Discussing current trends in hip-hop inevitably comes around to highlighting the importance of Future and Young Thug, the Atlantan rap titans whose postverbal eccentricities elevated their auto-tuned slurs from the exception to the norm. As featured artists, their names are good indicators of songs with intoxicating, if sometimes oblique, flows (Ty Dolla $ign’s “Blase” or Drake’s “Sacrifices”), ad-libs a...
Kelela’s asymmetrically shaved head has become a marker for the singer. As of late, she has accented the end of her locks with diamonds, inducing regality and elegance, two descriptors which encapsulate her ambitiously graceful debut, “Take Me Apart.”
On the cover, a nude Kelela sits in repose, her petite face shrouded like a half moon by her long flowing...
Archy Marshall is an agent of mystique and low profile in a media climate where that is hard to accomplish. Being a very enigmatic character, he has nearly as many stage monikers as projects released. These include Edgar the Beatmaker, Zoo Kid, his birth name (which he assumed to produce his 2015 visual album “A New Place 2 Drown”...
Ty Dolla $ign is a singer, first and foremost, who is more than capable of dropping some bars on a track. What makes him such a pleasure to listen to is his strength in melody. Even when he’s rapping, he’s still singing. “There is not one time where I say a word without melody,” he once stated in an...
Divine Council UTR
Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Divine Council comes at you with a more laidback spin on the traditional Atlanta trap sound, with beats similar to those of artists that have become staples of the game. Using unique cadences and clever rhymes that are sure to get a smile out of you if nothing else, Divine Council are...
2016 was a landmark year for Donald Glover. The actor, screenwriter, comedian, rapper and singer came into the year most recognized for his acting roles on the NBC show “Community” and in the feature length, Oscar-nominated film, “The Martian.” Musically, he had already established a firm fanbase of hip-hop heads who knew him better under the alias of Childish...
Hammock's fifth full length album, “Departure Songs,” is their first double album and their most progressive piece to date. Hammock offers elegant soundscapes with majestic swells and crescendos. “Departure Songs” meets all of the expectations of a Hammock listener with the duo's mesmerizing guitar work of beautifully layered guitar tracks drenched in effects pedals galore, but it doesn't stop...
Youth Lagoon’s sophomore album “Wondrous Bughouse” is nothing short of a magnum opus. It has something for everyone: the bubblegum pop kids, the experimental cats and the beat groovers. The album’s lush quality is likely to be bottlenecked into the dream pop genre, but one should not ignore frontman Trevor Powers’ ability to explore the avant-garde side of music....
Every time a well-established band comes out with a new record, a wave of fans come out of their dark corridors and proclaim that the band have lost their way — that they don’t sound like their “old selves.” For Paramore, it’s difficult to sound like their old selves. In 2010, the band parted ways with brothers Josh and Zac Farro (the latter...
Frank Turner is easily one of the most emotionally expressive songwriters in music right now. On Turner’s fifth solo album, “Tape Deck Heart,” his first since 2011’s “England Keep My Bones,” Turner pours out his feelings on love and life with his clever and poignant lyrics. Though not as strong as previous albums, Turner still manages to outshine most...