TenDeep: 10 Albums From August You Need To Hear

These days, it's easy to be overwhelmed by all the new music the gets released. Knowing where to even get started can be a tricky task. No matter what your taste, you'll quickly find that for every reliable source of dope music, there will be a hundred unreliable ones. Based on recs from music critics or even your uncle's Facebook page, you've undoubtedly clicked on some new music and later wished you'd gotten that three minutes of your life back.

But being a music fan isn't just about having your tastes thrown back at you anyway. Sometimes, you want to know what everyone else is talking about. You don't have to love the new Jay-Z album to want to hear it and dissect his lines.

TenDeep, which we'll publish at the end of every month, is not a column intended to tell you what the "best" records of the month are (although sometimes it will). Nor will we solely cover the 10 most-publicized records of a given month. Instead, our goal is to center the discussion. We want to cover a mix of the most talked-about records and some that deserve more attention, to give people an idea of what new music matters most in the Complex world. That said, check out TenDeep: 10 Albums From August You Need To Hear. 

Written by David Drake (@somanyshrimp), Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin), Caitlin White (@harmonicait), and Rob Kenner (@boomshots).

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Release Date: August 2
Label: Mute Records Limited

Moderat could be called a supergroup, as two or more artists who were already wildly successful teamed up and their impending collaboration is destined to be so incredible that we compare them to superheroes. When Apparat (Sascha Ring) & Modeselektor (Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary) decided to work on some music together, the electronic music community had a field day. The Berlin-based project has been dubbed with the somewhat unintelligent acronym "IDM" ("Intelligent Dance Music," as opposed to "EDM," or Electronic Dance Music).

Listening to their latest release, II, the distinction makes a little sense. Aphex Twin references abound, and the experimental, linear nature of most of their songs doesn't lend easy to the current dubstep-favoring EDM community. Still, it's interesting to watch a group like Moderat, who were decidedly niche when they began making music, gain more and more exposure as electronic music vies with traditional pop music for the attention of today's youth. Even of-the-moment buzz acts like AlunaGeorge list Moderat as one of their dance production acts.

Spending a little time with II reveals why—the lengthy jams become enveloping in their own way, creating sonic worlds that are simultaneously sleekly stark and populated with an ever revolving cast of glitchy, glittering figures. After a few spins, the reason that electronic music has risen to the forefront of mainstream's consciousness snaps into focus—it sounds like the future, but it's already here. —Caitlin White

Release Date: August 19
Label: Funk Volume

Las Vegas-based rapper Dizzy Wright is signed to Hopsin's Funk Volume label. Originally from the midwest, Wright has a dexterous rap style (he claims to be inspired by Nas—who doesn't?—and Bone Thugs, which would have been interesting and unexpected pre-A$AP Mob, but is no longer). That said, it's tough to hear too much of either artist in his flow. While his delivery isn't exactly the most distinctive, he definitely has a fluent approach that never really becomes grating over the course of this 21-track mixtape. 

If anything, he seems to be rapping in a late-90s style that has fallen out of favor in the past few years. There might be a parallel with Pro Era on the East Coast, but there's a less slovenly focus on a very particular node of history. A more likely musical influence on his recent material would be the success of TDE. There's also something refreshing about the tape's diverse sound throughout: it's alternately jazzy and funky, with a freewheeling West Coast  vibe. His intricate, detailed, wordplay-intense style is well-balanced by a sixth sense for musicality and phrasing—he's not trying to impress through bludgeoning technique as an end in and of itself. —David Drake

Release Date: August 26
Label: GOOD Music, Def Jam

Having listened to Big Sean's work on the G.O.O.D. Music album Cruel Summer, his sophomore release, Hall of Fame came as a total surprise. Sean's verses on "Mercy" and "Clique" were boastful, bragadocious, and full of cocksure swagger, like a high school athlete in the locker room talking shit with all the other jocks. But "Hall of Fame" sounds like it could have been done by another rapper. Instead of cute adlibs like “Oh God” and “Swerve,” he tells us stories about his girlfriend’s mother whose cancer spreads from her breast to her spine, and about finding a way to tell her everything is going to be all right. He rhymes about riding around Detroit in a Toyota with six other dudes, looking for trouble or fun or just a way out of town. He rhymes about his first chain, and brings Nas and Cudi along for the ride.

