Top Tracks 2018 Part VII 40 – 31
40. Bushido – Für Euch Alle (feat. Capital Bra & Samra) (Mythos)
German hip-hop is a contested field in my view. In recent years the trap style of Future has seeped into the way the singers break out and fill banging beats with empty words. But the empty words of fame and fashion do not frame the same come up, the hardship and poverty and pain that someone like Hendrix carries in many of his songs. These are not gangsters, but young kids making music and this not with the same vigor you´d come to expect from their American SoundCloud counterparts. With this and on a more lyrical side, there is rap that is mostly made by students for students. A kind of white coolness that people can´t get enough from and word-smiths that do great things, but fail to actually catch hearts in terms of relatability. Backpackers without the right silliness or charming outlook on life and getting in touch with yourself. Bushido belongs to a still existent – now – old school of gangster rap that transgressed into the mainstream in the early 2000 and lost traction in the 2010s respectively. This year he resurfaced with a new album and pretty much chose to stick to his guns in telling his side of the story, battling with betrayal, nostalgia and him looking out with an aged view, seeing he is still one of the greats. In a way, like the German version of Eminem but without the incessant need to sneak in a pop track or go in on the weak in a misdirected youthfulness not fitting a man of 40+ years. On “Für Euch Alle” Bushido linked up with two artists of the new school of rap, especially Capital Bra who is pretty much in line with auto-tune crooning. Yet, their storyline, the flexing against obscure enemies, drive-by shooting and coming out on top is not only catchy but works as a voice against the intellectual and purely uplifting vibe many of their contemporaries convey. The three artists especially speak for those migrant Germans, that are and have always been a point of dispute and discrimination in the larger society. With their language and fashion style being derided and mocked until it becomes part of the mainstream and the new cool for a while. In a thick street German, accent included, Bra spews his lines, finds his own melody in not accentuating some words in the right way, the ad libs speak for those teens that wear their white socks over the fat white sneakers and drink outside at public places to make the average citizens concerned for safety and even terrorism. Samra´s verse is a spiteful assault that is balanced by a cooler Bushido, the old wolf coming in to back up the next in line and speaking on the state of being untouchable after having seen everything. “Für Euch Alle” evokes the feelings of being young and not part of society, something that is deeply relatable for budding youth that just want to hear and feel with it, but also for those, who have to live this experience in their day to day and will always be looked at as dumber, more aggressive and keen to failure then the normal white German kid.
The line, “And to be a woman is to be in pain” is one of the best lyrics this year. While the expression may sound flat and bland in the words of many other lyricist and known singers, the still youthful voice of Tomberlin and her relatively scarce background information make it ring through with as much power as obscurity to unpack the statement. You´ll quickly gather the pieces of coping with religion and the role of women in worship and being part of a religion. Other than Julien Baker, Tomberlin is decidedly beyond belief and does not take any strength from God. This entity is the core of her haunts, trying to get over the meaning of life without this external force or to understand love in any other way them towards a God. After this, “I´m Not Scared” and Tomberlin ensuring us that she is not scared to let the other person in this time showcases a power in her dreadful mourning, the knowledge that you have to carry on even when losing every point of transcendental reference in life. For pain is as universal to being as is eating and having to make money.
Self-taught Japanese singer Hatis Noit hit the sweet spot of challenging the borders of vocal music and creating beautiful pieces of sound that brim with harmony and melodies. Her style of singing non-sensical sounds is reminiscent of Yoko Kanno´s work or even the mimicking of animal sounds by Clogs on their The Creatures In The Garden of Lady Walton. Sweeping operatic singing harmonizes with itself, little sounds, channeling angels, animals an ambient nature alike build into a celestial mix of pure voice. In only a single layer Noit´s voice would be a singular sound, the layers thereof become commanding and focus on the richness of a choir while allowing for her to take the center stage alone. In her own description, Illogical Dance is the way of grappling words and meaning in a unique voice. Speaking and making words is the first thing when building a structure and the act of saying something, but in singing alone the repertoire of intonating words alone is not enough, will never carry the striking force of elongating a word or hitting the right pitch in a syllable. With “Illogical Lullaby” and the other tracks of her debut, Hatis Noit makes the next step in trying to break away from the structure and the confines of linguistic expressions. Her voice not only imitates but creates the sounds of nature and emotion in her own way. No language is needed, just the most basic ability to recognize sound and melody and with that, to understand the world speaking through Noit´s voice in a thousand tongues.
