Album Review: Himanshu Suri's "Nehru Jackets"

Heems clearly puts a heavy emphasis on community-building in many ways. Like the RZA twenty years ago, Heems is building a small rap empire in New York City. He elicits strong performances from Lakutis, Despot, Big Baby Ghandi, all artists on his own Greedhead record label. There are also appearances by similar-minded blog A-listers Danny Brown, Mr. Muthafuckin Exquire, Action Bronson, and of course Victor Vasquez. Das Racist/Greedhead releases tend to use similar guest artists, evening out their inconsistency with an underlying artistic unity. And throughout the mixtape, there are little melodic and verbal callbacks to older songs that give the crew something like a mythology by simply hewing closely to catchy leitmotifs.

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Your Grandsons, They Won't Understand

The band’s origin was dependent on a cycle of hype, so the actual musical output was nearly irrelevant. It’s almost a shame, then, that Is This It turned out to be one of the most energetic, pitch-perfect encapsulations of great rock music.

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Who Throws Chicken Wing Bones On The Sidewalk? Who?

In a classic it’s-not-me-it’s-you move, I’ve decided it’s not the outdoors I don’t like. I don’t like other people. There are three types of other people you encounter when you take your dog outside.

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James Murphy, The Grandfather of New York Music?

The band worked by gut feel, a method learned by fits and starts being churned within the city's jammed, sweaty streets. LCD Soundsystem managed to release three albums, some of the decade's best, bowing out on top as New York's most beloved band. They also proved that the city has a short attention span.

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