D1eSeL6: The Blog!

2011-10-13T19:42:00.000-07:00

I MOVED!!!!!

2011-07-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

No, not actual re-location phsyically. My flop ass blog here has moved to Wordpress, and I actually love it over there. It's a little simpler, it looks cleaner, and they provide important site stats to let me know who is reading and where they were referred from.
Anyway go check it out d1esel6.wordpress.com , I'll probably leave this up for a few weeks and after that ... DELETE!!!!
I enjoyed the time I had here, but sometimes you gotta move on.

TV Review: So You Think You Can Dance Week 2 & 3 Recaps

2011-06-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry about skipping last week's "So You Think You Can Dance" performances recap, because overall the show was a little lackluster compared to the debut week of performances. Last night's performance show was definitely a step up with some really good routines, good judges and it gives the viewers a good sense of which contestants are great and which should be on the chopping block soon.
Since in a few weeks, the couples will be switched up I wanted to run down who in these past three weeks have been the best, which couples are terribly mismatched and who just needs to go home.

1. Melanie and Marko.
These two are flawless in every way. They both are excellent technical dancers and they both are able to convey whatever character they pick effortlessly. Melanie from her first audition was one of my favorites, there's just a real X-Factor with her. After the phenomenal Travis Wall routine from week 1, Melanie got all sexy on us with week 2's Mandy Moore's Jazz routine. And she proved more than capable of the quick staccato movements of one of NappyTabs best lyrical Hip Hop routines last night (clip below).
Her partner Marko is no slouch either, and is so far really underrated. He is just as fantastic as Melanie, he's a technically excellent dancer and he also is able to really bring it with the characters he's asked to portray. These two also have the strongest connection it seems when they are dancing together. Last nights Hip Hop routine was perfection because they were great, it could have fallen apart with other dancers but because they have such a great relationship it worked probably better than NappyTabs even imagined.
It will be sad to see this couple split up, but they both should be in the competition long enough to be paired up again towards the end.

2. Sasha and Alexander
Unlike Melanie and Marko, Sasha is clearly the standout in this pairing. The NappyTabs routine they pulled last week (clip below) was great, but Sasha's solo in the very beginning of the routine shows that she's a powerhouse dancer. With every movement she makes she's making a clear and strong statement. Alexander is great technically, but he doesn't seem to match to power and intensity that Sasha brings. Despite the somewhat unevenness of this couple, they probably have had the most emotionally draining routines consistently and they always deliver.
In this case, I see Sasha going further than Alexander. Although last night Nigel gave him a critique that might end up helping Alexander, he told him his emoting needed work and that's really his only flaw so we'll see if he works on it next week.

3. Clarice and Jess
The Broadway dancer Jess was not my favorite in the beginning, or the first week. However these past two weeks he's emerged as a bit of a favorite. Last weeks routine, his character alone sold me, he completely owned the Prince role he was playing with so much grace, class and romance. And this week, he turned in a truly elegant and smooth rendition of a 1940's Lounge singer and sold the vibe effortlessly (clip below). Add to that, he's been a standout in some of the group numbers. His partner Clarice is just flawlessly beautiful with a great body, however her physical attributes aren't her only shining grace. True, on last weeks routine Nigel was right, the chemistry wasn't totally there, but last nights routine was so beautiful and flawless and she looked incredibly beautiful and carrying off the grace needed for one of the best routines of the night.

4. Jordan and Tadd
Easily the cutest most adorable couple of the show, these two deliver but just not with the sheer strength of the above mentioned couples. They have had a pretty diverse run so far with a powerful African Jazz, a very elegant Viennese Waltz (clip below) and a fun Hip Hop last night. The problem is that with the other couples getting such great routines and owning, Jordan and Tadd's routines are sometimes forgotten. They just need to up their performance levels to stand out, but I think in the next few weeks they'll get a routine that really showcases both of their abilities and they will nail it and this won't be a problem for them anymore.

5. Caitlynn and Mitchell
The first week, Mitchell let Caitlyn down due to an injury. This week, I personally felt like Caitlynn let Mitchell down in their Samba where he killed but she seemed to fall flat. However their week 2 contemporary routine (clip below) was a perfect combination of both of their skills and their chemistry worked really well. Caitlynn on that number was excellent with her emotion and really understood what choreographer Stacey Tookey was asking of her. While Mitchell held his end of the deal by becoming really masculine and powerful in his dance.
So that's only one great performance in three weeks, I feel like these two have potential but somehow are just finding it difficult to get a real connection going. However they are both individually two of the best on this season, so if they get it together they can be true competitors.

6. Ashley and Chris
These two seem to suffer the same fate as Jordan and Tadd. Week after week they deliver, but just nothing too stand out. Last week's Jazz routine by Tyce Diorio (clip below) was amazing in it's uniqueness, and they did great with the choreography but personally they didn't really over shadow the routine themselves. They are the type of couple who are good at executing the steps but don't bring much else to the routines. Last night is a great example, the Sonya Tayeh routine was weird and creepy and the music was the same. They did good, but I couldn't shake the feeling that if it were two other dancers, the routine would have been one of my favorites.
I'm not sure what this couple needs to become more dynamic and memorable, but they need to figure it out soon. (I actually feel they might be going home tonight!)

7. Ryan and Ricky
This is a perfect case of a couple who really should have re-drawn from that hat. They are both really great dancers (of course Ricky is better than Ryan), but their chemistry is just all off. For all three of their routines so far, it seems like they are both in their OWN heads while dancing and not thinking of the couple aspect. Last nights Sonya routine (clip below) was unique and I give them major props for working with the long cloth which could have easily ruined their night, but I didn't feel anything from them at all. They are both great technical dancers, but together there's just nothing and that routine should have been way more epic than it was.
Also, aesthetically they don't match up well. They have great height, and they both look like just long legs and long arms, but there's something about their roles... sexually that bothers me. Second week they dressed Ricky up in what appeared to be a corset, and it only enhanced the fact that he's a bit of a feminine dancer while Ricky sometimes is so focused it comes off harder and more masculine than it needs to be. Both of them are probably praying for the week they get paired up with an All-Star and Ricky will definitely shine when this happens. Not too sure about Ryan who has been decent this season, but has yet to really WOW.

8. Miranda and Robert
Poor Things. They both seem to be pretty cool people in general, and they aren't bad dancers, it's just them combined doesn't making for a winning duo at all. Robert has surprised me though, last nights Broadway routine (clip below) showed he's capable of venturing out of his Hip Hop style just not far enough at this point in the season. Miranda has the misfortune of being with a dancer who isn't as skilled as her, so sometimes I feel like she's taking her performance down a notch as to not overshadow her partner which is a mistake. This is a competition after all and she'd be smart to out dance him if she has it in her. These two I also fear might be in the Bottom tonight.

I'm on the west coast, so if you're on the east coast you have probably already seen who was eliminated this week... my predictions though are that Ryan/Ricky, Ashley/Chris and Miranda/Robert will land in the bottom. And I think Miranda and Robert might be the ones going home, unless Robert's personality overshadows his shortcomings than Ashley and Chris will be out.

Thanks to:
AmericasBestEver
meweihn
0yramary0
for the clips!

Album Review: Beyoncé

2011-06-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

With all huge Stars of the music industry and their new albums, expectations are the biggest hurdle. And for Beyoncé and her fourth solo album "4" it's no different.

Her discography up until this release has been quite diverse but also relatively safe, and for this outing people might be expecting something a little more out there from her. Maybe expanding on the Rock and Electronica she flirted with on her last album "I Am... Sasha Fierce", or going into a totally different direction with something more worldly and international given the year hiatus she spent traveling the world.Or the album could be commercial tripe made specifically for chart dominance.

"4" is none of those things, and that is it's biggest strength and at the same time it's weakness. Beyoncé is much more subdued than on any of her previous works, and it's because this album is her covering material that is right in her comfort zone. "4" plays like a continuation of her R&B heavy debut solo album "Dangerously In Love", but showing her vocal growth in the 7 years since than. While some might complain that she didn't push herself enough, others will say that she's taking a big risk by staying true to herself. Either way, when you put expectations aside "4" is a more than solid album, it's not nearly as safe as her previous albums, but it still manages to be really familiar and classic.This is truly the album of an artist that is no longer trying to prove anything, but just making music she enjoys.

Vocally she's the best we've ever heard her, and not in the showy way of past hits like "Halo" or "Listen", she barely belts or has any soaring notes on this album. Even on the Dianne Warren penned "I Was Here", she resists the urge to turn the somewhat schlocky lyrics into a 90's style power ballad ala Celine or Whitney. She focuses on singing the lyrics with conviction and emotion. Same with most of the albums best material, the stunning electro-ballad "I Miss You", the Prince inspired "1+1" and the soulful "Rather Die Young". When she does show out, it comes out of nowhere like on "I Care" (probably the worst Beyonce hook ever!) where towards the middle she starts running with the melody and pumps out some impressive high notes. Everything she does with her voice here feels natural and again, it's because this album is totally within her comfort zone. Several songs even feel like the music she probably loved pre-Destiny's Child. "Love on Top" is a breezy R&B tune that might have been released in 87 or 88 by LeVert or Whitney Houston. "Party" is a chilled-out Hip Hop track similar to an SWV or En Vogue from the early 90's. And than there are the Prince, Michael Jackson and Earth Wind and Fire influences. At times the album is so nostalgic and smooth it almost doesn't feel like a Beyonce album, than you have "Countdown" which has the King B stamp all over it with it's staccato phrasing and attitude. Earlier, the second single "Best Thing I Never Had" plays like a mash up of her previous hits "Irreplaceable" and "Halo" with the female empowerment and "neck twisting" kiss-off lyrics.

"4" is the album that right now might be surprising to listeners, but it will hold up years from now when matched with other albums in her career. It's not as aggressive and confident as "B'Day", and it's not as experimental and diverse as "I Am... Sasha Fierce", but it really does in a simple subtle way show all of the talents she's amassed over the years and why she's easily one of the most respected in her field. She has the goods, and "4" is proof that she doesn't even have to go overboard to prove it.

4.5 of 5
Best: End of Time (this link is from her performance at Glastonbury), I Miss You, Party << not able to find links for the other two. sorry.

Album Review: Yuck, Cage The Elephant

2011-06-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

Two Rock releases caught my eye this year, one thanks to Pitchfork and the other thanks to iTunes. Both albums surprised me, one was a good surprise while the other was, well, not so much. So here's my take on the two.

Yuck caught my attention on Pitchfork, when the first single from their debut self titled album was posted to their site. However "Rubber" (the first single) is not only the standout of the album it's one of only two really great songs on the album while the rest fall really flat.
"Get Away" is a perfect Rock album opener, great hook and melody and some seriously amped up instrumentation from the band. By the time you get to "Rubber" which closes the album, it feels almost like you've listened to an hour of a Alternative Tribute radio station as most of Yuck's album feels like retreads of other Rockers material from the 90's. You can hear all the greats heavily influencing the sound on this album. Nirvana, Weezer ("Suck"), Green Day ("Holing Out"), Pearl Jam, Blind Melon ("Stutter"), there's even some Blues Traveler-like material here. Not to say that the band doesn't do well with the sounds, it's just the album becomes too much of a hodge podge mess to enjoy as a whole. It's not a terrible album, there are songs that are probably really good on their own but jumbled with everything else they lose some luster. The biggest problem is there's nothing there that really screams Yuck, nothing that shows they have a unique identity in the rock field. There are still good moments that come from the album, "Operation" is another stand out as well as the instrumental "Rose Gives a Lilly", the album just doesn't make a great statement about who this band actually is.

2.5 of 5
Best: Rubber, Get Away, Operation

The sophomore album from Cage The Elephant "Thank You Happy Birthday" has its faults but no one can say those faults are a lack of excitement and energy.

The album is a great diverse mix of different Rock sounds, but unlike Yuck this group manages to make every song their own by putting a unique stamp on each song be it with vocals or the arrangements. They go from really loud and aggressive Hard rock tracks like "Indy Kidz" and "Sabertooth Tiger", to subdued acoustic leaning tracks like the fabulous album closer "Flow". A slight departure from their more acoustic-y Hip Hop/Rock of their debut album, "Thank You Happy Birthday" is alot more exciting and feels like a group just really having fun recording and trying to push boundaries and try new things in different ways. Lead singer Matthew Shultz brings a weird high pitched vocal, but he's really confident and experimental with it giving the listeners something new with every song. The band and the albums Producer Jay Joyce are just as adventurous giving us a very hard sound but adding really creative starts and stops, backing electronic blips.At times the album can be a little too much to handle, but I definitely commend the group for staying true to who they are. Their sound is new and unique and that's something one should always look for in new music.

3.5 of 5
Best: Aberdeen, Shake Me Down, Flow

TV Review: So You Think You Can Dance, Week One Recap

2011-06-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

FOX's "So You Think You Can Dance" is easily one of my favorite shows. And really the only reality competition show on television that exposes it's viewers to things they wouldn't normally see. In season's past we've seen dance styles as diverse as African Jazz, Bollywood, Samba, even Russian Folk Dancing and you really won't see any of those styles anywhere else on television. That's why I love the show, and even with the styles that we have seen, the choreographers the show employs are at the top of their game when it comes to creativity. After the auditions, this past Wednesday the choreographers were back on their game for the first performance show of the season. Much like past season openers, there are still some dancers that aren't quite at the star level yet and are probably just in awe that they made the show, but there were some truly great performances and at least one future classic.
Here is my opinion on who did the best, and later will talk about the "elimination" this week and my thoughts on it.

the GREAT!!

1. Melanie Marko

This Travis Wall routine is not only one of HIS best pieces ever, but it's one of the greatest the show has ever seen. The concept is beautiful on it's own, two statues who are trying to combine and become one statue, and the music ("Turn to Stone" by Ingrid Michaelson) is perfectly fitting. It's creative, beautiful, emotional and a fine example of why this show is so groundbreaking. Before this show started in 2005, I honestly didn't feel like Dance could illicit real emotions from the viewer and this, like past routines, has blown that idea out of my mind. And while the storyline and choreography were great, lesser dancers could have ruined this and taken all the emotion and realness out of it. Thankfully, Travis got two great dancers on this one. Melanie has been one of my favorites since her first audition, and this is a great example of why. Her control over the moves was amazing, and Marko more than held his own. They both really got the story and embodied everything they needed to, their technique was flawless and you could freeze-frame most of the moments of this routine and it would make for beautiful and classic statues. They also as a team brought the appropriate amount of emotion to make everybody feel what they would have felt if they were really in that situation. Nigel said this should be the first Emmy nomination of the season, and he's right it would truly deserve it because it's one of those perfect moments in Dance where just everything falls into place perfectly.

the REALLY GOOD.

2. Jordan Tadd
3. Sasha Alexander
4. Missy Wadi

These three routines were fantastic in so many ways. Energy, Emotion, Creativity. They only lack a sense of uniqueness because while they were some of the best of the night, they weren't exactly breaking new ground. Jordan and Tadd completely attacked African Jazz in this Sean Cheesman routine, but it's not the best routine in that genre that we've seen. Same with Sasha and Alexander on their Contemporary Sonya Tayeh routine where Sasha was the star with her intensity and power, but it still wasn't the best. Missy and Wadi's routine was a bit more original, using Wadi's unique dancing talent, but it really reminded me of a routine from Season 5 performed by Kayla and Maksim.

the GOOD

5. Iveta Nick
6. Miranda Robert

These two routines were fun fun fun, but nothing in the choreography or the dancers technique really screamed fantastic or stand out. For one, Iveta (as it was noted by Mary) is the World Champion in her genre and has been doing Quickstep since she was 7 years old. Kind of an unfair advantage if you ask me, but she was destined to pull her genre out of the hat at least one time this season so might as well get it over with. The routine overall was really cute, and Nick, a tap dancer, did his part even if he sometimes seemed overly conscious of the steps. And Robert, the annoying "woooo" guy, was perfectly matched in this Jason Gilkison routine. His upbeat and goofy personality was perfect for this Jive number, and though he wasn't technically the best he out shined his partner Miranda who did respectable but just didn't match Robert's personality which was radiating and saved the whole performance.

the MEH.

7. Ryan Ricky
8. Ashley Chris
9. Caitlynn Robert
10. Jess Clarice

The rest of the routines are not terrible, nobody really messed up enough this season to ruin any of the routines, but this bunch were just a little unimpressive. Ryan and Ricky's Lyrical Hip Hop choreographed by douchebag Christopher Scott. This is one of those cases where the dancers were better than the routine, as both Ryan and Ricky gave their all (and went outside their comfort zone a little) and both had some great moments, but the choreography was just dull and it actually reminded me of the famous "Bleeding Love" routine from Season 5. Chris "Douchebag" Scott also choreographed another so-so Hip Hop routine for Ashly and b-boy Chris, Chris to me was better because he was more effortless and smooth while Ashly brought the personality but was a little too technical with her steps. Caitlynn's partner Mitchell was out due to an injury so she got the chance to dance with last seasons Robert on a Sonya Tayeh routine, which was probably one of my least favorites from Sonya, very dull in comparison to her best stuff. Finally Jess, the Broadway guy, pulled Broadway with his partner Clarice. It was a fun routine, but not fun enough in my opinion. Clarice was really pretty and graceful, while Jess didn't seem to be at 100% though he was praised by the judges.

Once the credits rolled, Thursday was a bit anti-climactic because nobody went home. Seemed like a bit of planning on the producers part, but Nigel made it seem like there was some big mix up with the judges (he actually even blamed guest judge Megan Mulally of "Karen" fame), he made Mitchell and Robert dance for their lives twice. Than he lined everyone in the Bottom up, praised each one, and than said nobody was going home. Next week though two couples will be going home, so maybe it was a way for the show to get the dancers to amp their game up.

I want to add, Sonya Tayeh's group routine that opened up Thursday's show was A-MA-ZING!! It was so fierce and powerful and intense. I've loved pretty much all of her group routines in the past and this one is up there with my all time favorites, just perfection when it comes to the moves and also the look and the song choice.

So until next week, Enjoy the clips.(Thank you to SYTYCDFanS08V2 biaJME and rafahenrique of Youtube for uploading the clips)
I love comments on this blog.

Album Review: tUnE-yArDs

2011-06-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hipster RunOff has become a go-to site for me to find new music and I saw a mention of Merrill Garbus, better known under the moniker tUnE-YaRdS (annoying spelling right?), a one woman band whose sophomore album "w h o k i l l" is easily one of the freshest and most unique outings of the year.

The album has such an eclectic mix of genres and she herself brings major diversity vocally going from a really aggressive spoken word vibe to a soft almost jazzy tone (and this is sometimes within the same song). "w h o k i l l" is the most adventurous and fearless album I've heard maybe since Dirty Projectors "Bitte Orca" which was so far outside the box but still very catchy. tUnE-YaRdS are totally different from that group but in the same ways her approach works on so many different levels.

The albums first single, and my first introduction to this talent, "Bizness" goes from a soft electronica track with a replayed vocal sample in the beginning to a joyous and highly energetic jam session towards the end. And this is the best representation of what the album holds in store for the listeners, an album where each individual song is it's own musical movement. Garbus really throws everything into the pot from Folk, Salsa, R&B, Rock and Hip Hop. At times she recalls the aggressive spoken word of a PJ Harvey over beats likened to (believe it or not) A Tribe Called Quest (try "Es-So") , and than on other tracks she's flowing softly about love-making over something Erykah Badu or Jill Scott might attack. With all the highs and lows of each track, and the overall diversity of the album you'd think it would be too much... and at times it is, but the album of the whole is a very pleasant listen because she's very skilled at balancing out all of her influences. "w h o k i l l" is a great showcase for a very talented artist, and though there's not much here that would typically be considered commercial, she's the type of artist people do need to know about.

4.5 of 5
Best: Powa, Gangsta, Riotriot

Album Review: Lady GaGa

2011-06-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

Lady GaGa's rise from the dance clubs to world domination didn't take too long, less than 4 years actually. For her arty and controversial performances, and her headline grabbing outfits she's definitely become a household name. And now with 5 Grammys for her first two albums and countless Top 10 Hit singles she's a force in the industry as well. The only thing lacking in GaGa's arsenal thus far has been, to put it simply, good songs. Her 8-track EP "The Fame Monster" showed promise, but her full length debut album was almost all pure Pop/Dance fluff with pretty tepid dance beats and insanely stupid lyrics. On her latest sales-smashing release "Born This Way", GaGa manages to show sneak peeks of the artist she is while not totally shedding the commercial sound that made her who she is. Truth be told, the production on the album (taken on mostly by Fernando Garibay) is the best element by being four to the floor club fodder yet still managing to be a little more dark. The production highlight is "Highway Unicorn (Road to Love)" a dance song on ADD that refuses to stay put with it's constantly changing drum beats and off kilter tempo changes. This weird, almost Industrial meets House sound is present throughout most of the tracks so the albums sound is something a little familiar but also something not typical on Pop releases like this.

And here's where GaGa shows her greatness, by not getting drowned out by all the goings on within each track. Whether she's paying homage to herself with her stretched and exagerrated vocals on "Judas" (vocally a "Bad Romance" part two), playfully experimenting with German on "Scheiße", or emulating 90's Power balladeering over dance beats on the title track or "Edge of Glory", she always makes herself the main event somehow. Her vocal abilities really shine through on this album, not only that she can belt like some of the greats but that on nearly every song she attacks the vocals in a completely different way. By the time you get to her almost country/western ode "Yoü and I" you can fully appreciate her diverse talents. Even lyrically she brings something different to the table this time, by making themes and concepts a little more abstract yet still making the songs fun and catchy. All in all the album is a win and a nice step into a more artistic direction for GaGa, seems her music is finally starting to match up with her unique and creative personality which is a great thing. She's not fully escaping her Pop chains, but she's definitley stepping out and delivering something on this album you wouldn't hear from any of her competitors.

4 of 5
Best: Electric Chapel, You and I, Marry The Night

Album Review: Quick Updates, James Blake and Toro Y Moi... The Growers

2011-06-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry for all these breaks, you know sometimes just LIFE gets in the way (life and laziness LOL!!) but I have a to-do list of a couple albums I need to get through so this will be the first of a few new blog posts so get ready! This first post will be about The Growers, two albums that didn't immediately blow me away but have since shown their worth.

Two Indie favorites of this year James Blake and Toro Y Moi have been sitting in my iTunes for a few months, and while initially I had lukewarm feelings about both albums they have really grown on me and showed that subtlety can be a stand out.

Toro Y Moi's second album "Underneath The Pine"

is a really relaxing chill album with heavy disco, R&B and funk inspiration. The albums first single "Still Sound" is the best example for his sound, a late 70's track that Chaka Khan could have easily wailed over, while "New Beat" could have been an Evelyn "Champagne" King disco stomper. The album isn't devoted to disco though, Toro manages to merge the lush instrumentation of the 70's with the chilled out electronic sound of today and with great effect especially on the album closer "Elise". The problem with the album however is Toro's vocal chops, when you hear these songs that could easily be taken on by powerhouse singers it sounds a little off when he comes on the tracks with his very limited vocal ability. In fact some of the better tracks on the album have little to no vocals, leaving the listener to wonder how much more effective the album would have been as a straight instrumental album. The vocals are definitely in the vain of the Indie scene he is a part of where they seem to have no care about things like tone and pitch when singing. And as mentioned before this isn't just a typical 70's throwback album so the off-kilter overall production makes sense after a few listens. All in all the album is a great groovy listen and shows promise, if not for his singing definitley for his production which would match nicely with some of the top artists of the day (Christina Aguilera needs to swoop him up quick, his sound and her voice would match up perfectly).

3 of 5
Best: Still Sound, New Beat, Elise

James Blake's self titled debut came earlier this year, and he's almost the opposite of Toro Y Moi. Blake possesses a really strong, husky and soulful voice but on this album he uses it on top of some very low-key and chilled electronic tracks. Critics have considered him a Dubstep artist which confused me as nothing on this album is traditionally Dubstep, maybe more Dub than Step since most of the album is very moody and calm with electro-effects playing subtly in the background. Rarely ever using more than 10 words for a full song, the songs swell and build up to pretty amazing climaxes. Upon first listen, the songs might seem dull or too weird, but on repeated listens you can appreciate the nuances Blake uses as a producer. "I Never Learnt To Share" and "I Mind" are great examples, very simple stuff but with the correct headphones or speaker system you can feel the love and patience he put into every electro-tweek and keyboard sequence. And even with a majority of the tracks being very ambient and experimental, there are a few tracks that could actually work on radio like first single "Limit To Your Love" and "The Wilhelm Scream" which are both a lot less stark than the rest of the album and show off both his voice and his production skills.

4 of 5
Best: The Wilhelm Scream, I Never Learnt To Share, Limit To Your Love

Album Review: Foo Fighters

2011-05-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

I might be at a slight disadvantage in trying to review Foo Fighters' latest album "Wasting Light", the reason being I've just been a casual fan of the group over the years, and I only heard their breakthrough 1997 album "Colour & The Shape" within the past few weeks. The Grohl-fronted band has had quite a long history of classic songs, and in the ever changing world of Rock they've been the most consistent with delivering that harder edged sound.

Even though I may not know all the musical history behind the band, upon first listen I can say that their seventh album is easily one of the best of the year so far, a near flawless outing. It's the kind of Rock album that is diverse, mature and what some might call "all killer and no filler".

The group goes from re-creating the sounds of their biggest musical successes of the past, to doing things that are totally new and fresh, from straining their vocal chords on hyped up rock cuts and softening it up on more acoustic leaning tracks. Still on the whole the album has a unified sound, and never tries too hard to be anything outside of who they are as a group. The album opens with a great one-two punch, "Bridges Burning" calls to mind the greatness of the Foo's past while first single "Rope" feels like a completely new and fresh sound for the group. Thankfully the energy never really dies on this album, with stadium sized anthems like "Matter of Time" "Back and Forth" and one of the easy stand outs "Arlandria". There are times when it feels like they are going to soften their sound, the intros to "These Days" (simple but really powerful lyrics here) and another stellar stand out "I Should Have Known" start with an acoustic subdued feel but end up amping it way up.

