Five Songs, 4/7/2022

The Mighty Mocambos, “Calling the Shots”

The immediacy of the drums here, both in their entry into the song as well as the production, really drives things here. That insistent bell, the grit and echo, it’s fantastic. On top of that, those punchy horns, goddamn, I could just listen to this all day. And bari sax! Love it.

L’Orange & Mr. Lif, “Strange Technology”

I wonder what it is about hip-hop that pairs with sci-fi so successfully in a way that, say, rock music can struggle with. A lot of the time when rock tries to go sci-fi, it comes across as corny or ridiculous. But hip-hop can go futuristic without any real struggle, and there have been some awesome sci-fi hip-hop records. I suppose the beats can get kind of inorganic without stretching the genre too much, and that can help things.

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