Pharoahe Monche, W.A.R. - We Are Renegades may just be Pharoahe Monch's finest album, a powerful collection of songs with engrossing lyrics, dynamic production and killer guest spots from the likes of Styles P, Phonte, Jean Grae, Royce da 5'9" and more. I believe this is my favorite hip hop record of the year so far.
Amon Amarth, Surtur Rising - Another fine offering of Norse myth-infused metal from the Norwegian heavyweights. This album is a natural progression from previous record Twilight Of the Thunder God in both style and subject matter. To my ear, they've been becoming more accessible recently, or as accessible as you can be in the mythological death metal biz, anyway, but unlike some people, I wouldn't call that a bad thing.
Royal Bangs, Flux Outside - Royal Bangs offer up a 3rd helping of electrifying, hard-to-categorize music on "Flux Outside," their 3rd record. The band has really found their sound by now, and while I have trouble describing exactly what that is, I can't get enough of it.
(I normally try to keep it to the recorded versions, but their performance on Letterman was so perfect, it's at least as good as the record.)
King, The Story EP - This EP came highly recommended by Erykah Badu on Twitter, and she didn't steer me wrong. Short but sweet, it's laid back, dreamy atmosphere and lush production are hypnotic.
Those Darlins, Screws Get Loose - Those Darlins, whose last record memorably featured a song about getting drunk and eating a whole chicken, are back with a sloppy, goofy, fuzzed out rock'n'roll record full of songs like this:
The Kills, Blood Pressures - I wondered what The Kills would sound like when Allison Mossheart finally took a break from playing around with The Dead Weather. The answer is different, but not "like the Dead Weather" different. And often extremely catchy in a way neither band had really tried before. It's an interesting new direction.
Ballzack, Yeah Indeed - New Orleans rapper Ballzack combined his usual silliness with slick bounce production in his third album. Ballzack and his cohort, Odoms, do that rare thing not unlike the Electric Six or Das Racist, where no matter how weird or silly the lyrics are, they're serious about it, and the music is not a joke. The effort is his strongest yet.
Odoms, Let Me Atom - Odoms' solo debut was more focused on a theme than the Ballzack records he previously featured on, and that theme is something obviously close to my heart: Goofy space-related stories.
Doogie, Yeahbrahcadabrah - Doogie is a rapping puppet operated by Odoms, with music written by Odoms and Ballzack. Clearly, I was on a kick that night.
Yup.
--D
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