Music
The songs we can't escape
5ingles
BORIS
"Statement"
"Chameleonic Japanese metal for hipsters" is more or less the party line on this group, but "Statement," happily, is more "punk, noise, and Sunset Strip hair metal screwing in a Yugo during a car crash" than whatever lame-o metal variant they were pimping the last time the New York Times did a feature on 'em.
YOUNG DRO
"These Ain't Out Yet"
This Hotlantian/rising T.I. protégé kindly takes time out from ongoing I Am Legend mixtape delineations of his fleet's eye-catching hues to inform us that, no, the flashy accessories he's got—"Japanese Nikes," "ice-cold polos," "exclusive Frankie Bs"—are not presently available for public consumption. When Dro emphasizes that "These ain't out, you don't know what I'm 'bout/Man, I be so fresh I make you go back in the house," he isn't bragging so much as making an unequivocal statement. He may be the first rapper to make this well-worn argument so explicitly, but it's also entirely possible that I'm a herb.
KILLER MIKE
"Bad Day Worst Day"
When was the last time you heard a mainstream rapper say something like, "Fuck killin' blacks, I'm down for toe-taggin' Grand Dragon" on aluminum? Killer Mike should be Atlanta's '00s answer to Ice Cube—all working-class indignation and disgust—but label red tape has temporarily silenced his outraged voice. Also, interestingly, he shares a birthday with Hitler.
THE OAKS
"The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter"
Ryan Costello, did some no-good trollop do you wrong? This sort of metaphorical pondering usually stems from salt-in-the-wounds heartbreak, and the jazzy-yet-mournful stew enveloping lyrics like "The heart is a lonely hunter/Painting its face/Disguising its ways" is a dead giveaway.
THE SIAN ALICE GROUP
"Interlude 19'39""
These soaring, piping color streams are all vocal, all choral, all celestial, drifting along against and over the breeze like a fraying ghost kite; that breeze itself, meanwhile, is little more than gentle string plucks and considered bow draws.