Avocado Happy Hour, Beyoncé, Rome Cee

Perhaps you remember this band, the duo of (former City Paper intern) Amanda Schmidt and Rod Hamilton, serving waffles to you at the Ottobar as part of its opening spot for Mates of State. Yes, we are talking about feeling good here, from all fronts. “Daytime Television,” the lead track from last fall’s correctly titled Easy Listening, builds in warm synthesizer and xylophone tones, layering into a bit of lush, atmospheric pop music. Schmidt’s voice is cool and down-to-earth—think of Lali Puna’s Valerie Trebeljahr—and it’s a gentle source of gravity for a piece that seems to want to float away by the time it builds to its soft and unassuming close.

For more information visit myspace.com/avocadohappyhour.

It takes a second, and then you’re like, “What? This isn’t a club track,” or at least anything close to a “classic” club track. Say Wut leaves this as a more typical, and mass-friendly, remix of Beyoncé’s song. The vocal stays largely intact, but Say Wut lets a club beat take over from the original’s Major Lazer beat, which has kinda been everywhere already, so why not chuck it? Say Wut’s version is gritty aggro to the original’s almost military march version of house music and the result is a steroid-bumped take on the original. Indeed: If the original is about running the world, Say Wut’s might feel more about running the streets first.

For more information visit myspace.com/saywutmusic.

An Under Sound posse cut is something to be excited about. E Major and company have cultivated a tight little scene around the label, and here we get Rome Cee—the track’s focus—UllNevaNo, Sean Armstrong, Cynthia Hawkes, and E Major himself. It’s a proper team effort and everyone shines—most especially Hawkes—but it drags out for a little too long at nearly six minutes. The MCs can carry that length but the beat just doesn’t feel built for it, and by the end, its loops are way in your face in a bad way. Shorter verses, or a better or at least more minimal beat, would improve it; even better, get the MCs into it in a more interactive way than just trading off whole verses. You could go as far as to say that this might sink with lesser rappers.

For more information visit undersoundmusic.net.

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