rap/hip-hop

Eccentric true school rap vets return after 12 years away with a Kickstarter-funded album featuring a stacked guest roster. I'm not finding it quite as cohesive as I did on first listen, but it still hangs together really well overall, and the more unexpected guest spots all work out really well, IMO (Snoop, David Byrne, Little Dragon, 2Chainz). And while there are definitely some dusty lo-fi sounds in the mix, this whole album is really lush and richly produced, and probably as intricate as anything they did with Prince Paul, albeit in a different way than Paul's madcap sampledelia. My only complaint is that a couple of the tracks get a bit schmaltzy for my taste, but I'm sure others will disagree, and overall, the album is very much De La having fun and being their own casual weird selves. Not sure I can rank this against their other work yet since I've been listening to those albums for so long, but this is well worth your time.

RIYL: Native Tongues (De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, etc)

FCC clean!

1. short intro, resilient/slightly-sad strings under defiant spoken word thing from jill scott, a bit of guitar at the end, slow and lush. 1:36
2. buzzing, dialogue sample, regal horn fanfare and introduction. dissolves into laid back jazzy beat with shuffling but punchy drums and chill spare horn lines. low key verses. a bit more narration later, some synth swirls, some harp plucks in the background. 3:46
3. uptempo & catchy, but laid back, smooth synths, twitchy guitar plucks. backup singers on the hook with a touch of 90s R&B texture. verses range from confident forward motion to low-key reflection. great smooth guest appearance from snoop. beat reminds me a little of toro y moi and that sort of thing. 3:29
4. short computer voice intro (comes back for brief interjections later). twisty lines flow continuously into one another, just a touch of talkbox (or some reverb and chorus?) on the vocals, jazzy drum break, springy echoing guitar and synth squiggle float by in background (and echoed/smeared bird chirps?). idiosyncratic late night boom bap. 5:32
5. sober conversational flows, reminisces on an ill-fated relationship. sweet rich strings, a knocking lo-fi drum loop soft female backup vocals. 4:55
6. short rock-tinged interlude. bare drums for a bit, then guitar loops, slightly fuzzed raps. slowly slows at the end, w/ guitar getting pitched down and tempo slowing, dissolves in short drum flourish. 1:20
7. backstage chatter and muffled guitar-led beat, take the stage to applause, scratches launch into guitar and organ and med-tempo drum break. intermittent scratching throughout, free-associative battle raps. flips to piano/singer/choir at 3:17, guitar solo in the end. obvious musical/lyrical allusions to run dmc in the first half w/o directly name checking them. could def just play first half if you wanted. 7:16
8. david byrne sings cryptic verse, pinging percussive electronics and synth pads, then bass and drums roll in, eventually some guitar and moog, def reminiscent of talking heads. flips to muffled drum break, bells, chiptune blips and scratches, de la stream of consciousness raps. scratch out back to david byrne instrumentation and verse, this time with scratched horns. dissolve back to de la instrumentation and verse for end. weirdly disjoint but fits together just fine (what else would you expect from de la and david byrne?). 4:15
9. a couple stories of taking chances trying to make it in the big city. slowly swelling and contracting instrumental, slow rolling muffled percussion, ebbing and flowing ambient pads and strings, very film-y for lack of a better description. usher on the hook. ends in city sounds. 5:26
10. short palate cleanser, simple strutting bass and drums beat w/ footstep sounds as extra percussion, quick verse about badass girl. failed/entitled come-on from young/middle-aged guy, gets schooled by old man. 1:31
11. breezy, strutting drums, squelchy sparse electric bass, playfully lecherous raps, hook's busy with samples (in a good way). 3:17
12. sultry vocals from yumi of little dragon, piano, eventually strings and drums. yumi fades to background around midway, synth wash, bowed cello and plucked strings and drums. yumi comes back chopped/looped w/ drum break and space blips in last couple minutes, de la singing in the background, quick verse and bare piano to close out a very pleasant not-quite-ambient track. 4:31
13. nervous skittering synth line over tumbling drums, complaints of the day about the rap game and random personal stuff. quick talkbox interjection, guest verse from 2Chainz (yes on a de la album, it works). talkbox interjection, de la closes it out similar to how it started. 4:31
14. chunky drums with woodblock accents, upbeat electric bassline, classic casual de la flows. intermittent p-funk/george clinton style backup vox (free associative, pitched up, pitched down). occasional horn stabs and vocal samples. general p-funk vibes/allusions all around. 3:57
15. brief interlude: sci-fi synth tones and calm ad voice give way to lilting country-ish guitar loop and frustrated guy complaining about not finding music he loves. ad voice has the answer, the new de la album, call the number from de la classic "ring ring ring (ha ha hey)" ("that's 222-2222..."). 1:20
16. steady rolling acoustic drums, sunny guitar, bright vibraphone (or maybe thumb piano) hits. beat takes off and has an almost post-rock sound. lyrics about making it through, remembering loved ones. switches up midway to languid soul sound with wah-wah guitar ripples and horns, damon albarn backup vox, female choir backup vox toward the end. 5:41
17. dusky guitar, clicky drums, electric bass pulses. harmonized half-sung vox, horns fade in, bass gets a little wah, brief admonishment to the audience, fade out on strings. pleasant self-referential outro. 3:24

recommended: 3, 4, 8, 12, 13, 14, 2, 16