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- [00:01]
Sponsor Message
Support for this podcast and the following message come from Dignity Memorial when your celebration of life is prepaid today, your family is protected. Tomorrow, planning ahead is truly one of the best gifts you can give your family. For additional information, visit dignitymemorial.com A quick note before the show, this podcast contains explicit language.
- [00:28]
Stephen Thompson
Happy Friday, everyone, from NPR Music. It's New Music Friday. Stephen Thompson here with John Morrison from Culture Cipher Radio on WXPN in Philadelphia. How you doing, John?
- [00:38]
John Morrison
I'm good, Steven. How you been?
- [00:40]
Stephen Thompson
I've been doing all right. We are getting into a stretch of the release calendar where it is very hard to narrow down just a handful of albums to talk about.
- [00:49]
John Morrison
Yeah, around this time, it's always a nice wave of records that I enjoy.
- [00:55]
Stephen Thompson
We're gonna kick things off with a record, Billy woods, and it's called Gollywood.
- [01:00]
Billy Woods
Dumb luck if they ask me how but go ahead and cash me know I need mine now when my father came home they slaughtered a cow I come home the house falling down Everything boarded up in town Everyone living South Africa now Talk about it's hard all around why when it's my turn to eat it's always ashes in my mouth Grown man excited to be in the streets Negroes is clowns or maybe it really is hard all around Weight of the world on your shoulders Keep a couple pounds Tend the grass, coon the trees I keep the ground salt to the earth Bent back with a hoe his whole life sat up in the herd gave him quite the fright. Rick Mortis on the cordless mic like In Memoriam, Cite My Sources Anti pop consortium, Cold Flowing Every Line.
- [01:46]
John Morrison
Billy woods is a Brooklyn based mc. He's the founder of Backwoods Studios, one of the best and most progressive labels in underground hip hop. He's a, he's a veteran emcee. He's one half of the duo Arm and Hammer with the rapper Elucid, and really one of the finest MCs working today, Wood's new one, Gollywog. It's such a dark and unsettling record. Was reading Andre G's fantastic piece in Rolling Stone where he interviews Woods. And woods specifically points to the influence of horror on this album. And it's all over like you can.
- [02:32]
Billy Woods
Feel it today I watched a man die in a hole from the comfort of my home the drone flew real low, no rush, real slow he curled up into himself a fetus in the womb, Womb was the earth Grenades landed at his feet and he scrabbled in.
- [02:49]
John Morrison
The dirt the way this record Plays out kind of reminded me of the classic like old school horror anthologies like Creep show or like Trilogy of Terror where woods he's detailing very real social horrors like historical, contemporary and then some future kind of like speculative stuff. He's talking about colonialism. There's a point where you hear an audio clip, a sample of someone talking about the US government's torture programs that they carried out after 9 11. This stuff is rooted in a horror aesthetic sonically and lyrically. But it's not fantasy. It's all real stuff that he's talking.
- [03:36]
Billy Woods
To staggering post colonial African zombie state. Chase the people into the waves. Watch every ship and raft till it disappear whether it make it or watery grave. Hey, who's to say right away zombies stop going all crazy, they whole game change like Soze, Walking Dead. No way brother. The uninterrupted Rangers roving. You already know that chauffeur gold Mercedes is a go bit of harvest where the house of tradies or Hawkins.
- [04:05]
Stephen Thompson
Billy woods has been around a long time. You know, he's been putting out records since 2003. He's really taken off in the last few years. He's been collaborating with people like Kenny Siegel. You know, he put out a record in 2023 called Maps that was just a staple of year end top 10 lists.
- [04:22]
Billy Woods
I must be getting old or something.
- [04:24]
Stephen Thompson
A track like Waterproof Mascara, you know, it sounds like it's the soundtrack to a vintage horror mo.
- [04:39]
Billy Woods
Watch my mother cry from the top of the stairs scared when it came through the walls I covered my ears half hoping you know who would die. Then he did. Surprise. Careful what you wish for. Might just get that shit. Mom showed us where she kept the passports in. Your king's dad and your uncles are not our friends. How many times I gotta tell you kids? It's us in this.
- [05:05]
Stephen Thompson
A song called Golgotha. You know that that again is. Is weaving in these samples.
