Staff Picks and Good Shit for the Week of October 3

It’s October 3! The day from that movie where Lindsay Lohan did the stuff and said the date! You know the one—Citizen Kane? Anyway, here’s what the Noisey editors were listening today, the Lindsay Lohaniest of days, and also the other days this week, which were not referenced in any Lindsay Lohan movies and are therefore irrelevant. Let’s see what’s in the ol’ listen bag…

I am exhausted by the number of SoundCloud R&B upstarts. There I said it. Back in 2010, when James Blake was just starting to gain traction and the XX's debut album had landed in Starbucks, I couldn't have been more pumped that R&B was beginning to be taken seriously by white male critics. As someone who grew up in R. Kelly's hometown, listening to WGCI every morning before school, waiting for cuts to drop by Erykah Badu and Floetry, R&B has always been in my blood. But once I started writing about music and talking to other writers about R&B, I felt like I had to resign it to be just a guilty pleasure. Fast forward to 2014 when the Weeknd is playing Barclays and everyone and their mom is trying to be the next Abel Tesfaye (which, if you're not Abel Tesfaye, isn't a good look), my golden age is officially fading out. R&B now lacks the very thing that drew me to it in the first place: soul. So I've been going back to the archives, listening to R&B from another era, especially Little Ann. Her album Deep Shadows is incredible not just to listen to, but also to think about. It had been "lost" for 40 years before Timmion released it a couple of years ago. Do yourself a favor and listen to the title track and read up about her story here.

Marissa G. Muller, Guest Editor
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I never really listened to The Rentals until this new album but I like it. So that’s it. Cool story!

Dan Ozzi, Editor
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You know what this song makes me want to do? Vogue. Will I probably ever do it? Not in public, but I've gotten pretty good at the loose-wrist motions (ladies!) that accompany it. This might actually be the best song Azealia Banks has ever put out, which is crazy because "212" was so good. What's also crazy is that Iggy Azalea's career was microscopic in scale when "212" first came out, and now in 2014 she has essentially lapped Banks. Give Azealia Banks credit for sticking to her guns and her vision, but since we live in a time where everything is hyper-accelerated, this might be too little too late. But will that stop me from voguing? Never.

Slava Pastuk, Noisey Canada Editor
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This week Noisey's pal Mel of the Outfit, TX released the video for "Dirty South Rydan," off of last year's Cognac mixtape. It's a perfect example of the group's spacey, synth-driven take on slow, heavy, traditional Texas rap, and the video is a cool look at the group's home city of Dallas. But the real highlight is the last minute and 40 seconds, which takes a whole new, stripped-down direction, with nothing but a chanted, repetitive hook and the beat dancing all over the place. It has a fun but just-serious-enough charm, and it reminds me a little of the music that Atlanta artist Father has been getting a lot of buzz for in the last few weeks. Show it to your friends and impress them!

Kyle Kramer, Editor
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This week, in preparation for a little interview, I fell into the tornado that is Tyranny by Julian Casablancas + The Voidz. This meant my productivity was at an all time low because when you're listening to Tyranny, you can't listen to anything else. It fills up every corner of your brain. It's layers and layers, it's wild and strange and ragey as fuck. "Father Electricity" is feral, dystopian calypso and then there's moments of Strokesian respite—in the guitar lines and tummy tugging melancholy of "Dare I Care." No multi-tasking when this is on full blast.

Kim Taylor Bennett, Style Editor
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Lately I've been taking a deep dive into the Bay Area rap of yesteryear, which means in addition to listening to a billion Andre Nickatina songs about snorting coke and more funky cuts from Messy Marv and Celly Cel I decided to download some old Pack mixtapes, because The Pack is the best. This song is a Lil B solo shot from waythefuck back in 2005, and it's proof that Based God has always been based, even before he'd coined the term.

Drew Millard, Features Editor

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Raspberry Bulbs is one of the best bands in NYC even though they may or may not even exist anymore, technically (founding member Marco Del Rio has left the city for another by the bay). Regardless, we'll always have the records, and their latest is a doozy; check out "Light Surrounds Me" from the forthcoming

Privacy

above (due in November). Marco Del Rio and co. have been playing this jam for a little bit, but it's good to hear the recorded version has just as much bite and venom.

Fred Pessaro, Editor-in-Chief
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I've written about iLoveMakonnen for my staff picks about a thousand times but I don't care because the song he just dropped today, "Wishin' You Well," is one of my favorites. The smooth Mike Will Made It production is kind of just perfect for the low end of Makonnen's range. This is a song I want to drive to. This is a song I want to make out to. This is a song I want to hear in the next Meg Ryan / Tom Hanks romantic comedy.

Eric Sundermann, Managing Editor
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