laughing with the losers
plus the week's best from bright eyes, atlgrandma, horse jumper of love and...kanye west?
Helloooo welcome to the Unskippables where we are all Raygun!
Last week I went to a screening of Rap World, the new film from Conner O'Malley, which was silly and delightful. His most recent work has honed his earlier poking at modern bro culture (see Hudson Yards video game) into a special, and surprising ,empathy for white male loserdom. No one is quite capturing the desperation and ennui of the wife guy/bro/townie than O’Malley, from his nervous comedian/VC pitch in Stand Up Solutions, to perfectly capturing suburban white rap mediocrity in Rap World.
Even Coreys, his latest short, doesn’t mock its main character for wanting to find a version of himself partying super hard elsewhere – he upends that fantasy in a way that’s satisfying, but doesn’t undercut the existential dread of the premise. There's a real sense of heart and love for the middling American loser in what he’s doing, and it resonates more because of it. Soy un perdedor, indeed.
As always, you can follow along on our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, which update every Tuesday along with the newsletter. Enjoy!
Bright Eyes + Alex Orange Drink – Rainbow Overpass
Alex Orange Drink co-wrote and produced a bunch of the upcoming Bright Eyes record, and whatever he’s doing has coerced Conor Oberst into finding his Fevers and Mirrors inner freak. The rushed, redlined energy of the vocal and the somewhat haphazard arrangement have the flushed excitement of Oberst’s early peak records, and it’s a thrill to hear him this thrilled to be himself. Alex gets a verse on “Rainbow Overpass,” and he more than deserves it.
Horse Jumper of Love – Word
“Word” is a perfect slowcore track from Horse Jumper of Love’s upcoming Disaster Trick LP. The roomy snare, whispered-yet-distorted vocals, and edgy, bare strumming – it’s hard to find something to dislike on “Word.”
atlgrandma – Nightmare Blunt Rotation
“Nightmare Blunt Rotation” really fun one from friends of the newsletter smartdumb. There’s a kaleidoscopic insouciance that you could call 90s but there’s very little here that feels like a throwback – other than the stacked hooks and fun, devil-may-care arrangement propelling the track forward.
Tre Loaded & That Mexican OT – The Ticket
Syrupy, bouncing Houston rap from two Texas rappers on a 2024 hot streak. The horn samples and laid back 808s in the beat perfectly complement Tre Loaded and That Mexican OT’s double-time verses.
Kanye West – 530
Vultures 2, the latest from Ye and Ty Dolla $ign, is shocking – not for any lyrical reasons, but because Ye sounds competent at making music for the first time in many, many years. Most of Vultures 2 goes down smoothly mostly by not being cringeworthy or disastrous, which can’t be said of Vultures 1, which was groanworthy from front to back. “530” is the most striking track on the record because you can hear a clear split between the first half and back half; Ye opens with his clearest lyrical POV on the album, bemoaning his issues with visitation and his ex, and then the track devolves into placeholder mumbles in the back half. It’s a devastating song because of that, and ultimately made it my favorite on the album.
throwback
Central Line – Walking Into Sunshine (Larry Levan mix)
Throwing this on just to celebrate the rare turn of excellent light summer weather we’ve had this week in NYC. A slight reprieve from July’s swampiness means that songs like “Walking Into Sunshine” hit extra hard.