The album isn't without it's minor faults though, "White Limo" is a little too loud for me. "Dear Rosemary" and "Miss the Misery" lack a little something that the other tracks have, but even than they are more than bearable to listen to. On the whole the album is pretty fantastic, the songs stay true to the bands Rock roots but also manage to be very catchy and memorable. Now will any of these songs be classics like "Everlong" or "Best of You"? Probably not (maybe "Rope"), but that doesn't seem to be their purpose on this outing. All in all it's just a fantastic Rock album, the kind that hasn't been heard in a long time.

Rating: 4.5 of 5

Best: Arlandria, Rope, I Should Have Known

Movie/Album Review: Daft Punk Tron Legacy

2011-04-11T17:03:00.000-07:00

As a huge fan of Electronica Kings Daft Punk, ofcourse I purchased their soundtrack to Disney's "Tron: Legacy" when it was released last November. My reaction was so lukewarm however I sort of put the album aside until I saw the movie, thinking it might not be fair to judge the soundtrack alone and that I may end up enjoying the music more if I had the visual counterpart. So when the film was released to DVD and Blu Ray this past Tuesday I jumped on it.

As for the album, the film didn't really help. While I was watching the film, the soundtrack was a little underwhelming even than. Most of the times, the backing soundtrack felt a little like generic "futuristic" elevator music and not the unique, infectious Daft Punk sound I was expecting. There's a scene early on where Sam Flynn is being chased by the police and the underlying score ("The Son of Flynn") is just a simple loop of a keyboard sequence and it never elevated or went anywhere although you'd think they'd match up the music to the action in the scene. And the sort of light electronic sounds heard on one scene sound way too similar to most of the other tracks on this soundtrack. There's a bit of a Daft stamp on them, but almost in the way of some lesser producer stealing their sound and producing really washed out and boring tracks instead. And there are even times when it doesn't sound like Daft Punk at all, the scene where Quorra is introduced ("Outlands") and she's driving Sam into his fathers secret lair sounds way too much like the Danny Elfman scoring in a similar scene in 1989's "Batman". For the most part, Daft's score is just too pedestrian and simple. It almost feels like they felt the pressure of doing a big Hollywood score and were scared to truly be themselves, which is a shame. Their cameo in the movie was cute though, and gave us the best moments from the score, the first single "Derezzed" and "End of the Line". Unfortunately, even after viewing the film, this outing was a big disappointment and I just can't wait for their next Real Daft album.

Rating: 2 of 5
Best: Derezzed, End of Line, Fall

The movie, surprisingly enough, was actually much better than expected. Even though I'm a child of the 80's I'd never seen the original "Tron" just heard of it (and seen film stills from it), but you imagine there was a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo but for all real purposes it was just a visual movie you'd watch for the special effects. In that way, "Tron: Legacy" is a success because it's truly one of the movies you can't take your eyes off. And there is a lot of dialogue about grid's and power sources and disks and a host of things viewers really don't need to know that much about, but the main focus is the visual aspect. The pretty amazing CGI and overall design of the computer world that Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) finds himself in after locating the office of his father Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) who has been missing in the real world for over 15 years. Sam, as much of a computer genius as his father who created a Microsoft-like empire in the 1980's (after the first "Tron" film), finds himself in the Grid and is immediately set-up to participate in 'Games', which is punishment for bad 'programs'. The 'Games' portion is probably the best part of the movie, he goes through a series of 'Air Hockey'-like games before he is set up for the Bike Race which takes the cake visually. It takes what has become classic from the first film and elevates it for the new generation and it is both aesthetically stunning and heart pounding, edge of your seat excitement. Sam is finally reunited with his father, (not Clu, the grid clone of his father) and the rest of the movie is their plan to escape the grid and get back to the real world.
Again there is alot of unnecessary chatter here, and the script generously takes bits from "The Matrix" and "Inception" to try to prevent plot holes, but it's all okay because the film is an exciting one which can be followed with the minimal amount of information about the Flynn's.
This is nowhere near a Great movie, don't get me wrong, but pretty much everything from the acting to the writing were on par and nothing to complain about. The one major complaint, and maybe just because it looked so weird, was the CGI-fication of Jeff Bridges for his scenes as the younger father and for Clu. The animators did a really good job for the most part, but they really haven't perfected doing a human in CGI and making him look 100% real. Which I suppose actors are happy about.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

Album Review: Jennifer Hudson

2011-04-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

Standards were set sky high with Jennifer Hudson's self titled debut album released in 2008. And though the album was decent, it felt underwhelming somehow. It just didn't manage to stand above the other R&B offerings out at the time, we all knew she could sing but there wasn't much personality to go along with it.

With her recently released follow up "I Remember Me", she seems to bring more confidence and character to her voice and it works out well. Along with that, the album offers a more diverse range of sounds to show off her versatility. To be honest it's not all great, some of the material is just too common and similar to other R&B acts, but there's enough here to show some major growth and Hudson comes off as a totally different singer and artist than on the last album.
The album opener, a nice bouncy Urban track "No One Gonna Love You" has her in a really confident and sassy stance and breezing through the song with major vocal strength with the ease of a real professional. As does the albums first single "Where You At", whose repetitive hook would have resulted in disaster if it was any other singer however Jennifer makes it work. The albums best tracks takes Hudson in a 70's 80's Soul and Funk direction which she performs with the appropriate attitude and grit. The Alicia Keys penned "Angel" has Jennifer channeling divas like Chaka Khan and Teena Marie but still putting her own stamp on the sound. "Everybody Needs Love", which stands out primarily because of it's unique fresh and new production (a mix of 90's House specifically the Dub sound, and smooth R&B) is elevated by her commitment to the sound. This and "Don't Look Down" are the Dance numbers her debut was missing, and these are destined to be remixed into thumping House anthems for the Club crowd.
And even the songs that aren't total winners are still passable and possible growers like the anthemic "I Got This" and the title track, which is slightly predictable in lyric but given a different light thanks to her voice. "Gone" suffers from a terrible boring hook, but you have to appreciate her taking a risk on a pop/rock song that you'd imagine a Kelly Clarkson singing. The rest of the album is just average, while the closer "Believe" is just stunningly beautiful lyrically and vocally. The album may not be one of the stand out R&B albums to be released but it shows even more promise and gives listeners even more reason to celebrate her immense talents. While her first album may have left people wanting more, this album shows that she is indeed a true vocal artist -- and that there's no reason why she won't be around for a long time.

Rating: 3 of 5
Best: Angel, No One Gonna Love You, Everybody Needs Love

Album Review: The Strokes

2011-03-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

One of my most anticipated releases of the past few years finally hits stores today, The Strokes' 4th album "Angles". The magic of the Strokes is really hard to put in words, their main draw is the fact that they make un-pretentious Rock music that's just fun. They don't try to pad their lyrics with deeper meanings, and they don't try to stretch their sound in directions they aren't comfortable with. They just do what they know they are good at, which delivers some classic material. This album pretty much delivers the same, but not quite in the way one would expect. For the most part "Angles" stays true to their original sound, with tracks like "Under Cover of Darkness" "Taken for a Fool" and album closer "Life Is Simple in the Moonlight". However the group throws in some curve balls to their sound, like "Games" (which is not one of my favorites) takes on a 80's Pop vibe at points, where as "Two Kinds of Happiness" is reminiscent of The Cars' new wave sound. And total stand out, "Machu Picchu" gives off a early Police vibe in the mixture of Rock and Reggae. This experimentation for the most part works, because they mainly stick to their own sound but just highlighted by these new tricks. And since the majority of the album is them sticking to their roots, it still feels like they are being themselves.
The album leaves you feeling like they delivered another good Strokes album that will fit nicely into their discography. That's mostly because of the fact that they didn't seem to feel the need to prove anything to any listeners. A lot of groups who haven't recorded together for over 4 years would probably feel pressure to make their "comeback" a Masterpiece album, The Strokes seemed to want to give their fans what they were used to. And you can't really fault them for that, it just feels like they wanted to gather more great songs for their upcoming tours, and if that was the purpose of the album they succeeded.

Rating: 3.5 of 5
Best: Machu Picchu, Metabolism, You're So Right

Album Review: Radiohead

2011-03-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

Radiohead has been probably the most critically acclaimed contemporary Alterna-Rock group of the past decade, and with good reason. They are the kind of group that is popular because of their longevity, critical acclaim and sales but musically still feel like underground Indie groups with their always different and un-commercial sound. Their 8th album "The King of Limbs" is no exception, although at only 8 tracks it does feel like more of a side album, it's still pretty fantastic. The album still has that heavy Radiohead stamp, dream like instrumentation with Thom Yorke's mumble-y vocal performing style, though on "King of Limbs" everything is even more subdued. In the vain of Portishead or even at times early M83, they deliver songs that are mostly carried through the music alone, "Feral" a stand-out is actually only music and the majority of the albums highlights have more to do with the music as opposed to the lyrics or vocal stylings. Even with the heavy stuttering percussions, and electronic blips, nothing ever feels really aggressive which makes it work so well together. The group subtly go from electronica and drum & bass inspired tracks (album opener "Bloom"), to straight piano laden tracks ("Codex") and acoustic numbers ("Give Up The Ghost"), but the music and vibe of the album is so understated you hardly point out the differences. There's just an underlying calm and almost jazzy feel that is strung throughout the entire set. Which shows the group are musical geniuses, they don't have to go as far to prove anything to the listener. On this album they were able to venture into new musical terrain, but doing it at a very calm and peaceful way and the album works so well because of it.

Rating: 4 of 5
Best: "Lotus Flower", "Bloom", "Give Up The Ghost"

Mixtape Review: Frank Ocean

2011-03-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

Apparently I've been missing out, Mixtapes seem to be more risky and adventurous than most major label LP's. Thanks to Pitchfork (and Beyonce news), I discovered Frank Ocean this weekend. Ocean is a part of the highly buzzed about Hip Hop outfit Odd Future, and on his Mixtape "Nostalgia, Ultra" he takes the R&B route albeit over very Rock and Alternative leaning tracks. On one interlude he talks about how women expect him to take the Jodeci route "what's a Radiohead anyway", still Ocean sticks to his musical guns and sings over tracks from Coldplay and The Eagles to surprisingly wonderful results. He also turns some very simplistic tracks into some very thought provoking and compelling songs. What sets him apart from Drake or Kid Cudi, the two acts you could closely compare his sound to, is he doesn't talk about the typical things in his songs. On the standout "We All Try" he calls out for the world to believe in something "I just don't believe we're wicked, I know that we sin, but I do believe we try". "Lovecrimes" and "Songs for Women" are almost totally different than run of the mill radio R&B love songs. And the way he takes Coldplay's "Strawberry Swing" and MGMT's "Electric Feel" (for "Nature Feel") and totally transforms them into songs that become his own, just lyrically and vocally, is near amazing. His spin on The Eagles classic and iconic "Hotel California" ("American Wedding") does the same thing, and it's truly genius.
Lyrically, Frank Ocean is more than fresh and a much needed change from hearing the same stories in R&B and Hip Hop. Vocally he's on point as well, his voice does have traces of the aforementioned Kid Cudi but with much more confidence. At many points in the album, with his phrasing and his creative runs he takes on a bit of a Brandy vibe just slightly more masculine. Frank is a talent that apparently nearly got wasted, this mixtape was released by him accompanying a tumblr tirade against his label Def Jam who he feels didn't care about him as an artist. Hopefully the world will take note of his immense and unique talents and we'll be hearing more from him in the coming years, he truly deserves the fame that some lesser talents have.

Rating: 4 of 5
Best: We All Try, Nature Feel, American Wedding

Album Review: Britney Spears

2011-03-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

On Pop Icon Britney Spears' seventh album "Femme Fatale", yet again Ms. Spears delivers a perfectly fine Pop/Dance album. And yet again her voice is heavily vocoded and autotuned, and sometimes drowned out by the slick production, and yet again Britney doesn't show that she contributes much to her music at all. On this album Britney takes the "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" approach and basically delivers "Blackout" part 2, and even if I expected more I can't fault her for staying safe and in her own lane. Hopes and expectations aside, "Femme Fatale" is a perfectly passable Dance album. There are actually a few exciting moments that stand above alot of the Pop offerings in the past few years.The album opener "Till The World Ends" is the stuff of Dancefloor legend, with the call out and response "oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ooh-oooh" hook, to the bass thumping production of Dr. Luke and Max Martin I'd be really surprised if this didn't become an international anthem. "How I Roll" finds Britney in a more relaxed confident space, over a really refreshing and unique track by Bloodshy and Avant (there's a Robyn vibe on the track, but Britney does manage to make it her own). And "Inside Out", a sort of dubstep ballad, is a standout on the album with Britney's voice being more in the forefront, with pretty clever lyrics as well.
The rest runs the spectrum of slightly above average Dance singles like "Trip to Your Heart", which takes a slightly experimental production take on EuroDance, as well as "Seal it With a Kiss" and "Criminal" which show more diversity with their more Pop/Urban leanings. And than there's the terribly average Dance tracks like "(Drop Dead) Beautiful" "I Wanna Go" "Trouble for Me" and "Gasoline" which all are fun, but sound a little dated and like re-treads of stuff we've already heard. In the end you just wish that Britney had stretched herself a little further and took a few more risks, this could have been a masterpiece compared to her other work. Instead it just falls in line with the rest of her catalgoue with only quick glimpses of any growth. The album is still better than a lot of the Dance-Pop material over the years, and she's more or less established herself as the Queen of the Dancefloor, since that's what we should always expect from her in the future apparently.

Rating: 3 of 5
Best: How I Roll, Inside Out, Till The World Ends

Album Review: Local Natives

2011-03-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

Another album I had been meaning to check out for the past several months was Local Natives. I just kept seeing them in the "if you like this artist , try" and "recommended" portions of iTunes. So I finally checked them out, and i LOVE their album "Gorilla Manor" and the group itself.
Here's the thing, they do share some similarities with groups like Vampire Weekend, Temper Trap, Grizzly Bear etc. They totally fit into that indie/organic/live group, but in so many ways they are at a higher level than them all. I've been listening to the album for about a month now, and I think I figured out what makes them stand out more so than the aforementioned groups. It's that their sound is a perfectly blended mix of, well Everything. They are primarily Alternative, but they mix in R&B and Rock and Pop and Folk so effortlessly you don't even catch it sometimes. The production and their instrumentation are really flawless, they obviously know what they are doing because nothing ever sounds forced or the opposite it's not lacking anything. Another great thing is their lead singer who isn't afraid to stretch his voice. It's whiney at times (which seems to be the favored vocal style in a lot of indie groups, I have NO idea why-- it gets annoying), but in appropriate spots. However as the music switches genres effortlessly, so does the lead singer. I mean he's straight up Belting on the stellar single "Airplanes", and he can get softer with slower heartfelt ballads as well as getting that rocker roughness on the uptempo numbers. And finally, unlike alot of other indie groups, their songs actually seem to be talking about something. Not just random words strung together that sound good within the melody (which also they excel at creating great melodies and great hooks to their songs).
This debut is really impressive, and I hope to hear lots from this group in the future. They really seem to know their way around their instruments and the studio. They also seem to have a great grasp of music knowledge, being able to so effortlessly blend genres, and if this is just their first time at bat, I can't wait to see what they'll come up with on later albums.

Rating: 4.5 of 5
Best: Airplanes, Cards and Quarters, Wide Eyes

Album Review: Sleigh Bells

2011-03-11T12:09:00.000-08:00

I bought Sleigh Bells' debut album "Treats" on iTunes maybe two months ago. And I have to be honest, I had seen that album for about a year and was intrigued by the cover but didn't even listen to the previews until I read that Beyonce had worked with them for her new album coming up (they aren't sure if they're track will make the album). Than I headed to YouTube to hear if their sound would mesh with hers, and from the two or three tracks I heard I thought it would be an interesting match.
So I went ahead and bought the album, and was surprised by it. They fall under this genre of "Noise Pop" (have no idea where that term came from, but it does kind of fit), they use heavy electronic sounds and they are amped up to be super loud and grungy. The beauty of the album lies in two things, first the album is easy to swallow because the group is smart enough to make their songs relatively shorter than most. The loudness and the hooks could become redundant and boring if a song was over 4 minutes, but at an average of just 3 minutes long, the songs are "bite size" enough to enjoy them. The other thing about Sleigh Bells that's great is they are obviously fond of melody, and amongst the loud sort of angsty tracks, they supply really catchy and melodic hooks that make you remember each song. On a number of other electronic albums, it's basically just the track and songs kind of blend in together and lyrics and vocals are just muddled into the mix.
"Treats" is a great introduction to the group and their sound, which is pretty unique in that it's really underground but at the same time has enough to make it radio accessible. Definitley worth a listen.

Rating: 3.5 of 5
Best: Run the Heart, Rill Rill, Tell Em

Album Review: Adele

2011-03-08T12:31:00.000-08:00

Dam I had this still saved in my New Posts section for two weeks now. So okay here we go (I actually saw this CD at Starbucks today so maybe that was a sign).

Anyway, Adele's first album "19" was honestly at times boring but overall it was a really solid album, and most importantly it exposed the world to her talents which were beyond most of her competitors (*cough Amy Winehouse). Her vocals, her vocal control, her creative and unique runs, her flawless tone. Just listening to the very first track off that album shows she has all the potential in the world.
Two years later she comes back the with the appropriately titled (if not a little lazy) "21", and she has definitely stepped up her game. The biggest difference is the bigger and bolder production value of the songs. It has a nice Motown 60's sound, but also more in touch with the blues and jazz stuff she obviously is into. This bigger production almost begs for her to fill the music with her big and bolder voice, and she does, effortlessly. The first single "Rolling the Deep" is a great example, a lesser singer would totally get drowned out with all the soulful instrumentation, same for "Rumor Has It". While I applaud her for tackling more uptempo numbers on here (there were hardly ANY on her debut), she really comes alive on the ballads. "Turning Tables", her cover of The Cure's "Lovesong" are phenomenal in that she shows restraint but shows her full potential at the same time. "Set Fire to the Rain" is easily the best song on the album though, it's intense, it's lyrics are thoughtful and creative, and she elevates just like the production.
"21" still isn't like, the BEST album ever released, but it's definitely a great follow up and solidifies Adele as an artist who truly stands above the rest vocally.

Rating: 4 of 5
Best: "Set Fire To The Rain", "Rolling In the Deep", "Lovesong"

Concert Review: Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera and P!nk.

2011-03-08T12:10:00.000-08:00

Hey readers.
I haven't posted anything, obviously, since the Grammy update. I was experimenting with Tumblr (d1esel6.tumblr) and wrote some quick music reviews there. And than I was contemplating closing this blog out, but maybe I just need to revamp how I go about this.

So anyway, I thought maybe I should start by reviewing what I saw this weekend. This past Sunday, the LOGO network had a cool little Pop Diva marathon. They were showing Behind the Music when I woke up (Eve and Jennifer Hudson), and than after that they showed 4 concerts in a row. Concerts that I actually had on my Netflix Q, Mariah Carey's "Adventures of Mimi Tour", Christina Aguilera's "Back to Basics Tour" and P!nk's recent "Funhouse Tour". I'm pretty sure most of the shows were edited down for time and commercial breaks (I know, for instance, that P!nk not doing "Stupid Girls" or Christina not doing "Genie in a Bottle" was more of an editing thing because to not perform those hits seems strange) but they gave a good indication on whether or not the shows were any good.

Mariah's show, well I give her an A for effort.
"The Adventures of Mimi" came after her big comeback with the album "Emancipation of Mimi" and I think she felt like she had to pull out all the stops. So there were big dance numbers and elaborate set pieces, and her scantily clad throughout. Mariah is great with her interaction with the crowd, that's definitely where she excels. She was fun and funny, and at times genuinely heartfelt. Her voice, at times, was still phenomenal although not flawless. There were times when she kind of fell off the melodies, or just hit the wrong notes, but those were few and far between. And her stage presence, well it ain't that great. I feel like her problem is that she's too overly conscious of every move she makes. Though sometimes she busted out some dance moves that looked really natural on her. At the end of the show, I was satisfied with the concert. She ran through pretty much ALL her big hits and it was fun taking a trip down memory lane (I hadn't listened to "Dream Lover" in I don't know how long and I forgot how much I love it), she even brought out Boyz II Men (well three of the four original members) to do her gigantic mid-90's hit "One Sweet Day". Mariah really did give her all, she really tried and you can't really fault her for the mis-steps, just comparatively it wasn't the best show out there. Obviously great for True Mariah fans like myself.

Rating: 7 of 10

Christina Aguilera's "Back to Basics Tour" faltered only because she pretty much sang nothing but "Back to Basics" material, and that's not my favorite Christina album.

I respect the album because she truly did go for the sound that she was into and didn't get persuaded to change it, however that R&B meets Old School Jazz meets Pop sound doesn't lend itself well for a big arena tour. I also should add, I think this was the most edited show of the three I watched. I just kept feeling like "Okay, WHEN is she gonna sing a song I know" and it didn't come until the end. (I also got the feeling she was lipping big chunks of her show... I just never heard her BREATHE which is an indication) Where Christina excelled on this show was her confidence and her stage presence blew me away. She was ripping up the stage, and not that she was doing intricate dance moves or anything like that, she just was all over the stage with sass and attitude that was necessary for the material. Even the overall staging of the show was superb, "Makes Me Wanna Pray" and "Candyman" specifically were really well thought out as far as look and utilizing the stage. Towards the end, Aguilera lost some steam it seemed like. She ended with her classic "Beautiful" (terribly oversung) and "Fighter" which I felt was an ODD closer, but it worked. Overall, the show seemed a little disjointed and out of sync (and I think it's because of the LOGO editing) but she LOOKED great, and her stage presence was on point. Better than I expected, but still not all that impressive.

Rating: 6 of 10 (based on the LOGO broadcast which I still think was heavily edited)

Now I saw P!nk's tour in support of "I'm Not Dead" on DVD a few years ago, and it blew me away. I always knew she was a great singer and great performer but that concert was just EVERYTHING you'd want in a show.

Her most recent "Funhouse Tour" took it up a bunch of notches. The stage presence that Christina had, and the interaction with the crowds that Mariah had, combined with some real Cirque du Soleil stunts, true musicality, and wonderful costume and set design really OWNS both the other concerts. I guess the thing that P!nk has is pure energy and not taking herself too seriously. And I should add, true versatility. She goes from Rock Anthems (the excellent cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody") to slower acoustic sets ("I Don't Believe You") to pure Pop extravaganzas (a great rendition of "Get the Party Started") all while joking with the crowd, making fun of her dancing, and being playful with her band. Of the three shows (there was a 30 minute Lady GaGa show I didn't watch) P!nk really just seemed like she was the one actually having fun up on stage, and of course the audience and the viewer enjoyed it more because of it. Immediately after watching, I added the show to my Amazon playlist because I could definitely imagine myself giving that more than 10 viewings.

Rating: 9.5 of 10

2011 Grammys Update!

2011-02-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

What a night! The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards presented this past Sunday was actually quite entertaining, and even if it was less about handing out awards and more about performances it worked a lot better than telecasts of the past. There were some surprising high points, and some over-hyped low points but overall it was a great night for music. As far as the winners, I actually predicted a good amount of the major winners so let's go through that now.

Even though I predicted Eminem would win (as did most people, who seem very surprised that he only got 2 wins of 10 nominations) Album of the Year, my "should win" choice Arcade Fire took home Grammy gold. And I couldn't be more happy because of what I wrote about them possibly winning "It would be nice if the Grammy's showed they could be ahead of the curve for once, awarding an Indie act would do that. Arcade Fire have continued to be one of the most critically acclaimed act of the Indie scene, which is quickly beginning to surface on the mainstream."

For Record and Song of the Year I was on point with my guess that Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" would sweep. "It's really a great, simple, catchy and relatable song. It would deserve any prize it got."

I accurately predicted both Pop Vocal Performance prizes based off Grammy voters favoritism, with Bruno Mars winning the Male prize "With 6 nominations already, it seems the Grammy voters are falling for Bruno Mars fast, so he'll probably get this one." and Lady GaGa winning the Female one "The Grammy voters are obviously in love with Lady GaGa so she'll probably take it, and why not, her vocals on "Bad Romance" were some of the high points of the song.". I was also correct with Lady GaGa's other win for Pop Vocal Album.

One Pop category I was floored that I was incorrect in predicting. I would have bet money that Lady GaGa and Beyonce would have won Pop Collaboration for "Telephone", but I didn't trust my first mind when looking at the nominees. I was going to mention the calvalcade of stars that won for Herbie Hancock's "Imagine", he had the help of Jeff Beck, Pink, Seal, India.Arie as well as Konono No 1, & Oumou Sangare. A remake of a classic Beatles song with previous Grammy winners, what was I thinking not mentioning this, it's obviously a Grammy winner just on paper.

Though it was an easy call, I got R&B Album correct which went to John Legend and The Roots for "Wake Up!" "However individually John Legend and The Roots have won a few Grammys already, teaming up looks like a winning idea." Another easy call came from the Rap Album which went to Eminem "Eminem definitely, even though his was the lesser album of them all, with his track record there's no way he could lose this one this year."

Surprisingly I got a few of the Rap categories wrong, but I was so pleased that I was correct in guessing Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind" would triumph in Rap/Sung Collaboration, they also won Rap Song which made me very happy because of this comment I made "this future classic instantly captured the hearts of people in every city and became Jay's biggest hit and first #1 single." Still I was off with Rap Solo Performance, awarded to Eminem's "Not Afraid". Nicki Minaj didn't get Grammy gold as I predicted for Rap Duo or Group Performance, Jay-Z also grabbed that one for "On To The Next One" (which... I mean I'm happy he won, but Swizz Beatz hype-man status on the song doesn't seem to qualify for Group performance to me).

