Suggested Listening: Hiatus Kaiyote's 'Choose Your Weapon'

Even with all of the dope-ness that 2015 has offered thus far -- from Kendrick's critic-proof opus to the arrival of some choice full-length debuts from the likes of Action Bronson, Ibeyi and Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment -- it feels only natural to squeeze out a little more juice from the year that keeps on giving. Which brings me to what may be the first venture of this nature in the site's 16-year history; a look into the records that may have inspired some of our favorites and are now cemented as not just suggested but essential listening as the music-loving maniacs we all know you are. So with our inaugural compass piece, we're tackling one of the year's most dense and  rich pieces, none other than Hiatus Kaiyote's sophomore LP Choose Your Weapon, as the first of many companion scripts and scores of the year. So sit back, and let the records run. Here is our suggested listening for the Aussie avant-soul giants to take you a bit deeper into the sonic wizardry they've wielded and a bit farther into their headspace.

1. Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun

Probably the easiest selection to make on this list. Mama & crew's sophomore record provides a fairly accurate blueprint for the organic soul elements at work on CYW, not to mention some of J Dilla's most memorable moments on "Didn't Cha Know" and "Cleva," both more than seminal, at least in retrospect, to one of the year's most fulfilling offerings.

2. Curtis Mayfield - Curtis 

Here's a tip-of-the-hat to the quartet's live show. The psych-funk and r&b legend's debut is something of a testament in it's own right to an uncanny ability to recreate, damn-near perfectly at that, the magic of it's studio sessions on a sweat-stained stage. Anyone one of multitudes that bore witness to HK's sold-out US tour can attest to their unsettling, yet massively impressive talent for carrying that torch. And who knows? Maybe one day we'll be using CYW as a musical compass for the records of this generation's kindred well down the line.

3. Jamiroquai - The Return Of The Space Cowboy 

TROTSC is one of those records that--even 20-years down the line--you'll find bits and pieces of its electrified r&b genius still floating around the pool. Whether the Aussies were aware or not, their new joint bears massive resemblance to that of Jamiroquai's own second time out, bringing the nuance of the transitional phase, from New Jack to Organix, full circle as we move from 2015's greatness to whatever the hell is coming next.

4. Joni Mitchell - The Hissing Of Summer Lawns 

This was a longshot, but Mitchell's wholly unconventional take on the r&b canon, with all of its twisting and bending melodics and lush, though at times brooding, instrumentation, is still effecting the game even in 2015. Call it the big, sophisticated sister of Hiatus Kaiyote's youthful and energetic record and simply a must-hear for those unfamiliar.

5. Hawthorne Headhunters - Myriad Of Now

I know, I know. Many of you are probably scratching your head on this joint. But make no mistake, the St. Louis-bred duo's debut LP is the perfect chaser for the potent, at times overwhelming, musical madness of HK's record, buzzing with synthesized low-ends and murky, effected rhodes and swung-to-death back beats, much like CYW's "Laputa." This one may just have you detracting from the path altogether, but well worth the listen if it's new to your ears and a revisiting if it's been three years since your last go-through.

6. Frank n' Dank -  48 Hours

For my final Dilla-fied selection, it was a real toss-up between 48 Hours and Platinum Pied Pipers' Triple P, opting for the former due to its famously luscious, yet surprisingly sample-less production, which is also why we're going with the instrumentals. Not that the Detroit duo's word aren't worth their weight or anything, but the true genius here lays in the arrangements. It's a massive -- and brilliant -- testament to what Jay Dee was capable of as a musician, which many have outright forgetten. But I like to think that if Dilla were still with us, he'd look at what HK did on their new record and grin ear-to-ear, championing its r&b minimalism, but remaining deceptively complex in its many movements.

7. Thundercat -  Apocalypse 

This is an easy one. Nai, Bender, Perrin and Simon owe a lot to what the virtuoso bass-gawd accomplished on his first two albums, with the latter being the more accessible of the two. I believe it to be this record that made the world privy to the monumental change that was a brewing low-key in LA music labs; a sound I'm certain laid the groundwork for 2015's west coast dominance and something you hear constantly rummaging around on CYW. 

8. Weather Report - I Sing The Body Electric

I think the key point is that their fusion mushes jazz and prog rock together--there are riffs and vamps that are more heavy metal even in feel-- but approached with the precision and intricacy of high art music, focusing on the structure of the music and conversation instead of the emotion of rock. Something you hear a lot in the HK record and is found in spades on the theatrical fusion styles of a pre-Jaco Weather Report pressing.

9. Steely Dan - Aja 

Here's where we step sideways a bit. It's not that Aja, in all of its sampladelic glory, has a sound that is particularly prevalent on HK's latest. Rather, that the standard of musicianship upheld on what is perhaps Steely Dan's most recognizable work, is precisely the bar that HK hits and then transcends both on record and in the flesh. Showing absolute mastery and poise, while breaking free of standard 4/4 time signatures and showing us a world where everything is infinitely more complicated than we could have ever imagined. But it's the simplicity of HK's complexity that makes the four-piece such a treasure and a tour du fonk for years to come.