Future & DJ Esco – Project E.T.
Since dropping mixtape Purple Reign and his unexpected fourth album, EVOL, man of the moment Future has been relatively quiet. That all changed over the weekend, as Future Hendrix teamed with regular collaborator DJ Esco for new mixtape Project E.T. (Ecco Terrestrial).
Created by Esco and hosted by Future, this is more or a less a Future project with the addition of a few Future-less tracks. As is custom with any Future release, the subject matter is largely concerned with drugs, sex and money. Sex and relationships are particularly prevalent throughout Project E.T., with Future rapping about his need for a roll in the hay on Right Now – a track sampling 2Pac’s No More Pain – groupies on Super Dumb and relationship dramas on Deal With It. His tales of drug taking have always been a concern, with Future sounding like he’d fallen into addiction on his last few releases, but things appear to be on the up if this tape is anything to go by. Champagne Shower and Party Pack come across as more celebratory club tracks about his partying lifestyle than cries of help.
Project E.T. also contains a huge list of guest artists and producers and marks many firsts for Future. Rising star Lil Uzi Vert hooks up with Future for the first time on Too Much Sauce, with Future only contributing the hook and allowing Vert to flex his skill on the verses. 100it Racks finds Future and Drake teaming once again with the addition of 2 Chaniz (surprisingly the first official collaboration between the two) on a track focusing on the three’s wealthy lifestyles. Future and Young Thug put their troubles aside on the braggadocios Metro Boomin produced Who, Casey Veggies and Nef The Pharaoh showcase their flows over DJ Mustard’s Stupidly Crazy and Juicy J and Future trade bars on the sleazy My Blower.
Verdict: Another quality release from Future’s camp sure to keep fans satisfied.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCDergUJ0QM]
Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Getaway
It’s fair to say Red Hot Chili Peppers haven’t been all that relevant since their last great album, 1999’s Californication. The three albums that followed – Californication version 2.0 By The Way, over indulgent Stadium Arcadium and forgettable I’m With You – stuck to the blueprint of the funk-rock hybrid that made the band huge with disappointing results. While commercially successful, all three lacked creativity and personality. When news broke of a new album from the alternative stalwarts, I for one wasn’t overly excited, but having had their 11th album on high rotation over the weekend, I’m pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
The Getaway isn’t reinvening the musical wheel, but it’s the first time in over 15 years I can recall RHCP sounding passionate about the music they’re making. There’s no doubt that the introduction of Danger Mouse as producer – ending the band’s 25 year association with Rick Rubin – has given them a new release of life. The emergence of guitarist Josh Klinghoffer from the shadow of former member John Frusciante has also shaped the band’s re-energised sound. Songs such as the funk infused We Turn Red, disco dancing Go Robot and melodic title track all contain elements of what make the RHCP great without sounding old or rehashed.
Detroit and Dark Necessities could be Californication/By The Way lost cuts, while the slower Encore and The Longest Wave are relaxing changes of pace on an album teaming with life. Anthony Kiedis has never been a great lyricist or singer, but with the constant presence of Flea‘s intoxicating bass, Chad Smith‘s rhythmic drumming and Klinghoffer’s integral guitar work, his Californian drawl and knack for catchy choruses is infectious and goes a long way to making The Getaway a welcome return to form.
Verdict: Chilis back to their best.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0oIoR9mLwc]
Riff Raff – Peach Panther
Riff Raff has always been seen as somewhat of a joke in hip-hop circles. His comical appearance – colourful braided hair, pop culture tattoos and diamond studded grills – combined with his stop-start raps and lack of natural flow had many writing him off as a fad. When his debut album, NEON iCON, failed to live up to expectations, most thought he would disappear into the ether. How wrong were we.
2016 marks a huge year for both Raff’s rap career and status in the entertainment world. He’s been spending the past few years bulking up in hopes of achieving his dream of entering the WWE (his first wrestling appearance happened in March when he interfered in a match between legends Kurt Angle and Rey Mystery) and in April penned a $4 million partnership with Stampede Management and BMG. While all this has been going on the Texan’s also been putting the finishing touches on his sophomore album Peach Panther.
Released last week, Peach Panther is a massive step forward for Raff. The album highlights Raff’s growth as both a rapper and lyricist, and at just 12 tracks, is a concise collection of songs that gel well together. Raff’s diverse vocabulary is once again on display throughout the album, with the rapper name dropping his favourite brands and celebrities almost as much as The Game.
