Posts
One of my favorite bloggers has some really intelligent analysis of the new Kanye West album. He cuts to some of the problems I also have with the album, but phrases them in a way I never could. For example: "I'm tired of rappers who deploy slut-shame to smoke-screen their near total fear of pussy."
This guy writes all kinds of great stuff on all kinds of topics, so while I'm at it, here's another recent post of his I loved about the nexus of comic books, hip hop, and Faulkner.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Q's 2010 Lists
Once again, I'm pretty sure I got through the whole year without listening to 10 total new releases, so doing a Top 10 list seemed a bit absurd. Here are a handful of shorter lists that hopefully you will find interesting:
Top 3 New Albums I actually listened to this year:
3. The Roots, How I Got Over
Another great album from a great band. I even loved the bonus track "Hustla" with the weird baby-crying sample.
2. Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot
I hope he and Andre 3000 do more work together in the future, but if Big Boi's solo output remains this good, there will be nothing to complain about if they don't.
1. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
I'm going to have to go with the critical consensus on this one. I've just been obsessed with this album, and there's no denying that it was my personal favorite of the year, despite its flaws, and despite my reservations about it. In fact, with the possible exception of some albums by The Roots or Lupe Fiasco, I might have to go back to The College Dropout to find a new record I played this incessantly. I'm glad Kanye has been able to harness his batshit craziness to create something so compelling!
Top 3 Joni Mitchell albums besides Blue:
I've been listening to tons of Joni Mitchell this year, much more than I've been listening to new music. I started with Blue, which unsurprisingly is an incredible album. What I didn't realize, however, was just how much first-rate material she created in the 1970s. There are a number of absolutely classic albums that I had never even heard of before. Below are three albums which, in my opinion, are as much worth listening to as Blue, even if they are all less immediately accessible, and may require more time and attention to appreciate.
3. The Hissing of Summer Lawns
Weird, unsettling, and wonderful. This album is strange enough that it probably shouldn't be anybody's first encounter with Joni Mitchell, but there is some seriously great material here to explore.
2. Hejira
This album is a huge grower. For months of listening to it, most of the album seemed like sort of an easy-listening blur (even if a couple of the songs, such as "Amelia" and "Refuge of the Roads" were undeniably great from the first listen), and I couldn't understand why so many Joni Mitchell superfans on the internet claimed that this was her best album. But slowly, the extremely wordy complexity of Hejira began to open up for me, and I discovered it to be full of some of the best songs about how traveling affects the soul this side of Townes Van Zandt.
1. Court and Spark
If you haven't heard this album, you should give it a shot. It's the most accessible of her classic albums besides Blue, and it really has it all: sad folk songs, weird jazz experiments, a rare dash of unexpected humor, and even a couple of songs where for once Joni Mitchell just rocks out. I was hooked from the moment I heard about the character who "buried the coins he'd made in People's Park/and went looking for a woman to court and spark."
Top 3 Literary Giants Whom I Somehow Never Got Around to Reading Until This Year:
3. Thomas Pynchon
I really enjoyed The Crying of Lot 49, and I've been surprised how much this extremely short and strange little book has stuck with me since reading it. I'll even go so far as to say that it's made me think about the concept of a "mystery" in a new way, and has informed some of my teaching on the subject. Despite his reputation as being an impenetrable writer, this book is a fun, fairly quick read, that any of you might enjoy.
2. Franz Kafka
I started out by reading some of his short stories, and very quickly couldn't believe it had taken me so long to get around to him. Reading "Metamorphosis" reminded me of the sense of wonder and dread I used to feel as a kid when reading Stephen King...except that Kafka is almost certainly more terrifying. I also wondered if the strange torture machine from "In the Penal Colony" might have been J.K. Rowling's inspiration for the magic quill that carves "I must not tell lies" into Harry Potter's arm. Actually, much of Kafka's writing on the surface is so simple that it could almost pass for a pulp thriller or horror story; the further you go, however, all the details start to pile up into something far more obscure and disturbing than you first expect.
1. Marcel Proust
I'm currently reading volume 2 of Proust's 7 volume mega-novel A La Recherche Du Temp Perdu, and I am very excited that so much of it still lies ahead of me. Proust reminds me of James Joyce, at least in one sense: both writers have a way of looking at the world partly through the prism of art and literature, and try to make sense of life by finding surprising parallels between great art that they admire, and their own mundane, bourgeois, sometimes sordid lives. In other words: it's right up my alley. Proust is also dense in the best possible way. Every page is so packed with evocative descriptions, philosophical asides, and unexpected doses of comedy, (not to mention the surprisingly frank--and weird--discussions of sexuality), that you need to read it extremely slowly in order to take it all in (which is fortunate, since I'm attempting to read it in French, and slooooooooow is the only way I can go). A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu has even served as a sort of crash course in art history for me, as Proust assumes of his readers a certain level of familiarity with European painting, and often chooses to shed light on characters, or create interesting juxtapositions, by making extremely specific references to particular paintings. For someone like myself, who has only a passing familiarity with that material, regular internet searches to track down the relevant paintings become a must in order to fully understand the narrative. That may sound like kind of a chore, but honestly, I've found it to be kind of like an awesome treasure hunt. Not only does knowing each painting help me to more fully enjoy the book, but the book is actually helping me to appreciate European painting in a way I never have before. It's hard to ask for more!
