New Music Round-Up 3/15/19: Schoolboy Q, Beach Slang, Anderson .Paak, Beast Coast and More

Welcome to the BroBible New Music Round-Up, where we see what new music has been released this week and have to admit that ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is a tough re-watch if you bothered to do a little fact-finding after watching it the first time. For more follow me on Twitter:  @ryanoconnell79

For a glimpse into the not-so-distant future, check out our rundown of some of the music releases we are most looking forward to in 2019.

Schoolboy Q “Numb Numb Juice”

Schoolboy Q hasn’t dropped an album since 2016, when he released the Black Face LP, but it’s not like our dude has been M.I.A. during that time. He was on Kendrick Lamar’s Black Panther soundtrack as well as the Mike WiLL Made-It curated Creed II soundtrack. The TDE rapper also appeared on 21 Savage’s 2018 album i am>I was. So in the absence of a proper album, at least we’ve still had Schoolboy in our life, which is nice, like when you still get to hang out with your friends even though you don’t live by each other anymore.

On his new track, “Numb Numb Juice,” which dropped Thursday morning, Schoolboy is back in control and according to his Twitter profile, he has a new album coming out. However, we A) don’t know when and B) don’t know if “Numb Numb Juice” will be on it. In September of 2018, Schoolboy told the crowd at a concert that while he typically drops new albums every two years, the death of his friend Mac Miller had shaken him. He didn’t “feel right putting out an album,” he said.

So we’ll see what happens.

Yet while I have you, let’s all listen to “Collard Greens,” my personal favorite Schoolboy jam.

That song is dope. The beat throughout the verse makes me want to do something reckless like ignore my student loan payment or flip a table while yelling that “shit’s about to get real.”

Beach Slang MLPS

Here is a question for you. When is Beach Slang not Beach Slang?

When they’re Quiet Slang of course.

Good God, that was rough. I’m sorry about that one.

Okay, but Beach Slang is Beach Slang again, having taken some time off to be Quiet Slang, an acoustic version of the band. Quiet Slang released Everything Matters But No One Is Listening last year, but a tick over two years since releasing the excellent A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings, the band is turning the volume back up with the new EP, MPLS. The EP is comprised of two covers. There’s “AAA” by Grandpaboy, a project fronted by Paul Westerberg of The Replacements, and “I Hate Alternative Rock” by Bob Mould of Hüsker Dü.

“Westerberg taught me how to write with defiance and tenderness, how to be a dope and a poet,” James Alex, the band’s frontman, said recently. “Hüsker Dü showed me how to make it all loud as hell.”

Karen O & Danger Mouse Lux Prima

When someone asks how I would describe BroBible’s “New Music Round-Up,” I generally describe it as an atmospheric experience, which is funny because that’s also how Karen O and Danger Mouse are describing their new album. Great minds think alike, I guess. Although maybe, just maybe, they might have a leg on me though. At the very least, we have differing opinions on what an atmospheric experience may be.

The duo not only describes their new album, their first collaboration not just as an atmospheric experience, but “one that creates a world more than it creates a sound.” I’m going to be honest. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but I am sure that the song they most recently released, “Turn the Light” is a damn near perfect mixture of Karen O’s unique vocals and Danger Mouse’s penchant for creating muted and spacey funk backdrops for the vocalists he’s worked (mainly Cee-Lo and James Mercer) to flex on top of.

The album is Karen O’s first album-length release since 2013, when Yeah Yeah Yeahs released Mosquito, and it’s Danger Mouse’s first project since the last Broken Bells album came out in 2014. In recent years Danger Mouse has produced albums by The Black Keys, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Portugal. The Man.

Anderson .Paak “King James”

It has not been that long since Anderson .Paak gave us Oxnard, but he’s set to already drop a follow up, Ventura, which is set to be released in April. “King James” is the first single from Ventura that the rapper and drummer has released and as is his modus operandi, it’s funky as all hell. Given the trying and straight up maddening times we are living in, we should really give thanks that someone like .Paak is out there and creating the feel good jams that he has been dropping on a fairly regular basis. We should give thanks to booze and reruns of The Office too, as I’m sure they’re helping us get through as well.

.Paak also shared the track list for Ventura, which will once again be produced by Dr. Dre. The album features guest spots from André 3000, Nate Dogg, Brandy and Smokey Robinson.

If you’re interested in learning a little bit more about .Paak or at the very least, curious as to why the includes a period before his last name, I’d recommend his appearance on WTF With Marc Maron. Then, when you’re done listening to that, you can check out .Paak’s 2016 appearance on NPR Tiny Desk Concert series.

After that?

After that you’re on your own. You’ll be fine. Trust me.

Beast Coast “Left Hand”

Not be confused with Best Coast, Beast Coast consists of roughly 18 or so dudes. It’s probably less than that, but who knows. It’s nebulous.

