Purity Ring - Another Eternity (leak and weak)

To quote the Grateful Dead- 'maybe they had too much too fast'.   The production and singing duo of Corin Roddick and Megan James don't seem like the drug reference particularly applies though.  In person they come across more like studious art music nerds with no time for messing about.  Puritanical musical work ethic and all that, pardon the pun.

They may have had too much exposure though.  It seems like a maelstrom of hype since 4AD announced and ultimately released the perfect Shrines on July 24, 2012.  Having toured extensively on their own and with indie titans Grizzly Bear they got a lot of stage time in early in their career.  Conversely, although both hail from Edmonton, their recording was done largely at a distance with Roddick perfecting a beat and then emailing it to James who would add her vocals at a distance.  Its a frequently common form of collaboration, particularly in hip-hop, but in their case they hit kismet sonic gold on every single track.  Live and on record their were not so much singles and low points as different facets of Shrines.  They were just that good.

This is all before Danny Brown somehow got a hold of them.  The combination of Molly and their melifluous beats and mesmerizing live show undoubtedly had something to do with it.  They remade their brilliant Belispeak as Belispeak II.  Later they were asked to produce a beat and be featured on 25 Bucks one of the few strong tracks on Brown's middling album Old.  They seem to have fleshed out a bit of a niche in Hip Hop as they didn't seem to do much in 2014, besides working on Another Eternity, other than produce a beat for Ab-Soul God's Reign for his album These Days...

Not that you'd really hear a strong Hip Hop influence on the album.  In fact whatever Roddick is doing is further back in the mix then one would have anticipated.  Gone are the almost choral effects he charmingly concocted by his custom percussion array resembling a futuristic steel pan set up.  In its place are a mewly melange of current EDM tropes that just sort of drift by without drawing any attention to themselves.  At points it sounds like some ill intended collaboration with a big room EDM DJ like Avicii.  Other moments you almost expect Pitbull to come out for a guest verse.  What is Megan James doing through all this.  Well she's singing a lot that's pretty hard to avoid.  But instead of the treated clipped and more obscure vocal delivery that was a hallmark of Purity Ring's sound she's just doing what quite a lot of women are doing in the very broad field of Electronic Dance Music these days- and not particuarly well.  Kingston (of Blue Sky Black Death)  now going by Ultra88 has accomplished something much more pleasing to the ear incorporating electronics and the female voice on his new release Sirens. James lyrics presumably have meaning and yield to introspection but its unclear because the album - and this is painful to admit because I had the highest of hopes for this group and delighted seeing them up close at NXNE the year of their ignition  - is another eternity to make it through to the end.

What happened?  Undoubtedly this is the album they wanted to make even if they have softened all the quirky edges that endeared their sound.  The overall sense one gets is artists that had too long, too much resources, too much input trying to create an album with crossover appeal.  It may have been that they worked best with little resources, and that working at a distance may have been unique to their creative process.

Another Eternity:

01 heartsigh

02 bodyache

03 push pull

04 repetition

05 stranger than earth

06 begin again

07 dust hymn

08 flood on the floor

09 sea castle

10 stillness in woe

BADBADNOTGOOD Biography

(l to r - Matthew Tavares, Alexander Sowinski, Chester Hanson)

It seems natural that aspiring jazz musicians (at Toronto's) prestigious Humber Jazz Program would be informed by the music they're listening to, only their instructors probably presume that their listening to the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Vijay Iyer or really getting out there with Steve Coleman. MF Doom and Odd Future notsomuch.

Collaborating first on an arrangement of Gucci Mane's Lemonade it was their performance project based on a piece of Tyler The Creator's music that tanked with their instructors but went viral online when they later released it as the Odd Future Sessions Part 1 (they later released part 2 as well).  This caught The Creator's attention from deep in a suburban basement lair with egg carton and foam stapled over ever possible surface, dimpling the walls in strange undulating patterns that absorbed him endlessly.

This led to direct collaborations with Tyler The Creator (such as Fish) as well as work with Frank Ocean who can't play an instrument to save his life.  Most exciting have been the collaborations between BADBADNOTGOOD or BBNG with Ghostface Killah and on occasion Danny Brown such as the greasy Six Degrees.

