3.14 – That New New



We’ve been traveling a ton, which has given us a chance to catch up on the avalanche of new albums that came out in the last month or two. We probably don’t need to tell you about Rihanna and Future and Kendrick and Kanye, so here are a few other records which we’ve had on repeat:

Club Cheval – Discipline

Club Cheval is a French supergroup of young producers: Canblaster, Sam Tiba, Panteros666 and Myd. The first time I heard any of them was Canblaster’s remix for Style of Eye “Homeless” (2010), which is still ahead of its time, then his even more bonkers remix of Drop the Lime’s “Hot As Hell,” which has a galloping horse in place of percussion. Since then I’ve checked for everything he’s done, and by extension, all of Club Cheval’s producers. Discipline is their debut album, equal parts house and R&B, and it’s sublime. Very grown and synthy, with a ton if little electronic details that keep things fresh. Honestly the whole album is great but my favorites are “Young Rich and Radical,” “Nothing Can Stop Us Now,” “Discipline” and “From The Basement to the Roof.”

Gener8ion – G8N003 EP

Gener8ion is the alias for another Frenchman, Surkin, from the Ed Banger crew. This project is almost entirely at trap music tempo, but far from cookie-cutter – the sound is cinematic, dark and experimental. The synths on H808 sound like a video-game soundtrack which Burial might sample, while “Bolin” is a bizarro version of Lil Wayne “A Milli.” Listen to this EP while you’re scrolling through his awesomely weird retro-futurisitic Japanese Art / Sci-Fi tumblr.

Santigold – 99¢

Going by the first single, you might think Santi was going to play it safe on her new album. “Can’t Get Enough of Myself” sounds like it could be a cover of The Ronettes, and if I’m being honest, it’s just a little too cheerful for me. “Rendezvous Girl” is much more my cup of tea – somewhere in the universe of A-Ha and Duran Duran, with a writing credit from Cathy Dennis (“Touch Me (All Night Long)”). I fucking loved the chorus of Makonnen’s “Forever,” which Santi featured on, and I would bet dollars to donuts she wrote that hook. Anyhow he returned the favor, appearing on “Who Be Lovin Me,” the second single. There are a huge variety of sounds – every song is different from the last, with production from a whole bunch of producers, from Zed’s Dead to Dave Sitek (TV on the Radio) to Patrik Berger (Robyn, Iconapop) to Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend) and so on. If you are new to Santigold and haven’t heard her first album, “Santogold,” it’s a fucking masterpiece start to finish, so I definitely recommend starting there in order to fully contextualize the vibes on 99 Cents.