Lane Visitor

New rappers need to look to Pac, Bone, Biggie, Wu Tang, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, JayZ, The Roots, etc. Real hip hop has soul. This trap shit is the equivalent of teeny bopper boy band stuff. The whole "goes hard" thing which is also prevalent in dubstep, EDM and bascially any rhythmic / bass driven modern electronic music is in my opinion the total opposite of what music was made to do. Dance music and hip hop have always been bass oriented but it's been about the groove and arrangement and attitude and music. Now it's about the DROP and the BASS and the FX only. Like it's a giant Dolby /THX commercial.

Yeah I thought it was gonna finally fizz out like 6 fucking years ago but it seems to only be getting bigger and bigger each season lol The lazy rapping combined with the lazy trap beats has become a mainstay of urban music today it seems. I feel like a 70 year saying this stuff but come the fuck on already with EVERYONE sounding like either Drake or ASAP Rocky or somewhere in between. I think what really gets me is how it's all wrapped up in this dark fake avante garde aesthetic. As if making rap imagery a tad more artsy is somehow next level. There are some cool things I've heard and seen here and there, but for the most part it's all blah. I wish the real rappers and hip hop producers would start a battle with the trap bs. Cuz there are still and always will be amazing hip hop, but it doesn't get as much love as the fake stuff. There should be a new East coast vs West coast, but instead of regions, should be boom bap vs trap lol

forgot about this classic Ken, I'd like to request an Acapella rendition of Aphex Twin's "Curtains" please. Ty.

Interesante...

I can't help but love this... Who is this? That print is so small.

Lolol was jk

Really dude, you're gonna take a cheap shot at Armored Saint? My uncle was in that band and they were quite respectable in their time. It was a thing of the era to have epic themes and fantasy-inspired apparel. You can bully 'the Saint' all you want my my uncle and the gang have changed lives with their music, which AS fans agree is timeless.

Just made this ambient thing yesterday on a whim ?? https://soundcloud.com/donovan-hikaru/donovan-hikaru-4th-of-july

808 State's Ex El. It's a go to of mine and have been playing it on my way to and from work for the last few days. Such an awesome journey as is every 808 State release. Really love the chilly exotic world vibes and light plastic quirkiness of it. And the features of Bjork and Bernard Sumner are sublime. A+

Digging this, it's like a groovy sonic youth track

I like your strategy!

It helps to think of Lane Visitor posts such as these as pieces of art rather than shameful confessions or venting. :D

I never gamble unless I'm on vacation in Vegas or something but decided to randomly go to a resort / casino that's near my home tonight to play a few slots and have a few beers after getting into a little argument with my wife. The scenario already felt genuinely American to begin with. I withdrew $100 from the ATM and chose not to view balance or get a receipt. Found several fun looking slot machines. I like the idea of randomness. There's almost a Zen like feeling of taking something hard earned and letting it go all to chance. Found a zany Egypt hemmed 3-D interactive slot machine where I had to press the screen to catch butterflies now and then for some sort of bonus. Really weird and my seat shook and the machine whispered in my ear about the sphynx or something. 2 beers in and this great American slot machine pulled me in while I joked with the guy next to me about not needing drugs when you have entertainment like this. Lost the $100 somi took another hundred out and went again... This time to a machine that wasn't nestled away or next to anyone--one of those isolated machines with the giant spinning wheel bonus bullshit on top like a wheel of fortune thing. My back was faced to the entrance. It was desperation and shame at this point. Any of my local friends or our couple friends could see the back of my sweaty head at this point, hunched over a fuckin money stealing machine on a Friday night at peak social hour, by myself pathetic and hollow. This machine was fitting I thought. The theme was... Money. Dollar bills, 1s, 5s, 10s and so on, and if you lined the same ones up yada yada. Benjamins and Jefferson's spinning around making cliched 90s game show and cash register sounds. Threw it all away in 10 mins. Texted my wife that i lost $200. We got into an argument (of course - and over money I thought , how American, how cliched) - an argument that I apparently created cuz she was never actually upset in the first place but I guess I was just over-sensing a certain vibe maybe cuz of the drinks. As I walked toward the lobby, a busty red dressed scantily clad woman with fake seeming eyebrows and exaggerated everything blew a fat stream of smoke out of her mouth and nose straight into her cleavage as she power walked toward the middle of the casino. Standing outside the casino, it dawned on me this was the most genuime American experience I've ever had.

LOL

Utterly unreal isn't it? His blatant lies and deceit are like a random page out of 1984. The cult of Trump is quite terrifying, even moreso than Trump himself. Both of my parents--one a libertarian and one conservative--though divorced, living in opposite places in the US and completely at odds in every world view incl politics... And even different beliefs/religion... are both Trump supporters. My wife whose ultra liberal just avoids the convo and so do I when we go over there to either of them. It's pretty awkward.

that's pretty fucking rich coming from these cunts I have to play devil's advocate a little bit here, the US pullout has some substantive reasoning that makes it a little more complicated than Trump simply pulling some absurd pro-Israel / anti-UN bullshit. That said it's still an exaggerated claim that this is some courageous defiance by the USA. It's not like the charges against Israel are largely false, it's the fact that the same body won't condemn far greater abuses by other countries INCLUDING council members. Well said. This list here is the eternal reason why Israel has been forever cast as the sole oppressors of the world packaged comfortably and sold to liberal causes. And many of us well meaning liberals don't fully understand the darker side of it's source. Zionism = racism movement, the BDS movement and other destructive efforts are exports from none other than egregiously human right violating countries--a number of whose governments and leaders promote their passive (or even blatant) not-a-huge-fan-of-jews-ism (or unrelenting anti-zionism at the least). Has Israel violated human rights? Yes. Are they Dr. Evil incarnate of the modern global hierarchy? Nope. But bullying entities like elements of the UN Human Rights Commission will have you drink that Kool Aid.

