AURAL WES WEEKLY TRACK ROUNDUP #5
Tracks on tracks on tracks! Every week, each member of the AW team chooses and reviews a song they've been playing on repeat. Contributions span different genres and eras, from early R&B classics to the latest lo-fi rock, from spaced-out-and-based-out beats to the most cutting-edge underground club. Read this week's latest installment after the jump.
Baths - Ironworks
This song is absolutely beautiful, from the melody to the production to the enigmatic, yet calming lyrics. This tune is the second single released by LA musician/producer Baths, for his upcoming sophomore LP titled, 'Obsidian'. The song is like a boat ride down a river in that parts are dark and rocky, and others, light and flowing. Compared to his first release, Cerulean, this album has a much darker sound with 'Ironworks' being a glimpse of light in an overall energetically dismal, yet beautiful album.
- Zack
White Fang - Drugs on the Moon
Fuck. I know I already wrote last week about a Gnar Tapes -related band, but man, this stuff is just so weird/good! Today we've got the endearingly sloppy loser punk of White Fang and their spaced-out fuzz ballad "Drugs on the Moon". It's really just about being passed out in a Texas field, a feeling that I'm sure these dudes know all too well. But considering their impressive consumption of weed, I'm sure that they have a pretty solid grasp on the sensations of moon drugs as well.
- Ethan
Wildcat! Wildcat! – Mr. Quiche
A plush, engaging piece of pop from the self-described ‘indie R&B’ outfit- Mr. Quiche feels like it should just wash over you, yet dancing still seems more than appropriate. These guys have an impressive control over the interplay and restraint of voices- the track ends up coming together in full giddy-dancy reward, and yields all the more satisfaction.
- Anton
YUNG LEAN - GINSENG STRIP 2002 // prod. yung gud shorty
Do you think if you heard a 16-year old from Sweden rap, "Got my balls licked by Zooey Deschanel" you would find it compelling? It's a tough question to answer because it's just so hard to imagine. When I heard Stockholm native YUNG LEAN kind of rhyme it over a dark, cloudy beat fit for A$AP, I knew I stumbled across someone profoundly unique only fit for a post-Lil B era of internet rap. YUNG LEAN and his Sad Boys crew represent the earnest irony of a hip hop future still to be written.
- Cal
Lapalux - Guuurl
"Lapalux" and "spring" are intertwined in my mind. Last spring, his When You're Gone EP dropped and I would walk to it (once with a headphone splitter with my friend on one of the most beautiful days) and sleep to it everyday for quite some time. His debut, Nostalchic, dropped last month and I was glad to have more disjointed, danceable, and (some) undeniably sexy and/or emotional tracks. This repeats many times in the song: "I wanna make love to you / There's nothing else I wanna do." How can you not get with that? I'm easily swayed by r&b so excuse my bias, but damn.
- Chelsie
Swim Good - Dollar Iced Tea
The sun has come out again and this track is perfect for 75 degrees and shorts. A track that bleeds over at every level, Swim Good is a hazy beat maestro with quick cutting vocals. Though only a minute and fifty second, this dancey and dreamy beach electro is an essential part of spring tape. His mixtape on Soundcloud shows some of his varying influences from house music to serene electronica, all of which bleeds into "Dollar Iced Tea". I'm still dancing.
- Eric
Hollie Kenniff - This Time Tomorrow
I first listened to this song two years ago, but in the last few weeks it's reentered my life, riding on the energy of the second half of the track. Electric guitar figures prominently into the web of atmospheric sounds throughout the track, with Kenniff's voice a constituent of the mixture rather than a counterpoint to it. The halfway point is a brief, but pleasant, break before the intensity of the second act, where dramatic chords and the (very slightly) intensified beat are the highlights of a drawn-out climax. This Time Tomorrow is a great alternative choice for sunbathing on Foss Hill.
- Anwar
Quasimoto - Planned Attack
Madlib's hip hop alter-ego/helium addict Quasimoto is set to release a compilation of 12 previously unreleased tracks on the Stones Throw label this June. This song gives us a sample of what this release will most likely contain: some straight up, juicy consistency. It's not as if the song offers any surprises--we've got the typical gritty, yet spotless production, Thelonious Monk references, and adeptly selected sample. But when it comes to Madlib, typical does not mean average. "Filthy from the ground on up," the hook promises, and it does seem that Madlib's entire body is simply a factory of filthiness--the good kind, of course.
- Faith
The Drums - Money
If the Smiths had taken a break from protesting the consumption of animal products to go to the beach, this is probably what it would have sounded like. It's the perfect distillation of the surfy, danceable indie pop/punk sound that pretty much 90% of modern artists aspire to. With a killer bass line and a post-punk riff straight out of the 80's, it's scientifically impossible to not like this song if you like music at all whatsoever.
- Matt