Now comes word that Six Degrees will appear on an entire Frank Dukes produced album to be entitled Sour Soul (due out on Feb. 17 on Lex).  Pretty Tony himself will rap on every single cut and the second single released to high anticipation is Gunshowers. 

Diplo Halloween Mix (download)

Mad Decent label honcho and star of credit card commercials Diplo has just come out with a 3 hour Halloween mix for BBC!    The set touches on everything from Africa Bambaata to a special Major Lazer dub of Rihanna's "You Da One" as well as de rigeur cuts from Danny Brown, A$AP Rocky TNGHT (Hudson Mohawke x Lunice).  Keeping it dark Diplo throws in The Prodigy and Misfits.

The last hour Diplo hands the reinds to System D-128, who close things out with a heavy mini-block of Three 6 Mafia.

Sean Price/ Seanwuar vs. Pharoahe Monch

It's hard to imagine that Canadian community radio and video journalism pioneer Nardwuar the Human Serviette (born John Ruskin legally Nardwuar the Human Serviette since 1986) is a recognizable enough presence in Hip Hop culture such that he's effortlessly and lovingly satirized by the genre's chief jokester Sean Price.  There is nothing funny about Sean Price.  His music is often deadly as a heart attack and whatever he means by 'merced' you don't want it to happen to you.  The contrast between his looming physical presence and his penchant for jokesterism is itself a source of humour.

Using all of Nardwuar's trademark interview techniques (garish costume, nasal whine, immaculately researched prop/ 'gifts' intended to  elicit broad responses) Sean Price ribs Pharoahe Monche to hilarious effect quizzing him with a Eugene Mc Daniels LP (headless heroes of the apocalypse) and specifics about Wolverine: "Which is stronger Admantium or Vibranium?"

As it turns out the parody is not all that surprising.  Although Nardwuar's character based interview style has rubbed numerous Hip Hop heavyweights (including Nas) the wrong way- making him the object of threats and taunts- he has gained numerous admirers for his highly admirable style of delving deeply into the influences that shape artists.  He is undoubtedly a consummate researcher and his own volume of interviews likely provide countless overlapping insights to his trade.   Considering just the genre of Hip Hop, Nardwuar counts amongst his admirers: Danny Brown, A$AP Rocky, Lil B, Flavor Flav, Currensy and Snoop Dogg.  During an interview with Pharell Williams, Nardwuar pulled out a vinyl 1992 record featuring the very first recorded track by Pharrell, causing him to pause and state: "This is one of the most impressive interviews I've ever experienced in my life. Seriously."

"Keep on Rocking in the P world and a bap bap aloo bop a bop... bam boom"

Watch Nardwuar consistently school Kendrick Lamar on Compton Rap

The Gaslamp Killer - Boiler Room DJ set

In a long line of Turkish American musical visionary producers and genuine lovers of music, including Ahmet Ertegun and Arif Mardin, Willliam Benjamin Bensussen (also know as The Gaslamp Killer) stands alone.  Listen here to the Killer at London's Boiler Room debut the bulk of the stupendous Breakthrough LP, just released on Brainfeeder, in this devastating hour and a quarter DJ set.  Seeing The Gaslamp Killer execute his own material beyond-deftly in a club context is illuminating.  His raw enthusiasm for music- as expressed in his sufi-mental dance style - is only the entry point.  Hear him redefine so-called 'Bass Music' to suit his dervish instincts.  In his typically amped fashion  as the set dances through material of his own featuring Gonjasufi as well as recent releases from (Brainfeeder label honcho) Flying Lotus (Pattern and Grid World EP) and his cohort Thundercat including DMT Song, a hilarious Mark Wahlberg sample from The Fighter, new instrumental hip hop bangers from in demand producers Hudson Mohawke (solo) and with Lunice as TNGHT (which actually sound good in a well executed mix for once), some Ghetto Tech from both DJ Rashad and a quick cut of Danny Brown, Dilla, Wu-Tang's Ice Cream, Portland producer EPROM's Regis Chillbin,  Frank Ocean's Pink Matter, Clark's Fantasm Planes, the jungle classic Dead Dred, Zomby, Flosstradumus Lana's Theme, Coki, Zebra Katz, and Dimlite.  The cherry on the sundae likely comes just past the hour mark with Andre 3000 and Pimp C's verse off UGK's International Players- suddenly his whole system drops out on him and without losing any momentum at all gets it back up and wobbles the opening of Glory by Domo Genesis.  Somehow the whole set culminates with Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner mixed pitch perfectly into Pink Floyd's Great Gig In The Sky. Psychedelia. 