Best Book I (Re)Read This Year:
Voltaire's Candide may be my favorite book. It's so short that I've actually read it once a year for the past several years, and it never seems to get old no matter how often I come back to it. I think what separates Candide from other snarky, remorseless take-downs of human vanity (such as may be found in the work of Jonathan Swift, Kurt Vonnegut, or sometimes Mark Twain, all of whom I also enjoy) is that there's something strangely life affirming and even uplifting about Candide. At the end of the book, after going on countless adventures in search of love, wealth, and philosophical glory, the main characters all decide that the only thing that will really make life bearable is to settle down and work hard at jobs that they enjoy. "We must cultivate our garden" is how the novel ends, and it's a phrase I often remember when the world seems unbearably depressing. In the end, life is never going to be easy, and sometimes it's going to be awful, so you might as well try to find something that makes you happy. There's no point in worrying about the rest.
Top 3 New Albums I actually listened to this year:
3. The Roots, How I Got Over
Another great album from a great band. I even loved the bonus track "Hustla" with the weird baby-crying sample.
2. Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot
I hope he and Andre 3000 do more work together in the future, but if Big Boi's solo output remains this good, there will be nothing to complain about if they don't.
1. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
I'm going to have to go with the critical consensus on this one. I've just been obsessed with this album, and there's no denying that it was my personal favorite of the year, despite its flaws, and despite my reservations about it. In fact, with the possible exception of some albums by The Roots or Lupe Fiasco, I might have to go back to The College Dropout to find a new record I played this incessantly. I'm glad Kanye has been able to harness his batshit craziness to create something so compelling!
Top 3 Joni Mitchell albums besides Blue:
I've been listening to tons of Joni Mitchell this year, much more than I've been listening to new music. I started with Blue, which unsurprisingly is an incredible album. What I didn't realize, however, was just how much first-rate material she created in the 1970s. There are a number of absolutely classic albums that I had never even heard of before. Below are three albums which, in my opinion, are as much worth listening to as Blue, even if they are all less immediately accessible, and may require more time and attention to appreciate.
3. The Hissing of Summer Lawns
Weird, unsettling, and wonderful. This album is strange enough that it probably shouldn't be anybody's first encounter with Joni Mitchell, but there is some seriously great material here to explore.
2. Hejira
This album is a huge grower. For months of listening to it, most of the album seemed like sort of an easy-listening blur (even if a couple of the songs, such as "Amelia" and "Refuge of the Roads" were undeniably great from the first listen), and I couldn't understand why so many Joni Mitchell superfans on the internet claimed that this was her best album. But slowly, the extremely wordy complexity of Hejira began to open up for me, and I discovered it to be full of some of the best songs about how traveling affects the soul this side of Townes Van Zandt.
1. Court and Spark
If you haven't heard this album, you should give it a shot. It's the most accessible of her classic albums besides Blue, and it really has it all: sad folk songs, weird jazz experiments, a rare dash of unexpected humor, and even a couple of songs where for once Joni Mitchell just rocks out. I was hooked from the moment I heard about the character who "buried the coins he'd made in People's Park/and went looking for a woman to court and spark."
Top 3 Literary Giants Whom I Somehow Never Got Around to Reading Until This Year:
3. Thomas Pynchon
I really enjoyed The Crying of Lot 49, and I've been surprised how much this extremely short and strange little book has stuck with me since reading it. I'll even go so far as to say that it's made me think about the concept of a "mystery" in a new way, and has informed some of my teaching on the subject. Despite his reputation as being an impenetrable writer, this book is a fun, fairly quick read, that any of you might enjoy.
2. Franz Kafka
I started out by reading some of his short stories, and very quickly couldn't believe it had taken me so long to get around to him. Reading "Metamorphosis" reminded me of the sense of wonder and dread I used to feel as a kid when reading Stephen King...except that Kafka is almost certainly more terrifying. I also wondered if the strange torture machine from "In the Penal Colony" might have been J.K. Rowling's inspiration for the magic quill that carves "I must not tell lies" into Harry Potter's arm. Actually, much of Kafka's writing on the surface is so simple that it could almost pass for a pulp thriller or horror story; the further you go, however, all the details start to pile up into something far more obscure and disturbing than you first expect.
