Track List

0:00 Mall Radio

1:14 Stay At Home

4:13 Punch My Teeth Out

7:45 The Cop Song

10:55 Space Invaders

14:36 Sleepy Head

16:44 Good Old Fashion Loving

21:53 You Talk Too Loud

25:49 Too Cold To Hold

29:28 Funny Money

30:43 Whenever You Ready

34:51 Hazel’s Joint

37:53 Crowd Control

42:36 Oh What A Thing

46:55 Make Me Popular

51:15 [Hidden Track]

Songs From the Mall could be considered the peak of Watkin Tudor Jones music (a form of alternative rap). The lyrics have gravity to them, it contains all the substance that his later project, Die Antwoord lacks. Die Antwoord is the dumbed down version of their real talent for mass appeal, bordering on self parody. Max Normal was considered one of Jones’s most successful commercial projects up until the world discovered Die Antwoord. Jones quickly became bored with Max Normal’s success and resumed being an underground pop terrorist with later projects such as Constructus Corporation & his solo debut The Fantastic Kill.

SFTM Starts out a bit of a miss and is weak up until the 10:55 mark.

Space invaders – In this track Jones speaks in a disappointed tone to what is implied to be another musician, with the most notable line on track being:

“Most of the sh** you represented was a lie And i was “hurry up and die” But then you looked me in the eye And i noticed you were tired The person i had once admired had expired Then i had to sit around waiting for a new shipment of reliable equipment.”

Sleepy Head – This is a slow tune with a relaxing beat:

“Come on, i’m comin at you cats like an icelandic hunter Make you turn my hook into your personal mantra. I thought i saw the light but it disappeared Because the food i’m eating is, like, genetically engineered”

Good Old Fashion Loving – This one takes a more chill sound with the best line:

“Prototype pro trooper Watkin Tudor, Jones Jr Troubleshooter Undercover buddha recruiter”

You Talk Too Loud – Is what I would consider to be the best track on the album. This is what to take away from it: If you see someone who is ‘enlightened’, you can’t get that way by following them around. You need to go to the garden yourself.

“I go for a walk in the garden And come back smelling all pretty and I can see you feeling sh***y , so I’m like What’s wrong man? I don’t mind if you tell me Just stop following me around trying to smell me The garden’s down there, yeah Go smell for yourself, this is some secondhand smell, ya dig?”

Too Cold To Hold – Has several references to veganism and Jones’ Eastern-belief system:

“Tomorrow I think I’ll hang out with myself again Maybe even sport someone else’s skin

So if you hear some other cat kicking my rhymes Just remember his intestines might just be mine

Cause any one one of these 6 billion civilians could very well be this reptilian No matter how resilient or brilliant you think you are If i decide that i need a new host Somebody’s pretty little shell’s gonna get a new ghost”

Crowd Control – On this track, Jones breaks away from the general calm and cool distance the rest of the album has set up to in favor of loud enthusiasm:

“Hold on tight we about to take flight It’s a magic carpet ride with no end in sight

Ooh boy we gonna get high tonight I’m so excited And thoroughly delighted to be your pilot

I have no clue where we going but i think we’re guided … Here comes max normal to bang your head Come on, how wild can you get? Bang it til the last brain cell is dead”

Oh What A Thing – Jones returns to the subdued beat about a failed relationship in Jonese’s past, similar to the previous track You Talk Too Loud, he jokes about the relationship being fodder for his music:

“I would have loved to have said ‘thanks for your time.’

But it looks like it’s gonna be like ‘thanks for the rhyme’”
This is not an album that will easily fade into the background, nor is it something you’ll necessarily find easy to listen to. It’s highly intelligent rap, which some would consider a juxtaposition. It sometimes just doesn’t hit the mark, but when it does it’s golden. If you like alternative music, get this album because you’ll listen to it in the years to come and reflect on why it’s actually really on point.