The New Me Is Gonna Take Some Getting Used To

A$AP Rocky “Excuse Me”

The most interesting tension in A$AP Rocky’s body of work is the push and pull between his stoner aesthetics and obsession with elegance. Those aren’t opposite things, but they do contrast in interesting ways – so much of both of Rocky’s albums is like this impeccably crafted haze, and he just sorta struts through it with casual grace. He has exceptional taste in sound – maybe a lot of that came from Yams, but I’m inclined to think he’s internalized that influence by now – and I think he’s got a better and more adventurous sense of how to frame his voice than any rapper of his generation aside from Kendrick Lamar. “Excuse Me,” mainly produced by Jim Jonsin, is flat-out gorgeous and flips a sample from a Platters Christmas album into a composition that’s both stately and haunting. I love the way Rocky sounds with the backdrop of droning, sustained tones from an extended sample. He’s done this before, namely on “LVL” from his debut, and it really complements the subtle melancholy in his voice.

Buy it from Amazon.

Smurphy “Aquarius Risinn”

Smurphy’s music is low-key bewildering – it’s very odd and disarming, but also so ambient and comfortable that you can just kinda shrug off the parts that straight-up sound like frogs croaking in a swamp. “Aquarius Risinn” is about as songy as she gets, with a breakbeat coming in midway that feels a little like something that could’ve been on a mid-90s DJ Shadow or Tricky record. But the vibe is different, trading the smokiness and grime of that era for something that feels brighter and more…watery? I suppose that’s it, maybe? This is all so wonderfully abstract that any attempt to put this into words is kinda futile.

Buy it from Amazon.