1. Marcel Proust
I'm currently reading volume 2 of Proust's 7 volume mega-novel A La Recherche Du Temp Perdu, and I am very excited that so much of it still lies ahead of me. Proust reminds me of James Joyce, at least in one sense: both writers have a way of looking at the world partly through the prism of art and literature, and try to make sense of life by finding surprising parallels between great art that they admire, and their own mundane, bourgeois, sometimes sordid lives. In other words: it's right up my alley. Proust is also dense in the best possible way. Every page is so packed with evocative descriptions, philosophical asides, and unexpected doses of comedy, (not to mention the surprisingly frank--and weird--discussions of sexuality), that you need to read it extremely slowly in order to take it all in (which is fortunate, since I'm attempting to read it in French, and slooooooooow is the only way I can go). A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu has even served as a sort of crash course in art history for me, as Proust assumes of his readers a certain level of familiarity with European painting, and often chooses to shed light on characters, or create interesting juxtapositions, by making extremely specific references to particular paintings. For someone like myself, who has only a passing familiarity with that material, regular internet searches to track down the relevant paintings become a must in order to fully understand the narrative. That may sound like kind of a chore, but honestly, I've found it to be kind of like an awesome treasure hunt. Not only does knowing each painting help me to more fully enjoy the book, but the book is actually helping me to appreciate European painting in a way I never have before. It's hard to ask for more!
Best Book I (Re)Read This Year:
Voltaire's Candide may be my favorite book. It's so short that I've actually read it once a year for the past several years, and it never seems to get old no matter how often I come back to it. I think what separates Candide from other snarky, remorseless take-downs of human vanity (such as may be found in the work of Jonathan Swift, Kurt Vonnegut, or sometimes Mark Twain, all of whom I also enjoy) is that there's something strangely life affirming and even uplifting about Candide. At the end of the book, after going on countless adventures in search of love, wealth, and philosophical glory, the main characters all decide that the only thing that will really make life bearable is to settle down and work hard at jobs that they enjoy. "We must cultivate our garden" is how the novel ends, and it's a phrase I often remember when the world seems unbearably depressing. In the end, life is never going to be easy, and sometimes it's going to be awful, so you might as well try to find something that makes you happy. There's no point in worrying about the rest.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Texplush's Favorite Albums of 2010
11. Gonjasufi - A Sufi and a Killer
Backed by two of my new favorite producers, Gaslamp Killer and Flying Lotus, Gonjasufi sings twisted soul in the midst of dense and disorienting electronics.
10. Frightened Rabbit - Winter of Mixed Drinks
I guess there's nothing quite like a thick Scottish accent to make sadness feel authentic. These guys are going to make the young girls swoon if they keep writing songs like 'Swim Until You Can't See Land'. Driving rhythms, hooky melodies and eclectic arrangements overshadow the occasionally over-earnest lyric. FR feels like sipping whiskey in a warm chair by the fire.
9. Janelle Monae - The Arch Android
A protege of Big Boi, Janelle Monae's album is the most over-the-top and ambitious of the year. She attempts a slew of genres- and invents a few of her own in the process. Her voice is absolutely insane and she's short and adorable. Also my vote for best album cover of the year.
8. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and the Good Friday tracks
With Kanye, the highs have always been stunningly high, and the lows have been embarrassingly low. That is still true with MBDTF, but songs like 'Power', 'All of the Lights', 'Monster' and 'Runaway' are the best of his career. I could do without the Chris Rock monologue, but Kanye makes up for the unlistenable stuff with almost another album's worth of great tracks for free on his website (the GOOD Friday tracks). Here's one of my favorites:
7. Deerhunter - Halycon Digest
I have always flirted with liking this band, but previous albums have been inconsistent and immature. Halycon Digest, on the other hand, slays on almost every track. Neil Young meets Sonic Youth, with absolutely killer production. A headphones masterpiece:
6. Vampire Weekend - Contra
I drank the Kool-Aid. Contra is a great album and such a leap forward in terms of production, with a lot of new colors for VW's pallate that surprise and complement their established sound. There are still some embarrassing lyrics here and there, but Contra proves that Vampire Weekend is in it to innovate. Here's one of my favorite tracks:
5. Field Music - Measure
Field Music's third album is an embarrassment of riches. Twenty songs and every single one is impeccably written, arranged, played and produced. A modern XTC with a hint of Big Star - I like to imagine if I was a math major and british, this was the music I'd make.
4. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
Just when I was on the verge of tiring of Sufjan and his ever-angelic anthems, this crucial work in the Stevens oeuvre appears, on the heels of the less impressive but still entertaining All Delighted People EP. The Age of Adz is not always a soothing listen - it's often dissonent and cacophonous - but it is nevertheless a welcome change of pace and a thrilling ride. This is a long player in the epic sense. As some have commented, the closing 20-minute track 'Impossible Soul' alone has more exciting musical ideas than most other albums that came out this year.
