Pusha T - "Lunch Money" (Video)

The spacey, otherworldly by Kanye West on Pusha T's latest single "Lunch Money" makes for the perfect antithesis to Push's boastful coke rap lyrics, and sets the Virginia emcee up perfectly to release a new album that will make him worthy of being solidified as a true leader of new millennium hip hop. The video is also a practice in ideas that might not at first seem to go together: as Pusha arrogantly mocks the competition, around him is a stripped down, barren, drug-riddled environment dominated by pop lockers and hood rich dope boy decadence. It's a simplistic and unexpected approach, but it allows the song to take center stage. And at this stage, that's exactly how it should be as "Lunch Money" makes hip hop heads salivate for Pusha T's next full-length project.

- Ron Grant

Dirty Beaches - "Time Washes Away Everything"

Dirty Beaches has been laid to rest, but Alex Zhang Hungtai remains a wanderer. In the statement that accompanies the project’s swansong, Stateless, he comments on the transitory and unpredictable nature of life and prompts us to "brace ourselves for the ever changing tides of time." Above, find a powerful audio-visual representation of that existential melancholy. Godspeed to us all as we wander through this life!

Stateless is out now via Zoo Music.

Big K.R.I.T. - "Cadillactica" (Video)

Has anyone called Big K.R.I.T. glam-trap yet? If it's alright with everyone, that's what I'm going to do. Displaying incredible technical prowess and a strong ear for a hook, "Cadillactica" finds K.R.I.T. comfortable in his niche. Lyrically, the song isn't his best, essentially deriving inspiration from sexual brags and success brags. His delivery fits snugly inside a high-hat and spacey synthesizer driven beat. It's very catchy, great weed music, and easy to listen to, but feels safe for an artist who in the not too distant past was one of the most exciting newcomers to the scene. The synthesizers on "Cadillactica," specifically near the closing of the song, may evidence an eventual foray into cloud rap territory. Now, trap mixed with cloud beats may not seem like the most original or necessary experiment for any rapper to make at this point, but let's not forget that not long ago K.R.I.T. was took part in revitalizing a tired southern trap scene. Who knows what he could do if he becomes willing to find inspiration elsewhere?

And by the way, if you want to watch a song about Cadillacs that can't show a Cadillac logo, check the video above.

- Garrett Cottingham

alt-J - "Left Hand Free"

Nobody tell Sun Kil Moon's Mark Kozelek about this band or this video. If he called The War on Drugs beer commercial music, I'm not sure his mind could handle a band whose video essentially is a beer commercial. alt-J channel their escapist 90s soul in this video, and combine it with a very polite but catchy blues riff that carries throughout the song. Just watching this, it's easy to understand why this band is so controversial. Listeners that need to take their music seriously 100% of the time probably won't understand alt-J. Sure, they don't have teeth, Joe Newman's vocals ape a dated rap rock style, and stereotypical "oohs" and "whoas" persist throughout the song. But you know what? It all adds up to three minutes of pleasant escapism, and that's all they're trying to do.

Our review of the new alt-J album:

- Garrett Cottingham

Kendrick Lamar - "I"

When Kendrick Lamar dropped his latest single a few weeks ago, the hip hop world felt itself once again in an uproar, potentially getting a glimpse into the music from one of the most anticipated followup albums in years. But things quickly took a polarized turn as many fans clearly stood in the camps of "I love it" or "it's trash." Now, K. Dot has followed up the release of the single with an accompanying video to coincide with Tuesday's election madness. The visuals appear to be yet another old to oldschool Cali hip hop, the opening vignette featuring what appears to be a "Menace II Society"-inspired block party as Kendrick gets his hair twisted and proceeds into the dance-y, Isley Brothers-sampled, and positive message'd song. With his signature voice manipulations well-intact, Kendrick continues to gain traction for his third album--even with a less-than-stellar response to the song. And the icing on the cake is Ron Isley's camero near the end, which goes along with the subliminal messages against police brutality, domestic violence and suicide.

- Ron Grant

Pissed Jeans - "Boring Girls"

Last month, Pennsylvanian noise-rockers Pissed Jeans reissued their 2005 debut album Shallow on their current label Sub Pop. Definitely check this re-release out if you've been digging the group's recent output and want to witness the genesis of their "power dirge" ways. Above you can watch the music video for the LP's second track "Boring Girls," an amusingly uncouth love song whose visuals are part sitcom satire and part cartoony surrealist horror. Enjoy!

Ariel Pink - "Picture Me Gone"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS87mPfD_yI&feature=youtu.be Ariel Pink has just shared a fittingly chilling and tragic video for "Picture Me Gone," taken from his upcoming "solo debut" pom pom. The track might just be Ariel's most mature and moving track yet, expressing with commendable candor the anxiety and pressure that the prospect of starting a family makes him feel. The song's also one of his most frightening, dwelling on the matters of our ultimately ephemeral existences and our fading senses of sentimentality in the modern world. But none of that's anywhere near as disquieting as the latex Ariel mask that appears throughout the video...

pom pom is out November 18 via 4AD. If you're still an Ariel Pink skeptic, he also did a powerful rendition of "Picture Me Gone" recently with the PS22 Chorus that you might wanna check out. Find it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqQ_vR5qGpk

Deerhoof - "Mirror Monster"

OH MY GOD! STOP BEING SO MEAN TO ALL THOSE CARS! HEY, YOU! HEY! QUIT IT! NO, DON'T SMASH 'EM! NOOOOO! WHYY? C'MON, MAN! QUIT IT!

Deerhoof's latest album is titled La Isla Bonita, and it just dropped via Polyvinyl Records.