WATCH: #TurnUp Tuesday Picks. from Artpop to Angry Rap and Beyond
Lady Gaga’s new album, Artpop, doesn’t technically get released until November 11, but it’s leaked already so it may as well be out.
As a fellow NYU graduate, I totally get the impulse to reference random names from that expensive freshman year art history survey. Like the Jeff Koons reference in “Applause,” though, not everybody’s gonna get Artpop – it’s definitely dark, and sounds like the soundtrack to a goth circuit party. If that sounds like a plus to you, you must check out this record now.
On the blockbuster album side, the other thing you must hear this week is Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP 2. Sorry, groupies over the years, however much you tried, you didn’t soothe his tortured rapper artiste pain. That’s good for the rest of us.
You can stream the album now on iTunes.
But here are two albums bubbling just below the surface that you need to hear.
First up comes a new offering from M.I.A., the Sri Lankan/English rapper who’s back with her fourth album, Matangi. The entire thing is designed to make you uncomfortable, from the super-loud rap/bhangra production to the name-checks of atrocities from Somalia to Bosnia to Colombia. Fire this up for your next revolution.
Stream Matangi here via Rolling Stone.
If you’re too mellow to pick up a pitchfork, though, there’s Free Your Mind, the fourth album by Australian indie dance group Cut Copy. It’s kind of lite, groovy disco-pop that you could dance to in private in your underwear. Isn’t that what everyone needs sometimes?
Stream the album here via Stereogum.
Arielle Castillo is Fusion’s culture editor, reporting on arts, music, culture, and subcultures from the streets on up. She’s also a connoisseur of weird Florida, weightlifting, and cats.