3. The Walkmen - Lisbon
This is their simplest record and most unified statement. Drawing inspiration from Sun Studios, the arrangements are spacious, warm and simple. Hamilton Leithauser croons like he's never crooned, the guitars chime with honeyed distortion and the Walkmen continue to sound like absolutely no one else. Lisbon is calming, invigorating, fresh and classic all at once. The money shot on this song comes at 2:28:
2. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
The best hip top album of the year. Thick, southern, purple and funky. This track says it all:
1. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
This year, I fell in love with LA's beat scene, of which Flying Lotus is sort of the godfather. Conceived as a 'Space Opera', Cosmogramma feels to me what I imagine it must have felt like to hear jazz for the first time. It has served as quite the gateway drug, introducing me to Gaslamp Killer, Teebs, Shlohmo, The Take, Baths and more. Total eargasm.
Honorable Mention:
Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings
Aloe Blacc
Spoon
Gorrilaz
MGMT
New Pornographers
Maps and Atlases
Mark Ronson
The Soft Pack
The Roots
Sleigh Bells
LCD Soundsystem
Mount Kimbie
Favorite Songs:
Swim Until You Can't See Land - Frightened Rabbit
Shadow People - Dr. Dog
Rill RIll - Sleigh Bells
When The World Comes To An End - Dirty Projectors
Shutterbug - Big Boi
Tightrope - Janelle Monae
Power - Kanye West
Coronado - Deerhunter
Norway - Beach House
Backed by two of my new favorite producers, Gaslamp Killer and Flying Lotus, Gonjasufi sings twisted soul in the midst of dense and disorienting electronics.
10. Frightened Rabbit - Winter of Mixed Drinks
I guess there's nothing quite like a thick Scottish accent to make sadness feel authentic. These guys are going to make the young girls swoon if they keep writing songs like 'Swim Until You Can't See Land'. Driving rhythms, hooky melodies and eclectic arrangements overshadow the occasionally over-earnest lyric. FR feels like sipping whiskey in a warm chair by the fire.
9. Janelle Monae - The Arch Android
A protege of Big Boi, Janelle Monae's album is the most over-the-top and ambitious of the year. She attempts a slew of genres- and invents a few of her own in the process. Her voice is absolutely insane and she's short and adorable. Also my vote for best album cover of the year.
8. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and the Good Friday tracks
With Kanye, the highs have always been stunningly high, and the lows have been embarrassingly low. That is still true with MBDTF, but songs like 'Power', 'All of the Lights', 'Monster' and 'Runaway' are the best of his career. I could do without the Chris Rock monologue, but Kanye makes up for the unlistenable stuff with almost another album's worth of great tracks for free on his website (the GOOD Friday tracks). Here's one of my favorites:
7. Deerhunter - Halycon Digest
I have always flirted with liking this band, but previous albums have been inconsistent and immature. Halycon Digest, on the other hand, slays on almost every track. Neil Young meets Sonic Youth, with absolutely killer production. A headphones masterpiece:
6. Vampire Weekend - Contra
I drank the Kool-Aid. Contra is a great album and such a leap forward in terms of production, with a lot of new colors for VW's pallate that surprise and complement their established sound. There are still some embarrassing lyrics here and there, but Contra proves that Vampire Weekend is in it to innovate. Here's one of my favorite tracks:
5. Field Music - Measure
Field Music's third album is an embarrassment of riches. Twenty songs and every single one is impeccably written, arranged, played and produced. A modern XTC with a hint of Big Star - I like to imagine if I was a math major and british, this was the music I'd make.
4. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
Just when I was on the verge of tiring of Sufjan and his ever-angelic anthems, this crucial work in the Stevens oeuvre appears, on the heels of the less impressive but still entertaining All Delighted People EP. The Age of Adz is not always a soothing listen - it's often dissonent and cacophonous - but it is nevertheless a welcome change of pace and a thrilling ride. This is a long player in the epic sense. As some have commented, the closing 20-minute track 'Impossible Soul' alone has more exciting musical ideas than most other albums that came out this year.
3. The Walkmen - Lisbon
This is their simplest record and most unified statement. Drawing inspiration from Sun Studios, the arrangements are spacious, warm and simple. Hamilton Leithauser croons like he's never crooned, the guitars chime with honeyed distortion and the Walkmen continue to sound like absolutely no one else. Lisbon is calming, invigorating, fresh and classic all at once. The money shot on this song comes at 2:28:
2. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
The best hip top album of the year. Thick, southern, purple and funky. This track says it all:
1. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
This year, I fell in love with LA's beat scene, of which Flying Lotus is sort of the godfather. Conceived as a 'Space Opera', Cosmogramma feels to me what I imagine it must have felt like to hear jazz for the first time. It has served as quite the gateway drug, introducing me to Gaslamp Killer, Teebs, Shlohmo, The Take, Baths and more. Total eargasm.
