Music after the Dictatingest Dictator who ever Dictated, and I don’t mean Puffy
Gonna scratch Tumblnotes about newish music weekly this year. Sentences may have previously appeared in other people’s comment sections. An asterisk denotes a record in my top quartile.
*Bachata Roja: Amor y Amargue (2011): Here’s a Ned Sublette piece pegged to iASO’s first Bachata Roja comp that describes how the genre evolved after the assassination of merengue fan Trujillo and explains amargue better than I can.
*Diddy-Dirty Money: Last Train to Paris (2009): As discussed on rmxbb, Diddy’s always been one of the best bad rappers. That this is a return to form is because Dirty Money is his best Family since peak Bad Boy.
Scott Miller (the southern one): Christmas Gift EP (2010): I like how Miller acknowledges both the religious and secular sides of Christmas, and I like how he skips over the mid-20th century period (from the authoritarian “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” to “Holly Jolly Christmas”, which ain’t T.S. Eliot) the nostalgia industry foists upon us annually (see also xkcd). When the easy listening stations are telling me to be holly and jolly over and over, it’s hard not to be glad that the monoculture returns to Hades eleven months a year.
Anthony Hamilton: Back to Love (2011): His singing is marginally too saccharine, which doesn’t necessarily mean I wouldn’t make out with him.
Jolly Boys: Great Expectation (2010): Aged Jamaicans cover “Rehab” (unnecessary) and “Perfect Day” (better them than Duran Duran).
ASAP Rocky: LiveLoveA$AP (2011): Won’t get to blow $30 million because he isn’t as lovable as Hammer.