...the idea that that only way to fight against or stand above the noise - whether it be political tryanny, cultural jadedness, media burnout, the blandness of mainstream culture and so on... Is through creating your own memes, 10 second snippets, lolable kickstarters, in the hopes of standing out for 10 more seconds before your message is shredded into digital dust. We're all infected with ADD and there's no cure. And there's no revolution in a world like that. That's why Trump can become president, that's why Charlottesville happened. That's why kids are shooting up schools by the dozen.

But for real, I've felt the same way with all of this. It makes you feel helpless and angry. Sometimes wish we lived in a different era where the idea of "revolution" didn't take place from the comfort of our friendly little mobile devices, and where we didn't forget each tragedy, each injustice second after second as it competes with the utter noise of political cartoon, soap opera reality and memification of our apathetic western world.

Hmmm well, we can start a hashtag #NoSeparation... It's sure to open up the eyes of the infrastructure and change the world... just like how #BringOurGirlsBack #Manchester #Paris and #MeToo did. And the best part is it only takes a few seconds and it feels good too. Thank God for our social media lives and identities. #futile

piano vibes toward the end there remind me of this imagination classic, also one of my favs:

What's your/watmms take on progressive house? Just curious. It seems like such a far encompassing style that it's hard to categorize often (which I think makes it exciting). What comes to mind for me when I think of progressive house stems from when it took off in the early to mid 90s. Of course the cliches-- bell synths/pads, slow builds/transitions, on the darker moodier side with more poetic lyrics and vocals, atmospheric. It's changed flavor over the years of course. Elements of trance, electro, chill, etc. Really anything can be progressive depending on the structures and attitudes. I'd even call some 80s and early 90s deep house progressive as much of it truly was. Evolving, long, complex, heady. Nowadays it seems to be hone in more on the Uber clean emotional poppy vocal, with beach/Palm tree asthetics lol. A lot of it is samey and uninspired, but some of it is lush as hell. Maybe far from the spirit of house of course, but often an ambitious excercise in euphoric trance/electro-house tropes and structures. a mixed bag like a lot of music depending on labels & jocks, if you're in the mood to dig "Flying Records" & "Guerilla" releases are worth sifting through, but there's a minor caveat (see below) https://www.discogs.com/label/7260-Flying-Records-UK?page=1&genre=All&limit=500 https://www.discogs.com/label/621-Guerilla something sketchy happened round about 1994, maybe a collective comedown with certain London music industry types rinsing a sound until it was dead on its feet, but have a rummage for mixes by a DJ called Fabi Paras on Youlube for a taste unfortunately Progressive (even the tag sounds a tad naff) morphed into the later Sasha/Digweed "Epic" bs that is frankly inexcusable, but Junior Boys Own skirted that sound signature although they were canny enough not to over-indulge it have a gander at those labels & their releases between inception up to about '94 & there are bound to be bits you'd like, i aint at home so record crate digging isnt possible, but i'm sure you'll navigate what takes yer fancy the date specific angle isnt nostalgia or snobbery, more that theres a world of shit after a certain time period & life's too short cheers ears, will give these a rinse this week! Nice... Thanks for the links- will definitely check those out. Speaking of Guerilla Records, I stumbled into this LP today. Really great acid prog house. Kinda like a more contemporary and minimal version of 808 state. groovy one around 25:14 Also, kinda unrelated, been rocking this. In love with the EP

Can't forget those deep progressive tribal house vibes or tech house. Even minimal.can be progrrssive haha... Fuck me, there's so much progressive stuff out there I would vote to kill the phrase entirely lol.

What's your/watmms take on progressive house? Just curious. It seems like such a far encompassing style that it's hard to categorize often (which I think makes it exciting). What comes to mind for me when I think of progressive house stems from when it took off in the early to mid 90s. Of course the cliches-- bell synths/pads, slow builds/transitions, on the darker moodier side with more poetic lyrics and vocals, atmospheric. It's changed flavor over the years of course. Elements of trance, electro, chill, etc. Really anything can be progressive depending on the structures and attitudes. I'd even call some 80s and early 90s deep house progressive as much of it truly was. Evolving, long, complex, heady. Nowadays it seems to be hone in more on the Uber clean emotional poppy vocal, with beach/Palm tree asthetics lol. A lot of it is samey and uninspired, but some of it is lush as hell. Maybe far from the spirit of house of course, but often an ambitious excercise in euphoric trance/electro-house tropes and structures.

...While he's at it, he may as well go load up on his taco salads from Trump Tower, hop on a private jet over to the Louvre in Paris and take a fat dump right under the Mona Lisa.