#19: Domo Genesis

New Narcotic of the Day #19:

Domo Genesis

Hip-hop time? Yes, hip-hop time.

Das Racist are the most successful frontrunners of a movement that can be labeled, simply, as hipster-hop. This is rap music that avoids the traditional vibes and concepts associated with the genre, focusing on a range of matters that delve into introspection, nerd culture and sexual adventures (well, they had to keep a lil' something from the old school). The major component of this advancement is the musical style and beats, often derived from indie, alternative and psychadelic fields of music, with many acts having alternative artists guesting, sampling or playing around with their tracks.

Domo Genesis is one such proponent of this wondrous evolution of hip-hop, and a member of Odd Future (a hip-hop group who have been making tsunami waves on the West Coast of America), produced by the madcap maestro Tyler the Creator. Rather than try to sum him up with something witty and pithy, I will just throw this quote down from his own bio " I'm Better Than You At Life. Ill. This Isn't "Real Hip Hop" Or "Jerk" Or "Really Any Bull Shit You Heard Of". I'm Not Working With You Unless Your Almost As Good As I Am. Which Is One Notch Under Perfect. This Is Nino Brown In 89. This Is Rick James In His Prime. This Is Domo Genesis."

'Supermarket' is a fantastically realised thought-splatter on the inanities, machinations and oddities when it comes to shopping, via a word-slinging face-off set to a trumping tune courtesy of a 1940s musical, of course. 'Heart of Gold' utilises a trinkling bit of synth to underlie a rant on education and knowledge, dropping references to dinosaurs, puberty, morality and, of course, sex. This is a subtle sort of hip-hop that screams in your face.

Domo Genesis has a record out, titled 'Rolling Papers' and is another US artist that will probably not get to these shores. I am fed up of grime. We need some British hipster-hop.....

Domo Genesis' Myspace

#7: Childish Gambino

Artist of the Day #7:

Childish Gambino

My first new act of this new year of ours going by the numer 2011 is going to be a comedian/actor/writer/hip-hop-hipster. Yeahhhhhhhhhh....

Hip-hop is a genre that has many many detractors who primarily focus on the mainstream mush of so-called 'Gangster-rap' which ignores the huge swathes of interesting, innovative and alternative rap music being produced nowadays. And I must mention that my new artist of today is not actually all that new. He is a comedian called Donald Glover who has found fame as part of Derrick Comedy (check them out all over Youtube), as a writer for 30 Rock (check it out if you get the chance) and as part of the cast of Community (CHECK IT OUT NOW BECAUSE YOUR SENSE OF HUMOUR DEPENDS ON IT). Aside from all of this, and much unappreciated, is his music career, having released three records for free on the internet, including his latest early in 2010, 'Culdesac'.

Donald uses the pseudonym Childish Gambino, keeping his comedic and musical stylings seperate to distinguish the distinct differences between his two immense talents. He uses his word weaving abilities to craft intelligent, geeky hip-hop that echoes Das Racist and the current wave of alternative hipster-hip-hop breaking through. His unique style of self-conscious boasting namedrops references from Tina Fey to Spider-Man.

Most of his work explores his inner thoughts as a young, gifted and black rising star, ranging from worrying explorations of his early years through to diatribes on his attraction to the beautiful women surrounding him thanks to his highly-earned success. Slow R&B-esque grooves take over on the likes of 'So Fly', with Childish sounding sweet and gentle as opposed to his charging masculinity on 'Put It In My Video'. Here he clearly states that every kind of female can come and appear in his video, using an amazing sample of The Stylistics (pushing my soul buttons) and blurting forth a wondrous line that accurately describes my every thought when in NY this summer in "Mixed girls from Williamsburg, that's my fucking Kryptonite".

Strangely, a sample of Adele forms the backbone for 'Do Ya Like', a sultry seduction song that oozes sex appeal and her soul voice works exquisitely over the stop-start style utilised by Childish on the aforementioned track (whether she knows it or not). There is a vulnerability in the music here yet somehow a sincere sense of bravado alongside the nervousness, with Childish Gambino managing to tread the line with flair, eloquence and a wisdom beyond his years.

Check out the music of Donald Glover (along with every damn thing else he does) before he goes skyhigh and becomes the new Kanye (quite possibly ego and all). Oh, and he also mixes the likes of Sufjan Stevens into oddly pitched dub and dance remixes. He couldn't really get any more awesome...

OH and his latest album 'Culdesac' is free to download HERE!

Albums of 2010: #5: Shut Up, Dude/Sit Down, Man

#5: 'Shut Up, Dude' & 'Sit Down, Man' by Das Racist

Yeah yeah I know, two records shouldn't be allowed; ALBUM OF THE YEAR, NOT ALBUMS YOU PRAT! But shut up, that's why. Two albums in the same year from three of the greatest hip-hop minds of 2010, namely Das Racist, three Brooklyn boys whose minds must consist of piles and piles of pop culture, literary references, philosophical musings and constant, incessant, jawdropping rhymes. If you shake out a few of the duds that hide themselves between the 38 songs over these two records, you have the greatest and most innovative hip-hop record of the last few years.

Sounding like a richly rhythmic Cool Kids, Das Racist first released 'Shut Up, Dude' showcasing three bright eyed, upbeat, party animals at the heart of the creation; shimmying along with head-bopping samples and sound effects amidst a clutch of rapid-fire, endlessly repeatable phrases that fire off here, there and everywhere. For example, 'You Oughta Know' speeds up a Billy Joel lyrical line whilst words spits forth references to Lionel Richie, the nature-nurture argument and Twitter. 'Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell' is a heart pounding ode to fast-food and 'Nutmeg' oozes 90s hip-hop summery vibes. Das Racist explore the world of the hipster through hip-hop, taking trips through explorations of racial stereotypes and almost-comedic observations of the world around them.

