09/25 - Bumping Oldies Off My Cellular Phone

Squeezing in one final list of the year. This has nuthin to do about nuthin. Just some joyful irreverent vibes to round off the year.

Kendrick Lamar ft. AZ Chike - peekaboo

Bing-bop-boom-boom-boom-bop-boom

Kendrick can be funny too!

Chance the Rapper ft. MadeinTYO & DaBaby - Hot Shower

Jay-Z ft. UGK - Big Pimpin'

Some reservations about themes and wordage (like with several of the tracks on this list), but that southern bouncy hip hop still gets me in a party mood.

Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire ft. Despot, KOOL A.D., Heems, Danny Brown, El-P - The Last Huzzah!

I like my rap tracks with a Salinger reference and shitloads of meta-commentary. And I always like my rap tracks featuring El-P, Danny Brown and Despot. El-P's verse counting from 1 to 16 is some spectacular Drowning By Numbers stuff!

 

Odd Future - Oldie

Can't believe I hadn't put this on a list before. By now it's an oldie for real! Still sounding fresh as in 2012 though! The giddy sound of a bunch of kids messing around. With the caveat that these kids include three of the most talented and influential voices of the past decade – Tyler, Frank Ocean and Earl Sweatshirt. Every verse has its charm, but then Earl rolls in from Samoa and overshadows everyone with a verse so flabbergasting it has its own youtube video. And then of course, to top it off, Tyler ends with the Odd Future manifesto:

This is for the n**** in the suburbs
And the white kids with n**** friends that say the n-word
And the ones who got called weird, fag, bitch, nerd
'Cause you was into jazz, kitty cats and Steven Spielberg
They say we ain't actin' right
Always try to turn our fuckin' color into black and white
But they'll never change 'em, never understand 'em
Radical's my anthem, turn my fuckin' amps up
So instead of critiquing and bitchin', bein' mad as fuck
Just admit, not only are we talented, we're rad as fuck!

08/25 - Here's The One Resolve That The Time Can Save

Some alternative to all the holiday clichés

Iron & Wine ft. Fiona Apple - All in Good Time

Nice fireplace mood in this duet, me thinks.

Throw your bread to falling birds
Buried friends and wasted words
Something wants to eat us all
Alive

Beak> - Hungry Are We

Getting ready for gargantuan Christmas gorging! Hungryyyyy are weee

Under Byen - Om Vinteren

Finally some real winter cold hit, the night before christmas. I like my degrees minus, this time of year.

Sigur Rós - Glósoli (live)

Intense peacefulness!

 

Together For Palestine - Lullaby

The only holiday song that matters. Have you bought yours? Go on:

https://togetherforpalestine.org/

In the little town of Bethlehem, settlers are desecrating every notion of peace

and in Gaza, there are no silent nights, due to IOF's continuous violations of the ceasefire

But from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free

07/25 - I Wouldn't Want To Be A Part Of Any Club That Would Have Me

OK, I'm gonna squeeze in a couple more Top 5s this year. Bad weather week = dark twisty rap soundtrack:

ScHoolboy Q - Yeern 101

First something to pump your fist to. 

El-P - The Jig Is Up

Then, Groucho Marx reference of the week.

Mach-Hommy ft. KAYTRANADA & 03 Greedo - #RICHAXXHAITIAN

Now some bewildering fast-rap.

Open Mike Eagle - ok but I'm the phone screen

...a bit of everyday symbolic social realism...

This is a little like when RZA's basement flooded and he lost all them discs
It's like that, but like less, less devastating

 

billy woods ft. E L U C I D, Quelle Chris, Denmark Vessey - NYNEX

...and finally we're thrown right back into the dark present and a threatening future. Don't worry. More uplifting stuff on the next list....

True, the future is children, but whatever future you buildin' already look misеrable