dynasty to Streets is Watching (album AND movie homie), Dame Dash and crew held it down, and the most under appreciated guy on the roster was always the bearded Santa himself.

Coming up in the battle rap scene in west Philly, Freeway was discovered by fellow future Rocafella compatriot Beanie Sigel, and given a feature on 1-900-HUSTLER off of The Dynasty: Roc La Familia album with Jay-Z, Memphis Bleek, and the Broad Street Bully himself. In 2003, Freeway released his debut album "Philadelphia Freeway" with production by the 3 modern legends, Just Blaze, Bink!, and Kanye West. It also had features from his aforementioned fellow Roc members, as well as heavyweights like Nate Dogg, Nelly, Snoop Dogg, Faith Evans, and Mariah Carey. Why was Mariah Carey on a Freeway album, and how many strings did Jay-Z have to pull to get that done, and how do you go from having Mariah Carey & Jay-Z featured at the same damn time on one of your tracks to being completely irrelevant? These are all good questions, and highlight the fall of Rocafella well, but that's a story for another day. For the time being, Freeway had dropped an awesome album, and if you're one of the people who write for Complex, a bona fide classic. There were some dope cuts from the album, like club that pays off the health inspector to not fail the yearly examination/street anthem "Flipside (feat. Peedi Crakk)", but the undisputed best cut off of the album is what we're here for. This that mean grimey shit, that shit you can feel in your bones. That true hip-hop for the people, that kinda record that makes you wanna put on a ski mask and fuckin rob a nigga for his OG Jordan III's b. This that real shit. This is "What We Do (feat. Jay-Z & Beanie Sigel)".

As usual, let's touch on this video. This was revolutionary for a couple of reasons. When you first see Jay lean into Freeway's ear and whisper "Keep goin'" after he's just finished rappity rapping 300 bars of street documentary magic, you finally realize what it's like to go from boy to man. After that, Jay comes in with a much tighter flow, and when he spits "So I move key's, you can call me the piano man" for a beautiful fleeting moments there is an actual piano on the dock. The masterfully congruent sensory barrage, the first of which is being taken aback by the hotness of that line, and secondly coupled by the visual cue of the piano to reinforce that, can only be described as life changing. This visual toughness couldn't be achieved without an equally dope song however, as the Roc triumvirate comes correct on the mic. Freeway's verse begins the song with what feels like 1,000,000 bars of fire, as if Free was urgently writing his version of Mein Kampf with a Just Blaze beat as his canvas. After hearing the adrenaline filled realness of Freeway's verse, Jay-Z comes in with a quick 12 bar, smooth as ever. You can barely even notice that he tapers off in his drug talk at the end of the verse because "B. Sige in the third lane" enters, and delivers an equally fine verse. The great thing about this track is that everyone says something significant, and it's just on bars on bars. As for the production, it's a Just Blaze banger, and those are always classic. With a looped and pitch shifted sample from Creative Source's "I Just Can't See Myself Without You" and trademark heavy Just Blaze drums, backed by an ominous and strange violin leftover from the sample that somehow works, this beat is another soul-sampling street banger from the house of production that The Roc built. And that's what they did.

There aren't any pictures of Freeway that look like they weren't shot by DMX when he first learned what a camera was, or won't disintegrate your retina with their terrible pre-2007 quality, so here's a nice little blueprint of an actual Freeway (Get it? Freeway. Blueprint. Disregard the fact that he wasn't even on that album while I go hang myself).

More than anything, this track makes me nostalgic for the days of non-internet rappers and the Dynasty of Rocafella Records. Now the only artist there are Jay-Z, Kanye, and for some reason Jadakiss. The label is sitll around in spirit as Roc Nation though, with Jay-Z as president. Instead of rappers the roster includes such talented musicians such as Willow Smith and Rita Ora. J Cole and J Electronica are signed to the label as well but the former gets no marketing push and the latter won't release his fucking album in the first place. Time truly is the great equalizer, and as the wounds from the disbanding of Roc-A-Fella heal and the people involved settle into their new paths, it's just nice to look back at where we were and where we are now. Things like this make a couple years feel like ages ago. In an age of looking forward, it's difficult to look back whilst grasping the actions of our forefathers, but like the song says, it's just what we do.

As always, please share, enjoy, and spread the love. Peace.