Hey guess what's happening? I'm listening to an album with some pretty blatant trtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrap percussion and fucking LOVING it - and it's not even cloud rap! AND it has a Kilo Kish guest spot and I'm still digging the fuck out of it. Also, there's only a couple of tracks with that sound but Vince Staples' Shyne Coldchain is maybe one of the best non-Lil B mixtapes I can think of off the top of my head due to street smart and streetwise lyrics and a runtime under thirty minutes, with thirteen tracks! But then it still... does that thing that hip-hop does. That thing that it does that glam metal and post-grunge also do pretty explicity, sure, but who the fuck listens to those? But yeah it does that a lot towards the end and kind of ruins the mood. Actually, I couldn't even finish the last two tracks. Yeah, something about tricking me into thinking that Vince might be an actually nice guy and then... he's a Nice Guy. And now I remember that the reason his name is familiar is because he's an Odd Future collaborator and it all makes sense. 

Speaking of albums under thirty minutes: Tony Metom's Bad World is really sweet highlife that warms the tummy of the ear and the soul of the ear and the heart of the ear. I like to imagine that the last song, "Mama Nanjee" is dedicated to his mother, because it just seems like that kind of music.

I really have so much trouble describing salsa albums - it's a genre where it really does all come down to whether I enjoyed it or not on a purely visceral level most of the time without knowledge of the genre's history and artists to help me intelectualify my opinion. But I can assure you that I much enjoyed the Latin Brothers' Suavecito, Apretaito, Yup, that's literally all you're getting from me on this one: "I much enjoyed it." They can't all be Lester Bangs meets Julia Serano.

The second album by Russian folk rock group Pesniary gives off an earthy, agrarian vibe from the song titles on down: we've got "What Is a Vegetable Garden For," "A Hill Here, A Hill There," "A Pussywillow Grows" and "The Lad Plows the Field," for goodness' sake. The music is full of flutes and vocal harmonies but it ultimately lacks any excitement, even when they throw in Free Design la-las over harpsichord.

Not to hyperbolize, but Les Loustics' Les Squelettes is the best album featuring French children singing I've heard since Le Monde Fabuleux Des Yamasuki, though obviously it's not as good as that. And actually I just remembered that Magma album with the children's choir, which is also better than this, so actually this is the worst full album I've ever heard sung by French children so yeah.