Mark Lanegan Band- "Phantom Radio"

 

Mark Lanegan is a survivor, above all else.  As a founding member of 90's Sub Pop Records' grunge darlings, The Screaming Trees, Lanegan was raised in the hanging gardens of rock n' roll. Even after the band's inevitable implosion after label disinterest in 2000, he began releasing solo albums, collaborating with former Belle And Sebastian signer Isobel Campbell, and becoming a member of Queens Of The Stone Age sporadically throughout the last decade. With the release of 2012's "Blues Funeral",  his writing process drifted from the all-too-familiar singer/guitar tropes of the other grunge survivors and took on the shape of a fully-formed ensemble.

Lanegan's greatest strength on his latest offering, "Phantom Radio", is the expansion of the sounds explored on "Funeral". Even at its meager moments, layers of cinematic synths and strings add a graceful texture to his most tragic yarns.  There are moments on the album that echo the somber tone of a more stream-lined Tom Waits (or even "Good Son"-era Nick Cave), glacially poignant. Weaving his signature blues-laced fretwork throughout, "Phantom Radio" exists in a world where cowboys retire to a dying radio that crackles dead gospel to a new wave backbeat; surviving the dying of the light.

Get YOUR copy of Mark Lanegan Band's "Phantom Radio" HERE!

Run The Jewels 2

 

2012 was a good year for rapper/emcee El-P, the snarky and business-savvy-minded mic-wrangler unleashed his first proper album in nearly 5 years (the fanfare-worthy "Cancer4Cure") and produced Killer Mike's last outing "R.A.P. Music" to critical acclaim.  Amidst his time behind the board, El and Mike struck up an unlikely partnership/friendship worthy of buddy cop movie comparisons; feeding off each others' industry woes and idea wells that pushed the duo relentlessly to the top of their respective games. From there, their inevitable team up as "Run The Jewels"spiraled outward to the hungry masses as they unexpectedly dropped their debut album for free online.

Sparing any discourse, RTJ was an immediate hit; topping out numerous end of the year hip hop countdowns and harkening back to a time when the medium was far more interested in self-aware, tongue-in-cheek musing than bragging about product endorsements.  With such a feverish over-confidence (and rightfully so) in their work ethic and abilities, the duo eagerly began work on the album's sequel: "Run The Jewels 2".

RTJ2 is not pulling any punches-- from the first second in, Killer Mike's vulgar aggression rips into the first track with escalating enthusiasm, and beef-worthy beat production. The miraculous element to RTJ is their ability to consistently push themselves forward, while keeping their energy and voraciousness at dangerous levels of exuberance. Featuring some unexpected appearances from Zack De La Rocha and Travis Barker, El-P and Killer Mike have managed to elevate their already strong force to be reckoned with; one can only hope there's a Run The Jewels 3 in our future.

Grab your copy of RUN THE JEWELS 2 here!