- [05:10]
John Morrison
Salamanders, the old years, the green years will leap.
- [05:14]
Stephen Thompson
But at the same time, because a lot of the. The samples are so vintage. Because he's drawing on kind of old horror movies. He's drawing on these influences, you know, that are very much, you know, from deep in the past. There's almost this sense of playfulness at the same time like the samples are leavening agents as much as they are like reminding us of the horrors of the world.
- [05:38]
Billy Woods
Munitions flying in an empty sky. Saw a lion at the Bronze Zoo when I was nine. It's stuck in my mind sometimes feeling like the Tig on Shrines cover the fuselage Cut them down in a line, brother Fuselage shuddering as the plane climb. You know, I prayed to every one of them all.
- [05:55]
John Morrison
I don't think woods gets as much credit as he should for his humor. Kind of like clever insight that he'll throw into the music. This record is absolutely brutal, but it does have moments where I don't want to say lighter, but it's. It's kind of like dark humor. Like, even the. The very beginning of the record, like the first sound you hear, if I'm not mistaken, it sounds like an old school film projector winding up, like the first thing you hear before you hear any music. So with that choice, like breaking the fourth wall, woods, to me is very much playing the role of, like, Alfred Hitchcock on this record where he's not only exploring fear, but he's also the mind and the voice, narrating all of it and tying it all together.
- [06:54]
Billy Woods
My bed clothes but ain't no accidents, no coincidences it's all praxis Some drove, some crawl Some ran Glancing backwards Some ran ravenous Tender is the flesh slender Imaginary friends this winter you'll eat to live Summer heat blew the grid rapid Dog in the yard Car won't start Rag dog playing dead it's all over.
- [07:17]
Stephen Thompson
The place in a way that I found really impressive. You know, I went back and kind of listened to it again and kind of picked up on more and more of the. Of the tonal shifts as he's moving through this record. There's a song called Born Alone, which is really sad and haunting and woozy, but I found it really hypnotic. I just got drawn into it.
- [07:36]
Billy Woods
Born alone, die alone no matter who your man is Hope he live long enough to tell it to his banking Born alone, die alone Born alone, die alone Born alone, Die alone Born alone, die alone I had a zipper break on the nightstand Woke to a pile of 12 12s that had a skunky smell Shoemaking elves Imma go back in time Tell that young BO Give them hell if it's a fight Fight to the bell peep the 6 CD carousel.
- [08:05]
Stephen Thompson
Scott, tell Page and then, like, he's such a clever lyricist, you know, I can't help but shout out a song like Corinthians, which features the rapper Despot, not just because it features a reference to the tiny desk, but because he's so witty that it really. I almost said undercut. It doesn't undercut, it enhances. It mixes in the kind of the darkness and the portent with, as you said, humor.
- [08:29]
Billy Woods
I Hit him with the heads he screaming carry my vision Swim, girlfriend whenever you're around you light dims $0.02 if it's on site, say less Where I see it it ain't no past tense Little kid, tiny desk Itty bitty violins Big head, blue lips if you never came back from the dead can't tell.
- [08:46]
John Morrison
Me shit woods is one of the best writers out and it's. It's all over this record. Not to make it like in like a sports metaphor kind of way, but he's really in his prime, you know what I mean? And it seems like everything he puts out, it's like, yo, how deeper can you get into the craft of MC and the craft of writing?
- [09:10]
Billy Woods
Neighbors just got evicted. How you gonna put folks out a week before Christmas? And they got kids. Them people sick in their head is sickening. Everything Niggas got tossed the street Crying kids is wicked Took what they could fit in a cousin with P2 trips the rest just sit Nobody wants to be the first but it's just it. Eventually people start picking, sifting through. Not proud, but eventually I was with them too. Pots and pans, the kitchen few old clothes My kids is little, they won't know the difference Dogs with their heads missing Wild eyed Rocking horse mouth carved into a frown Family photos scattered on the ground but they not of that family I put them down A light drizzle drove me back inside the house Barred the door Sat on the couch with the stuff on the floor everywhere it's hungry mouths Billy woods is in his 40s.
