Electronic music & Louisiana rappers

2011

LISTS ! ‘Cause it’s been a while since you read one (with a short comment or description when i feel like it).

- Rap :

Boldy James - Trapper’s alley : Trap rap ; east coast beats; this guy brains is a dope producer ; perfect for walking under the snow in my city’s streets.

Danny Brown – XXX : Everyone read enough about it.

Dj Quik - Book of david : The greatest rapping producer ever at his best.

E-40 - Revenue retrievin : Forty waters is totally unique and knows how to make a ton of good songs.

Fat Trel - April foolz : An incredible (young) talent displaying his most wild and spirited side.

French Montana - Coke Boys 2 : IMO French is the only rapper able to bring some heat to a new yorkish kind of rap right now.

G-Side – ISLAND : Beautiful productions & good enough raps.

Kendrick Lamar – Section.80 : Ambition + talent = great music.

King Louie - Man up band up : Incredibly talented rapper, the best one discovered this year.

Meek Mill – Dreamchasers : Happy he broke through this year. I need better rappers on the radio. Several classic songs on this tape.

Mouse on tha track - Swagga Fresh Freddie : The best club rap producer doing what he does best : club rap producing.

Starlito & Don Trip - Step brothers : Maybe my favorite of all, great chemistry, they should make a sequel, the beats are everything rap beats should be : unobtrusive but not forgivable. The rappers are everything rappers should be : good at rapping.

TKO Capone - Tropical swaggin duh : Swag rap with a texan-style flow over zaytoven like productions… says enough.

Waka Flocka Flame – DuFlocka Rant : Waka is the most consistent rapper of the last 2 years, this is his best thing this year.

Stuff i liked a bit less but want to mention anyway :

Criminal Manne-Blow 2 / DB Tha General-The Young OG II / Dj Chose-Picture this / HD-Fresh / Kevin Gates-I don’t know what 2 call it / Open Mike Eagle-Rappers will die of natural causes / Plies-Aristotle / Rich Boy-12 Diamonds / Sen City -Til the lights turn out / Shady Nate-Still Based On A True Story / Waka Flocka Flame & Slim Dunkin-Twin towers 2 / Young Jeezy – TM103 Hustlerz ambition

- R’n’B :

Beyonce - 4

Dawn Richard - The prelude to a tell tale heart : I can only hope the album will be as good. Very much in the vein of Diddy Dirty Money.

Diddy Dirty Money - Love love vs hate love : Dope remixes from the best album of ‘10.

Nikkiya - Speakher

Trey Songz - Anticipation 2 

- Techno:

BNJMN - Plastic world : Great city lights techno music.

Container - LP : Rough, rough, rough tekno.

Emptyset - Demiurge : Industrial techno stripped down to the bones.

Legowelt - The teac life : A great collection of rough analogue ‘forest’ techno tracks.

Morphosis - What have we learned 

Perc - Wicker & steel : This album embodies perfectly the spirit of the darker edge of UK’s electronic music scene.

Surgeon - Breaking the frame : Techno legend fucking with avant-guarde minimalism (and a bit of idm).

Tommy Four Seven – Primate : This has the best production, i hope i’ll hear more field recordings in techno.

- Drone, ambient, noise, electronics, field recordings, w/e… :

Cindytalk - Hold everything dear : He had a good idea to add piano & field recordings to his walls of electronic sounds.

Cut hands - Afro noise : The best shieeeeet ever.

Daniel Menche - Guts : This either sounds like it was recorded in a piano (which it was), or like it was recorded in hell (which it was not).

Golden Retriever - Light cones : The bass clarinet is quite heavy.

Grouper - AIA : Folk songs send from space.

Israel Martinez - El hombre que se sofoca : Stunning electroacoustic music.

Julianna Barwick - The magic place : Adlibs, but not like lil jon, quieter & nicer.

Kplr - s/t & Tek no muzik : These guys are taking their machines elsewhere.

Lawrence English -The peregrine : Music to listen to when you’re dreaming of being a bird.

Mark Fell and Peter Rehberg - Kubu/Zikir

Oneohtrix point never - Replica : His first one i’m completely into.

Paul Jebanasam - Music for the Church of St John the Baptist I – IV : I need more brutal/beautiful music.

Prurient – Bermuda drain : This should have been the soundtrack to Drive (the movie).

Ricardo Donoso - Progress chance

Roly Porter - Aftertime : see Paul Jebanasam

Stephan Mathieu - A static place : Eternal bliss.

The haxan cloak - s/t : see Roly Porter

Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972

Vampillia - Alchemic heart : Two rising tracks rising until they can’t rise anymore.

Vladislav Delay quartet - s/t : Noisy industrial & jazz.

Vladislav Delay - Vantaa

Xela - Exorcism

- Hip stuff i couldn’t help but like :

James Ferraro - Far side virtual

Kuedo - Severant

Rustie – Glass sword

Wild Beasts - Smother

Zomby - Dedication

- Other :

Wolves in the throne room - Celestial Lineage : This surely must be to metal what the legowelt album is to techno, right ? Or this is me knowing nothing about metal and doing like these indy guys putting asap rocky as their favorite rap album.

Taragana Pyjarama – s/t : So lovely. Dare i call this ‘ethno-dreamy-bedroom-house » ?

Mark Fell & Peter Rehberg - Kubu / Zikir

According to Wikipedia, Kubu designs a group of people living on Sumatra and Zikir is a traditional chant from Malaysia. It seems like, after Cut Hands, two other european electronic musicians are taking notes from the virtues of traditional third world music. On the other hand, since I know nothing about malaysian music, this is probably a really loose association. But the thing is that, just like Cut Hands, this Pita & Mark Fell record relies heavily on drums experiments and their hypnotic effect. Kubu is 13 minutes long and made of an unrecognizable radio or tv speech sample, some kind of a “drunk amen break” whose level is slowly rising and diving, and something that sounds like twisted digitized horns. Zikir, 3 minutes shorter, is made of  jazzy drums played faster and faster and halfway trough the track, appears electronic drums also being played faster and faster. Minimal means on both tracks yet maximal effect. Structurally, It’s not very different from Mark Fell’s midi sounds solo work but it works much better. Virtues of traditional third world music i guess.