The World As I See It

Top 10 Albums of '09

2009-12-18T13:47:00.000-08:00

I make no omissions about feeling a LITTLE bit lackluster about this year's crop of new music. While last year saw a return to form by Portishead, the cough syrup-toting New Orleans Nightmare, Weezy, and the melodic trance creating MGMT, there will not be one band or rapper returning this year except Bon Iver. But, there were plenty of surprises and bright spots and these ten albums were truly great for individual reasons. While last year I found more indie rock sneak their way in the door, this year was great for pop. Maybe the recession inspired the industry to make slap-happy grooves that lifted the soul? Whatever the cause, pick up these albums.

10. Daisy - Brand New

The boys from Long Island released their fourth studio album to much fanfare. This was their highest charted album reaching number 6 on the Billboard 200 thanks in large to the success of The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me. This album infuses surf-rock, bluesy riffs, and heavy metal. As experimental as the sound came across, Jesse still was able to inject enough of himself to create a link between this album and the rest of their catalogue - barely. Jarring, loud, and aggressive are just a couple of adjectives that could be used to sum up this album. It is trying. But it is complete. Mike Sapone did an excellent job breathing life into this angry beast. Standout tracks include, "Bed," "You Stole," "At the Bottom," and "Bought a Bride."

9. The Ecstatic - Mos Def

It's interesting how the two hip hop albums on this list are almost a throwback. A novelty. Let's hit rewind and remember what it was to listen to hip in the 90s. Grooving melodies crafted by neo-soul hits of the 50s and 60s. Of course Def puts his unique spin on it. While this may be one of his more accessible records of recent memory, he really strikes a rhythm that is deeply satisfying. It's a short romp, but the Brooklyn Bomber does his thing here. Standout tracks include, "History (feat Kweli)," "Twilite Speedball," and "Auditorium (feat. The Ruler)."

8. The Fame Monster - Lady Gaga

I will admit. I was late to this party. And as much as this might be a guilty admission into my top ten, I cannot dismiss the power of Lady Gaga. Her club hits that started out as infectious hook-laden pop hits like "Just Dance" flourished to full-fledged arena-sized power ballads such as "Bad Romance." Her entry into music consciousness was as smooth as blunt force trauma. If the door wasn't to open, she would kick it down. Soon she was singing hooks on up-and-coming hip hop acts such as Wale and Kid Cudi. To her credit, once the populace was ready to receive her, she took the light and ran with it. She is a performer first and then musician. She has done a good job of keeping her music sonically different than fluff acts and to that I will give her artist to watch for years to follow. Standout tracks are, "Just Dance," "Poker Face," and "Bad Romance."

7. Blood Bank EP - Bon Iver

Justin Vernon just has a knack of creating wintery melancholy tunes that message the aches and pains of life. While this might be a bit boisterous to put a four song EP in the top ten of the year -- this is pretty much just an extra slap on the back for his highly-successful full length album last year. If you need some Iver to hold you over til the spring, this may be just the drink. All four tracks are standout. Even the final track that proved even a folk singer like Vernon could take the auto-tune and make something organic come of it.

6. Album - Girls

Christopher Owens may be one of the most interesting musicians to emerge this year. Creating the masterpiece that calls itself Album may be enough to give him the most misunderstood musical figure in the industry. He's a junkie. He is an ex-member of the Children of God cult. And that's just the beginning. He's a musical genius and his anti-hero anthem, "Hellhole Ratrace" may just sum up 09' as a whole. Born out of San Francisco, California, Owens croons to be believed in. We might not have a choice after this initial offering. Standout tracks include, "Hellhole Ratrace," "Lust for Life," and "Morning Light."

5. Manners - Passion Pit

The earnest crooning of Michael Angelakos is only the beginning to this band formed out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. This electronic band wedges itself somewhere in between MGMT and Postal Service. The pure wall of sound that drenches every track creates a dramatic soundscape peppered with light keyboard strokes. This album is the dark horse. Created out of Angelakos' wanting to create music for his girlfriend, now their EP feels like a tremendous freshman effort to woo every girl listening. It's light. It's fun. There's not much to challenge the listener so repeat listens may not break any new ground, but damn it if it's not infectious. Standout tracks include, "Moth's Wings," "Sleepyhead," "The Reeling," and "Swimming in the Flood."

4. It's Blitz! - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Karen O may just be my hero. It just seems like whatever she touches to gold. Born to be the princess of Indie rock. This being their third offering, they ditch slow emo ballads for some electronic dance music. "Zero" seemed to come hurtling through the sonic sphere right in the nick of time. The critical success of this album seems to parallel the success of LCD Soundsystem's Sounds of Silver which saw the band reach a different kind of success with their electronic offering. Already nominated for the Grammy for Best Alternative Album, It's Blitz! seems to find the YYYs in a different world. One that loves them almost as much as they love themselves. Karen O has always been Indie rock's superstar, but the mainstream success has never fully eyed her until now. It'll be interesting to see how they go from here. Standout tracks include, "Zero," "Heads Will Roll," "Skeletons," and "Dull Life."

3. Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective

Holy coherent melodies, Batman! Who would have thought Animal Collective would have been able to release a comprehensive albums that hardcore freakfolk nerds and simpletons could sway to alike? Not me. And yet, they've done it. They're crossing over from independent glory to mainstream with deft ease. Did Panda Bear give Ben Gibbard a call? Reaching 13 on the Billboard 200, this is easily their most commercially successful album to date. And perhaps the sonic sound of the album was bred out of necessity and not out of creativity entirely. Josh Gibb (guitarist) needed to take some time from the band out of personal reasons, so the now trio had to come up with sounds for substitutes in lieu of the guitar. The outcome was something close to Panda Bear's solo album Person Pitch. Using samplers as their primary instrument, the result also draws comparisons to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. Technically, this might be the best album of the year. Best Tracks include: "My Girls," "Summertime Clothes," and "Brother Sport."

2. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...Part II - Raekwon

What an re-entry. If the music industry were a steel door, Rae used OB4CL like a chainsaw. He was not gonna be denied with this album. With some of the best producers to ever sit at the table he received beats from Dre, RZA, J Dilla, The Alchemist, Marley Marl, and Pete Rock, he could have done nothing over the sonic landscape laid out and still had a top ten album. But perhaps that's the icing, every single line and lyric seemed laid in perfect positioning. Every guest spot seemed to up the last. Jada has never seemed more gruff. Ghostface has never seemed more wise. Slick Rick has never seemed so immediately relevant. And if the first installment of this series was Godfather I, this definitely feels like Godfather II. The rise of Brando. Raekwon the Chef aka Lex Diamonds is back with something the hood and mainstream can bump alike. Everything feels dangerous from the strings to the samples. Give a lot of credit to RZA for that. If last year was the year of the forward-thinking Weezy, this year is an homage to everything rap used to be. Top Tracks include: "Surgical Gloves," "Canal Street," and "10 Bricks."

1. Two Suns - Bat For Lashes

The difference in genres couldn't be any more different between number 1 and 2 on this list. Natasha Khan will be the next Indie rock superstar -- well if you want to call it rock. She plays piano, guitar, harpsichord, and autoharp. Not exactly what the pillars of rock were built on. But this beautiful album plays one part mysticism and one part sexuality. It seeps out of every corner and somehow feels out of the Lord of the Rings soundtrack or something. Playing on a lot of ambient noise, these songs almost feel organic in nature. Beautifully composed, each track rises and falls with almost breath-like qualities. There really isn't anything out there like this right now sonically and maybe that's the reason they may not be as big as they should be right now. If I had to peg a musical equivalent, I could draw comparisons to Feist or Tori Amos, but dynamic sampling and synths infuse genres that simply put Bat for Lashes on an island for one. If you listen to one track all year -- just one. Pick "Daniel." It is a flagship single if I've ever heard one. The production comes screaming -- ahem sighing -- out of the 80s but Khan's voice feels timeless making it relevant. They may borrow techniques out of the 60s, 70s and 80s, but this band has created one of the most beautiful albums to date and it feels so new. Much like Damien Rice's album O, sometimes beauty is the missing piece behind these musical compositions and the highlights reside in this album's softer moments. Intimate. Almost naked. She bares all and I dare you to turn away. Highlight tracks: "Daniel," "Glass," "Moon and Moon," and "Siren Song."

Long Away From Long Island

2009-10-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

The emo alt-rockers known as Brand New have come a long way since their pop/punk roots in Your Favorite Weapon. Every band aspires to truly evolve and change with each new record, but none do it with quite the style like Brand New. Jesse Lacey, frontman and lead writer on their first three albums, takes a backseat to Vin Accardi in Daisy. And from beginning to end you can feel the stark difference from this album compared to the other three.

From "Vices" to "Noro" this is Brand New's heaviest record yet aiming its sights on prog/heavy metal rock. Jesse and Co. self admitted that they wanted to create a record that would be fun to play live and scheduled many days off for fear of the toll this record would take on their voices. If The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me was the band in quiet contemplation Daisy finds them in angry resolution. With buzzing guitars, this record is loud -- really loud.

Jesse channels his best Kurt Cobain impression in "Bed." Strangely dark and cryptic, Vin writes the framework for this dark masterpiece. "I don't know what you feel like/Ambushed on the root, stole your gold and you laugh/Everything that you own starts to pile up/Like bones make the walls of your prison." And perhaps the lack of redemption in the lyrics is the main difference between Vin and Jesse. Jesse wrote songs that were drizzled with sadness, but you always felt the tiny vein of hope poking through for air.

Above all things, this is Brand New's most experimental album as well. In "You Stole," Brand New finds itself exploring and experimenting with a surf rock sound. "Be Gone" features a sitar-like imitation with Lacey's voice distorted as if sonically being projected through a body of water. Also they bookcased the album with a gospel hymn called "On Life's Highway" written by Bertrand Brown. Above all though, many will think this album plays up the guitars, but this is album shines due to the drummer, Brian Lane. And producer Mike Sapone, who produced their first album Your Favorite Weapon, gave this album a continuity like none before it.

Only 40 minutes long, the album is quick. Straight to the point. There have been allusions that this may be the last Brand New album, at least with this same lineup. Four albums that altogether are very different yet strangely connected. It's been a decade for these boys turned men and they take nothing for granted. This album is their most creative, cohesive work ever. Deja Entendu may be their crowning achievement, but Daisy takes every opportunity that album gave them and churned out a fiery force that resonates long after the first listen.

Heading a tour that will pack arenas, these guys are a long way from their underground punk roots, yet you never really feel they've ever lost a sense of who they are and what they aim to convey.

9/10

This. Is. Truth.

So many thoughts.....

2009-10-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

This is what I frequently end up doing. Create a successful month or two of blogging to follow it up with a half-year hiatus til the point that I have so many thoughts, I can't focus it into a streamlined article. Over the past month, I think I have downloaded about 10 albums, read that Thom Yorke is starting a new band with Flea, Pavement is back, Alice In Chains has re-formed with William DuVall, reached a new zenith for my love of "Poker Face" by Lada Gaga, finished the first season of Dexter...err...and seen the rebirth of the Wu! Let's get down to this.

I hate to start with the dude, but how can I not? Kanye West. The dude is a titan. A superstar. He may be the last of his kind. So self-absorbed and egotistical I'm not even sure he can escape his own gravitational pull -- but neither can we. And he finally achieved his ultimate goal with 808s and Heartbreak, he has transcended hip hop and is a true music star. He can work with anyone, anywhere, anytime and be accepted for truth. Karen O? Coldplay? Freaking Elvis Costello? He is in true charge of whatever music he wants to make and we will continue to support him in the process because the man is a genius at crafting a hook. He has opened to the door for acts like Kid Cudi and Lupe Fiasco to go out and fuse hip-hop with indie alternative and still stay mainstream to the hip-hop heads out there. We are reaching a point in music where there is no one where to go but back. Starchy synths, hooks straight outta the 80s, and glam rock is pumping through top radio stations everywhere. Kanye has a hand in that. Truly a visionary, he may be one of the most repugnant figures in music, but damn if I can't smile at his kid genius.

AND he may have done the unthinkable. He might have had a hand in delivering Hov his worst album...maybe ever.

Back to the Blueprint?

I wasn't sure if it was just me as I was listening to the Blueprint 3, but I was actually bored. This was my second time to FYE and they had just gotten the shipment in. I broke the seal and started the third installment of the landmark series. The dude sounds tired. His rhetoric is so repetitive it's hard to imagine this is one of the best rappers ever to walk. All this elder of rap stuff is getting old and his hooks didn't help much. Jeezy's feature, "Real As It Gets" goes downhill right as the homage to "Public Service Announcement" ends. Even up-and-comers Drake, J. Cole, and Kid Cudi can't keep this product fresh (Let's not even get to the Kanye track, "Hate"). The fact it was released around the same time as Raekwon's stellar hip-hop follow-up Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II, made it even more apparent that Hov's lost some edge. He's lost some connection for the game and the hustle. Three weeks later, the album has already fallen out of my daily rotation. And perhaps that's the most alienating offense -- it's completely forgettable.

Do It For the Kids

We are a week away from Spike Jonze's chronicling of childhood favorite, "Where the Wild Things Are," and I think the only thing better than this movie might be the soundtrack. Karen O (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) has composed and co-produced this whole soundtrack. Officially the artist is listed as Karen O and the Kids. However the "Kids" constitute of Deerhunter mastermind, Bradford Cox, YYYs members, Nick Zinner and Brian Chase, Dead Weather/Raconteurs' Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence, Liars' Aaron Hemphill, The Bird and the Bees' Greg Kurstin, as well as a children's choir. If you can't wait a week for the movie (and who can?), skip on over to your music store and pick up a copy of this. Another check for Karen O and her undeniable quest to become alt-rock's demi god.

Finally, I find myself renewed with vigor and vim (P.s. I looked up vim finally -- now I truly understand what it means) for the last quarter of music that will come hurtling its way this holiday season. I rededicate this blog to the notion that good music comes in all shapes, sizes, accents, and instrumentation. I specialize in nothing. Just have a thirst for trending music that makes me happy. Feel free to share, critique, or compliment. This week I'll get a review up for the new Alice in Chains record, Monsters of Folk, AFI, Paramore, Brand New, and Raekwon. As well as highlight a project I'm pretty pumped about: Blakroc.

This. Is. Truth.

Standing O

2009-04-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

The art rockers Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their latest album, It's Blitz! to heavy anticipation. They have all the momentum in the world to make this release their landmark. Legions of underground media pub. Check. New York supported cast. Check. Incredibly hot and fashionable female lead singer. Check. Talent. Check.

