Rico Nasty and Boys Noize: HARDC0RE DR3AMZ

Though I haven’t had the pleasure of confirming this, I imagine HARDC0RE DR3AMZ is best listened to while wearing a bikini and drugged-up on a dance floor, preferably in a Berlin nightclub or, if possible, aboard a cruise ship. A cruise ship because that’s where the two artists behind this glitchy, hedonistic three-song EP—rapper Rico Nasty, a Prince George’s County native, and German Iraqi producer Boys Noize—met eight years ago. Their party-filled friendship led to two singles: 2020’s pulsing “Girl Crush,” and “Money,” a 2021 track featuring Flo Milli that sounds like a playground taunt placed over a thumping electro beat. Both were departures from the rage rap, sugar trap concoctions Rico has been known for since her breakout hit “Smack a Bitch” took off in 2018. The duo’s latest effort, HARDC0RE DR3AMZ, released on March 29, is even further removed. The EP starts with “Arintintin,” a jubilant dance track with a nonsense title that Rico repeats over and over again in an addictive hook. (Speaking about “Arintintin,” Rico said she and Boys Noize wanted to make something “so fucking annoying that you’re going to be singing it all day.”) The equally unseriously titled “Vvgina,” featuring Locked Club, follows. In an auto-tuned voice, Rico recounts heartbreak, confessing: “I hate having fun/ ’Cause it reminds me of you.” It’s hard to believe her admission while she sings it over a joyful club beat that makes breaking up sound like a riot. Rounding out the EP is “H.O.T.,” a swaggering song on which Rico raps about sex, clubbing, and the lifestyles of the hot and famous. HARDC0RE DR3AMZ is certainly a left turn for Rico. Then again, slamming into a left turn is about the most Rico Nasty thing the genre-fusing artist, who has dabbled in hyperpop, pop punk, and screamo, could do. It doesn’t reach the heights of her best work, found on previous albums such as Nasty and Anger Management, but it’s not intended to. All that HARDC0RE DR3AMZ seems to be after is a good time, and it’s having one. Over the syrupy dance track driving “H.O.T.” forward, Rico tells you everything you need to know: “This shit fye.” Then she tells you about a dozen more times, for good measure. —Ella Feldman

The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis: The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis

From the moment they formed in 2016, the Messthetics—the trio featuring Fugazi veterans Joe Lally (bass) and Brendan Canty (drums) with experimental guitarist Anthony Pirog—made a bold statement to the increasingly frayed notion of genre. Their loud and choppy instrumental music was conceived at the rarely visited confluence of post-hardcore, prog, and avant-garde jazz. It’s hard to call it fusion, per se, but neither does it fit comfortably into any of those streams. Does a collaboration with James Brandon Lewis, one of the most inventive and acclaimed jazz saxophonists of his generation, help crystallize things in the jazz direction on their zesty eponymous album, released March 15? No. It merely poses the questions anew.

Here’s one: What the hell do we call the album’s third track, “That Thang”? All four musicians come charging out of the gate with punky aggression, Pirog and Lewis doubling the melody and Canty sounding like he’s punishing his poor snare drum and crash cymbal. But the tune they’re pounding on is rhythmically off-kilter. It has a triplet feel that’s more at home in jazz, a gait that suggests funk, and an internal cadence that might have been a hip-hop MC’s. Then comes Pirog’s solo, which would fit with those of the classic rock guitar gods were it not for the querying effects he uses on his ax; Lewis follows with a line that channels free-jazz icon Albert Ayler in its coarsening tone, the James Brown Band in its percussive attack, and Clarence Clemons in its swagger. That’s just one example. Elsewhere, “Emergence” begins with a psychedelic cavalcade of guitar, downshifts into hard-driving pop rock (with Lewis’ sax giving it a distinctly ’80s feel), then gives the sax an improvised workout against Ramones-like aggression. “Railroad Tracks Home” uses a hop-along country rhythm (think “Sixteen Tons” or “King of the Road”) that Lewis pours soul sauce all over with his solo; Pirog tempers it with a mellowed-out, atmospheric one. It’s tempting, but too easy to assert that Pirog and Lewis act as a partnered front line. That’s often outwardly true—if one overlooks how locked-in Canty and Lally are to what they’re doing. The throbbing figure that Lally plays on the medium-slow “Three Sisters” isn’t just an accompaniment to the intertwined guitar and sax lines: It’s a punchy counterpoint to them. And while Lewis grabs attention by building—from sinuous and seductive to brawny and adrenalized (paving the way for a manic rock ’n’ roll explosion from Pirog)—the whole enterprise hangs entirely on Canty’s relentless pulse. Change what he does even a little, and the thing falls apart. If it doesn’t merit the “fusion” tag, it’s because that tag suggests a blending of musical elements to create something new. The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis is too organic for that. Lewis is a guest here, but he simply steps in and does what he does, and it works. Nobody needs to alter their course or meet anybody else halfway. Instead of presenting a new and separate hybrid, then, the collaboration shows us a strange and wonderful world where their musical approaches existed in tandem all along. They were just the intrepid explorers who thought to look there. —Michael J. West

