Kyp Malone, the guitarist, singer, and big-bearded dude from TV on the Radio, released a solo album on Tuesday under the moniker "Rain Machine," which is also the title of the album. Shit is nuts, like crazy good. Malone eschews the poppy, funky, and often dance centric tropes TVOTR is so fond of for a more soulful sound. The lyrics reflect that change as well. Malone's lyrics here are more straightforward, from the heart (not emo), and full of fucking blistering socio-political commentary. From a condemnation of race relations in modern American society (see "Smiling Black Faces," which Malone opens with the not-innocuous line "I see a slow genocide," and goes on to condemn the police, and society at large, for the horrendous murder of
Sean Bell.) to predictions of the fall of humanity ("Love Won't Save You," on which Malone lists a number of things of which you could be in possession that will offer you no help when the apocalypse comes, which include, but are certainly not limited to, the "sweetest pussy the world has ever seen" and, you guessed it, love), Malone unfolds a stinging indictment of American society as he sees it: through a glass darkly. The whole album, front to back, is solid; except for the last song, for which I only have one word, and that word is bad. Overall, however, I dub this album Big Kid Tested, Motherfucker Approved. Pick it up in your preferred medium, with one caveat. If you go the mp3 route, don't skimp on quality, you're gonna want all 320 kbps for this monster. In case you want to try the milk before you Walk The Cow (get it?), here you go:
