RXTT's New Top Ten Current Hip Hop Tracks

The last time I made a list of Ten Current Hip Hop Faves was in June.  It is now nearing October, and the music never stops coming.  Between my old stand-by Street Flava (The SF !), Houston's hip hop radio stations, and the suggestions and recommendations of my pals over at the Sonic Youth Gossip Forum (specifically the good folks in the thread Louder's Hip Hop Cafe, currently in its 5th incarnation), I am always awash with new tunes and old bangers I may have missed, ready to add to my ever-growing Spotify playlist which I title A+ Whip Songs.  


Young Greatness - Ball


Dew Baby, Ft. Visto - Bu$$in Sudz


Young Thug - Future Swag


Rae Sremmurd - By Chance


Ro James - Permission e>


Big Baby D.R.A.M., Ft. Lil Yachty - Broccoli

 
PARTYNEXTDOOR, ft. Drake - Come and See Me

 
Kevin Gates - Really Really

 
Ty Dolla $ign, ft. Travis Scott - 3 Wayz

 
Future, ft. The Weeknd - Low Life

RXTT's Favorite Comic Book Artists: Bill Sienkiewicz

I have loved comic books as long as I can remember.  One of my oldest memories is of me reading comic books off the rack at my aunt's small bodega store in Puerto Rico.  As a visual-minded person, the artwork on comics always drew me in.  Some comic book artists are so awesome that I would purchase a comic solely because a certain artist had drawn it, or even just drawn the cover!

While it has been some years since I have kept up with what happens in the comic book world, I still love to revisit my old favorites.  Every once in a while I receive a good recommendation and I will check out a newer comic book series or graphic novel.  I am glad that so many are being made and respected as a form of literature in their own right.  I will be writing about my favorite comic book artists.  Let us begin with the man who first blew my mind and showed me that comic book art was truly ART.

BILL SIENKIEWICZ

The comic book world is populated with many artists whose drawings fit the predetermined mold utilized at the various comic book companies.  There is, after all, a Marvel "bible" titled "How to Draw Comics The Marvel Way."  While this creates a great sense of continuity within the various publisher's imprints, it can be a bit uniform for certain artists whose skills are unique.  Bill Sienkiewicz is one of those unique artists.  His work is instantly recognizable as his own.  No one else compares.  He is the master of creating a fantastic cover.  Check out the two pieces of art below.  The first one is for a Batman Annual issue, and was my favorite Batman cover image for the longest.  (click images to enlarge)

To a young man's eyes, this was a demented image of the Batman, my favorite costumed hero.  Everything is exaggerated.  The color scheme is pure blue, contrasted by very blue-toned yellows.  Tortured faces appear.  The Batman looks like an enraged force of nature, besieged at all sides by his demons/enemies.

This second cover art image is from a short-lived series which resurrected the classic pulp hero The Shadow.  I am the only person I know that loved this damn series, and I have collected all of the issues.

I always thought that the deranged art of Bill Sienkiewicz perfectly suited the character of the Shadow.  The Shadow was one of the first vigilante heroes, a definite literary precursor to the Batman and the Punisher.  His world was a violent and bleak one, where criminals forfeited their lives due to the crimes they committed.  The Shadow knew what evil lurked in the hearts of men, and I was so happy to see that a comic book version set in the modern day existed!  To this day it is one of the most hallucinogenic freak-out comic books I have ever had the pleasure to read.  It truly brought the old pulp/noir feel back and Sienkiewicz's artwork set the stage.  It is a shame that he only drew the first 6 issues.
    
At a time when much of comic book art was still using the old stock 4 color Ben-Day Dot technique, Sienkiewicz's artwork was wildly different.  It is hard to describe just how different it was to see one of Mr. Sienkiewicz's covers at the comic book stores.  They leapt off the page with vibrant color, bizarre lines, and painterly shading.  It was very rare back then to see painted art in a comic book.  

One of the cool things about Bill Sienkiewicz is that he appears to be drawn to the dark and disturbing comic book characters.  He is rightfully famous for his work on Daredevil, Elektra, Moon Knight, and the awesome run he had on the New Mutants.  He continues to create amazing artwork of every type.  He is an amazing draftsman, and colorist, and stylist, and I am deeply jealous every time I see his work!.

RXTT's Top Ten Butthole Surfers Songs

The Butthole Surfers.  Don't they look like wholesome, all-American kids?

Ahhhh, my beloved Butthole Surfers.  Ever since I first dipped my ears into your insanity I have been hooked.    I used to see your albums at Sound Exchange when I would go shop for cheap used cassettes, and your covers always scared me off.  Something truly bizarre was contained within, it seemed to me.  I was right.  I was so right.  I was seeking the musically deranged and I found it.  My man Barnaby Struve was a huge fan and he made me a mix-tape of the choicest nugs.  I played that mix-tape so much that I had to create a second version!  I wore it out, often blasting it's weirdness and forcing my friends to listen to it over and over again.

