1. Scarface - Dopeman Music
Scarface is such a singular figure even among other aging rap legends that it makes a certain sense that he often gets away with the kinds of things that tend to tarnish the legacies of others or make them seem out of touch or not worth paying attention to: repeatedly promising his retirement and then continuing to make albums, talking about starting a rock band, using his clout to put out tons of group and compilation albums that seem to exist primarily for the benefit of his unknown proteges and labelmates (or the other Geto Boys). Add to that list: making an extremely late entry into the world mixtapes in a way that kind of misses the point of mixtapes. And yet, once again, Scarface manages to make it work for him and comes out smelling like a rose. This seems like more of a ‘street album’ made as an excuse to do something outside of the Rap-A-Lot machinery, and about half the songs feature verses by unremarkable but by no means bad sidekicks named B. James and Monk Kaza. Still, the production is solid and Face is still rapping like Face, so it’s good. It’s actually kind of nice to hear a deliberately ‘minor’ Scarface record.

2. Young Jeezy - Trap Or Die II (By Any Means Necessary)
On some level I do realize that what Jeezy does isn't rocket science and that he can turn out records like this in his sleep, but in an era when no other A list rapper seems to know what they do well or stay in their lane, that kind of consistency is something to appreciate. Really the beats on this mixtape are so killer that if you put this on and told me it was the new album, I'd say well I don't hear a lot of potential singles but this is a solid follow-up to The Recession. I kinda hate that once Tom's Pitchfork review pointed out that it's a bit frontloaded now I actually notice the quality dropping off toward the end, because for a while there I was like holy shit this whole thing is incredible.

3. The New Pornographers - Together
I’m very much a casual fan of these guys -- haven’t listened to the members’ other bands, only checked out the first couple albums in the past year after having a few songs I loved from Mass Romantic for years and years. So I don’t know how this really fits in their catalog or compares to the two albums that preceded it, but it feels kind of fresh and not totally predictable to me based on their early stuff, which is nice. I’m especially liking the strings. On the Singles Jukebox I quipped about their single not being as good an ELO pastiche as the one(s) on Butch Walker’s album, but all in all this makes a good companion to that record, which is probably my favorite album of the year so far, although I don't like this quite as much as that.

4. UNKLE - Where Did the Night Fall
I've been following the Baltimore band Lake Trout for over a decade, and they've kind of had an interesting trajectory; at one point they got really good at doing live versions of drum'n'bass and electronic music, even covered songs by Aphex Twin and Amon Tobin. And while they drifted toward more of a rock sound later on, some of the members of the band (the three that are also in Big In Japan) ended up becoming part of the touring band for an actual semi-big electronic act, UNKLE. And now their bassist, James Griffith, is also pretty much part of the team that makes UNKLE's studio records, too, and it's fun to hear a vague Lake Trout-ish sound all over this album, as well as a few Baltimore guests (Katrina Ford from Celebration sings one song and the other members of Big In Japan play on another). I was never really that into Psyence Fiction but loved a few of UNKLE's early singles and remixes before DJ Shadow got involved, so it's cool to hear what Lavelle's up to now.

5. Reflection Eternal - Revolutions Per Minute
I'm still a stan for Train Of Thought and Kweli's other early records, which is kinda weird since I was never really a big Rawkus dude, he was kind of my token backpacker rapper to champion even though a lot of people think he's wack. And nowadays, well, he is kind of wack, and Hi Tek's production isn't quite what it used to be, so this is an object lesson in why you shouldn't take 10 years to follow-up a good album, but I actually do enjoy a few songs on this a lot. Can you imagine how wack the 2nd Black Star album will be once it finally happens in 2018, though?

This entry was posted on Friday, June 11, 2010 at 9:37 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.