But let’s see here now, by my count Beast Coast is actually made up 9 young bucks, dudes from East Coast hip hop groups Pro Era, Flatbush Zombies and The Underachievers. Joey Bada$$ is there too and on “Left Hand,” they want it to be known that like gentlemen, we shake hands with our right hand. Definitely not our left. What is this, amateur hour? Everyone knows you shake hands with the right hand or in this case, dap with your right hand. Using your left hand is only acceptable if it’s either non-existent or non-functioning. Everyone knows that!

Meechy Darko of Beast Coast, who kicks things off on “Left Hand” has also kicked things off when it comes to album speculation, saying on Twitter that one is coming. The group is also heading on tour, including stops at Red Rocks in Colorado and Governors Ball.

Jerry Garcia Band Electric on the Eel

History lesson time, kids.

Back in 1987, Wavy Gravy, the legendary activist, entertainer and hippie extraordinaire, asked his buddy Jerry Garcia of the local rock outfit, the Grateful Dead, to help him raise some money for Gravy’s Hog Farm Collective, which according to Wikipedia (so it must be right,) is “considered to be America’s longest running hippie commune.” Garcia trucked his Jerry Garcia Band up to a spot on the Eel River, about three hours north of San Francisco, and performed, something that would become a Labor Day tradition for the next few years. Garcia would kick things off with his string band, before finishing things off with a full band show.

The electric sets are now available via a tidy six-disc set, a set that includes a mix of originals and covers. The band tackles tunes by Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Cliff, and Chuck Berry among others. An acoustic set from August 1987 will be available to folks who buy the set at certain local record stores.

Arcade Fire “Baby Mine”

Arcade Fire dropped their first new music in a few years earlier this week, a cover of “Baby Mine” from Tim Burton’s upcoming live-action version of Dumbo. The tune dates back to 1941, when it appeared in the original version, and has versions of it performed by Brian Wilson, Bette Midler and Rosemary Clooney.

The recording of the song was a family affair for Arcade Fire’s Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, which Butler laid out to Rolling Stone recently, saying  “My mom plays the harp on the track, my brother [Will Butler] the theremin, my wife [Régine Chassagne] sings and plays drums, and our son even plays the triangle, as well as the rest of our ‘family’ in Arcade Fire,” Butler said. “I will forever relate to the song thinking about the people I hold so dear that are ‘so precious to me.’”

Dumbo is set to be released on March 29.

Elsewhere in Music…

Wayne's World Bohemian Rhapsody Car Scene

Paramount


This Week in DUDE, WHY?

Earlier this week, Page Six reported that according to Rudi Dolezal, who directed numerous Queen videos and is close with Queen family members and the surviving members of the band, a sequel to Bohemian Rhapsody has started to be kicked around. While talking about the band’s manager, Jim “Miami” Beach, Dolezal said “I’m sure he plans a sequel that starts with Live Aid” and that a potential sequel is “being heavily discussed in the Queen family.” For what it’s worth, the film’s star, Rami Malek, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury, has reportedly not heard anything about a sequel, nor has the surviving members of the band.

So you know, whatever.

I would like to add that I recently watched Bohemian Rhapsody for a second time and I gotta tell ya, it kind of doesn’t hold up during a repeat viewing, especially if you’ve done any kind of digging into the real story of the band. It’s hard to roll with the fudging of how they got their start, the casual relationship the film has with the band’s timeline of events and you know, pretty much everything else. With that being said, the music scenes are still incredible.

So you know, whatever.

Also, if you’re going to do a sequel that starts with the band’s Live Aid performance, how is that going to work unless it’s a complete work of fiction? Again, if you’ve done any kind of fact-finding in regards to the true story of the band, then you know about the flaws in Bohemian Rhapsody. Those flaws would become pretty cumbersome if you’re going to tell the story of the band post-Live Aid.

So you know, whatever.

This is why we can’t have nice things, people.

David Crosby With His Finger on the Pulse

I’m going to be honest. I don’t think David Crosby watched the Grammys.

Speaking of “Casey Musgraves”

Do yourself a favor and spend a few minutes on this here Friday morning and watch Musgraves performance of “Rainbow” from Thursday night’s the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards. And yes, that’s Chris Martin from Coldplay on piano.

Just wait until David Crosby hears about Cole Play.

Two Great Music-Related Responses to This College Admissions Scandal

And One Great Non-Music Related Response

This Week’s Playlist

In honor on this past Monday being March 11, i.e. 3/11, here’s a playlist of the best of 311, a band that somehow is still selling out shows every single summer.

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See you next week!

 

 

 

Ryan harbors a constant fear of losing his keys, prefers flip flops, and will always choose cereal if it's an option. He maintains his own blog, Giddy Up America, and has previously contributed work to UPROXX & Heavy. Ryan is on Twitter: @ryanoconnell79