Flatbush Zombies, Vacation In Hell
[Glorious Dead Recordings]
Grade: B
There’s pleasure to be had in rap records that are way too long, gradually turning into a sort of ambient mood music, beats crackling on minute after minute, rapper after rapper turning up to show out on the beat. Flatbush Zombies are at their best in this mode. All three members can go in, but their drug-munching, horror-obsessed style hasn’t ever really clicked until Vacation In Hell, where they tap into a Soul Food-era Goodie Mob sense of long-playing largesse. There are, sure, a couple dud hooks and some somnambulant moments in the back half, but the record’s appeal is its sprawl, a death march of murky, minor-key acid-rap with growling guest spots from Jadakiss, Bun B, and Denzel Curry, among others. It’s not exactly a quantum leap from their 2016 debut or earlier mixtapes so much as it is a clarification of their virtues, ditching the crystal-clear electronics of yore for crackling 35mm warmth. Rapper Meechy Darko’s napalm-scorched growl has always been central to this appeal, and here he steps out as the trio’s sleeper star, a rapper of surprising emotional expressiveness (“Facts”) and lyrical depth (“U&I”).
RIYL: Old Goodie Mob. Old Joey Bada$$. A less-flashy A$AP Mob.
Start here: The blunt-burner “U&I” takes the OutKast reference extremely literally, with Meechy Darko summoning the ghost of André for the best verse of his career. [Clayton Purdom]
Kali Uchis, Isolation
[Universal Music Group]
Grade: B+
Harnessing dreamy production, sugary hooks, and a Latin infusion, Kali Uchis reaches her final form with long-awaited debut LP Isolation. After captivating with honeyed vocals and raw emotion on 2015 EP Por Vida, the neo-soul singer spent the next two years crafting Isolation’s often dry and unabashedly introspective material. Uchis, who started writing poetry as a homeless teen, impresses from the get-go, mingling her vocals with flute on jazzy intro “Body Language,” flexing surf-pop muscle on “Miami,” and elevating her Colombian roots with the hip-shaking “Nuestro Planeta.” The 24-year-old proves she can truly turn any feeling or experience on its head and into pop fodder with kiss-off “Dead To Me.” As she breaks down the triumphs and heartbreaks of real life, she deftly invokes her every musical whim—from 1970s soul to hip-hop beats that wouldn’t be out of place on a ’90s dance floor—to stunning effect.
RIYL: M.I.A. SZA. Kelela. Erykah Badu.
Start here: Toronto jazz collective BadBadNotGood sets the tone on the percussion-driven single “After The Storm,” on which Uchis is also joined by frequent collaborator Tyler The Creator and funk legend Bootsy Collins. [Nina Hernandez]
Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Sex & Food
[Jagjaguwar]
Grade: B-
Unknown Mortal Orchestra majordomo Ruban Nielson took a global approach to his band’s fourth full-length, Sex & Food: He recorded the album in Seoul, Hanoi, Reykjavik, Mexico City, Auckland, and Portland. Accordingly, the music is a colorful pastiche of eras and approaches, including gooey psychedelic rock with grimy guitars (“Major League Chemicals”), gleaming Steely Dan homages (the falsetto-driven “Hunnybee”), zoned-out stoner-pop sprawls (“Ministry Of Alienation”), and blurry blues-rock (“American Guilt”). Although Sex & Food’s heavy-lidded moments can occasionally meander too far afield into somnolence, the record’s sharp observations about life, politics, and society are focused. On the poignant “If You’re Going To Break Yourself,” which seems to address the painful experience of losing a friend group after getting clean, Nielson sings wearily about missing “the secret loser language” and says, “You blocked my number just because I stayed alive.”
RIYL: Foxygen. “Casey Kasem’s American Top 40” reruns from the ’70s. Crate-digging in a dusty record store. Obscure prog. Later-period Radiohead. Steely Dan.
Start here: “Everyone Acts Crazy Nowadays,” a cosmic disco number sprinkled with glittery funk and soul accents. [Annie Zaleski]
Hinds, I Don’t Run
[Mom + Pop]
Grade: B-
If Hinds’ 2016 debut, Leave Me Alone, was suffused with easygoing party music, there’s a more bracingly direct vibe on follow-up I Don’t Run, even as it is more wide-ranging and expansive in structure and style. Sounding like the epitome of appealingly ramshackle K Records-style music, the quartet move from chilled-out canyon rock to spritely bubblegum sing-alongs to almost country-fied riffing, all of it filled out by the swirling harmonies of Carlotta Cosials and Ana Perrote. Tracks like “Echoing My Name” find an almost Cornershop-like groove, pairing it to unadorned and straightforward lyrics (“Sometime I miss having you around”) that carry the record through some of the weaker spots. Still, the group is at its best when it speeds up the tempo and delivers pogo-ready head-boppers, like “Tester” with its snare-driven refrain, or the dance-floor rhythms of “Finally Floating” and ’70s riffage of “To The Morning Light,” which adds a brash exuberance to its throwback sounds. The mess is the message—“If you’re looking for mistakes Hinds is your band,” Cosials has said—and the invitation to be okay with your own mistakes takes the band’s infectious, fuzzed-out music a long way.
RIYL: Poppier Halo Benders. Beat Happening covering The Byrds. A less goofy Vaselines.
Start here: “Tester” starts slow but then lurches into a sunny jangle-rock anthem, showcasing Hinds’ songwriting strengths. [Alex McLevy]
Saba, Care For Me
[Self-released]
Grade: B+
There’s an introspective urgency to Saba’s songs, like they’re the only thing keeping the 23-year-old from succumbing to the systemic and social madness that surrounds him on Chicago’s West Side, and that rawness has only expanded on sophomore effort Care For Me. As on 2016 debut Bucket List Project, Saba sets out to interrogate the madness, while celebrating the lives that manage to thrive despite it. It’s not easy on him: With a couple of exceptions (the radiant “Smile” and gospel-rap closer “Heaven All Around Me”), Care is a melancholy affair, where Saba wrestles with social isolation (“Busy,” “Fighter”), romantic and systemic dysfunction (“Broken Girls,” “Life”), and loss (the devastating “Prom/King”). It’s more sonically focused than Bucket List, riding an aqueous neo-soul/jazz palette throughout, while still showcasing Saba’s great versatility. On the downside, some of the album’s choruses feel like missed opportunities, falling flat (“Girls,” “Smile”) or retreading familiar territory (“Heaven” calls back to Saba’s turn on Chance’s superior “Angels”).
RIYL: Neo-soul and R&B. Chicago rappers like Noname, Mick Jenkins, and Chance The Rapper (on his darker days).
Start here: Single “Life” has one of Care For Me’s best beats, and Saba’s scorching performance is indicative of the many furious lyrical breakaways you’ll find within. [Kelsey J. Waite]
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