Steve LampirisHoly hell, has it been quite a six-day run for new music. New tracks from Soundgarden, Torche and Yeezy all came out since the middle of last week.
First up, the reunited grunge gods Soundgarden put out a single from the forthcoming Avengers Assemble album (the soundtrack to the Avengers film) called “Live to Rise.” I was initially excited cause, ya know, it’s fucking Soundgarden. It is, sadly, simply meh: a do-nothing riff over the shredded vocals of the once-great Chris Cornell. Shoulda stayed home, guys. Sadly, I cannot find a stable link to stream this. Boo!
Next up is the second single from Torche’s upcoming Harmonicraft (due out April 24). It’s called “Reverse Inverted,” and following lead single “Kicking” (and pretty much everything they’ve recorded), it’s got big, bright riffs over catchy-as-hell melodies. “Reverse” doesn’t hit as hard or as immediately as “Kicking” but being a grower isn’t a bad thing.
Finally, we have the demigod himself putting out two new songs since April 4. Following his usual G.O.O.D. music Fridays, he released “Mercy” featuring Big Sean, Pusha-T and 2 Chainz. It’s an absolute beast, from the 2 Chainz song-stealing verse to the heavy-as-concrete and molasses-thick beat from Kanye’s protégé Lifted. Two days earlier (last Wednesday), ‘Ye dropped “Theraflu,” a track produced by Hit-Boy (the guy who did “Niggas In Paris” – yeah, that guy.) In typical Hit-Boy form, the beat rides a bouncing-ball synth line and the densest bass this side of a Bangladesh instrumental. Kanye certainly holds his own throughout and it shows that he doesn’t need guests in order to make art. Both are stunning, and both are avaliable over at Kanye’s official site.