The whole process continues on 'Sit Down, Man', a release for the Autumnal months as everything slows down and seems to mature, drifting along with a more serious tone, albeit with all of the pop-culture inanities and high-speed hipster-hop that the trio of Himanshu, Victor and Ashok emanate. Celebrity cameos creep into the record, a sign of the meteoric rise and stature of the group, from Lakutis to Teengirl Fantasy but this overwhelming show of support does little to plug the flow of ferociously fabulous beats and rhymes. 'Hahahahaha jk?' highlights the smarts on offer, steeped in self irony thanks to a soap opera base and more references to both the most mainstream and the most obscure cultural symbols. Throughout this second attempt, the trio utilise and reference the likes of The Doors, the world of advertising, Garfield, Paris Hilton, Christmas, Kraftwerk and, of course, racial stereotypes, leaving no stone unturned in their pursuit of rhymes, rhythm and revolutionary hip-hop.

It is worth a mention that both of these records were free releases online and that Das Racist have utilised the net with flair, creating an 8-bit video game and running an amusing Twitter account to keep their legions of growing fans happy. They have been labelled as weedrap, nerdrap, posthip-hop and yet all that matters is that Das Racist are three artists with overflowing brains set atop their heads, full of all sorts of wisdom and words that will hopefully fill a hell of a lot more mixtapes with what they describe as "'deconstructionalist': sawing the legs out from under hip-hop as they celebrate it."

Eggciting Easter Euphoria....

'Music is an outburst of the soul.' ~Frederick Delius

It is the Easter Weekend so happy Easter Sunday Day to one and all, I hope that zombie Jesus and his bunny rabbit sidekicks bought you all of the chocolate eggs that you can cram down your throat until the inevitable sugar crash and rush to the toilet. I have spent a good week consistently drunk, with help from a Student Radio Conference, and Sonar Radio, who lived up to my every chundering expectation...

Onwards, with Easter comes new shit. So new music yeahhh???

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Brooklyn is currently the musical mecca of awesome, hence why I dream of moving there and starting a fuzzy band full of hope, dreams and wine...

Anyway, Fang Island are another Brooklyn band living up to the hype that emanates from the district so brightly in 2010. Existing for a few years, their first self-titled album was released a couple of weeks ago and showcases an energy that can only be described as the power of (in the band's words) "everyone high-fiving everyone."

'Daisy' comes with a delirious drive that instigates dancing without reason whilst 'Treeton' stops and starts infectiously, hopping along in waves of exuberance. Fang Island make positively life-affirming, jump-for-joy alternative pop that clicks together in simple but effective perfection.

Fang Island's Myspace

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Indie supergroups are tricky to manage and even trickier to actually pull off. Gayngs are a collective of musicians, including Justin Vernon, Megafaun and Solid Gold, pulled together by producer Ryan Olson. So far, only one track has appeared online, but its a 6 and a half minute chillout mastercraft.

Using the laidback vocals of Bon Iver as a template and a slow burning mixture of instruments and beats, the gentle ebb and flow of 'The Gaudy Side of Town' seeps its way into your mind, lulling you into a state of serene satisfaction. It is one gigantic fusion of soul, indie, folk, chillwave and electronica that must surely be setting the scene for something mindblowing...

Gayngs' Myspace

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I very rarely blog about hip-hop but when good stuff comes along, I simply MUST! Here it comes in the form of a free mixtape from Das Racist, a rap trio from (guess where!) Brooklyn. The three take the art of hip-hop, scratch a massive tear across it and try to kick things off once more, forging a new sound, rare in modern hip-hop.

From the gaudy humor of 'Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell' to the summery sampling of 'You Oughta Know' through to the auto-tune behind 'Fake Patios' and the classic hip-hop style of 'Deep Ass Shit'. Simply magnificent from start to finish, throwing new light onto an undervalued genre.

The stumbling raps, the slurring words, the lazy beats and awesome samples all pave the way towards a band who know how to party but also know their music, and know how to combine the two abilities into the awesome trio that is Das Racist.

Download out their mixtape 'Shut Up, Dude' here at Stereogum...

Das Racist's Myspace

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The evolution of emphatic Easter Eggs (more crap basically)...

• Simply delicious indie pop from Leisure, a trio from Massachusets, in the form of two free songs!
• Neo-Soul star Erykah Badu has been charged after stripping for a recent music video and wandering around a busy area butt nekkid in Dallas...oh well, the song, 'Window Seat', is full of awesome so check the song and video out...
• I am currently planning an amazing trip to New York City with my best buddy and every NY referencing song makes me want to go RIGHT NOW...especially when they are as good as this new offering from Rufus Wainwright, titled 'Who Are You, New York?'
• An amazing gig at The Joiners in Southampton on May 19th; Japandroids and Yuck = droning purity and lo-fi loveliness...
• I want to do this for a living...Vivian Girls and Male Bonding cover Lou Reed...

Albums out over the next week or so that you should buy include;

• 'Our Inventions' by Lali Puna [inventive, innovative electronic pop]
• 'Yeah, So' by Slow Club [rockabilly jangle indie pop]

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So, go enjoy some chocolate whilst thinking about the crucifixion and subsequent zombie-like revival of Jesus. And listening to this lot of course. Your soul will thank you (and by extension, me) for it all later.

Have a Happy Rest of Easter!
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