EP: Lice Two: Still Buggin’ – Lice, Aesop Rock, Homeboy Sandman

The second EP from Lice, also known as Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman has been released to streaming platforms. Just like the first Lice EP, this music is entirely new to me, it somehow flew over my head. Probably because it hasn’t been available at Spotify, which is my absolute go to for music.

So, i see this as a completely new release, which is fantastic. Lice Two: Still Buggin’ is a 5 song EP that spans over 16 minutes and 9 seconds and the tracks are performed by Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman. There seems to be different producers on almost all of the tracks, and you can hear that while listening to the tracks. The different tracks have very distinct sound that separates them from each other. I think the difference in sounds makes this EP even more interesting, however i do believe that i enjoyed the first Lice EP a bit more.

My favourite tracks off of this new-old EP is Oatmeal Cookies, it goes really hard and it just spoke to me in a way.

I hope that you give this EP a listen, and let me know what you think!

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Lazy Summer Day / Chinese Restaurant – Yung Lean

Today Yung Lean dropped some new music. A two track single featuring the songs Lazy Summer Day & Chinese Restaurant. I always get a bit excited whenever the swedish phenomenon Yung Lean drops new music, and i’m always quick to check it out, whether it’s an album or a single.

I love these strange, no context, tracks that drops as singles whenever he, Yung Lean, feels like it. It’s one of those things that the internet and streaming platforms has made possible, and i think that it’s very fun that it is possible for the creators to just throw it out there, without long waiting times and always having to do a big release out of it. These two tracks has a combined lenght of 3 minutes and 37 seconds – so it’s two songs in a short fashion, which is straight out of Yung Leans playbook. The production is interesting and Spotify lists Rami Dawod as the producer. According to Genius these are the first two tracks that Rami Dawod produces for Yung Lean, however he’s listed as producer for a Frank Ocean track, and also a Camila Cabello track.

Both of these songs sound like Yung Lean tracks, and i got more excited and intrigued by Chinese Restaurant, than i got by Lazy Summer Day. However, i find both track intriguing and interesting. Chinese Restaurant is going straight into my regular rotation!

Give these new singles from Yung Lean a listen, and make your own opinion. I, recommend both of them!

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Anatolian Rock Revival Project

A couple of years ago a friend of mine linked me a playlist on Spotify that’s called Anatolian Rock Revival Project and the description of the playlist is as follows: ”An art project dedicated to bringing non-mainstream pieces from Turkish Rock History (1964-1980) into the light with unique artworks.”. Neither my friend or i speak any turkish, but you don’t need to speak turkish or understand the lyrics to be able to enjoy the purity of the music. However it sure would be fun to understand the lyrics to the songs, alas i’m not sure if i would enjoy the tracks in the same capacity – since rock music from this era in the western world, with lyrics that i understand, sometimes are quite cheesy.

There’s something so wild and excellent about the music, since i can’t comment on the lyrics, the statement before connects to the instrumental parts of the songs, aswell as the singing – because you can get a feel for the lyrics from the voice and emotion of the singer.
However, the instrumentals are so good, there’s just something about that old, raw rock music that really connects back to the time when it was produced. Most of the other rock music that most of us westeners has enjoyed stems from the western part of the world, yet somehow some of the songs in this playlist sounds so similiar to the western counterparts. However, the Anatolian Rock Music from this era also brings in instruments that wasn’t being used in the western counterparts of the music from the same era, since it connects to the more classical and ”folky” music from the Anatolian region, aswell as other elements, of course.

You somehow always fall back into what you’ve grown up listening to, and i assume that the same applies to the rock music in this playlist. You see that in a lot of music, that you implement sounds that comes from the folk music from the region that your roots stem from.

As i’ve been listening through several of these Anatolian rock-playlists during the years i’ve noticed that a few of the songs has been sampled in new and modern music, which is rather fun! I think that speaks volumes for atleast the instrumentals from this region during this era – that rock music from the 60s to the 80s, in the Anatolian region gets sampled into newly produced music. One of the artists that i’ve been listening to a lot before i discovered the Anatolian Rock Revival Project is the rapper Action Bronson – so, figure my surprise when i recognized some instrumentals and some hooks from the Anatolian music, as it turns out that Action Bronson seems to rather heavily sample from these old Anatolian Rock songs. I really enjoy that, it gives people the chance and possibility to broaden whatever music they listen to, as they subconsciously gets introduced to other sorts of music, as they get sampled into different kind of genres of music.