- [09:57]
Stephen Thompson
For popular musicians, that is not generally the trajectory. So to have him kind of continuing to gain momentum as he moves through his 40s, as his music is kind of getting even smarter as these references get more dense, as the samples that he's drawing from become kind of richer and more thoughtfully considered. It's really inspiring for me to hear a record by an artist who's this far into his career and sounding more vital than ever.
- [10:29]
Billy Woods
All summer and a day I spent all summer digging myself out of grave can't run with the wolves when you're stray can't let anyone know you getting paid can't let them meet the connect your own people get you up out the way I hit 20k in my mother basement DC summit suffocating the air Pregnant the whole city just waitin't tasty in my own blood and bracelets When.
- [10:55]
John Morrison
I was a kid, rappers got signed to a major label and got two albums and that was it.
- [11:00]
Stephen Thompson
Right?
- [11:01]
John Morrison
You know what I mean? This is somebody who's created his own lane, pushing the craft itself forward, pushing, you know, his own skill and ability to write forward. And this record, you know, I didn't tap in with the last one as much as I've been playing this one. And this is, you know, one of. One of my favorite things that he's done in recent years.
- [11:25]
Stephen Thompson
That's Golliwog from the rapper Billy woods, out today, May 9th. Next up, more veteran artists Mark Pritchard and Thom York have a new record called Tall Tal. So Mark Pritchard and Tom York, this is their first full length album together. Tom York, of course, is the lead singer of Radiohead and the Smile. Mark Pritchard is a veteran electronic producer with Reload and Link and Global Communication. He's a specialist in weird old synthesizers. Like, he delves into, like, archives of obscure old synthesizers and really puts that skill set to good use here in the song we just heard. This is probably closer in spirit to Tom York's work with like, Atoms for Peace than it is with, like, Radiohead or the Smile kind of experimental electronic music where they're really warping and playing with Thom Yorke's music in interesting ways while really turning Mark Prichard loose on these strange and hypnotic and kind of throwbacky arrangements that sometimes sound like old video games and really kind of smear these songs in really intriguing ways.
- [13:14]
John Morrison
Yeah, this was a pleasant surprise for me. I saw Mark Pritchard's name pop up on this record and I kind of speculated what it would sound like and I was excited. You know, his production is fantastic. A lot of those old Global Communication tracks I still play out in DJ sets, but this is something completely different. Tall Tales is a dark, atmospheric record. Sometimes it feels like a film score. Like there are certain sections of this record that feel like maximal ambient music, but then there's other times where they lock into a groove and a vocal and melody, and it feels kind of like electronic pop record from another dimension.
- [14:31]
Stephen Thompson
There's a track on this album called the White Cliffs and it's eight minutes long and you get this eerie quality. You'll get kind of lo fi, you know, kind of drum machine, you know, minimalism. But then you're also getting hooks thrown in. And, you know, they're playing around with Thom Yorke's voice so much, and it's wild. You know, you're dealing with confident artists. You're playing around with a voice as iconic as Tom Yorke's voice voice. Tommy York's voice has been omnipresent now for more than three decades. But they'll take it and they'll warp it. It's almost like a. Like a. Like a charcoal drawing where they're taking their fingers and smudging it and kind of, kind of flattening it and stretching it and playing around with it. They're still playing with new ideas and new sounds this far into their careers and that Thom York, you know, is kind of liberated from having a lot of commercial needs. He's not worried about extending some big hit making career. He's interested in making challenging music. Music.
- [16:27]
John Morrison
It's just overall, sonically, such a playful record. The sound design is crazy. You. You hear a lot of the older instruments that Mark Prichard and Thom York are using as far FISA on this record. They're playing an ARP Odyssey at one point, a Yamaha Electone that I love, love the sound of those old Yamaha synthesizers. And they're like twisting this stuff and playing around with it and making all these old vintage instruments sound futuristic.
- [17:05]
Stephen Thompson
Tonally. It adds up to this vibe that like, I don't know, I'm sure in German there's a word that means jaunty and haunting. There's a track called Gangsters where my immediate thought was like, this manages to be jaunty and kind of playful. But there's also this undercurrent of menace and sorrow, like a weird old horror movie to kind of speak to what we were talking about with the Billy woods record. I wanted to kind of wrap this segment by acknowledging that there is kind of a third member of this group. The visual artist Jonathan Zawada designed visuals to go along with this record. Not just album artwork, but also video. And Jonathan Zawada made a full length visual companion to this record. There's another dimension to the work that they're doing here that makes perfect sense that there would be visuals and I can't wait to see kind of the visuals that they concoct to go along with the sound. Because it's music that really lends itself to. To the eye. Good to have you back. So where you been?