Even though Arcade Fire won the Album of the Year prize, that didn't translate to any wins in their category of Alternative Album which surprisingly went to The Black Keys, the duo also won for Rock Performance Duo or Group. Both of those awards I predicted Arcade Fire would win, but I did say if Kings of Leon didn't win the latter award it "would leave the race open to the Black Keys, Arcade Fire and Muse... The Black Keys' song was an underground and commercial favorite".

I think everybody was shocked at Esperanza Spalding winning for Best New Artist, I was happy to see her name since I've been somewhat familiar with her for the past year or so. I was surprised she was even nominated, and I was sure the prize would go to Mumford & Sons. I figured Drake or Justin Bieber were the back up winners but I never though Esperanza, a little-known Jazz artist, would pull the upset. I'm really happy she did though, I like hard-working artists who aren't in the mainstream picking up top prizes.

Overall, I felt like most of the winners were well-deserved. As I mentioned before Arcade Fire winning the top prize of Album of the Year looks good for the Grammy's, showing you don't have to have massive album sales or media attention to win awards. I think the winner I was most happy with was Danger Mouse finally winning Producer of the Year. His output the previous year wasn't as high a volume as the other nominees, but obviously voters recognize his genius.

I was also really pleased with the telecast. In typical award fashion, it went a little over-long, but overall some really great and diverse performances took place. Going into the show, the most buzzed about performances were that of Mick Jagger taking the Grammy stage for the first time to tribute Solomon Burke , Barbara Streisand's (pretty boring) performance of "Evergreen" and ofcourse Lady GaGa's performance, debuting her new record-breaking single "Born This Way".

Though she sounded great and showed loads of energy during the performance, her red carpet entrance in an Egg was actually more exciting, creative and unique. Katy Perry did an impressive job doing "Not Like The Movies" and "Teenage Dream". She's not known for her voice, but she sounded great during both numbers and even her stage presence took a step up. Rihanna and Drake's performance of "What's My Name?" was a little unnecessary (she wasn't nominated for the song) but she's showing some improvement in her live performances, and she danced alot which isn't typically what she's famous for on stage.

Arcade Fire's second performance, "Ready to Start", was much better than their first seizure inducing rendition of "Month of May". Lady Antebellum, Muse, Avett Brothers and Miranda Lambert were all passable. Justin Bieber's performance was a little over the top and when Jaden Smith joined him it felt like The Kid's Choice Awards and not the most respected Music awards show, and Usher should just lipsync any future performance of "OMG" because with the choreography it's obvious he can't sing at the same time. And when Eminem, Rihanna, Adam Levine and Dr. Dre all took the stage, it was newcomer Skylar Grey who stole the performance by just singing the hook of Dre's new hit "I Need a Doctor".

And ofcourse there was the mess of a Aretha Franklin tribute with chronic over-singers Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Hudson, along with Yolanda Adams, Martina McBride and Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine. You kind of knew what to expect here, but I think the biggest problem was the ladies voices were not compatible at all. And Florence Welch and Martina McBride really seemed out of place, not great, but somehow better than the Michael Jackson tribute last year which was just painfully boring.

Here are my Top 5 performances of the evening.

1. Mumford & Sons "The Cave". They were just the first part of a trio of performances followed by The Avett Brothers and Legend Bob Dylan. However their short time on the stage was easily the most exciting during the whole show. They sounded great, the song was good, their band was in perfect sync with each other. The best thing about it was they, moreso than any other performer, actually seemed really excited to be performing there. You could feel so much love coming from their performance.

2. B.o.B., Bruno Mars & Janelle Monae "Nothin' On You/Grenade/Cold War". The newbies of the evening really showed why they deserved to be there. B.o.B. started with a beautifully stripped down version of "Nothin' on You" with Bruno and Janelle providing wonderful backing harmonies. Bruno Mars was full of confidence with his Doo-Wop version of his recent hit "Grenade". Though he was pitchy towards the end, overall his performance showed great promise. And with "Cold War" Janelle Monae rocked the house, hopefully that performance will get her the exposure she deserves.

3. Cee-Lo Green "Forget You". Not exactly sure why Gwyneth Paltrow was chosen as his duet partner here, but his whole performance was just a great show. His over the top feathered outfit, the Muppet band and the Muppet back up singers and their choreographed steps. And even though I'm still perplexed, Gwyneth sounded really good just lacking in stage presence.

4. Mick Jagger "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love". Hard to believe, but this is his first ever Grammy performance, and he chose to use his debut appearance to tribute one of his inspirations Solomon Burke. If you're a Stones fan you realize they started out all those years ago playing the early Blues and Rock and Roll sounds they loved and he seemed like a little kid on stage just enjoying singing probably one of his all time favorite songs. I didn't quite understand why he kept pushing Raphael Saadiq around on stage (was he mad he was trying to hog some spotlight, or is this some kind of Blues thing I just don't get), but it was an impressive performance.

5. Katy Perry "Not Like the Movies/Teenage Dream". This is a performance that won't really be remembered, as it wasn't anything too groundbreaking or new. She just sounded great, she stepped up her game a lot for The Grammys. And the wedding footage is also adorable.

2011 Grammy Nominations -- Winner Predictions!

2011-02-13T14:02:00.000-08:00

This Sunday night, The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards will take place. And who's going to emerge the big winner is anybody's guess. In fact, the nominees are spread so evenly there might not be any clear winner -- Although I'm looking at Eminem and Lady Antebellum to come out on top.

What we do know right now is who's performing, and with Mick Jagger, Barbra Streisand & Bob Dylan taking the stage, it looks like the history of Popular Music might be a focal point. Still there are those current acts to look forward to, Lady GaGa who is set to perform her newest single live for the first time. Rihanna and Drake are set to perform together, as well as Eminem and Dr. Dre and of course Justin Bieber will be there for the little girls watching. And get your ears ready for the Over-Sing-Fest of Jennifer Hudson and Christina Aguilera doing an Aretha Franklin tribute. We can probably expect minimal mentions of the late Teena Marie, and a bunch of overrated artists performing their overrated songs.

As I do every year, I'm gonna take a stab at predicting these quite odd Grammy's. (I'm late!)

Record of the Year.
B.o.B. & Bruno Mars, Nothin' on You
Eminem & Rihanna, Love the Way You Lie
Cee-Lo Green, F**k You
Jay-Z & Alicia Keys, Empire State of Mind
Lady Antebellum, Need You Now

Looks like the domestic abuse anthem is the favorite, so that's one for Eminem. He will probably pick up alot of awards Grammy night, and this song was really popular. However in a race dominated by Hip Hop acts, Lady Antebellum also has a really great shot at picking this one up, and their song was also a pretty big hit for a Country group. It's a toss up, but I think Lady Antebellum might just come out on top here.

Will Win: Lady Antebellum.
Should Win: Jay-Z. Empire State of Mind instantly captured the hearts of people in every city and became Jay's biggest hit and first #1 single. He won't have many chances to win for this song, but this future classic deserves to get a Top 4 Honor.

Album of the Year.
Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
Eminem, Recovery
Lady Antebellum, Need You Now
Lady GaGa, The Fame Monster
Katy Perry, Teenage Dream

A slightly better race than last year, save for the GaGa EP being nominated. The ones I think should be taken off the list are probably the ones that have the biggest shot. Lady GaGa and Eminem. Still, Arcade Fire and Lady Antebellum have an equally good chance. The only drawback with Arcade Fire is that Indie acts hardly ever win this award. Country acts rarely do either, but Taylor Swift pulled the surprise win last year. It's really between Eminem and Lady Antebellum, and Eminem is the one who's been in the industry the longest so he might get the "legend" win here.

Will Win: Eminem
Should Win: Arcade Fire. It would be nice if the Grammy's showed they could be ahead of the curve for once, awarding an Indie act would do that. Arcade Fire have continued to be one of the most critically acclaimed act of the Indie scene, which is quickly beginning to surface on the mainstream.

Song of the Year.
Ray LaMontagne and The Pariah Dogs, Beg Steal or Borrow
Cee-Lo Green, F**k You
Miranda Lambert, The House That Built Me
Eminem & Rihanna, Love the Way You Lie
Lady Antebellum, Need You Now

This is a race between the country songs, with both Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum coming out in front. Both of their nominated songs are lyrically deserving of the title, however Lady Antebellum probably has the edge because the message in "Need You Now" is more universal, and the song is also a little more Pop-leaning. If the two country acts cancel each other out, Eminem might get yet another win.

Will Win: Lady Antebellum.
Should: Lady Antebellum. It's really a great, simple, catchy and relatable song. It would deserve any prize it got.

New Artist.
Justin Bieber
Drake
Florence and the Machine
Mumford and Sons
Esperanza Spalding

Drake might seem like the favorite here, but this race will probably result in a big surprise. And I feel like Mumford & Sons will take the trophy. It was a surprise this 4 piece band was even nominated, but along with a critically hailed album and the buzz from their live shows, they might just take the crown. Drake and Bieber are fall backs if not enough voters know who Mumford & Sons are. Still I feel they might pull the upset here.

Will Win: Mumford & Sons.
Should Win: Drake.

Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Sara Bareilles, King of Anything
Beyonce, Halo (live)
Norah Jones, Chasing Pirates
Lady GaGa, Bad Romance
Katy Perry, Teenage Dream

The Grammy voters are obviously in love with Lady GaGa so she'll probably take it, and why not, her vocals on "Bad Romance" were some of the high points of the song. This could be an interesting race though because Norah Jones is another Grammy favorite, and Katy Perry has a good chance of being the winning underdog.GaGa and her song were staples of last year though so she should probably get it.

Will Win: Lady GaGa.
Should Win: Lady GaGa.

Male Pop Vocal Performance.
Michael Buble, Haven't Met You Yet
Michael Jackson, This Is It
Adam Lambert, Whataya Want From Me
Bruno Mars, Just the Way You Are
John Mayer, Half of My Heart

With 6 nominations already, it seems the Grammy voters are falling for Bruno Mars fast, so he'll probably get this one. Even though Adam Lambert is the one that truly deserves it. Michael Jackson might get the sympathy votes however, but who knew "This is It" was even a song. John Mayer has also been a Grammy favorite in the past, but that was before the serial-celeb dating and questionable public comments. Michael Buble had a hit with "Haven't Met You Yet", and since he's up against Barbra Streisand and Barry Manilow in the other category he's nominated for, he might get this one. This is actually a hard race to predict.

Will: Bruno Mars.
Should: Adam Lambert.

Group Pop Vocal Performance.
Glee Cast, Don't Stop Believin'
Maroon 5, Misery
Paramore, The Only Exception
Sade, Babyfather
Train, Hey, Soul Sister (live)

Will the love for the TV show "Glee" translate over to the Grammy's? It looks like highly possible. The biggest competition comes from Train with their huge hit single "Hey, Soul Sister", and maybe since it's actual music insiders voting they'll go with the well respected band as opposed to the manufactured television show cast.

Will: Glee Cast.
Should: Maroon 5.

Pop Vocal Collaboration.
B.o.B., Hayley Williams & Eminem, Airplanes Part II
Herbie Hancock, Pink, India.Arie, Seal, Konono No 1, Jeff Beck & Oumou Sangare, Imagine
Elton John & Leon Russell, If It Wasn't for Bad
Lady GaGa & Beyonce, Telephone
Katy Perry & Snoop Dogg, California Gurls

Seems like GaGa and Beyonce are the favorites in this race, there is a question mark though. You have Elton John there with Leon Russell, and since Katy might not grab too many of the awards she's up for she might take this one. Also the Eminem connection might help B.o.B. Still, Lady GaGa and Beyonce are obvious Grammy favorites so I think this win is a bit of a sure thing.

Will: Lady GaGa & Beyonce.
Should: Lady GaGa & Beyonce.

Pop Vocal Album.
Justin Bieber, My World 2.0
Susan Boyle, I Dreamed a Dream
Lady GaGa, The Fame Monster
John Mayer, Battle Studies
Katy Perry, Teenage Dream

Even though it's only 8 tracks it's up for Lady GaGa is up frikkin ALBUM OF THE YEAR!! It's gotta win this one if they thought highly enough to nominate it for the top prize. Slight competition may come from John Mayer and Katy Perry, but Lady GaGa is on fire and I don't think either of them have enough power to take her down here.

Will Win.: Lady GaGa.
Should Win: Katy Perry.

Solo Rock Performance.
Eric Clapton, Run Back to Your Side
John Mayer, Crossroads
Paul McCartney, Helter Skelter
Robert Plant, Silver Rider
Neil Young, Angry World

This is the battle of the old fogeys versus John Mayer. All the four guys are legends, so Mayer can basically kiss his chances goodbye. The two favorites being Neil Young and Paul McCartney. With Beatle mania happening again this year, and this performance coming from the nationally televised concert special, McCartney has a good chance of taking it. Still Neil Young is the only nominee here (besides Mayer) nominated for his entire album this year. If he doesn't win this one, he'll take Rock Album. Which will than leave it open for Paul.

Will: Paul McCartney.
Should: Paul McCartney.

Group Rock Performance.
Arcade Fire, Ready To Start
Jeff Beck & Joss Stone, I Put a Spell on You
The Black Keys, Tighten Up
Kings of Leon, Radioactive
Muse, Resistance

Kings of Leon had the best vocal of the nominated song, and they should win. Doing so great last year might hurt them this year. Which would leave the race open to the Black Keys, Arcade Fire and Muse. Muse had the biggest hit single with their nominated single, The Black Keys' song was an underground and commercial favorite, and Arcade Fire seems to be the Grammy favorite of the three. I think Muse's hit-factor might give them this win.

Will Win: Muse.
Should Win: Kings of Leon.

Alternative Album.
Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
Band of Horses, Infinite Arms
The Black Keys, Brothers
Broken Bells, Broken Bells
Vampire Weekend, Contra

This one obviously goes to Arcade Fire, who have won this award with every previous album. Now that they are also up for the big Album prize, it's a no-brainer they will take this one again.

Will Win: Arcade Fire.
Should Win: Broken Bells.

R&B Album.
Raheem DeVaughn, The Love & War Masterpiece
Fantasia, Back to Me
Jaheim, Another Round
John Legend & The Roots, Wake Up!
Monica, Still Standing

Another very easy race, John Legend & The Roots pulled together an organic and instantly classic album by paying homage to the songs and album of R&B's greatest era. Slight competition comes from the sympathy vote which might go to Fantasia. However individually John Legend and The Roots have won a few Grammys already, teaming up looks like a winning idea.

Will Win: John Legend & The Roots.
Should Win: John Legend & The Roots.

Solo Rap Performance.
Drake, Over
Eminem, Not Afraid
Ludacris, How Low
T.I., I'm Back
Kanye West, Power

Eminem may just sweep all the Rap categories, but I don't think after such a critically acclaimed album on their brain that the Grammy voters will skip a chance to give Kanye an award this year. Drake also has a chance here, but I think it's definitely between Em and Kanye. And since Eminem has so many chances to win this year, Kanye will probably get it.

Will Win: Kanye West.
Should Win: Kanye West.

Duo or Group Rap Performance.
Big Boi, Bosko, Cutty & Mouche, Shutterbug
Drake, T.I. & Swizz Beatz, Fancy
Jay-Z & Swizz Beatz, On To the Next One
Ludacris & Nicki Minaj, My Chick Bad
Young Jeezy & Plies, Lose My Mind

Ludacris has the best shot because voters are going to want to give Nicki Minaj her first Grammy this year, this is the only category she's up for tonight and the competition here isn't that difficult to beat.

Will Win: Ludcaris & Nicki Minaj.
Should Win: Ludacris & Nicki Minaj.

Rap/Sung Collaboration.
B.o.B. & Bruno Mars, Nothin' On You
Chris Brown, Tyga & Kevin McCall, Deuces
Eminem & Rihanna, Love the Way You Lie
Jay-Z & Alicia Keys, Empire State of Mind
John Legend, The Roots, Melanie Fiona & Common, Wake Up Everybody

Empire State of Mind and Love the Way You Lie look like the favorites here, both big hit singles from very popular Hip Hop acts. Don't count out the John Legend & Roots collaboration here who might just pull the upset. These Rap categories are hard to call, because with so many top names nominated who knows if the voters will go Eminem for everything or if they want to diversify their picks.

Will Win: Jay-Z & Alicia Keys. Ultimately I think this may be the one award they give Jay.
Should Win: Jay-Z & Alicia Keys. It deserves every award it's nominated for.

Rap Album.
B.o.B., The Adventures of Bobby Ray
Drake, Thank Me Later
Eminem, Recovery
Jay-Z, The Blueprint 3
The Roots, How I Got Over

Eminem definitely, even though his was the lesser album of them all, with his track record there's no way he could lose this one this year.

Will Win: Eminem.
Should Win: Jay-Z. His best album in years, which helped him get the biggest hit singles of his career. It's just sad to think he might walk home empty handed.

Producer of the Year.
Rob Cavallo
Danger Mouse
Dr. Luke
RedOne
The Smeezingtons

RedOne or Dr. Luke might sadly take this award simply for their volume of work this year, and it won't be about quality at all. (And why haven't Stargate been nominated here?). Danger Mouse deserves it, but his albums weren't as high-profile as those of the aforementioned producers. The Smeezingtons, relatively new, produced some of the top nominated songs this year, so they are the underdogs, and I'd much rather see them win. But it's gonna be either Dr. Luke or RedOne, with the latter being the favorite for their GaGa connection.

Will Win: RedOne.
Should Win: Danger Mouse.

Okay there you have it, I'm so sorry I'm so late. I think as I'm about to post this nominees are being announced. Forgive any sloppiness and the lack of visuals, I was racing to finish this.

Enjoy!

Discography Review: Prince (1978-1982)

2011-02-07T15:50:00.000-08:00

I want to introduce something that I've been meaning to start since I began this blog. I listen to a lot of older music to get perspective on the music industry and music itself, and I thought it would be fun to do a Discography Review of different artists that I'm into, or learning more about. To start, I want to talk about an artist I'm well-versed in, Prince. I come from a family of Prince fans, and I was born in the 80's so he was an ever present artist throughout my whole life. Thus the reasoning for him topping my All Time Favorite Artists list. When I was in my early 20's I sort of re-discovered the genius and timeless-ness of his music, especially in his early work which is what this post is mainly about. His first 5 years in the industry and what he managed to do in the span of just 5 albums.

Prince's debut album "For You" from 1978 has always been regarded as the lesser early Prince album, so I really never heard it, until this weekend. Thanks Youtube! The album shows quick glimpses of the magnitude of music knowledge he possesses, but really only scratched the surface. Largely coming off as a radio accessible Disco/Funk/R&B album, it works as just that. He sings about love throughout, over both uptempo numbers and slower styled ballads, however it's still not the typical album of that era. The extended Funk of "Just as Long as We're Together", and the sexy Disco/R&B hit "Soft and Wet" show there is definitely enough on the album to keep you entertained and dancing. Even the more laid back R&B and acoustic bits like "Crazy You" and "Baby" are nice calming moments in between the uptempo. He closes out with a bit more of a Rock edge on "I'm Yours" to show some of the versatility that would emerge later in his career. And like all of his following albums, he wrote produced and arranged everything on here, giving a hint of the musical genius he has. Not a great album, or anywhere near his best, the album is a fun time capsule of the popular styling of black music at the time. And a modest beginning to an amazing career.

Rating: 3 Stars
Best: In Love, Soft and Wet, Just as Long as We're Together

"Prince", released in 1979, follows the same general pattern as the debut, just slightly amped up.Still singing largely about love, and still a commercially acceptable album, he does experiment with his musical arrangements and his vocals to make this effort a little stronger than the previous. This album is heavy on the R&B/Disco/Funk sound but takes more risks here and there as opposed to his debut, like the extended synth play on the hit single "I Wanna Be Your Lover" or the seamless mix of R&B and Rock on "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?". Lyrically he gets more flirtatious as well with "Sexy Dancer" his extended Disco ode to strippers. Even this albums ballads are a step up from the previous, with "Still Waiting" and "It's Gonna Be Lonely" being really beautiful and well-written. This still isn't the Prince that the world has come to love, but it's definitely an improvement.

Rating: 3.5 Stars
Best: I Wanna Be Your Lover, Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?, Sexy Dancer

In 1980, Prince switched up his whole style and that's both music and image wise. No longer the perfectly coiffed hippie child, he transformed his style into a grungy sex-thing. And the music on the accompanying album "Dirty Mind" is the perfect match. From his gritty vocals, to the distorted and sometimes washed-out sounding production, this third album is definitely meant to feel more Underground and rebellious than his previous two albums. The entire vibe of the album makes the listener feel like they are having a night hanging out with the Underground Minneapolis Music scene. A group of people with no racial or sexual boundaries who's only goal is "being free" as he sings on the Funk cut "Uptown". The most groundbreaking thing about the album is that Prince totally blurs the genre line here, incorporating not only R&B and Funk but also relying heavily on Rock and Punk influences. The sounds are all mixed into one on nearly all the tracks starting with the title track. Freedom and no judgment is a big theme here, but also different sexual perversions get most of the attention. He talks about both incest and prostitution on the salacious Punk number "Sister", and orally pleasing a soon to be married woman on the Funky "Head". His lyrics on this album get even more clever as he talks about the woman who "let all my friends come over and eat" on the Classic "When You Were Mine", talking about a cheating and not very discreet girlfriend ("you didn't have the decency to change the sheets"). "Dirty Mind" is easily the most cohesive album by Prince thus far and the riskiest as well. The risk paid off though because it showed the music world his versatility in production and his playfulness in songwriting and vocals. Easily one of his all-time best.

Rating: 4.5 Stars
Best: Dirty Mind, When You Were Mine, Uptown

Following with the theme of a world of freedom and no judgment talked about in "Dirty Mind", Prince gets a little more political on 1981's "Controversy". He makes a call for a "new breed" to erase stereotypes and racial and sexual boundaries on the stellar club cut "Sexuality" and when he's not asking this "new breed" to "stand up, organize", he's addressing the than powers that be in the quick Punk-ish song "Ronnie Talk to Russia" and talking specifically about social concerns on the haunting "Annie Christian". Still Prince knows how to have fun, and that's evidenced in the Pop-y "Private Joy" and his sexual libido is still present on the cleverly flirty "Jack U Off" and the slow burner "Do Me Baby" which is the first in a long line of Bedroom anthems. The sound is a little more polished on this outing, but still mixes all types of genres and shows his early work playing with his drum machine that would come to define his sound later in his career.

Rating: 4 Stars
Best: Controversy, Private Joy, Jack U Off

Prince had shown us his versatility on his previous albums, but the musical genius and forward-thinker he was is on full display on his 1982 double album "1999", which was his first universally acclaimed opus and the catalyst to his mainstream crossover. And this all came from him being at his riskiest and most experimental time, probably the riskiest of his entire career. This album is a true culmination of all the great things that were displayed on his first 4 albums, but elevated even higher. His great songwriting, his production skills, his vocal play, all of these things are at their best here. Even the vibe and concept of the album is strongly felt, it is set in a world that's nearing it's end, and the tone of the music, lyrics and vocal delivery is very frantic like he's attempting to get out so many thoughts and emotions in the fastest time available. The album deals with a variety of topics, from liberation on "1999" "D.M.S.R." and the lush "Free", to heartbreak on "Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)" and the classic hit single "Little Red Corvette".
These are all laid over very futuristic New Wave inspired beats courtesy of the aforementioned drum machine that he utilizes throughout the album. Though that's not to say that he ditches his traditional instruments, as there are plenty of great guitar solos and musicianship displayed aside from the electronics. Lyrically and Vocally Prince pushes himself further than ever before, the devastation of seeing "pictures of the jockeys that were there before me" on "Little Red Corvette" is felt as well as the agony on "Something in the Water" that results in him screeching out of emotion near the end. Some might argue that the album is a little over long, but in my opinion that is not the case as nothing on the album would really constitute as filler. And the thing that makes this his first true Classic Album is that 29 years later, each and every song could be played alongside any current hit and still sound futuristic and groundbreaking. This album has truly stood the test of time and is my personal favorite of his.

Rating: 5 Stars
Best: Little Red Corvette, Something in the Water (Does Not Compute), Lady Cab Driver

2011 Grammy Nominations -- Reaction!

2011-02-04T15:56:00.000-08:00

Now, you may not know that I posted my Grammy Prediction Blog literally 45 minutes before the nominations were announced. I was on Twitter and Grammy.com's Live blog getting the announcements of who was nominated and who was snubbed. The reaction I had when the full list of nominations was finally available on the Grammy website was WTF!? Literally.

I'm not mad, not even all that surprised, just a little confused. Like last year, when GaGa, Beyoncé, Black Eyed Peas and Taylor Swift were up for Album of the Year it just felt like the Grammy voters were choosing the most popular and best selling artists. This year with the Big 4 including a diverse group of artists like Cee-Lo Green, Ray Lamontagne, Katy Perry and Bruno Mars it's not clear what the Grammy voters were thinking. I'll pick the nominees apart in another post, but let's first talk about how I was pretty spot on predicting which artists would be nominated, just not too spot on with the actual categories they'd be nominated for.

Of course Eminem was the King of nominations scoring 11. He got the Album, Single and Record of the Year nods I predicted and 6 of his nominations are in the Hip Hop category (competing against himself in two of those categories) which I also predicted. The remaining two nods are for Short Form Music Video for "Love the Way You Lie" (really???) and for his feature work in "Airplanes Part II" by B.o.B. Unfortunately he is really the only Hip Hop artist to dominate the Big 4 categories this year, so that goes against my earlier prediction that Drake, Jay-Z and the aforementioned B.o.B. would be big contenders. Jay-Z only nabbed a Record of the Year nomination for his "Empire State of Mind" with Alicia Keys, same story for B.o.B. who finds himself in the same category with "Nothing On You" with Bruno Mars. And Drake's only Big 4 nomination comes in the form of Best New Artist, in fact, despite having one of the best albums of the year Drake is only up for 4 total awards.

