Remember when…
Mark Sinker: Spending hours on Google Maps Streetview trying to determine if the dual carriageway they’re overlooking is the A12, yes I do understand this song (the London_knower has logged on).
[6]
Nortey Dowuona: I usually like Fakemink, but he’s completely annihilated here. You can’t save London if you’re completely irrelevant to a listening experience. He’s not even a particularly interesting thumb piano.
[6]
Julian Axelrod: This new strain of laconic British rap over Crystal Castles darkwave synths sounds like a mashup I’d download onto my family’s desktop computer in 2012, and Fakemink sounds like one of the shady mp3 rap blogs I’d download it from that’s designed to give you a virus.
[8]
Alfred Soto: A bright smear of a track, “Easter Pink” is a nostalgist’s dream: electronic bass from early ’00s garage, synth beeps and bloops smuggled in from DFA Records, and rap with the half-remembered nag of a DJ Shadow sample. Mysterious and sensual, and it’s over in less than 90 seconds.
[7]
Leah Isobel: I can’t tell if the brevity here comes from sharp focus or from fear of doing too much and being seen as cringe. Either way, I don’t hate it — modern life is meaningless, so why shouldn’t a song just be all hook? Added a point for the delivery of “Ann Demeulemeester zip,” which will bounce around in my head for three more days.
[6]
Tim de Reuse: My initial wave of cynicism at hearing this warmed-over retread of decade-old pop-house tricks was quickly balanced by the dopamine-hit satisfaction I get from hearing a goofy thump of a beat produced awkwardly on purpose. Unaware of the concept of subtlety. The perfect length. It’s adorable.
[6]
Ian Mathers: For 90 seconds, I felt like I was back in my undergrad apartment (affectionate).
[8]
Taylor Alatorre: “What I used to hear when I played NBA 2K 10-12 years ago ??“
[6]
Jonathan Bradley: Replicates the dislocated playground catchiness of the early M.I.A.-Diplo scribble “URAQT,” which was an animated gif in song form, then smears it across a digital eternity.
[8]
Katherine St. Asaph: Just no effort whatsoever!
[6]
Jel Bugle: I like this one! Got a bit of life to it! A nice bit of hyperpop-ish cloud rap! Plus a new song about Easter — there are not enough.
[9]
Melody Esme: As much of a noise-head as I am, isn’t the whole point to create layers that reveal themselves the more you listen? You can’t just use distortion to cover up your lame-ass bars. But if you’re gonna try, at least pump the volume up loud enough that I don’t have to hear you say “Bad bitch pretty with double D tits.” (What’s up with straight men and cup sizes, anyway? Is being in the vicinity of tits not enough for you freaks? Must you put them on a scale like a bunch of fucking math dorks?)
[5]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: This guy has released a hundred songs or whatever in the past nine months and they all sound pretty much exactly like this; I’m not complaining, of course: inanely charismatic conjurings of a misremembered 2007 will perhaps fail to charm me some day but for now this is a great work of art the way pad see ew from a street vendor is — both in the repetition of the form and in the unique quirks of each individual iteration.
[8]