INTO THE SWAMP

Big Eyes - Being Unkind (off Almost Famous, 2013, Grave Mistake)

Nobody’s really yelling from the roofs about how good Big Eyes’ sophomore LP is so allow me: Almost Famous is something you need playing while driving your car or making dinner (the ways I’ve been listening to it) so you can shock yourself by realising how many of the songs have burrowed their way into your brain and won’t budge. The best songs are the post-breakup accounts like ‘Being Unkind’, songs that swarm with pop nuance to sweeten singer Kate Eldridge’s bitter mantras. “Now it’s all said and done,” she growls near the song’s end, “I don’t want to hear about you.” Then again, punchier this time: “Don’t wanna hear about you!” Then a guitar solo arrives, the sound of someone shaking off their shackles and moving on to something better.

From the May 21 edition of the Combat Jack Show, here is a snippet of Bun B explaining how he can move solo dolo. If nobody makes a chorus or a full-fledged song out of Bun promising to beat you up in aisle three of your local supermarket, 2013 has failed us all.

P Money - Bring in the Katz (off #MAD, 2013, the internets)

If you’ve never heard of P Money, he is one of grime’s most reliable, an MC who bypasses overly technical rhyme schemes for full-fledged, almost old school blunt force. He can spit as fast as anybody else, trigger a rave with the best of them, but is best at sounding authoritative - a voice of burly control that you would never try crossing.

The man’s recent #MAD tape functions as a sequel of types to last August’s Dubsteppin EP: hard bars over club production, with little frills or concepts beyond turning dancefloors into DMZs. When it came to beats, Dubsteppin had the unparalleled assistance of London radio and club kings Rinse. Left to his own devices, P Money falls into a few inevitable traps (nobody needs to hear another ‘Higher’ or ‘Harlem Shake’ freestyle at this point) but also has sounds like he’s having more fun than usual. He cheekily teases rapping over ‘Gangnam Style’ before shoving it to the side for a snarling freestyle. He coins a truly guffaw-worthy punchline about “a Durex umbrella”. He does a mean “2 CHAIIIIIIINNZZZZZ”. In the midst of this clearing-the-air jokeyness, he hijacks a B-More club oldie and crafts an absolute stunner out of it.

KW Griff’s ‘Bring in the Katz’ has been floating about as a Baltimore staple for a few years before a 12” reissue on Night Slugs surfaced last year. The simplicity of the track - a ‘Think’ break here, some louder-than-bombs claps, hyperactive toasting by a dude called Pork Chop - leave it sounding as though it could have been released ten days or ten years ago. It’s a monster, unbeholden by trends or movements. P Money interestingly takes on Griff’s original mix rather than the minimalist sprawl of the more recent L-Vis 1990 remix, and it’s a decision that pays off in heaps. He’s egged on by the Pork Chop sample (“YES!” “OH!”) like he’s in the middle of the rave, turning an already energetic track into something befitting a riot, gassed off the vibes: “I’m every girl’s DREAM! Roll with ME!” His verse finishes and Pork Chop, a master of ceremonies turned hypeman, calms us down. Then Griff brings in the katz* and it’s havoc once again. The track’s all over in under three minutes, but not before P Money marks his ground: “YOUR TUNE’S DEAD, BRUV!” Even when he’s having fun, it’s through brute force.

* a reference to a sample of Kevin Aviance’s ‘Din Da Da’ scatting buried somewhere within the track. That’s an amazing song, too, by the by.

So here is the Too $hort anecdote that I reference in yesterday’s TSJ review of Kid Cudi’s ‘Girls’, which got mad shitted on. (Full episode is up here.)

Shiina Ringo - Irohanihoheto (off Irohanihoheto/Kodoku no Akatsuki EP, 2013, EMI Japan) [via henachokohenachoko]

I think once we accepted that Shiina Ringo wasn’t going to make Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana pt II, once we accepted that she enjoyed indulging her weird theatre-kid tendencies, once we allowed her to exist for commissioned material from the regular TV dramas and ballets, we were going to be okay. If, say, ‘zero chiten kara’ (her last great solo moment) is 9.3 Ringo on the P4K scale, ‘Irohanihoheto’ is 7.2 Shiina. Just nod and pretend you understand, cheers.

DISCLAIMER: IT’S STILL NEW SHIINA AND IT’S A GOOD SONG. THEMATIC AND MUSICAL CONSISTENCY IS UNDERVALUED FROM OUR GENIUSES, LEST WE FORGET.

Also, we the Internet undervalued Zmed for trying to unpack Ringo’s immortal Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana LP as a celebration of its tenth anniversary, so read up because he/she went in.