The first half of the Peach Panther features six solo cuts, with Raff celebrating Mexican culture on first single Carlos Slim, using basketballer Chris Paul as the basis for the snapping song of the same name and discussing his love of syrup on Syrup Sippin’ Assassin. The last six tracks of the album are all collaborations, with Raff acquiring some big names to flesh out the project. Riff cops a verse from Danny Brown and a hook from Gucci Mane on I Drive By, one of the albums better tracks, gets J-Doe and G-Eazy on the Metro Bommin produced Mercedez, while his collaboration with Lil Durk, Betcha’ Didn’t Know, is a great way to close the album that exceeds expectations.
Verdict: Well-rounded release that play to Riff Raff’s strengths.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vAqaUwLg7g]
Forget Sonny & Cher. Move over Simon & Garfunkel. Daft Punk? Please. We all know that the ideal musical duo is none other than perennial weirdo RiFF RAFF, and tattoo crazed drumming aficionado Travis Barker. We can all give our thanks to the musical gods today, as we have finally been blessed with the product of this unorthodox (to say the least) pairing, the new track so aptly titled Spazz Out. Perhaps the emotional trauma from the Blink-182 split has led to Mr Barker seeking alternative forms of therapy. Enter Riff Raff and his unique style of doing basically everything. From having tattoos of Bart Simpson and MTV, donning an entirely denim outfit with Katy Perry at the Billboard Awards, to openly declaring that he could’ve had a successful career as an NBA player, Riff Raff takes the cake as the most unique and quite possibly the craziest musical personality. Peep the new track here.
INGLEWOOD, CA – AUGUST 24: Rapper Riff Raff (L) and recording artist Katy Perry attend the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards at The Forum on August 24, 2014 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/MTV1415/Getty Images for MTV)
Wait a second. What do you mean that this song actually isn’t half bad? (It is here I would like to reference the perfect Muppets joke “It’s not half bad, but it’s not half good either!”). The song itself has been penned for the famous Warped Tour that RiFF RAFF is currently a part of, explaining the punk rock/alternative influences. Perhaps it’s because the beat is infectious in a weird way, or maybe it’s because the vocals sound nothing like RiFF RAFF, who is usually accustomed to singing about eating “fried okra with Oprah”. There has been some serious audio tweaking to his usual sound, and perhaps that’s a good thing. The track itself is nothing special, but its a passable upbeat attempt at fusing rock with hip-hop.
For my sake RiFF RAFF, please go back to doing absurd things, causing fashion faux pas and just acting like you usually do. It makes writing about you a hell of a lot more entertaining.
You can also enjoy this live version:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFRtHYGUMcY]
What a fantastic year 2014 has been for terrible music. Triple J have put out their list of best albums yesterday, but we find ‘Worst Of’ lists to be infinitely more fun, so we here at Howl And Echoes would like to present our inaugural Album Anti-Awards for 2014!
Our lucky winners include:
The Tylenol ‘Cure For Insomnia’ Award
Coldplay – Ghost Stories
‘Coldplay are boring’ jokes are as old as Yellow, I know, but if they’re going to keep putting out musical sleeping pills like they have once again with Ghost Stories then I’m going to keep making them. Not one track on here is exciting in the slightest. Fitting that it’s called Ghost Stories, because I’m pretty sure we could get Chris Martin declared legally dead after this piss poor effort.
Furthermore, when Sticky Fingers walked through downtown Newtown for Australia Street, it was cool. When these assholes shamelessly ripped them off for A Sky Full Of Stars, with their lame-as-fuck fans filming the whole thing on their fucking smartphones like a bunch of pre-teen twats, it was a floating joke.
The Soulja Boy Award for Shittiest Contribution to Hip Hop
Riff Raff – Neon Icon
Riff Raff is an amalgam of burning garbage and bad facial hair. Open this album up to have your olfactory senses impossibly assaulted by the distinct smell of a trailer park. I can’t verify this with 100% certainty, but I have it on good authority that for every copy of Neon Icon sold, an endangered panda was punched in the face.