For some, the recent feminist streaks in music might seem outdated and too much on the nose. From a standpoint and being other and still in a male perspective, “The Face of God” will provide the reality-check to those that don´t see the relevance and gravity of female voices in rock and the need to shed light on their experiences. With the "The Face of God" there is no snark, no cheeky power like on “The Opener”. Camp Cope slow down, settling in on a mid-tempo that is grievous and tender to air out another dark experience that for some might come off like another Me too outing, but in its four-minute runtime becomes an undeniable pillar of creating painful art about the experience of unsettling pain. The issues of victim blaming, self-consciousness and anxiety and the relativization of someone making good music not being capable of becoming an aggressor play into the inquiry of Georgia Maq in her saddened and unstabilized voice. This isn´t blatant activism or pointing fingers, rather the scary realism of a society filled with toxic masculinity. Camp Cope don´t step in to save the day, they show solidarity and empathy in giving their own accounts.
The endless conundrum of time racing, the wish for more free time in the conviction that the lack thereof is killing the productivity and the slight whisper of knowing, that you´d waste this precious time by being alone and bored. “Free Time” has this incessant plea running through the entire song by means of the circular phrase “I need more free time” sung by drummer Pheobe Cross with her voice serving as the hook after guitarist Rich Mandell elaborates on the pitfalls of time and creativity. In a way, this track shows the hardship of bringing art to life but serves as a statement on being ground to death by an office job in the same vain while never really tackling anything grand on your day off. Either Spongebob trying to get his essay done or an indie rock statement on the life of the work-force in terms of Aesop Rock´s "9-5er Anthem", “Free Time” is a sparkling cut by Happy Accidents, as light and dynamic as rocking out to on stage or it becoming your personal favorite, singing along to the existential hook of “I need cause to see / It´s about more than me”.
There is not that much to dissect in “breathin” and that is what makes this one of the best pop songs and Ariana Grande joints to this date. The run of the mill, “fight harder” beat that carries the song, the bursting hook after the small silence of Grande´s voice echoing out, all elements of the song, even the little too simple “mhhs” and “yeahs” come together for a thriving moment. There is this line of Grande and her anxiety, taken to an even larger context with the Manchester bombings and the aftermath of her pop safe-haven becoming a place of murder and disarray. “breathin” is the point of reassurance and overcoming these hardships in the simplest and most endearing way possible, Grande coming to her own by her stadium-filling voice and her all-encompassing content.
It is telling for “Supremacy” to end on a note of loneliness. Thou wind down their dense onslaught of doom guitars and thundering riffs into an almost unusual static of noise. In general, there would be a point of redemption or reconciliation in the language of Thou, a pretty interlude, acoustic guitar or something to tell you that this is not the end. The Baton Rouge virtuosos, however, do not yield in their conceptual hardship of following the sensual and strangely life-affirming 2014 album Heathen with the rational and power hungry Magus. “Supremacy” is the ascension of the mind, where after over an hour of spirit crushing attacks on the senses and laden discourse, the body is set free, mortality and fears are left behind. Reaching this conclusion, this is the first time for Thou´s music to carry a striking contrast, an innate discomfort that is not simply the result of the exhaustion of their crushing sonics. Here I understood Thou´s music to be inherently closer to Heathen, their aural politics to be closer to bodiliness and the pleasures of pain and emotional growth, and lastly, that Magus is a sickly anti-thesis that bends the formula Thou build in the crazy analysis of their three EP´s only to find a destructive, truly nihilist antithesis in “Supremacy”.
