Odd Future's The OF Tape, Vol. 2: A First Listen

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Odd Future is here, get used to it. Posse albums usually failed in the past because the star rapper's cohorts are always such dickheads, but when being dickheads is your selling point....

This unambitious sampler might be where the Goblin-polarized legions get won back. And don't think they're not hiding behind Frank Ocean for cred now. Odd Future performs April 9 at the Warfield.

"Hi"

A minute and a half of one of their buddies insulting everyone in the group without overexerting himself: "Mike G -- crusty ass!" Establishes both their self-deprecation cred and their laziness cred. Crucial.

"Bitches"

Airy, stuttering lo-fi beat with funny new age synths for Domo and Hodgy (rhymes "Benjamin" with "benjamins") to showcase their likable dumbness. Likable dumbness is probably the theme with this one, which is restorative: they need to stop acting like they beat people up and just go back to skating in the 7-11 parking lot.

"NY (Ned Flander)"

More bona fides. A classic Tyler piano loop: spare, broken melody, more carefully arranged than it first seems. Hodgy and Tyler do their don't-call-it-horrorcore thing. "I'm higher than a fat bitch's sodium" is probably the baseline for wit here, but I only actually laughed when the girl at the end yells that she sucked five of of (Tyler's?) friends' dicks "and one of them was fucking fat!" Pretty sure Tyler says "coke-ular drugs" at one point.

"Ya Know"

I wasn't as into The Internet's Purple Naked Ladies as I wanted to be (that new THEESatisfaction album on Sub Pop does fragmented, stoned/avant R&B way better), but Syd and Matt Martian have come up with a pretty catchy song here -- albeit one built around a keyboard mistake that sounds like Ween meets the Rocko's Modern Life theme. They're some of the only OF members who might actually benefit from this thing.

"Forest Green"

A catchy, Eminem-ish beat without an utterance from Mike G worthy of remark. OF's most traditional rapper I guess? He double-tracks his voice at the end, probably knows a thing about choruses.

"Lean"

I liked Domo Genesis' underrated, superhigh Rolling Papers last year, but he seems to be mostly on board to say "bitch" a lot and drop in the occasional stonedbrag ("I invented swag!"). Hodgy's style doesn't really mesh with his at all, so I'm not sure why they're always partnering up these days.

"Analog 2"

The bad news is we're almost halfway through this thing and Tyler's only dropped in twice now -- and this one's a remake of one of Goblin's sleepiest moaners. The good news is that means a Frank Ocean and Syd remake is welcome. The drum machine falls out of time a bunch, on purpose maybe? Halfway through, there's complete silence, as if they're checking whether you're still awake, and then boom, Syd's half kicks in and it's absolutely luscious musically, especially the harmonized horn parts. They are easily the prettiest sound I've ever heard on an OFWGKTA release. So good call on this one after all.

"50"

Speaking of remakes, these numbered MellowHype songs are becoming an anticipated treat in their own right. Hodgy's ferocious over these now-requisite horror strings and post-Waka rattlesnake hi-hats. The uncredited Lil Jon-ish hypeman knows how to do this one. "Fuck the police/ Break the law/ Twist your fingers off/ Break your balls" -- that should create insanity live.

"Snow White"

More Hodgy, and why not? He's on a roll between some of these verses and his quietly very good Untitled EP from this month, which experimented with letting Juicy J, Alchemist, and Flying Lotus into the OF sphere. Frank Ocean's a marvel at navigating a post-Bomb Squad screech beat like this to contribute a wiggly hook.

"Rello"

Loved this video because it plays up their absurdity (and their secret love of fat girls), and the song's still kind of a banger with those arcade synths. Domo's reliably dumb, Hodgy lean and sharp, and Tyler's basso ridiculoso effect plays the detached Stephin Merritt cryptkeeper figure. In double time! "I just want to see some tits" is probably the only honest thing he's ever said. "Your mama look like a ugly" just depends on your taste.