NALEDGE
“I’m in Chicago Bitch” doesn’t dig any deeper than the original, but it dials down the vapid glitz in favor of a gritty, low-budget sensibility—instead of rhymes about exclusive beaches and posh hotels, we get a description of a hot weekend that goes, “Drink all day/ Juke all night/ Go get some tacos/ And fuck till the morning light.” Halfway through the Million Dollar Mano remix of the track, the original’s beat and burbling 303 bass line both drop out—not coincidentally right in time for a loop of Naledge’s shout-out to “Mano beats”—and then get replaced by an acid-tinged blast of hard, body-jacking house. The MC gamely plays along, dropping his usual lyrical subtlety to rip into a raunchy juke rap, and the song’s transformation into something purely Chicagoan is complete.
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The Cool Kids are still working on their make-or-break sophomore album, When Fish Ride Bicycles (due on Chocolate Industries later this year), but that hasn’t stopped them from messing around on the side. For the quirky minimalist banger “This Shit Is Easy,” Mikey Rocks teams up with LA producers the Skiii Team, Encino rapper Dude Royal, and local homie Hollywood Holt. The Skiii Team contribute a track that consists almost entirely of a kick-and-hand-claps 808 beat and a clipped, dirty jazz-funk organ riff. Dude Royal chips in a mellow rap reminiscent of something from ATLiens, and Hollywood is hilarious per usual (“I keep it Ritchie Valens/ That’s fly till I die”), but it’s Mikey who owns the track—he’s leveled up his flow and his lyrics to the point that the Cool Kids’ first record, The Bake Sale, now seems like a demo, and he’s got the confidence to match.
Flosstradamus made their bones with stupid-brilliant moves like turning the Outfield’s “Your Love” into a B-house track or combining Lil Jon and the ravey jock jam “Kernkraft 400,” but the first finished song they’ve built completely from scratch is uncharacteristically restrained and mature. “Big Bills” crosses thumping dance music and delicate indie rock (Caroline Polachek from Chairlift contributes sultry vocals) to create a piece of unhurried, funky synth pop that sounds a little like the Human League retrofitted with new-rave keyboard patches—except for the accordion bumps in the chorus, which is so catchy it’s taken up residency in my brain for days at a time. Baltimore producer Blaqstarr chills the track out even further with his recent remix, replacing the original music with a thudding, rattling B-house beat that’s so radically spaced-out with reverb and delay it’s almost ambient. On their own “Power House” remix, Flosstradamus pull back toward the dance floor with a four-on-the-floor beat, a sonic palette drawn from the glossy 90s personal-trainer crossover club music they love, and a well-deployed series of cash-register samples—it’s like they’re making up for putting out something you might call “mature.”
Thu 3/26, 8 PM, Angels & Kings, 710 N. Clark, 312-482-8600, $5 suggested donation.
Thu 4/2, 9 PM, Burlington, 3425 W. Fullerton, 773-384-3243. F