“Do I Stutter?” is the centerpiece of the magnificent debut EP by Raime on their newly born own label. To be short and sweet, Raime have been breaking away from their studio album expertise in bleakness and bombing you away with their bass for a more narrative focused and digitally savvy sound. “Do I Stutter” is a short odyssey through sound as a means of anxiety and ghostly compassion. The staggering beats, the drawn-out drone, and the noise cluttering come to life through various voice samples behaving like echoes of different worlds and mindsets. The track builds to a high stakes conclusion, with the staggers in a crescendo and the signals weaving in and out of reality before leaving you broken and bereft on the same floor that their usual dreadfulness soaked in black and grey.
Reason is the perfect addition to the already otherworldly TDE rooster! On “Better Dayz” the Del Amo rapper unpacks the multi-faceted life of gang banging and delivers a unique way to speak on the black experience of violence between the promise of a better life through making rap music. If one thing becomes striking on this track that is already two years old, it is the determination Reason brings in his verses and his slightly raspy voice that still holds a certain melody. In a way, he is more Kendricks contemporary then other label mates, or better said a rapper that in his style and bravado learned to breathe and express himself after Kendrick showed his face and updated the ethics of the old world. Here Reason becomes as brutally honest about the pitfalls of his hood as he does express a compassioned love for his surroundings in his wish to transcend and reach a positive state.
German hip-hop is a contested field in my view. In recent years the trap style of Future has seeped into the way the singers break out and fill banging beats with empty words. But the empty words of fame and fashion do not frame the same come up, the hardship and poverty and pain that someone like Hendrix carries in many of his songs. These are not gangsters, but young kids making music and this not with the same vigor you´d come to expect from their American SoundCloud counterparts. With this and on a more lyrical side, there is rap that is mostly made by students for students. A kind of white coolness that people can´t get enough from and word-smiths that do great things, but fail to actually catch hearts in terms of relatability. Backpackers without the right silliness or charming outlook on life and getting in touch with yourself. Bushido belongs to a still existent – now – old school of gangster rap that transgressed into the mainstream in the early 2000 and lost traction in the 2010s respectively. This year he resurfaced with a new album and pretty much chose to stick to his guns in telling his side of the story, battling with betrayal, nostalgia and him looking out with an aged view, seeing he is still one of the greats. In a way, like the German version of Eminem but without the incessant need to sneak in a pop track or go in on the weak in a misdirected youthfulness not fitting a man of 40+ years. On “Für Euch Alle” Bushido linked up with two artists of the new school of rap, especially Capital Bra who is pretty much in line with auto-tune crooning. Yet, their storyline, the flexing against obscure enemies, drive-by shooting and coming out on top is not only catchy but works as a voice against the intellectual and purely uplifting vibe many of their contemporaries convey. The three artists especially speak for those migrant Germans, that are and have always been a point of dispute and discrimination in the larger society. With their language and fashion style being derided and mocked until it becomes part of the mainstream and the new cool for a while. In a thick street German, accent included, Bra spews his lines, finds his own melody in not accentuating some words in the right way, the ad libs speak for those teens that wear their white socks over the fat white sneakers and drink outside at public places to make the average citizens concerned for safety and even terrorism. Samra´s verse is a spiteful assault that is balanced by a cooler Bushido, the old wolf coming in to back up the next in line and speaking on the state of being untouchable after having seen everything. “Für Euch Alle” evokes the feelings of being young and not part of society, something that is deeply relatable for budding youth that just want to hear and feel with it, but also for those, who have to live this experience in their day to day and will always be looked at as dumber, more aggressive and keen to failure then the normal white German kid.
39. Tomberlin – I´m Not Scared (At Weddings)
The line, “And to be a woman is to be in pain” is one of the best lyrics this year. While the expression may sound flat and bland in the words of many other lyricist and known singers, the still youthful voice of Tomberlin and her relatively scarce background information make it ring through with as much power as obscurity to unpack the statement. You´ll quickly gather the pieces of coping with religion and the role of women in worship and being part of a religion. Other than Julien Baker, Tomberlin is decidedly beyond belief and does not take any strength from God. This entity is the core of her haunts, trying to get over the meaning of life without this external force or to understand love in any other way them towards a God. After this, “I´m Not Scared” and Tomberlin ensuring us that she is not scared to let the other person in this time showcases a power in her dreadful mourning, the knowledge that you have to carry on even when losing every point of transcendental reference in life. For pain is as universal to being as is eating and having to make money.