Lady GaGa ended up being a nominations leader again this year, and given the artists that were snubbed for Album of the Year (Jay-Z, Drake, Robyn, Sade, Rihanna, Janelle Monáe) it's really upsetting that her 8 track EP "The Fame Monster" is actually up for that category. That undeserved nomination brings this years total to 6 nominations, though she missed out on Song and Record of the Year "Bad Romance", "Telephone" and oddly enough "Dance in the Dark" are up for multiple nominations. Katy Perry also ended up doing better than I thought, as she did grab a nomination for Album of the Year even when I said it probably wouldn't happen. Her "Teenage Dream" album helped to score her 4 nominations, not in the Song of the Year or Record of the Year category, but I was correct about the title track nabbing Pop Vocal Performance and "California Gurls" up for Pop Collaboration.

Country group Lady Antebellum also did well for themselves as I predicted. They pulled 6 total nominations, 3 coming from the Big 4 categories Album of the Year, Record and Song of the Year for "Need You Now", all of which I accurately predicted. Of the most nominated acts this year, the only one who surprised me was Bruno Mars who is also competing in 6 categories. His debut album "Doo-Wops and Hooligans" missed the cut-off for this year, but his singles feature work and writing made him a leading competitor. Another big surprise, the song he wrote for Cee-Lo Green "F**k You" (or "Forget You" the censored, radio friendly version) is up for both Song and Record of the Year.

And since I'm giving my honest reactions, maybe that song didn't deserve it's nods. It's a fun song, but it didn't make too many waves on the charts so I'm really surprised it's up for such high honors.

Arcade Fire did score a nod for Album of the Year as I predicted for "The Suburbs", but weren't nominee leaders this year with only two other nominations. Another big surprise is the virtual snubbing of Sade, who only scored two nominations Pop Vocal, Group ("Babyfather") and R&B Vocal, Group ("Soldier of Love"). Maybe it's because their album was released so early in the year, voters forgot about them, but it was really a shock to see them only in two categories (however, looking back, they've never been nominee leaders, generally only getting one nomination per album).

Most of the other acts I mentioned as shoe-in's in my Nominee Prediction post were named. Vampire Weekend, The Black Keys, Ludacris, Gorillaz, Young Jeezy, Nicki Minaj, Train and Janelle Monae are all up for at least one award.

And even some picks from my "For Your Consideration" portion are up. Very pleased by the nominations for Broken Bells, Robyn, Maroon 5, Big Boi, and Adam Lambert. And I was very pleased to see John Legend and The Roots' collaboration album "Wake Up" nominated in 5 categories, but the homage to the old school of R&B isn't really a surprising choice.

Which leads to what I think are the biggest snubs. Actually, most of the artists I wanted to be nominated got at least one. However I feel a lot of them were shortchanged in categories they were more deserving of. For instance, Jay-Z and Drake should have definitely been up for Album of the Year. Katy Perry, who maybe got more than she deserves as far as nominations, should have gotten more love for her excellent pop Single "Teenage Dream". And even though I personally like "Nothin on You" more than "Airplanes" by B.O.B., I feel like the latter is way more Grammy friendly and a great convergence of Hip Hop meets Rock with Hayley Williams on board.

Rihanna scored 4 nominations, 3 coming from Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie" (the other for Dance Single "Only Girl (In the World)") but to see zero nominations for her superior "Rated R" album, and none for her deliciously pop single "Rude Boy" is surprising. Another great Pop single that was snubbed was Neon Trees' "Animal", which should have at least been up for Pop Vocal, Group if not more.

I also feel that Christina Aguilera should have been up for something, if only Pop Vocal, Female for her second single "You Lost Me" over Beyoncé's live rendition of "Halo" (which she won Pop Vocal, Female for last year).

Two terrible omissions came in the R&B category where Fantasia and Monica's subpar albums are nominated instead of Erykah Badu's "New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)" and Toni Braxton's "Pulse". And while Janelle Monáe scored two nominations, she was probably the biggest snub in the New Artist category (Justin Bieber got nominated over her). I'm also really surprised that Trey Songz is not up for anything this year, and especially not for his addictive single with Nicki Minaj (who also I was surprised only scored one nomination after more than a dozen collaborations the past year) "Bottoms Up".

And finally in the Dance categories, which is relegated to two categories (Dance Recording and Electronic/Dance Album) and only 10 spots, Kelly Rowland should have definitely knocked one of them out for Dance Recording with probably the best true Dance single of 2010 "Commander", while Kelis switched up her whole style on the stellar Dance album "Flesh Tone". Also it was very strange to not see one of the most critically acclaimed Electronic albums LCD Soundsystem's "This is Happening" not up for anything.

So those are my very overdue reactions, and sometime next week (before my Birthday on Thursday) I'll post my Predictions for Winners as the Grammy's are just 9 days away.

OverDue Revue! M83 "Saturdays = Youth"

2011-02-04T12:02:00.000-08:00

Here's something new, there are loads of albums that I end up downloading that are years old so I have felt posting a review would be pointless. But hey, why not give my readers an overview of everything I listen to and not just the new stuff. So I'm gonna start my "Overdue Revue" section and start it off with M83.

M83 is a French Electronic group headed by Anthony Gonzalez, and "Saturdays = Youth" is their 5th album released in 2008. I'm not exactly sure how I was turned on to this album (I think maybe just scrolling through iTunes), but I'm really glad I found it. The album overall is one of the best tributes to 80's Pop and New Wave sounds, the group M83 are known as a "shoegazing" or "nu-gaze" group, and this style of distorted vocals and reverb effects is best evidenced on M83's first four albums which are largely instrumentals. They are great background music, but the light and moody sounds all kind of blended into each other. On "Saturdays = Youth" there is a bigger focus on the vocals and making "single" ready songs, which works much better as an album. While songs like "You, Appearing" "Coleurs" and "Highway of Endless Dreams" are reminiscent of the tracks on their previous albums, songs like "Skin of the Night" and "We Own The Sky" (two great stand outs) are a more subtle transition into a new style, with vocals added to very ambient electronic sounds -- almost sounding like an Electronica version of Enya.

Than there are songs like "Kim and Jessie" "Graveyard Girl" and "Up!" that are undeniably catchy, and rival some of the best New Wave Pop cuts of the 80's, reminding the listener of acts like Human League, Tears for Fears and a lighter styled Depeche Mode. However the album still retains it's own uniqueness even in paying homage to that decade. The songs have a lot more emotion in the production by Ken Thomas than even those 80's songs, thus succeeding in paying tribute to the vibe of that era while still bringing something new and not sounding like a lazy copy cat of the sound.

The album overall is a great listen, there are the moody songs mixed in with the more uptempo tracks, but it all feels like very complicated yet natural production.

Rating: 4 Stars
Best: "Kim and Jessie" "You, Appearing" "We Own The Sky"

Album Review: Kid Cudi

2011-01-10T16:38:00.000-08:00

Kid Cudi is an impressive and unique Music personality, even if his music isn't really all that interesting itself. His sophomore album "Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager" is captivating not necessarily because of the tracks or the lyrics, but the simple fact that Cudi seems to be the Anti-Hip Hop MC.

In so many different ways he goes against the trends of Rap and even Pop music and seemingly does his own thing. The album does play like a continuation on the experimental debut "Man on the Moon: The End of the Day", but goes deeper into Indie and Rock inspirations. There's almost nothing about this album that is similar to any other Hip Hop album to be honest, even the two tracks that are the most Hip Hop "Wild'n Cuz I'm Young" and "The End" have more Alternative and Electronic sounds that set them apart.

The rest of the album is definitley NOT a Hip Hop album, but is something different altogether (though not necessarily a new sound). On the album stand out "All Along", and the first single (which seems obviously inspired by Weezer) "Erase Me", find Cudi more or less singing like an Alt-Rock star. Songs like "Mr. Rager" "Maniac" "Revofev" and "The Mood" are also very diverse and different in sound.

The only problem with the album, with over an hour of music some of the songs tend to blend into each other. The gloomy vibe of the songs and their lyrics end up being a little muddled if listened to back to back. Throughout the album, Cudi's lyrics seem to describe a star who still feels unfulfilled. That can be very annoying when every song is about that, but singling the songs out you will find some of the better produced pieces of music from 2010.

Kid Cudi, as interesting as he is, still has a long way to go however. This album is satisfying, but nothing near groundbreaking. And unfortunately the album will most likely be forgotten (it kind of already has been) without any really solid radio staples to help with promotion. It ends up sounding like Indie-Rap, and that might be a good lane for Cudi to try to conquer.

Rating: 3.5 Stars
Best: All Along, Mr. Rager, Maniac

Year In Music, 2010

2011-01-01T20:44:00.000-08:00

Honestly, 2010 wasn't such a horrible year in Music.Of course alot of the best stuff went under the radar, but even some of the more successful Pop stuff was surprisingly good and inventive. Here is my fairly positive assessment of the Year in Music for 2010, and hopes for 2011.

== Artist of the Year ==

1. Young Money -- Drake, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne knew he was going to be gone (till November as he said on Drake's "Miss Me"), but in order to keep getting his money he formed the Young Money mafia and groomed two of the biggest Hip Hop stars of the Year. Even before Drake and Nicki Minaj took off with impressive numbers for their debut albums, the Young Money clique had the biggest Hip Hop hit of the year with "Bed Rock" (because let's be real "Love the Way You Lie" is a POP song) and a solid selling and actually surprisingly good self titled album. Drake, who was buzzed about all last year, started things off with two huge summer singles and over 500k in first week sales of his debut "Thank Me Later". All the while Nicki Minaj was making a big name for herself being featured on most of the bigger releases of the year (Usher, Christina Aguilera, Ludacris). She's ending the year with her debut album "Pink Friday" selling nearly a million copies in a little over a month and quickly becoming a household name. Once Wayne himself got out of prison, he was already sitting with another #1 by releasing an EP "I Am Not a Human Being". Proof that when his next full length album comes out he's going to be a force to reckoned with. Now if only anybody could remember the names of the other Young Money crew members, we'll see how things works out for them next year, if at all.

2. Katy Perry
3. Eminem
4. Lady GaGa
5. Kanye West

== Artists who Deserves More Shine==

1. Robyn
The swedish Electro Queen delivers both radio accessible Dance hits, as well as authentic and original Electronic music. There's no reason why "Hang with Me" or "Stars 4 Ever" couldn't be huge stateside, but it's possible that her sound and lyrics are watered down and simple enough, sad really.

2. Janelle Monáe
Her full length debut album "TheArchAndroid" shows an artist who loves music and it's history and doesn't so much care for what's popular, but incorporating different sounds and making interesting music. Of course radio would shun her, but critics (namely those who vote for the Grammys) should be fawning all over her. There's still a shot she will emerge and be more widely respected for her talents.

3. Mr Hudson
His 2009 UK release "Straight No Chaser" is still one of my favorite albums in recent years, and I was hoping his guest appearance on Jay-Z's hit single "Young Forever" would amp up his promotion in the US. Somehow he's been forgotten again, maybe he'll just have to settle for moderate success though he should be huge.

==FAIL of the Year Award==

Lil Kim
When Rihanna first came out it was clear her label was molding her to be the new Beyonce in style, but Beyonce had only glowing things to say about her because obviously she was an inspiration to the than new artist. When Drake came out his style of the non-posing Hip Hop rapper was similar to Kanye's early work, and Kanye never publicly demanded Drake pay his respects to him, he actually worked with him. Simply because both those artists are established and aren't threatened by any newbies. Unfortunately Lil Kim obviously felt threatened by up and coming Hip Hop star Nicki Minaj which brings us to the biggest FAIL of the year.
Kim's first initial argument about Nicki was a FAIL because when she asked her to "pay homage", Nicki had already done so in interviews and photo shoots. When Nicki said nothing against the Queen Bee, Kim just kept at it doing various radio interviews carrying on the beef in the media but never putting her thoughts on wax, which is how these Rap Beefs usually work. So when Nicki finally responded on "Roman's Revenge" which was released shortly before her "Pink Friday" album dropped, and a radio interview with Angie Martinez showed Nicki being logical, intelligent and even still paying respects to Kim. Than Kim desperately put together a lackluster response "Black Friday" which showed exactly why Nicki has taken her spot, her flow and delivery were boring and the lyrics weren't very clever at all. And even worse, most of the things Kim uses to call Nicki out apply to her and her early career (the "buffoon" remarks, and the idea that Nicki slept her way to the top when we all know that's Kim's story) or were flat out delusional ("still running the game" -- REALLY????). In the end "Pink Friday" is doing better than any Kim album already, and Nicki's more mature approach to this "beef" will make her the winner in the long run.

==Nicki Minaj Feature Verse of the Year==

1. Kanye West "Monster"
2. Diddy Dirty Money "Hello Good Morning Remix"
3. Trey Songz "Bottoms Up"
4. Gyptian "Hold Yuh Remix"
5. Ludacris "My Chick Bad"
6. Lil Wayne "Knockout"
7. Young Money "Roger That"

8. DJ Khaled "All I Do Is Win Remix"
9. Jason Derulo "In My Head
10. Sean Garrett "Get It All"

==New Artist of the Year==

1. Nicki Minaj

2. Surfer Blood
3. Justin Bieber

4. J Cole
5. Bruno Mars

==Biggest Disappointments of the Year==

While none of these three albums are complete garbage, given the caliber of artists behind the releases most have high expectations, and all of these albums just fell short.

1. M.I.A. "/\/\/\Y/\"
2. Daft Punk "Tron"
3. Christina Aguilera "Bionic"

==Album of the Year==

Picking the #1 album was difficult for me this year, and even as this is posted I'll probably still have second thoughts about it. It's definitely between two Hip Hop albums Drake's "Thank Me Later" and Kanye West's "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy".

Drake "Thank Me Later"
Why it deserves the #1 spot: Drake's album is perfectly cohesive, the tone and the style of each song blends effortlessly into the next. Even in concept the album tells the story of a man with dreams and watching his dreams come true. The ease at which he transitions from rapping to singing is also new and different and feels totally natural. And it also feels a little more relate-able to the listeners, and another genius thing each and every song has a verse for hardcore Hip Hop fans and one for his female listeners. A clever, complex, carefree album.
Why it should be #2:The drawback to giving this the #1 spot is, even though it takes a few risks with extended verses and the overall ambient feel of the album, it's still very much a mainstream accessible album (thus the pandering to different sets of fans mentioned above).

Kanye West "My Beautiful Dark and Twisted Fantasy"
Why it deserves the #1 spot: "My Beautiful Dark and Twisted Fantasy" is definitely Kanye's peak thus far, and he's been a genius his whole career. The albums strength is that it embodies the different styles Kanye has mastered on his previous four albums, but elevates them and mixes them with classic instrumentation and sounds of rock, alternative, hip hop and R&B. Because of all the mixing the album could have gone terribly wrong, but it manages to never sound forced or overproduced. It just all feels perfect, and is truly a Hip Hop masterpiece because of all the elements working perfectly together.
Why it should be #2:There's honestly a lot of clever word play here and he tackles some really deep and important issues. However the main selling point of Drake's album is that it was cohesive in theme, it felt like a story. Kanye's "Dark and Twisted Fantasy" while very cohesive as far as the musical arrangements and feel, is not so much cohesive in theme, there's really no story there just random thoughts.Which I suppose is what a "Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" would feel like.

I'm going to give the #1 , pretty predictably since it's the best reviewed album of the year, to Kanye. Both albums feel really classic, and though I instantly fell in love with "Thank Me Later" and still love it to this day, Kanye feels more like a piece of art, like his short video for "Power", so much thought and work and creativity went into it feels more like a Masterpiece.

1. Kanye West "My Beautiful Dark and Twisted Fantasy"
2. Drake "Thank Me Later"
3. Broken Bells "Broken Bells"
4. John Legend & The Roots "Wake Up!"
5. Robyn "Body Talk"

6. Surfer Blood "Astro Coast"
7. Rihanna "Loud"
8. Janelle Monáe "TheArchAndroid"

9. Erykah Badu "New Amerykah"

10. Toni Braxton "Pulse"

==Single of the Year==

1. Katy Perry "Teenage Dream"
2. Kanye West featuring Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross and Bon Iver "Monster"
3. Rihanna featuring Drake "Whats My Name?"
4. Drake "Find Your Love"
5. B.o.B. featuring Bruno Mars "Nothin on You"

6. Toni Braxton "Hands Tied"
7. Robyn "Dancing on my Own"
8. Sade "Soldier of Love"
8. Black Eyed Peas "Imma Be"
9. Neon Trees "Animal"

10. Kelly Rowland "Commander"

==Guilty Pleasures of the Year==

1. Ke$ha
She also gets my ==I Was Wrong Award== because last year, when I hadn't even heard "Tik Tok" in it's entirety, I predicted the minimal talents of Ke$ha would wear thin once that song had faded out. Dam I was wrong, not that she became a real force to be reckoned with in the industry (her album releases and re-releases continue to flop -- and her live performances are sub par to put it nicely), but she was able to get a few more hits using her auto-tuned, generic yet catchy songs. She became my #1 Guilty Pleasure late in the year, even though most of her songs sound the same and talk about the same stuff, who can deny her singles "Take it Off" "Your Love is My Drug" or "We R Who We R". You hear her songs once and somehow they are stuck in your head. Still, other than catchy hooks and Whiskey references, Ke$ha doesn't offer much else so we'll have to see how things turn for her in 2011.

2. Black Eyed Peas "The Beginning" (Album)
3. Taio Cruz "Dynamite"
4. Trey Songz featuring Nicki Minaj "Bottoms Up"
5. Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris "Baby"

==Youtube Clip of the Year==

1. "Bed Intruder"
I don't think anybody can watch this clip without having "Hide Ya Kids, Hide Ya Wife" or "run and tell dat Homeboy" stuck in their head afterwards. A shameful news clip is remixed into one of the most viewed videos, you wanna say SMH, but than you find yourself singing along and clapping to "We Gon Find You!"

2. Jay-Z and Beyonce performing "Young Forever"
Just too cute for words

3. Nicki Minaj's Angie Martinez Interview

Listening to Nicki Minaj logically talk about whole Lil Kim situation, while still showing respect to one of her inspirations, shows just how immature and petty the older Kim is acting.

==Music Video of the Year==

1. M.I.A. "Born Free"

2. Jay-Z "On to the Next One" (tie) Rihanna "Rock Star 101"

3. Lady GaGa "Alejandro"
4. Ciara "Ride" (tie) "Gimme Dat"
5. Beyoncé "Why Don't You Love Me"
6. Kelis "Acapella"
7. Rihanna "Only Girl (In the World)"
8. Drake featuring Lil Wayne "Miss Me"
9. Lady GaGa and Beyoncé "Telephone"
10. Cee-Lo "F**k You"

==The PLEASE STFU Award==

1. Kanye West
By now, we all know that Kanye West is the most outspoken celebrity of late. And sometimes his outbursts were justified and Needed, but this year coming off his hiatus after the VMA controversy it seems that he didn't learn a thing. He opened up a Twitter account and spouted random thoughts about clothing, traveling and Justin Bieber all leading up to the release of the best reviewed album of the year. And than things just got out of hand, firstly him feeling sorry for his 2005 comments about President Bush (the commander in chiefs apathy during a crisis and a controversy on a cable Awards show are NOT the same thing at all), than the Matt Lauer bust up. He now just comes off as a man who can never be happy about anything unless things are going 100% his way.
Kanye PLEASE STFU!!!! better yet, just put out music and don't do any publicity. Let us appreciate the genius of your music without having your dickhead soundbytes to remind us what you're really like.

==Most Overrated Artist and Album of the Year==

1. Eminem "Recovery"
Look, there's no denying that Eminem can literally give us his worst and it'll be better than most other rappers. He's naturally gifted with a great flow and clever lyricism with his music, my only problem is he's always the SAME Eminem. It never feels like he tries to do anything different, and really why should he when every time he drops an album he gets massive sales. This year, with the help of Rihanna and probably his biggest Pop hit "Love the Way You Lie", he's being hailed for an album that is really lackluster and very undeserving.

2. Bruno Mars "Doo Wops and Hooligans"
3. Monica "Still Standing"

==Most Overrated Single of the Year==

1. Bruno Mars "Just the Way You Are"
2. Eminem featuring Rihanna "Love the Way You Lie"
3. Far East Movement "Like a G6"

==Most Underrated Single of the Year==

1. Kelly Rowland "Commander"

2. Maroon 5 "Misery"

3. Miguel "All I Want Is You"

==Most Underrated Album of the Year==

1. Big Boi "Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty"

2. Toni Braxton "Pulse"

3. Kelis "Flesh Tone"

==Best Career Move==

Jennifer Lopez becoming a judge on "American Idol"
The new judging line up of "American Idol" was a pretty big deal this year, and Jennifer Lopez (who I called out last year) jumped on it. Securing a spot as one of the "esteemed" judging panel for 2011's "American Idol" should prove well for her, she's still a big star and much more so than Paula Abdul when she joined the first season of the show. If she plays her cards right, this could help any future film or music projects for her. The jury is still out on if people will watch without Simon, but I'm sure most are at least intrigued by the new judging panel (which also includes Aerosmith's lead Steven Tyler).

==Worst Career Move==

Chris Brown having a Twitter account
Chris has been hustling this year, trying to get his career back on track. Working on mixtapes and releasing singles and videos left and right even though he has no new album to promote. It's been working, but it seems everytime anybody mentions his "incident" two years ago, he turns into a little child instead of doing the mature thing and not responding. His fans don't seem to mind, but it's not doing him any good in the mainstream eye which is who he needs to get back on his team the most.

==COLOSSAL Flop of the Year==

1. Christina Aguilera "Bionic"

Wow! From every angle you look at it, Christina Aguilera's "Bionic" has to be the biggest flop the pop world has seen in years. And really who is to blame, well let's start with the label RCA. The album feels like one half what Christina actually wanted the sound to be (experimental Indie/Electro on "Elastic Love" and the title track among a few others) and what the label wanted it to be for chart dominance (the dated sounding single "Not Myself Tonight" and annoying pop fodder "I Hate Boys" for example). Those two different directions made the album uneven, but there are a lot of successful albums that are even worse. A lot of her fans blame Perez Hilton for constantly saying her new look was similar to Lady GaGa's, which in a lot of aspects (especially the "Not Myself Tonight" music video) was true -- but acts like Beyonce, Usher and Nicki Minaj get called out for copying other artists and it didn't hurt their sales. Who's next to blame, well the artist herself. From her icy and impersonal interviews, to her classless, over-sung (and partially lipped) MTV Movie Award performance she just didn't seem to make any smart decisions in the promotion. The final result was an album that fell out of the Billboard 200 within months, and a first single that couldn't even pass the Top 20 mark with her follow up singles lingering in the bottom half of the Hot 100 (if at all).
Christina did end the year on a bit of a high note. Her acting debut "Burlesque" wasn't a box office smash, but wasn't a complete Flop and it ended up getting a few Golden Globe nominations, including one for a song she wrote for the soundtrack. Here's hoping Christina follows up quickly and makes some new and unique decisions
about her music and promotion.

2. Ciara

Ciara also gets the ==You Poor Thing Award= because she was the Flop of the Year last year. When she released her new "promo single" "You Got Me (Basic Instincts)" it seemed like she was on the right track because she was singing about what she did wrong in the previous era. Trying to be someone she's not, and she promised to go back to her roots with the next album. Her single and video "Ride" were a step in the right direction, but than things started taking a down turn. BET banned her video (more on that later), and her album was pushed back several times while her songs were being leaked left and right (just like with the Fantasy Ride album). By the time her album did come out of nowhere in December with no promotion, it debuted at #43 with only around 30, 000 copies sold. OUCH!!!!
Her problem is the people behind her, to me it feels like somebody at her label is really out to ruin her career and are sabotaging her at every point. She needs to get away from those people and keep on grinding because she's really capable of being a long lasting R&B artist, but after a while she might just stop trying. Poor Thing.

==Trends that need to END!==

1. The Dance Pop trend.
Please, it's been the popular sound for too many years and now it's just allowing people to be lazy. In both Production, and Lyrics. Compared to true dance music, the tracks are normally a diluted and repetitive generic version of Dance. And lyrically we've gotten to a place where we accept a song titled "Blah Blah Blah". We need something new, and I have a feeling a more Island style is set to take over.

2. Re-Releases.

What used to be a clever marketing tool, is now clearly the proof that we are in a Singles oriented industry and the label heads don't really care about whole albums. Artists might as well just follow Robyn's idea of putting out short EP's every few months, because aside from a few exceptions a Re-Release sort of cheapens the idea of putting together a cohesive full album, when in a few months your just going to scrap together some filler for a Re-Release only intended to promote 1 or 2 new songs.

3. Product Placement in Music Videos.
I understand artists nowadays have to get their money in unique ways, but too many Pop stars this year took the fun out of their videos by making them look too much like commercials. Ke$ha's "We R Wo We R", Lady GaGa's "Telephone" and "Bad Romance" videos, and Christina Aguilera's "Not Myself Tonight" stand out as big abusers of this crime. Hopefully in 2011 artists can at least find more clever ways of incorporating the products in their videos.

2011 Grammy Nominations -- Predictions!

2010-12-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

As much as it pains me to acknowledge it, Eminem will almost definitley be the Grammy leader when nominations are announced later today. Although his recent album "Recovery" is still a sub par outing, Eminem had a huge hit this year with Rihanna that was still on Grammy voters minds when submitting nomination choices a few weeks ago.

A lot has been made about the fact that he's never won Album of the Year in the media, and the fact that he's been very present this year with feature work and his album selling as consistently well as his previous outings will assure him multiple nominations (even though his album was garbage, but hey that's just my opinion). He'll be a lock for Album of the Year as well as Record and Song of the Year for "Love the Way You Lie" with Rihanna, and he'll dominate the Hip Hop categories.