- [18:58]
John Morrison
All summoned out, Started again.
- [19:02]
Stephen Thompson
Try to walk straight But My Leg that is. Tall Tales new album by Mark Pritchard and Thom York. We've got a bunch more great records to talk about this week, but first let's take a quick break.
- [19:23]
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- [19:57]
Stephen Thompson
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- [20:55]
Stephen Thompson
From NPR Music, it's NEW MUSIC Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with John Morrison of Culture Cipher Radio with WXPN in Philadelphia. John, I hear tal you have a book coming out.
- [21:06]
John Morrison
I do. I do. So for the past year and some change, I've been working on a book about Philly Zone Boys to Men. And the book actually comes out May 20th. It's about boys to men. It's biographical. So I'm walking folks through the story of Boyz II Men, how they met in high school, how they became one of the biggest pop groups of the 90s. But I'm also giving you, you know, lots of nuggets about, you know, Philly hip hop history, soul music history, the history of R and B as it relates to race in America. So I tried to pack as much as I could in this book about a beloved group.
- [21:55]
Stephen Thompson
Yeah. And boy, they came out of such an interesting and fertile scene, you know, because they kind of came up alongside like Belle Biv DeVoe and, you know, a lot of that stuff that was, that was, that was really, really popping in the 90s. And fun fact, this is a perfect, like two truths and a lie thing for me. There was a memorial service for my father who died in 1994, and another bad creation, ABC performed at a memorial for my father.
- [22:22]
John Morrison
Really? Wow. Yeah. If you would have done that, you know, like two truths and a lie, I would have absolutely been like, no way that's true, man. I'd see it. There's just a lot of info about that new edition east coast family. A lot of 90s R&B. You know, it's a big, beautiful book. It's a hardcover book, perfect for coffee tables. The book is Boyz II Men. 40th anniversary celebration.
- [22:52]
Stephen Thompson
Motown, Philly, Boys II Men, ABC, BBD.
- [22:55]
John Morrison
The East Coast Family.
- [23:00]
Billy Woods
Boys, the Men. A, B, C, B, B.
- [23:03]
Stephen Thompson
All right, next up, we have the new mixtape from Pink Pantherus. Pink Panthers has a new record called Fancy that My Name is Pink, and.
- [23:11]
John Morrison
I'm really glad to meet you. You're recommended to me by some people. Hey, is this illegal? Hey, it feels illegal. I've saw there quite a few times of paranoia.
- [23:31]
Stephen Thompson
So I tend to think of Pink Panthers as kind of the ultimate rising star of the TikTok era. She makes these songs that kind of breeze in almost like they're coming in like a vapor, you know? And this record is nine songs in 21 minutes. Brisk, breezy, but sometimes very insistent dance pop.
- [23:57]
John Morrison
I like the fact that we don't communicate. As long as you don't follow your best. You can tell she has her finger on the pulse of what young folks want to hear. But it's. It's also interesting, like. Like listening to the single from this mixtape tonight, I'm hearing a lot of different references from older music. It's like older electronic music, but filtered through this contemporary lens. Just the chords. This song tonight is beautiful. Electric piano chords. I do this all because you're my superstar I look at you and I wonder why it's so complicated. There's a tune by the band D Light called how do youo say Love, and the producer, Pal Joey, did a remix, like a dub of it. If you would have told me that Pink Panthers sampled the same chords that Pal Joey did on that D Light record, I would believe you. The texture and the sound, they sound so similar. In her music, I hear electronic dance music. Jersey Club, Baltimore Club. But there's also, in certain songs, like, in her vocal tone and. And the melodies that she plays around with, they kind of feel like a western take on K Pop, which K pop itself is. You know, it's drawing so heavily its.
- [26:04]
Stephen Thompson
Own set of influences.
- [26:05]
John Morrison
Yeah. So it's like a. A weird, like, feedback loop. These songs, you know, to your point, Stephen, are quick and breezy, but I think that there's definitely substance and history in this stuff. It feels very much how young people process music history, like, very fast.