38. Hatis Noit – Illogical Lullaby (Illogical Dance)
Self-taught Japanese singer Hatis Noit hit the sweet spot of challenging the borders of vocal music and creating beautiful pieces of sound that brim with harmony and melodies. Her style of singing non-sensical sounds is reminiscent of Yoko Kanno´s work or even the mimicking of animal sounds by Clogs on their The Creatures In The Garden of Lady Walton. Sweeping operatic singing harmonizes with itself, little sounds, channeling angels, animals an ambient nature alike build into a celestial mix of pure voice. In only a single layer Noit´s voice would be a singular sound, the layers thereof become commanding and focus on the richness of a choir while allowing for her to take the center stage alone. In her own description, Illogical Dance is the way of grappling words and meaning in a unique voice. Speaking and making words is the first thing when building a structure and the act of saying something, but in singing alone the repertoire of intonating words alone is not enough, will never carry the striking force of elongating a word or hitting the right pitch in a syllable. With “Illogical Lullaby” and the other tracks of her debut, Hatis Noit makes the next step in trying to break away from the structure and the confines of linguistic expressions. Her voice not only imitates but creates the sounds of nature and emotion in her own way. No language is needed, just the most basic ability to recognize sound and melody and with that, to understand the world speaking through Noit´s voice in a thousand tongues.
37. Camp Cope – The Face Of God
For some, the recent feminist streaks in music might seem outdated and too much on the nose. From a standpoint and being other and still in a male perspective, “The Face of God” will provide the reality-check to those that don´t see the relevance and gravity of female voices in rock and the need to shed light on their experiences. With the "The Face of God" there is no snark, no cheeky power like on “The Opener”. Camp Cope slow down, settling in on a mid-tempo that is grievous and tender to air out another dark experience that for some might come off like another Me too outing, but in its four-minute runtime becomes an undeniable pillar of creating painful art about the experience of unsettling pain. The issues of victim blaming, self-consciousness and anxiety and the relativization of someone making good music not being capable of becoming an aggressor play into the inquiry of Georgia Maq in her saddened and unstabilized voice. This isn´t blatant activism or pointing fingers, rather the scary realism of a society filled with toxic masculinity. Camp Cope don´t step in to save the day, they show solidarity and empathy in giving their own accounts.
36. Happy Accidents – Free Time (Everything But The Here And Now)
The endless conundrum of time racing, the wish for more free time in the conviction that the lack thereof is killing the productivity and the slight whisper of knowing, that you´d waste this precious time by being alone and bored. “Free Time” has this incessant plea running through the entire song by means of the circular phrase “I need more free time” sung by drummer Pheobe Cross with her voice serving as the hook after guitarist Rich Mandell elaborates on the pitfalls of time and creativity. In a way, this track shows the hardship of bringing art to life but serves as a statement on being ground to death by an office job in the same vain while never really tackling anything grand on your day off. Either Spongebob trying to get his essay done or an indie rock statement on the life of the work-force in terms of Aesop Rock´s "9-5er Anthem", “Free Time” is a sparkling cut by Happy Accidents, as light and dynamic as rocking out to on stage or it becoming your personal favorite, singing along to the existential hook of “I need cause to see / It´s about more than me”.
35. Ariana Grande – breathin´ (Sweetener)
There is not that much to dissect in “breathin” and that is what makes this one of the best pop songs and Ariana Grande joints to this date. The run of the mill, “fight harder” beat that carries the song, the bursting hook after the small silence of Grande´s voice echoing out, all elements of the song, even the little too simple “mhhs” and “yeahs” come together for a thriving moment. There is this line of Grande and her anxiety, taken to an even larger context with the Manchester bombings and the aftermath of her pop safe-haven becoming a place of murder and disarray. “breathin” is the point of reassurance and overcoming these hardships in the simplest and most endearing way possible, Grande coming to her own by her stadium-filling voice and her all-encompassing content.