Other than Eminem, the other leading nominees will most likely come with a lot of surprises. I'm honestly not as confident with my predictions this year as in previous years, but there are some artists that made such a big impact this year I couldn't imagine them being left out. And given last years nominees, the popular acts and best sellers will probably be the most mentioned when it comes to nominations.

Judging by that, I have an instinct that this year may be a big year for Hip Hop in the Big 4 categories (Album, Record, Song and New Artist of the Year). Eminem's "Recovery" is a lock for Album of the Year, but I also wouldn't count out eligible albums by Drake ("Thank Me Later") and Jay-Z ("The Blueprint 3").

Jay's album came out last year right after the cut off, but the album received critical praise and ended up having three really big mainstream singles. His only problem is since the album was released so long ago, it might be forgotten. Even if he doesn't get that big nomination for the album, I could see "Empire State of Mind" with Alicia Keys up for Record and/or Song of the Year.

Drake was the new artist with the biggest hype last year, and even though he didn't have his album out he was up for three awards, so it seems obvious that he will be back again this year, and since his album was a steady seller it wouldn't be surprising to see him in Album of the Year. He seems like a shoe-in for New Artist of the year however (and will probably win).

B.O.B. will most likely be up for New Artist of the Year as well, and even though his album might not be up for the top prize, his single "Airplanes" was so massive it's sure to be competing for Record or Song of the Year (possibly both).

Eminem, Drake, Jay-Z and B.O.B. are sure to be favorites in the Hip Hop categories, and I believe they will probably be competing with themselves in certain categories. B.O.B. will probably get two nominations for Rap/Sung Collaboration for both "Airplanes" and "Nothing On You" with Bruno Mars. Same for Jay-Z who should find "Empire State of Mind" and "Young Forever" with Mr Hudson competing against each other. Drake's "Over" and "Miss Me" will surely be up for nods. Also expect to see Ludacris, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, and Nicki Minaj whose feature work should snag her a few nods, as well as her hit single "Your Love".

As far as Pop music goes, Katy Perry will probably come out with a bunch of nominations. Her album "Teenage Dream", which is better than some of the Album of the Year nominees of last year, will probably miss out in that category. However her name should pop up in most of the Big 4 categories, as the albums title track is surely deserved of Song and Record of the Year nominations as well as Pop Vocal Performance, Female. The album should get a Pop Album nomination, and depending on how her label plays it "California Gurls" with Snoop Dogg could be up for Dance Recording or Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

Lady GaGa was one of the nomination leaders last year, and expect her to be up for alot this year for her singles and videos from "The Fame Monster" EP. That release is only 8 songs long, and it's doubtful it will be up for Album of the Year. However "Bad Romance" is sure to be up for Record or Song of the Year, as well as Female Pop Vocal and Dance Recording. Her and Grammy favorite Beyonce's collaboration "Telephone" will probably Win Pop Collaboration. As far as Short Form Music Video, any and all of her three video releases ("Bad Romance", "Telephone" and "Alejandro") deserve a nomination.

In the Rock and Indie scene The Black Keys, MGMT and Vampire Weekend are buzzed about underground acts that were more successful this year on a mainstream level. All of their releases came out in the first quarter of the year and could be forgotten, but thanks to a little commercialization Black Keys and Vampire Weekend might be up for a few awards, they have songs that have recently gained mainstream success because of television advertisements.

However the Indie act of the year that is most likely to get the most nominations are Arcade Fire, whose third album "The Suburbs" was a critical and commercial success. The group has won a Grammy for Alternative Album for both of their previous outings, and now that they are more known on the mainstream level I expect them up for Album of the Year no question. As far as any other possible nominations, I'm not sure but they will probably all fall under the Alternative categories.

One last shoe-in for Top 4 nominations is country group Lady Antebellum. I'm not very familiar with them, but I know I have read their name A LOT this past year. They are obviously very popular, and very respected as their second album "Need You Now" has been met with a lot of positive critiques. Again, I'm not familiar with them, but I would imagine Album of the Year isn't out of the question. And the title track, which rose to #2 on the Pop charts will be a contender for Record and Album of the Year. And the group will most likely dominate the Country categories, as Taylor Swift did last year.

And finally the Grammys always have a soft spot for legendary acts making a comeback, and though it wasn't really a comeback in that sense Sade's "Soldier of Love" album single and video will easily compete in a few categories, including the Big 4. That album was released in January and has since lost a lot of steam, but it's Sade who has won a Grammy for nearly every album released. They won't be totally forgotten, but I doubt they'll be nomination leaders.

So here are my educated guesses for the Top 4 categories.

Album of the Year

Arcade Fire "The Suburbs"
Drake "Thank Me Later"
Eminem "Recovery"
Jay-Z "The Blueprint 3"
Lady Antebellum "Need You Now"
Sade "Soldier of Love"

Question marks on Drake and Jay-Z, Eminem might be too much Hip Hop for that category thus canceling those two (far superior albums) out. Also Sade is a question mark, because after the first single not much attention was paid to that album.

Record of the Year

B.O.B. and Hayley Williams "Airplanes"
Eminem and Rihanna "Love the Way You Lie"
Jay-Z and Alicia Keys "Empire State of Mind"
Katy Perry "Teenage Dream"
Lady Antebellum "Need You Now"
Lady GaGa "Bad Romance"

Other possible nominations OMG by Usher, California Gurls by Katy Perry, Not Afraid by Eminem, Fireflies by Owl City, Tik Tok by Ke$ha, Find Your Love by Drake

Song of the Year

B.O.B. and Hayley Williams "Airplanes"
Jay-Z and Alicia Keys "Empire State of Mind"
Lady Antebellum "Need You Now"
Lady GaGa "Bad Romance"
Sade "Soldier of Love"
Train "Hey, Soul Sister"

New Artist

B.O.B.
Justin Bieber
Bruno Mars
Drake
Janelle Monae

For Your Consideration:
I've been talking about the majorly successful artists who are sure to get nominated, however let's shift things to the underrated outings that should be up for something this year.

Rihanna's "Rated R" is a pop album on par with Janet Jackson's "The Velvet Rope" which is a gift, but could be a curse at the Grammy's. Janet's 1997 album was met with the best critical praise in her career, but was ignored on Grammy night (only receiving a nomination for Short Form Video). Even though "Rated R" deserves a shot at Album of the Year, it's doubtful she will snag it. However Rihanna will do well for herself this year, "Love the Way You Lie" alone will get her a few major nominations but also her big hit "Rude Boy" should be up for Female Pop Vocal and maybe Pop Single or they might even put her in the R&B race.

In R&B, Usher will most likely dominate as "Raymond v. Raymond" and it's re-release "Versus" generated two big Pop singles and three pretty big R&B singles. However looking past the mainstream, hopefully Erykah Badu's "New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)" and controversial video and single "Window Seat" will be shown some love tonight. As well as Toni Braxton's "Pulse", which was all but forgotten shortly after it was released despite being a very solid R&B album with one of the better R&B songs to come out in years "Hands Tied". And though I'm not personally vouching for these releases, I could see Monica and Fantasia up for some awards. Though these outings were a bit lackluster for me, they were met with a lot of praise from R&B fans. And even though she's hard to put in a box of just one Genre, and even though she's more than likely going to be up for New Artist, Janelle Monae will hopefully be given her due as she put out one of the most original and creative albums of the year with "TheArchAndroid".

Producer Danger Mouse might have too mellow of a sound to take notice to, but his collaboration with James Mercer of The Shins "Broken Bells" should be up for Album of the Year. It's doubtful it will, but it deserves to, and if it doesn't I hope to see them competing for multiple categories in the Alternative categories. Also Danger Mouse's collaboration with Sparklehorse might be a topic of debate, it was leaked digitally last year but was released officially this year with several guest artists from different generations of Rock and Alternative music. Even if that album isn't nominated for anything, his output alone should get him a nomination for Producer of the Year. Another alternative group that I think are more than deserving of some mentions are Surfer Blood whose "Astro Coast" was one of the most solid albums released this year. They aren't popular hardly at all on a mainstream level, but hopefully enough hipsters voted and they could possibly break through.

Kelis and Robyn linked up for a tour this summer, and they should both be up for Grammy gold in the Dance and Electronic categories. Kelis' "Flesh Tone" was a sharp departure for her, as it was a total dance album. And not a watered down pop version of Dance, it's up there with some of the best and respected Dance albums of the past. Hopefully we'll see her name in a few categories. Robyn released three EP's this year (only two are eligible), and if that invalidates her from any album categories, her two singles "Dancing on my Own" and "Hang with Me" are miles better than the radio staples I expect to see up for Dance Recording (that really don't deserve to be there). Another Electronic act that got a lot of praise for his recent release was LCD Soundsystem. "This is Happening" got loads of critical praise, and since he's been nominated three times in the past, I'm sure he'll get a nomination this year. As well as Gorillaz, who's album "Plastic Beach" isn't necessarily one of my favorites of the year but deserves to compete, and they should also be up for Short Form Video for "Stylo".

And Big Boi, his first solo album "Sir Lucious Left Foot, The Son of Chico Dusty" came and went with little fanfare, but it's a really solid album with some solid singles that should be up for multiple Hip Hop categories. The Roots could be singled out because of heavy competition in the Hip Hop categories for their album "How I Got Over", but I expect to see their collaboration album with Grammy favorite John Legend "Wake Up!" possibly in the Traditional R&B Album category since it's a celebration of classic soul songs, and a truly great album.

In the Pop field, I want to see Adam Lambert's "Whataya Want From Me" up for multiple categories (I would say it deserves Song of the Year, but it probably wasn't a big enough hit to make it in that category), he should definitely win for Male Pop Vocal for this song however. And while Maroon 5's album wasn't anything to write home about, their single "Misery" is fun, infectious and well produced, hopefully that one song (and the video) get a nod or two. And finally, also aided by the help of commercialization, Neon Trees' excellent "Animal" should be a favorite for Pop Vocal Duo or Group (unless their label puts them in Alternative or Rock -- which doesn't quite fit)

So there are my predictions, as I said earlier I'm not as confident about these predictions as years prior, but I think I'm on the right track. We'll find out tonight. And than we'll discuss the nominations and predict winners shortly after.

Album Review: Nicki Minaj, Rihanna

2010-11-30T17:45:00.000-08:00

There were three releases I was looking forward to nearly all year, and they are finally all available at stores and available for me to ridicule. This review will just cover two, the females -- we'll get to the phenomenal Male release soon (it's just too good to lump in with this post). Honestly though, all three artists delivered, some more than others, but none of the albums were major disappointments.

Nicki Minaj "Pink Friday"

The "rookie" of the year Nicki Minaj has made a name for herself this year with her dozens upon dozens of features, most times bringing the only bit of life to the songs in her verses. Her animated and energetic bars were intriguing and exciting, but somehow when she's by herself on a full 3-4 minute song a lot of that excitement is lost. And that's the biggest problem with "Pink Friday", which is actually a solid Hip Hop/Pop Album, it just feels like the Nicki that we fell in love with this year is absent. It's a solid and standard Hip Hop album with club cuts, love songs, and diss tracks and really the only thing that sets it apart from other solid albums from the genre is the fact that she's a woman. There are glimpses of the uninhibited Nicki on clear stand out "Roman's Revenge" with Eminem, and also on "Blazin" with Kanye West and single "Check it Out" with Will.I.Am. Most of this album is spent on trying to prove that she can back up the hype, and for the most part she does a good job in giving her fans something versatile and introspective ("Dear Old Nicki"), and empowering them ("Fly" with Rihanna and "I'm the Best" which gives great commentary on females in the rap game and how she wants to help them). Unfortunately in doing this, she's exposed her short comings as a lyricist, for instance her rhyming "F-1" on 4 bars of "Did it On Em" . Though there are moments of greatness on the album (the Drake assisted "Moment 4 Life" and "Here I Am", and her actually singing a full song on the surprisingly subdued "Save Me"), some of it feels almost like wasted space. The good thing is the album overall is a good listen, by abandoning the rap style that got her famous we at least have something to look forward to on the second album, or future feature work. (Also note: you can get a taste of that Nicki on some of the bonus tracks -- check out "Muny" and "Catch Me", those are the best)

Rating: 4 Stars
Best: "Moment 4 Life" "Roman's Revenge" "Save Me"

Rihanna "Loud"

There's really not much to say about Rihanna's 5th album "Loud". She and her team are just undoubtedly gifted at selecting material that combines to make great Pop albums, and though "Loud" is a slight departure from her slightly more disturbed "Rated R", it plays as a culmination of her career up to this point. There are heavy traces of all of the different genres she's tackled in her short 5 year career, you have the dancehall/reggae sounds found on her first two albums in "Man Down" and the island tinged future Classic "What's My Name?". You get the genuine club sound that made her a worldwide star in first single "Only Girl (In the World)" and the unapologetic sexed up "S&M". You get some R&B ("Fading" "Raining Men") and some pure pop ("Cheers (Drink to That)" and the acoustic/rock ballad "California King Bed"). And more so than just treading paths she's already walked down, each song sound fresh and up to date and just elevated from where they were on previous efforts. Rihanna has become so comfortable with her voice and has always known how to sing with appropriate attitude, and this may be the best album to show off the sass and Diva swagger that has made her a star. Some of the album, with only one verse or no bridge, seems a little rushed at time and it's clearly not the Pop masterpieces that "Rated R" and 2007's "Good Girl Gone Bad" were, but it's a great place holder until her next album -- which given her discography should be pretty phenomenal.

Rating: 4.5 Stars
Best: "What's My Name" "Complicated" "S&M"

Album Review: Quick Update/GET 'ER DONE (Part One)!!!!

2010-11-09T16:32:00.000-08:00

Okay it's November, and I have reviews for albums that were released as far back as March!
So you know what, I'm gonna review them ALL... RIGHT NOW!!! In the words of Larry the Cable Guy, I'm on a mission to GET 'ER DONE!!!! So here we go...

LCD Soundsystem "This Is Happening"

The third album from the highly buzzed about Electronic producer LCD Soundsystem (aka James Murphy) was released to mass critical acclaim in May. "This Is Happening" is a fun dance album in general, although it does come off as a bit one-note at times. Some of the best the album has to offer actually can come off as copy cats of other artists (Devo on "Drunk Girls", She Wants Revenge on "All I Want"), but the overall effect is a new level of Electronic music. Murphy maintains a Electronic sound, but there are heavy traces of Punk, Rock and Pop on any given track. The albums high points are the unapologetic fun of "Pow Pow", while "One Touch" "You Wanted A Hit" and "I Can Change" are near perfection. The album is a unique listen, but can wear a little thin at times.

Rating: 3.5 Stars
Best: "Pow Pow", "I Can Change", "You Wanted a Hit"

Robyn "Body Talk Pt. 2"

After the first portion of her "Body Talk" trilogy was released earlier this year, Robyn dropped the sequel in September and it completely blows the original out of the water. Robyn has somehow managed to make club and radio friendly Dance music but layers it with so much heart and intensity that it sounds like a Musical Masterpiece compared to the Ke$ha's and Willow's of the Pop world. "Pt. 2" is a little more intense and heavier than "Pt. 1", songs like "We Dance to the Beat" and "Criminal Intent" have such a hard House sound that's so enjoyable the scant lyrics are more than appropriate. Than you get the honest and heartfelt lyricism on "Hang with Me" "Love Kills" and the Acoustic "Indestructible". "Pt. 3" will be sold as a combination of all albums on November 22nd and there's no doubt that compilation will be better than most albums released this year. Unfortunately not many in America will hear them, and Ke$ha will forever rule the airwaves.

Rating: 4.5 Stars
Best: "Hang with Me", "Love Kills", "We Dance to the Beat"

Brandon Flowers "Flamingo"

The solo debut of The Killers' front man Brandon Flowers came to very little fanfare this October. Maybe because the albums first single "Crossfire" sounded almost exactly like a unreleased cut from the groups last album "Day and Age". And once you listen further to this album, there's not much that separates Flowers as The Killers' lead singer and Flowers as a solo star. The beginning of the album is very lackluster, however towards the middle and to the end he does manage to deliver some outstanding tracks, still very Killers-esque. "Only the Young" the albums second single just sounds like an instant classic, the first single is no slouch either. Most of the last half of the album is enjoyable, though a tad forgettable. Which, unfortunately, is probably what this solo venture will end up being. A forgotten one.

Rating: 3 Stars
Best: "Only the Young", "Crossfire", "Jacksonville"

Kings of Leon "Come Around Sundown"

Last year Kings of Leon emerged from the Indie scene and got a big Pop single and a handful of Grammy gold. And the bright side of their 5th album "Come Around Sundown" is the group doesn't seem to be worried about duplicating their mainstream success. Nothing on the album feels forced, however the overall feeling the albums leaves is pretty boring. The vibe is their original sort of grass roots Rock sound mixed with a lighter feeling. And maybe that lighter feel is my problem, I just don't feel like they "rocked out" hard enough on this album, even though their first single "Radioactive" and "Pony Up" for instance are pure energetic Rocker romps, the rest of the album is just a little too mellow. Still, the group members are skilled and experienced musicians and lead singer Caleb Followill still has one of the most distinct and powerful voices in the industry. Those two facts alone make the album worthy.

Rating: 3 Stars
Best: "Birthday", "Radioactive", "Pony Up"

Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse "Dark Night of the Soul"

Danger Mouse the Go-To Producer for Moody Alternative-Pop is back with probably his moodiest darkest work yet. Teaming up this time with Alternative group Sparklehorse, the album was actually released on the internet last year, however after some legal disputes the album was re-released for retail this Summer. It should be noted that Sparklehorse front man Mark Linkous committed suicide in March of this year so that definitely adds to the eery effect of the album. Another note, always creepy film director David Lynch wrote an accompanying 100 plus page book as visual accompaniment to what is called a "concept album about Spiritual Crisis". Having not read that book, or even knowing about Linkous, the overall tone of the album is very well felt. With guest artists like Iggy Pop, Suzanne Vega, The Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys providing very haunting vocals over the very spooky tracks. The songs more or less bleed into each other, with not many standouts, but a great overall feel. (Though Julian Casablancas from The Strokes' "Little Girl" is easily my favorite).

Rating: 3.5 Stars
Best: "Little Girl", "The Man Who Played God", "Star Eyes (I Can Catch It)",

Album Review: Quick Update/The Summer of Pop

2010-11-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

Katy Perry "Teenage Dream"

If Katy Perry's goal on her second outing was to put together an album full of potential top 10 pop hits, than she more than succeeded with "Teenage Dream" her second studio album. She was already the queen of summer with two #1's from the title track and "California Gurls". And the light fun and catchy tracks like "Last Nite (TGIF)" "Peacock" and "The One that Got Away" are almost Pop radio guarantees. The most surprising thing about the album is that the pop singer goes a little deeper than you'd think with beautiful and well-written tracks like "Firework" "Pearl" and "Not Like the Movies". And even her subject matter (ditching an addict boyfriend on "Circle the Drain") and production ("E.T.") are superior to a lot of generic Pop songs out now. Katy shows them all how to do Pop music, and though it's still really light and just a Fun album overall, it does show some growth as well as charm.

Rating: Four Stars
Best: Teenage Dream, Not Like the Movies, E.T.

Bruno Mars "Doo-Wops & Hooligans"

Bruno Mars became a name this summer from his various feature work, his debut album "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" is in the same vein of most of his features, laid back and breezy poppy hip hop/r&b odes, and his voice does help to fill out some of the songs. Overall though, the album has some catchy songs that are fun to listen to, but are so bogged down by lyrics that cater to the lowest denominator. On "Marry You" he proposes as something "dumb to do", rhymes "snuggie" with "Teach me how to dougie" on "The Lazy Song", and it gets no lazier than "Count on Me" with it's hook "1,2,3... A,B,C". Mars has a lot of qualities that could make him a star, but his elementary lyricism is really a distracting part of the total package. And really makes the album a lot less enjoyable.

Rating: Two Stars
Best: Talking to the Moon, Just the Way You Are, Our First Time

Maroon 5 "Hands All Over"

Maroon 5's single "Misery" should have been a summer blockbuster as it's catchy, fun and upbeat. However the song lingered in the mid-20's of the Hot 100 throughout most of the summer, and unfortunatley when their 4th album "Hands All Over" there weren't many songs to match that first single and confirms why I've never been a big fan of the group. There are a handful of highlights on the album, namely the beautifully produced and sung "Just a Feeling", as well as "I Can't Lie" "Never Gonna Leave this Bed" and "Out of Goodbyes" with Lady Antebellum. The biggest complaint about the album and the group is that they very rarely just go with the flow, it seems like on alot of songs the raw soul and natural energy is dilluted by trying to make everything a perfect package for radio. Leaving the listener with a somewhat sterile and over-worked and over-produced Pop album.

Rating: Two Stars
Best: Just a Feeling, Misery, Never Gonna Leave This Bed

Album Review: Quick Update/The 80's Reborn???

2010-10-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

Okay my many followers (LOL!!), I'm dying to write an article about next years Grammy's and who I think will be nominated and who I think should be nominated. However, this summer and beginning of Fall has been filled with alot of music I've yet to review. I have about 13 albums I want to review, and in trying to power-through I'm gonna do just a quick/SUPER-quick recap of what I've been listening to.
Note: I'm gonna use a rating system on this and future album posts, but I might not stick with that style of rating so just know that it might change (probably next year)
So I'm gonna power-through and get these quick reviews done, than I have to post about the Grammy's and than I have an updated Top 25 Favorite Artists of All Time to post. The Grammy nominations are announced in December so expect an article about that, and than ofcourse we'll have our big Year-End post which will be better than the excellent one last year.

So let's start with the reviews!
Devo "Something for Everybody"

The New Wave Kings Devo return after 20 years with an album that actually does in fact feel like a true return to form, and feels like the classic Devo the world fell in love with in the 80's. And the group actually does this in a way that doesn't feel forced, which is one good thing about the album. Tracks like "What We Do" and first single "Fresh" are fun and full of "pep" like their 1980 "Freedom of Choice" album and more of their more commercial outings in the 80's. However the album falters because there's no sense of experimentation or them trying anything new which is the best thing about their early music. Still a fun listen overall.

Rating: Three Stars
Best: "What We Do" "Fresh""Later is Now"

Prince "20Ten"

This album was actually released only in the UK, and for Free in their Weekend Edition newspaper. I'm not in London and I don't subscribe to that paper but thank god for the internet. This album finds Prince giving sonic homages to his work in the 80's, but as always he mixes those sounds with more contemporary elements. The overall feel of the album is not much different from the vibe of his 2009 3 Disc outing, there's Funk ("Act of God"), there's Pop/Rock (the pretty awful "Everybody Loves Me") and there's wannabe-Hip Hop ("Laydown"). The highlights of the album are clearly the slower tempo R&B songs "Walk in the Sand" and "Future Soul Song", and even those come off sounding a little dated for him. It's time for Prince to either bring in some new Producers to get a fresh perspective or just take more time off in between albums. The album on the whole is enjoyable, but like Devo there's just a bit o originality lacking.

Rating: Three Stars
Best: "Future Soul Song" "Sticky Like Glue" "Walk in the Sand"

Album Review: Big Boi

2010-09-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

It's funny because I wrote an article a few months back for FullBlastMagazine.com, asking different artists to finally come out of their hiding and deliver the music their fans want. I talked about The Strokes, Missy Elliot and OutKast whose last album was 2006's "Idlewild". In the article I did note how the group always said they wanted Big Boi's first solo album to be released before they came back as a group, and finally after a few years and "promo" singles have passed and Big Boi has delivered "Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty" a very diverse, fun, and overall pleasing Hip Hop album. The beauty of OutKast is that they've always been unique to the Hip Hop genre, they always stayed true to the roots but added weird and very original elements to make them stand out. Big Boi, because he was less animated and not as unique in style as his partner Andre 3000, has always been overlooked in the talent department. His contributions to the duo over the past 15 years are essential to why OutKast has managed to be so popular, glimpses of his talent were shown on the feature-heavy "Speakerboxxx" side of their Grammy winning double album. "Sir Lucious" is more effective in shining a light on him and his impeccable wordplay, cadence and overall delivery. Though there are loads of features from the likes of T.I., Jamie Foxx, Too $hort, Gucci Mane and George Clinton to name a few, this album is really a celebration of Big Boi and he manages to never let himself be drowned out or overpowered by his guests or the amazing production behind the songs.

If a complaint can be made, it may come from the fact that this album at times does feel too much like an OutKast album and doesn't do all that much to separate itself. Songs like "Turn Me On" and "Tangerine" for example feel like they are only missing that verse from Andre. The difference on "Sir Lucious" is that most of the songs feel like they come from a really organic place, they might not all use live instrumentation but they feel like it. It just feels like less of a computer and technology assisted album and more like a jam-session. And though there is experimentation with the production (the stuttering backing track to the first single "Shutterbug" and the dingy underground sounding track to "Fo Yo Sorrows" -- two stand outs from the album), this album never goes too far left with their sounds. One other complaint comes from the fact that Big is making some pretty important statements on individual songs, but overall the album doesn't feel like it's saying anything. There's a bit of a lack of cohesiveness with the actual content of the songs, but the production flows pretty effortlessly. And that's quite a challenge given the very diverse sounds on the album... take the two best songs for example "Follow Us" is an R&B-ish track that's significantly Rocked out with the hook by Vonnegut, and "Be Still" almost takes a jazzy route thanks to Janelle Monae's smooth vocals on it's hook.

"Sir Lucious Left Foot" is a pretty impressive, fun and actually catchy Hip Hop album. Which is pretty amazing because with Hip Hop there is a fine line with that... if you go too Fun it's just a commercial pop album, and if it's not Fun at all it's just a boring album that takes itself too seriously. This album is perfectly balanced and the perfect running time, as it never really gets to feeling like too much. The best thing however, is that this albums release might signal the return of really the best Hip Hop Duo of all time. Let's cross our fingers.