Honorable Mention:
Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings
Aloe Blacc
Spoon
Gorrilaz
MGMT
New Pornographers
Maps and Atlases
Mark Ronson
The Soft Pack
The Roots
Sleigh Bells
LCD Soundsystem
Mount Kimbie
Favorite Songs:
Swim Until You Can't See Land - Frightened Rabbit
Shadow People - Dr. Dog
Rill RIll - Sleigh Bells
When The World Comes To An End - Dirty Projectors
Shutterbug - Big Boi
Tightrope - Janelle Monae
Power - Kanye West
Coronado - Deerhunter
Norway - Beach House
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Any thoughts on the new Sufjan Stevens?
I found it very off-putting and hard to listen to at first, but it is officially growing on me. Have you guys been listening to it at all? What do you think?
Friday, December 17, 2010
All My Friends...
Ah year-end season... What better time to post a song from 2 years ago that I have only just now really started to appreciate.
I'm not sure what the general opinion here is on these guys, but I have recently become a full fledged convert to LCD Soundsystem. It took me quite a long time - I heard the singles but they didn't do much for me. Watched this video from Pitchfork this summer (alas, I was not there live as I only attended Pavement day) which increased my interest, and after about 3 or 4 listens of their new album, I'm finally all over it. Not sure exactly how I will put together my year end lists of sorts, but the new album is a 2010 highlight for me.
Anyway, here is "All My Friends" in a truly glorious performance.
I'm not sure what the general opinion here is on these guys, but I have recently become a full fledged convert to LCD Soundsystem. It took me quite a long time - I heard the singles but they didn't do much for me. Watched this video from Pitchfork this summer (alas, I was not there live as I only attended Pavement day) which increased my interest, and after about 3 or 4 listens of their new album, I'm finally all over it. Not sure exactly how I will put together my year end lists of sorts, but the new album is a 2010 highlight for me.
Anyway, here is "All My Friends" in a truly glorious performance.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
For Your Consideration: The G.O.O.D. Friday Dowloads
For those of you who love the new Kanye album, but haven't heard any of the free downloads which he posted on his website prior to its release: there are some very good songs which didn't make it onto the album, and which are definitely worth tracking down.
Below is one of my favorites. On one level it's really just a mash-up of a Justin Bieber song and an old Wu-Tang track, with some extra rapping thrown in...but what other major artist would not only have the audacity to release such a thing under his own name, but could figure out how to make it sound this good?
Below is one of my favorites. On one level it's really just a mash-up of a Justin Bieber song and an old Wu-Tang track, with some extra rapping thrown in...but what other major artist would not only have the audacity to release such a thing under his own name, but could figure out how to make it sound this good?
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Best of 2010 Season Begins
The AV Club is rolling out their list.
The first detail that popped out at me: why does this band I've never heard of called Dum Dum Girls have basically the same album cover as Vampire Weekend? Is it just a weird cosmic coincidence?
The first detail that popped out at me: why does this band I've never heard of called Dum Dum Girls have basically the same album cover as Vampire Weekend? Is it just a weird cosmic coincidence?
Monday, December 06, 2010
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Recovery is a (sometimes fascinating) mess
Maybe this is just because ever since college, (when I was a reluctant fan of The Marshall Mathers LP, despite my best efforts to be repulsed by it), I've been dreaming of what Eminem would sound like if he ever attempted to peel through the layers of posturing and bullshit and make a "mature" album. Anyone hoping 2010's Recovery would be that album will be disappointed, but I still personally find it to be kind of a fascinating mess.
"Fascinating" is not to be confused with "good". At best, this album is unbelievably erratic, and contains numerous moments that made me literally wince the first time I heard them (who is laughing at all the Michael J. Fox jokes? For your own good, Marshall, cut it the fuck out!)
Eminem sounds at war with himself on Recovery. On the best songs you hear a man struggling to achieve a new level of honesty, and to figure out what a more grown-up, reflective, and even repentant Eminem might sound like. And then on the very next song he's right back in the sewer, doing tired, lazy retreads of the kind of shock songs he used to....wait, did he just make another Michael J. Fox joke? It's not funny, it's just stupid! Even those knuckleheads who might have thought it was funny the first time don't want to keep hearing it. Stop it!!
Well, anyway, this obviously isn't a recommendation of this album, but for anybody who's ever been quietly rooting for Eminem to grow up and achieve something more profound, you might want to go to YouTube and listen to "Talkin' to Myself" or "Love the Way You Lie" or "Not Afraid" and keep on hoping. Or at the very least, listen to "No Love" on which Lil' Wayne rhymes "broken bottles" with "open Bibles," and hope that maybe that guy's best days could still be ahead of him as well.
"Fascinating" is not to be confused with "good". At best, this album is unbelievably erratic, and contains numerous moments that made me literally wince the first time I heard them (who is laughing at all the Michael J. Fox jokes? For your own good, Marshall, cut it the fuck out!)