From open to close this album challenges every YYYs fan of old. Dropping the Indie lo-fi mantra, this album explores every sonic inch of space with synths, hollow drums, and hushed wails. The lead single and first track, "Zero" throws Karen O into a bed of rippling, buzzing rave sounds. Immediately shaking off any relevance to previous work, anyone ill-prepared likely experienced whiplash by the evolution of sound. The upbeat wall of sound threatens to intimidate, but once engulfed, you can't help but feel revitalized by the dance disco track. There is no letdown by the next track, "Heads Will Roll." In fact, when I listened to this I couldn't help but feel reminiscent of Orgy's "Blue Monday."

Standout track "Soft Shock" teaches new fans and old just how strong Karen O can be no matter what the soundscape. However, through the many varied transformations found on It's Blitz! Karen O and Co. still shine through the song writing. "It's a soft shock...to your soft side." The hooks never feel repetitive but layered in way that the mind keeps bringing the most important sentiments to the forefront of consciousness. Like a familiar memory, "Skeletons" welcomes in the most exciting shoe-gaze pop song since "Fade Into You" by Mazzy Star. With a Celtic melody and rolling drum lick, this may top "Maps" as their best ballad to date.

The change in concept may or may not be attributed by the producer credits belonging to Nick Launay (Nick Cave) and Dave Sitek (TV on the Radio). I would like to think that it's the need for the YYYs insatious need to stay out of familiar territory. The only track that really could be pegged a YYYs song might be "Dull Life," but even that track has a groove that Gold Lion could never have claimed its own. With the aforementioned track, "Skeletons," "Runaway" and "Little Shadow" round the album's more ambient songs and provide a change a of pace against the disco-fueled lineup. Each are perfectly tinted with a bit of glam rock that still keeps relevancy with the other songs and the album a march through time.

In essence, this is a classic dance/disco alt-rock gem that is best listened to in the company of others. Play it at a party. Play it on a road trip. Hell, play it at a wake. Music this infectious deserves to be heard by the populace. Oh and take a good look at the album art for this album because it may be the best you'll see all year.

8.5/10

This. Is. Truth.

IncrediBLE

2009-02-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

After a two-month hiatus, I have deemed it necessary to keep compiling these blogs as liner notes in my musical evolution. Honestly, it almost felt necessary to abandon music for a short period of time. In December, I was listening to music about 6-7 hours a day and I burnt myself out. The first album I listened to upon returning was The Lonely Island's Incredibad. It felt almost fitting that the album that pulled me out of my stupor was music mockery of sorts. Paralleling the worst music has to offer from rastafarian ("Tras Rent") to hip-hop ("Punch You In the Jeans"), these guys did something Flight of the Conchords couldn't: Make me laugh. Not smile or chuckle, but laugh.

It might be one of the funniest albums ever. Pooling the best Digital Shorts from SNL, the favorites already make the album worth the purchase, but the other songs reach the same merit. The gift of repetition was not lost on Samburg and crew. "Like a Boss" starts off as a meager storyline that dissolves into a dizzying array of crass depictions that somehow works on every level. Appearances by E-40, Norah Jones, T-Pain, and Jack Black feel fresh and right, not forced. Plus the bonus songs of "Dick in a Box" and "Natalie's Rap" are a gift in their own right. The odd part is how the music and comedy compliment each other. These are songs that find themselves chock full of one-liners that are brilliantly placed.

Favorite Lines: "I'm ridin on a dolphin/doing flips and shit/the dolphin's splashing/getting everybody all wet." - "I'm On A Boat"

"E to the S to the P to the N/Is all I watch cause I'm the man/If my team loses I'll be mean all night/If you tell me to relax/We'll get in a fight" - "We Like Sportz"

"Pussy out (like a boss)/Puke on Debra's desk (like a boss)/Jump out the window (like a boss)/Suck a dude's dick (like a boss)/Score some coke (like a boss)/Crash my car (like a boss)/Suck my own dick (like a boss)/Eat some chicken strips (like a boss)/Cut my balls off (like a boss)/Blackout in the sewer (like a boss)/Meet a giant fish (like a boss)/Fuck his brains out (like a boss)/Turn into a jet (like a boss)/Bomb the Russians (like a boss)/Crash into the sun (like a boss)/Now I'm dead (like a boss)" - "Like A Boss"

"Yo, reach in my pocket pull out some dough/girl acted like she never saw a 10 before/It's all about the Hamilton's baby/Throw the snacks in a bag and I'm Ghost like Swayze." - "Lazy Sunday"

"I bust in dude's mouth like Gushers motherfucker/Roll up in NBC and smack the shit out Jeff Zucker/What you want, Natalie?/To drink and fight/What you need, Natalie?/To fuck all night." - "Natalie's Rap"

2nd - "My dick is afraid of you." - "Natalie's Rap"

"Yo I'll punch your jeans/We said it before/Best believe this is not a metaphor/You got something to say/We got the proper retort/Beat your jeans so bad/That they'll wish they were shorts." - "Punch You In the Jeans"

2nd "Gonna revise your Levi's/With physical harm/Put divots in the rivots/With my physical arm/Gonna beat those jeans/Wanna dip em in slime/Turn your 501s/Into 499s" - "Punch You In the Jeans"

"Last week I thought I saw you on the street/Turned out to be a bag of trash/Just a big ole bag of trash/I thought you looked like a bag of trash." - "Dreamgirl"

Well I had fun going through and listing those. It was gonna be one or two and I just couldn't help myself. There are literally a hundred more I could have listed. Pick it up an have a laugh. I think our country could use it.

8.0/10

This. Is. Truth.

10 Greatest Albums of 2008

2008-12-18T02:04:00.000-08:00

Alright Alright. I've had enough time with each album to throw my weight around. I think it's interesting that these magazines come up with their consensus top ten, even though you know they're restrained to pick within certain genres dictated by their target audience. You can't tell me that the only magazine that should have thrown Weezy a nod was the Village Voice? I have no restriction or obligation to anyone. I'm going to give you the best albums of 2008 with the one goal in the album being greatness. You know it when you hear it. The music that makes you want to go out and dance in the streets. Or the music that perfectly captures your bleeding heart. It's the sonic sound that reaches the purest ethereal experience. Beauty transcended through sound. Basically, if you don't have these albums, you need to get these albums.

10. Santogold - Santogold

Oh how I love this woman. Santi White better known as Santogold screamed her way into the scene with the infectious jungle-club suited single, "Creator." Her best single on the album, "L.E.S. Artistes," a pure 80s pop-hit, proved she could craft a hit. A song that I think is in the top 10 songs of 2008 as well. She is a strong female stepping down stereotypes in each song using pop, raggae, hip-hop, surf-rock, and techno-inspired grooves. You just get the feeling that this artist is uncontainable and she is welcome to do anything she pleases without raised eyebrow. Her guest spot on Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 on a track called "Brooklyn (We Go Hard)" just legitimizes her presence in the music scence.

9. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals

What would we do without our lovable copyright marauder, Greg Gillis? The strange man with a nose for hooks dug out another illuminating album this year. Counting 25 samples in the first track of 4:33 alone, the man doesn't sit back on his laurels. There are tons of mashup artists dreaming of capitalizing off of others' finished works, but somehow it doesn't seem like crime when Gillis mans the tables. Pure. Art. Who else could seamless transition from Temple of the Dog's "Hunger Strikes" to Birdman and Lil Wayne's "Pop Bottles"? The answer is no one. And that is why Gillis gets his credit here.

8. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Ahh yes. The white boys with the African sound? With the album only lasting just over 3o minutes, it instantly became the summer soundtrack. Featuring African instrumentation such as congas, bongas, and other percussive instruments, Ezra Koenig and his fellow Columbia grads show off their degrees with this album being their disertation. Complex and interlocking melodies punctuated by strings tirelessly slice their way through the heart of this album. Around the third listen you start to get the idea that these guys aren't rock stars, but neo-Beethovens and Mozarts posing to get some more ass. I mean Ludwig had to know a guitar would have made things a bit easier on the dating side. These guys found the right sound for the right time and for that their sound identified a lot of 2008.

7. M83 - Saturdays = Youth

Now this was a release I could really drop my head down and waggle my body slowly in a haphazard manner to. Perhaps the opus soundtrack to the 80s, Anthony Gonzalez managed to not only sonically shift decades, but the lyrics are truly authentic to the very last sigh. "Kim and Jessie" classically jives around harking every 80s love story never experienced. This French group explored every inch of this album with whispers that fall and rise with the mood. It may be a period project, but the structure from song to song are superb and exquisitely done.

6. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III

The only hip-hop album to grace the top ten had to be from the syrup-addicted, wheezy man himself. From "A Milli" to "Lollipop" to "Mr. Carter", the man has set a precedent for every hip-hop album to reach in the future. In a little over a year, he has turned himself into a brand. In a mixtape song he so shrewdly comments, "I have a new nickname. It's called Feat. Lil Wayne." And why shouldn't he poke fun at the reality he now finds himself in. Every time he guest raps on a song, it's automatically supposed to be hot -- it's not even his song. His guerilla marketing scheme has paid off and now it's Weezy Baby standing with his hand on the ball. In "I'm Me" he raps about how last year they had the Grammys and left him home in Miami. Now leading the way with 8 nominations, he may finally add merit to the proclamation that he is heir to the throne.

5. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Recorded in the Wisconsin backwoods, Bon Iver (pronounced Bohn eeVehr) went straight for the heart with this masterful album. Songs painted against stark backdops, but insulated warmly with Justin Vernon's knack for inducing positive pathos. This is the album for those that reminisce love. You can feel the cold pressing around the sides of each of these songs, and yet warmth radiate from the center and soul of each song. This is an album for eternal optimists. The nut can be found in "Skinny Love" that propels Vernon into reprimanding crooner. The song couldn't be more fun with intermittent yelps and hand claps towards the end, but listening to the words definitely throws in the cold again. A complex album that touches a bit of everything. A top five album for sure.

4. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

What a beautiful album. As glorious as a sunrise, so is this album. The melodies so tight, you could pluck a right pleasant tune to it. Robin Pecknold writes an incredible album set to gorgeous soundscape. From the opener, "Sun It Rises," it feels just as much barbershop quartet as it does folk. The acoustic guitar becomes a distant memory as Pecknold and Co. decide to infuse everything from the Beatles to the Beach Boys in this head-swaying collection of tunes that could be folk/pop's greatest hits. Everything from the maraca beat to crisp high hat seem to fall perfectly into place. Orchestrally, this may be the best bit of music to come in a very long time.

3. TV On The Radio - Dear Science

These boys from New York can't seem to make a bad album. This is their third critically-acclaimed album in a row and these last two could be argued as the best in 2006 and 2008 respectively. The experimental group has seemed to stay on the cusp of coolness while borrowing tactics from titans such David Bowie for vocals. You never will quite know what these guys will throw at you and that is the fun in peeling away at each song.

2. Portishead - Third

Some may have called Guns N' Roses the most awaited artist in 2008, but in my opinion, I could argue heartily for possibly the most ingenious band in history -- Portishead. Leaders of the trip-hop revolution, Gibbons resumes her spot as sultry seducer. This album was approached with an unbelievable mindset. Changing everything from their two previous works, the band works strings, synths, mechanical drums (layered over more drums) to create this unorganic album that haunts long after the album is through. In "Hunter," Gibbons asks, "If I fall, would you hold me?" This sweetly crooned lyric holds only for seconds before distorted guitars cut the serenity suddenly. This album proves to be the most difficult listen of all three, but the reward lay in the work. This is a terribly melodic album that preys on the senses given the focus. This may be the best Industrial Rock record of all time.

1. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

Tadaaa! Brooklyn stand up! Your boys have created the most infectious, synth-heavy, ear-pleasing album since Favourite Worst Nightmare from the Arctic Monkeys. Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser comprise the band that is taking both music consumer and composer by storm. Ghostland Observatory feel hauntingly close this product while Brandon Flowers from The Killers said some of the songs off of Day and Age were channeled to be MGMT songs. There could be one hundred bands trying to duplicate this album and they could all fail miserably. There is a certain soul in this tandem, one that bleeds through the starchy, metallic-sounding anthems that pump through your speakers. In "Kids" Wyngarden sings, "Control yourself/Take only what you need from it/A family of trees waitin'/to be haunted." This layered over a sing-song keyboard and plodding drum beat creating psychadelic pop at its absolute finest. Not even The Killers' Hot Fuss managed to capture my need to get up and fling myself around as much as this debut. Like I said...beauty transcended through sound.

There were a couple of albums that I battled with a bit. There were a couple of albums I didn't give full attention to also, but I feel this is the list I would have settled on regardless.

Honorable Mention:

Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
Beck - Modern Guilt
Glasvegas - Glasvegas
Nas - Untitled
Kanye West - 808's And Heartbreak
Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
Delta Spirit - Ode to Sunshine
The Dears - Missiles
Deathcab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Deerhunter - Microcastle
Q-Tip - The Renaissance
The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
Cat Power - Jukebox
Dj Rupture - Uproot

This. Is. Truth.

My Favorite Time of Year

2008-12-17T13:58:00.001-08:00

No, not Christmas.

Not even the holidays. It is the end of year awards doled out by every major music magazine/rag to the top 10 best albums of the year. Usually I get my kicks by seeing how many of them I owned BEFORE reading the lists. This year? 6 out of 10. Not bad right? I mean sure, if I had limitless funds, I'd have owned all of them...well except for one in which I had never heard of. In this article, I will give you the media's top 10 list and I will give you mine on my next post, which will be different, I assure.

10. - Kings of Leon's Only By the Night

I believe I threw up a review for this album, but if I did not, I couldn't quite get into this album. It's tough when you come off sounding less a rock band than even Coldplay. Something about that album didn't gel with me, but it certainly did with a lot of critics out there.

9. Amadou and Miriam - Welcome to Mali

(Quickly purchasing just so I can point to it and say I have the most comprehensive music library on the block.)

8. Portishead - Third

I guarantee this album will be in my top 10 as well. I'm very happy they are getting press for this album.

7. Glasvegas - Glasvegas

6. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Of course the boys from NY would be on here somewhere. If you've been living under a rock, crawl out and cop this shit.

5. Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death And All of His Friends

God damn. Gotta give it up to Chris Martin and his crew. The one time I didn't rush out to grab a Coldplay album. I'm regretting it as I'm catching up on the rest of the world.

4. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

This album might have changed the world that I know it to be. Rightfully in the top 5, MGMT has done much to improve the music scene this year and will for years to come. I'll explain later.

3. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

If you are a fan of neo-folk and you don't have this album...you are utterly utterly lost. The melodies are so intricate you might think this album took a lifetime to evolve into what it is.

1. TV On the Radio - Dear Science

As far as I'm concerned, they've done it again. The boys from New York have dug quite a nice homestead atop the best albums of the year as Return to Cookie Mountain was widely held the top album of 2006. I don't know if these guys will ever gain widespread success like Band of Horses was able to do, but it's amazing music that is definitely different.

I disagree with a couple of these and you can tell the media is partial to folk/alternative bands with hip/hop getting left on the list completely. That will change as Tha Carter III will hold a spot on my top 10. Check back soon to see how I shake it up a bit.