Album Review: Surfer Blood, Beach House, The Morning Benders

2010-09-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

The Indie scene these days gives the listener a change of pace from the mainstream stuff that dominates the radios and video programming (which believe it or not does still exist). Where mainstream is generally more calculated and less concerned with innovation or even inspiration, Indie music has the freedom of not fitting into any particular mold and can experiment with both sound and content. The problem sometimes though is if you listen to too much Indie they get the tendency to sound the same. I'd probably blame it on the fact these new groups are around the same age and have a lot of the same influences, sometimes the tone and even content of their music is very similar. Case in point, the three Indie groups I'm about to review. All three are actually really good and show promise, and their albums are also fairly outstanding but it's not difficult to mistake one for the other if you haven't listened to each album extensively to point out the subtle differences.

Surfer Blood stands out from the pack with their debut "Astro Coast", the group offers up a very strong collection of songs and are able to keep the tone the same throughout while being versatile. Tracks like "Swim" and "Take it Easy" are catchy and radio-friendly, but other songs on the album like "Harmonix" and "Anchorage" manage to be very edgy and dark while still maintaining the summer feel of the whole album. They are at once credible Rockers and also commercial enough to cross-over to the mainstream. And the vocals seem to be perfect track by track, the lead singer of the 5 piece band knows how to shift his voice and give the appropriate attitude and emotion for each song. Though at times the group comes off as maybe a harder edged Vampire Weekend, or a less fun Weezer, overall the group does let their individual talents speak for themselves. Surfer Blood is definitely a group to look out for in the coming years, and this album is definitely one of the better pieces of Music released this year.

Beach House's third studio album "Teen Dream" is a little all over the place but still a calming and interesting listen. They seem to take basic arrangements and tweek them a bit, like the single "Norway" which has an eery backing track with odd tuning and distorted sounds, the production on tracks like this, "Walk in the Park" and "Take Care" elevates what might be too melancholy songs to the next level. When the group isn't being atmospheric with their sound, they tend to get a little too peppy with tracks like "Used to Be" and "Better Times" which are alright songs but don't mesh well with their overall sound. However the remaining tracks like "Lover of Mine" and "10 Mile Stereo" are great. They give an 80's pop feel, but stripped and than mixed with elements to make the sound a little bigger and more organic. In the end it's a satisfying album, though because everything feels really "dream-like" it can be easy to forget.

Which leaves us with The Morning Benders, a local group (Berkeley, My Birth Town) whose group name feels all too fitting on their sophomore effort "Big Echo", a moody, very dark, very emotional album. On this album it feels like a group of guys waking up regretful and hungover from some good times the night before. And their morose lyrics and vocal delivery, matched with the bands very unique arrangements make for some excellent music. Tracks like the superb "Hand Me Downs" as well as "Sleeping In", "Mason Jar" and "Wet Cement" are especially effective because you can't help but feel something with the intense yet dour instrumentation. They have some upbeat commercial tracks that are not the best ("Cold War" "All Day Day Light"), but the group is at their best on the slower more introspective songs. The only downside with this group, for me, are the vocals which are a little too thin at times for such serious material. Often the vocals interrupt the flow of such full material, but it is something that can be overlooked. Great Band though, the players are genius in the risks they take with their arrangements and the way they make everything work on the emotional level.

Album Review: M.I.A., Robyn, Janelle Monáe

2010-08-31T09:46:00.000-07:00

Apologizing for the infrequency of new posts off the top. And I'm starting another semester of school, so my blog might suffer a bit. There's loads of music I've been listening to, old and new, so I'm gonna try to cover them ALL within this week.(Although this first posting has taken me over a week to post, so we'll see how the rest goes)Let's start out with the Weird Girls I've been enjoying M.I.A., Robyn and newcomer Janelle Monáe.

"Maya" (as it's labeled on iTunes, but apparently the real title is something like "/\/\/\Y/\")

is the third album from UK's M.I.A. one of the few popular artists that lives completely outside of the box. Or at least has up until this latest album, which is a mostly great album even if it doesn't feel as new and fresh as her first two. One could call the album's second single "Xxxo" or songs like "It Takes a Muscle" as intentional cross-over attempts, and one could also say songs like "Space" are obvious attempts to re-capture the success from her US break-out single "Paper Planes". Still, once the album is finished you get the sense that M.I.A. is still staying true to herself even it's really not any better or worse than her last two albums. Since her 2007 album "Kala" it seems she's in a calmer place than the once hectic reggae/hip hop sounds of before, this new outing sounds way more contained and subdued. "It Iz What It Iz" "Lovalot" are two stand out songs that find M.I.A. flowing more comfortably over less chaotic and noisy beats like before. Even when she goes heavy punk (the first single "Born Free") there's still a sense it was produced with the idea of organized noise, not going to the maximum but editing elements out to give a more succinct vibe. Overall "/\/\/\Y/\" is a great outing, and even though for M.I.A. some of it sounds familiar, on the whole the album is still way more innovative and original than most albums released.

Robyn went from late 90's Pop Tart to Electronica/Club Queen with her last eponymous album released in 2008. The critically hailed and Grammy nominated album was obvious inspiration for the first of her new trilogy "Body Talk, Pt. 1".

The 8-track album serves as a bit of a sampler of what made the critics and fans fall in love with the last album, as songs like "Fembot", "Jag vet en dejlig Rosa" and the stellar first single "Dancing on My Own" are reminiscent of tracks from that album. Robyn again offers heavy Electronic, Club, and sometimes straight up Pop tracks under very thoughtful lyrics and melodies, like a more credible Lady GaGa or Ke$ha. With this album she stretches her versatility even further with the Diplo assisted, reggae/electro hybrid "Dancehall Queen" and the more ambient Club banger "None of Dem" with Röyksopp. "Pt. 1" more than wets the listeners appetite for the second and third installments (the second installment is due in September. Third installment has no release date as of yet) and gives a great alternative to the mindless Dance music dominating the radio.

And it's not only the established artists who are daring to be original, newcomer Janelle Monáe has delivered her first full length album

"The ArchAndroid" which is both original and eclectic. The smooth voiced Monáe effortlessly takes a crusade from different genres like Jazz, Rock, Pop, R&B as well as style influences from different decades and yet somehow it all works together to deliver a soulful and relaxing (at times) album that has very little filler. While the album on the whole is an epic and versatile journey, the versatility might be the one downfall. Though the album is a breath of fresh air, and Monáe's ability to mold her voice and attitude to the variety of sounds is impressive. However it's hard to lock down what exactly HER style is, outside of her being able to tackle effectively the vast variety of material on the album, it's hard to figure out what she's bringing to the album vocally, personality, attitude and style wise. Of course that's a very minor complaint, and her style will surely come out in the next few albums. Meanwhile, this album is a must-listen for this year as it's one of the most original and adventurous albums to surface in a long while.

2010 BET Awards (aka) My Thoughts on the Chris Brown thing.

2010-06-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

We can discuss the actual Awards ceremony later, what's heavy on my mind -- and the mind of the Twitterverse and Blogosphere as well -- is Chris Brown's little performance last night.

First off, BET Awards devoted their entire telecast last year to Michael Jackson. The King of Pop died just a few days before that telecast, but they still managed to squeeze in about four nice tributes to MJ by Ne-Yo, and Ciara among others. So when Jermaine Jackson came on stage and talked about the tribute everybody had been waiting on, I immediately thought Usher or even Justin Timberlake. Because both of those artists are the ones waiting in the wings for that King of Pop title, and Timberlake has never done any sort of tribute to MJ since his death. Usher took part in the Grammy tribute, but I figured Jermaine might have been saying that Usher never did a tribute for him on BET. Either way, whoever it was, I also thought about how every award show since last year had a tribute to Michael in so many different ways. What on earth could we have not seen yet, that is something we've been waiting for.

And after Jermaine said "Here He is", and sometime before the white curtain showing just a silhouette was dropped, I figured it was Chris Brown. And I was somewhat excited. Brown has always been a tremendous dancer and he's always sited MJ as his biggest influence so it's a no brainer that he would do well in the dance tribute he provided to the audience. And still mid-way through I lost interest, because is that really fair? Let's just imagine if Brown's album "Grafitti" didn't tank and he was actually invited to the ceremony to perform. I would have no problem if he used his time on stage to tribute Michael since he didn't get the chance last year. But it seems obvious that BET invited him to come on and do the tribute, as a way to get him back in the good graces of the public by using the fact that he didn't take part last year (and, I wonder if they invited him last year?). Which, is basically like them giving him a do-over. And I have a bit of a problem with that. What has Chris Brown done to make BET feel the need to sympathize with him and help him out over all the other struggling artists?

I'm over the Incident with Rihanna. That's not really my issue with him. It's his behavior afterward that has soured my respect for him. His playing the victim in interviews, the trying to get people to feel sorry for him, even when he was the villain in the case was the wrong move. Even aside from that, and totally aside from the domestic abuse case, his behavior on Twitter following the disappointing sales of his album showed what an entitled cry-baby he is. He went on a Twitter tirade when he assumed that Walmart wasn't carrying his album (even though they officially came out and confirmed that they were, just not that particular store because they had sold out), and he begged his followers to boycott the chain store. He begged his fans to request his songs on radio, because in his own mind (with no proof what so ever) he felt they were blacklisting his music (and "I Can Transform Ya" actually played on radio stations and was building at a point), and than a negative piece of press from a female journalist had him going off on Twitter once again calling the woman names just like a little child would.

So what about his behavior this past year showed BET that he was this changed man? Why did they feel like he deserved a second chance? I personally don't feel like he's done anything, he put out a solid album and he should have focused on that and not the negativity and he would have possibly come out on top. Even if "Grafitti" turned into a massive, un-savable Flop, he should have known better to ignore the negativity and keep hustling. Instead he complained, whined, bitched and moaned. Acted just like a volatile kid, and here BET is giving him another shot. (SMDH!)

So back to his little tribute, after going through I think 4 different songs (just dancing by the way, he didn't even have a mic at that point) Chris slowed it down and the music for "Man in the Mirror" swelled up. And this is where #FAIL comes to play, he couldn't sing. I'm sure he was out of breath, and I'm sure he was genuinely emotional for various reasons after his dance tribute. The emotions from being back on stage, from tributing his idol, even from the lyrics of the song. Whatever it was, he started crying (Balling, literally sobbing and spitting) and he just couldn't get his vocals together to complete the song. And at a certain spot he seemed to stop trying altogether. And I don't blame him, the crowd was applauding him on as if his not-singing was a good thing!? I just feel like if you're going to be a professional, and this is supposed to be your big chance to show people what you can do, there has to be a point where you need to pull it together, look beyond the emotion or even use the emotion to help with your vocal, but do SOMETHING don't just walk back and forth crying and lipping the words.

Okay I know I may be a little harsh-sounding right now, because I understand where certain other people are coming from who said that he did a good job. For me, he did a great job in the dancing but I wouldn't have ever expected him to do less than a great job because he's a great dancer and he probably spent most of his childhood mocking Jackson's moves. The vocals were a hot mess, and I just can't forgive him for not at least trying to get it together and SING.

And than, Brandy and Ray-J (who I also can't stand, Ray-J a lot less than Brandy who I used to love but her new reality show has completely turned me off) presented an award for the best Fans (or some kind of bullsh*t award), and surprise surprise Chris Brown won. The thing that irked me about his acceptance speech (aside from Ray J. making everybody give him a standing ovation) was his "to my fans, I know I let you down but I promise I won't do it again". Okay dude just shut up! He's still on that "oh every one needs to feel sorry for me" kick and after almost two years we've heard that enough. Just let it go, Rihanna is on her world tour right now and she's gotten over it, why can't you!?

Anyway the awards show was pretty cool. Not the best. I'll post a full review later.

Album Review: Drake

2010-06-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

He lived up to the hype!

After the entire summer of 2009 being dominated with Drake's "Best I Ever Had", I was beginning to think maybe his hype would die down and nobody would even pay attention when he finally released his solo debut. And people Need to pay attention to his debut "Thank Me Later" which was released today, because surprisingly it's becoming one of my favorite albums of the year. His stuff leading up to this debut, his work with Lil Wayne's Young Money and his Mix-Tape "So Far Gone", gave us just a little taste of what to expect on a very thoughtful first album. And what he manages to do with this album is paint a picture of where he's at, while proving he's an excellent lyricist definitely worthy of all the pre-album buzz and praise.

From the Alicia Key's assisted album opener "Fireworks" the album plays as a journey in his mind, with the plot being his move into a prime spot in the Hip Hop game. "Today it begins, I've missed them before, won't miss them again, I keep having the same dream, and I think that I just realized what it means" is the start of him pursuing his dream, while "The Resistance" he talks about how people around him change once the fame starts to come ("she miss the old me, which made me question when I went missing, and when I start treating my friends different"), and "Over" being his determination to block out the negativity and keep on "doing me, and that's what I'ma do 'til it's over". As the fame rises, he is ready to enjoy it "Show me a Good Time" and splurge "Up All Night". After he gets advice from the Leaders of the game Jay-Z and Lil Wayne on "Light Up" and "Miss Me", he feels confident enough to tell the Game to "Thank Me Now". And even though Drake does fall victim to alot of the same Hip Hop concepts, his lyrics make them feel a little more personal. Like he's just stating his reality and not showing off, which is a fine line for a lot of other rappers but he does it effortlessly here. Also he goes in and out of rapping and singing, which is a nice touch to make the album different from every other Rap album released. He's not the best singer, but his singing voice is always perfectly placed by softening up a song when his lyrical attack get too intense. A lot of times it actually feels like he's a featured artist on his own song, which sometimes make the guest appearances a little much, but it always ends up working in the end.

The production on the album, largely supplied by virtually unknown 40 with big names Kanye West Timbaland and Swizz Beatz thrown into the mix, is really seamless in keeping a Epic but calm vibe throughout. Which is probably why the Rap/Singing thing works so well, the tracks literally beg for the various changes he does with his voice. And just to add another layer, it seems like most of the songs have both lyrics your typical Hip Hop fan would appreciate, but also respectful odes to women. The mostly sung "Karoake" speaks about having to let love go because of the fame "I was only trying to get ahead, but the spotlight makes you nervous", and of course first single "Find Your Love" which finds him at the end of the album willing to put his fame aside for love. Even on "Fancy" and "Shut it Down" he finds ways to honor women instead of just using them. Something as simple as him telling his women to "put that fucking dress on" in "Shut it Down" (yeah that's right. put it ON!) is shocking in both Hip Hop and R&B these days (he does ask her to take it off once the song makes a genius turn towards the end).

I literally can go on and on about all the beautiful layers of great music and great talent that Drake has combined to make a truly Grammy worthy album. And let's not ignore the risks he took, with producers and his super long bars at times. He showed his talent, stayed pretty much contemporary, while stretching the boundaries a bit. This is my favorite album of the year and I wasn't expecting to like it, I was never all the way on board with the Drake love last year. He delivered though, he made me forget all about his "Degrassi" rep by making great music. And doing it by being himself, another thing I Love about the album is that he never tries to play the Thug (which is something I've always loved about an obvious inspiration Kanye West), he's just a guy with the passion that wants to make it big. I can feel what everybody must have been praising him about before, he has the talent to go all the way. He says in my favorite song on the album "when you get to talking about the Greatest, I just hope that you think of me, cause I'm trying to be Unforgettable" and I honestly already can't wait for the follow up album, but this will more than do for the rest of the year.

Album Review: Christina Aguilera

2010-06-11T16:25:00.000-07:00

There was a time when acts like Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Beyonce were the newbies in the industry. Now with the Rihanna’s, GaGa’s and Bieber’s taking over as the new breed, those former newbies are all transitioning into either Living Legends or Faded Stars. At this point, Christina Aguilera is somewhere in the middle and her new album "Bionic" doesn’t seem to do much to push her towards either side. The album is by no means a Bad album, but it’s not exceptionally Good either. The first problem is that the album is way too long at 18 tracks (the deluxe edition extends that to 23 tracks), so as a whole it’s not an easy listen. Fortunately the good outweighs the bad (“My Girls” “I Hate Boys” and a few of the lifeless ballads), and when it’s good it’s Great! Aguilera molds her voice to the various genres included on this album. The Electro-Punk-Dance supplied by producers John Hill and Switch are some of the best on the album, “Elastic Love” and the title track are great examples of Aguilera stretching and shifting her power house vocals into an almost unrecognizable style that completely suits the production. Even when she goes into Latin-Dance (“Desnudate” a KILLER track that should be the next single -- should have been the FIRST single) Dance-Pop (“Glam”) and island influenced R&B (“Woohoo”) her voice provides the power without going overboard. And the choice ballads “All I Need” “I Am” and the albums best song “Lift Me Up” are among some of her best, but also show some vocal growth and maturity.
And than there’s the bad which, truth be told, aren’t bad enough to ruin the whole album but just play as unnecessary filler. The aforementioned “I Hate Boys” and “My Girls” sound like a desperate attempt to make something catchy for the radio, while “You Lost Me” and “Sex for Breakfast” sound like they could have been included on previous Aguilera albums (“Back to Basics” and “Stripped” respectively). After listening to over 90 minutes of music, the final result is a little lukewarm. And given the songs available on the Deluxe edition (“Monday Morning” being the best of the 6 tracks), it seems like the album could have been perfect If her or her label knew how to appropriately edit the album down. Leaving her with just an okay, somewhat uneven album. It definitely doesn’t push her any higher into the Living Legend circle, but it’s still good enough and shows enough promise to assure she still has a good place in the industry among her peers.

Edit:
Oh and another thing. I've actually compiled my own tracklisting of the album and have been listening to it exclusively ever since. The reason being, this album is horribly sequenced. It feels like it could have been split into two albums like her last album "Back to Basics" and worked better, but she goes from R&B/Hip Hop to ElectroPunk to Latin Dance, and than from Emotional ballad to Disposable Pop Trash ("You Lost Me" into "I Hate Boys") the album on the whole becomes a bit of a mess. I edited and have created (in my mind at least) a far superior version of the album. And I'm sure other listeners can do the same.

Album Reviews: Quick Update!!!

2010-06-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

Finishing up my Spring semester was pretty time-consuming. And that's my excuse for
not posting in over a month, but I have alot of stuff in the pipeline because there's so much music i've listened to in the past month and have to share my reviewers for my loyal followers =)

So firstly I'm gonna do another Quick Update! A wrap up on some of the stand outs, but I promise I'm going to post more reviews, longer reviews too, really soon.

MGMT "Congratulations"

This is the album is where I caught my writer’s block. Trying to wrap my thoughts around MGMT’s sophomore outing "Congratulations" was a bit of a challenge and still to this day I can’t really think of the appropriate words to describe it. Much like their debut breakthrough, their second is also very different and very weird. While their first album was very "indie" in style – pretty dark and pretty dingy production – at least those songs had some catchiness to them. "Congratulations" strips the duo of anything that might be considered radio-friendly and gives listeners a true feast for the ears. This album and the debut both have heavy psychedelic influences; this outing softens the mood and is definitely a more calming relaxing album on the whole. "Lady DaDa's Nightmare" is especially good, and it's an trippy but laid back instrumental. However there are some major peppy moments, like "Brian Eno" and first single "Flash Delirium" which prevent the album from being a snooze-fest. Simply put, because this album isn’t simple, "Congratulations" is complex and totally entertaining, and a proper follow up album from a very creative group.

The Black Keys "Brothers"

Truth be Told, I haven’t listened to the full album. I did one of those "listen to the 30 second clips on iTunes and download accordingly" thing I often do. I really enjoyed their 2008 album "Attack and Release" (produced by Danger Mouse), and was intrigued to hear this new album "Brothers" which is now their 6th album. Unfortunately, even though the sound of this album is a little more contemporary than their very Soulful output of the previous album, it leaves me feeling like this duo is a little “one-note” in their sound. The lyricism and vocal play were for the most part not oustanding, and some of the stuff is just a little dull to be honest. However there are some shining lights on this album, "Never Give You Up" is a gorgeous R&B throwback while "Too Afraid to Love You" and first single "Tighten Up" are great at matching their sound with with more contemporary techniques. I only listened to it once, and I feel like I may go back and listen at some point. So I may have to revise this later, but for now it's just (and i hate it when i see this "word") meh!

Toni Braxton "Pulse"

Another great release this year from one of my all time favorites, in Toni’s now 6th album "Pulse" the legendary Grammy winner tackles many styles that are invading the radio (Dance in "Make My Heart", Snappy R&B in the superior "Lookin’ At Me") but the heart of this album is centered in an area that made Braxton famous in the first place; authentic R&B slow jams and Pop Ballads. And this album makes one thing perfectly clear; Braxton has one of the best voices in the industry. 17 years after her debut, her voice is just as strong if not stronger. "Pulse" "Why Won't You Love Me" prove this because they can stand with her greatest ballads "Unbreak My Heart" "Let it Flow" and "Breathe Again" as her Best, and it's over a decade later."Pulse" is more than a solid R&B/Pop album that will undoubtedly be ignored, but deserves recognition as one of Braxton’s best in her career. It shows she more than still has it, and that her voice can still span genres.

Kelis "Flesh Tone"

Please go check out my review on Full Blast Magazine. YES! I'm actually writing for an online magazine, I've evolved to the online magazine status, so let's see how much further we can go after this!

B.o.B. "B.o.B. Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray”

B.o.B. seemed to have come from nowhere and attacked the singles charts with "Nothin’ on You" and "Airplanes". I guess a little endorsement from T.I. and getting Eminem on the "Airplanes" remix (or the "Airplanes Part II) is more than enough to create some major buzz in the Hip Hop and Pop community, but strangely enough while really being Hip Hop B.o.B.’s debut "The Adventures of Bobby Ray" plays more like a Hip Hop/Alternative album spanning various different styles. Many a rapper has tried and failed at delivering a more eclectic album and it’s impressive that B.o.B. was able to do so while still making an album that feels like an album. And the guests, also from various different genres (Weezers' lead singer Rivers Cuomo on one the albums best "Magic", Paramore singer Hailey Williams on "Airplanes", and Lupe Fiasco) contribute greatly to the material, but B.o.B. never gets really overshadowed which is a good thing. I’m not sure if he has any extraordinary skills when it comes to his lyrics or flow, but his musical influences and his versatility are something to be commended.

TV Review: "Lost" Series Finale, Totally Satisfied!!! SPOILERS!!!

2010-05-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

After Six Seasons, "Lost" is done. I've been saying this for a while now, and this series finale that aired Sunday confirms it, "Lost" is the best show on television. Probably one of the Greatest of All-Time. I will admit when it first aired, and I heard all the buzz on the show I wasn't interested. I generally am not into shows that have a concrete plot that you have to watch every week to slowly get answers to. Basically series that promise a resolution at some point, because if the show gets canceled you'll never know the resolution. And sometimes shows forget what their initial plot was and end up ruining the purpose of the show. Or worse, the resolution isn't worth the wait, and I'm happy (very very happy) to say that this finale was definitely worth the wait.

Even though I didn't want to get caught up, the hype was too much so I Netflix'd the first season of "Lost", watched the episodes back to back, and fell in love with the show. It was always so much more than just a show about people stranded on an island. From the start there were mysteries about the island that were so odd and compelling, but the genius thing to me about the show were the Flashbacks. Each episode would center on one character, and so much would be revealed about the person they were before the crash and why they act the way they do on the island. And these flashbacks were always synced with the action on the island with so much heart and emotion. Making the show more of a character study than a sci-fi action show.

When the Series Finale ended this past Sunday, I was more than satisfied because the important thing was that they had a great resolution and it was totally character based. One theory about the show (which mainly comes from it's haters) is that the writers really didn't have the full scope of where the show was going to end initially and were just making up new stuff as they went along. I don't believe this theory, I'm sure they didn't have everything specifically planned out 6 seasons ago, but I'm sure they had at least a vague blueprint. Even if they were making it up as they went along, they did an excellent job faking it. Not only in this episode, but this season was really great at answering a lot of ongoing questions with the show, but doing it in a pretty natural way where it wasn't just one character randomly spouting off lines that would fill up any plot holes.

Two episodes in particular stand out to me and they both went back centuries to tell their story. "Ab Aeterno" told us the story of how the ageless Richard Alpert ended up on the island, and formally introduced us to Jacob and The Man in Black and gave us an idea of their opposing views about the island. Jacob's "wine is evil" speech cleverly gave some insight into the purpose of the island while still keeping some mystery about it. "Across the Sea" was an episode set entirely in the past and showed the birth and growth and eventual separation of Jacob and his twin brother The Man in Black. This episode explicitly revealed why the Island had it's "mystical" powers, and why Jacob and his brother were on different teams and wanted totally different things. Their adoptive mother (who killed their birth mother who was shipwrecked on the island) told them their duty was to protect the "light" in the center of the island, A light she said that shines in all men but must be protected against men who were trying to take that power and use it all for themselves. However when The Man in Black (who is what the "mother" calls "special") found out what really happened between his birth mother and his adoptive mother (his birth mother's ghost showed up to him, representing how he was Special) and was filled with anger towards his adoptive mother, who also told him that there was nowhere else outside of the island. His mission at that point was to get off the island, Jacob stayed with the "mother" and became the islands official protector in her place. A fight ensued between the two brothers, and The Man in Black fell towards this "light" and emerged as the infamous Smoke Monster.

Something the "mother" did was make it so Jacob nor his brother could kill each other. So for centuries the Man in Black was trying to kill Jacob so he could get off the island. With Jacob knowing this, he needed candidates to fill his spot. Enter the cast we've known and loved for years. They were all handpicked by Jacob to possibly fill his spot. They all shared the same type of despair and loneliness and needing a purpose in their real lives. Jack (unsurprisingly) took the spot because he felt more than anybody that he had a purpose on that island. And this is both in present time, and when the show adopted the Flash Forward bits and showed him as just a truly unhappy man off the island. He came back to the island solely based on this blind faith that he was supposed to do something there. And though he didn't survive very long after becoming the new protector, in a very important and complicated way he was meant to do something and his purpose was fulfilled.

