With our ski week break now behind us, Minarets is heading into the final stretch of the school year, and it can be daunting and stressful when looking down the calendar at exams and finals with several weeks left to go until Spring Break. To help destress and relax, we have some music recommendations to help students get through the tough school weeks.
For fans of hip hop/rap, we have a new song from rapper/singer Kid Cudi and legendary fashion designer, Nigo. The song is called “Want it Bad” and it brings an interesting mix of bass-y, EDM-inspired production from Nigo with a fun energy, along with Kid Cudi’s spacey, reverb-soaked singing and signature hums. The song is energetic and fun and a great addition to your playlist.
Another hip-hop track to come out recently is “City of Gods” by Fivio Foreign, Kanye West, and Alicia Keys. The song is an interesting mix of New York City drill, with a great chorus from Alicia Keys, as well as two good verses from Kanye and Fivio Foreign that round out the song. It’s an interesting song as it uses a drill-rap instrumental with a classic pop feel over-top with Alicia Keys hook.
An album you’ve probably heard by now, “An Evening With Silk Sonic”, is a fun, smooth album from superstars Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak. The album pairs the duo’s well-known talent with a 70’s soul flair. The two fit into this groove like a glove, producing hit after hit on this LP. While the album is great from front to back, some of the standouts include “Smoking Out the Window”, “Leave the Door Open”, and “Skate”. This album is sure to impress a wide audience of listeners.
For fans of alternative/indie rock, Yves Tumor’s “The Asymptotical World EP” may satisfy their musical needs. The album was released in June of 2021 but largely went under the radar of many listeners and music publications. The album largely continues upon Yves Tumor’s previous trajectory, with hard-hitting, edgy songs, oftentimes including an interesting combination of guitar, drums and heavy effects, sometimes with a shoegaze feel on this EP. The album is full of catchy hooks, layered instrumentals, and quality singing from Yves Tumor. Some standout songs in the tracklist include “Jackie”, “Crushed Velvet”, and “Secrecy is Incredibly Important to the Both of Them”. This album will please fans of indie music, as well as grunge, as it carries some 80s/90s punk flavor.
Rounding out this batch of recommendations, we have “Sick!” by Earl Sweatshirt. Earl Sweatshirt has been a huge player in the underground rap scene for close to a decade now. With this new offering, Earl takes a somewhat new direction, favoring instrumentals full of trap drums and some more electronic-sounding elements than what can be heard in his earlier projects. The album sees Earl largely rhyming about his perspective with the current state of the world, especially in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic, thus the name of the album; “Sick!”. The album can seem a little hard to swallow upon first listen, especially for people new to Earl Sweatshirt’s music. However, this album provides thought-provoking rhymes over lush instrumentals, with a tight 24-minute run-time. Some standout tracks include “2010, “Tabula Rose” (featuring Armand Hammer), and “Lye”.
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