This. Is. Truth.

My Favorite Christmas Song...

2008-12-13T12:13:00.000-08:00

A week or so back, I conversated with some friends over my favorite Christmas Song, "Ave Maria." You could argue the fact that it's not at true Christmas song, but that is what I associate the song towards. Honestly, everyone from Celine Dion to Stevie Wonder to Perry Cumo has made their version. I went on a true hunt for my favorite version of the song. I ended up buying six different versions while sampling around 25-30.

Now, there are several lines that you will fall on trying to decide which version suits you best. Do you appreciate the bravado of a man hammering out the sultry notes, or perhaps the delicate touch that only a female can bring to the song? Do you want a driving, forceful experience guided by cellos and up-tempo strings, or perhaps a more shallow experience exploring the singer's voice lucidly outlined with bare piano keystrokes.

For my dream "Ave Maria," I wanted something ethereal. I wanted lots of pathos. I wanted the the singer's voice to bleed through the melody while the orchestral melody rang clearly in sweeping crescendos. I'm a dramatic guy...what can I say? So after listening to recordings made in the 80s including Luciano Pavarotti's, I sifted through the Cranberries', Winona's, and Sarah Brightman's version to find a copy that caught my fancy. Essentially, it's not my cup of tea in the end, but if you prefer a more classic, Opera-like version of the song, you might want to check out Dame Joan Sutherland's version feat. Ambrosian Singers and New Philharmonica Orchestra. My only quaff with the composition was that the choir came in too late towards the end to really impact the song, but Suntherland's voice is bigger than life in this song and really drives the emotion.

Suprisingly, after listening to the same song for an hour, each variance kept it fresh enough for me to still become moved when listening to my favorite ones. I settled on a top four with MY favorite. I picked four versions that were a little different from one another so if you have a different preference than me, you might go for one of the other three.

#4 - Academy of Choir Art of Russia - feat. Andrea Bocelli and Moscow Radio Symphony.

This is the way the song was composed to sound according to Frank Schubert. Classic pacing with the remarkable Bocelli lending his expertise to the age-old tune. Again, more towards the opera sound, but it is a classical song. Very plodding and a slower tempo with not much building from the orchestra. Bocelli does a brillant job rising and falling to create his own resonance amongst the orchestra. If you're a Bocelli fan, this may be your favorite.

#3 - Christina England

This is the song used from the Hitman movie and trailer. England beautifully demonstrates great control in her upper registry and falsetto. This version is airy, elegant, and punctuated by the sliding strings. The song brings about the recognizance of a antique ballroom holding a magestrate masquerade. Paced exquisitely from beginning to end, this song could only have been sung by England.

#2 - Celine Dion

The Canadien Diva herself comes in at two with this haunting version. Playing up her voice (which in most of her tracks is the best instrument being used) in sonc reverberance, the song is composed in stages. Starting out starkly barren with only the marching harpischord outlining each beat, the second stage brings in the classic strings. Rising and falling with the melody, Dion's voice sounds the best over this soundscape. The way her voice can switch between subtle and vulnerble to strong and resilient draws the ire of even Toni Braxton. If you're looking for a female fronted version of this song -- pick this one.

#1 - Josh Groban

This even surprised me. Josh's album Noel came out a year ago in 2007 and it was the highest selling album of last year. I have owned this album since then, but was hesitant to declare it the best until I truly listened to all of the others. The composition and production is unparelled in terms of capturing the energy and not letting it go. From the original beginning of using a choir to a flowing piano, Groban takes this song from the first note in a different direction. Where Bocelli might have a better grasp on this song vocally, Groban's isn't a showcase for his voice -- it's a song. From the resonating cymbals, to the staccato cellos, to the swirling cries emitting from the strings, the pacing is best in this version above all others. The last minute (which should be the standard for rating a great "Ave Maria") renders me speechless every time with the power of a lion winding down to a whisper. As much as Groban deserves the credit, so does the producer of this gem. Truly inspiring.

This. Is. Truth.

The Queen Reclaimed

2008-12-03T12:18:00.000-08:00

I tried.

Let me just start out with that phrase. I tried to think of a million reasons why I shouldn't like this album. She is a puppet. She can't really sing. She doesn't really have any real influence over her sound other than picking the men that make it happen. She doesn't even naturally own that head of hair that she is sporting. But...

This shit is crunchy, loud, and the best stuff she's put out since 2003's In the Zone. From the outset, you can already hear the difference between Blackout and Circus. Her vocals in "Womanizer" sound forceful and resoundingly clear. And if you read my review, I found the construction of that song absolutely amazing even though it was produced by industry newbies, The Outsyders. I find it no coincidence that it was the first single to top the Billboard Top 100 since "Baby, Hit Me One More Time" almost a decade previously.

She is realizing that she can't do this alone. And with the myriad of top-notch producers, she reinforces that statement fullboard. Dr. Luke, who also crafted "Toxic," is here for the searing, pop/electro/deathly-infectious pop smash "Circus." The bass-heavy diddy begs to played at full blast and while it feels that Britney has never moved away from her home base (at least lyrics-wise), it feels oddly different. These are the type singles that harken classic hits from ultra-divas Madonna and Miss Janet.

The highlights from this album reside in the two singles, "If You Seek Amy (sound it out and spell it out)," "Shattered Glass," "Unusual You," and "Lace and Leather." If there is one fault in this album is that Guy Sigsworth's immense talent was wasted on two of the three Britney ballads. The curse of her montonous voice is that her ballads really depend on the production for range since she has virtually none. Although she has had some successful songs in that category, "Out From Under" and "My Baby" fall dramatically short. She will forever be cast into the up-beat dance realm and I think that is fine with her. It should be. The major genre move to electro-pop/synth isn't just coordinating with the industry, but also helps mask the one true flaw in her game: her voice.

The one ballad that worked for me was "Unusual You." Also probably the most pure electronica-style song on the album, the breathy gasps combined with the brooding, aggressive drum track really shows a different side of Britney. The piano plots the structural outline of the song much like a pre-Vida Coldplay. More than anything, these producers definitely creating a higher form of artistic expression for Britney's usual thoughts on sex, boys, and relationships.

Throughout her successful career, this may be her best album to date musically. While it isn't revolutionary, it is a remarkable collection of infectious, energy-fueled pop hits that will undoubtedly prove their worth in 2009. She self-identifies herself as the Queen of Pop now claiming maturity. Time will only tell if she can escape the depression, mental fatigue, and drugs, but if this album is any forecaster -- she may have just turned the corner we were all waiting for.

Best Tracks - "Circus", "Womanizer", "Shattered Glass", "Unusual You", and "Lace and Leather"

7.5/10

This. Is. Truth.

The Best Producer Alive?

2008-11-26T13:35:00.000-08:00

Alright. Alright.

No matter how hard it is for me to say this, Kanye did it again.

Wait, before you call me a jockrider and a flip-flopper by me saying he did it again, I mean that he was able to convey and achieve what he wanted to do with this album musically. I still dislike "Love Lockdown." I still think his lyrics (which are notoriously known for being simple and gimmicky) are sub-par. But let's get one thing straight.

THIS IS A POP ALBUM.

There is no hip hop. There is no rap. Yes, this might be a pop album written from the perspective of a hustler, but isn't that the point? This type of music has been done before by distorting voice, using synth and echo (Kate Havnevik, Imogen Heap etc). But never has it been so dramatic, infusing disco and African-rhythms. He has some of the best rappers on the Earth in Jeezy and Wayne come in and buy into it. But most of all, he is able to paint a picture with this album. His lyrics don't necessarily have to be that great, because it feels like he's just talking to us on this record and because singing is such an emotional mode of communication, he wanted us to hear every single word this time round. And we do...but more about pacing later.

We've all played pariah to the bevy of emotional altercations and situations Kanye has gone through this year. He lives his life in front of cameras and perhaps he knows thats why we could understand this record. In many Kanye tries to make this album sound as sparse and shallow as possible, but the sonic layerings end up pretty complex starting with the anthem-like "Say You Will." This song almost gives you feeling of a dirge-type setting with the choir singing over the simple drum pattern over the fx effects giving the resonance of rain falling in a pitter patter pattern.

This can act as a positive and then as a negative for the track, "Robocop." Robocop is bloated as fuck and it frustrates me. This could have been a great song, but what makes this album great is the suble balance between vocal track and instrumental track. His voice is already weak and during some of the softer moments, it plays to his advantage because the fragility works for him. Him trying to sing over Robotic sounds mixed with the robust synths and strings just doesn't work at all. The instrumental is interesting, but the vocal track is a waste. Plus it sounds like something out of Hans Christian Anderson's B-sides and Kanye rambles about nothing towards the end. "Stop, Drop, Roll, Pop/Bitch I'm cold/I, take that go/Throw that bow/Oh, that was slow, that can go/That you know, took em' to the back, you know/Back in the flo' and went back in the door/back in the door."

As odd as Robocop seems to be in the album, some of the pacing and order is a bit intriguing. One of the standout tracks, "Amazing" featuring Young Jeezy almost divides itself in half as Kanye sings one of the more celebratory, Kanye-ish tracks on the album. The second half features a lively, entertaining Jeezy and adds a decent sprinkle of swagger (over his trademark sample, "yeah" that was manipulated to make him sound more like the Cookie Monster than himself) to the track as a whole. It's "amazing" that these tracks can sound so good even though he sounds more like Kermit than Kanye at points. Also embedded in this track are these avian/animal cries that seems to be peppered through the album as a whole. Consciously this might not do anything, but subconsciously it definitely adds to this natural, organic theme of heartbreak steadily taking hold from begining to end. Heartbreak is so ethereal and penetrating that the wild screams of animals are the screams that is ringing in his head from his heart and soul. My theory on this album is that he is trying to create a soundscape for his soul and thoughts. And everything incorporated in these songs are the manifestation of everything he feels inside. His success in doing it are the reasons I think he is the best producer alive right now.

This urban, toe-tapping, thumper-of-a-track flows into the 80s, disco-y track "Paranoid" feat. Mr. Hudson. This is definitely the club banger of the album. It definitely harkens a weird mix between Michael Jackson's Thriller/ABBA's Dancing Queen/John Travolta's Saturday Night Fever/M83's Saturdays = Youth. Its melody is so infectious I had to play the track at least four times before I could move on.

Anyways, this album is nothing special lyrically, but the production value on over half the tracks are genius. "Welcome to Heartbreak" beautifully uses piano, cello, and synth drums to create this brooding, urban banger while the strings turn "See You In My Nightmares" into a lush, stylished arena-sized pop ballad. The secret factor to the success of this album will go to the drum effect he uses throughout this album. Partway through I was expecting to hear Nick Cannon yell "Drumline." Chalk it up to the Roland TR-808 Drum Machine. The shit is classic. This is used especially well in the album's last track, "Coldest Winter," as it turns this tribute to his mother into a forceful, pop hit that really ends the album in a bittersweet moment. Mr. West can do a lot, but it may be too much to convert hip-hop heads towards his corner on this one, but he converted me.

"I'm a monster
I'm a maven
I know this world a changin'
Never gave in
Never gave up
I'm the only thing I'm afraid of." - Kanye in Amazing...

8.0/10

Best Tracks - Say You Will, Amazing, Paranoid, Coldest Winter

This. Is. Truth.

It Was All In the Name...

2008-11-19T15:41:00.000-08:00

I have this strange, quirky habit of wanting to write reviews with a two-minute window right before work. But knowing my apathetic nature, I deem it necessary to write something than not at all.

It was all in a name. I decided to add The Oregon Donors' new album Somethings to my music library partly because they included Oregon in the title, though hailing from Washington. Even though it has a muddy, lo-fi resonance, I found myself intrigued and interested in their sound. Resting between Radiohead (when it was just a rock band) and At the Drive-In, their alternative approach fueled by lead singer, Christopher Rabbit's (weird) knack of moaning his way through a track becomes enjoyable and worthy of any college-rock loving, he/she out there.

This was just my first run-through. As I explore it more heavily, I hope to have an even more insightful stance on the project.

Best Tracks: 3rd Lvl Wizard, Pocket Knife (Engraving in Bark)

This. Is. Truth.

808's and Heartbreak...

2008-11-14T13:44:00.000-08:00

As the time nears that will undoubtedly make/break Kanye's legend in pop culture forever as maybe the most versatile hip-hop superstar of all time, he has released a press release addressing several topics. Now as someone who has disagreed with his artistic direction in his upcoming album, his words did certainly change my view of him and his project. Apparently continuing with the theme of his three albums, this one was slated to be called Good Ass Job when he lost his mother and fiancee. But I'll just let you read the transcript that I found on the HipHopDX.com website.

Kanye on the emotion behind his new album:

"I'm at a listening session in the UK playing my joint right now. I love listening sessions, because it feels like Christmas Day when the parents get to see their kids open up the gifts. I feel like I try to give the gift of music. This album is based off the devastation and the hurt that I’ve felt the past year. All the hurt that I’ve felt within the past year from all the losses that I’ve endured, have sort of settled me into being this fucking super-famous alien, where everywhere I go, somebody wants a fucking photograph…it’s hard when you not really a celebrity, but you’re just a real person that ended up being famous for your craft."

Kanye on using Auto-Tune and the title 808's & Heartbreak:

"What’s good is that this is therapeutic for me…it’s better than suicide to just keep on putting out music and art. I got a lot of backlash for the medium that I wanted to do this in. I created a thing I call ‘Heartbreak,’ that’s like a mixed drink. It’s Auto-Tune meets distortion, with a bit of delay on it and a whole bunch of fucked up life. And that’s what I call my ‘Heartbreak.’ And that’s what every record basically has.

"I’m delivering what I feel like is art, and that’s what I want to deliver from this point on. The records I’m doing right now might not have high hats and shit like everything else has. But when I go out and be listening to shit like Jimi Hendrix and The [Rolling] Stones and Lenny Kravitz, they wouldn’t play no Hip Hop records in the midst of that. I feel like niggas give up on trying to make music on the Quincy Jones level. On this record I’m trying to improve my craft and take it a level that no nigga ever made it to. No niggas are rocking 50,000 people and stadiums with 100,000 people 10 years after their records came out. Anybody that saw the tour knows my goal is to take it to a whole ‘nother level."

Kanye on the street's reaction to his latest music:

"Today, we’re about to drop one of the records everybody is talking about—'Amazin'' featuring Jeezy. I just wanted to make this call before Chris blasted it out to everybody. It’s definitely one of those joints in the club, it’s gonna go crazy—like we did with 'Swagger [Like Us],' like we did with 'Put On,' like we always do at this time, basically. This is what my job is. My job is to give y’all shit that have the model bitches runnin’ around going crazy—shit that has niggas bobbing their head crazy like 'Can’t Tell Me Nothin'.'