Mythology aside, this finale was like I said before very character centric.
And I have to bring up the flash-sideways the show adopted this season. At the end of the 5th season, Dan Farratay the physicist hatched a plan to set off a atomic bomb on the island which would change time and make the Oceanic crash never happen. While it looked like the bomb didn't make any difference (except it did bring everybody back into the same time. The Time Jumps in Season 5 were strange... but worked to me somehow) on the island, but instead of Flashbacks or Flash Forwards we got Flash Sideways... which was their lives if the plane never crashed. With weird circumstances though, Sawyer was a cop Jack had a son and different things were different in each persons life. All season long I was curious how these Flash-sideways would explain themselves in the end.Towards the end of the season Desmond made it his personal mission to get the Oceanic flight survivors to "let go". And little by little they showed a few characters having this moment of "enlightenment" or a moment of "love" where they are re-connected with a survivor and they see in a flash their whole life on the island. Jack ended up being the last hold out in this finale episode, but throughout there were heartwarming moments from Charlie Claire and Kate who all had their moment when the Flash-Sideways Claire gave birth. And the most effective "moment" came after Flash-Sideways John Locke had a corrective surgery from Jack and when he could wiggle his toes he flashed back to the moment on the island in the pilot where he realized that on the island he could walk.

I actually don't want to give away the ending and how those Flash-Sideways lives beautifully resolved themselves. There may be some readers who haven't seen it yet, and even though I've spoiled a lot about the sixth season that ending is so great and emotional and appropriate I want them to feel it the same way I did. It was just so great because after investing in the story and the characters so long, I wasn't let down and I was happy for all of them. And like I said before, the Finale was very character based. And even than, there are years and years of stories you could imagine happened on this magical island.

Another thing that I feel necessary to mention is the acting. Especially the acting of our main cast in their Flash Sideways life. It seemed that once they each had their moment of "love", they knew something that the viewer didn't know. It's like they were happy, and you could imagine they would be if all these great memories came flashing back, but there was something more. Something mysterious that the viewer couldn't put their finger on, and was finally revealed in the last 15 minutes of the finale. Evangeline Lilly's acting when she saw Jack in the Flash Sideways world and told him how much she missed him, even though he didn't know her, and the looks she gave him were amazing because like I said the viewer wasn't supposed to know and each actor played it as such. Just an amazing Finale to an amazing show.

And it's been two weeks since the Finale, and I could have passed in writing about it. However I'm such a big fan of this show, and this finale was so impactful and emotional personally, I didn't feel right about NOT writing about it. And seriously, trying to wrap my words around all that I wanted to say was quite difficult. It's here now though. And I just can't wait to get that Complete Collection Blu-Ray when it's released in August, so I can re-live the show forever. (In fact, a few years ago when I read that the show was ending at a certain date, it became a dream to have all seasons and watch them all back to back to see if everything fits. So maybe I'll post another review once I'm finished there)

Album Review: Erykah Badu

2010-04-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy about this. I just love it when an artist you love is starting to fall off to the point where you can't defend them anymore, and than they release an album so good it makes you almost forget their past duds. It happened with Jay-Z last year, and this year Usher and Erykah Badu are making me a very proud fan.

Erykah Badu started her career 12 years ago with a totally new sound, a hybrid of Jazz R&B and Hip Hop, and the world appreciated her and the change she brought to the industry in the late 90's. Than she released the phenomenal, yet criminally underrated "Mama's Gun" and since than she's been a big question mark. Her last two albums "Worldwide Underground" from 2003 and "New Amerykah Pt. 1: 4th World War" from 2008 were both very self-indulgent, and that's putting it nicely. Those albums did have a few great cuts, but severely suffered from her not editing herself enough. Songs that might have started off good were ruined by going on way too long and meandering into more experimental territory. There were very few songs that people could actually relate to, and her political and philosophical standpoints seemed to be more important. Those two albums were just so disappointing to listen to, knowing that when she started people loved her because she was so relatable. It just seems like she forgot what initially made her hot.

Luckily, she seems to have remembered all of that while recording her now 5th album "New Amerykah Pt. 2: The Return of the Ankh". She almost completely ditches the spacey and muddled experimental sound of her previous efforts to make a really cohesive set that is simple, sweet and breezy. There's a strong Jazz influence on this album, which can best be displayed on the albums closer "Out of My Mind, Just in Time" which starts off as a very classic Jazz torch song, than turns into a very chill Be-Bop homage. There are a few instrumentals on this album that also prove her musical roots are definitely steeped in the different areas of Jazz, but she also has a lot of fun on this album incorporating contemporary Hip Hop and R&B elements into the very laid-back R&B/Jazz sound. "Turn Me Away (Get Munny)", which she should definitely consider as a single, uses the familiar backing beat to Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s mid-90's hit "Get Money" while "Fall in Love (Your Funeral)" replays the melody to Alicia Keys' "Unbreakable". However those songs don't end with the sample or replayed portions, it grows and becomes totally new songs thanks to Badu's lyricism which is at the same time fun, contemporary and very poetic even after all these years. Another great thing about this album is that while it's familiar to her older Classic material, it never sounds like she's forcing herself to recreate that old sound. She tries, and succeeds on almost every song, to push the envelope and try new things. The albums best song, and first single "Window Seat", is really one her better songs of her career, and represents the album in a great way. Very breezy, very earthy, but very urban and fun at the same time, while showing her growth as a vocalist and writer.

Who knows what was going on with Badu these past few years. Her previous albums can even be seen as risky, at least she did stay true to her own vision and didn't seem to compromise at all. However it looks like on this album, Badu reconnected with exactly what it was that made her such a force to be reckoned with when she debuted. She reconnected with the fact that her fans loved her music, they connected to her lyrics and her as a person more so as an artist. She went pretty far out there on her last two albums, and it seems on this album she's come down to earth a little more. Which is a great thing, and I really hope this continues.

And I'm sure you've heard about it, but if you haven't seen it here is the "controversial" video for this albums first single "Window Seat". Read about the controversy here... apparently she might get charged with a misdemeanor for this.

It's a little boring, but it's a trip to see in her face that she's really scared to do what she does at the end. And the guy who picked up her coat and shoes was hilarious. The message at the end is very cool though, and I give her props for being that risky for the sake of music.

Album Review: Gorillaz, Broken Bells, Dan Black

2010-03-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

The only Electronic group with literally animated group members and consistently mind-blowing videos have released their third album last month. Talking about the Gorillaz naturally, who have made a name for themselves with great imagery, hotly discussed videos, and a handful of insanely catchy and iconic hit singles. With the groups first single from their new album "Plastic Beach", you get a real indication of what the album will be. The video for "Stylo" (video at the bottom of this post) follows in their great tradition, and is yet another consistent and captivating music video co-starring Bruce Willis of all people. The song however, while good, is just a bit Too mellow and even guest appearances from Mos Def and R&B veteran Bobby Womack can't really make the song itself more memorable. And that's the main problem with the album, which is in general a good effort just not a very hard-hitting one. Not that the Gorillaz have ever been anything other than a mellow/chill Electronic group, however in their previous albums they did a great job at infusing some really catchy and more upbeat cuts into the mix. This album doesn't have a "Dirty Harry" or a "Feel Good Inc." or even a "Dare" or "Clint Eastwood".
The good thing about the album is it's very cohesive and the "Plastic Beach" idea is felt in the vibe of the very relaxing tracks. And better still, the featured appearances from the likes of everyone from Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed and De La Soul mix in perfectly. There vocals never seem to take away from the moody and chill tone of the album. This album seems to be perfect if you are going to listen to the whole thing on maybe a road trip, or just some sort of a relaxing playlist for the beach or wherever. Not their best, but definitely not a bad album.

Danger Mouse is also back. The producer you SHOULD know who was behind the incredible albums by Gnarls Barkley, the aforementioned Gorillaz, The Black Keys and Beck in the past few years. This time, he's teamed with The Shins front man James Mercer to form the duo and album titled "Broken Bells", which is another tremendous feat in Danger Mouse's discography. His production style is definitely present on this album which was released last month. Danger Mouse is the king of moody and pretty dark productions, and that vibe can be felt on this album. However unlike Gnarls Barkley's sophomore album and Beck's "Modern Guilt", Mouse infuses a little more light into his sound with this album. It makes for a wonderful aural experience, and the best album of the year so far. And what makes this collaboration a little better than his previous productions for Cee-lo, Black Keys and Beck is that Mercer's voice seems to perfectly match the style of the tracks. Beck delivered a bit of a mumbled vocal performance and Cee-lo's voice, although very unique, can get a little grating after a while. And those previous albums were terrific albums even given the vocal complaints, but that's just the reason why "Broken Bells" works so beautifully is because both members truly compliment each other.
Another great thing about this album is it's one that can be enjoyed on the whole, but if you take the singles by themselves they still stand out. "Citizen" "Mongrel Heart" and "The Ghost Inside" can be very worthy follow up singles with great hooks and melodies and of course great production. Even "Sailing to Nowhere", which plays almost entirely as an instrumental, is phenomenal on it's own given Danger Mouse's subtle production, you can hear a crazy drum sequence faintly in the background that elevates the track and takes away nothing from the beauty of it. A truly flawless album, let's hope they are remembered come Grammy time.

In Dan Black's debut album "UN", you hear an extremely talented guy trying -- and succeeding at producing his very own finely tuned Pop album with Hip Hop influences. And he does it all by himself. Without the benefit of having Timbaland or Kanye West producing tracks for him, he does a really impressive job of making songs that sound like they were produced by Timbaland or Kanye. This kid obviously has his ear to Pop radio, and every track (literally) is catchy enough to compete in that format easily. "U + Me" and "Alone" could potentially be big hits on the charts. If there's one problem with this debut, it's Black's voice. It's paper thin and at times a little whiny, a little more vocal control or even playing with different melodies, phrasing or just the attitude would have greatly benefited the album, especially some of the slower songs like the gorgeous "Cocoon" or "Life Slash Dreams". However this is his debut album, and based on what he's been able to accomplish here the future looks really good for him, and hopefully he grows leaps and bounds from here.

MySpace Blog Reviews: A Look Back!

2010-03-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

Here's just a blast from the past, the couple of months in 2008 I started my MySpace blog!

May 25, 2008 - Sunday

08 Album Reviews
Current mood: high
Category: Music

I got Usher "Here I Stand" today and was going to write a little review. And I figured since i have the time (i'm at work, but theres no research work to do and no calls coming in) i'll go ahead and talk about some of the good cd's that have been released this year.

Gnarls Barkley, "The Odd Couple" - definitley a cooled down/melancholy-ish version of their first album but it has some great StandOut tracks that rival "Crazy" or "Smiley Faces". My favorites are "Charity Case", "Whatever", "Would be Killer", "Going on" and the first single "Run". The tracks, by Danger Mouse, are just hella moody and than Cee-lo brings the perfect lyrical and vocal arrangements to match the tracks. I would imagine it would be hard to write to some of the tracks so i give Mr. Green all the props.

The Divas: Janet, "Discipline"/Madonna, "Hard Candy"/Mariah, "E=MC2"

Mariah Carey definitley wins this race by a mile. Madonna's "Hard Candy" is very -- Different, and i do give her credit for trying something new. i HATE the first single with Timberlake, so my expectations were very Low for this album (because "4 Minutes" and the other leaked track "Candy Shop" sounded like re-treads of Nelly Furtado/Gwen Stefani tracks). I think Pharrell is the real star of this album though, his production on "Incredible" (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Va6eBb2osrs) "Heartbeat" and "Give it 2 Me" are damn-near Amazing. These tracks renew my faith in the Neptunes (who had been slowly dying up until Jay-Z's "I Know"). It's a true DANCE album, and at least she sticks to that concept. Janet's "Discipline" on the other hand starts out really good. Than, it slips into a completley different album and vibe. And than towards the end it sounds like she just tacked on some unreleased stuff from years ago ("What Ur Name" and "The 1" seriously sound like they were recorded and mixed and mastered and shelved in 2004). I think the problem is that it's too long, she should have shaved some fillers out of the mix. Still "2Nite" "LUV" "Greatest X" and "Rock With U" are still Standouts and worth listening to over and over. And ofcourse the first single "Feedback" still has heat.

But, Mariah. I think "E=MC2" is her best album. It's an album that has No-Filler. Every song has something about it that makes you want to come back. The album has been out almost 2 months, and it seems like i have a new favorite song every week. "Side Effects" "OOC" "For the Record" "Cruise Control" and "Migrate" ofcourse is undeniable thanks to that undeniably addictive every-Man T-Pain. Mariah took her time and put together a truly Solid Album.

The Roots, "Rising Down"

I'm not a big fan of the Roots. I own two of their albums but don't really listen to them all that much. So ofcourse i wasn't expecting to even Care about a new Roots album. I saw the video for "Rising Up" on BET and loved it so i was like, what the hell i'll download it. This cd is shockingly good to me, i like every song. It's like every song has this intensity on it that you can't deny ("Get Busy" "The Show" "I will not apologize" for example) and every song has some pretty important lyrics that are definitley refreshing to hear. They even have some ready made Radio-friendly tracks, however i guess it's sad because i doubt i'll hear "Singing Man" or "Rising Up" on the radio over something like "Get Silly". This is definitley my biggest surprise of 2008.

I take that back. Panic at the Disco, "Pretty.Odd" is oddly good. I mean it has this whole oldie Beatle early 60's rock type vibe to it and i wasn't expecting that from the people who sang about a bride being a "Whore" on their last album. So i guess i was surprised to listen to it and find it... Pleasant Lol! I dont know, it's not one of my Favorite albums of the year at all -- but it's a nice album that i may end up getting into more as the year progresses.

Danity Kane, "Welcome to the Dollhouse"/Day26, "Day26"

I was definitley wrapped up in the Making the Band series when i was into these two albums. Now that the season has worn off, i realize these two albums aren't really as great as i thought they were at first. Danity Kane's is alright , standouts being "Sucka for Love" and "Xtasy". Most of the album though sounds like a Rihanna/Britney/Pussycat Dolls wannabe-electro-pop-r&b/light sound so the songs may not be Terrible, but end up being pretty forgettable. Day26's sounds more like a Jagged Edge/Jodeci/112 compilation. I like most of the songs, but again... they are pretty forgettable. I gravitate more towards the uptempos "I'm the Reason" "Im my Bed". and "Co-Star" is a REALLY great song (vocally) which shld be a single. I give them credit for putting together a pretty solid cd for their first time... but neither of those two albums will even really be remembered at the end of the year.

Usher, "Here I Stand"

So -- the album i had the highest expectations for. And yeah, okay... Usher pretty much delivers. He MIGHT have the same problem as Janet though with maybe too many songs. However, i just downloaded it today so it still needs time to truly grow on me. That being said, there are already a number of stand-outs that i see myself looking stupid in the car singing along to. "Whats Your Name" (http://youtube.com/watch?v=yuiImpkZ4k8) with Will.i.am is HOT!!! "Trading Places" (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ovm-VWS0VgI) or "Before I met you" should definitley be the third or fourth single. "This aint sex" "His mistakes" and "Apetite" are other instant standouts. The rest is pretty okay, there's only one song i really dont like. I will say that Vocally, he definitley is miles ahead of the Timberlakes and Chris Browns and NeYo's. All in all, after only having the cd for a few hours I really like it though. I'll definitley buy it on the 27th.

I cant remember right now any other cd's i may have downloaded, but those are definitley the top ones of the year. I'm eagerly anticipating a few of the upcoming releases though. N.E.R.D. (6/10) is probably the Most anticipated right now, Weezer (6/3), Lil Wayne (6/10), Coldplay (6/17), Ne-Yo (8/5), Nas (7/1), Sean Paul, Busta Rhymes are some of the ones dropping in the summer that i can think of.

so signing off -- The Drums, The Drums, The Drums, The Drums...

(The Ting Tings "Great DJ")

EDIT: I forgot about Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu, "New Amerykah, Part One"

The reason i probably forgot to mention this, is because it's my biggest let-down of the year so far. I Love Love Erykah, but it took me Years to get into her last album "Worldwide Underground" and i feel like this album will have to have the same fate. I do like a few of the songs already, first single "Honey" and "That Hump" definitley speaks to me and cheers me up. Other songs are pretty good (oh yeah "Hip Hop The Healer" is pretty awesome) but i haven't listened to that full cd in so long i dont even remember a title. I will say that the "Honey" video is probably my favorite music video i've seen in Years. It reminds me of being little and looking through my mom's/aunts/uncles record collections =)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_9jpkF1ehD8

July 1, 2008 - Tuesday

N*e*R*D, Coldplay, Weezer, WeezY & The BET Awards - Reviews
Current mood: optimistic
Category: Music

New reviews.

So June is officially over, about 5 hours ago, and I didn't post any reviews of the new music i've gotten this past month. So let's just go ahead and do that Now!

First of all, the last blog i said that Usher's "Here I Stand" may grow on me. Well unfortunately it hasn't. I barely listen to it anymore. It's such a run of the mill R&B album and for Usher that's a No-No. So i'm pretty much over Usher in the 08. And did you see his BET Award performance?? He was so tired, he was lipsynching and we hasn't Hitting his moves. Really disapointing.

Anyhow onto the June reviews.

N*e*R*D,Seeing Sounds

Nerd's first album was pretty awesome. It dealt with concepts you didn't really hear, and the mixing of Rock/Alternative/HipHop was genius at the time and really refreshing. Their second album was a more polished album sonically, however it didn't have as many solid tracks. Seeing Sounds is completely different from both two albums. I have yet to determine what exactly the albums main message is... what i can assume is a message of "DO YOU!" but i could be wrong. All of that aside, it's a really good album. The production this time is CRAZY! The group still plays with Rock and Alternative and mixing it with pop, but this album also introduces more of an Electronica vibe and some Drum and Bass thrown in the mix. The concepts of the songs are pretty out there, but some are really relateable. All in all, I'd give this the stamp of approval. "Windows" "Spaz" "You know What" and "Sooner or Later" are my favorites (along with the UK only bonus cut "Lazer Gunz"- which is the first song you hear when you log on to my page).

Coldplay,Viva la Vida or Death and all his Friends

Okay here's the deal. I thought "XY" was an amazing album. However i read somewhere that the critics didn't agree with me. Now i'm reading really great reviews of This album and I don't know if i agree. The album is cool. I really really like the song "Lost!" and a few others. However, it's not really a memorable album thus far for me. I know that i enjoyed a majority of it because most of the album is still on my iPod. But there is nothing like "Talk" or "Square One" on this album. It's very mellow. Chris sounds good though, and the band does do some awesome musical arrangements. I just wish i could remember more than 4 song titles.

Weezer,Weezer aka The Red Album

"Heart Songs". That's the reason to get this CD. It's an awesome song just about their musical influences growing up. The first time i heard it, it sounded just like a normal love song, with a great track that i instantly loved. When i listened to the lyrics i fell in love with the song even more. Aside from that song, the first half of this album is good. The second half kind of ventures off into terrain that's a bit less adventurous, more predictable and unoriginal. "Everybody get Dangerous" "Trouble maker" and "Pork and Beans" are the only other real standouts. Not that great. Not that bad.

Lil Wayne,Tha Carter III

So he's the greatest rapper alive eh??

Well this album isn't bad. I must admit though that i can't listen to it all the way through. It's like he'll have some nice cuts like "Mr. Carter" "Dr. Carter" "Shoot me Down", and than have two or three less than thrilling tracks afterwards. A pretty uneven album, that actually sounds like he had been saving tracks for the past two years and just put them on this album. Making it sound like more of a compilation album than an actual album. BUT, i can't fault him. That's the way of Hip Hop these days. I wish'd he would have done something like "Hip hop is dead" or "American Gangster" where all the songs have a vibe about them. Maybe in the future. For right now this is a pretty solid Hip Hop album (which pretty much sticks to the Hip Hop album Norm) with a number of filler tracks. By the way i also like "Got Money" "Let the beat build" ofcourse "Lollipop" and "A Milli" and i actually like the one with Babyface "Comfortable".

Now let's talk about the BET Awards.

I THINK?? they gave out some awards?? I'm pretty sure. But we all know that the BET Awards (and any other Music award show for that matter) is about the Performances. I already told you all what i thought of tired ass Usher (I really think this was not the right time for him to come back out/ i think he's dealing with his own personal issues and is just not invested in the music thing right now... i could be wrong). It was funny thought because I'm sure Chris Brown and Ne-Yo were super nervous thinking they couldn't top him. But they did. Chris Brown did a Slower set which surprised me. He started with "With you" and than into "Take you down", where Ciara came out and did some nasty/naughty dance moves with Breezy. The only bad thing about his performance was ... it was too short! Since about 2006, me and my friend had said that a Chris Brown/Ciara dance off type thing would be the Dopest thing ever. And yes when they got into their danceOff part they Killed. But it just didn't last long enough.

Ne-Yo, in my opinion, KILLED IT. He's not the best dancer (and i noticed that on second viewing) but he knew better than to do some difficult ass choreography because he still had to actually sing Live. When he did hit his moves, he Hit them. And i think the best thing, it seemed like he was trying to pull off this "Year of the Gentleman" persona... and being able to hold onto that character while dancing and singing and hitting your marks and working the stage... to a House song... is most likely pretty difficult and he pulled it off. Standing Ovation! I cant wait to hear what his album is gonna be like.

Alicia Keys seemed like she was the highlight of the night to most people i talked to. She basically did her own "Teenage Love Affair" with three backup dancer/singers. Like a girl group right? Than she broke it down and started singing "Weak" and everybody was like WTF. And than SWV came out and finished the song with her, than EnVogue came and sang "Hold On" with her. And than TLC or TC came out and did "Waterfalls". It was definitley nice to see all these chicks that used to love back in Jr. High again. Nice performance Ms. Keys.

Another person I was REALLY glad to see again was Maxwell. His performance was My personal favorite of the night. He was the third performer in a Al Green Tribute. Jill Scott did her thing with "Still in love", Anthony Hamilton sounded so much like Mr. Green on "Tired of being alone" but Maxwell killed it with "Simply Beautiful". And one thing i do have to say about the BET awards, i LOVE when they do the tributes. Because when the actual Tributee is on stage doing their thing, you see in the audience all the different generations of performers from different styles singing along.

Who else performed? Well TPain did a mix of all his "featured on" hits with Rick Ross and FloRida and all the gaggles of rappers that were on that "Im so Hood" remix. TPain came BACK out during Lil Waynes closing performance. These performances were good and all, but not worth writing about. Nothing else was really worth writing about. But i do have to put Keyshia Cole on blast. She sounded terrible. And, okay maybe i'll rephrase. Her voice in itself wasn't bad. But she does not know how to use her voice , Live. She really needs to work on that.

But the 08 BET Awards was pretty okay. Better than last year.

July 21, 2008 - Monday

Nas... " " better known as "Nigger"
Current mood: melancholy
Category: Music

THE most anticipated album of 2008 did not disapoint.

Nas' past few albums have been like Textbooks to me. An album that talks in many ways about one issue. So, much like a textbook, i really need to study the material and than come up with an overall feeling for said Textbook. Therefore my final review for this album is still Pending.

I'll say now that it IS a great album, it did NOT disapoint. And current standouts are "America" "N.I.G.G.E.R." "Y'all my Niggas" and "Black President". Every song is great though. Support this man... maaan!

September 15, 2008 - Monday

Janet Live! and Ne-Yo - Reviews
Current mood: breezy
Category: Music

I finally went to a concert!!!! So i missed the major concert i wanted to see this year and that was the Glow in the Dark tour. I also missed Mary J and JayZ, Coldplay, Musiq Soulchild, and Alicia keys. I missed the Killers last year and just barely was able to see Beyonce. So with work sucking at the maximum capacity for the last two weeks, i just needed to let off some steam and get drunk and get loud. So me and my friend Aleta finally decided to go to the Janet Jackson show. A couple of cool things happened though, we didn't have to pay for parking AND i only bought $40 tickets... but i think the show just wasn't selling, so people that worked at the arena were running around Giving people seats in the lower sections... so basically i paid $40 for $120 tickets. AWESOME!!! How often does that happen? Never! At least not for me.

The show... yeah i guess it was cool. Lol! No i had fun. I think just the fact that Janet was onstage for 2.5 Hours singing pretty much ALL of her hits. In fact i think she did ALL of her hit singles, and a few album tracks from the new album and some verry verry old songs... and songs that don't belong in the Oldies but 'Good'ies category. It was a fun show for the fact that she kept it moving. I'm not gonna get too negative on her, there are a few things that i have small gripes with. They are very minor though, so it didn't take away from the whole experience.

So i had fun, and it made me kinda miss concerts!! Hopefully 09 will be a better year for me. Kanye GO ON TOUR AGAIN NEXT YEAR PLEASE!!!!

And now my album review.

Ne-Yo "Year of the Gentleman"

When "Closer" came out around April of this year, Ne-yo's album shot to the top of my most anticipated albums of the year... and I dont even really like dude. The album was supposed to drop in june originally, than it got pushed back to August, and now it's being released this Tuesday the 16th. In the months it's taken to actually be released, I did seriously lose a little interest. And the followup single "Miss Independent" is good, but it wasn't as hot or different as "Closer".

Anyway the album leaked, and even though it's not quite what I expected it's still easily the best album by an R&B Dude to come out this year (Take that Usher!)

The album is really alot more laidback than I expected. In fact I expected a totally different sound from the interviews he was giving talking about the album, that it would be really different, how he's tired of R&B, how Patrick Stump of FallOutBoy was supposed to collaborate on a track. And when i listened to the album, the first thing i thought was What Happened. It's a total R&B album, nothing else... "Closer" is the only thing on the album that seperates itself from Ne-Yo's sound from his previous two albums.

What I'll give Ne-Yo credit for is his songwriting and the ability to make some catchy hooks. Easily one of the top songs on the album, "Why Does She Stay" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH8rKj6VYi0 is a good example. It's just really refreshing to hear lyrics like:

I step outside of myself
To see how much she loves me
And all the things that i should do for her that i just dont...

just dont...
And i realize

She's so much better than me
Im so unworthy of her

Why does she stay ?