Yes, there are songs about threesomes and about being a rap star, but mostly there is honesty and even fleeting moments of vulnerability if not humility. It’s fitting that he and Kendrick had that moment on “Control,” because Hall of Fame clearly owes some sort of debt to good kid, m.A.A.d. city. K-Dot opened up a space for rap to do that, or at least reminded folks of the sorts of things Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth used to do with the art form. Before hearing Hall of Fame the title sounded pretentious, but after hearing it, it’s clear that Sean has earned his place. —Rob Kenner

Release Date: August 27
Label: True Panther Sounds

King Krule is a teenager from the UK who writes guitar-driven compositions echoing with reverb and electronic decoration. This production frames his jagged, unapologetically rough English singing voice, which brings to mind similar British Isles-originated, all-rough-edges vocalists like The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan or The Fall's Mark E. Smith. His vocals are affected by a stubborn, brolic, blue-collar manner, but the songs he writes are genteel and sincere. —David Drake

Release Date: August 23
Label: Kemosabe/Columbia

In the opening seconds of his third solo album Stay Trippy, Juicy J says, "I'ma tell you broke niggas something, listen..." As well they should. What they'll hear is a nearly 40 year old rapper who is as reckless a hedonist as he is a savvy veteran. Just look at the way he coaxes first rate performances from Justin Timberlake (must be a Memphis thing), Yelawolf, and even Wiz Khalifa. Or how he'd rather wax poetic about smoking wax (the hot new way to inhale insane amounts of THC, just ask Action Bronson) on "Wax" instead of boring us with another played out molly song. Or how he's wise enough to stick to the script, making the album essentially a polished version (props to executive producer Dr. Luke) of mixtapes like Rubba Band Business 2, which renewed interest in his career.

That mixtape featured the now classic "Zip and A Double Cup" which set the template for his revival, a revival that became a reality when "Bandz A Make Her Dance" became a crossover hit—probably why both songs are mentioned numerous times throughout the album. Juicy has crawled back to relevancy, mostly by just hanging out newcomers who grew up idolizing him (Lex Luger, Wiz Khalifa), the equivalent of sipping a double cup from the fountain of youth. Along the way, he found a new formula that worked and stuck to it, sort of like the way he finds simple phrases and perfects them into hooks, "A gun plus a mask, that equals cash," he says on "Gun Plus a Mask." Armed with an endless barrage of rattling beats, laugh out loud punchlines ("She treat my dick like a pistol, I treat her face like a target"), and enough believable gangsta talk to separate himself from the good kids of today's rap scene, Stay Trippy is the perfect explanation for why Juicy has been rich since the '90s. —Insanul Ahmed

Release Date: August 20
Label: ASAP Worldwide/Polo Grounds/RCA

When A$AP Ferg's "Work" slowly morphed into a hit, it seemed like a fluke. A$AP Rocky was hot which meant the A$AP brand was peaking and people were looking into the crew, fishing for another star. But this year, when Ferg's "Shabba" became a hit and summer anthem all over again, it was hard to to deny that Ferg hadn't scored two legitimate bangers. Even then, haters weren't convinced.

But now Trap Lord season is firmly upon us. Ferg isn't the best bar for bar rapper, but he understands his appeal and plays to his strengths by harnessing his sing-song flow. Sometimes he's surprisingly insightful, offering lines like, "I feel the pain for my bro cause his dad died/My daddy gone too my nigga, that's life," on "Fergivicious." But for the most part, reading a line like, "Body full of bullets when he found him on the road/Lay a fucker down, spray it at him then reload," does little to explain his talent, because it's not the lyrics that make Ferg worth listening to. It's his delivery that's sure to keep you guessing. Maybe Ferg learned from the fatal flaw on Rocky's debut album—Rocky failed to switch up his monotonous in-pocket flow, rendering him dull when he's anything but—and is overcompensating. We're not complaining. —Insanul Ahmed

Release Date: August 20
Label: Columbia Records

If you were hoping for Earl to make an album filled with the rapes and murders of his earlier work, then Doris really isn’t the album for you. In place of that, Earl offers introspection, dealing with his father not being around, and the pressures of living up to expectations. However, his talent of chopping up word salads is still there, even if the MF Doom vibe leads to a mostly abstract take on his new life as a famous rapper.

Yet it’s hard to escape the feeling that there’s much holding the songs together, Earl just goes from one song to the next. We’re not sure what this album says about his future (though it sounds like good news for his buddy Vince Staples, who steals the show on a few tracks) other than that Earl seems weighed down by expectations, unable to just be. He can still rap circles around you, but he’s clearing still wrapping his head around the idea of fame. —Insanul Ahmed