Download: BUD AIR by KarmellOz

This new set by KarmellOz is state-of-the-art post-trap/post-everything psychedelic chill-pop. From the swelling funky pulsations of "Put Your Love Next To Me", to the Blade Runner-evoking saxophone ambience of "Fuji Xerox Australia", Bud Air is consistently interesting and unpredictable; trippy non-conformist freshness. "I was definitely going for quirky and trippy, a little sad and intellectual too," KarmellOz told me, and I'd say he hit the bullseye. He breaks out the jungle drums on "Popular Art", and the repeating vocal sample gives a clue to the music's possible inspiration. We had the pleasure of premiering an edit of "B.M.W." on Lumenous2, btw. "Wire Spine" thunders with bottomless dub-bass, "Bitches Like" raises the bar on vocal sample chopping, and "Ménage à Trois Bootleg", with it's "I keep shooters up top in the F-1" is just straight noise-trap of the most fucked-up kind. Fucking brilliant, really. And it's a free download. This shit is essential. From the always interesting Interscape Records Ltd 

The above was the original cover art, which was changed, possibly cos of an unlicensed photo. Dunno, but I love it.

EP: I R L by DJ Paypal

New free EP from DJ Paypal, who caught my attention with "Over", is jacked-to-the-max speedcore sea-house witch-punk. IRL is a free download from the always interesting Sewage Tapes / Interscape Records crew.

SEWER GREATS V.5 // Various Artists

The new album from internet label Sewer Greats is the fifth in a series of free compilations they have released on their Bandcamp. The label is centered loosely on the post-witch house scene, but each issue in the series has had a slightly different theme. They’re all worthwhile though I wasn’t crazy about the R&B flavored #4. This issue is a major work: the theme is rap. Each of the 26 tracks features rapping of some type, but it’s the swagged-out fringe of post-Kreayshawn / Gvcci Hvcci rap. The material ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous, and sometimes is both.

 Dolo Gang$ter -"Fuckt Up" is a good example: the refrain is “I love to get fucked up / everybody get fucked up / drank drank dat liquor / smoke smoke dat weed”, absurd when viewed as lyric content. Yet the street authenticity is undeniable, and the music behind this lyrical exercise in reducto ad absurdum is one helluva track, combining jazz samples and drag technique. This level of quality is the rule, not the exception on this carefully curated comp. Main Attrakionz’s “Chuch” is one of the best tracks here, a good example of their own brand of chill-hop. Kodak to Graph, kitty pryde, Bobbi Dahl, Michael Myerz -- all contribute interesting tracks. There's not a single track I skip when playing this.

Most feature provocative lyric content, and I can already hear the sanctimonious scorn of the ‘enlightened’ reacting. “If you’re a thoughtful person – how can you sanction this debased degenerate culture?” Attempts to make art serve some kind of social good usually results in the opposite, as in the case of nazi Germany, or in artless shit. Socially conscious hip-hop is virtually non-existent.

Or is it? The irony is that taking lyrics to this extreme of sex and drug obsession does something to highlight the inherent absurdity and throws into relief something that is almost irrational. Maybe following a thread through to its’ logical conclusion is a way of exorcising certain ills, of ‘working it out’. There is something undeniably valid about this music, more because of the debased content than in spite of it. This music is far more ‘real’ than what passes for hip-hop these days. It forces the audience to confront the dreams and nightmares latent in suburban ghetto bedrooms, and a society freed of the restraints formerly imposed by Christian morality. And that’s thought provoking. Sewage Tapes Facebook