track: The Game feat. Tyler, the Creator and Lil Wayne - Martians vs. Goblins

video: Pusha-T feat. Tyler, the Creator - Trouble on My Mind

Check out my previous post on this track + a link to a Pusha-T mixtape here.

tracks: Pusha-T feat. Tyler, the Creator - Trouble on My Mind + Lil Wayne - Tunechi's Back

It's been a good year for rap so far, and it's looking to only get better. Here's a pair of hot tracks from some upcoming releases that I'm excited about. They look promising.


Tyler, the Creator collaborates with two of his biggest heroes on this track -- Pusha-T (of Clipse) and the Neptunes. It's a cut off of Pusha-T's upcoming EP, Fear of God 2: Let Us Pray. That's out August 23rd. Check out the pretty decent mixtape from this year, Fear of God, free here. Good to see Pusha-T doing good things after the disappointment that was that last Clipse album.

Pusha-T feat. Tyler, the Creator - Trouble on My Mind


Lil Wayne put together a mixtape as an apology for his oft-delayed upcoming LP, Tha Carter IV. It should be out August 29th. The mixtape, Sorry About the Delay, is out July 13th. Here's a track from it.

Lil Wayne - Tunechi's Back

videos: Kanye West - Monster // Tyler, the Creator - She

mini reviews: My Morning Jacket, Man Man, Tyler the Creator

My Morning Jacket - Circuital

If you were one of those people who were upset when My Morning Jacket went experimental and channeled their inner Prince on Evil Urges, then this is the album for you. It reminds me of The Roots' latest album, How I Got Over, in a way. Both albums are victory laps by veteran bands. Both albums are toned down, low-key affairs. And both albums have a positive, chilled out mood about them. They're also both really excellent.


favorite songs: The Day Is Coming, Outta My System, Holdin' On to Black Metal
listen if you like: positivity, slide guitar, elements of surf rock and soul, children's choirs

Man Man - Life Fantastic

I started listening to Man Man because of the unhingedness (that should be a word) of Six Demon Bag -- a record where they barked, clanged, yelped, and generally made music to soundtrack Tom Waits' night out drinking whiskey at a smoky bar and ending at a circus. That crazed sound is what made Six Demon Bag one of my favorite albums of all time. Their next album, Rabbit Habbits, smoothed out some of those rougher edges that I loved. Life Fantastic takes it a step further -- this is their most accessible album to date, which isn't to say that it's boring. There's still an undertone of crazy and darkness, there are lots of instruments thrown in the mix, and the lyrics are their most entertaining to date. Samples: "Well here's the story. A lovely lady. Who had 3 daughters, who drove her fuckin' crazy. She hacked them up with, an old machete. And threw a party with dead daughter confetti." // "Mr. Dagger, meet Mr. Back. Separable, together at last. Mr. Dagger meet Mr. AHHHH! Separable, together at AHHHH!"

favorite songs: Piranhas Club, Dark Arts, Haute Tropique
listen if you like: Tom Waits, the circus, fun, whiskey, darkness, murder

Tyler, the Creator - Goblin

Tyler raps almost exclusively about rape, murder, and being an angsty teen -- but in 2011, there's not really anything that would be shocking on a record. Despite Tyler trying to be shocking and off-putting, the dude is pretty endearing. Just follow his twitter for a little bit and you'll see what I mean (@fucktyler, of course). He's a 19-year old kid who's realizing his dream right before his audience's eyes. Watch his performance on Jimmy Fallon and just try not to feel happy for the kid. Goblin couldn't have possibly been more hyped in such a meteoric ascent to fame, and so the expectations were impossibly high. Because of this, the people who were expecting a perfect album (and there were many) are going to be disappointed. Yea, there's some filler. Yea, he let some of his not-so-talented friends on his record. Yea, he treats the whole album like another mixtape, and sometimes you can't tell if you're listening to a skit or a song. So what? The album's still really fun, and it's got some of his best songs to date.

favorite songs: Yonkers, Radicals, Tron Cat, Sandwitches
listen if you like: negativity, dirty words, rape jokes, immaturity, dark sparse beats

album stream: The Strokes - Angles

Head over to The Strokes' website to listen to their new album, Angles. I think it's easily the best thing they've done since Is This It, though that seems to be an unpopular opinion. I was fully expecting to hate this album, but it's one of my favorites so far from 2011.

By the way, new albums are coming out in the next 2 months from all of these guys: Man Man, Battles, Boris, Bootsy Collins, Beastie Boys, Fleet Foxes, The Black Lips, Tyler the Creator, and Panda Bear. So uh....that's gonna be awesome.

obligatory OFWGKTA post

Pitchfork was really late hopping on the OFWGKTA bandwagon, but they sure are trying to own them now. Odd Future has a spot at this year's Pitchfork Fest, and P4K just wrote a pretty good guide to their albums if you're wanting to get into them. Check that out here.

You can download their albums at OFWGKTA's Tumblr, and at Datpiff if some of those links are broken.

Here's some videos you've probably already seen.