- [26:44]
Stephen Thompson
Well, and one thing that this record really had me thinking about is A larger trend that is really coming up in pop culture in general beyond just music, which is the power and increasing volume of Gen Z nostalgia. A lot of what Pink Panthers is doing is kind of marrying very, very contemporary, kind of TikTok friendly, extremely like, hook forward excerpt forward music, and mixing that with a healthy dose of Gen Z nostalg. The artists sampled on this record, Basement Jacks, Jessica Simpson, Panic at the Disco, and Just Jack. And so she's. She's weaving in sounds that she herself is nostalgic for. And, you know, when we're talking about kind of the larger pop cultural landscape and you're looking at some of the biggest, like a couple of the biggest movie hits in recent years are like a Minecraft movie, Five Nights at Freddy's. These are films that are making absolute bank appealing to the nostalgic impulses of very young.
- [28:19]
Billy Woods
Okay, it's good.
- [28:28]
John Morrison
I would argue that Gen Z cares about the past more than my generation did. Like, Gen Z feels like a generation that's very much forward moving, but also, like, looking at the past and. And, you know, they all love Shoe Gaze and like old electronic music and old drum and bass and stuff like that, you know, edit. Obviously an artist like Pink Panther is somebody who's, you know, accomplished. Like, she produces a lot of this music. She's, you know, not somebody who's just showing up at the studio and singing. Not that that doesn't have value, but she's creating a lot of these soundscapes herself, so naturally she would have a handle on sampling and what she wants to reference.
- [29:35]
Stephen Thompson
Everything's amazing.
- [29:38]
John Morrison
Slowly Take.
- [29:46]
Stephen Thompson
This feels like kind of the root of what can be a larger project. I'm kind of hearing remixes of the future listening to this record. There's a track on this album called Stars. Big, bold, bright, danceable pop music. She's famous for her brevity. She's famous for songs that don't waste a second and have this compact quality to them that can still be kind of excerpted down into smaller and smaller fragments. But I also hear the potential in a song like Stars for remixes and expansion at the same time. That is Fancy that by Pink Pantherus. Next up, Mike and Tony Seltzer. Mike and Tony Seltzer have a new album called Pinball 2. This is a Tony Seltzer exclusive.
- [31:05]
Billy Woods
Brody told me what it take to make my neck glisten I grew up with him Run away the few neglect victims he screwed up Trying to run a fade Now I get with her no few my niggas Tuck and blatan due to stress dinner I come to my trust and fake my head and chest message I almost touched 100k I'm repping 10 kids when I'm out in London say God ready and with me trusting y' all I can show you money plays you can't invest in me there's funny up in shade instead of red with me I just sent her number play and tell her Get Pretty.
- [31:37]
John Morrison
Pinball 2 is the brand new album from the New York based MC Mike M I K E and the producer Tony Seltzer. This record is very fun and very bizarre. It opens with a song called Sin City which has this like wild, raucous, like heavy beat. Even like the master of the record, it sounds like it's distorted, like they pushed the entire thing into the red. And the arrangement and the production. It kind of feels like 2009 Lex Luger kind of beat, you know what I mean? Like, it has that late 2000s, like, club energy to it. And I think that that song starting off with that song, it kind of sets the tone.
- [32:37]
Billy Woods
We just raising hell well they threw me in our cell phone prove I was a failure they proved they never said you the goat all I hate never know how I feel Seen a ghost in the mirror at my own ganture do the most for this I was broke used to still feeling close from my fear shot coke trying to all that goofy shit you fell for only bring yourself I'm in the stew of Tony Seltzer we just raising hell what they do me in that cell.
- [33:06]
John Morrison
For ain't mean give me better child.
- [33:08]
Billy Woods
Proof they proof ain't never served Go R ha here never know how I feel Seen a ghost in the mirror my home getting chill.
- [33:21]
John Morrison
There'S like mellow tunes that have really gorgeous production and sonic environment. But then there are songs that are like straight up, like it feel like somebody hit you with a baseball bat, you know what I mean? It's like hard as nails and words tonight. It has that good aspect of a mixtape feel where you get a lot of variety. And Mike is Mike. Mike is a very particular vocal tone and delivery style and you know, he's the center of all of this other music that's flying around. This environment that they're creating is kind of like a storm. And Mike is at the center of it.