"Of course I always hit ‘em with a curve to start off with. Y’all know with that 'Heartless,' that’s straight nigga shit. The whole album is shit that 50 would rap over, but I’m trying to put them Phil Collins melodies when I rap to them. Even if I’m harmonizing, it’s still from a nigga perspective. I’m not making no ‘Girl You Know,’ this is the perfect melody…Nah, this is none of that. This is still 100 percent, rap perspective music with melody."

"I just came on the call to thank everyone for their support with 'Love Lockdown'. That shit sold over a million on iTunes thus far. Bitches love it, and niggas rock to what bitches dance to. This album is really for my art; it’s an art project. And I appreciate everybody. For the people who are like mad that I’m not rapping right now, thank you very much for allowing me to sit on this therapeutic couch and let this one off and get out what I need to get out."

Kanye on rumors of another album in June:

"It’s rumors of another album coming soon. I’m not gonna put that pressure on myself. I’m probably coming with another tour in June though. But, that’s where I’m at with my life right now. I really wanted to release this music, and I forced L.A. [Reid] to give me this release date. I was like, 'Don’t fuckin’ wait months and months to set it up. Just give people the music!' I’m constantly making music; we almost finished with Jay. Jay’s album is coming in February…There’s a new Wayne with special packaging that’s coming before this Christmas is out. We’ve got a new record on there together. So we still got a bunch of shit." album. We was almost finished before I even dropped my album.

Kanye on his new release date of November 24:

"The label moved it up to get more Thanksgiving sales. They told me to get on the call and tell y'all that I did it because of the fuckin' excitement, but I don't do that shit...you know what I'm saying? The label moved it up. They were trying to get more sales and shit. I'm excited about the album.

"Also, 'Robocop' is completely different on the album. 'Paranoid' is different. I did not leak those, and I did not leak the 'Heartless' video. Motherfuckers is leaking my shit. The only shit I leaked was 'Heartless' and 'Love Lockdown.' Them the only joints I actually put out. Basically, the label moved it up to get more sales and shit. If I get the sales, then cool. If I don't, then, hey...I'll have to bare the burden, because I've been a cocky motherfucker and talked my shit and all that. And the people would love to see me not sell...hey, it is what it is. That's the way life is, man. But hopefully I sell."

Kanye on working with Young Jeezy:

"We've been doing pretty good with the singles I'm dropping. We'll put this one out today, and hopefully get more sales because of it. It's got Jeezy on it. Jeezy came down to Hawaii with us. Every time I write a chorus or write any type of hook, I be like, 'Man what would Jeezy do.' Niggas have big bumper stickers with 'What would Jesus do?" but my shit is 'What would Jeezy do? What would he say on this record?' I make my shit straight white t-shirt ready at all given times. So, he came down and helped out. But he actually helped with other records. So it's records that's straight singing records that have Jeezy lines on it. And you'll feel that energy throughout the entire joint."

Kanye is the master publicist, but something in this did strike a tone within in me. He wants to make a heartbreak album and this is how he thinks heartbreak should sound musically. Can't fault him for trying to take a chance. There are still a couple of things that should be considered before we praise him for putting everything on the line for this new vision. This has been done before. This isn't new. This is more 80s disco than Graduation was. His two lead songs are not good. "Lock Lockdown" and "Heartless" aren't great songs both lyrically and composition wise. And after hearing tracks, "The Coldest Winter," "Robocop," and "Tell Everybody That You Know" this will be his least accomplished record in terms of lyrics in his catalog. Just simply dreadful actually, but I'm starting to get his angsty, moody art after hearing the song "Tell Everybody That You Know" feat. Lil Wayne and "Anytime" feat. Kid Cudi. This WILL NOT be his greatest work to date, but I at least accept it as viable art after hearing more tracks. Yes, I did hear these tracks after I wrote the post last night, so my hope for his piece of work is a bit higher than hours prior.

This. Is. Truth.

My Life...

2008-11-13T23:36:00.000-08:00

...and here lies the beautiful idea that used to be a current, useful blog designed to be informative and entertaining...

Oh, before I finish that tacky, irreverent eulogy, maybe I'll use this time to update you on the reasons I haven't been able to update this site as much as I want to. I currently picked up another job at a music licensing company called Rumblefish, Inc. Yes, your man is living the dream trying to sell Indie, licensed music to different television/film/video game/Internet productions that need sonic branding or licensed music.

My first impression? These people are too fucking cool to comprise a serious company. Then, I realized it was because they are all musicians. They all have bands and side projects and shit. So when I decided to stick up for Creed today in the office, you can imagine the backlash I received. Not that I haven't been fighting that headwind all my life. But alas, I won't put you through that argument again. I will refer you to the blog I wrote about two months ago. Read It. Learn It. Fall under its pragmatic voice.

Alright, but on a positive note. I have only picked more bands to digest into my "internal catalog." My favorite that I have picked up from around the office is the Eagle Seagull which I mentioned in passing in my last blog. I have no idea if they have released a full album yet. I have the EP entitled, "I Hate EP's." Granted it's an Indie band doing their best imitation of what a good Indie band should sound like, but it's a rather good imitation to their credit. Think the Killers without all the good parts (i.e. the glam, heavy-synth sound). The reason I like them is their honest transitions. To illustrate and convey the most sincere parts of their songs they often transition to acoustic guitar punctuated with stoccato punches on the keyboard. In "I'm Sorry But I'm Beginning to Hate Your Face" the song goes through about three transformations with the end exploring every inch of sonic space with Carrie's violin leading the assault.

Eagle Seagull is nothing you haven't heard before, but the fact that they are everything you like in other bands, the pickup may be worth it.

My boss mentioned to me earlier this week, to some jokey effect, that I may be stuck in the 90s musically because I mistaked The Hold Steady for The Counting Crows (an honest mistake if you ask me). And then I thought about it. Aren't we all a byproduct of that momentous time we first found ourselves introduced to the beautiful siren that is music? I mean yes, Creed, Alanis Morrissette, Jewel, Britney, Nirvana were my mainstays back when. And to be honest, the fact that I have found listening to the amount of good music that I do now seems to be somewhat of a miracle. Growing up in the teenie pop-bopper movement could have seriously destroyed any appreciation for a well-crafted, delicate hook that isn't punctuated by "Yeah!" It could have destroyed any appreciation for a song that isn't composed in a verse/chorus/verse/bridge/chorusx2 pattern. And while the 90s definitely had a sound and a face from the rebirth of college rock/alt-grunge bands to the boy band craze, this decade feels oddly aimless.

Music tends to imitate its environment and the reason pop was perhaps more fluff than ever perhaps indebted itself to the fact that our economy was thriving and bubblegum anthems resonated well within our spirit. This decade has a much different persona economically and spiritually than the one of the last. Artists are multi-dimensional and with the onslaught of the Internet PR has had to redefine how to carefully craft an artist's image. Transparency has never been greater and I am waiting for a face or ideology to emerge as a symbol for this decade. Maybe Kanye? Maybe commercial rap? Eminem/50...Aftermath Records? Maybe the Killers? Maybe Jack White and the White Stripes/Raconteurs? Honestly, this will be hard to determine because the Internet has made music so widespread that even the top selling artists are finding it hard to separate themselves as juggernauts and impervious to downfall.

Anyways to wrap this up I'm going to finish with some liner notes on what I think is hot and not.

HOT:

Devotchka. Period. I'm proud that I saw them before "How It Ends" ended up as the song for the new Gears of War videogame that just came out. They are amazing live and amazing as a band. Go. Get. It. From playing bars in Eugene to being featured in an international campaign for one of the biggest videogames of the year. Cool.

Q-tip. His new album, "The Renaissance" is first played in the morning and last at night and I will hopefully be writing that review soon.

Europe's "The Final Countdown." From GOB dancing enthusiastically around the stage in his magician get-up to sports arenas at halftime...I will never get enough of this 1986 smash hit.

NOT:

Kanye West: As the time draws nearer and I am hearing more of his singles for the upcoming album, I am seeing how dire he is need of a dropoff. He really believes he can do whatever he wants and we HAVE to like it. I do not and I do not. I have never heard anyone sound so off tune while using an autotuner.

Chinese Democracy: Any album that takes longer than a decade to produce isn't worth the wait. We have been waiting and waiting for this Guns N' Roses albums and they sound nothing like Guns N' Roses! If their lead single has any bearing on what the album will sound like, they are going down the road that Metallica went down. A clean, polished, and generic rock album that isn't worthy to carry the brand name that they spend tireless years creating.

The argument whether hip hop is/isn't dead: It isn't dead. It never will be. Shut the fuck up.

This. Is. Truth.

I Will Expand Later

2008-11-03T15:52:00.001-08:00

...But based on referral I checked out a band called Eagle Seagull and I defy you to not bob your head to the song, "I'm Sorry, But I'm Beginning to Hate Your Face." Just an awesome song showing great emotional range. Yes, they sound Killer-ish/Cold War Kids-ish, but I love their transition from the up-tempo to down-tempo with unconventional instruments such as brass. It begs to be played over and over again. And it will...

This. Is. Truth.

Britney's Back....uhh Bitch.

2008-10-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

It's no surprise to those of you who read this blog intently, I am a fan of Britney Spears. Realizing that she is a puppet of course, she is great because sometimes you forget to look for the strings. Always backed by some of the best producers and writers in the industry, her risks are small by comparison. However, Blackout just didn't feel organic. She still had her fair share of fans for the record, but essentially, there was no reason to feel that she gave any of herself to that album. In the midst of clinical treatments came Blackout, a record, that I'm sure she laid down the vocals for each track in a little under an hour. There was little hype like all her other albums. Her life was in pieces and there was no reason to celebrate.

Circus plans to be Britney's reintroduction to her vacant throne atop pop, which I think she will rightfully take back. As much as Britney needs the industry, the industry sorely SORELY needs her as well. She is the eighth highest female album seller in the history of the United States. Everyone is working overtime to sell Britney as whole and ready to dominate the charts again. Mtv will be airing an hour documentary two days before Circus drops.

Just think: through everything she's been through, she could be loved even more than she was the first go round. She has limited visiting rights to her children, she made Kevin Federline look like Corey Matthews, her mom has written a slam book against her, her sister is a baby-popping machine and Britney still stands poised to take her life back. I absolutely love it. America proves once again its love and obsession for the flawed human beings.

Of course, as much as we're waiting to embrace her with open arms, she has to offer up something viable as a product. The Outsyders have done an incredible job with the lead single, "Womanizer." She has taken the formula from Blackout and made it sultry and infectious. I dare you not to move your body to this track. Note: Danity Kane, this is how it is done. You want some sort of international pop landscape, this is your ideal terrain. Her voice sounds as restricted as usual, but she gets the most out of what she has. Instead of pointing fingers at the media and sounding fractured during the process, she's back to the introspective feminist character that suits her admirably well.

Ironically, using a lot Timbaland's tactics, this anthem is the anti-"Maneater." Will a lot of people hate this track because they hate Spears? No doubt. But that still doesn't take away the fact that this is the best Britney song in a long, long time. And that makes me really excited for December 2nd. The world needs more infectious, dance-producing pop tunes. Who to deliver them than the best herself. Miss Britney Spears.

Editor's Note: Is it just me or in the first ten seconds of the song, "Womanizer" do the synth drums sound eerily similar to those used in the beginning of the sitcom, "Family Matters?" Interesting...

Shit to Sweat:

The year 2000:

It's time for rap fans to bone up on their probably dusty collections. As winter approaches, some long dormant rappers will be making their long anticipated returns into the foray of their respective genre. Eminem with the appropriately titled, King Mathers and Dre with the most hyped rap album of all time, Detox. Go back and check out why these albums are so important to the genre. Eminem was just voted the best rapper in the world (According to VIBE magazine over Jay-Z) even though he hasn't released anything in terms of an album since 2004's Encore.

I say 2000 because the music scene is gonna feel like (my high school years) the end of the 90s and beginning of the 20th Century. Albums sales will led the way by Eminem, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, and Britney Spears. All we need is Mtv to bring back TRL and I could self-medicate myself to the smooth sayings of Carson Daly. Oh Lord, maybe this time around things will be better for all.

This. Is. Truth.

Mixed Bag

2008-10-03T01:36:00.000-07:00

Aight, so i have a trio of albums to to talk about. I feel that I've been focusing on hip-hop exclusively lately so this post will definitely branch out....after I discuss the new Murs album, Murs for President.

Murs standing for Making Underground Raw Shit, is no stranger to speaking his mind. The upcoming election is a beautiful landscape for a new Murs album and he doesn't miss the chance to spray his ideologies every which way. After listening to this pulpit delivered sermon, it seems that his platform would rest on equal rights, morality, and respect for all. Murs, member of underground groups such as Living Legends and Felt, finally has the backing of a major label and you can tell for better and worse. Producer Terrace Martin fuses rock riffs with female R&B vocals and produces an arena-like sound that fans of old Murs may lose themselves in on tracks, "A Part of Me" and "Time is Now."

Self-proclaimed maker of sitcom rap, Murs still has his colloquial mannerisms playing as loudly as possible here. Ripping story after story, Murs talks and raps his way through each track with painstaking candor. As much as this album is a boisterous cry for the man that he has become, Murs is still a man in trouble. And perhaps that is his stake on the title of President of Hip-Hop and those that have taken office in the past. "A Part of Me" ends in a heartfelt breakdown of apologies towards a haunting breakup. "Road Is My Religion" recounts his harrowing experiences on the road, "The road is my religion/I'ma keep on sinning/Hope to God I am forgiven/For the way that I'm living." It seems that the infallible nature of man takes center stage his weaknesses only make him stronger in the end.

Murs reportedly said he is done with his groups at the moment and the lack of collaborations just emphasize the fact that he is ready to create music the way he wants to do it. Snoop Dogg is found on raucous gospel track, "Time is Now," while Will.I.am. finds himself on the synth-heavy track, "Lookin' Fly." His most significant piece of work on this album may come on the track, "Science." It is in this track that Murs displays his wonderful ability to weave metaphor and history seamlessly. Constructing a song while defining it takes an extreme where with all. Something Murs lacks nothing of.

Overall, his first major studio release doesn't stray too far away from Murray's Revenge and in this case, it's a good thing. 9th Wonder hangs around to produce a trio of songs ("I'm Innocent," "Love and Appreciate II", and "Breakthrough"). It's really amazing how West Coast, East Coast, nu metal, and gospel can find themselves back to back in this interesting concoction. This album will most likely be overshadowed by Paper Trail, but there are some standout tracks on this album that definitely reflect well on Murs and his positive vision.

The Lovely Sparrows' transcendental qualities set them in the company of Indie legends, Death Cab and Band of Horses. "Wraith" changes direction three or four times using flutes, mandolins, and echoey vocals to create a foreboding feeling of what's to come. And perhaps the more redeeming quality comes in their knack of straddling the somber tones that folk music can evoke before ending in a jamband-like celebration to close the song. Whenever I listen to folk, I can't help but think of Dylan. When I hear the Lovely Sparrows, I don't hear Dylan to their testament.

