#10: Ty Segall - SLEEPER
Throughout his insanely prolific career, Ty Segall had
certainly given the impression that his strengths came from fuzz and noise and
general garage rock abandon. So when word came that his first album after his
trifecta of amazing albums from 2012 would be largely acoustic, it was cause
for some minor concern. Sure, his knack for songwriting could be expected to
remain intact when it was ported into an acoustic setting, but what about that
power? SLEEPER dashed those fears,
finding the power in quietude. Even the most pleasant of dreams often come with
a feeling that something isn’t quite right, and the prettiest songs on here are
the most unsettling. Songs like “She Don’t Care” are gorgeous, but the lyrics
signal the deterioration of an important relationship. It’s a dark, sad, beautiful,
catchy record, and it’s possibly the best of his career so far.
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#9: DJ Rashad - Double Cup
Electronic music has spawned so many distinct subgenres
over the last forty years that it’s hard for a relative outsider such as myself
to find a good place to start with most of them. Outside of the recent L.A.
beat scene which I have listened to a lot of, my explorations of other vibrant
electronic forms, such as house, techno, jungle, drum and bass, dubstep,
minimalist/ambient, and others is unfortunately been very limited. As a Chicago
native, the sound that I am most disappointed in myself for ignoring is
footwork, which was built by local producers from pieces of house, juke,
hip-hop, and R&B. It’s a sound that’s gained increasing traction over the
past few years, and it’s pushed into prominence through the Bangs & Works compilations, exciting
live performances by Traxman and others, and Chance the Rapper’s Acid Rap, which counts footwork as an
important influence. DJ Rashad’s debut album Double Cup proves that the community of footwork artists is ready
for and deserving of more attention. It’s about as funky and soulful as
electronic music, even sample-based electronic music, gets, and it makes the
most of footwork’s sonic parameters. Rashad’s canny use of vocal samples and
guest features, which he chops up and uses in the same way he uses the
instrumental, is the best part of this record, which situates him as the man to
beat among footwork producers in Chicago.
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