- [34:09]
Billy Woods
He ain't got no brags need a shortcake yeah A girl turned a legendary move he ain't got no bread short shortcake yeah a girl turned a legendary.
- [34:18]
Stephen Thompson
Move this record puts 17 tracks in 33 minutes. And as you can imagine from kind of that statistic, you're getting a lot of kind of one and two minute songs. But the ideas on these songs still feel complete.
- [34:34]
Billy Woods
I'm not sure I don't have any cause more because I'm sure about on that mission because there's more ways, more bait. How to bring that chicken to your doorway north side I had to put a city on a tour dates as short I don't.
- [34:48]
Stephen Thompson
You move through this record with real momentum as it's kind of, as you said, kind of whipping from song to song. But nothing feels unfinished, Nothing feels kind of frustratingly truncated where it's like the start of an idea that doesn't go anywhere. There's slower material that really has some real kind of emotion, like intimacy and emotional impact. There's a track on this record called Angsty, which, you know, true to its title, has this sense of reflection to it, even as it's kind of whipping through different tones and sounds and styles.
- [35:24]
Billy Woods
If I lose my rain don't blame me they get cool my ways and candy your booze just came in handy I got blues my paper stamped and the truth is way too bad so the shroom just made me angry I commute my taste with Ramsay I be moving way too fast In a room I stay with banshees A lot of.
- [35:41]
John Morrison
His delivery feels slurred. It feels super casual. But it's also like a casual mastery at his face. They feel like, oh, he's just kind of showing up and. And showing up and mumbling through this. But if you look at the couplets that he's putting together and the patterns that he's kind of playing around with and how he's locking in with the beat, you realize like, yo, this is somebody who's mastered the traditional way of rapping and going beyond that.
- [36:17]
Billy Woods
I give you what you came for what you got I never learned.
- [36:23]
John Morrison
There's a story folks used to call Ornette Coleman Little Bird because he learned how to play all the super fast, you know, Charlie Parker stuff. And then he went into the stuff that had people thinking, like, can this dude really play? Is that sort of thing where it's like he's really kind of broken through with a style of mc and that's. That's all his own. The different, like, shift in moods on this record. There are aspects of it that are sad that. That feel vulnerable. But then there are other aspects of it where he's like, I'm talking shit, I'm sliding on this beat I'm better than you, you know what I mean? Like the, the, the thing that rap.
- [37:18]
Billy Woods
Should be, when I'm with her, I get cuddly Suddenly the coolest in the city who they want to be hugging me cooler it ain't business I be wishing on a honey G money drink numeric all that sun with me moving through your city I got muscle beats trouble try to get her with me. Come on.
- [37:42]
John Morrison
Listening to this record, it kind of reminded me of, of how unique an artist Mike is and the production, it's like a perfect marriage.
- [37:56]
Stephen Thompson
Well, and you talk about, you kind of talk about flexing. I mean, it's like the penultimate track on the record. All of a sudden it's like, oh, here's Earl sweatshirt. Just thought we'd just have him pop in. And you just get this great kind of bracing mix of voices.
- [38:10]
Billy Woods
All that doubt you averted with sloppy try to clown over her is the copy only God know the words behind me only God know the worst I anxiety mostly now I know the hurt you remind me only Donna will hurt to be modest know my body is certainly likely I don't chop on murder soccer ain't no lie.
- [38:26]
Stephen Thompson
If you learn from Mikey, that's Pinball two from Mike and Tony Seltzer. We've got one more record we're going to talk about in depth, as well as a lightning round of some of the other great new albums out today, May 9th. But first, let's take a quick break.
- [38:41]
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- [39:20]
Stephen Thompson
From NPR Music. It's NEW MUSIC Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with John Morrison from Culture site for Radio and WXPN in Philadelphia. We've got a lightning round of some of our other favorite albums out this week. But first, we wanted to talk about one more record. Definitely a curveball. It's by the band McCluskey and it's called the World Is Still Here and so Are We.
- [39:49]
Billy Woods
And that's not the best thing that happened today. There was blood, of course There always is.