Paying no attention to pacing, each song feels like a road to the vocals of soon-to-be-star, Shawn Jones. A beautifully, dark record that Jones hopes some will find positivity in, I can only say the imagery in this album is unparalleled this year. Mixing in French fairy tales, Norse mythology, and Spanish literature, Jones has created an ethereal experience that is quite capable of sparking an imagination long since dormant. Gently plucking away in "Larks and Owls," oboes and violins cascade themselves across every which way projecting color and brilliance that only music can produce.

While Pulling Up Floors, Pouring On (New) Paint was a typical breakup record, Bury the Cynic determines be undefinable. Jones even decided not to release the lyrics to any of these songs in an effort to blur the lines between vocals and melody. Finding a folk/Indie alternative group that starts with "The" isn't the hardest task in the world by any means, but the Lovely Sparrows make listening to this album an enjoyable experience. Instead of settling for mood and ambiance, they understand that a song, like life, isn't constructed in a straight line. Therefore, their sound meanders with life. Using guitars, strings, woodwinds, and most important lyrics to change their sound on a dime.

Mass audiences used to pre-packaged hooks and certain chord progressions will have no idea what to do with this mess of sounds, but Jones put it best when he said, "I am a patient listener, and in turn, probably make music for similar ears."

Finally, I'm not a big fan of movie soundtracks. Many of them are successful because of scores by music titans such as Hans Christian Andersen, or because of songs that specifically tie in to a crucial part in the film, not because of the songs on their own merit. There are exceptions. Juno featured an assorted collection or alternative demi gods such as Sonic Youth, Belle and Sebastian, and The Moldy Peaches. The same people behind that movie have inspired another Michael Cera film's soundtrack. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist Soundtrack features new and old rockers Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses, The Jerk Offs, and The Submarines. It really is the perfect mix of tunes to lift the spirit and rock out to.

Murs For President - 7.3/10
Best Tracks - I'm Innocent, Time is Now, Can't It Be (Half a Million Dollars and 18 Months Later), and A Part of Me

Bury the Cynics - 7.8/10
Best Tracks - Wraith, Department of Forseeable Outcomes, Bury the Cynics, Year of the Dog

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist Soundtrack - 7/10
Best Tracks - Ottoman, After Hours, Nick and Norah's Theme, Lover, and Xavia

This. Is. Truth.

Stale Paper Trail

2008-09-30T21:20:00.000-07:00

Ever since King dropped, I have been a staunch TI supporter. Why? Straight outta the bloated "Swagga Like Us" joint, TI says, "Sell alotta records I respect and salute that/but spitting real life on hot beats I'm the truth at." He leaves it up to Lupe and Weezy for the wordplay. He leaves the double entendres at the door. He focuses on what is going on in his life and in his streets. There is a gritty, dark underlining manner that demands attention. Yet, TI has the knack of spitting a hook which, to his credit, gives his songs a radio-friendly disposition.

In King there was a certain bravado that youth carries as a bedside partner. Completely accurate and justified that this man was making street bangers, "What You Know," "Why You Wanna," and "Top Back." While there may have been pressure for his next release, TI vs TIP, he did a great job culminating an album that really captured a ton of energy (credit: Just Blaze and Wyclef Jean). TI was taking a chance making a metaphorical album conveying his inner struggle with his present and past. It was deep and it worked. And once again, he found a way to bring us closer to who he is. It was in this album that you could hear his doubt in what he was doing in the street, while trying to justify his actions.

Enter Paper Trail.

The album may be a God bless to all of his fans considering the circumstances. Busted for a weapons charge, TI should have gone away for a long time. Without going through the rumor mill for why it didn't happen, he got away with house arrest. So in his home studio, he prepared for the appropriately titled, Paper Trail. That being because this was the first album since his mainstream success that he actually wrote the lyrics down on paper for modification and reworking later. I can honestly say after plenty of listens, this albums sounds minimally better lyrically than any other TI album.

In his second released single, "Whatever You Like," TI offers a humiliating display of word choice, ultimately warning listeners that this may be his most superficial album. "Stacks on decks/Patron on ice/We can pop bottles all night/And baby, you can have whatever you like/I said, you can have whatever you like," crudely sings the chorus. This attempt at a sexual love song slightly mirrors Weezy's tactics for dropping the explicit "Lollipop" first, only Static Major's textured sound juxtaposed with Weezy's oddities made it refreshing and not cliched. It's tracks like this that are sandwiched between tracks like "Live Your Life" and "No Matter What" that make the track lineup slightly hypocritical.

TI doesn't come through as clear on this album as others. He's conflicted. At the end of "Ready for Whatever," the beat dies down and a exposed TI goes into his marred history saying, "True enough I was dead wrong/I broke the law and deserved to be punished/I understand that/But listen I have a house full of kids/A mama and an old lady who's life is in my responsibility.../In order to understand my training of thought/You have to put yourself in my position/You can't expect me to think like you/Cause my life ain't like yours." While the honesty serves its purpose for this track, you start to pick up that he is caught between his apologies and his justifications.

True enough, that cerebral cut flows into the frentic, upbeat "On Top of the World" feat. Ludacris. Lyrically, this is the strongest track on the album, partially because of Ludacris who unleashes his knack for finishing each line with a punch. Not to mention that this collaboration puts an end to a feud that has rivaled the Jay/Nas beef. Surprising chemistry. But in terms of the album's flow and context, it is another head-scratcher in its placement. This album is a bit of a rollercoaster in its reflective, apologetic moments sitting next to its bratty, egotistical moments sitting next to its ballad, love-addled moments.

While I have my quaffs about the album, the first half is filled with sure fire crowd-pleasers with its highlight being Just Blaze-produced, "Live Your Life." The energy comes screaming out from the offset of the hook. Rihanna was the perfect choice as her voice injects a subtle strength that sends this track into high favor. X-factor? The sample of "Dragostea Din Tei" by O-Zone still brings a tiny smile to my face. The audacity and brilliance of Just Blaze goes unnoticed sometimes. Not this time. He produces the strongest track on the album.

From there however, it gets confusing. "My Life, Your Entertainment" furthers the theme that hip hop is killing him while his saving grace as well, and the producer Drumma Boy did well giving Usher a nice backdrop for his usual, syrupy delivery. After that is the laughable track, "Porn Star" and the transparent Swizz Beat-produced anthem, "Swing Ya Rag." I understand why he put "Swagga Like Us" in the last quarter of his album. There is really no reason to finish the album if not for the West made banger or "Every Chance I Get." On that track, TI comes shining through lyrically and smashes the beat the pieces. It's no coincidence that his swagger is no stronger than on this track. The contemplative nature is thrown out from the beginning and he can sound no better, however even the duet with Timberlake (which was actually produced by Timberlake and Rob Knox) can't save the last bit of the album from mediocrity. The problem is Justin shopped a Justin track to TI. After a whole album of ATL-molded trap music, the album's ender sounds like a B-side to Future Sex/Love Sounds.

TI tries as hard as he can to hammer the point in the summation. "That part of me left yesterday/the heart of me is strong today/No regrets I'm blessed to say/the old me dead and gone away." That would be fine if that weren't what the last album were about. Well the song would be fine without the goofy bridge that speeds the track up just have to flow back into its lurching pace. Anyways, although the message mirrors past albums, the confusion personifies itself all the way through this album. From the shifty track listing to his colloquial speech, TI successfully let us in again, only this time he couldn't control the art. The art controlled him. He fell into his own wallowing in some tracks ("Ready for Whatever and "No Matter What") and then tried to compensate for it with rap cliched nonsense ("Whatever You Like" and "Swing Ya Rag").

The point is that as far as the mainstream rap game is concerned, Weezy Baby still owns the year's best rap record. And I'm sure the sales will still favor Wayne after the dust settles. TI still offers more of an array than most rappers, but failed to top his previous efforts with this album. Ultimately, it is forgettable. And for that there is no paper trail.

Best Tracks - Live Your Life, I'm Illy, On Top of The World, Every Chance I Get

6.1/10

This. Is. Truth.

FUCK CD's

2008-09-23T00:03:00.000-07:00

I've decided that I prepare too damn much for each of these blogs and I need to just spit some stuff out. Random thoughts. Current thought? I need to go to bed. As I lie awake, I can't help but notice that Charlize Theron (my number two celeb crush behind Anne Hathaway) singing, rather destroying, "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the Jay Leno Show. She is sooo incredibly hot though. I'm pretty sure even the most level-headed Freddie Mercury might think twice for her.

Second, I'm wondering what Terrence Howard and Wayne Brady are doing putting out CD's. I know Wayne gained popularity through song on "Who's Line Is It Anyway?", but both offerings are so bland. R&B/Soul comes from a gritty place. I hate that it is now being associated with this glossy, falsetto soundscape. I want to hear the sweat. I want to hear the passion. Those two have no idea what either is.

Is Kanye West becoming so self-absorbed that he has no idea who he is talking to or what part of reality he is functioning in? Apparently, the self-proclaimed "Louis Vuitton Don" approached Jenny Lewis (featured in picture above), lead singer of Rilo Kiley and child actor featured in Roseanne and Growing Pains, asking her what she thought of some new tracks off of his upcoming album, "808's and Heartbreak." Not knowing who she was, apparently Kanye is trying to get some street approval for the album. Oddly enough, he didn't get any for "Love Lockdown," because it is his worst lead single for an album yet. Releasing it to iTunes this past week, adding some bango drums isn't enough to mask the flailing West. It's uncomfortably shallow and disproportionately thin. West may be painting himself into a corner. Always known to do things his way, he is moving farther and farther away from his fan base. He has taken the auto-tuner to heart and reports of him working with T-Pain a lot for the upcoming album may hurt more than help.

I'm in the process of sifting through the new music for the week. I'm excited to examine Cold War Kid's new offering of "Loyalty to Loyalty." I will also be reviewing TV on the Radio's "Dear Science," as well as Kings of Leon's "Only By the Night." I've demo'ed some good stuff by bands, Blitzen Trapper, J Boogie's Dubtronic Science, and Mogwai. Also RZA just dropped a compilation album that will undoubtedly project the wacky, unpredictable being that happens to be RZA. Damn, that's a lot of music. I'll probably have it up by next week seeing that I have a knack for on-time reviews. Hopefully, this will be a better week for new music than last.

Ok, as I'm waiting for my Jay-Z discography to finish downloading (thanks Jessica), I am left with this sentiment: FUCK CD's. As I was casually perusing the latest GQ, it was once again echoed that CDs and digital downloads are horrible for any music lover. The compressed quality practically distorts and destroys true music. I am moving on to vinyl. Err, I'm moving back to vinyl. Yeah. The one problem? Unless I want to listen to The Who or Jefferson Airplane, I'm kind of out of luck for new artists. Right? Well...kinda. It seems that certain artists are beginning to release their stuff on vinyl with digital downloads as free companions! Think about it. Pay for the quality and then toss in something portable for free. Awesome! This will save the music industry because people will surely purchase quality? Ehhh...maybe not, but Radiohead did it with "In Rainbows," and Cold War Kids join in with their latest offering. No one wants to shell out too much money for music, but you grab your favorite whiskey sniffer and let the crackle subside before Britney Spear's "Blackout" comes through in all its glory, and YOU TELL ME IT ISN'T WORTH IT!

I mention that album wayyy too much to dismiss it.

SHIT TO SWEAT:

Lastly, I want to start adding old music gems to this thing. It isn't all about new music because, frankly, a lot of new music is horrible sequels to music much better. Without going fullboard, as far as mashup DJs go, Girl Talk, a.k.a. Greg Gillis, is one of the best. From Oasis, The Verve, Pharell, Ludacris, Kanye, to Phantom Planet, the crossovers don't stop. "Night Ripper" his third offering features my favorite mashup of all time. There's something about "Tiny Dancer" fused with the throaty rap of "Juicy" that will forever excite me. The music once hailed as, "a lawsuit waiting to happen" by The New York Times Magazine, Gillis uses a dozen or more unauthorized samples to create a new song. It's amazing what a white guy with a Biomedical Engineering degree can do with a bit of time and passion for music.

Check out Night Ripper or Feed the Animals
"Smash Your Head" from Night Ripper features the Tiny Dancer/Juicy mashup

This. Is. Truth.

Deathly Enigmatic

2008-09-16T01:23:00.000-07:00

My favorite point of the week has come again: New Release Tuesday. Yay! Nothing too exciting is coming out. I will point out the best and worst of this week. It feels like a bit of a comeback week for two titans in two respective genres. Metallica - the Rick Rubin Created Monster - is reanimated and is battling for our consciousness. And Nelly's subtle follow-up to mega hits Sweat and Suit.

Nelly has come to turn in hit after hit, but with little buildup, this latest album falls short of anything halfway decent. With the opening track, "Hold Up" featuring piercing, shrilly yelps and screams, the process has more than fallen apart in his four year hiatus. With Nate Dogg just suffering his second heart attack in the same year, his callabo with Snoop sounds like he hasn't fully recovered. Perhaps, Nelly's new acquired and perhaps "bought" muscle has taken away from the touch in his delivery.

"Lie" perhaps demonstrates Nelly's oddities best. As the melody gently lays a bed thick and tranquil, Nelly sounds screamy and off balance. Within the first four tracks, "Myspace" the website is already mentioned four times and without probable cause. And Jesus Christ, if any more single lines could be repeated you might think this was a lost episode of Barney's Sing Along. "Hell naw, He just stepped on my J'z/Hell naw, He just stepped on my J'z"...etc. It doesn't help that on nearly every single track Nelly is outright out rapped and out done. It's interesting he has taken such a fancy in producing an album with T.I., cause he will absolutely get dismissed by the Southern King.

In his first released single, "Party People" Nelly sounds off on another mindless anthem only with Fergie sitting sidekick. At around 1:45, I found myself reaching for a shot of bourbon...or a shot out of my Desert Eagle. If you were to listen off-handedly, it sounds like Nelly is saying, "Where my Potty People at?" Answer: They are swimming with this album. He may look like the Hulk, but he raps like him too. Poor showing for an artist that has plenty of critical favor and hardware for his earlier work.

Next comes Metallica's Death Magnetic. Marking the first album without long-time producer, Bob Rock, and choosing rock demigod Rick Rubin. This guy could make your high school garage band into the next rock icons, let alone a proven commodity like Metallica. Upon first listen, this album comes roaring out of the gate. Hetfield sounds as good as ever and while the sound is stylized and slick, it reminisces of that remodeled 60' cherry-red Camaro in your father's garage. It may not have the bells and whistles of newer models, but what lies under the hood is a beast and unparalleled.