Then in several deep bows of reverence he closes his set with a sad, erstwhile Mariachi trumpet ballad.

Danny Brown Bruiser Brigade EP (free download)

In 2010 a man named Danny Brown, with fewer connections to Detroit Hip Hop then people would like to imagine,  with a few choice collaborations under his belt (including with Dilla and Black Milk) released The Hybrid.  It took a few years for the adenoid squawk of his voice to gain popularity outside of very limited circles that began with a core following of backpack enthusiasts, radiating out to strip club bartenders, and so on.  But a hybrid of what?  It seemed fairly clear that it was a hybrid of electronic music, of the abandoned building and huge speaker cabinet variety, and hip hop.  On last year's XXX which garnered top honours from everyone from Spin to Pitchfork as one of if not the best Hip Hop album of the year, it was certainly a jagged little antidote to the greasy chutzpah of Drake and his protege The Weaknd.  Danny deserves all of the attention, modelling his prodigious output on Lil B's similar grind and MF Doom's meticulous plotted-out-on-paper assaults, over a very local style of Detroit Ghettotech inspired beats, all with as he will admit a 'hood grade 2 vocabulary'. 

 



The zeitgeist for Danny was right in 2012 his 'crackhead made good' over slick disjointed beats just seemed like a winning formula. In fairness despite missing his front tooth (from a 'nasty bike accident') Danny did indeed sell a good amount of crack (hear Greatest Rapper Ever from The Hybrid) but was not a crack user, he freely admits serious abuse of the prescription drug Adderal (hear Adderal Admiral off XXX, or a more thoughtful take on Prescription Rx from The Hybrid) as well as Molly- a popular name for MDMA that is pure as the driven snow and likely acquired by a reliable source).  Danny's been talking up Bruiser Brigade,  well, since the song Bruiser Brigade appeared on XXX, as his twisted version of something like G Unit or whatever DMX called his crew.  It sounds a bit more like Danny Brown's Tuesday Night Nintendo Club as DB is notorious for not leaving the house and having his small circle of friends and 'collaborators' over to his place.  Bruiser Brigade is: Danny Brown, Chip$ (currently incarcerated), MC Dopehead (Danny's cousin) and their gangly white producer SKYWLKRwho produced the majority of XXX's beats and with whom Danny seems most comfortable if not most challenged by. 

Danny's found the label home he set out to get at A Trak's Fool's Gold imprint.  The Bruiser Brigade EP is available for free download through their offshoot Scion A/V.

A$AP Rocky & Danny Brown on Sex, Drugs and the Music Industry (Part 1)

The People At Vice (TPAV) had another brilliant idea, having humped so many fruitlessly into the ground, to do a Q&A poolside in Barcelona between A$AP Rocky and our man Danny Brown.  In this the first of five parts of their probing dialogue Rocky and Brown debate the relative merits of 'twitter bitches' versus 'facebook bitches', what it takes to make your facebook really 'popping' as well as Danny's fondness for pure crystal Molly (MDMA) which he took the previous evening to hilarious effect.

Danny Brown - Greatest Rapper Ever (lyrics)

My homey a magician with a Tec
make your chain disappear
and reappear on his neck
I ain't trickin' with your hoes
But shit don't ask 'em
only thing I give a bitch a fuckin' orgasm
I throw you in the river
hands tied tight
watch your ass drown
feeling In The Air Tonight
I'm spittin' that dope shit
smokin' on regulars
ringin' sixteens like internet jail predators
rockin' that ten beat but I stay dolo
you wearin' Polo
who are you Young Dro?

