A$AP Mob highlights October music releases

October has come and gone, with a host of great music releases left in its wake. Here’s a few that’ll be talked about for the rest of this (short) year.

1. A$AP Mob — Cozy Tapes Vol. 1: Friends

The biggest surprise of Cozy Tapes Vol. 1 isn’t how great it is, it’s more so how much of a leap forward it is when compared with the first A$AP tape (Lords Never Worry) was so weak outside of A$AP Ferg’s debut on “Work.” Now, Ferg actually feels like the weakest member of the Mob involved with the tape (which doesn’t make me feel good as a Ferg fan, especially in the wake of his lackluster album release this year).

This tape works as a strong reintroduction for the lesser-known members of Mob, such as A$AP Nast (“Nasty’s World” shows that if you give a ‘90s-esque beat to Nast, he’ll tear through it, just like he did with, “Trillmatic”) or A$AP Ant whose verse on “Yamborghini High” I already rated highly, thus the tracks here that feature him heavily such as “London Town” or “Young N***a Living” are some of my favorites on the entire tape.

Perhaps the real winner here is A$AP Rocky though. After his lacking sophomore album ALLA, this release just goes to show that he really does have one of the strongest flows in the game. Any rap fan looking to stay on top the movers and shakers of the game would do their best to give this tape a listen.

2. American Football — American Football (LP2)

A long time ago, before emo meant Hot Topic and My Chemical Romance, the Kinsella brothers from Chicago were creating melodic hardcore music that seemed like it would change the structure of rock music for years to come. Spoiler alert: It did.

The groups the brothers worked on (separately or together) include seminal emo bands like Cap’n Jazz, Owls and Owen. Yet, their greatest creation might just be American Football, who reformed a few years back for a few shows and shortly afterward announced their intentions to pick up where they left off and record a new album. American Football (LP2) is the result of that, and they pick up the pieces right where they left off.

The band has a feel of channeling the emotions that we associate with preteens for a more adult audience. Some choice songs that really show how strong the album is include “Where Are We Now?” This song starts with Mike Kinsella’s soft vocals and erupts into a cacophony of slow, plodding sounds. There’s also the excellent cut “Give Me the Gun” which served as a pre-record release. The song emphasizes the frantic background sounds that American Football is known for as well as the soft vocals overlaid on them.

3.) D.R.A.M. — Big Baby D.R.A.M.

This next one comes from an artist that Hopkins students should know well, D.R.A.M. He performed at the school during this year’s inaugural JAM festival. Big Baby D.R.A.M. is his major label debut and will most likely be a vital release for any student following this past Tuesday’s electoral results. The album, a mix of tracks focused on D.R.A.M.’s come-up and songs about feeling great makes for an uplifting listen for everyone involved. It’s hard to not sing-along with D.R.A.M. when his infectious hooks for songs like “Cash Machine” start up. There’s a certain weight to the words he shouts when his flow switches with the beat, “I’m asking where you work at, what kinda car you drive”.

4.) Kero Kero Bonito — Bonito Generation

One more happy album to finish off the list. Kero Kero Bonito is the combination of two British producers (Gus Lobban and Jamie Bulled) and a Japanese girl-group alumnus (Sarah Midori Perry). The result could be described as the bubblegum sweetness of PC Music with a greater air of positivity about it.

Bonito Generation is the second release of the group and comes off the heels of a strong EP, Bonito Recycling.

If anyone doesn’t think this album doesn’t just melt with positivity they should listen to the track, “Picture This” (which features lyrics sang in both English and Japanese, resulting in one of the better musical moments of the year, where Perry moves from singing in Japanese to an English rap verse) or “Graduation” which features much more expressive and experimental production by Bulled and Lobban.