The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Every Tuesday, the Sounding Board is a space for a short-ish review of a recent-ish release and conversations about new-to-you music. We’ll get things started with a write-up about a newer, likely under-heard album, and invite you to share your music musings in the comments.1
Making good hip-hop seems hard.
That might not be the most incisive or insightful observation, but hip-hop is an art form that requires a good ear, lyricism and exceptional rhythm. Discourse around it is unnecessarily dramatic, extremely online and quick to dish out both hagiographies and pans. Hip-hop is also a genre that’s relentlessly tone-policed by both fans and detractors. Different critical factions are always ready to declare something soft and corny or thuggish and hyper-violent. Some of the best rappers alive are even defined by their effortful style — think Jay-Z’s studied laughs and stage-whispered asides, or the way Killer Mike huffs and puffs while bringing the house down.2
That perceptible challenge is what makes a truly smooth emcee special and captivating. Examples include the way Big Boi can conjure a buttery cadence to snuggly fit any beat or how Q-Tip seems to inhale oxygen and exhale tight rhymes. When she raps, Yaya Bey is that special kind of rapper. On Do It Afraid, the latest LP from the Queens singer-songwriter-rapper, her voice is warm, musical and immediate whether she’s singing or weaving her way through impressive double time. It’s rapping at the volume of a murmur but enunciated clearly enough for bilabial pops and alveolar clicks to sound off in your headphones.
It’s both technically impressive and a great delivery method for Yaya Bey’s lyrics, which are emotive, thoughtful and clever whether they’re expressing rage, disappointment or desire; whether they’re focused inward or lost in big-picture thought. Being thoughtful in 2025 can mean processing a lot of dark realities, and much of Do It Afraid is spent working out anger, resentment and uncertainty. The dual gut punch of “It’s a recession they don’t say it but shit I know it is/ This shit depression I don’t say but shit I know it is,” on album-opener “Wake Up B*tch” is a great example of the harsh scene Yaya Bey can set with her velvet voice.
Do It Afraid makes time for joy, whimsy and escapism, too. “Real Yearners Unite” works in an extended Blue’s Clues reference into its Eastern-touched R&B. “Dream Girl” is ’80s-tastic synthpop that lets Yaya show off her falsetto while describing a tantric, neighbor-disturbing evening in with a loved one. “Merlot and Grigio” is an island-influenced good time with a boozy wobble, and the most effervescent song on the LP. “Bella Noches Pt.1” is a throwback to ‘90s club music with clapping percussion and pulsing bass.3
However, the album’s default setting is much closer to “Breakthrough,” a jazzy, piano-driven song with extremely pointed lyrics about feeling overlooked and physically drained. “Hit me with that, all that fucking gitchi, gitchi, ya, ya/ All you fucking leeches fucking swinging from my tatas/ Swinging from my tatas/ Swinging from my tatas/ Tata/ Tata” is a supremely memorable way to close a song. Despite that fire and creativity, Do It Afraid can be a little too much of a good thing at times. It’s 18 songs long, and its beats lean into an NPR-core sound that’s solid and sophisticated, but that can make eyelids feel heavy. It’s a hip-hop equivalent of a comfortable warm blanket. When that’s what you want, nothing feels as perfect, but it can make you sleepy, or — if you don’t need a blanket — feel stifled.
Thankfully, one of those stylistic jolts is almost always right around the corner to break up any temporary monotony and underscore how enjoyable Do It Afraid ‘s status quo truly is.
About the writer
Ben Hohenstatt
Ben Hohenstatt is an Alaska-based dog owner who moonlights as a music writer and photographer.
For more information, consult your local library or with parental permission visit his website.
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The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Violent Femmes is an album that unreservedly exorcises teenage demons while simultaneously recognizing their inherent darkness.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
The Sounding Board
A weekly column where New Music Tuesdays live on. Conversation is encouraged in the comments.
Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
The Kids In The Hall, Season Three, Episode Ten
– The punchline to the drunk guy looking for babes, only to get his head crushed got to me.
– I spent the whole ‘unlucky bride’ sketch wondering where things were going to go with the older woman the camera kept drawing attention to, so the punchline got a laugh out of me there.