dreamcastmoe: Molly’s Son

More joy, more warmth, more beats per minute—everything on dreamcastmoe’s Molly’s Son feels like the D.C. indie R&B/club singer has brightened his emotional horizons. The artist, who goes by Davon Bryant when not performing, has been in this mode before, including the brisk 2021 track “L Foot, Right,” but never so thoroughly. And he’s not hiding the reasons: The new six-song EP, released Feb. 16, was inspired partly by a buoyant poem his mom wrote about him, and partly the gratitude he feels for making it into his 30s with a global footprint as an artist. Sounds potentially corny, right? No worries: dreamcastmoe hasn’t lost his touch for gentle self-deprecation.

“Oh yeah you like pasta?” he ad-libs during “We Gone Make It,” a song about evolving love that’s backed with optimistic synth lines and a new jack-adjacent rhythm. Likewise, a celebration of pickup basketball, “Hand Down, Man Down,” is sprinkled with on-court gripes (“stop fuckin’ fouling me like that!”). The percussive backing track by previous collaborator ShunGu, meanwhile, speaks to decades of D.C. funk. The breezy, lusty “On the Beach” is a different kind of throwback. dreamcastmoe dug it out from a 2017 session in Los Angeles, and it not only fits the EP’s sonic vibe, but it also serves as a reminder that his core vocal talents—the fluid but occasionally achy delivery, the easy range—were mature a long time ago. A remix of the cut by New York production duo musclecars closes the EP with outdoor rooftop energy. Elsewhere, the bass-soaked “Preach” stiff-arms haters and sermonizers, while the sax-accented “Abuse It” brims with romantic possibility: “I see you smile/ It’s been awhile/ Since I’ve been inside your place,” dreamcastmoe croons, not with any specific expectations, but certainly with an open heart. —Joe Warminsky

Sub-Radio: “Ceilings” (Single)

Sub-Radio know a thing or two about going viral. During the pandemic, the D.C.-based indie-pop band gained international attention, using the power of Reddit to livestream their shows, resulting in a substantial increase in their social media following. So it only makes sense that they would cover a song that also gained notoriety virally: Lizzy McAlpine’s “ceilings.” While the original is a melancholy ballad of what it’s like to be young and in love, Sub-Radio take their version to the ’80s dance floor (right down to nicking the drum intro from Madonna’s “Material Girl”). While working on the song, Sub-Radio posted an Instagram video of band members lamenting that “ceilings,” with its 6/8 time signature, can’t be turned into a dance song. (Side note to Sub-Radio: One of the greatest dance sequences ever caught on film, “America” in West Side Story, is in 6/8—the tempo does not determine whether a person can dance to the song; it’s whether or not that person has rhythm). But with instrumentation and a brightness in the production that recalls Duran Duran, Erasure, New Order, and OMD, Sub-Radio’s astute arrangement on “Ceilings,” released March 1, alters the time signature (for people that clap on the one and the three) and brings the heartbreak to the dance floor. It’s an inventive adaptation of the song that turns longing into something you can shake your booty to. —Christina Smart

Blood Family Reunion: Lucky Mutation

Hey dreamsters, Blood Family Reunion bring all the breathy vocals, arcane lyrics, synthy sounds, fuzzy guitars, and heavy drums on their full-length debut, Lucky Mutation. Very appropriately recorded on Halloween weekend 2023, at White Star Sound outside of Charlottesville, the D.C. dream-pop quartet’s new album was released on March 8 and follows their promising 2022 four-song EP, Ghost Girls. The band—featuring Joe King on guitars, Donovan Lessard on drums and keyboards, and singer-guitarist Pam Carder, with Stephen Lilly, who also engineered, mixed, and mastered the album, on bass, with additional engineering help from Orion Faruque—crafts an album that’s atmospheric, moody, and intimate. The opening track and first released single, “Bluebird,” weaves a sonic tapestry with shimmering guitars, bouncing drums, and Carder’s haunting vocals floating effortlessly above it all. Tracks such as “Summer Day Lens Flare” and the standout title track showcase the band’s otherworldly vibes and decadent sound waves. The heavy guitars and drums closing out “Seaglass” bring out a darker, heavier dimension to their sound, something that they could explore more. Carder’s witchy vocals are the undeniable centerpiece, casting a sonic spell—a dash of delicacy, a note of vulnerability, and a sweep of seduction, but always strong in her conjurings. There are touches of the dark beauty of the Cocteau Twins throughout and the band even nods to the Cure’s “Pictures of You” in “Crawl Space.” Meanwhile, King’s sometimes soaring and often wonderfully staticky guitar work and Lessard’s keys add texture and depth to the music, while Lilly’s bass lines and Lessard’s buzzy drumming provide a solid foundation for the band’s sound. Even in the album’s more introspective moments—there are lots of references to Greek mythology, graveyards, and general esoterica—an underlying sense of hope shines through the murkiness. The 12-track album closes with the extended “Night Begins.” Over nine minutes long, the song is a lush, lovely lullaby, and a fitting closer to this sonic dreamscape. Blood Family Reunion’s Lucky Mutation, released March 7, is available for streaming or purchase on Spotify, Bandcamp, and iTunes. Blood Family Reunion play at 7:30 p.m. on April 5 at Galactic Panther in Alexandria with NAYAN and the Beanstock Library. galacticpanther.com. The band also takes part in QUEERING SOUND, running May 15 to 31 at Rhizome. rhizomedc.org. —Colleen Kennedy