The criticism that followed St. Anger was that of Lars' steely snare and loss of guitar solos. They are fixed here and this catalog of songs fall right in line with any hit made a decade or more ago. "The Day That Never Comes" is the first single from the album and it is the fourth longest track on the album coming in at 7:56. Marking a spectacular instrumental intro, this song capitalizes the essence of the record. Fast and free, the band has come home and embraced its legacy as one of the hardest rock bands to ever form. A nice surprise and constant reminder that you should never count out a band as solid as this one.

One thing about Metallica happens to be for every three great rock songs, there is usually a great slower-tempo song that displays a rugged beauty. "The Unforgiven III" cuts the album in half and sets a tone as the highlight track as the aching, somber Hetfield almost croons at times. "How can I be lost/If I got nowhere to go/Search the seas of gold/How come it's got so cold?" Screaming for forgiveness in absolute, laughable disregard for whether it comes true is a turnabout from the pandering of Hetfield in St. Anger. While the album feels a little long and glossy, I'll take Metallica over just about any metal band at the moment.

A mediocre offering was delivered from DJ Khaled's Miami touting crew. Besides a couple of tracks, "Defend Dade" and "Out Here Grindin'," Khaled is getting old. His beats and songs are sounding like the rest and he is leaving the tired melodies up to the all-star list of rappers to save his mediocre, paltry palate of repetitive effects. One highlight track is "Go Hard" feat. Kanye West and T-Pain. Kanye absolutely tears the track up and displays a drastically different rhyming pattern than the laid back style people are accustomed to. With a feast of aggressive, lively lyrics, Kanye sums up his unbridled energy with, "I'm gonna tell you what George Bush told me/Fuck y'all niggas I'm outta here." Never one to shy away from controversy, the Louis Vitton Don hit this one out of the park and therefore saved a rather useless album filled full of songs that might entertain the mindless youth.

And lastly, the most incoherent garble of an album that has ever been made. Oregon's own (even though Seattle grown), Kristy Lee Cook, said friend of Britney Spears, takes flight with her God-awful album entitled, Why Wait. I have one reason to wait: her last track is the awful rendition of "God Bless America." Many apologies to those looking for reviews of Darius Rucker's new album. I wouldn't want to toss out opinion without an actual listen, but I'm going to pass.

Nelly - Brass Knuckles - 3.2 Best Tracks: Hot in Hurr and Country Grammar (not featured on crappy new album)

Metallica - Death Magnetic - 7.5 Best Tracks: Cyanide, The Broken, Beat, and Scarred, The Day That Never Comes, Unforgiven III

DJ Khaled - We Global - 4.3 Best Tracks: Out Here Grindin and Go Hard

Kristy Lee Cook - Why Wait - 2 I won't even try your patience

This. Is. Truth.

Hip Hop Ain't Dead Yet...

2008-09-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

Oh. My. God.

The US Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

63 years later, four men on hands and knees push hurried breath into the rotting corpse that is hip-hop. Taking turns, each turns the pale, blue body to a healthy hue. Lately, there have been few hip-hop albums that generate excitement and been met with critical approval. The last four, arguably:

Tha Carter III, Graduation, American Gangster, TI vs. TIP

And as I woke up this morning, the four titans of wordplay, the four princes of double-endentres, the four kings of rap, the four horseman that can alone save hip-hop marked their beginning.

One song. One verse apiece. Devastating on their own accords.

Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and T.I. teamed up to make one of the most unique, infectious hip-hop tunes of the year, "Swagga Like Us." For those that scream out debates over which rapper destroyed the track best is forgetting the point. These are the highest selling foursome in the last year teaming up to tackle the raging apathy that has struck the music populace.

The debate is pure fuel to what they are trying to do, infect the scene with fire. It, sadly, is up to cheap ploys like this to get people's attention. But I suppose if you want to get some attention, this isn't a bad way to do it.

"No one on the corner has swagga like us," serates through the track over and over again. The sample of MIA from "Paper Planes" sounds fresh, but the synths weight the track down so the subtle nuances are near non-existent to void. I could do without the rockets taking off after every verse. I wish it would have had a grittier feel instead of the polished gleam that oozes from the production, but that perhaps is more telling than the lyrics.

These men are at the top of the game. There is no hustle. There is no hunger. You can feel their bloated bellies sucking all the wind out of the quips. That being said, it is Jay, Kanyeeze, The self-proclaimed best rapper in the world, and Mr. TIP.

After the disappointing offerings from The Game and Young Jeezy, Paper Trail and Blueprint 3 might be the most important albums of each of their careers. Graduation set Kanye's legend. Jay has been on the downward spiral - who would've thought one of the best of all time would need a solid album to cement his purpose in the music scene? And T.I. could come through as the hip-hop hero uniting fan boys and critics like no one else can.

This song will no doubt be chopped and screwed to several verses that will ultimately be better, but there is no bigger draw than these four names at the moment. Cop and it and bounce to it a couple of times.

Check out Paper Planes Remix: Bun B and Rich Boy as well.

For the record: T.I. murders everyone on this track.

Best line - "How it feel to wake up and be the shit and the urine/Tryin to get that Kobe number, one over Jordan." - Mr. West

Honorable mention goes to Weezy for "I require what I desire I got stripes/A-did-as/Mami scream papi no mas/Run up in your shit just me no moss/Running this shit like I got four thighs."

This. Is. Truth.

Dive Bars...

2008-08-31T01:33:00.000-07:00

Tom Petty, Soulja Boy, Britney Spears, Queen, Prince...

What the fuck kind of playlist is this and who in the hell is picking the tunes!? I'm convinced whoever made the playlist is on crack, and judging from the state of the bar...it would be an accurate assumption. The Space Room has the good fortune of playing host to me and some of my friends. And while I could understand the rather shady clientele, the music was horrendous!! And I just think, how much better would everyone's experience be with a good mixture of old school/new school songs.

And then I think of my favorite campus bar, Max's. Great songs. No liquor, all beer, one pool table, like four booths and still packed every weekend. I want to point the success towards the selection of music a bunch of drunk collegiates can lose themselves (and their voices) in! Nothing beats the memory of Shannon aka Shay-Bug doing a awkward, spirited dance for the song, "Shout."

You know what? Illegal thoughts flash through my mind. Like what if I karate chopped the owner of this shitty shitty bar named The Space Room and threatened his family harm if he didn't oblige to a better set of tunes. Yeah, that sounds about right. Add some crowd-friendly anthems from Weezer and maybe sprinkle in some hard rock gems from Guns N' Roses. Not hard. But then I realize...shitty music defines dive bars.

Playing two or three songs in succession from the same artist is perfectly acceptable. Well not only acceptable, it's expected. A wretched smile pains my face as Queen's "We Will Rock You" was followed by "Fat Bottomed Girls." Ideally, played in Meghan's departure (the only friend I know who has an ungodly obsession with Freddie Mercury). The rest of the night played out like a bad dream, but I can't help look back with a chuckle. Kory, my best friend, entertained his lady friend while I found myself lost between Britney Spear's Blackout and Souja Boy's one-hit wonder.

I have every intention to burn a CD and leave it on the counter anonymously to see if anyone might be interested in playing something with a bit more credibility. So while I find myself single for the first time in awhile, I feel I've taken on music as my mistress and God forbid she be dressed in this whorish costume. She needs to be streamlined and free to evolve and express distinct creativity. Anything else would be sacrilege.

God...I've become a musical elitist.

Finally.

P.S. - How one typo can destroy a beautiful post. Yes, I just realized that I meant to say no liquor. All Beer. Thank you for the fact checkers! And while some may make certain allegations that I enjoy some lesser forms for music - this is true. I think that was the point. Almost every song had a certain memory attached like Prince's "Little Red Corvette." Meghan and I giggled as we recounted almost driving Jonathan to the brink of insanity, dancing in place as we jostled the car ever closer to our icy death. It was just the mix and the mood that was conjured. It was odd and ill-placed. Certainly not one that I would have wanted for this dark nightmare.

This.Is. Truth.

A Spirited Beginning

2008-08-27T01:38:00.000-07:00

And just as you feel that your music became a bit stagnate, a band like Delta Spirit comes along.

I haven't been quite this excited about in awhile. A pinch of Dylan mixed with a sliced wedge of The Kinks and then sprinkle a bit of Vampire Weekend and you get this lovable, fierce rocket that calls itself Delta Spirit. Named after guitarist Jonathan Jameson's great uncle's business entitled, "Delta Spirit Taxidermy Station of North Central America." After a much needed shortening, Jameson and Brandon Young found lead singer Matthew Vasquez busking at two in the morning, and after exchanging information, was introduced as the lead singer.

With the pieces in place and San Diego as the backdrop, Ode to Sunshine commenced. What came out is something I can't quite put my finger on. Hailed as Americana/soul, the echoes of Dylan come rushing at a quickening pace. The fragility and determination summoned into an utterance by Vazquez is special to behold. And as light and airy as the songs feel, the weight and direction of Vazquez's quips can be heard no harder than in "People C'mon." The near frantic cry for soul searchers within the song should give any listener goosebumps.

Peter, Paul, and Mary come to mind only because as the beauty in their melodies became the driving force behind their success, they covered songs that had political weight. THAT to me, is the difference between Delta Spirit and other counterparts i.e. Vampire Weekend, Cold War Kids, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! Each song feels dramatically more important to the grand scale of things. And as they weave these songs that could quietly set any childhood memory, there is a certain grit that makes this lemonade bitter to consume quite so superficially.

"Trashcan" becomes the uproarious single that could get a paraplegic to dance for joy. Too much? Perhaps, but the ivory keys seem to take this skeleton and really get it moving. Almost vaudevillian, it screams to be the bed in Charlie Chaplain's world, or maybe in some small town musical. It feels the narration to some dysfunction family or Utopian world flipped upside down.

Beneath the infectious melodies, Vazquez sings of inner strength in his mother's departure and his tale of survival. "When my mother left, the bat was the only one here/He is the only reason I am still here." And through this retelling you become involved with his story and passion. In the tambourine-heavy track, "Streetwalker," Vazquez croons of darkness in every corner of the world to which he asks, "Why can't I feel for you?/They lie, what can I do?" The emotional brevity is almost too much to explore in one song, but somehow it gets done.

And maybe that's the thing that gets me about these guys. The bitter honesty isn't sugary. The stories are rugged and seemingly aged. Wise comes to mind and the songs support the theory that they've seen far too much at such an age. It's a dangerous sentiment to be compared to Dylan, but there is no contemplation after hearing, "People, Turn Around." The story-telling capability of Vazquez mixed with his emotional bravado cannot be mistaken for anything else than his best Bob impersonation. But I suppose if some carpenters can brag about choosing a career that Jesus endured, a little band from San Diego can try to find their own light, even when draped in such a tremendous shadow.

Best Tracks - "Trashcan" "People C'mon" "Strange Vine" "People, Turn Around"

8.5/10

This. Is. Truth.

Deep Water...

2008-08-24T01:33:00.000-07:00

There are many adjectives that can be used for Beth Gibbons' voice. With tracks like "Roads" and "Sour Times," her voice will go down as perhaps the most sultry voice ever recorded. And while Portishead may have seen their legacy capitalized a decade ago, there is a song on Third that strikes a tremendous chord within my spirit.

Whenever I listen to it, I am overwhelmed with tranquil images. One would not be morbid enough to envision one own's death, but if this blog supersedes time and someone is able to read this upon my death bed, I think it would be a beautiful song to fit my demise. Only 1:31 minutes, it lasts just long enough to leave an imprint like a step in the sand, but light enough for the wind to eventually blow away the remnants.

The mandolin lightly plucks along as Gibbons sounds as fragile as she ever has. And somehow sandwiched between tracks so mechanical in nature, this would cut the album in half. Beautifully insecure. And at any moment, I've learned that being human is being in love with one's flaws. We are woefully incomplete and this is never felt more profoundly than in one's passing. And no matter how hard or jagged the path, there is always an eye to our storm and "Deep Water" serves its purpose admirably.

So while the insecurity may play through, it is the subtle strength that is jarringly present that offsets the morbid mood. "Somehow turn me around/No matter how far I drift/Deep Waters/Won't scare me tonight..." There is never anything I fear because, honestly, there is no path. Just an ocean of possibility and deep waters won't scare me ever again.

This. Is. Truth.

A Fall to Earth

2008-08-21T03:34:00.000-07:00

I keep telling people that Portland is cool. Portland is the new New York, right? The in flux of youth and a burgeoning creative melting pot for any and every Indie band looking to make it big is drawing a music scene that supports artistic individuality. As those sentiments start to become realized to the rest of the world, one band has been holding it down since the mid-90s. And how Dandy they are!

The first album since leaving Capitol Records, Earth to the Dandy Warhols... is almost a slap in the face to any devout listener for the last decade. Yet, for any new listener to the Dandy's this may be a refreshing swallow. The Warhols are known for changing it up, dramatically. The difference between Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia and Welcome to the Monkey House were significantly pronounced. Their ability to start out as college rock to garage rock to synth-heavy androids to...a well psychodelic/folksy sound. Courtney Taylor is more breathy here than Janet Jackson in "Rope Burn," and sometimes it actually works.

In "Love Song," the band sets this folky, jam band soundscape against Taylor's sweet, whispered vocals. Everything feels effervescent and while you'd love to hear a more pronounced Warhols sound, this sound uses their knack to incorporate different influences into honest work. While the Warhols are criticized for perhaps imitating their influences wholesale without creating individuality, the sheer number of different sounds they are able to create sets them apart from near anyone else. Granted, there is something to be said for the mastery of a single sound.

From the offset, "The World Come On" itself becomes a bit of a teaser for old-school fans. One of the album's most upbeat songs besides "Valerie Yum" features the bevy of Warhol-like screams and euphanisms. It, in turn, becomes their most forgettable song as well. The group must have sat around the Odditorium to brainstorm a fuzzy, garbled mess for an opener, because the pure sonic disaster may be enough to scare off the casual listener at first notice. One of their influences, Kevin Shields and My Bloody Valentine came up with a way to use swirling guitars to create a soundscape never quite actualized before. During tracks like "Wasp In the Lotus," "Talk Radio," and "And Then I Dreamt of Yes," I can definitely hear Loveless playing as mentor in the background. The swirling guitars masking Taylor's vocals work well as the Warhols channel their inner-shoegazer.

The oddest track on the album may come in "Mission Control" as it feels like a misplaced B-side to Orgy's Candyass. The one synth-heavy track feels at odds with the rest of the album, therefore losing a lot of its relevance. However, through its faults lies another piece to the Warhols' mystical puzzle. While the beginning of the album lacks, it gains steam throughout the middle and "Beast of All Saints" and "Valerie Yum" are surprisingly hearty.

