To get the signals straight, there is a YouTube video of Outkast’s entire set from the Counterpoint Festival. All reports are that they are slaughtering every show after that first week of Coachella, which means that Andre understood that the Coachella VIP section had a river of pink sludge running beneath it and was weirded out by the malevolent vibes. It also means that you should probably not trust music critics 97.2 percent of the time. The first show was still great, but because it wasn’t perfect from 8,000 feet away or on a live stream, you heard otherwise.
On his latest single from the uncomfortably great, Dark Comedy, Mike Eagle positions himself as the new Masta Ace. Not the “Born to Roll” version, but the Disposable Arts era. It is the most enjoyable detonation of late Capitalist American frivolity that you will ever hear. It might be my favorite album of the year. (Bias aside, as I am one of the friends who talks to animals portrayed in this song). Mike is doing a live listening party tonight at the Mint. There will be free pandas and an all you can eat Chinese buffet.
Gary Clark Jr. deserves all the Grammys for debunking the entire premise of John Mayer, and now he’s dropping a hip-hop mixtape. It should use 33 percent less Talib Kweli –preferably replaced by Raekwon — whose “Stay off the Flowers” cut from BlakRoc remains supreme. But there is Big K.R.I.T. and Robert Glasper and a wah-wah pedal to be named later.
Karl Hector & The Malcouns return to action splitting the difference between serpentine Ethio-jazz grooves and 70s funk. It deserves all the injera.
Produced by Dorian of the Outfit, this new cut from Yves (formerly Easy Ives Saint) is great and eerie and leaves me unable to come up with anything remotely resembling a creative adjective.
Several wigs split wide open with this Salva remix of “Drop that B” featuring the literal murderer’s row of Schoolboy Q, Problem, Kurupt, and Bad Lucc. The song is so hard it makes hover boards crash and birds fall out of the sky. He figured out the Northwest passage between “Boyz in the Hood” and trap.
In an unrelated note, let’s have a moment of silence for Kurupt slipping into V. Stiviano’s spot to re-enact “Let’s Play House.” He’s truly doing what 2Pac would do it he was alive and he has my vote for the next supervisor of Los Angeles.