Sweet fuck on a crust, Riff Raff sings with the sweet, slithery lilt of somebody who masturbates in public and he raps like he’s reciting your order at a McDonalds drive thru. If you bought this album you are telling the world that there is a good chance that you are poorly educated. Enjoy this GIF of his internationally-televised humiliation:
The 2014-15 Philadelphia 76ers award for Worst Output by a Group
5 Seconds Of Summer – 5 Seconds Of Summer
This is ear-scaldingly bad boy band music. 5 Seconds Of Summer create music to initiate a gag reflex to.Their vanilla-ness makes their forefathers in groups like Boyzone and Westlife look like a bunch of Hells Angels by comparison and the irritating way they abbreviate their name to 5SOS and cite people like Blink-182 as an influence when clearly their influences were just monkey shit and the lost souls of 12-year-old girls is especially grating.
This was Australia’s completely unnecessary, shit-haircutted answer to One Direction, scorch the Earth if they ever get anywhere near that level.
The Scott Stapp Award for Biggest Affront to Rock and Roll:
Nickelback – No Fixed Address
I don’t know what’s more annoying, the fact that Nickelback were pretentious enough to name this album No Fixed Address as though they’re some ‘children of the Earth’ motherfuckers or that they aren’t actually homeless and broke like their rivals for ‘most talentless people to ever pick up guitars’, Creed.
Edge Of A Revolution is Nickelback’s neckbearded attempt at writing an anti-establishment song and it’s so unintentionally funny you might break a rib laughing. The whole album is icepick lobotomy level dumb, because their fans are all shameless morons and are somehow that easily impressed. They should stop loving Nickelback and start loving themselves, shit.
The Michael Richards Award for “Biggest Fall From Grace”
Robin Thicke – Paula
Last year Robin Thicke gave us a terrible song with date rape lyrics and also Emily Ratajkowski from atop Pharrell Williams’ shoulders and people loved him for it. This year he gave us his first album post-divorce and named it after his ex-wife in what may be the least efficient way to get yourself a restraining order. Also, you can rearrange the entire track list to make perhaps the creepiest stalk-iest, threaten-iest letter ever, here look:
Worst Album by a Female Artist:
Taylor Swift – 1989
1989 was regarded as Taylor Swift’s departure from country pop into just regular pop, the difference between the two probably like comparing two puddles of urine to see which one contains less sexually transmittable diseases per square inch. She could have called this album Pumpkin Spice Latte Roshe Run Butterfly Tattoo and nobody would have batted a fake eyelash.
From the incessant whine that is Blank Space to the pantomime twerking nightmare of Shake It Off, this entire album was so fucking boring, so fucking terrible, and yet pretty much the majority of the female population continue to eat her shit up like it’s Froot Loops and MD. Inexplicable. Not even God can help you if you’re a fan of Taylor Swift in 2014.
Worst Album by a Male Artist:
Ed Sheeran – X
Apparently this album is called ‘X’ but pronounced ‘Multiply’. To that end, I propose that ‘Ed Sheeran’ now be pronounced ‘Utter shitbag’ for such pretentious assfacery. The fact that Ed is a soulless ginger aside, have you ever heard something as interminably bland as this album?
It’s like eating cardboard cereal with water instead of milk, for fuck sake. Don’t was apparently not everybody’s simultaneous reaction to Ed Sheeran announcing this album, but about Taylor Swift. If they ever reconcile their differences and collaborate for a joint album I will put my hand up for a rocket ride directly into the sun, just to be sure that monstrosity couldn’t ever hurt me.
Worst Album of 2014
U2 – Songs Of Innocence
Fuck you, Bono. Fuck you, the rest of U2. And fuck you, Apple, for giving my iTunes the digital equivalent of a surprise prostate examination and then leaving the rubber glove in there in the form of U2’s clownfuck dreadful free album. An album that every person on the planet with iTunes suddenly found in their library, regardless of whether they wanted it, and which IS STILL JUST SITTING THERE LIKE A SMUG PRICK BECAUSE I CAN’T GET RID OF IT NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRY!
Understandably, a lot of people were as pissed as I am. Apple then put their pathetic spin on the whole farce, claiming that 81 million people had ‘experienced’ U2’s new album, which was about as impressive as claiming that they were responsible for 81 million people experiencing the human papillomavirus.
Make no mistake about it, there is a special place in the Seventh Circle of Hell for people who pull the kind of dick move Apple did on consumers in foisting this album upon us, but the fact that U2 did so and simultaneously used the good name of Joey Ramone, an old school punk who would have exactly zero time for this kind of commercialistic bullshit, is what makes me the angriest.
And fuck me if Rolling Stone didn’t give it five stars and lose any and all respect from me.
God is dead.