Runnin’ Through My Mind Like An Obstacle Course

A$AP Rocky featuring Doechii “Robbery”

A lot of rappers have aimed to distill the essence of a crime movie into a song, but I don’t think many have been as successful as A$AP Rocky on “Robbery.” A lot of this comes down to casting – he’s playing suave opposite Doechii, who effortlessly projects slinky grace and sassy confidence on the mic and thrives in storytelling mode. The song, which is built around a Thelonius Monk sample that somehow feels both loose and knotty, takes its time developing Rocky and Doechii’s characters before bringing them together. But the sparks fly once they’re bouncing off each other in a verse, fully coming across as glamorous movie stars in an audio medium.

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Flea featuring Thom Yorke “Traffic Lights”

“Traffic Lights” is at least partly an Atoms for Peace reunion, pulling Thom Yorke back into Flea’s orbit alongside percussionist Mauro Refosco. According to Flea this happened largely because his groove reminded him a lot of what they were doing together in the early 2010s and correctly guessed that Yorke would want in on it.

But Yorke isn’t alone. Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker is here, along with prog drummer Deantoni Parks, Bright Eyes keyboardist Nate Walcott, and Josh Johnson (the sax player, not the comedian). If you’re Flea, you get to stack the decks. The result is about what you could expect from this particular blend of talents: jazz guys offsetting the rock guys’ mild twitchiness with some smooth contours.

Yorke’s vocal presence is fairly understated, almost as though he’s behaving like a polite guest in someone else’s song. I got a similar vibe from his work with Mark Pritchard last year, in which he was also mostly stepping into already composed music. But the muted quality suits the music and the befuddled tone of his lyrics, which use a common Captcha prompt as a starting point for pondering how anyone can prove their humanity in this “upside down” world.

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