Eminem sounds at war with himself on Recovery. On the best songs you hear a man struggling to achieve a new level of honesty, and to figure out what a more grown-up, reflective, and even repentant Eminem might sound like. And then on the very next song he's right back in the sewer, doing tired, lazy retreads of the kind of shock songs he used to....wait, did he just make another Michael J. Fox joke? It's not funny, it's just stupid! Even those knuckleheads who might have thought it was funny the first time don't want to keep hearing it. Stop it!!
Well, anyway, this obviously isn't a recommendation of this album, but for anybody who's ever been quietly rooting for Eminem to grow up and achieve something more profound, you might want to go to YouTube and listen to "Talkin' to Myself" or "Love the Way You Lie" or "Not Afraid" and keep on hoping. Or at the very least, listen to "No Love" on which Lil' Wayne rhymes "broken bottles" with "open Bibles," and hope that maybe that guy's best days could still be ahead of him as well.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
RIP emusic
Congratulations, emusic. Having toiled over the past 7 years to build up an indie-centric, DRM-free alternative to iTunes-- a go-to site for the frugal but savvy underground music connoisseur-- you've finally reached the mountaintop...
And not just that. Xtina's friends Brittney Spears, NSYNC, Ricky Martin, Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys are also finally available on emusic. Praise the lord and pass the roofies!
Of course, nothing comes without a price, but fortunately in emusic's case it was only Matador Records, Merge Records, XL Records, 4AD Records and Domino Records. They're gone now, but that's okay because now emusic has Shania Twain!!
Sure, you'll no longer be able to download music from Yo La Tengo, Pavement, Arcade Fire, Caribou, Sigur Ros, Animal Collective, Spoon, Polvo, and all the other bands that made emusic what it is, but let's be realistic. Having done the heavy lifting to lay the foundation, it's time to send those artists out to pasture to clear room for the real jewels of recorded music...
The cast of FOX's Glee! (all exclusive trademarks apply)
Nice going, fellas.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Predictably Appalled by Pusha T
One of the verses that immediately stood out to me on the new Kanye album was Pusha T's verse on "So Appalled". Mostly, it stood out because it has some of the most openly, unabashedly misogynist lines in the entire album, although I must confess a weird kind of admiration for it. Throughout all his time with The Clipse, Pusha T has really gotten his flow down to a science, and I'm actually stunned by how efficiently he crams all of his usual talking points into such a short amount of time.
Take a look below, where I've reprinted the verse as I found it on a lyrics website. Over the course of about a minute he manages to:
1. Weave in an astonishing number of references to cocaine. ("Still move a bird like I'm in bed with mother goose, etc.)
2. Assert his superiority to women. ("I never met a bitch who didn't need a little guidance.")
3. Mention an expensive car he owns. (Range Rove, leather roof.)
4. Rhyme that mention of a car with some gangsta bravado. (Love war, fuck a truce.)
5. Make the kind of unexpected, oddball references that make him somewhat more interesting than your average gangsta rapper. (Flow similar to the Legend of the Falls.)
6. Get close enough to something approaching social commentary for the Pitchfork crowd to swoon over him all the more. (CNN said I'd be dead by 21.)
All of which definitely takes a certain level of craftsmanship, even if it ends up being so predictable that I personally find it unendurably boring. Listening to The Clipse is like talking to somebody at a party who is only capable of discussing the minute details of their job, or the expensive vacation they just went on. Ok, Ok, I get it, you used to be a drug dealer. If you're to be believed, maybe you even still are a drug dealer. You made a lot of money doing that. Can we move on now?
Success is what you make it
Take it how it comes
A half a mill in twenties is like a bill where I’m from
An arrogant drug dealer the legend I’ve become
CNN said I’d be dead by 21
Black jack I just pulled in aces
You looking at the king in his face
Everything I dream muthaf-ckers Im watching it take shape
While to you I’m just a young rich n-gga that lacks faith
Range Rove leather roof
Love war f-ck a truce
Still move a bird like I’m in bed with mother goose
Them hoes come in a bakers dozen
Claiming they was with me when they know they really wasn’t
I keep the city’s best never said she was the brightest
So if you had it too, it don’t affect me in the slightest
I never met a b-tch that didn’t need a little guidance
So I dismiss her past until she disappoint your highness
I speak the gospel, hostel
Tony doing time for what he did to nostrils
Paranoid mind I’m still under the watchful
Eye of the law, aspire for more
Them kilo’s came we gave you bobby brown jaw
Flaws aint flaws when it’s you that makes the call
Flow similar to the legend of the falls
Spillin’ I own you all, yeah
Take a look below, where I've reprinted the verse as I found it on a lyrics website. Over the course of about a minute he manages to:
1. Weave in an astonishing number of references to cocaine. ("Still move a bird like I'm in bed with mother goose, etc.)
2. Assert his superiority to women. ("I never met a bitch who didn't need a little guidance.")
3. Mention an expensive car he owns. (Range Rove, leather roof.)
4. Rhyme that mention of a car with some gangsta bravado. (Love war, fuck a truce.)
5. Make the kind of unexpected, oddball references that make him somewhat more interesting than your average gangsta rapper. (Flow similar to the Legend of the Falls.)