– I wonder what a sitcom from these guys would be like. I’m aware several of them went on to work in sitcoms in various ways; obviously Dave Foley acted on Newsradio and apparently Bruce McCullough made a sitcom based on his life where he played a character based on his father, but I wonder what a collective long-form comic story from these guys would have been like.
– “Oh, I heard.” / “You did?” / “No, tell me.”
– “And because you were sneezing at the time of the murtder, I find you not guilty.”
– “I found, to my horror, that I was fondling myself.”
– “Your honour, I don’t believe I did anything I did not want myself to do.”
– “God, always a provider!”
Trading Places
This was in regular rotation at my house when I was growing up, but it’d probably been 20+ years since I’d last seen it. I put it on last night on a whim and was pleased to see that, with exceptions for things like Akroyd’s blackface disguise (1983 seems late for this for me, so it’s especially egregious), it had mostly held up. Great performances, especially from Murphy, Ameche, and Bellamy, who all kind of walk away with the movie–and in fact, the scene where Valentine overhears the Dukes demeaning him, plotting to throw him back on the street, and only exchanging one dollar for it all is, and always was, my pick for the best in the movie. The best joke, though, is Winthorpe being unable to help himself from correcting people that it wasn’t heroin, it was angel dust, even before pleading his innocence. I feel like that would be me in that scenario.
I still feel like I fundamentally don’t understand the stock market, but at this point, I’ve made my peace with that.
And the last few episodes of Andor. I’m sad this is over, but I’m looking forward to talking about it as a magnificent whole on the next TV round-up post.
*looking around nervously* so I think the blackface joke is pretty good, or at least as good as something like that can possibly be. Because the joke to me is not that he is doing blackface as such, it is that he is the capper to an increasingly (comically) terrible run of awful impressions — they’re all goofy as shit and Curtis in particular is ridiculous, and then Ackroyd comes in AND THERE IS ALREADY A BLACK GUY THERE FOR PETE’S SAKE WHY DID YOU NEED TO DO THIS. Anyway, I love Trading Places and despite its overall feel-good tone I can’t show it to the young nephews any time soon because of this scene, oh well. Side note: Mrs. Miller is a huge fan of this and picked up on how Tina Fey clearly loves it too — multiple times in Kimmy Schmidt you hear someone doing the “and she STEPPED on the BALL!” punchline from the country club yuppies.
I do like how specific the joke gets–the way their cover story involves Akroyd’s and Murphy’s respective disguises knowing each other from a past conference is genuinely funny, because I’m amused by how much thought they put into it. It makes me want to see them doing a TTRPG together.
The Practice, “Part One” – They weren’t trying hard with titles. And it’s going to get weird too. But the second episode builds a little on the first in that the suit against Big Tobacco is ongoing but in the background. In the foreground, a case involving a pretty rotten guy the state has dead to rights, and a woman in need of a restraining order against a different rotten guy. When things take a terrible turn in the latter, and the 11 year old son of the harasser kills his dad with a bow and arrow (really), Bobby has to sell out his other client to stop the the DA from pursuing a case against the kid. Just typing that, it really does sound absurd, but in the moment it’s effective. That i a nutshell is this show. We also meet Michael Badalucco as Jimmy Berlutti, apparently recommended to David E. Kelley by Kelley’s wife Michelle Pfeiffer. Guests include Kate Burton (Richard’s daughter but not Liz’s) as the DA and Philip Baker Hall as a particularly crusty judge. One of the things I love about this show are the guest judges, often top notch character actors.
Frasier, “Where Every Bloke Knows Your Name” – Stuck in a rut, Frasier goes with Daphne to her favorite English pub, and loves Daphne is not thrilled. Some good bits as always, but the most interesting think here is a pair of flashbacks to Niles and Frasier as middle schoolers, meant to show us that ten and now, the only friend Frasier can rely on is Niles.
Hall pops up on Boston Legal too!
I suspect Kelley had his character actors on speed dial to use as judges on all four of his Boston shows. Though there would be less need for one on Boston Public.
