30 Points and 10 Assists

A Double-Double by Jimmy from No Oldtimers

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Yeah, I missed my chance to do a “Best [insert unit of music] of the Year…So Far…” thing. This is yet another stain on my white t-shirt of punctuality, but guess what? I don’t mind the stains. As a matter of fact, now is my chance to show them off, so here are a bunch of songs that I like from this year.

Ideally, each track would be a true blue single, won’t overlap with my piece for On The Button about the best shit from Quarter One, and you’ll love them. I’m only human, though, and some of them might be album deep cuts, overlap with old work, and/or stink. So be it!

Maybe I’ll even toss in an album/EP or two. I don’t know. We’ll see.

Oh, and, if you DO disagree with me and think some busted-ass thoughts, let me know! I’d be honored to engage in a loving discourse in the comments section.

As they say, let the roundup begin!

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Thirty FIRE Songs from the First SEVEN Months of the Year (plus one from the penultimate month of 2023)

RAPPY

• “Baby Gangsta” by Audi Money

  • Audi Money already has cosigns from Veeze, 42 Dugg, and Babyface Ray, but allow me to put you on if you haven’t been already. 

• “Check 4 Me” by Babyxsosa

  • Someone said that Babyxsosa has been singing her ass off recently. They weren’t lying! The lush backdrop from Devstacks is a nice touch, too.

• “Delusional” by Nino Paid

  • Free car and crank, meet sexy drill. No further comments. 

• “Fake Love” by Mitchell

  • Lifestyle rap of the melancholic persuasion needs more love.

• “First Impression (Interlude) by Baby Smoove

  • This is the ONLY good Smoove song as of late. Sorry. 

• “Freestyle 2 (ganger flo) by Highway

  • Yeah, this shit is big, but whatever. Highway in this mode makes me want to hear Future record an album with nothing but jittery beats from guys like DDotFreezing and the Shoulder Shrug crew.

• “Good Enough” by Xhulooo

  • Every time I hear a Xhulooo song, I expect the same thing: inoffensive cookie-cutter SoundCloud fare that will go in one ear and out the other. Every time, I am wrong! “Good Enough” is no exception.

• “Holy Cow” by MariBoy Mula Mar

  • Not his best, but certainly not his worst! I gotta show love to Mar for always holding it down for the 414! 

  • Insane line: “Walked in with four hoes, look like Destiny’s Child // What I made off one call, she like, ‘Holy cow!’”

• “I Kan Vision My Time Komin” by WildKardUno

  • In case you gleaned nothing from the title, this is an eloquent, beautifully done track. 

• “Ima Star” by Yhapojj

  • *See the above commentary about Xhulooo and replace his name with Yhapojj’s.

• “leh xrash” by stuullo

  • Stuullo has an online campaign in which he claims that NO ONE is freaking it like he is on the free-to-use, mobile-based music creation app BandLab. He might be right, but he really needs to try Ableton or something. Might just change his life.

• The Lev Show by 1100 Himself

  • I’ve wanted to write about this album for a long time , but I’ve had to give up each time I tried. It’s so good, yet I can never distill any sort of in-depth explanation. Allow me to try again. The Lev Show blasts through 12 songs in 22 minutes as 1100 Himself masterfully pours his Bay Area panache over the top of saccharine Stockton instrumentals at their most chilled-out. His lyrics are simple if not absurd—namely his propensity for using “fuckin’” as a high-impact descriptor—and his ability to turn a phrase to tell a story and utilize off-kilter parlance is impressive. It almost feels like an entirely new subgenre of rap. In other words, The Lev Show is must-see TV, and you won’t want to miss what happens next.

• “the silver case” by Dolo2000

  • Dolo2000 is a tortured poet. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again. For every broken emulator, missed opportunity at the swap meet that he mentions, trial, and tribulation, I cry a thousand tears. Fortunately for me, tears never run out.

• “Stick Around Lady” by Offshore

  • Back in undergrad, I wrote an unnecessarily long paper about South African rap music, and I thank god that Offshore hadn’t yet started rapping. If he had, I would’ve never finished that paper because his ultra-short songs are nothing short of hypnotizing. I mean, Offshore really has it like that. Hell, I’d probably still be listening to “Stick Around Lady.” 

• “Stupid Bands” by Ot7 Quanny

  • Limitless quotables in this sucker.

• “What Zit Tooya” by Xaviersobased

  • Xaviersobased is the Kendrick Lamar of music that doesn’t stink, and I don’t think that this will ever change.

HEAVY

• “Dreams Less Sweet” by Candy

  • This shit sounds like the gnarliest, most twisted bad dream ever, and that sort of literal application of a title deserves to be celebrated.

• “Give Me the Painkiller” by NAILS

  • I’ve never been big on NAILS, but this song changed me. Tuning in is like eyeing down a kaleidoscope illuminated by the fires of hell, which is to say that it’s not to be missed.