Over the years I have always found my way back to the Butthole Surfers.  I love them so much.  They might be my second favorite band of all time.  

*WARNING*  The Butthole Surfers are  not for the faint of heart, nor are many of the fan-made videos to follow.  You have been warned.


Butthole Surfers - "Mexican Caravan" 
Let's begin with one of the best fast rippers that the Surfers ever put on wax.  Mexican Caravan comes off of the amazingly titled "Psychic...Powerless..Another Man's Sac" LP.  It tells the tale of a man hoping to head to Mexico, learn how to pass as a Mexican, all so he can score some of that "heroin brown."  



 
Butthole Surfers - "Jimi"
This was one of my first dips into the Surfers' world.  What a dip!  From the slow, tribal, brutish beat and shifted vocals at the beginning ranting horribleness to the full-on guitar squall freakout in the middle to the frankly beautiful and pastoral ending (cows, dogs, birds, people speaking unintelligibly, and bowling!), this song contains everything you will ever need.



Butthole Surfers - "I Saw an X-Ray of a Girl Passing Gas"
I think this song is about going to the doctor's office while wasted on psychotropic intoxicants, but you never know.  I have loved this song ever since I heard the first line, "Ten foot tall and the nurse stuck a needle in my aaarrrrrrmmmmmmmmmm."  The Butthole Surfers have always been hilarious!



 
Butthole Surfers - "Something"
This is off of the Butthole Surfers first EP, a twisted song, shouted by Paul Leary, which seems to describe a conversation held with a deranged woman who "danced all over [her] daddy's grave" and who "ate some cheese and rice today."  Just weird.


Butthole Surfers - "Colored FBI Guy"
This amazing and melodic track off of the Widowermaker EP is one of the more straightforward tunes the Surfers ever put out.  It is a beautiful song, and ends with that timeless refrain, "I hope I'm together when I die."



Butthole Surfers - "Sea Ferring"
A real twisted track from the equally bizarre "Rembrandt Pussyhorse" album.  It starts off like a sideshow sea-chanty with some fat-bottomed bass.   This is a hard one to describe.  I love Gibby's singing on this, as well as his screams at the end.



Butthole Surfers - "Kuntz"
Kuntz, Kuntz, Kuntz, Kuntz, Kuntz, Kuntz, Kuntz, Kuntz, Kuntz, Kuntz, Kuntz, Kuntz...
This one is just fucking hilarious.  



 
Butthole Surfers - "Human Cannonball"
Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Such a raging beast!  I love this song so much.  From the detuned vocals at the beginning to the perfectly deranged guitar solo that kicks it off, to the perfect lyrics. "Pardon me, I'm only bleeding..."  Another one with amazing Gibby Haynes screams and hollers.



 
Butthole Surfers -"Sweat Loaf"
Amazing.  Amazing.  What a way to start off an album.  Alternating between a fat riff stolen from Black Sabbath and lyrical segments where the guitar feels almost angelic, this track begins with the immortal wisdom, "Son, the funny thing about regret is, it's better to regret something you have done than to regret something you haven't done, and by the way, if you see your mother this weekend would you be sure to tell her SATAN!  SATAN!  SATAN! SATAN!"  



 
Butthole Surfers - "Wooden Song"
Sometimes the beautiful looks even more so when surrounded by insanity and ugliness.  This is one of those tracks.  The Butthole Surfers always fucked around with all sorts of musical genres, and this quasi-sea chanty is one of those tracks.  There is absolutely nothing bizarre here.  Even the fuzz-heavy guitar solo serves the melody.  This is a drinking song for the ages.

 


 

RXTT's Top Ten Sonic Youth Videos

Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth are my favorite band.  They have been for over 30 years now!  Amazing!  No other group affects my ears like Sonic Youth does.  Their music has been the soundtrack to my life and I love it so.  I have had the pleasure of meeting Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley from SY but never have I had the chance to meet Thurston Moore or Kim Gordon.  Perhaps the future holds some cool surprises!
Either way, here are my Top Ten Sonic Youth videos.  This is not a definitive list, as my preferences change depending on when I am asked, but these ten videos are fucking awesome.



Sonic Youth - "Mildred Pierce"
This short number was one of my faves off the "Goo" album.  It starts off with a grimy bass groove and the builds and builds to what may be my most favorite recorded scream, outside of certain Doors classics.  It's kind of like a grooving punk tune that explodes near the end into the kind of freakout skronk that Sonic Youth do so well.

Sonic Youth - "Disappearer"
This awesome slow-burner is the song on Good that leads into the previous entry, "Mildred Pierce."  I love this song.  I love the video.  Just gorgeous. 




