For The Record(s): Miscellaneous Categories

By Alif Omar Mahfix  •  in Music
Thirsty for JUICE content? Quench your cravings on our Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp


THE WEEKND
HOUSE OF BALLOONS/THURSDAY
Abel Tesfaye manages to release not just one, but two free mixtapes this year alone. House of Balloons and Thursday, while separated by months, should be listened as a singular double-album of sorts. Both exude dark after-party regret to their tracks, quite unlike other modern r’n’b in which decadence is celebrated, Tesfaye’s brand of r’n’b is a reaction to that decadence – a remorseful eulogy to an empty lifestyle of partying and bullsh*t.

FRANK OCEAN
NOSTALGIA, ULTRA
Frank Ocean is arguably the second most well-known member of the Odd Future collective, naturally he’s nothing like Tyler, the Creator. An r’n’b prodigy of the highest order, Frank Ocean’s Nostalgia, Ultra is the first r’n’b release to truly feel Americana. His rework of ‘Hotel California’ is given a great deal of depth, reflecting upon the States’ current socio-political climate and thus, in our opinion, improving upon the original.

DRIVE OST
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Director Nicolas Winding Refn said Drive is a movie about a sensitive man driving around the city listening to effeminate 80s-sounding pop songs. The OST to the movie is exactly that. Kavinsky & Lovefoxxx, Desire, and College provide accurate facsimiles of what electro-tinged 80s pop would sound like while Cliff Martinezz’s music from the film provides a different mood when not coupled with the movie’s visuals. We see ‘Under Your Spell’ being recycled over and over again by lesser indie filmmakers.

BON IVER
SELF-TITLED
It’s music for sensitive bearded men, which makes up roughly 60% of Pitchfork’s current demographics. Also, Justin Vernon was on Pitckfork’s best album of 2010, the perfect 10-rated My Beautiful Dark Fantasy. Pitchfork as fork, yo.

LOU REED & METALLICA
LULU
While not completely terrible, Lulu is a prime example of why two legends shouldn’t collaborate just because they’re legends. There’s nothing about Lou Reed and Metallica that could possible make them sound unified on the same track. It’s obvious what the two hope to gain though, Metallica wants the cred and Lou Reed wants the audience. And we get crap from the two of ‘em together.

LMFAO
SORRY FOR PARTY ROCKING
An apology for even existing on the same plane as us would have been better, and no, that does not mean we would accept their apology. To think at one point we thought Black Eyed Peas was the nadir of hip hop.