34. Thou – Supremacy (Magus)
It is telling for “Supremacy” to end on a note of loneliness. Thou wind down their dense onslaught of doom guitars and thundering riffs into an almost unusual static of noise. In general, there would be a point of redemption or reconciliation in the language of Thou, a pretty interlude, acoustic guitar or something to tell you that this is not the end. The Baton Rouge virtuosos, however, do not yield in their conceptual hardship of following the sensual and strangely life-affirming 2014 album Heathen with the rational and power hungry Magus. “Supremacy” is the ascension of the mind, where after over an hour of spirit crushing attacks on the senses and laden discourse, the body is set free, mortality and fears are left behind. Reaching this conclusion, this is the first time for Thou´s music to carry a striking contrast, an innate discomfort that is not simply the result of the exhaustion of their crushing sonics. Here I understood Thou´s music to be inherently closer to Heathen, their aural politics to be closer to bodiliness and the pleasures of pain and emotional growth, and lastly, that Magus is a sickly anti-thesis that bends the formula Thou build in the crazy analysis of their three EP´s only to find a destructive, truly nihilist antithesis in “Supremacy”.
33. RAIME – Do I Stutter? (We Can’t Be That Far From The Beginning)
“Do I Stutter?” is the centerpiece of the magnificent debut EP by Raime on their newly born own label. To be short and sweet, Raime have been breaking away from their studio album expertise in bleakness and bombing you away with their bass for a more narrative focused and digitally savvy sound. “Do I Stutter” is a short odyssey through sound as a means of anxiety and ghostly compassion. The staggering beats, the drawn-out drone, and the noise cluttering come to life through various voice samples behaving like echoes of different worlds and mindsets. The track builds to a high stakes conclusion, with the staggers in a crescendo and the signals weaving in and out of reality before leaving you broken and bereft on the same floor that their usual dreadfulness soaked in black and grey.
32. Bamba Pana – Linga Linga feat. Makaveli (Poaa)
This pick might speak volumes on how much I want a Makaveli album after the run of Sounds of Sisso and Poaa. Sisso label and singeli sound maker Bamba Pana was responsible for some of the best tracks of last years Sounds of Sisso compilation and pushed the sound (and hearing capabilities) of electronic music towards unknown regions. While the project remained virtuous and instrumental for the most part, there was the vocal version of "Linga Linga" paired with pure sonic assault by Pana. This one or other tracks could be highlighted as well, but still reeling from Sisso and needing that rapid-fire rap in my speakers more often than not, "Linga Linga" must have Makaveli on the track. The bpm never drop here, Makaveli keeps up in his uncompromised rallying cries between rap and sung crowd agitation. "Linga Linga" with vocals transformed from a trippy litmus test of a dance piece to a stun grenade going off and disorienting your sense of space and time. And all the while the track stays catchy as hell, never losing its way in favor of experimental ornaments. As a unit, Bamba Pana and Makaveli bring the heat, never sacrificing their energy and setting their eyes on the goal of getting the crowd moving and melting their faces off in the same breath.
31. Reason – Better Dayz (There You Have It)
Reason is the perfect addition to the already otherworldly TDE rooster! On “Better Dayz” the Del Amo rapper unpacks the multi-faceted life of gang banging and delivers a unique way to speak on the black experience of violence between the promise of a better life through making rap music. If one thing becomes striking on this track that is already two years old, it is the determination Reason brings in his verses and his slightly raspy voice that still holds a certain melody. In a way, he is more Kendricks contemporary then other label mates, or better said a rapper that in his style and bravado learned to breathe and express himself after Kendrick showed his face and updated the ethics of the old world. Here Reason becomes as brutally honest about the pitfalls of his hood as he does express a compassioned love for his surroundings in his wish to transcend and reach a positive state.
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