Rating a Warhol album is like trying to pick a favorite Beatles song. There are so many genres, moods, and presentations that it is hard to throw a cohesive blanket over the makeshift beast. One song brings back shades of Weezer while the next Pink Floyd. The Warhols find some of their best work within "Valerie Yum" and "Welcome to the Third World" which features the sardonic, witty Taylor in his element.

Andy Warhol created pop art and the Dandy Warhols took pop music and created art fused with sounds and legends of the past. What helps is just that they are so fucking cool. This will not be their best album by a long shot, but damn it if they don't sound cool nonetheless. From the the repetition of the words "Val" and "Yum" in super slo-mo in "Valerie Yum"...get it? Taylor is not foreign to making fun of their own song-crafting ability. Ironically, Andy Warhol also was the originator of the phrase, "15 minutes of fame," and the Dandy's, while lending a decade of solid music, may be on borrowed time.

Best Tracks - "Talk Radio" "And Then I Dreamt of Yes" "Valerie Yum"

6/10

This. Is. Truth.

The Life And Times of Scott Stapp....

2008-08-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

I will say this only once so read carefully:

Creed might be one of the best bands of all-time.

MIGHT BE.

I know the first thing to do when you hear the name, "Creed" is probably projectile vomit towards the nearest radio, instrument, or computer, but I point you to the facts. The local startup band out of Tallahassee, Florida only released three albums. Each one achieved platinum status with Human Clay selling over 11 million albums in the U.S. alone! That ranks as the 54th best selling album of all time. Sure you could say that the CD was a smash hit because of single, "Higher" and "With Arms Wide Open," but they followed it with six times platinum smash hit, Weathered.

You could cite Britney Spears as evidence for mega selling albums with lackluster talent truly deserving the numbers, but Scott Stapp and Co. deserves more credit than that. They had a subtle knack for punching power chords during verses and choruses while switching to acoustic plucks during a bridge to create an ambiance unique to their own. Pearl Jam Lite might be their alias. Rising from their ashes, Creed became a welcome head-banging, fist-clenching, remembrance of the Seattle quartet. From the guttural over-enunciated, all-too-familiar vernacular of Scott Stapp to the religious anecdote in every other line, Creed developed a formula that set the standard in the late 90s rock scene. They created beautiful music fused with crashing violins that Pearl Jam could only dream of achieving. They crafted songs with arena-sized sounds. Truly epic was what they aimed for.

As a test, I listened to their entire discography in one sitting from "Torn" (My Own Prison) to "Lullaby" (Weathered) to see how the songs stood against the test of time. It's probably been several years since I've revisited the songs with a critical ear. Practically all of My Own Prison seems bloated and easily discarded besides perhaps because it was recorded on a $6,000 budget but, "What's This Life For," stands as a preface to what Creed would eventually become. A Heavy/Alt group that used Stapp's vocals in juxtaposition with echoed effects and Tremonti's backup vocals. It also features their knack to break into a lighter, acoustic bridge eventually leading into a heavy, layered sound that highlights their "inspirational" message.

Chances are if you didn't like "Higher" or "With Arms Wide Open," you aren't going to like them now, but in terms of heavy rock ballads, Creed had some of the best ever. Lyrically, this band does nothing to change the landscape at all, but from the first track to the last track on Human Clay, it never seems to lose its pace or relevance to the overall album. While they get a knock for sounding repetitious, each song digs its own groove and honestly, this album still stands out as a gem in the post-grunge alt/rock world. "What If," "Never Dies," and "Inside Us All" are standouts besides the smash hits.

Weathered stayed atop the charts for 8 straight weeks which is almost unheard of in recent history. Starting an unrelenting attack with the doomed single, "Bullets," the album gathered momentum with "Who's Got My Back?" and "My Sacrifice." Perhaps the most beloved track, "Don't Stop Dancing" features Stapp's sister, Amy Stapp. Following their enigmatic formula, this song often capitalizes the beauty in their streamlined approach to crafting a song. It's hard to just fathom how they could take such mediocre melodies and get as much out of it as they did. I'm sure their producer, John Kurzweg, deserves a big amount of that credit.

Regardless of the accolades, their legacy will undoubtedly fade as they were only able to keep the harmony for a handful of years, but Scott Stapp will forever be one of the most polarizing figures in history. I don't know if it's a scientific fact, but it seems that men with butt chins aren't received with much fanfare and the belief stays true in this case as well. The hate he and his clefted chin accrues seems a bit unnecessary, but understandable. The band misstepped here and there. Most of it being summed up by this God-awful video: Bullets. If you made it all the way through that video...you're better than me. Somehow the image of Stapp with wings will never quite leave my life alone. Stapp is pretentious, egotistical, melodramatic, and hypocritical, but will remain one of my favorite frontmen ever. And with the notch of selling almost 20 million albums in the U.S., I don't think I'm the only one.

Which begs to ask the question...given a couple more albums to their resume, could have Creed been the best band ever?

"What If" - my favorite single
"With Arms Wide Open" - 2001 - Best Rock Song (Grammy and most critically acclaimed single)

This. Is. Truth.

Top 100 Songs...

2008-08-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

I always listen to a song on iTunes and LOVE IT so damn much I wanna put it in some kind of mythological "Top 10, 50, or 100" list. I feel like I've said it about a million things...so in effort to really weigh out how I feel about the songs I "love" at the moment...I'm going to start writing them down as soon I feel strongly enough to give them that connotation.

So at the moment, I feel that "Roses" by OutKast is on my top 100 favorite songs ever. My favorite part? "Crazy Bitch...Crazy Bitch...Crazy Bitch...Stupid Ass Bitch...Old Dumbass Bitch...A Bitch's Bitch...haha...I could go on.

B.O.B. goes down as well, just because it is the only thing that gives my life meaning sometimes. Just kidding...but I tend to love songs that have a choir. You can blame Sister Act 2 for that!

Mark it down.

1-100: "Roses" and "B.O.B." by OutKast

This. Is. Truth.

Kate Havnevik

2008-08-16T01:37:00.000-07:00

Someone asked me what was going on with my blog and my apathy shouldn't be a reason I'm not updating this thing. I think the daunting nature of trying to steamline all these posts have made it more difficult to actually post more so I'm giving up on that for now. I haven't been in the position to buy new music for awhile. I'm really falling out of the scene. And trust me, thousands of dollars later...I can tell you it is very expensive to stay in the scene.

I do want to talk about an artist that I like, however. You may have heard of her without even knowing it because the song, "Timeless" as well as five other tracks have appeared on Grey's Anatomy. I still feel that she deserves a proper introduction into the music scene even though Melankton was released in 2006. Born in Oslo, Norway, her album has been described as classical meets electronica meets trip/hop.

For some reason, tonight, I have found myself listening to "Unlike Me" over and over again. There is just such a foreboding tempo to all her songs. The pacing between the lyrics and melody really builds an underlying tension throughout a lot of her songs. I think it is beautifully constructed. One of the most notable producers on this album is Guy Sigsworth (Frou Frou), who has worked with Imogen Heap, Alanis Morissette, and Madonna. You can totally channel "Hide and Seek" while listening to some of the tracks. The echo-ey goodness of Havnevik's voice disappearing into volumes of space while resonating like waves on a beach is one of Sigsworth's trademarks. Too bad whenever I think of "Hide and Seek," I think of O.C.'s Ryan (Ben McKenzie) watching as Marissa (Misha Barton) shoots and kills his brother, whom, oh by the way, was about to kill him. God, I miss that show...

"There is no time," she keeps repeating in the refrain. "Time doesn't really exist." This song really hits hard. Time has ceased to move since I've moved home. Yet, I find myself here on August 16th without a real means or motivation. I am so stagnant. But there is no time. Time is so irrelevant. It isn't time that is calling for change, it is my circumstances. I just bought a new videogame and spilled juice on my controller the next day... I wrap up my summer in that connotation.

USA plays Spain in about 20 minutes so I'm off. But give Kate Havnevik's Melankton a spin if you are a fan of Grey's Anatomy, Imogen Heap, or Frou Frou. She sits right in that vein and I find her to be a special treasure the more I listen to it.

This. Is. Truth.

Downtown Culture Meets My Inner Sanctum

2008-08-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

I woke up yesterday knowing I had my most important interview yet. An internship with Portland Monthly hanging in the balance. I don't know what fascinates me about magazines, but the self-exploration one must go through to challenge its readers with stories that range from the mundane to the spectacular appeals to me. It was hot yesterday and I figured I would take the MAX to cross the river. Whenever public transportation is involved, music is a must. Plus, I find that music calms my soul enough to allow me to be the confident person I know I am inside.

Most times I'll shuffle it cause I find that sometimes, my iTouch has some mysterious way of knowing which songs I want to hear in specific moments, but it was M.I.A.'s Kala to start out. Knee-deep in "The Turn," I heard my name drifting amongst the music. I instinctively look up and see my "buddy," Desmond from high school. The only thing shadier than this kid's life might be the oddly-disturbing color his hair has turned after several failed dye jobs. But there was my turquoise-topped friend of mine sitting down next to me preparing to tell me how fucked up his life again. I kept "Paper Planes" going in one ear as I playing the organ alongside his emotional parade. Briefly, I thought about the fact the "Paper Planes" is being used as the trailer theme to the movie "Pineapple Express" coming out tomorrow. That cheered me up immensely. I'd loved to leave my body and pull a Seth Rogen/Hulk Hogan splash on Desmond to silence his meanderings. As the MAX approached, he scampered off and I thankfully hid inside knowing my next meeting with him on some random street corner would be all too soon.

It was time for some Santogold. "I'm a Lady" feat. Trouble Andrew has quickly turned into one of my favorite songs in the past year. I never was a huge 80s fan, but she has quickly turned the page on that sentiment. Everything is sultry, aggressive, and light-hearted. That album is just beautifully crafted. I would need something of the kind when realizing the steel bridge is closed until the 25th! I had to take a connecting MAX shuttle over the Burnside and then catching the MAX downtown to continue the journey.

After losing myself a couple more times, I found Portland Monthly and put away Santogold for the interview. Only lasting 25 minutes, it was back to the pavement and getting back over the river. The pace and culture of downtown seemed sprawled out in front of me. I felt like a walking candy apple of sorts. While I realize I'm proportional, when I'm listening to music I feel so much weight around my ears and head. Everything is being processed up top and sometimes it manifests itself as pressure and weight. I feel a thousand miles away from my feet and torso and let the music float me to my predetermined destination.

I passed some girls with vibrant-colored hair (much better than Desmond's) and I switched up Santogold for Paramore. While Paramore may not do anything revolutionary, I am a sucker for girls with alternative tendencies. With Amy Lee, Haley Williams, Lacey Mosely, and Christina Scabbia leading my short list of female rockers, I think my obsession is really fascination. Fascination in the fact that African-Americans don't usually find themselves with girls like that and the unknown is always fun.

And then later the day I did meet her. In the form of Kate Winslet in the movie, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." I understand why everyone always flips shit over the movie. Everyone who has just broken up with someone should see the movie. It amazingly puts everything in perspective. One of the best movies ever made, in my opinion. However, a multi-haired Winslet finds herself drawn to a stranger that she swears she has met before. The movie underlines human attraction and the dooming feeling to repeat our mistakes over again. But I love it because it is the mistakes that make up who we are.

It ended up being one of those days that looks as if it were themed with all the hair job references, but I think that's just how life goes. We have purpose and my music is just a catalyst for discovery. Objectivism states that we use our senses to build our own sense of reality. Music has become just as natural as smelling, touching, and seeing. And with it, I will build my world around me...

This. Is. Truth.

Lion Heart

2008-07-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

Taken from a 1970s adage by George Rodriguez, "It is better to live one day as a lion, than a thousand years as a lamb," One Day As a Lion officially has come to fruition with an EP that features a teasingly, small five tracks.

If someone told me Zach De La Rocha (vocals, electronic keyboard) would be uniting with Jon Theodore (drums) fusing two of the best alternative bands in the past decade (Rage Against the Machine and The Mars Volta), I wouldn't have held my breath. It seems that the marriage is so unbelievably natural that you wondered why it hadn't happened before. The first thought that will undoubtedly come screaming from your consciousness is how eerily close this band sounds like Rage Against the Machine. This is a true testament to how much of Zach's style was in RATM. His rat-a-tat style of rapping fused beautiful rhythm was all the pattern RATM needed to fire its message in the membrane of every woman and man from the age of 18-30.

"Wild International" is the first single that was leaked and released from the band. First composed for a successful union attempt to accrue fair wages from McDonalds the song was first ceremoniously called "CIW Why" until Zach re-wrote most of it and released it under the aforementioned title. Featuring all the good parts of Rage, ODAL kind of feels old hat. Comprised of just two men, they have even said they want a "sonic reflection of the visceral tension between a picturesque, fabricated cultural landscape, and the brutal socioeconomical realities it attempts to mask." Good words, but does this album feel evolved or powerful enough to achieve such feats?

The fact is, it feels sluggish, slow, and stale to start out. The theory of this album makes sense, but at times you just feel like Zach's words may not be the centerpiece of this album, which it should be. While on RATM, his voice shot through the music like a serrated knife through cream cheese, but not now. "Ocean View" features the usual distorted guitar effect, but it often feels oppressing against Zach's style of rapping. The holes aren't matching up. Two styles are fighting for prominence in this song and the wrong side wins.

"If You Fear Dying" is the best track featured on the self-titled EP. The juxtaposed sound they were going for finally feels conveyed. The brooding, distorted guitar lays the bed for the track, but it's Theodore's stark drumming rhythm that makes this song feel like it's teetering off a cliff, overlooking the dark abyss below. Instead of draping over Zach's vocals like a blanket, it feels quilted to enunciate all the right parts reminding you of how powerful De La Rocha can be given the right ambience. This song also features Rocha singing the melodies in a almost raggae tone spirit. "If you fear dying/Then you're already dead." This is the soundscape promised to us by ODAL. This one track has me excited for the next stint. Hopefully, they can channel the sound captured here.

The song that shares the same name as the album is a fitting ending. The lo-fi vision that Rocha and Theodore had in mind is realized here. With lyrics falling into the dissonance created between the percussion and aggressive, whooping guitars. It's hard not to feel the blood rush to your face as Rocha resembles his anti-myth rhythm rock shocker persona that he holds with a iron-fist grip. The bass lines set the low end of the spectrum while high squeals punch the high end with beautiful melodies stacking this hero sandwich sky-high. It is perhaps the track that sets them furthest apart from RATM and that is a good thing. One thing that could be said about this record is that it slowly weans the RATM die-hards off their old sound by de-evolving into a natural predator set aim at the world collective. And boy, the last minute of One Day as a Lion ends in a roar, fist-pumping, head-banging, all-out explosion of pathos that only Rocha can stir up.

This is not a perfect beginning, but Rocha and Theodore would scoff at any such description anyways. The best part is that Rocha is primed and ready to start pulling the trigger and he may be more unsettled than before. Time and age has only unleashed the beast that has long since been dormant.

