So many thoughts.....

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.