• “Heavyweight” by DIME

  • This song is the closest that I’ve even come to rinsing a Title Fight song. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but I think I’ve made my point.

• “Motor Mouth” by Worlds Worst

  • “Everybody go fucking nuts for this next one.” From Salt Lake City to the world, Worlds Worst rules. If they keep getting harder and harder, we could be in for a REAL treat.

• “New York Minute” by Missing Link

  • I couldn’t say anything about Missing Link better than what my dear friend Evan said in NOTS IX, so I won’t. Just let go of any preconceived notions you have and know that it’s good.

• “Tlaloc Icuic” by Tzompantli

  • Shoutout 20 Buck Spin for always putting me onto some crazy shit. It happens every month or so and will continue until the end of time (ideally). The ten-piece Tzompantli may hail from Pittsburgh, but, in case it wasn’t already clear, their roots are founded in indigenous culture and lore. Consider this song to be a teleporter to a completely different world. 

• “Your Ghost” by Footballhead

  • Chicago’s Footballhead claim to lean directly into the poppier side of 90s radio rock, but “Your Ghost” is heavy, loud, and emotional. Someone has some explaining to do…then again, that hook is too sticky! Maybe they’re right… 

    • Note: their brand new album is a bummer.

WHATEVVY

• “8818” by Tisakorean

  • Tisakorean is my Kanye West. MUMU 8818 is my 808s and Heartbreak. “8818” is my “See You In My Nightmares.” Crazy, but true.

• “Creation” by 9Million (Live on Audiotree)

  • I heard this shit live in SLC at a vegan coffee shop filled with alternative youth who needed a violently loud escape from their day-to-day lives, and it was life-affirming. I was the second tallest person there. Rockstar shit.

• “FTR” by Cruel Santino

  • This song did come out at the end of November of last year, but it is simply that good. I couldn’t not include it. I heard it in February! That should be fine!

• Khaif (EP) by Nabeel

  • This shit just rocks. I don’t know what else to say. Listen and tell me otherwise.

• “Like Lovers Do” by Elias Rønnenfelt

  • Listen, I like Iceage. I really do! They have released five nearly perfect albums, but they just don’t hit like frontman Elias Rønnenfelt’s debut solo endeavor. This is how I imagine classic rock would sound if it didn’t suck.

• “PULL ME BACK” by Samuel Shabazz featuring Dre Butterz

  • Sammy needs to quit rapping and just make a bunch of music that sounds like this—damn!

• “My Day Off” by Kacy Hill featuring Nourished by Time

  • My lovely girlfriend will gladly tell you that I was the most excited man in the world when I finally heard this duet with Kacy and Marcus from Nourished by Time. I am not ashamed of this. In fact, I am deeply pleased!

• “Starburster“/“Favourite” by Fontaines D.C.

  • Currently, the Fontaines have a new album in the chamber, and it’s my most anticipated of the year. That said, I’m worried that it might let me down. Even if it stinks, at least they blessed us with this binary of heaters.

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Ten TOOTHSOME Morsels of Note from the First SEVEN Months of the Year

• Gatecreeper is officially trash.

• Perfect Days is a perfect movie.

• Electronic music in the mainstream is over. 

  • NOBODY wants to see 2 Friends premier “Big Booty Mix 25” live in the flesh at Madison Square Garden.

• The brat movement needed to be terminated, and I’m glad the antidote was somehow even more busted than the poison itself.

  • That said, “The 360 remix with robyn and yung lean” still rules.

• The Bear’s costume department is twisted for trying to trick the public into thinking that chefs are actually cool and wear japanese garments. They don’t. 

  • Good chefs vape and wear Nikes from Kohl’s.

• Producers tdf and perc40 might actually change the game this year if my reading on their recent team-up with wildkarduno is accurate.

• Internet radio is nothing new, but it’s beginning to take over my life.

  • e.g. I need a device that allows me to toggle between NTS 1, NTS 2, 8 Ball, The Lot, and any other similar shit, and I want it to look like a dark gray version of this with a light gray face and red details.

• Rylo Rodriguez is adding all of Detroit’s swag to his arsenal, and it’s bringing tears to the eyes of the Rylo faithful, myself included. We all knew that he would ascend to this height. It was simply a question of when.

  • See: Rylo and Veeze’s take on Laila!’s “Not My Problem” vs. Rob49’s take on the same song. It will tell you everything that you need to know.

• Zach Bryan is unlistenable. Man needs to stiffen that upper lip and sauce it up a little! 

  • I just don’t want him to go out like Rod Wave.

• Anatomy of a Fall would be a very good movie if Justine Triet and Arthur Harari realized that no twelve year old in the history of twelve year olds has ever spoken as thoughtfully as Daniel Maleski does, especially in the final act.

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