The MIdnight Hour

Prefuse 73, “Eve of Dextruction”

Way, way back in probably 1995, I remember making fun of some prehistoric website where someone clearly wanted to be a music reviewer but had no idea how to approach it. He attempted to a bunch of songs, but after writing a sentence or two for the first couple tracks, he just devolved into saying “CLUB BANGA” for the rest of the songs. And that simple phrase, all-caps, CLUB BANGA, has stuck with me now for twenty seven years or whatever. A friend and I used to just text that phrase to each other sometimes, and it never failed to hit.

Ulthar, “Undying Spear”

Ulthar are a blackened death metal band from Oakland who have two records out so far. They’re apparently Lovecraftian, but I’d have to read their lyrics to hear that. I’m never really sure how I feel about blackened death (in this case, it’s mostly the vocals that are blackened more than anything), I think I generally prefer the two styles separate.

The Midnight Hour, “Gate 54”

The Midnight Hour is Adrian Younge (who had scored a bunch of things and has also worked with a bunch of folks, we’ve seen his work with Ghostface Killah on here) and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (from A Tribe Called Quest), putting together a jazz/hip-hop hybrid. As you’d expect from that pedigree, it’s outstanding stuff. Younge and Muhammad both are multi-instrumentalists, and combined with their immense compositional talents, you’ve got amazing stuff.