Last year, Ibn Inglor dropped one of Chicago's best kept secrets, New Wave, a visceral and gnashing portrait of urban isolation in a city where kids lose their friends. It was a tape that came in, tore everything up, and left not with a bang, but with a whimper. Six months later, New Wave 2 is even better. There's the ballsy ambition of Yeezus and the world-weary pathos of drill at its best, but Inglor's carved out a niche wholly his own in the city; who else interpolates Foreigner and samples Akira and a song from a former Australian Idol contestant? The production is weird and noisy and gorgeous—handled by Mhone Glor (the duo of Inglor and friend Brandon Mahone)—but it's still Inglor's voice that lingers the longest, the growl of someone who wants to love the world but gets constantly reinforced that it's easier to hate. New Wave 2 joins Welcome to Fazoland as the best thing to come out of Chicago this year.
Download: Ibn Inglor, New Wave 2