Sonic Youth - "Mote"
When I first listened to Sonic Youth I did not realize that there were two different male voices.  When I finally understood this I had an even greater appreciation for the SY.  This track, my favorite Lee Ranaldo song, is like the epitome of what Sonic Youth do.  The first half is an amazing riff-heavy rager counter-balanced by Lee's melodic and clear singing.  The second half?  a noise-rock skronk masterpiece that I memorized upon countless repeat listens.  The video itself is a lo-fi freakout of found porn and war footage interspersed with grainy pixel video of Lee performing the song alone.




Ciccone Youth - "Macbeth"
Sonic Youth was always informed by the pop music world, even if it was only to ridicule it.  The members of SY, along with some friends, created Ciccone Youth, a riff on Madonna's last name.  The self-titled album is awesome and this track may be my favorite off of it.  Noise as beauty.  Melodious chaos.  Gorgeous sonic moments composed of pure squalls of feedback.  The video was filmed by the one and only Dave Markey, who filmed the amazing 1991: The Year Punk Broke.




Sonic Youth - "Teenage Riot"
I had heard of Sonic Youth, but had never seen a video of theirs on MTV (and I watched a LOT of MTV back in the 80's).  One day, while up late recording videos off of 120 Minutes with my VHS, I saw this and taped it.  I watched it over and over and over again.  I had never heard anything like this before!  It was so different from the Van Halen, Megadeth, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Misfits, and Jane's Addiction music I was listening to at the time.  It is my all-time favorite SY song.  The pastiche video gave me my first glimpse of these noise-rock heroes of mine.  




Sonic Youth - "Hoarfrost"
This is perhaps Lee Ranaldo's finest "quiet" track.  It is a perfect meditation on the stillness and silence that greets you on a cold, frozen morning. This song makes me think of memories, of the past, of lives that were not mine.




Sonic Youth - "Drunken Butterfly"
Sonic Youth had a contest to see if any fans could make a video for a song off of their "Dirty" album.  The puppets won.  I love this song.  It is one of my favorite Kim Gordon tracks.  I remember driving through downtown Houston with my roommate Scott blasting this track and marveling at it's heaviness.




Sonic Youth - "Death Valley '69"
An early masterpiece of paranoia and fear and outright exultation!  The album this song comes from, "Bad Moon Rising" is a very dark album tonally.  It speaks of the ugly, hidden layers beneath 1980's plastic America.  This song used to scare me, with it's dual-perspective lyrics sung by Thurston Moore and Lydia Lunch detailing kidnapping and torture out in the California desert, a la the Manson family.  The video is, I think, a Richard Kern production, and equally sordid and grimy.




Sonic Youth - "Shadow of a Doubt"
This was the second SY video I taped off of the 120 MInutes.  What a vastly different song than "Teenage Riot."  From pensive rhythms, to shouts and fear, back to slowness and quiet desperation.  It was the first time I began to fall in love with Kim Gordon.  I would watch it and wonder if this was even a proper song!  That is how different SY sounded to my metal/punk ears.  




Sonic Youth - "Silver Rocket"
Oh man, when I first heard this song on the "Daydream Nation" album.  It hit home right away.  It startts off like a hardcore punk romp and Thurston screams about the rocket in his pocket and then it blows the fuck up!  Noise!  Skronk!  Then the riff comes back baby!!!!!!!

RXTT's Top Ten Current Hip Hop Tracks

I love music.  I love finding new tunes and groups to listen to.  Here in Houston, Texas, there is a long-running video show called STREET FLAVA, hosted by H-town's own D Solo, which showcases hip hop videos mostly from the Dirty South (Houston, the rest of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Atlanta).  It airs on Saturdays at 11:00 PM on KTXH, Channel 20.

I have been been watching this show off and on for over 20 years.  I originally watched it on the Houston PBS station but too many old white folks complained after tuning in their beloved PBS and seeing too much bootie poppin' for their sensibilities.  After picking up some sponsors (who have their own hilarious commercials as well) it moved to KTXH and has been "The Soul of the South" ever since.

What is great about Street Flava is that videos from international stars such as Drake or Rihanna will air alongside local independent rappers such as Psyco Sid, Frank Nitty Supreem, or huge up-and-comers like Travis Scott and Future.  Often, their tracks will air on Street Flava before I hear them on the H's hip hop radio stations.  It is a great resource.  I have never met D Solo but if I did I would thank him for the work he puts into the show and for constantly sharing the good tunes.  Between his show, the DJ's in Screwston that play the new bomb tracks, and mixtapes found online, I get to keep an ear on the Third Coast Hip Hop, and bangin' tracks in general.  It is just awesome.

Here are, currently, my ten favorite Hip Hop videos.


O.T. Genasis - "Cut It"

Future - "Stick Talk"

Young Greatness - "Moolah"

Young Thug - "Best Friend"

Travis Scott - "Mamacita"

2 Chainz, ft. Lil Wayne - "Bounce"

TY Dolla $ign - "Blase'"

Bryson Tiller - "Don't"

Kevin Gates - "2 Phones"

Travis Scott - "Antidote"