I am fifth floor at the Bellagio
Vegas bitches that's resembling Rosario
Dawson awesome hit the head Mario
Started on my tongue now she's squirtin' up the sheets
She gave me that Becky
I gave her that Yoshi
The only time you niggers touch keys is Motif
Go and sell a beat
You never sold a rock
Still be sittin' on the couch if I was on the Koch
Coulda signed to the Roc
Na I'm signed to the streets
The D the only thing that's brothers and for me
Feelin' like Big Meech
when we bought to cook up
But not the one from B.M.F or the one from Lynwood

And ain't a nigga I know
Three years straight, three dollar blow
Good in the hood anywhere I go I'm great
Nigga hit me with a hundred cause of the look on my face
Momma I'm honoured to be your son
Cause that's the second stab and so and not rip a single one
Used to be in a rush to finish off my sack
I was so thirsty dog sold a pregnant bitch crack
Let her pay me extra smoke it in the back
Then she came back titties all smackin' herself
on the back
Talkin' 'bout somethin' crawlin' on her
Lookin' like the world fallin' on her
And I pushed it
You wrapped the foots of the bitches I mushed
Boogie ass Cutlass 3D blowing Kush

Nerd got her shook
Started reading when the jerk through the fucking book
But the block was off the hook
Sayin' fuck class
Off them same pills that had Carlton dancin' fast
Young buck look not a grown up not about them same pills
listening to Donuts
I rap like I bet my life cause in all actuality nigga I did
You rap like you used to hit the pipe
naw nigga that ain't crack that's crackhead shit
Rep that shit
We don't tell a bitch
You ain't break a brick you ain't seein' this dick
You trick on a bitch
Dog you ain't rich take a bitch to the movies
Take her to the crib

You seein' Brown nope never
'Bout to the live the title of the Greatest Rapper Ever
It don't get no better
It don't get no better

Danny Brown - Greatest Rapper Ever

Danny Brown Greatest Rapper Ever (lyrics)

My homey a magician with a Tech
make your chain disappear
and reappear on his neck
I ain't trickin' with your hoes
for shit don't act 'em
only thing I give a bitch a fuckin' orgasm
I throw you in the river
hands tied tight
watch your ass drown
feeling In The Air Tonight
I'm spittin' that dope shit
smokin' on regulars
ringin' sixteens like internet jail predators
rockin' that ten beat but I stay dolo
you wearin' Polo
who are you Young Dro?

I am fifth floor at the Bellagio
Vegas bitches that's resembling Rosario
Dawson awesome hit the head Mario
Started on my tongue now she's squirtin' up the sheets
She gave me that Becky
I gave her that Yoshi
The only time you niggers touch keys is motif
Go and sell a beat
You never sold a rock
Still be sittin' on the couch if I was on the Koch
Cause they're signed to the ROC
Na I'm signed to the streets
The D the only thing that's brothers and for me
Feelin' like big meats
when we bought to cook up
But not the one from BMF or the one from Linwood

And ain't a nigga I know
Three years straight, three dollar blow
Good in the hood anywhere I go I'm great
Nigga hit me with a hundred cause of the look on my face
Momma I'm honoured to be your son
Cause that's the second stab and so and not rip a single one
Used to be in a rush to finish off my sack
I was so thirsty dog sold a pregnant bitch crack
Let her pay me extra smoke it in the back
Then she came back titties all smackin' herself
on the back
Talkin' 'bout somethin' crawlin' on her
Lookin' like the world fallin' on her
And I pushed it
You wrapped the foots of the bitches I mushed
Boogie ass Cutlass  3D blowing Kush

Nerd got her shook
Started reading when the jerk through the fucking book
But the block was off the hook
Sayin' fuck class
Off them same pills that had Carlton dancin' fast
Young buck look not a grown up not about them same pills
listening to Donuts
I rap like I bet my life cause in all actuality nigga I did
You rap like you used to hit the pipe
naw nigga that ain't crack that's crackhead shit
Rep that shit
We don't tell a bitch
You don't break a bitch you ain't seein' this dick
You trick on a bitch
Dog you ain't rich take a bitch to the movies
Take her to the crib

You seein' Brown nope never
'Bout to the live the title of the Greatest Rapper Ever
It don't get no better
It don't get no better