NØ MAN: Glitter and Spit

It’s relatively early in 2024 but do not be surprised if Glitter and Spit by NØ MAN makes it onto year-end best of lists. One of the first things you notice on this record, released March 29, is the audio fidelity. It’s fantastic. Each instrument stands out. This is not a muddy mix that feels cold and detached. The separate guitar parts on opening track “Eat My Twin” (now that’s a great opening track title!) and standout track “Can’t Kill Us All” are especially clear. There’s a bit of Deftones in their White Pony era going on in Glitter and Spit. It’s hardcore that’s allowed to breathe. 

Like most hardcore acts, you can easily ignore the lyrics if you want. The growl is good, but it’s still a growl. At first listen, you can only really decipher what Maha Shami is singing during breaks on songs like “Glitter and Spit” and on their cover of Lydia Lunch and Rowland S. Howard’s “Burning Skulls.” But once you do decipher the lyrics on your second and third listen, man, this record gets much better. The lyrics are dark and timely. This is not an opportunistic release or an attempt to capitalize on the atrocities currently unfolding in Palestine. But it’s absolutely related to those atrocities. In the aforementioned “Can’t Kill Us All,” Shami, the daughter of Palestinian refugees, sings, “Balfour dreams of exile and the natives are getting hostile/ Balfour dreams of exile birthright cleansing.” The song is relating the 1917 Balfour Declaration to exactly what’s going on today in Gaza even though this record was written before October 2023. The final lines on the album come from the cover song. Shami may not have penned them, but she sure embodies them throughout the album: “Nothing scares me anymore/ Burning skulls rise once more.” The record closes with “Damaar دمار,” an instrumental that’ll make you want to put the record on again. In the era of TikTok and Instagram Reels, having a closing track that nicely segues into the opener isn’t a bad idea. This is, start to finish, an excellent record. At 28 minutes and 27 seconds, it’s over before you want it to end. —Brandon Wetherbee

The North Country: The Future’s All We Need 

Passports aren’t required for the North Country’s latest album, The Future’s All We Need, out April 26 on House of Joy. The semi-D.C.-based experimental pop collective releases their fourth full-length album in the past 12 years, the follow-up to 2022’s collaborative EP, Born at the Right Time (Exquisite Corpse). The Future’s All We Need continues the self-styled indie-pop futurists’ delightful combination of catchy melodies and poignant social commentary, all written by the various band members. The two released singles, “Be Here Now” and “The Invisible Hand,” demonstrate the North Country’s thoughtful pop prowess. “Be Here Now” is an uplifting pop song that melds bits of jazz and funk into a meditation about mindfulness amid a cacophony of distractions, overthinking, and FOMO; the accompanying music video has all the color and playfulness of Sesame Street. “The Invisible Hand” brings together 1980s new wave sounds and Gordon Gekko vibes, as the band’s founder and frontperson Andrew Grossman purrs about the conspicuous consumption and casual cruelties of the uberwealthy over breathy background vocals and catchy synth. It’s the sort of song that North Country excel at: You’re not sure if you want to dance all night or start a revolution. The latest album calls upon a wide range of influences including the Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, David Bowie, and LCD Soundsystem in addition to that glorious year 2017 when both the Killers and Arcade Fire heartily embraced disco. Grossman often sing-speaks the straightforward but clever lyrics with singers Margot MacDonald and Laurel Halsey harmonizing, la-la-ing, and cooing as backing vocals. The rhythm section of Austin Blanton on bass and Kirk Kubicek on drums provide a bouncy, happy foundation, with sonic explorations by guitarist Jon Harmon, keyboardist Halsey, and Grossman on synth. The Future’s All We Need is 11 tracks of genre-defying, danceable deliberations on 21st-century civilization and its discontents: “San Antonio Pot Brownies” is a springy, silly ode to quietly quitting, and “No One’s Listening” is a space-age cabaret warning about solipsistic oversharing, while “We the People” is a funky manifesto against corrupt politicians. All band members contribute to songwriting, which adds to the eclecticism of their influences, sound, and lyrics, but together the songs are connected by themes of nostalgia, disillusionment, and brokenness, with an underlying thread of hope and self-betterment tying it all together. The North Country’s The Future’s All We Need vinyl is available to preorder on Bandcamp. Stay tuned for the band’s upcoming summer tour. —Colleen Kennedy