THE ORACLE: Lincoln East High School A&E25

New Season, New Music Childish Gambino - “R. O. Y. A. L. T. Y.”: Don-

ald Glover’s plethora of mixtapes and only commercially produced album paved the way to showcase his countless roles as an entertainer - stand-up comedian, writer, actor, and part-time rapper. But Royalty takes on a different mean-ing. Glover returns with, as junior Eric Holmberg puts it, “a more mature, refined sound that zooms on his rapping career”, and a piece that’s “star-studded” to say the least - Beck, Ghostface, Chance the Rapper, Tina Fey, and more all make appearances. Yet again, his nerdy punchlines, hoodish delivery and robust lyricism make it all worthwhile.

Fiona Apple - “The Idler Wheel...”: It’s been seven years since Fiona Apple’s last album, and the New Yorker released her fourth in early June, this time even more con-fessional, raw, and creative. Her musical style resembles a mix of jazz and alternative rock while her voice is at times almost Florence Welch-esque. The lyricism, however, has been criticized as somewhat dire - regardless, the musical ingenuity of this album makes it worth a listen.

The xx - “Coexist”: The London pop band with sing-ers Romy Croft and Oliver Sim have made themselves fairly well known since their first album, the xx. They further pu-rified their sound in Coexist, using the minimal production they’re known for and clean guitar patterns accented with detailed lyrics. While they didn’t explore new territory, it’s become clear that they’re now far better at what they do.

Frank Ocean - “Channel Orange”: Ocean has come a long way since his Nostalgia, ultra. days, crooning over samples of MGMT and Coldplay. Now that he’s finally on iTunes, a universal excitement has swept over the R&B in-dustry as he finds meaning between fame and its spoils, pulling at the questions of his existence. While the record proves itself to be more even than his EP, the continuous experimentation hints that he still tries to find his niche as a musician.

Animal Collective - “Centipede Hz”: Centipede Hz is, as sophomore Prestyn Hartman elaborates, “a wall of sound.” Indeed, Animal Collective’s previous albums have been more listenable. But the recent deviation from what fans know of Merriweather Post Pavillion’s pop sound may also be a natural progression into the band’s inventive roots. Often described as garage rock or psychedelic rock, this al-bum’s sure to deserve more interest as time goes on.

Claudia Seravalli A&E Editor