6. Get close enough to something approaching social commentary for the Pitchfork crowd to swoon over him all the more. (CNN said I'd be dead by 21.)
All of which definitely takes a certain level of craftsmanship, even if it ends up being so predictable that I personally find it unendurably boring. Listening to The Clipse is like talking to somebody at a party who is only capable of discussing the minute details of their job, or the expensive vacation they just went on. Ok, Ok, I get it, you used to be a drug dealer. If you're to be believed, maybe you even still are a drug dealer. You made a lot of money doing that. Can we move on now?
Success is what you make it
Take it how it comes
A half a mill in twenties is like a bill where I’m from
An arrogant drug dealer the legend I’ve become
CNN said I’d be dead by 21
Black jack I just pulled in aces
You looking at the king in his face
Everything I dream muthaf-ckers Im watching it take shape
While to you I’m just a young rich n-gga that lacks faith
Range Rove leather roof
Love war f-ck a truce
Still move a bird like I’m in bed with mother goose
Them hoes come in a bakers dozen
Claiming they was with me when they know they really wasn’t
I keep the city’s best never said she was the brightest
So if you had it too, it don’t affect me in the slightest
I never met a b-tch that didn’t need a little guidance
So I dismiss her past until she disappoint your highness
I speak the gospel, hostel
Tony doing time for what he did to nostrils
Paranoid mind I’m still under the watchful
Eye of the law, aspire for more
Them kilo’s came we gave you bobby brown jaw
Flaws aint flaws when it’s you that makes the call
Flow similar to the legend of the falls
Spillin’ I own you all, yeah
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Rabin on West
I'm sure that in the coming month we'll all get in on the discussion of the new Kanye West album (which I am officially obsessed with, even if I have some mixed feelings about it). I just wanted to point everybody to Nathan Rabin's review over at the AV Club. It's the only review I've seen that spends some real time addressing what to me is the most remarkable aspect of the album: the debt it owes to rock songwriting, instrumentation, and production. This album is crawling with electric guitars, keyboards, and driving drums that often owe as much to indie-rock as they do to hip hop. There of course have been rock-rap crossover acts for decades, from Run-DMC and Aerosmith's famous collaboration, to Lil' Wayne's recent, less successful efforts. But I actually think that in the last few years there's been growing interest from the hip hop community in cross pollinating traditional hip hop sounds with electric guitars and rock sensibilities (perhaps on another day when I have more time I'll offer a few more specific examples), and it's been interesting to watch it happen, even if up to now there have been a lot of sonic missteps.
Whatever else you can say about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I think that Kanye has blown the door open on rock/hip-hop crossover, and has created something that could (and hopefully does) serve as the blueprint for a lot of new music going forward. He has successfully fused elements of both styles, and made something thoroughly rock-oriented, without losing the hip-hop underpinnings that made his music so great in the first place, resulting in a mind-bending sonic landscape that I can't stop playing over and over again.
Does he also share some archaic and/or stupid views about women and relationships in the process? You bet he does! But when the music is this good, and the self-examination this intense (there are moments that almost remind me of Blue era Joni Mitchell...maybe I've just been listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell, but I think there are actually similarities) it makes you want to overlook all that. Kind of like the way everybody overlooks the noxious antisemitism in The Merchant of Venice, because the author certainly has a way with words.
But I'm sure I'll post more on that when I've had time to wrap my head around this album a little bit more. In the meantime, I hope everybody is listening!
Whatever else you can say about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I think that Kanye has blown the door open on rock/hip-hop crossover, and has created something that could (and hopefully does) serve as the blueprint for a lot of new music going forward. He has successfully fused elements of both styles, and made something thoroughly rock-oriented, without losing the hip-hop underpinnings that made his music so great in the first place, resulting in a mind-bending sonic landscape that I can't stop playing over and over again.
Does he also share some archaic and/or stupid views about women and relationships in the process? You bet he does! But when the music is this good, and the self-examination this intense (there are moments that almost remind me of Blue era Joni Mitchell...maybe I've just been listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell, but I think there are actually similarities) it makes you want to overlook all that. Kind of like the way everybody overlooks the noxious antisemitism in The Merchant of Venice, because the author certainly has a way with words.
But I'm sure I'll post more on that when I've had time to wrap my head around this album a little bit more. In the meantime, I hope everybody is listening!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Springsteen + The Roots
Awesome jam at the end.
My apologies for embedding a Hulu video-- nothing but ads. I hate them, but what can you do?
