El Huervo – Do Not Lay Waste to Homes
In between creating board games and writing some quality surf/psych, Shelby Cinca’s found time to guest spot on other people’s projects, too. An errant status update linking El Huervo’s excellent new Do Not Lay Waste to Homes tipped me off and here we are at 8 Lines or Less. Throwing around terms like “moody,” and “laid back” is kind of a cheat, but I’m going to go with it. It’s probably best categorized as some weird chillwave hybrid, but really, who cares about genre terms? Listen to “Daisuke” (track 3 – Shelby’s guest spot) and you’ll get an idea of what the entire album sounds like. Hint: really, really good.
Human Toilet – Self-Titled
This album is a blast to listen to, even though they do commit the cardinal sin of naming a song after the band itself. That’s inexcusable. If I ever see them perform live and they’re wearing their own band shirts, too, it won’t matter how good their album is, they’ll be dead to me. It’s Turbonegro (when they still remembered deathpunk) and a few bits of Buildings (without so much reverb on the vocals). It’s fast-ish, it’s heavily punk, it’s a relief to hear bands are still attempting this kind of music.
BadBadNotGood – BBNG2
Existing somewhere in the same neighborhood as White Horse, minus the deceased-as-sample aspect, BadBadNotGood works past their awful name and creates some interesting, somewhat bleak, somewhat jazzish, vaguely industrial tracks. They’re apparently quite proud nobody in the band is over 21 and that everything was recorded in a 10 hour session. Honestly guys? The album’s good enough that you don’t need to include that humble brag. It just makes me hear “Bastard/Lemonade” and envision some snot-nosed 19 year-old sneering at my 30 year-old ass as he rattles off a seriously impressive bassline. Fuck you, snot-nosed 19 year-old. Let me enjoy the album without you showing off and making me feel old.
El-P – Cancer 4 Cure
Oh, El-p. You’re going to have so many people on your dick after 2012. Not only did you knock it out of the park with Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music (more on that gem below), but you put out one of the best albums of your career. No Mars Volta warbling, no overwrought seven minute long tracks. Just mean, cutthroat, grimy, sci-fi, dystopian… Look. I’m not going to write a press-release for you. The album is fucking solid. You’ve got some great guest spots, some great hooks, but really? You got outclassed by Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire on “Oh Hail No.” Thank god you put Danny Brown on there so no one remembers how utterly flawless eXquire’s verse was in comparison to yours. Really, though. Phenomenal album.
Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music
Except, you shot yourself in the foot by producing a better album for Killer Mike. I mean, sure, it’s kind of selfless and I certainly respect the gesture. Saving the tighter production, the better beats, the compositions that just scream “blast this shit in your car and annoy your neighbors.” Not to mention, at the end of the day, your name is inextricably associated with this record, and for as good as your verse is on “Butane”, Killer Mike is an infinitely better rapper than you are. Aside from one embarrassing lyric about “lit-chri-chure” on his “come to Jesus” song at the end of the album, Mike’s performance and album in general is near-flawless. R.A.P. Music above Cancer 4 Cure by a smidge.
