Deadshirt Is Listening… Bringing you a rundown our staff and guest contributors’ favorite new tracks released in the past week after they’ve had the weekend to blast them in their cars, in a club, alone in their rooms, etc.
Dominic Griffin is scrunch facing to:
“Animal”
Lakutis
Three Seashells
Rap/Hip-Hop
Sometimes the universe gives us little gifts. There being a rapper named after Locutus of The Borg with a mixtape titled after a Demolition Man reference? For me, that’s Christmas in February. I first saw Lakutis haphazardly DJing for Das Racist on my birthday two years ago. He spent an entire show obnoxiously adding reggaeton airhorn to songs that could have done without it. You may recognize his singsongy flow from any number of tracks with Heems or Kool AD, or other Greedhead affiliates, but his first full length solo effort dropped this past Thursday, after copious pushbacks. “Animal” isn’t the best song on the release (that would be “Too Ill For The Law” produced by Wavves’ little brother) but at the moment it happens to be my favorite. Steel Tipped Dove provides the instrumental, a cruising beat with simple drums and an organ riff that won’t quit. It might be his second least quotable track ever (behind “Ja Rule,” an entire song dedicated to Lakutis drunkenly whisper-singing “Put It On Me”) but there’s something winsome in the bridge and the hook is easy to ride to. Most Lakutis songs are about him being better than his peers (see: “I’m Better Than Everybody” from his I’m In The Forest EP) and “Animal” is no different. Where he might otherwise bowl you over with absurd brags and boasts, here he seems content with his own dopeness, casually floating over the beat like an amorphous cloud of drug addled swag.
Dylan Roth is dressing up and spinning around to:
“Spinners”
The Hold Steady
Teeth Dreams
Alt-rock
The Hold Steady returns next month with a new album, Teeth Dreams, their first in four years. Their last release, 2010’s Heaven is Whenever, was a mellowed-out departure from their signature “21st Century Bar Band” style, and lead singer Craig Finn’s subsequent solo album Clear Heart, Full Eyes went even further in that direction, but the first two tracks from Teeth Dreams seem to be a return to form. Like many of The Hold Steady’s best songs, “Spinners” is an alcohol-soaked, lipstick-smeared night out in the city, punctuated by wild guitar solos and tinged with a hint of regret and cynicism. Finn’s attention to character and the authenticity of his city nightlife ballads continue to make him a contender for the throne of New Boss. Can Teeth Dreams provide the right combination of triumph and tragedy to pluck victory out of the hands of The Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon? We’ll find out on March 25th. (Or, more likely, the debate will just continue forever anyway.)
Julian Ames is moshing to:
“In Remission”
The Menzingers
Rented World
Pop Punk
“In Remission,” with its crunchy power chords, angsty lyrics about pain and loss, and occasional screaming (or shouting?), is the type of music that went out of style years ago. Once “Emo” became a dirty word in pop culture, most people moved on from the Punk and Post-Hardcore bands of the 90 and early 2000s, like Hot Water Music and Dillinger Four. But a pocket of resistance remained, and, more recently, a bunch of bands have had success making soundtracks for rural and suburban America. “In Remission” comes as the first track released off of The Menzingers’ fourth full-length album Rented World, which drops on April 22. For the unfamiliar, this song is pretty consistent with the Scranton, Pennsylvania natives’ modus operandi, a mid-tempo rocker about love and its pitfalls, with no real chorus until the end where there’s a chant or sing-along of some sort. And whether it’s something in the melody, or the conviction with which lead singer Greg Barnett sings, but you always end up singing along with them – even if it’s something overly dramatic like the refrain of this song: “If everyone needs a crutch, then I need a wheelchair, I need a reason to reason with you.” It’s always a little refreshing, for me, to hear music meant for road trips around rural America, especially as I’m now finding myself spending less time in road cars and more time in subway cars.
That’s it for us this week – what have you been listening to? Leave us a comment below or on our Facebook page!
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