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Christian-Era Bob Dylan
I recently decided to start exploring the Christian period of Bob Dylan's career, since it's a pretty sizable gap in my knowledge of the guy.
Stop one is the record Slow Train Coming. Two things stand out immediately: One, it is definitely Christian. Two, it is definitely a Bob Dylan record. Check out the track "Precious Angel" and try to tell me one bad thing about the music. For that matter, try to tell me how you'd write greater Christian rock lyrics, if you were setting out to do such a thing.
I particularly love the horns on this record. I can't think of any other Bob Dylan album where horns factor in at all. Also coming up huge is Mark Knopfler, who produced and plays lead guitar.
But the funniest thing about Knopfler's involvement is that Dylan never actually told him they were making a Christian record, and it didn't become apparent until he started laying down vocal tracks. Knopfler says he called his wife from the studio and said something to the effect of: "Sessions are going well. But... and I'm not sure about this... but I think we're making a Christian record." Classic.
(It also brings to mind one of my favorite Onion articles ever-- "Bassist Unaware Rock Band Christian.")
Patriotic Embarrassment
Is anyone else as obsessed as I am with following stories on the insane new TSA procedures for airport security, which involve either taking naked pictures, or doing an "enhanced" feel-up, of every single passenger to pass through American airports?
Some of the bloggers over at theatlantic.com are writing about it almost daily, and this post in particular, in which James Fallows compares airport security here to airport security in China, really gets at the embarrassment (I would call it a patriotic embarrassment) I feel as an American, thinking about how incredibly scared and stupid we must look to anyone from any other country in the world who is unfortunate enough to have to pass through one of the airports in which these new radioactive naked-picture machines are located.
I was especially disturbed by this footage of the new head of Homeland Security. The relevant portion begins around the 1:00 mark.
Some of the bloggers over at theatlantic.com are writing about it almost daily, and this post in particular, in which James Fallows compares airport security here to airport security in China, really gets at the embarrassment (I would call it a patriotic embarrassment) I feel as an American, thinking about how incredibly scared and stupid we must look to anyone from any other country in the world who is unfortunate enough to have to pass through one of the airports in which these new radioactive naked-picture machines are located.
I was especially disturbed by this footage of the new head of Homeland Security. The relevant portion begins around the 1:00 mark.
Monday, November 08, 2010
Bottomless Pit in New York
New York Kittybrains... go see them. This Saturday at the Knitting Factory. (Which is apparently now in Brooklyn?)
http://www.bottomlesspit.us/dates.php
http://www.bottomlesspit.us/dates.php
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Fifty Percent of the Kittybrains Collective Is OFF THE MARKET
Just wanted to post my congratulations to Quinapalus, who joins Dr. Kittybrains among the ranks of the engaged! My sources tell me it happened over the weekend.
Add in the fact that Via Chicago is already married, and this Collective is flying off the shelves like Faith Hill CDs at WalMart. Congrats to you all!
Who will be next?
(And by "who will be next," I mean "Eric will be next.")
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
The Latest from Campbell/Lanegan
A couple months ago, Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan put out their 3rd CD together-- Hawk. It's mostly Campbell's project-- she writes the tunes and plays a couple of instruments, while Lanegan just doubles her on lead vocals. Even the contact information in the liner notes refers you to Campbell's website. But my attachment to these collaborations come mostly via Lanegan-- certainly one of my favorite voices in all of rock.
I finally got my hands on this record yesterday, and I'm really impressed. Pretty sure it ranks as my favorite of theirs. For one thing, it's just more energetic than their first two records. While both good, those tended to focus on lulling ballads, whereas this one has more than a few bar room stomps. It also has 2 really good Townes Van Zandt covers-- Snake Song and No Place to Fall. (FYI, it's hard to find a Mark Lanegan interview where he doesn't gush all over Townes Van Zandt. His voice is much huskier than Townes' but there's an obvious influence there.)
If anything, a lot of Hawk reminds me of Bob Dylan. Some sounds like his late '60s stuff, particularly the New Morning album, and others sound like songs he's releasing today. Check out this track, which is the last one on the album.
After listening to this twice, it's already sounding like one of my favorites of this year. We'll see come December.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
One of My All-Time Favorites
Mark Eitzel's West...
I haven't listened to this in at least a year, and I'm kind of kicking myself for it. It's been one my favorites for the 13 years(!) that it's been around, and now I've got to put it back in my rotation.
The whole record was co-written with Peter Buck, who is featured throughout on guitar. It also has perennial Buck collaborator Scott McCaughey on bass and keys and the stellar Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin on drums. (Those three were also in Tuatara together.)
Here's a track:
And wouldn't you know it? Even Pitchfork loves it!
I apparently recommended this record 2 years ago in the midst of praise for a then-new American Music Club album. And while that record holds up, if you only acquired one thing by Mark Eitzel, I'd strongly suggest West.
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