The City Where There’s No One Else Around

Chromeo “When The Night Falls”

“When the Night Falls” is basically a song in which this guy attempts to talk an old flame into a booty call while he’s passing through town. And you know, more power to him. The thing that makes the song charming — aside from some very strong mid-80s style hooks, of course — is how hard he seems to be working to make this happen. He’s suave up to a point, but as the song goes on, I just think “wow, you’re still talking about this, guy?” It’s cute, though. This could easily be a super sleazy song, but it comes out sounding respectful and sorta sweet, and you start to actually buy into the notion that this is all, in fact, very romantic. Okay, maybe he’s full-on suave after all.

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Black Milk with Royce Da 5’9 and Elzhi “Deadly Medley”

I was driving myself crazy trying to figure out why this song sounded so familiar, and then I just gave up and did a Google search. As it turns out, Black Milk built this track around “Yeah Yeah” by Black Rock, which featured on the Chains & Black Exhaust compilation that came out back in 2002. I hadn’t heard it in at least three years. I like what Black Milk has done with it — the guitar parts have this great worn-yet-sturdy sound, and in the new context, it’s like a pause for deep reflection before one of the rappers digs into a verse. I also appreciate the way the drum fills make it sound like the track is advancing to another plateau, emphasizing incremental movement over momentum.

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