- [39:54]
Stephen Thompson
I recommend the showers. All right, so McCluskey, you know, one theme, you know, with several of the artists that we've talked about this week. Veteran artist McCluskey UK kind of post punk hardcore band, it's been around since the mid-90s. Then took an extremely long hiatus starting in the mid aughts. Aggressive, weird, snotty, post punk with a real sense of humor and grandiosity. First thing pulling me in about this record, song titles. There's a song called the Competent Horse Thief. There's a song called Kafkaesque novelist Franz Kafka.
- [40:59]
Billy Woods
Tell me I'm famous without being famous Tell me I'm famous without being famous.
- [41:02]
Stephen Thompson
Tell me I'm famous without being famous.
- [41:04]
Billy Woods
Without me getting caught.
- [41:05]
Stephen Thompson
You know, we've talked about with several other records this week like the Billy woods, like the Mark Pritchard and Tom York record, you know, where they're just like wadding a ton of ideas in into these songs that really just have this quality. Like they couldn't not release it because this music is just so bursting with creativity.
- [41:38]
Billy Woods
Without being back.
- [41:43]
John Morrison
This is a fun wild ass record, you know what I mean? Like I wasn't familiar McClusky as the meme says. I wasn't familiar with your game before, before I heard this cuz I think this is a very unique body of work. But one thing that kept jumping out in my mind was like yo, this is like a louder, gnarlier pair ub a song. Give you like hardcore kind of riffs and, and rhythms. But then it'll spin into this weird like shouty thing or like a bass breakdown. This is bizarre. And I think that rock music needs.
- [42:32]
Billy Woods
Bumps and cuppers Heart stoppers, port calluses d plod backwards I can break I can crush what I want I'm a pure machine it's just the way that I work if I work at all Cops and coppers grave robbers old time.
- [42:51]
Stephen Thompson
Even still guilty of murders I like.
- [42:54]
Billy Woods
Peril to be proud of its name.
- [42:56]
John Morrison
Every genre music needs the weirdos and people willing to make bizarre, political, emotional, erratic music. And this McCluskey record has all of that. I was pleasantly surprised by how hard and crazy and weird this record was.
- [43:18]
Stephen Thompson
It hadn't even occurred to me to think of this record as a tribute to Per Ubu and the late David Thomas, who whom we just lost. I had been aware of McClusky. Like you John, this is a band that I hadn't necessarily spent a ton of time with, but I've always had friends who've loved this band. And you know, I've always had. There were always. There was always somebody else at, you know, wherever I was working, who was always willing to jump on a new McCluskey record and who was always excited about a new McCluskey record. And this is the first time for me that I ever really got a chance to sit down and. And listened from start to finish to a full McCluskey record and then kind of listen to it again and kind of soak up some of the. The. Some of the nuances. I know nuance sounds like a strange word with a record that is so hard charging, but just reveling in how weird and wonderful a lot of these songs are, how funny they are. There's a track on this record called Autofocus on the Prime Directive that is so wild and unhinged and almost. Almost cartoony. It's intense in a way that feels deeply playful. And that is what I really found myself celebrating on this record.
- [44:36]
Billy Woods
Put it away, you fool.
- [44:38]
Stephen Thompson
No one is watching.
- [44:40]
Billy Woods
Better to mean it, man.
- [44:42]
Stephen Thompson
Better to mean it. I ought to focus on.
- [44:52]
Billy Woods
I ought to focus on the Prime Directive I'll forever be a sideman Ought to focus on the prime the R just for the job you want no terror is.
- [45:11]
John Morrison
You can feel the commitment even in, you know, beyond like the lyrics and what's happening vocally, the performances musically, the arrangements. We need more rock music that, you know, will kind of like drag you around the bend and introduce weird ideas. A handful of individuals who are committed to. To make it something that don't sound like anything else.
- [46:01]
Stephen Thompson
That's the World Is Still Here and so are we by McCluskey. We could not possibly get to every new record that we wanted to talk about, so we wanted to do a lightning round of some of our other favorite albums. I'm going to kick us off with the Head and the Heart because tonight we're going to party like it's 2011. The head and the Heart is back with a gorgeous new set of kind of crowd pleasing folk pop. The exact mix I think fans have come to really look for and expect. Big, joyous, rousing uplift intersected with tenderness and sentiment rendered with real skill and craft. This has been one of the most reliable bands around for more than 15 years now. Their new sixth album is called Aperture.
