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Music

Staff Picks and Good Shit for the Week of April 24

Here's what the Noisey staff was listening to this week.

Yo, when was the last time you watched this Céline Dion video? Like really watched it? We’ve been playing it non-stop here. Shit is t-i-i-i-ght. Like, who are those dusty dudes? Why is that umbrella so damn big? Why does this woman just float away? Who knows, man. The most popular comment on this video calls it the song of the millennium. Good call, Anna B. You’ve earned those 161 likes. Make that 162. Couldn’t like that hard enough. Anyway, here’s our music we liked this week and whatever.

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Christine and the Queens - "Tilted" (live)

This week I saw Christine and the Queens twice, watched Step Up starring Channing Tatum, and danced around my apartment to Drake, Kanye, Ciara, and Janet J for an hour, by myself. I've also been hanging out with a bunch of teenage girls who make up The Lady Dragons—a super competitive step team from Brooklyn Tech. All of which is to say that dancing, or at the very least co-ordinating movements to a beat, is very much at the forefront of my brain. My butt really hurt right now and it's not due to my fourth floor walk up. I urge you to watch this live performance of Christine. She is pure joy and watching her do her MJ moves with her small fleet of fiery hot dancers makes the back of my thighs feel funny. Yesterday, ahead of her show at Westway in NY, the French pop star performed at the UN in front of Hillary Clinton. NBD. Read our interview with her here.

Kim Taylor Bennett, Style Editor
Kim on Noisey | Kim on Twitter


Bully - “I Remember”

I knew Bully recently released a killer jam called “I Remember” but when I searched for “bully i remember” on the internets, I found a video for a song called “I Remember (The Bully Song).” I watched it and let me tell you, I learned a lot about bullying. Man, it… is… SWEET! All those nerds getting swirlies and wedgies. It’s good to make people feel bad because I feel good about myself in the process. So thank you to all the geeks, dweebs, losers, spazzes, and dorks out there for giving us cool, well-adjusted people the self-confidence we need to walk around with a sense of superiority and forget about all those times our dads made us cry when we were younger I MEAN ALL THE FOOTBALL GAMES WE WON YEAH BABY.

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Dan Ozzi, Editor
Dan on Noisey | Dan on Twitter


Robin Bank$ - "Up Next"

There are two distinct streams of rap music coming from Toronto. There are the stylized and self-aware rappers that know which rap trope they're trying to embody, and they put their all into it: the drug savant, the trap celebrity, the suburban weirdo. But there's also a grimy underbelly that flows beneath this polished sheen, full of rappers that aren't rapping to get on blogs but to get famous in their own circles, using the YouTube views as clout. These rappers are like supernovas, bursting through the obscurities of the internet until they're noticed by an outlet, at which point they gain fame and notoriety, before burning out just as quickly as they appeared. Sometimes, these young rappers are made an example of publicly when they are targeted by police because of their large public following. This was more or less what happened to Roney, who I wrote about a few years ago and who has been in and out of jail since. Since then, I've been careful about covering that scene, but sometimes a song will emerge even when you aren't looking for it. That's the case with Robin Bank$'s and his track "Up Next," that's so infectiously melodic you can't help but share it. It's post-Speaker Knockerz in its delivery and lyrics, making you wish you had your own cheques to thumb through while you listen to Bank$ sing triumphantly.

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Slava Pastuk, Noisey Canada Editor
Slava Pastuk on Noisey | Slava Pastuk on Twitter


Sheer Mag - "Button Up"

South Philly’s Sheer Mag has been on my radar since we interviewed the band back in March. Earlier this week, they released their second seven-inch, aptly called II, which has the band’s best song yet, “Button Up.” On it, lead singer Tina Halladay squeals over dirty guitars, very much not giving a fuck about pretty much anything, including giving a fuck. The band’s sound is rooted in classic rock, but doesn’t feel dated—mainly due to Tina’s casual and carefree squawk. This is music that’s just fun, the kind that makes a sunny afternoon feel like it’ll last forever. Flip this on, grab someone's hand, and skip into the weekend.

Eric Sundermann, Managing Editor
Eric on Noisey | Eric on Twitter


Vanity - Vain in Life

I saw some insane shit last weekend, from Blazing Eye in a backyard by campfire light to a total warzone of the Kromosom / Isterismo / Warhead / Aspects of War gig. That said, the band that took the spotlight for me was none other than Vanity, the Brooklyn-based, ’77 punk-inspired band featuring current and former members of CREEM and Rival Mob. Live, Radigan’s vocals steer into Lemmy territory, which makes this band all the more filthy and beer-soaked. And this record… whew! Ripper.

Fred Pessaro, Editor-in-Chief
Fred on Noisey | Fred on Twitter


Immortal Technique - Revolutionary Vol II.

The Mobb Deep-vs-metalheads piece we published earlier today inspired me to revisit a few of the hip-hop artists (or "rap bands," as I've erroneously categorized them to Eric Sundermann) that I really like. I'm not really into hip-hop in general, but truly great artists tend to transcend genre. Immortal Technique is a prime example. This whole album is fucking essential, and his apocalyptic visions of our rotten society ring truer now than ever. It's a whip-smart, infectious blend of biting social commentary and barely-contained rage, set to sparse, understated beats. I'm with Youtube commenter Dezekiel, who opined in reasonably legible fashion that, "Im a metalhead, Death , Black and shit. This album transcents any fuckin boundaries in my head. Its the fuckin Bible with a beat. Respect."

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Kim Kelly, Contributing Editor
Kim on Noisey I Kim on Twitter


PartyNextDoor feat. Travis Scott - "Jus Know"

PartyNextDoor and Travis Scott are two artists who I have historically been dismissive of because they seem a little too on-the-nose. I so obviously should like a guy whose only influence is Drakeand another guy whose only influence is Kanye's remix of Chief Keef's "Don't Like" that I find it hard to bring myself to like them. But here we are, and this combination of the two of them is both at their best. PartyNextDoor warbles about being the next Kanye and Kim and Travis Scott just makes a bunch of spooky ghost sounds and altogether it is awesome.

Kyle Kramer, Editor
Kyle on Noisey | Kyle on Twitter


Boxcar Racer - "I Feel So"

I am currently in San Francisco hanging out with my family, which means I am sleeping in my childhood room, trying on all of my clothes from high school in hopes that they still fit, and going through my old CD jewel cases while I drive around like a lunatic because I can and cars are fun when you live in New York, but also like what's a car? Anyways, I've been listening to a lot of old burned CDs as well as Live 105, which is the Bay Area's alternative radio station AKA the station that still thinks Muse is relevant. The best part of listening to my burned CDs from summer camp in middle school was rediscovering Boxcar Racer's (only notable song) "I Feel So." TBT to listening to this when I was angry at my mom for not letting me hang out with my friends past 9 PM.

Kayla Monetta, Social Producer
Kayla on Noisey | Kayla on Twitter