Hear Me Now | Ray of Light

Hallelujah! Blue skies and sunshine have poured down on Melbourne the past few days. (How many of you took yesterday off work, uni, school and pretty much all your indoor commitments?!) So to celebrate the nicer weather click HERE to listen to our latest mix. Featuring The Weeknd, The Swiss and Geoffrey O’Connor.

Sunshine Sunny Days,
Comeback Kid

Mood Board | 1990 Now

Please note brilliant bonus picture of Alex Mack. All images from The Real 1990s.

Recently a 1990s sartorial wave has washed over us at Comeback Kid. We’re obsessed. Considering we’ve already lived through it once (my Mambo backpack was the bomb) we probably shouldn’t be this excited. But oh, we are. Only yesterday we got our hands on some brilliant late 90s vintage caps (they’re in store now, $20 a pop and will be online Monday) so today we want to look at the menswear fashion leaders from this eclectic decade.

Kurt Cobain, Blur (and their arch-nemesis Oasis) instantly come to mind; think corduroy, plaids, holes in your jeans (with patches, obvs), statement jumpers and a dash of disheveled. We’ve compiled the above mood board to – you guessed it – get you in the mood.

Let’s Do The Time Warp Again,
Comeback Kid

Hear Me Now | Watching the Throne

Can’t you see the private jets flying over you?

Disclaimer: There is a dash of swearing in this post! So if you’re under the age of 5 and you’re reading this (go you!) or you simply don’t like swearing please skip.

Today we’re going to break down Kanye West and Jay Z’s first* collaboration so you don’t have to. If you’re yet to dip your toes (come now, just jump in!) into their latest body of work then this cheat sheet is for you. Cram:

The Frank Ocean Effect
Alright I’m going to put it out there; two of the best tracks on the album feature Frank Ocean. So who the hell is Frank Ocean?  He’s a member of OFWGKTA (he appears to be a lot friendlier than Mr Creator) and he can sing. Track 11, Made in America is an absolute winner that I hated upon my first listen. Whoops. This track builds quietly and is very charming and the quality in Ocean’s voice is so soothing. I wonder if he narrates audio books on the side? Anyway, eyes past the shore kids, we’ll be seeing more of Frank.

The Party Tracks
Well it goes without saying that this is the most important category and if I were you I wouldn’t read on. Jokes! We’ve already talked about Otis which will definitely get you on the d-floor but there are others. But a warning(!) none are first-listen-OMG-I’m-dancing-tracks; they take time and work, a little bit of effort and an awareness that not one track is an epic dance floor filler. There’s no Empire State of Mind nor an All of the Lights but there’s still plenty to get you to sweat. We suggest Niggas in Paris, Gotta Have It and That’s My Bitch.

That You Jon Brion?
After such tracks as No Church in the Wild a charming little tune that sounds an awful lot like elements of Jon Brion’s soundtrack for I Heart Huckabees can be heard. OK, I have a total soft spot for the music in that film but that very non-hip hop not-at-all-heavy sound seems to clear the palette as you journey through the album.

The Deluxe Sandwich Edition
If you got the Deluxe Sandwich Edition (named as such by me because it features H.A.M.) then you’ve got your hands on Primetime. This is a sample heavy track that is truly wicked. It’s been on repeat here in the store and we imagine it will stay that way.

The Lebron of Rhyme
Jay Z is a steady lyricist (he’s the greatest rapper alive no?**) but it’s Kanye who comes under our microscope today. This album sees some of Mr. West’s best and worst rapping to date. It dawned on me the other day the Kanye is a bit of a Dad Joke Rapper. He cannot help but make really really bad calls. Take Illest Motherfucker Alive (I wont even touch on the fact that it’s a hidden track annoying) and read these lyrics if you dare:

Damn baby pussy can’t be your only hustle
Unless you bad as Naomi Russell
I mean a lot of niggas got money
So basically, Russell ain’t the only Russell
Russell Brand, Russell Crow
Zero Zero Zero Zero, a whole lot of 0’s
What you after, actor money?

What the fuck are you talking about ‘Ye? First time I heard that I coughed and giggled at the same time. He does redeem himself though, particularly with Niggas in Paris and the brilliant Murder To Excellence. I always love it when rappers draw on earlier work and in Murder to Excellence Kanye sings a line from Jay Z’s Lucifer from Jay’s The Black Album which wait for it… Lucifer being a track that Kanye originally produced. Clever. Lucifer is a genius song FYI.

Skip, If You Must
New Day. I dunno, this track is actually growing on me. It’s just the concept that sucks. Telling your unborn sons how you’ll raise them? Right. Musically it’s well worth the listen though I’m not sure I can hear the RZA element (he co-produced) but I’m sure it’s there. So in short, this track might one day turn out to sound better but if you want, skip it.

Sample This
If you’ve got enough money to cut-up a one million dollar limo you’ve got enough  money to sample whomsoever you want. And they do. For the most part a lot of the samples are so tweaked, cut-up and altered only the keenest ear could spot them but on two tracks they’re very obvious. Who Gon Stop Me samples I Can’t Stop by Flux Pavilion (also sampled by Chiddy Bang on their track I Can’t Stop) and Why I Love You samples I Love You So by Cassius to great effect. For the most part these tracks work but sometimes hearing a new sound is considerably more thrilling than a reworked version of something you’re already familiar with.

In short, we’re loving this album. Is it as “artistic’ as Dark Fantasy? No. Will it prove to be as commercially successful as The Blueprint 3: quite possibly. But what this album has going for it is its layers and how every track needs to be listened to over and over to fully digest it. The lyrics overall are fun and clever and the beats are totally addictive. We suspect we’ll be playing and enjoying this album for some time.

Yours,
Comeback Kid

*They’ve totally worked together a million times before, just not on one album per se.
**His words not mine y’all so relax.

Hear Me Now | August Beats

Happy Tuesday everyone!  It’s new music time! Click HERE for a small but carefully curated selection of our favourite new tracks to listen to when you’re just casually sitting on the top of a mountain in the Swiss Alps. Featuring new CSS, Poolside and Shabazz Palaces. Enjoy.

PS. It’s not easy finding all these vintage mountain pictures! We need to go camping with a camera stat.

Yours,
Comeback Kid

Local Love | Black Coffee Pop-Up

Mark and Jono working their skills at Black Coffee Pop-Up

Yo coffee lovers and addicts! Early this week saw the launch of Black Coffee Pop-Up and true to its name you can get black coffee in an unexpected location! Tucked upstairs at Somewhere Store Gallery, Mark Free (the guy with glasses from Brother Baba Budan) has setup a very temporary black-coffee-only brewing station. That’s right. No bullshit soy chai lattes or 3/4 flat whites you pansies. Just plain black syrupy goodness served in glass jam jars. On arrival, you’d be right in thinking the place looks like a fancy meth lab but don’t let that deter you(!) we promise it’s just wholesome brewed beans.

Black Coffee Pop-Up is open until the 18th of August. Click HERE for more details!

Drip Drop,
Comeback Kid