- [46:53]
John Morrison
Something missing?
- [46:57]
Stephen Thompson
Could it be love?
- [47:04]
John Morrison
Celebrating the anniversary of their 2002 debut album, in between, the German electronic music collective Jazzanova. They're back with a brand new album, In Between Revisited, which is a live version of In Between. It's a beautiful album, connecting the dots between hip hop, sample culture, broken beat, soul music, jazz music, and it's all played out live on stage. A record that was so complex, with all of these different samples and different musicians coming in playing these very complex arrangements. It's dope to see them do this live and create a nice update to such a groundbreaking record.
- [48:10]
Stephen Thompson
The singer songwriter Omar Banos, who records under the name Cuco, has been putting out charming pop records for almost a decade now, and he's still only 26. His music blends bedroom pop, cumbia, bossa nova and the classic sounds of American AM soft rock. All of it is dispensed with really earnest emotion and undeniable charisma. Cuco's new album is called Ridin Riding.
- [48:52]
John Morrison
Seven Piano Sketches by the rapper Andre 3000. This record is. Is curious. Obviously, Andre Bien, one of the greatest MCs who's ever lived, opting out of getting on the microphone instead. He's given us these. This small collection of just piano improvisations. He can play a little bit and has, you know, a lot of technical limitations, but I think that's part of the charming thing about it. He has some pieces on here where he's playing some really gorgeous, rich chords, but you can tell he just doesn't have the technique to flesh it out. It probably ain't gonna win Best Jazz Record or anything like that, but it's nice to see somebody at his level so willing to experiment.
- [50:05]
Stephen Thompson
And finally, Cole Police plays warm, fluttering ambient music where the primary voice is the saxophone. The effect can be calming or conversational or even kind of futuristically vibey. Sometimes there's this quiet, searing quality to it. But if you, like me, like to settle in with some hypnotic ambient music at the end of a long week, I am here to recommend Cole Police, whose new album is called Lands and Eternal John. Before we go, you and I listen to quite a bit of music in preparation for this episode, and it's fun to kind of just go out with, like, what was. What was your one single favorite song that you listened to preparing for this. For this episode?
- [50:58]
John Morrison
Yeah. So I'm a cheat a little bit because this is a live version, updated version of a song that I know well, but from Jazzanova's In Between Revisited, the song no Use, featuring Clara Hill. Absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous soul tune.
- [51:37]
Stephen Thompson
Sometimes, you know, when I'm struggling to pick, you know, well, which was my favorite, what was my one favorite song? I just think, what song is stuck in my head and I'm just gonna talk McCluskey Auto Focus on the Prime Directive. Auto focus on the Prime Directive. That's what is stuck in my head is just the shouting, the chanting of that big wild, silly, goofy fun song like I will be cranking that out of of my car for weeks and hopefully months to come. But there is plenty to choose from this week and that is our show for today, May 9th. Thank you so much, John Morrison, for taking time out of your week with WXBN and Culture Cipher Radio.
- [52:19]
John Morrison
Absolutely. Thank you, Steven.
- [52:20]
Stephen Thompson
And congratulations on the new Boyz II Men book.
- [52:22]
John Morrison
Yeah, I appreciate it.
- [52:23]
Stephen Thompson
I can't wait to check that out. If you enjoyed this week's show, we always appreciate a positive review on Apple or or Spotify or whatever app you are listening to right now. This episode was produced by Simon Rentner and edited by Otis Hart. The executive producer of NPR Music is Saraya Muhammad and her boss is Keith Jenkins, NPR's vice president of music and visuals. We'll be back next week to talk about the new Amine album and more with Ro Wildflower Contreras of kcrw. Until then, take a moment to be well, fire up the nearest grill and treat yourself to lots of great music. This message comes From NPR Sponsor 1Password Protect your digital life with 1Password if you're tired of family members constantly texting you for the passwords to streaming services, 1Password lets you securely share or remove access to logins access from any device anytime. 1Password lets you securely switch between iPhone, Android, Mac and PC with convenient features like autofill for quick sign ins. Right now, get a free two week trial for you and your family at 1Password.com NPR this message comes from Warby Parker.
- [53:58]
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- [54:10]
Stephen Thompson
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