Ran – I saw this ten years ago when there were 30th anniversary screenings but it caught me on a very tired day and I struggled to stay awake through it. Now it’s getting 40th anniversary screenings, and also spending 3 hours in an air-conditioned cinema on the hottest day of the year with my favourite person seemed like a pretty appealing idea! Turns out the air-con was not exactly up to scratch BUT I managed to stay awake throughout, so I am the winner. I don’t think this is top-tier Kurosawa personally, although maybe that’s just because I’ve never been the biggest fan of war films or Shakespeare. It is pretty amazing filmmaking but really feels its length to me unlike some of Kurosawa’s other epics. I definitely got more out of it with a clear head though, there’s plenty of compelling stuff in the way the family immediately turns on each other when the patriarch stands down. The scenes of him wandering mad through wrecked castles I find… less compelling. The best bits are Lady Kaede showing her true colours and wanting to destroy the whole family just out of spite, hell yeah. But yeah, overall: Worth a second viewing but a little bit of a slog.
Superman: The Animated Series – a grab bag of episodes including Bizarro’s introduction, “Father’s Day” which introduces Superman to Darkseid, and the first two of the “World’s Finest” three-parter. Bizarro is great, also poor Bizarro. He’s basically a mentally challenged Superman, he just wants to do the right thing and keeps screwing it up. The best is of course the latter, though Darkseid of course rules, the worst of these is the Parasite/Livewire team up, in part because Parasite’s a creepy but not well-animated villain (no mouth!) whose main goal is to touch Livewire’s butt. (Superman is also way too happy about Parasite going into an amnesiac coma.) Got flack for this on Ruck’s discord but Batman’s intro here inadvertently exposes why I prefer Batman’s permanent supernatural noir aesthetic to Superman’s permanent retro Space Age. Just a cooler visual energy and different motifs. (To be fair, as others have said, I also think the Timmverse ppl simply like Batman better.)
The one thing I never liked about this Darkseid is that Michael Ironside never sounds like he’s made from stone. I don’t want every actor in the part to have Frank Welker grumble, but this was never menacing enough, if well acted.
See, he sounds like raw GRAVEL to me, but to each his own.
The French Dispatch — Even better the second time. For one thing, this really moves. Putting three full stories and ephemera in an hour and 47 minutes means each one has to be absolutely precise, a mode which suits this filmmaker fine. He loves long takes and establishing shots, and those exist here too, but every one of them is conveying additional information about character or mood. And while the middle story of the student revolt is still the weakest, I liked it better this time around. There’s no chaff, which concentrates the emotional stakes of the youthful romance such that it is more poignant and affecting than similar plots in Anderson’s later work (which is still good but less powerful than this or, say, Moonrise Kingdom). Of course Jeffrey Wright is still the standout in an absolutely killer cast — I love how he uses his body almost as a dancer might during his first scene exploring the prison.
Man, this is so good. I don’t have to give the DVD back to the library for another couple weeks. I might watch it again before I do.
Agreed, and Brody’s principle for art (being able to draw something simple and proficient and choosing not to) is a generally good rule of thumb.
I am not as high as you are on Dispatch but the highs — in particular Wright’s segment — are the highest Anderson has been. (And while it is a goof Owen Wilson’s intro is wonderful, so nice to see him again as the emotional balance to the diorama he’s speeding past.) The middle segment definitely struck me as the weakest and I think it’s because he is mixing youth mode (where he is best) with adult mode and while this could work in the vein of Phoenician Scheme’s fakery the actual 68 revolution is too heavy, or it was for me after digging up the articles this is based on.
I watched Final Destination: Bloodlines. When you get right down to it, fans of these movies just enjoy watching 20 something teens die in elaborate and gruesome ways . That’s sick, and disgusting. I’m a fan. There is a formula that’s followed fairly closely, but the few twists made it feel fresh to me. Plenty of dark comedy throughout.
I’ve only seen the first one and it was a hoot.
There are other good entries in the series. 1-4 (skip 5) then see Bloodlines.
What did we listen to?
Twin Freaks, Paul McCartney & Twin Freaks
This is a remix of many of McCartney’s solo works; Wikipedia reliably informs me that it’s unknown how much of this was McCartney’s work and how much was Freelance Hellraiser, although given that McCartney commissioned this as a way to open his live shows, I suspect very little was McCartney. That said, some of this is pretty cool – my favourite was “Oh Woman, Oh Why” which riffs on a chunk of “Band On The Run”, and the “Maybe I’m Amazed” remix is pretty awesome.
