Video & Audio: Bars and grills

Oh ark at ee

4am Kru: “Bristol Girls”

Blatant throwback jungle, with the exact bass whomps and keyboard settings required to set off Pavlovian reactions in old ravers, and enough speed and West Country dialect to keep the rest of us interested. That’s gert lush, that is.

That Mexican OT, Drodi, Paul Wall: “Johnny Dang”

This is definitely something one of you should’ve told me about earlier: the cover art is a guy in a lucha mask ffs. Johnny Dang is a Vietnamese-Houstonian custom grill-maker, That Mexican OT can rap fast while rolling his “r”s, Drodi holds his own, Paul Wall is still the people’s champ for people with a “chain so heavy [they’re] walking like an old man” who are starting to walk like that all the time.

Chappell Roan: “Red Wine Supernova”

When she has a proper melody to finesse, she’s more than a “what if Dan Nigro had someone less preternaturally gifted than Olivia Rodrigo (and also queer) to collaborate with” experiment. Even when she doesn’t, she’s pretty good for a control group.

El Alfa, Peso Pluma: “Plebada”

If Edgar Barrera’s busy, this might be the best use of the Featherweight’s real if bounded talents: let him rush through the first verse, then drawl “no sé de problema” (which he probably doesn’t) in pink A Bathing Ape camo for the chorus, while letting the DR’s current king of Dembow and a video morra with a baseball bat take care of the being hard.

Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society: “Last Waltz for Levon”

Though written a decade ago, by accident of death date this became a tribute to the wider Band. It captures the just-hanging-out-in-a-Vrbo feel of their early work while keeping away from their literal material for most of its running time, so when we finally get a direct quotation, it’s like Dixie getting driven down all over again. This is a pro-Ulysses S. Grant newsletter, so I’m not going to complain.

Chase & Status, Bou, Irah, Flowdan, Trigga, Takura: “Baddadan”

Boast songs are more strongly impacted by credit inflation than most songs. There’s nobody badda than Chase & Status, Bou, Irah, Flowdan, Trigga, Takura, Takura’s auntie, the Art History faculty at the University of Manchester, and anyone who’s listened to a The Prodigy album from before The Fat of the Land.

DJ Kent, Mo-T, Brenden Praise, MÖRDA: “Horns in the Sun” (Thakzin remix extended version)

Credit inflation has hit amapiano too, but at least this one has more minutes than artists. I’m too lazy to research who does what, so I’ll assume Thakzin just sits around hitting the kick drum three-quarters of the time, while everyone else takes turns polishing up the trumpet, which does shine up real good.

Mesita, Nicki Nicole, Emilia, Tiago PZK: “Una Foto Remix”

My New Year’s resolution to just rip off Dave Moore more so far hasn’t simplified this column, given how much time I spent fact-checking whether this was Argentine or Uruguayan reggaeton*. He notes the unbalanced rhythm; the kick drum arrives when it darn well feels like it. It’s kind of the inverse to a lot of contemporary rap: instead of the MC ignoring the beat, here it’s like the beat is ignoring the vocalists. Eventually the kids will push this too far for my delicate sensibilities, but for now, let’s fall over.

*about ten minutes; it’s both

RVG: “Midnight Sun”

“The freezer’s shutting down” is just the first sign of the Apocalypse. As Australians, they’re among the first-worlders on the front lines of climate change. If they want to deal with that using straightforward rock that somehow turns into a relationship metaphor, well, that’s ecological.

Ragana: “Woe”

Usually I bail on post-rockers screaming at me about how miserable they are as soon as I can make out any figurative language, but this works for me, probably because the screaming is really good. “Sorrow, agony, woe” are all things that exist as much as the four elements (each reverse-personified in turn) do; deal with them or don’t.

Kate NV: “Meow Chat”

Okay we can finally retire Keyboard Cat now.