The Brilliantly Odd Future Of Music

I have garnered a reputation over the last few years as fan of indie music, which is perfectly understandable and correct. I love indie; there is no question about that. But what people don’t really remember is that I used to be a big fan of hip hop. I loved Tupac, Eminem, 50 all the mainstream rappers that most 13 year olds loved. I even got into BIG and Public Enemy, who were big back when rap was an underground hit.

There are a few reasons why I suppose I became infatuated with indie music and distanced from hip hop. I had a new group of friends who were all into that indie/ rock music and I naturally followed suit and loved it. There was the fact that Eminem as well as various other rappers experienced dips in their careers, some more so than others (except for Tupac, he kinda died.....) but whilst 50 was making awful films and Eminem was getting fat and lame, Indie was on the rise.

After rap became the big thing with rappers like Kanye West and Lil Wayne selling millions of records across the world, it became un-cool. The underground, rallying rap cries seemed to be lost in search of this global acclaim and rap music seemed to be forever lost in a gaping hole where genuinely shocking, funny and hard hitting rap was to forever be trying to claw its way out.



That is until now. Hip hop has risen, in the unlikely form of 12 teenage skaters from LA. Formed in 2007, when all of them were sweet 16, Odd Future (full name Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All) were rapping about things that were not so sweet, and putting their names across a world wide web of blogs all over the globe. Their crude but often darkly funny raps are both shocking and meaningful, in the style of early Eminem before them. Their leader Tyler, The Creator, has already released a solo album (Bastard) as well as another album which is being released at some point next month on XL Recordings as well as most of their members releasing solo material as well, giving away all of their material for free on their blog.


It wasn’t until the end of January though, that Odd Future truly caused a stir and people realised just how important they are becoming. Their late night performance on the Jimmy Fallon show was stuff of legends which isn’t bad considering it was their first television show. Even Mos Def called them SWAG.

Then Tyler released his solo masterpiece Yonkers. Filmed in black and white with the camera eerily focusing in and out in time with the music, Tyler’s dark lyrical theme and schizophrenic delivery (“I’m a fucking walking paradox/no I’m not) meshed both a psychopath and a genuine menace into 3 minutes of brilliant rap where he references not only the Flintstones but also Bruno Mars and the infamous Columbine mass killings. Whilst all this is happening he eats a bug, throws up and hangs himself. It’s a pretty intense few minutes. It’s certainly got a lot of attention as well, this video has had 3 million views since being added to YouTube just a month ago, and proving there is still a massive audience for underground rap.



We then have Earl Sweatshirt, who still at the tender age of 17 is Odd Future’s most deranged member, rapping about everything and anything that would make many upper class ladies faint in disbelief at just what is coming out of his mouth. Now though, rumour has it that Earl’s mum has sent him to boarding school and his promising rap career looks to be halted for an indefinite period of time. Not your average problem for a rap crew but nonetheless a pretty devastating prospect.

What is interesting about Odd Future is their message, if they have one. Is it a satire on the media outrage that teenagers are violent hooligans? Is it a genuine statement of discontent and angst in youth culture? Or are they just plain just fucking with us. What we do know is that if they carry on the way their going, re-inventing underground rap a bringing it back into the masses, the future most certainly looks to be an Odd one.

Radiohead: Reinvention or Repeat?

After what seemed like many long, musically inadequate days of having no music to really look forward to, I was starting to despair. There were bands I really liked, but everything seemed too samey (bar of course from The Suburbs and a couple of others.) In the meantime, indie & therefore in a sense rock music seemed to have almost died out. Then, on Valentine’s Day, I awoke without love in mind, but finding a very different, almost lost love of mine rekindled. The love (almost strictly plutonic) of Radiohead had instated itself back into my life with the best news possible. A new Radiohead album was finished. Not only this, but it was being released on that very Saturday (later changed to Friday.)

I was shocked, but as far as shocks come, this was definitely one of the best I have ever experienced in my life. After the shock came a sudden explosion of joy and after the joy came an immediate realisation. I, as well as everyone else, knew NOTHING about the new album. All we knew was the album title and artwork but aside from that, we knew absolutely zilch.

So, not only was everyone ultra excited at the prospect of a new Radiohead album, we were all bursting with anticipation as to what it would sound like. Now, in a month where Lady Gaga and The Strokes had released new material, each greatly anticipated by their own loyal fanbases, they were left almost i the dust by the ambiguous super powerful musical force that was crash landing in our own midst. This I felt, was the start of a new musical era.

By my own humble search for clues about the new album which I searched for roughly the day it was expected to launch, I stumbled upon a ‘first review’ of the album by the Guardian. Intrigued, I read on, only to find the most aggravating, stupid & pointless review I’d ever read. Not only had the reviewer only listened to the album once, they immediately cast it down for not reinventing music again. What the actual fuck! How can people keep expecting Radiohead to constantly create an Ok Computer for every genre possible? It’s absolutely absurd. AND, how can you tell after ONE listen, whether it's a reinvention? For one thing, Ok Computer has been voted in countless best albums lists as the best album of the last 25 years. Not only this but after Kid A, In Rainbows AND The Bends, all brilliant albums in their own right, they are immediately scorned for not doing so again. It’s a ridiculous presumption. Ok yes, I can understand that Radiohead, in the past, have kinda had this expectation self imposed just by creating so many amazing albums, it’s sad that people cannot appreciate it for what it is : a brilliant album. The fact that it’s not as revolutionary as others should not be a negative factor.


In my own opinion, after having acquired the album through a legal download (I know weird!) I found the listed reaction to be utter nonsense.
The King Of Limbs is a great, different album. It’s moved along with the times, it’s changed completely compared with In Rainbows and the fact that they have pretty much abandoned guitars on the record is an amazingly ambitious and brave move. The songs echo almost the post dubstep era of James Blake and co, with Give Up The Ghost hauntingly minimal throughout, whereas Lotus Flower is out and out groove in the style of Idioteque but with more lyrical meaning. It seems that they’ve take everything that’s made all of their previous albums great and rolled it into one brilliant album. Ok, it isn’t as good as Ok Computer but that’s hardly a criticism considering its legacy and accolades. If there is a bad word to be said about the album however, is that at 8 songs long, it’s almost not enough. On saying this, there are however mutterings of another album that’s already been finished which would obscure the above comment, though nothing has been confirmed yet.



What else is remarkable about Radiohead is that with constantly reinventing their music, they are now rejuvenating record sales as well. The rush announcement and digital download seems to have found a way of tackling the downloading situation of an album leak, by making it available a few months before the physical copy is released, something that everyone is so used to in the current musical climate.

So to summarise, not only have Radiohead made another excellent albums, where they hae once again changed the direction of the music they make, they are kick starting the faulting music industry. Two amazing feats conquered in a week, leaving the Guardian journalist with a fucking ostrich sized egg on his face. Here’s to Radiohead, the saviours of music and the all around kings of musical reinvention.