On The Beach, Neil Young
Some more relaxed and grungy rock here.
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon
A great listen: immersive, warm, inventive, and fun. Favorite track: “Don’t You Evah.”
Geogaddi, Boards of Canada
An interesting, outside-my-wheelhouse album. I feel like you could use some of the wordless sections of this to make a pretty kickass film score.
Picaresque, The Decemberists
This, on the other hand, is entirely and beautifully in my wheelhouse. Gorgeous and clever, definitely a keeper. I love story-songs. “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” was my absolute favorite–I feel like this can’t be that rare an opinion–and it’s a catchy, rollicking revenge drama with a superb ending (replaying the chorus of the mother’s deathbed torture-murder instructions, this time sans lyrics, and speeding it all up and up like it’s playing from a deranged jack-in-the-box is terrific, and I love how brutal it feels; shit is going down inside the belly of this whale). I’d spent years hearing individual Decemberists songs and loving them, but again, I’ve historically been awful about seeking out and listening to actual albums, so this was my first. Loved it.
You Are the Quarry, Morrissey
So Nath mentioned on the last WDWLT thread that he was waiting for me to absolutely hate one of the albums on his list, and at the time, I thought that surely that wouldn’t happen, that at most it would be like Geogaddi–mostly not for me, but still good territory to have explored.
Narrator: “But then she listened to the Morrissey album.”
To be fair, the music is fine. I just came away from this hating Morrissey himself with the force of a thousand suns. Usually, I say, “I’m a word person; I like it when I can understand the lyrics,” but if ever there were an album where I’d have been better off in ignorance, it’s this one. In song after song, he comes across as a self-pitying, self-aggrandizing tool complaining that people just don’t understand him, the loneliest and most special boy, even though he seems to make no effort to understand them. I think that’s why the more personal songs, like “Come Back to Camden,” work better for me–they’re less characterized by contempt. (Actually, some of the more purely political songs don’t aggravate me as much, either–I think it’s specifically how he describes the world but then writes himself in only to exempt himself that frustrates me the most.)
Violent Femmes, Violent Femmes
Excellent teenage angst, delivered with energy, raw emotion, and an unsanitized willingness to get unpleasant. Loved all of this, but especially “Good Feeling” and “Gimme the Car.”
In Case We Die, Architecture in Helsinki
Cheerful and fun, with a likable absurdist streak. Favorites: “Do the Whirlwind,” “Wishbone,” and the slower “In Case We Die (Pts 1-4).” I really love the variety of instruments that turn up here–it makes for such a cool, colorful soundscape.
Lust for Life, Or: How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story, Courting
Very enjoyable; like the Spoon album, this is an inventive-but-unified series of pleasures. Ben’s review mentioned Courting coining the word “kisserable,” and I expected to roll my eyes at it, and instead I was shocked to find that it actually worked for me when it came up: it’s sold by he delighted verve of it all, like the subtext is, “Can you believe we’re getting away with this?”
To be fair, there’s no one Morrissey holds in contempt more than himself, but…yes, the persona did get tired, and I say this as a fan. (Maybe former fan, I have zero plans to ever see him again live.) Meanwhile the Decemberists I admire but I feel an instinctive need to scream “SHUT UP NERD” every time I hear them. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga rules, fifteen year old Conor would be pleased with this choice.
Oh, The Decemberists are definitely nerdy. But I don’t think that’s bad: I have a soft spot for creative people that have really specific artistic passions that they have the knowledge and enthusiasm to go all-in on. (The bad kind of nerdy, for me, is the kind that’s defined by the sense of being better or more interesting than everyone else who doesn’t have your particular enthusiasms, like the science fiction fans who call everybody else “mundanes.”)
They’re objectively good, but I feel like Liz Lemon when Criss tries to sing at her. (“Sorry…I HATE YOU!”)