"I'm the orange jumpsuit that's tailor made/I'm a flick of the shank that opened your veins/I'm the dusk, I'm the frightening calm/I'm a hole in the pipeline/I'm a roadside bomb."

Damn right.

8/10

This. Is. Truth.

My Depraved Soundtrack

2008-07-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

...May the haunting footsteps of those lost strike a chord of merriment that in fact we are not alone...

I can't even feign the importance that the circumstances of my demeanor and disposition are mine and mine alone. Millions around the world with conditions worse and ultimately heart-breaking may scoff at my despair. And while that brings some measure of comfort, I have only one life to live and when the bottom slides out from under my stable ground, I have no knowledge of the depths that I descend into.

Damien Rice said once that he couldn't write songs unless he was sad....

Melancholy melodies often find themselves more poignant than those spirited tunes, partly because we recognize and appreciate the kinship misery feels with its kind. However, I can't help but relish the serrated beating of my own heart lapping up pools of my own disdain for my own temperament. It's useless to curse the skies. It's useless to waste the bold, brave energy that being angry lazily points its beam towards. Anger has produced bombs that have destroyed innocent lives that have no business paying for other's transgressions. Angry is apathetic. Anger is easy.

I am not angry....I am disappointed and dead.

Dead to the ways of the past and born anew, fostering a new set of ideologies to tackle the obstacle at hand. I must continue to perish and awake new like a phoenix out of the ashes. I allow mere moments to mourn the passing of another son, but I must learn to remember the mistakes and improve. Anything else would be sacrilege. So, as the devil cackles somewhere in the dark, I can only begin again.

And how does this deal with music?

All conventional logic points to irrelevance, but in times like this, I think of how war-torn nations and poverty-stricken projects have produced violent light so bright it can't be ignored. Rappers such as Nas, Jay, and a slew of others that not only made it out, but brought some experiences to mainstream audiences who may not have otherwise been given such a visceral testimony. Illmatic, often regarded as the best hip/hop album of all time features first-person narrative of a young Nasir Jones accounting death, life, routine days, and grief housed within the fenced hell that manifested itself as the Queensbridge projects.

I will fall....

And continue to fall because I have too much pride not to. I am destined to do more than what I have allowed myself to waste during the first 23 years of my life. I have allowed myself to make excuses for myself and lend comparisons to others when there are none. I am an individual responsible for lifting myself out of this grave that is slowing filling in. I will fall because it's the only way we learn how to pick ourselves back up.

This. Is. Truth.

N.O. Easy 3-Peat

2008-07-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

"I love being misunderstood /Why?/Cause I live in the suburbs /But come from the hood"

The self-proclaimed, Best Rapper in the World, Weezy F. Baby delivers his third installment of Tha Carter to much anticipation. For so long, rappers have straddled this invisible, impossible line between staying true to the people from their hoods and appealing to the people that will pay their way out of the hood. How can you sell a million records and still stay true to the people that were blowin your tracks out of their Deville back when you were your hometown's best kept secret?

Enter: Tha Carter III

The supposed final piece of tha Carter trilogy feels like a streamlined, polished piece of art that strives to be better with each listen. And with the cover art parodying Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die and Nas' Illmatic, his intentions are heard in volumes: He's here to change the rap game. In the song, "Mr. Carter," Wayne fires, "And next time you mention Pac, Biggie, or Jay-Z/Don't forget Weezy Baby," which just furthers his efforts to align himself with the few rappers that have been able to bring the hood with them on their rise to super stardom. And if this record were his resume for the title of greatest rapper on Earth, the references of Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Babyface might just push any doubter in his favor.

The first single released off the album, "Lollipop" will forever be the song that changed Lil Wayne from great rapper to great artist. Suddenly, Wayne was heard all over the world on the radio, T.V., and club due to that song. The sweet melody layered in between the robotic-sounding, yet sweetly crooning voice of Wayne exposed a new path for hip/hop to follow. Hot on the heels of Kanye's Daft Punk remix of stronger and T-Pain's successful singles, "Lollipop" took all the above and meshed it down into a syrupy banger that would open eyes towards Wayne and his hip/pop music endeavor.

Beyond the disorientating nature in which he delivers his message, Wayne has more one-liners than the entire cast in the movie, "First Sunday." Self-diagnosed in the song, "La La La:" "Wittier than a comedy/Nigga write a parody/But I ain't telling jokes...apparently," Wayne is so lyrically different and talented, it can come across as laughable.

"...Savage like Lil Webbie and Randy..."
"...Even Gwen Stefani said she couldn't doubt me..."
"...I don't O U like two vowels..."

Nearly every line is a double-entendre and while this builds an interesting rhyming pattern, it is the intended meanings that drive this record. Both "Comfortable" and "Tie Me Down" are Wayne's most straight-forward songs on the CD besides "DontGetIt." Sounding strangely exposed and intimate, Wayne explores love and loss in ways that go past the usual rapper's bravado. Using Robin Thicke, a certain soul is infused into "Tie Me Down" that conveys the evolution of the already elder Wayne in the rap game. Just further proof that Wayne has come a long way since riding the coattails of rappers such as Juvenile to finally grab the spotlight himself at an old 25.

This record is one of the most important rap albums in a long time because Wayne now stands poised as the next legend. Successfully bridging the gap between pop and underground hip/hop with this album, the hard part is now over. With Jay and Kanye talking about other avenues to explore, music needs Weezy as much as Weezy needs his music. Creatively, he will try everything to demonstrate and illustrate his martian-like environment in which he operates, and the fact he already has a decade of musical work under his belt means the progression into the jarred, inexplicable mind of Wayne is far from over.

8.5/10

This. Is. Truth.

Gnarls Beck-ley

2008-07-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

It's hard to fault a guy for having the bravado and talent to release such an insignificant piece of work. I don't mean insignificant in the meaning that this is a bad record, there's just very little about it that stands out in comparison to Odelay and Midnite Vultures. Beck Hansen has never been afraid to let an audience into his inner sanctum that is his music. It's hard to believe the anthem for the whole emo world in "Loser" is over 12 years-old. Once you get over the fact that this album isn't reminiscent of those records in the mid to late 90s, you might appreciate its odd texture and disorientating structure.

All but one track produced by DJ Danger Mouse, you can definitely tell his hand was all over this record. Starting with the track, "Orphans," the sound of space is infinite. You've heard Beck do this on a couple of tracks on Sea Change, such as "Lonesome Tears," but never this deep or satisfying. While Sea Change had the feeling of a natural, flowing stream, Modern Guilt sounds like a mechanical, gnawing beast. Danger Mouse preserves the best of Beck with critical, precise drum samples that sometimes leave even Beck hanging off the polyrhythmic pattern. "Orphans," a fun-loving 60s melody with enough meat to keep you bobbing your head for days, has a dark interior. In fact, if there was one summation for this record, it could be that this may be the darkest record in which to dance alongside in his discography. "Cast out these creatures of woe/Who shatter themselves/Fighting the fire with bare hands," croons Beck. Danger Mouse and Beck weave ominous prognostications with obscure laser sounds, clapping hands, scratchy synths, and plugging bass lines like it's old hat.

And it does sound old. Beck sounds like some journeyman from your parent's generation. Fusing country rock with everything under the sun, there is a certain belief that he could mix a red and blue crayon in his hands and produce the perfect purple hue. In the first released single off of Modern Guilt, Beck decides to unleash the incredibly infectious tune, "Gamma Ray." Sounding like a B-side off of Gnarls Barkley's The Odd Couple, the use of space and reverb only serve to amplify this song's true spectrum. Starting with the toe-tapping guitar riff, Beck starts in with, "Trying to hold/Hold out for now/With these ice caps/Melting down." A true hippie at heart, California's son continues to unleash his fears and warnings under the soundscape of a Byrds' song played in fast forward.

It's undeniable to hear his angst bleeding out of tracks such as "Chemtrails" and "Volcano," resounding his struggles to appease everyone including himself. His darkest track on the album, "Chemtrails," recalls watching so many people drowning in seas swallowed by evil. To be a Beck fan, you do have to go through songs where Hansen can be self-effacing and deprecating and this is no different. However, even through these moments, where his voice lurches through the songs in a pathetic pace, there is a tranquil beauty there that begs for a compassionate ear.

"Youthless," one of my favorite tracks, is simple in design. With a crunching guitar riff juxtaposed with his voice dubbed in a stop and go fashion, the haunting track screams Abercrombie and Fitch and will, undoubtedly, be a staple at your local GAP. Timed under three minutes, this song is an implication of the record's length. Modern Guilt wasn't designed to mull itself over. 10 songs is all Beck needs to plant the seed and wait for the innocuous virus to sublimely take hold.

Perhaps it doesn't need re-mentioning, but this isn't Midnite Vultures and that's ok. Beck has chosen to ditch Carl Stephenson, The Dust Brothers, and Nigel Godrich for a collaboration that works with Danger Mouse. And though not really bringing anything completely fresh to the table, he manages to produce music that spirals in the shape of a double helix, taking his lyrics and melodies that are altogether parallel, yet joined at the hip. Born to a musician and visual artist, perhaps it's time to resign to the fact that making good music is in his DNA.

8/10

This. Is. Truth.

Flow Robots

2008-07-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

There are some real identity crises here. Just who are Flobots? Are they the crusaders constructed to lead society to some higher consciousness through rebel-rousing anthems and some clever word play, or they just another megalomaniacal group that will never be as intelligent as Zach de la Rocha's fingernail? Listening to Fight With Tools, you get a fair argument for both cases.

In a world full of trite sentiments, any group claiming to have higher perspective than the masses runs the gamut of being called patronizing and hypocritical. In the song, "Same Thing," Jonny 5 spits lines like: Somewhere between prayer and revolution/between Jesus and Huey P. Newton/That's where you find Jonny 5 shoot shootin. There are some lines in this record where you forget if this is about the cause or the band. Though this album does achieve the aspect of starting discourse, I'm not sure it's the discourse they had in mind. You start to wonder if they've ever seen racism or bigotry, or are they just another band emulating the formula of a Public Enemy because of some over-pixelated videos on Youtube?

One of the highlights of this album comes with the track, "Handlebars." In a song that reflects and redefines what true power is, this song is meant to take aim for the world's collective
consciousness. And as the trumpets swoon and guitars distort out of a Tommy James and the Shondells hit for the crescendo, even the most dense listener might find their right hand raised in the air. But for the smart listener, it may come across that they are trying very hard to be something they're not. As the end careens to a fiery explosion, you hear Jonny 5 shout, "And I can end this world in a holocaust," with a sample of a crowd chanting in agreeance. For some it's powerful, here it's just cheesy.

"Never Had It" features an opening sung by Mackenzie Roberts (violist). This song is completely derailed from the sub par vocal performances. It was like they were channeling the outcome of this song with its title. This is a rap group. They should not forget it. This fortunately flows into a jazzy, bluesy track in "Combat", which in my opinion, is the highlight of the record. Laying down a simple beat box and head-swaying bass pick, Jonny 5 murders the track, which lets the audience know he may be more comfortable in a freestyle nature. Building song structure is different from letting him go crazy over a sample.

The record ends with slowly building, "Rise." A call to arms, reaching out to those that want a change. Musically, this album isn't horrible, it's actually pleasant. But when entering the arena of conscious hip/hop, you are remembered by what you say and not how you present it. Flobots can't seem to climb their way out of cliched, pop-dom. Everything sounds theatric and self-serving. No world-avenging band will ever to shake bigotry, greed, and globalization, while sounding this pretty on the outside.

In the song, "Handlebars," Jonny 5 raps, "I can keep rhythm with no metronome." With each song falling in the same rhythmical structure, part of me wish they would have smashed the metronome in a million pieces.

6/10

This. Is. Truth.

Striking Gold

2008-07-05T18:48:00.000-07:00

If there were ever a better time for a funky, melodic, sound explosion, 80's loving, singer, I wouldn't know. Santi White aka Santogold lets loose with piercing shrieks at the beginning of "Creator," and from there it only gets more wild. The smooth bass lines juxtaposed with the jarring, crunchy chords of the lead guitar build the verse in "You'll Find A Way," just to seamlessly flow into this dreamy bridge, which inevitably cuts back into the headbanging chorus.

Santogold's self-titled album is her maiden voyage, literally. We start off with L.E.S. Artistes which sounds like it was signed, sealed, and delivered by less-babbling Macy Gray. This simple pop tune sets the preface for the album and slowly draws the unaware listener into the world that is Santogold. There are enough musical influences infused in this album to break the backslash button on your computer. Noticing that the album received pushes from genre expanding producers such as Diplo, Sinden, and Switch, the only expectation could be the unexpected.

One true gem comes in the bass-heavy pop tune, "Lights Out." It is just a pure example how effortlessly she can change dynamic with her voice. With a surgical cut, she slices open her pathos and bleeds directly into the core of this tune, giving it a certain vulnerability. Yet, Santogold never seems to relinquish her iron-tight fist on this record or her listeners.
I'm still shaking my head/The one you account for/I keep just one step ahead/There's no place to run. Her bravado seems at some points unparalleled and unheralded.

This album, although drawing comparisons with M.I.A.'s work, might stand as undefinable. People from every genre are clamoring to put this album in their tent, but to the girl who grew up listening to The Pixies and 1980s pop music, definition is human habit. As mechanical as this record may be, it all seems to congeal into this natural, organic byproduct of music and true creativity.

8/10

This. Is. Truth.

The Jump Off

2008-07-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

This is about to change. I don't know what you want to call this. A transformation? Evolution? Call it what you want to call it. As my world continues to spiral into a frenzy, so will this blog. I hold no reservations to any particular subject. These are my thoughts. Unfiltered. Unflinching. Unrelenting. I have no allegiances or ties. I am one 23 year-old, African-American male trying to break through the walls of expectation and stereotype. I'm passionate. So passionate, it takes these words to keep my heart from exploding. So know, I'm bringing these thoughts to you with every keystroke I can muster.

I yearn to be the most eloquent, well-respected, man in the world.

Over the next couple of years, I will update this blog with meaningful passages that will hopefully create a pathway into my life. Just graduated with a Journalism degree from the University of Oregon, my life has just officially begun. While most are scared of the unknown, i welcome the darkness that impairs my vision. As much as my eyes may not be able to see what is in front of me, my vision is still firmly intact. People refer to this road as a connector between ourselves and our destiny. Only there are many forks and side paths that will altogether lead you to the world you envision. There isn't one right way. So don't be afraid to throw caution to the wind and try several avenues. I am not afraid.

The only thing to fear is fear itself.

This my inner sanctum. My prized treasure is the words that I hold dearly. And now I present them for the world to see. It doesn't take an official to give an opinion. So here we go...

May He lead me in the right direction. Point my footsteps. May the world hear it for what it is.

This. Is. Truth.