Skip to main content

Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts (GOOD Music/Def Jam, 2018)

I'm flabbergasted at how much better this album is than Ye. I don't understand. It's so good it's actually making me question if Ye is better than I thought it was, which I don't want to do. What's the reason? Did Kanye and Cudi just push each other? Every song on here is a gem (OK "Fire" is maybe a little weak) - "Feel the Love" with a snarling Pusha verse and an insane machine gun scat chorus. "4th Dimension" with its unreal production and amazing warping of a Louis Prima Christmas song. "Freee", the much-better, insanely catchy sequel to "Ghost Town" from Ye. "Reborn" an absolute corker of a single with Kanye and Cudi getting real about their mental health struggles. "Kids See Ghosts" with a great Yasiin Bey feature although probably my 2nd least fave track. And "Cudi Montage" built around a spiraling scratchy Kurt Cobain demo sample. And just like that it's over and you want to put it through again. I have the rest of the year to figure out if I like this better than Pusha's DAYTONA but I think I might. This is unexpectedly stellar.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nachtmystium/Leviathan - In the Valley of Death, Where Black Metal is King: An Homage to the Roots (Ascension Monuments Media, 2018)

What the fuck is that title. Okay I get the first part is a Judas Iscariot tribute, but did we really need "an homage to the roots" in there? Hey wouldn't it be funny if these were actually covers of the band The Roots? Anyway. This album was supposed to come out 10 years ago, but it was blocked by the bands' respective labels. Now I guess they've figured out a way, or Blake Judd needs money for drugs so he's figured out a way, to put this out. The Bandcamp version has 8 tracks, 5 from Nachtmystium and 3 from Leviathan, but I've seen a 10-track tracklisting elsewhere. On the version I have, we have Nachtmystium covering Judas Iscariot, Ildjarn (twice), Von and Burzum. Leviathan tackles Ildjarn (twice) and Von once. I seem to be missing Leviathan's Judas Iscariot cover ("Where the Winter Beats Incessant") and one of Nachtmystium's Von covers ("Von"). Weird. Wonder if there were some licensing issues or something. All four Ildjar...
Post a Comment
Read more

Corrupted - Felicific Algorithim (Cold Spring, 2018)

For whatever it means, this is the beginning of Corrupted's "Hollow" series. Maybe the clue is in the music? Unlike Corrupted's traditional ultra-slowed down, Spanish-sung, Japanese doom metal this is instrumental harsh noise. Still filthy and angry and depressive but sans vox and also more or less sans metal. Both untitled sides are meant to be played at either speed. The result? Meh. I miss Corrupted's brand of doom, this relatively anonymous harsh noise is fine and all but if I'm listening to Corrupted...well I know what I want. Skippable.
Post a Comment
Read more

John Coltrane - Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album (Impulse!/Verve/UMe, 2018)

This newly-unearthed set of recordings is from 1963. Unlike many posthumous sets that promote new recordings (but really contain a bunch of alternate versions of old cuts) this one actually delivers. Aside from "Vilia" which made some compilation appearances all these tracks have never been heard before, two of them not even given titles just referred to by their master numbers. These recordings were made at a pivotal moment in Coltrane's career with his "classic quarter" including McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones - not long after "My Favorite Things" took off and not long before this same quartet recorded the world-beating A Love Supreme. The two untitled tracks here are really interesting. "Untitled Original 11383" is really distended, with loose-limbed drumming from Jones and a Middle Eastern soprano flair. "Untitled Original 11386" is more expansive, with a repeating theme and some seriously funky drumming. In the no...
Post a Comment
Read more