“Irish Blood, English Heart” is a pretty good banger. I won’t deny that Morrissey is self-absorbed and melodramatic as all hell on a lot of these tracks; I’m just not sure anyone does that mode better, or at least less gratingly obnoxious than I would find it coming from a lot of people (and that a lot of people still find gratingly obnoxious coming from him).
If you liked Geogaddi, 1998’s Music Has the Right to Children is generally considered Boards of Canada’s masterpiece. The Campfire Headphase is pretty good.
The Decemberists will definitely recur again, as their first two albums rate as more significant favorites of mine. (Actually, so will Spoon, I think also twice. I think my favorites on this one are “The Underdog” and “Black Like Me.” I can’t disagree with choosing “Don’t You Evah,” though.)
That Architecture in Helsinki album is definitely fun and jaunty, though I haven’t listened to it in a long time. I never really checked out any of their other stuff, either. “Do the Whirlwind” and “In Case We Die (Parts 1-4)” are probably at the top of my favorites on it as well.
1001 Albums, etc.:
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Exodus: Really good stuff, many of the really big Marley songs appear here and the way he blends reggae with pop and rock is really effective.
Electric Light Orchestra – Out of the Blue: I really like ELO but this album is a bit “too much of a good thing” for me maybe. So many great songs but they mostly stick to the same maximalist sound for 70-odd minutes and I find it a little tiring.
Weather Report – Heavy Weather: I’ve previously detailed my struggles with jazz, but didn’t really know where I fell on jazz fusion. Turns out I really liked parts of this, although others were meandering and a little bland. Still, definitely better than expected.
Muddy Waters – Hard Again: I can hear that this is good blues, but it’s another genre I don’t get a huge amount out of – kudos to Muddy for such a potent late-career sound though.
The Stranglers – Stranglers IV (Rattus Norvegicus): a punk band I’ve never really explored beyond the big few songs. I mostly enjoyed this, the mix of power chords and more ornate keyboard parts is great fun and something I’ve enjoyed elsewhere. Also some of the more angular, talky songs sound surprisingly like The Fall, I didn’t realise they had much sonic overlap.
The Clash – S/T: a punk band I’ve always struggled with and this did little to win me over. I’m not crazy about the vocals and while there’s good attitude here, the tunes can’t compete with the more melodic classic punk bands that I do love.
Blank Check, 28 Years Later – fun episode about a film that has grown on me quite a bit since I saw it. I liked their reactions to Ralph “third act” Fiennes and there were some fun diversions along the way too, but for the most part this is just a pretty wild film that is fun to talk about.
Rattus Norvegicus is the absolute shit, the ornate keys (and they are pretty wild) are perfectly counterbalanced by the sleazy bass and vocals. “No More Heroes” owns and man, “Peaches” is good raunchy fun. A great direction in punk.
And you’re getting fusion-pilled! “A Remark You Made” is just gorgeous bass solo work from Pastorius. Also, I am rolling at the Wikipedia writer who is getting a bit fancy with the editorial standards in regards to the chapter headers of the band’s history:
1970: Inception and formation
1971–1972: Avant-garde collective
1973: Move towards groove
1974–1975: Further into groove
1976: In transition
1977–1979: Jazz-rock stars
1980–1982: A tighter arrangement
1982–1985: A new band
Getting very into this compilation of Georgia Island Sea Singers recordings from Alan Lomax, literally haunting stuff, especially Bessie Jones’ recording of “O Death.”
I guess there are probably some versions of “O Death” I wouldn’t like, but I have a hard time imagining it. Such an incredible song.
going into the musical history is amazing, song probably dates back to a 15th century poem.
The Who, Tommy – Hadn’t listened to this in ages. Still brings me back to the times I listened to it in college in a hidden corner of the library while studying, or just listening in my dorm room. for all its pretense and occasional bombast, it holds up well for me. At his best, Townshend lives up to his vision and his desire to tell a story. The quality of the band is generally strong, and Daltrey has the right voice to carry the day. Now, my next question is if anyone tried to either turn “Sally Simpson” into “Lisa Simpson” or did a fanvid.
Paul McCartney, “Flaming Pie” – Like a lot of Paul’s work, a fun and pleasant and occasionally charming listen. Nothing profound, but the sort of thing that makes me feel relaxed and happy.