My intention is to have this be a weekly roundup of my favourite new music from the past week. However, I didn’t particularly like anything properly new I listened to this week. So I’ve cheated a bit and went with stuff from late 2022 that I’ve just gotten round to.
Album of the week
Brockhampton – The Family
Brockhampton are a hip-hop collective – I use that term rather than rap group as they don’t just consist of rappers, but also producers and non-musicians, such as a graphic designer. If you look them up you might see them described as a boyband (and it’s a song title here too) – that’s not really reflecting the music, but rather a slightly pointless attempt by them to ‘redefine’ the phrase. They’ve been releasing music for almost a decade and announced that this would be their last album (although they then released a ‘bonus’ album a day later).
This isn’t a Wu-Tang style group with multiple really distinct rappers bringing their own big personalities. It’s actually one rapper, Kevin Abstract, leading on the majority of tracks. So this is more like a typical rap solo album, with a few guest features.
The group partially met online through a Kanye West fan forum. His influence is pretty obvious from the opening seconds of the album with that classic Kanye-esque production style – all high-pitched, chopped up soul samples – across multiple tracks. And the low bass beats on others are reminiscent of Yeezus-era Kanye. There’s points throughout where you could easily mistake the rapping for Kanye himself (the opening of ‘Gold Teeth’ in particular).
It can feel like a bit of a mish-mash of styles, there’s also a late-90’s/early-2000’s R&B vibe, most obviously on ‘All That’. And ‘Any Way You Want Me’ feels like it’s a sample taken off Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’.
That mish-mash is partially deliberate with the album playing as a series of snapshots charting the groups’s history. With a more celebratory opening run representing their early days, leading into a bit of a comedown – the ‘(Back From The) Road’ to ‘Southside’ section is the weakest of the album. Then from ‘Good Time’ you get a realisation that it’s coming to an end for them and it plays as an extended farewell note from there.
Now, I’ve never personally been part of a hip-hop collective, but a lot of it still feels relatable in a coming-of-age sort of way. The lines in ‘Prayer’ – “God, please don’t make me grow up” and “I’d rather be in the club getting fucked up” – should still appeal to those of a certain age, who’ve had to make the transition to full adult.
At 17 songs, you might think this would be overly long, but it’s 35 minutes total, with only the closer clocking in over 3 minutes. On the one hand, that’s a strength, with the album being a quick, easy listen and any weaker moments don’t stick around long enough to bring it down. But it also gives it a slightly incomplete feel. The snapshot concept is interesting, but I don’t think you get enough of a sense of their story to really make it work. It often feels you’re getting snippets of ideas for potentially better songs which haven’t been fleshed out yet. Nonetheless it is a good album, and probably sums up Brockhampton – all the right ingredients are there and there’s strong moments, but not enough to put them in that top tier. I can imagine they’ll go on to be really influential without quite doing anything classic themselves.
Best tunes: Take It Back, 37th, Any Way You Want Me
Tunes of the week
Casino – Love Go On
This has been out since September, but I just came across it this week while checking out new bands. In amongst a sea of generic indie stuff, this was a pleasant surprise. If you look up any of their videos online you might have one of those ‘I wasn’t expecting that voice to come out’ moments (although me saying that probably defeats the point). They’re from Liverpool and only have two songs out officially, but you can also find a few tunes out under their previous name, The Sonder.
Their influences come through pretty clearly, but it’s all done well enough not to feel like empty imitation. It immediately sounds like it could be The Coral, but then you get more of a classic soul vibe, which is evident as soon as the singer comes in. He has a voice that feels familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on who he particularly sounds like. If you’re going for this sort of sound, you kind of need to have someone who can properly sing, and he definitely has a strong enough voice to pull it off.
It’s probably best described as breezy- there’s no big moments, it’s a laid back tune letting his voice come to the front, with some guitar riffs, keyboards and horns thrown in to brighten things up along the way.
An easy-going summery tune to help lift the January gloom. And a new band that are worth looking out for (find their socials via the links below).
Lana Del Rey – Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
Lana Del Rey has been around long enough that most people probably already know her, so this isn’t a particularly cool or obscure recommendation.
Del Rey’s always had this classic doomed Hollywood starlet vibe going on – think moody black and white pictures of women in black dresses with one of those long cigarette holders. My partner reliably informs me that there’s a TikTok trend of funny videos poking fun at this. I’ll take her word for it, as I’m not exactly on top of social media trends, it’s taken me this long to get around to Instagram – I remember being told by a girl that “you’re nothing without insta” and that was about 7/8 years ago. So look out for my TikTok coming some time around 2030.
Anyway, back on topic. This is a classic Del Rey ballad, with melancholic orchestral backing – all slow building strings and low-key piano lines. She’s been pretty consistently good across all of her albums, but you have to be in the mood to pay attention, otherwise her stuff can be a bit samey and blend together. This is one of her more immediate songs, the chorus is still subtle but it’s got enough of a hook to make you come back to it.
Lyrically, it’s also classic Del Rey, with references to places like Camarillo and Ocean Boulevard, providing a cool backdrop for the existential dread which creeps in on the chorus. There’s a line in there – ‘Fuck me to death’ – which, coming from a Cardi B or Megan The Stallion, would come off as an in-your-face, bad bitch-style boast. But here it’s followed with ‘love me until I love myself’ making it much bleaker. BTW, the title is a reference to a long-closed tunnel which has faded into obscurity, using it here as a plea to a partner (or maybe her fans) that she isn’t forgotten in the same way. Full disclosure – I had to Google it to get it, but the metaphor checks out.
If it all sounds a bit depressing, it kind of is. But the slow build means that just the presence of backing singers when the last chorus comes in is enough to give it the feel of a big emotional release. Ending the song with the hopelessness of the previous choruses becoming something more hopeful.
Nems & Ghostface Killah – Don’t Ever Disrespect Me
After that Lana recommendation, I felt the need to put in something a bit harder to restore my (non-existent) street cred. Nems is someone I hadn’t heard of until a few days ago, but it seems he’s an underground rap veteran, coming up on the battle rap scene, and is now a bit of a social media star, apparently making the term ‘Bing Bong’ go viral in 2021 – a trend which I was completely oblivious to.
And if you don’t already know, Ghostface is a rap legend – one of the stars of the Wu-Tang Clan.
There’s nothing fancy here, this is an old school rap tune, which wouldn’t be out of place at any point over the last 30ish years. Just a simple boom bap beat (courtesy of producer, Scram Jones) backing them and letting them flow. You can tell Nems has that battle rap background and he’s almost a template of what a classic New York rapper sounds like. And Ghostface is still Ghostface, reliably good, bringing an intensity that few could match, even at 52.
There’s no real chorus, just a repeated refrain of the song title breaking up their verses, and a brief sample reminiscent of Wu-Tang’s C.R.E.A.M. fading it out.
It lacks the stand out lines that would really put this over the top. But it’s a track that grabs your attention and is a showcase for two quality rappers.
Iggy Pop – Frenzy
The opening line of this is a 75-year old man singing “I got a dick and 2 balls”. That’s all I’m writing about it. Make of it what you will.
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