This playlist is something i often find myself wander back into, and i feel that i both listen to it actively, but also keep it in the backround sometimes as it’s so very easy to listen to, in my opinion. I hope that you’ll give the Anatolian Rock Revival Project a chance. I give it my stamp of approval.

Until next time, take care.
SLQT

New releases.

The other week we had many new releases from big artists, and as always smaller acts. However the bigger the release seems to be, the bigger the performing artist, the bigger the drum and PR around the release. When it in face should be the smaller acts that gets written about. This inquiry from me will be hypocritical since i am going to write about one of the bigger releases.

The week of releases i am thinking about is the week where Kanye West released Donda, Drake released Certified Lover Boy and Iron Maiden released Senjutsu. The smaller release that i was hinting towards in the beginning of the paragraph is Space Werewolves Will Be the End of Us All by Blockhead.

I’ve given them all a listen, however, i have very different feelings toward them all, apart from Kanye & Drake. I can’t, i was able to listen to like four or five songs from their respective albums. I’ve never been a fan of Drake, he has a couple of songs that i’ve had on repeat and that follows onto every newly created playlist on Spotify, but overall i find Drakes music rather bland.

What to say about Kanye? I don’t know.
I really enjoyed The Life of Pablo and i strongly feel like that’s the last good album Kanye has released alone and under his own name. I do however think that the KIDS SEE GHOSTS project he did together with Kid Cudi was fresh and intresting. I felt a bit let down by Donda because of the route Kanye’s been taking these last years doesn’t please me and my taste. I prefer when his album contains rap with some chorus, and not like it’s been on these last releases, chorus with some rap. I don’t want artists to be stagnant and get stuck in whatever they’re doing, i love when they try different things that might push the artform forward, and i believe that is what Kanye’s doing – he’s trying, and that, i appreciate greatly. I value his work and what he’s trying to accomplish, and i believe that something amazing will come out of it, however, Donda, isn’t that, for me. Compared to Kanye, i feel that Drake has become stagnant in his style, it works, he sells and streams a lot, but it is no longer appealing to me.

I’ve been listening to Blockhead on and off for a couple of years, i discovered him through the discovery of Aesop Rock. I read somewhere that they went to school together and through that they started to make music. Periodically i’ve been more into Aesop than Blockhead, and for periods it’s been swapped.
With that background, i’ve been listening to snippets and stuff that Blockheads been releasing for this new album, leading up to its actual release. I have a softspot for electronic artists that actually release albums. It usually tend to feel like there’s releases of singles and EPs, but rarely albums. I think that Space Werewolves Will Be the End of Us All is very well worth a listen. Blockheads style of producing and putting songs together is very well done and overall i find that this is a good album that i will be rotating for a while.

The last, but not the least.
Senjutsu by Iron Maiden. I must admit, when i saw the name of the upcoming album, i was skeptic. I felt from the name that the old rockers were trying to be woke. However, i was very wrong, and i was floored by this album. I’ve had it on repeat since release, and it keeps on growing on me. It’s full of that classic imagery that you find in Iron Maiden lyrics and i feel like that the sound that they’ve found their way back to a sound that resembles the sound of older albums. I know, this sounds hypocritical of me to say, but an Iron Maiden-album sounding like an Iron Maiden-album will always be the best sounding Iron Maiden album. Senjutsu for me is a strong contender for the best album of the year so far, and i think, and i recommend you to listen to it!

I’ve been walking a lot over the summer, i got a good application on the phone for tracking steps, so i can easily get oversight of my progress. Since May, and 4 months ahead, a couple of days ago, i registred my 750km (465 miles) in four months of walking. It feels good, and it feels like an accomplishment.

I also feel like i should adress the fact that i haven’t finished listening to the new Kanye and Drake album and the fact that i give my opinions on them here. I will finish them, and i will listen through them thoroughly and i might write something about them in the future.

Until next time, take care.

SLQT.