Which is quite a change from the "I cheated on her, now i dont understand why she doesn't trust me" or the "I'm so much better than your current dude, you need to drop him and get with me" type of songs that come from most R&B Dudes (Take that Usher!)

There's another really well written song, well there are ALOT actually... but the one i really love is "So you can Cry" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkpLZkUR68M ,

Life is long
There will be pain but life goes on
With everyday a brand new song
But if you rather stay at home
Let me do you a favor

I'll ask the sun to shine away from you today so you can cry
(if that's what you want)
I'll ask the clouds to bring the rain for you today so you can cry .

Nice right!

And than there's the song that is just WAITING to be used at all the upcoming weddings "Stop this World". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzSrPjBXQ7w

Bottom line, this 12 track album has Several potential hits... and even if he didn't go outside of his box as much as i expected (and that was probably more due to his label and those politics than him) he still delivered.

September 28, 2008 - Sunday

Saadiq, The Way I See It - Review
Current mood: annoyed
Category: Music

It must really suck to have your very first solo album be a Masterpeice. Where do you go from there?? Usually down. It happened to Lauryn Hill, and unfortunatley it looks like it's happened to Raphael Saadiq. 2002's "Instant Vintage" was easily the most refreshingly soulful album released that year, if not the whole decade. And his just released third solo album shows that even though this man is still obviously a genius, he seems to be having a hard time matching the artistic success of his first outing.

Not to say that "The Way I See It" is a bad album. It's a step above decent. It's a throwback to the 60's and 70's Motown sound. And the inspirations behind a couple of the songs are painfully obvious. The album definitley stays true to that sound, and the songs end up sounding like they literally could be put on a Motown hit album and fit perfectly. And, that might be a bit of the problem with the album. You've got Amy Winehouse, Duffy, and even Solange Knowles (i know right) using the 60's throwback style but the difference is that they also add contemporary elements to make it something new. Saadiq didn't add any up to date elements to make the songs pop a little more, but maybe he didn't want to.

Having said that, the song "Oh Girl" is easily the best song on the album. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0qJ_V66n8Q It's actually a little more "DooWop" than the rest of the album, the fact that the production is so raw and the lyrical and melody are so simple. Much like "Still Ray" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoyaITkdLA0 from "Instant Vintage", a simple song all around that makes such a powerful memorable classic. Some other high points on "The way i see it" are "Calling", which is also a simple slow burner, the first single "Love that girl", and "Never Give You Up" which features the Legend Stevie Wonder.

Outside of that, it's a decent album to have on but it's nothing that i'm running to my iPod to listen to. Though, like i say alot, it might grow on me. His second solo cd "Ray Ray" i seriously only listened to it once when it was released in 2004, and just last year I started to listen and it really grew on me. So maybe in 2011 or something I'll fully appreciate this album. For right now, it's Aaiiight! =)

October 5, 2008 - Sunday

TI, Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, PCD, NKOTB, Jason Mraz, Britney, Killers ... Week in Music
Current mood: anxious
Category: Music

It's dead at work, so time to Blog.

So this week was a bit of an exciting week for music, at least for me. There were two highly anticipated album releases this past Tuesday in the form of T.I.'s 6th album "Paper Trail" and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson's self titled debut album. Some news on Beyonce's upcoming third solo album, and single releases from Pop Queens Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Ciara and The Killers also released their first singles from their upcoming Fall releases.

So where to start?

Britney vs Christina. The late 90's Pop Tarts are back, and practically going head to head this Fall. Ofcourse Christina Aguilera's album coming November 7th is just a Greatest Hits ("Keeps Gettin' Better — A Decade of Hits"), and Britney's "Circus" due November 23rd is a full fledged studio album which is supposed to be her "ComeBack" (even though her last album was released a little over a year ago, but whatever!). However their first singles are being released just a few weeks apart from each other, and oddly enough they sound almost exactly the same. Christina's "Keeps Getting Better" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsnOdf3_8jc) was debuted officially at the recent MTV VMA's during an lipsynched, Lady Gaga inspired performance. And just like the lackluster performance, the song is very boring. Coming from Christina Aguilera, this single is a true disapointment. For an artist who has always prided herself on going against the grain of the Pop scene and doing her own thing, this song sounds like every other song on Dance/Pop radio these days. It sounds like Britney Spears (specifically Britney's "Blackout" album cut "Radar" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3wvPts-Z8w) and the mere fact that the song sounds like Anybody other than Christina warrants a pretty low rating. Britney's new single "Womanizer" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_bu4N5qacU) isn't much better, it's a dance/pop/electronic upbeat song that is very similar to pretty much all of Britney's post-KFed recordings. It's a fun, upbeat song though. You can definitley dance to it. And even though I personally Hate the hook on the song, it's damn catchy and something as repetitive as that is only going to help the song gain popularity.

Beyonce. Ms. Destiny's Child or Mrs. Jay-Z or Miss Sasha is also planning a Fall release (scheduled for November 18th) with an as yet untitled album. Unlike Britney and Xtina, Beyonce has not released hardly ANY info. She is slated to premiere Two new singles on Tuesday October 7th, and it's pretty surprising in this Digital Day and Age that neither of these singles have leaked online yet. Not even a snippet has leaked. It's quite impressive that she was able to withold it from leaking, and a smart move as well. However on different blogs and message boards there is information that has been gathered to keep us Stans happy while we wait. An official statement from Beyonce's camp has the two song titles as "If I Were a Boy" and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)". The former is being pushed to Pop radio, and is written and produced by Toby Gad who is behind Fergie's monster hit of last year "Big Girls Dont Cry". There was a demo of this song released a few weeks ago, it's sung by the cowriter of the song but it's allegedly alot different than the final version Beyonce recorded and wrote additional lyrics to. Give it a listen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpWHml42_Rg . The other single is produced by Tricky and written by The-Dream who have basically appeared on every R&B and Pop album released since their massive hit "Umbrella" last year. No other info was given out on this song besides the facts that the song is upbeat, the video is done and the dancing in said video is supposedly "On Point". Additionally, like i said before there is no album title yet but a few things have been passed around online. The first official report had the album titled "Virtuoso Intellect" which was quickly followed by "Virtuoso Effect". Than a few weeks ago on one of the boards, someone very trusted that allegedly works really close to Beyonce said the album title would be "sumthin u hear her say all the time". A few days later, it was reported somewhere that "Empowerment" was the title. All this mystery! I think that's good, there's no mystery left with albums these days.

Jennifer Hudson. She stole all the spotlight from Beyonce during the promotions for her Oscar winning role in "Dreamgirls", but apparently the spotlight might not shine too long on Hudson's music career. Her self titled debut album came out September 30th to some Very underwhelming reviews from some of her die hard fans. I personally haven't listened to the album yet so i'm just reporting what i read, which was that the self titled debut is nothing but a hodgepodge of different styles and that it doesn't work too well. I may just download it this weekend and post another review if i feel it's worthy. I do know that she needs to release a follow up single, because "Spotlight" the albums first single, died Months ago.

By the way, i did download The Pussycat Dolls second album "Doll Domination" last week. And surprise surprise, it doesn't totally suck. A Very predictable pop album for sure, but they are a predictable pop group so you can't expect much else. Only about half of the album is worth listening to. Top songs being "Halo" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jf9moh09so) "Hate this Part" "Elevator" 'Happily Never After" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqWL1C2Etik) "Magic" and a song that is really stupid but i just can't get enough of "Bottle Pop". Everything else is really Average, not terrible but not memorable at all. And while we are on predictable pop groups, New Kids on the Block delivered a reunion album a few weeks (months?) ago, and aided by their recent VH1 Behind the Music special (and my B urging me to listen to it) I checked out some of the songs. I didn't like many of the songs, they aren't bad... but those dudes are out of it. I don't totally remember New Kids from the 90's, i wasn't that into them just maybe two or three songs here and there, but it seems like Jordan and Joey are the only ones who can actually sing and the others just kind of phone in their vocals. Still "Click Click Click" is a really good song, and i can't get "Twisted" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pScuRQjqRoo) out of my head for the life of me.

Keeping in the vibe of Average albums, I have to talk about Jason Mraz. I think "We Sing.We Dance.We Steal Things" is now his third studio album, and with "Im Yours" being such a great single, i felt a little compelled to listen to the whole thing. The problem, Jason Mraz is obviously a talented guy. He has a great talent for coming up with creative melodies and he seems to have some great musical influences, and the problem is that either he or his label don't know which influence they want to copy from the most. There are some really awful songs on this album, for instance "Butterfly" which is him obviously trying to be Jamiroquai with terrible results. Honestly there are really only two singles you need to hear, the first single "I'm Yours" and his duet with Colbie Caillat "Lucky". While you get those online, get "The Remedy" from his first album in 2002. This is the song that made me take a first notice at this guy. I think he has potential to be a huge artist, but unfortunatley this album isn't really going to take him there.

That finally brings us to T.I., whose 6th album "Paper Trail" dropped the same day as Jennifer Hudsons. And it's evident that T.I. is going to anihalate her on the charts come Thursday, and you know what... he kind of deserves to. This album is still Typical Hip Hop. Pretty much the same concepts, the same producers, the same type of songs. However T.I. is one of the dudes who actually has talent so him alone sets this album apart from Every Other Hip Hop album. Funny that it sounds so much like his other albums though, at certain points during listening to the album I thought "T.I.'s the Jagged Edge of Hip Hop", meaning those R&B dudes tend to release the exact same album year after year. However i love Jagged Edge, and yeah i love T.I., so it ends up working in his case. Best songs include ofcourse "Swagga Like Us" with Jayz Kanye and Weezy, "Ready for Whatever", "My Life Your Entertainment" with Usher, "Live your Life" with Rihanna, "I'm Illy", "Porno Star". All the rest of it is good though, and ofcourse this will probably end up growing on me in the coming months, there is already enough to get me to want to actually listen to the album more than once.

Oh, last but not least... The Killers have a new single out. It's called "Human" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvVOoCKjonY) and it's produced by Stuart Price who i f'ing LOVE. He's one of those Euro Electronic artists, he has a bunch of electronic groups that he heads and he also produces and remixes under various aliases. He actually contributed a hit remix to "Mr Brightside" under the alias Jacques Lu Cont. Anyway i love that guy, and i love the Killers so i obviously love the song. I really can't wait for the album "Day and Age" which is supposed to drop November 11th. They also have a show in San Francisco on October 21st. Who Wants to Go With Me???

Additonally, there have been some shake ups with other Fall releases...

Keri Hilson's "In this world" has been moved from October 7th to November 4th. And TPain's "Thr33 Ringz" moves from September 30th to November 11th.

October 14, 2008 - Tuesday

New Videos
Current mood: chipper
Category: Music

Beyonce's back!! Nobody should be surprised that I'm excited, but i think people will be surprised how awesome her two new videos are. Ofcourse "If I were a boy" as a single and video completely Shit on "Single Ladies", but they are both good efforts.

If I were a Boy is a cinematic, movie styled music video with a bit of a Power struggle/role reversal plot going on. Its just really well done, and the video fits the song perfectly. The twist ending seals the deal and makes it that much more powerful. And there's all kinds of Hotness in the video as well.

Single ladies is really simple. Its just her and two girls dancing on a plain set. The lighting and the cinematography on this video Amaze me and are really the stars in the video. The choreography is simple, but has some interesting moves in there and really sexy. And beyonce's legs... OMY! The song is still kind of boring to me though.

So Common released "Unviersal mind control" earlier in the summer, so i'm not sure why he's just now getting around to releasing a video for the single. Frankly he should have chosen a new single to make a video to. But anyhow, the video is kinda cool... i like the Pharrell robot. but Common is looking a little long in the tooth these days, so it kinda feels like it's not ... hmm... Age Appropriate. This should have been Lupe's video.

Ciara also premiered a new video this month, and while the video is insanely futurstic and original. The song in my opinion doesn't match. And i really like the song. But the sound is very urban, very "driving down Mission with the bass bumping" and the video needed something a little more Futuristic, Electronic sounding. Ciara is still the best dancer out there right now, and this video at least proves that.

Last, and pretty much LEAST (lol) is Britney Spears' "Womanizer". Okay i have to admit the video is kinda cute. It reminds me ALOT of one of her other classic videos, "Toxic", it almost follows the concept exactly. Britney looks really good though, i mean not only is her body back on point, but even her face. It's not all puffy, and she actually has life in her eyes. All in all this video is pretty good I can't lie. It's entertaining, never boring, and visually appealing, and it did the job a video is sometimes supposed to do and it makes the song a little more bearable. It's just a little predictable for Britney, it seems like she does the same stuff over and over. But i think i've already made that complaint.

October 20, 2008 - Monday

P!nk, T-Pain, John Legend, Ray Lamontagne, and Fall Out Boy ... Week in Music
Current mood: irritated
Category: Music

I love my iPod, i mean i would probably literally bust out in tears if anything bad were ever to happen to it. (That being said, i really need a new one) I'm starting to love my iTunes just as much because it really is one of the only places I check out regularly that keeps me up to date on whats new. I hate the radio, and there are hardly ever any music videos on music video channels, I watch stuff on youtube but that's really only when i'm specifically searching for an artist or if somebody on a message board links the video. Other than that, I would be a lot more out of the loop if it weren't for iTunes. For instance, this Tuesday I go on there to check out "What's New" "What's Hot" and notice some dude named Ray Lamontagne is sitting at the top of the iTune album chart. I clicked on some of the samples from his album, and the voice made me download it. The album "Gossip In the Grain" is not necessarily the type of album i would normally listen to, it's very folk/blues/rock and very mellow love songs. However a great voice will make you pay attention to things you normally wouldn't, and this guy has a really awesome unique voice. It's perfectly suited for rock with it's raspiness, but it also has a deep soul to it that is somewhat close to Temptations' David Ruffin or Sam Cooke. Still, for me there aren't many stand outs on the album, it's a nice alternative option for me when i'm bored with Overproduced Pop tracks (and believe it or not, that Does happen from time to time).

I also found two new Fall Out Boy singles. Actually I downloaded "I Dont Care" a few weeks ago, and it's a cool song, kind of typical Fall Out Boy song. This week they released a follow up in the form of "What a Catch, Donnie" and this song is really ... pretty... amazing. And speaking of Voices, I definitley think Patrick Stump has the Best Male Voice out there today, at least in the commercial mainstream Pop world. He just knows How to sing and How to perfectly compliment the song with his voice and vice versa, and he nails this song which is somewhat of a ballad for them. (The best part of the song actually is towards the end, they incorporate some of their older hits into the closing melody... Nice!)

Staying in the Rock for the Pop Charts frame of mind, Pink's 5th album "Funhouse" will be released in stores October 28th and although i got it online already, it would actually be worth the purchase. I've always loved Pink, and even though her last four albums have all been more Rocked Out Pop than the R&B of her first album, each album always takes a slightly different direction. The 4th album "I'm Not Dead", for instance, was way more of a Fun Popped up Rock album while the one before that "Try This" (which btw was criminally underrated, check out "Save My Life" and "Waiting for Love") was alot darker deeper and moodier than anything she released before. Unfortunatley, or maybe Fortunatley for some, "Funhouse" is more of a mash up of both of those albums. There are an awful lot of slower songs, surprising given the albums title. Those slower songs do happen to be the best off the album, the second single "Sober", the albums closer "Glitter in the Air" and the should-be single "I Dont Believe You". All of these tracks show off her awesome voice, which apparently has grown quite a bit in the last 2 years. These slower tracks also showcase some great songwriting which is rare in the current Pop scene. I must say that this album was Obviously inspired by her divorce and she talks about it Alot in a huge number of the songs on this album. There are a few upbeats on this album, nothing as fun as "U + Ur Hand" or "Cuz I Can" or even this albums first single "So What". "It's your fault" "Ave Mary A" and "Bad Influence" are the best of the more uptempo half of the album. Overall, Pink always delivers even if she didn't really do anything all that Risky with this album.

Let's get back to how great iTunes is for a second. I notice they've been doing this thing for certain artists where they release a different song every week or so as a "Countdown" to the album release. They did it for T.I. leading up to "Paper Trail"'s release, and it seems like they are doing it for both T-Pain and John Legend who have albums releasing within the month. Now John Legend's last album "Once again" was one of my favorites, and the First single he dropped on iTunes, "Green Light", is one of the best of this year. Featuring Andre 3000, it's an uptempo club banger booty/bass track which is a departure for Legend's slowed down R&B style he normally goes for. And the music video fits perfectly. He followed that up with a ballad "If You're Out There", and yeah it's one of those Inspirational anthems and i'm not a big fan of those but the lyrics are on point. I just never feel the need to want to hear it. I downloaded the other two singles he's dropped "No Other Love" featuring Estelle and "Everybody Knows" -- but haven't gotten around to listening to them.

T-Pain, Teddy Pain, Nappy Booi-o-e!, Teddy Pinned-her-ass-Down, whatever you wanna call him. I know ALOT of people say they are sick of him and his vocoder, but i've never gotten tired of him. In fact every single thing he touches i seem to like... if only for his verse or hook on the song. He has a talent for melodies and hooks, and the singles released so far from his upcoming 3rd album "Thr33 Ringz" are all proof of his obvious hit making skills. By now i think everybody's heard "Can't Believe it" featuring Lil Wayne, which is some what of a slow jam/love song, took me a minute to get into this song but it's definitley solid. "Silver and Gold" is actually Not available on iTunes and Won't make the final cut of the album, but check it out... it's just a fun Dranking song in the vein of "Bartender" and "Buy U a drank". I guess there was some "controversy" with Kirk Franklin in regards to this song, apparently Franklin also has a Gospel song titled "Silver and Gold" and he was Upset that T-Pain used the same title to sing about liquor ("Drinkin both kindsa Patron's/ I done mixed up Silver and Gold" as opposed to "I'd rather have Jesus/ than Silver and Gold"). I'm curious if this is the reason the song isn't included on the albums tracklist, if so that's weak, i mean it's only a TITLE!! Not the first time two artists have shared the same song title and the songs have been drastically different.

Anyhow, he released "Chopped 'N Skrewed" featuring Ludacris last week and this week "Freeze" featuring Chris Brown. Now I do like both of these songs, but these might be evidence that T-Pain may just be dipping in the hitmaking. They just sound very similar to his other songs... "Chopped 'N Skrewed" actually sounds like a Chopped and Screwed version of "Silver and Gold" but Ludacris does contribute a nice verse that's worth checking out. And "Freeze" kind of reminds me of that one song he did with Lil Mama "Shawty get Loose", it's a nice dance song and it has a cool hook but i don't really see it going anywhere.

And lastly, I heard probably the 2nd Worst Song of 2008. Here is actually my rankings for the Worst songs this year...

1. Vanessa Hudgens, Sneakernight -- I dont even want to waste much time talking about this CRAP, I'll just say I've learned to Mute the commercials when I'm watching Nickelodeon (this song is played on her EckoRed commercial that they seem to play every 10 seconds on Nick!)

2. Pleasure P, Did you Wrong -- Heard this song today and WOW it's Terrible! Dude can't sing (AT ALL), the concept is played the Fk out, and the lyrics are just plain stupid and lazy, example:

I ain't tryna waste your time
And, I ain't tryna waste my time
There ain't no need to waste no time
'cause we done put in too much time
I ain't tryna waste your time
I ain't tryna waste my time
Ain't no need to waste no time
'cause we done put in too much time

TERRIBLE!!

3. Ashanti, Good Good -- So at least she put out a decent music video behind this Mess. However this is Ashanti stooping to the lowest common denominator... Come up with a stupid repetitive hook and not even worry about anything else and i'll get a hit. Wrong! I think this song may have finally put that nail in the coffin that is her Career.

Alright, until next week...

November 2, 2008 - Sunday

John Legend "Evolver" - Review
Current mood: energetic
Category: Music

I wish I wasn't so lazy. I intended to include my review of John Legend's new album "Evolver" in my updated Week in Music blog last Monday. I was lazy, so I didn't. And I've been putting off for a few days (I had a test this week so studying kind of took up my time), all the while knowing I was going to write a Glowing review of the album because it is really that good.

Firstly, I'll just say that I haven't been a Huge fan of Legend. I didn't really like his debut album "Get Lifted" all that much, and wasn't really even excited when his follow up was released in 2006. Eventually (thanks to Starbucks) I bought the second album "Once Again" and it became one of my top plays of 2007. And a pattern I can sense with John Legend that I hope he continues is that he keeps all the songs on one album in the same Vibe and they seem to all be connected. Much like some of the greats have done in the past. "Evolver" isn't a Legendary or even Amazing album, but because everything flows so well into each other I think this is probably one of the best ALBUMS of the year. And by ALBUM i mean something that was put together to be appreciated on the whole and not just a Compilation type album (Janet, Usher). The Vibe... To me, being that I'm so damn old (LoL) is very early 90's. Makes sense, the pop charts have been dominated by 80's inspired music the past 5 years... the natural transition would be to bite off music of the 90's. Except on "Evolver" there are subtle hints of the 90's under pretty contemporary production, like the PM Dawn inspired harmony tacked on the end of "Everybody knows", the SWV sample on "It's Over", and even the lyrical content of "Quickly" is very reminiscent of A/C Phil Collins. Again, just subtle hints so the music on the whole does sound really Fresh and original. And there are some classic songs on here, the music industry is so unpredictable these days so i'm not sure if "Everybody Knows" or "This Time" will get the success on Pop radio that it deserves. They are both Classic ballads that rival Richard Marx, Bryan Adams and Michael Jackson in the 90's, with very relatable lyrics and slick production. The whole album is solid, there's not one song I hate or would even skip past (okay maybe "If You're Out There" which is more along the lines of a Gloria Estefan power ballad for the Olympics or in this case a Democratic Campaign -- GO OBAMA!!) but some definite stand outs for me are "I Love To, Love" (reminds me of "Show Me" from the last album... but sweeter) "Cross the Line" (Love the production on this) and "It's Over" (Kanye kinda kills it, again!).

All in all, it's definitley John Legend's Best, but on top of that it hopefully showcases what we can expect from him in the future, solid ALBUMS and not just singles.

November 11, 2008 - Tuesday

Beyoncé "I Am..." - Review
Current mood: okay
Category: Music

No matter what anybody says, Beyoncé is definitley the closest thing we've seen to a Living Legend in a long time. And it's not even because she's the Best vocalist, or the best dancer. It's not because her songs are groundbreaking or even original or innovative. It's basically because she's so well rounded a artist/performer/celebrity. She combines her talents with her image and she's just one of the best total packages out there.

That being said, in anyone's music career the Third album is (in my opinion) the MOST important album, Especially for someone as huge as she is. And it shows on "I Am...", her third album in stores on November 18th, that Beyoncé understood the importance and took her time. The album is split into two discs, and the first "I Am... Beyoncé" is Amazing. It's obvious she was going for a more mainstream Pop vibe with this side, and even though it's a pretty calculated move the songs are instant classics. First single "If I were a Boy" is a perfect taste of what you'll get on the album. That song is almost a bit of a Rock/Pop anthem which fits well into the Top40 Sound of today, but obviously has inspiration from an 80's Adult Contemporary sound, this song reminds me of the 80's pop duo Heart, while "Smash into You" and "Satellites" (two amazingly great songs) have a bit of a Genesis/U2 vibe to them while still staying contemporary. The excellent production value and the writing on this half of the album almost overshadow Beyoncé, but only Almost. Like on the second single "Halo", an excellent peice of lyricism (Thanks to Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic and writer and producer of Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love") and a great track, but Ms. B's vocals are so strong she makes you feel the power in the words...

I swore I'd never fall again

but this don't even feel like falling

gravity can't begin

to pull me back to the ground again.

And now that brings us to the second disc, one "I Am... Sasha Fierce". This is supposed to be the upbeat "sassy" side of Beyoncé. It's really her Stage persona, but if we're being honest Sasha Fierce peaked on the last album "B'Day" (in the studio that is, Sasha Fierce still KILLS Everybody on stage!!) . The vocals were so strong and the lyrics were so attitude filled, unlike alot of the stuff on this rather disapointing side of this new album. I guess there is some sass on this side, just laid over some pretty boring tracks. "Ego" is supposed to be released as a single and it's a nice track with a nice hook but the lyrics need some work. (Although i do tolerate most of the song to hear her cuss Finally...

Ego so big

you must admit

I got every reason to feel

like I'm That Bitch.

Yeah B, you are)

However it seems like she got real lazy on this half of the disc. The creative vocal workouts are gone, the interesting lyrics are gone, even the tracks on here are underwhelming. They almost feel like she didn't really put much thought or effort into alot of these songs. I mean listen to the first Urban single "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it)" without seeing the awesome video it's just "Get Me Bodied" part two. And i won't even get into "Diva", her female answer to "A Milli" (i'ma a Diva i'ma i'ma a Diva. Diva is the female version of a hustla) which could have been pretty good but the song definitley lacks something. Alot actually.

There are some really great standouts on this half though. "Hello" is a sweet upbeat love song about Jay. Very addictive hook and just a great total production, vocals included. And "Radio" is a bit of Change for her style, it's a Europop club track and she brings a real Urban vocal style to it. This album seems to be intended to cross her over into a true International star and this would do huge in other countries. As well as "Sweet Dreams", which most of us Stans were playing all year when we thought it was titled "Beautiful Nitemare". Another club offering that will do big on the other side of the pond.

All in all, Beyoncé went to work. At least on reforming her image as a International Pop Star with huge classic anthems. However she took so many steps forward on the first half of this album, and so many steps back on the bottom half. Anyhow, we'll see you on Tour Ms. Sasha.

On a side note, Jim Jonsin is doing his thing this year. I'm glad he got a chance to show his diversity on this and former DC3er Michelle Williams' albums. For me Jim Jonsin is THE producer to watch for next year. And one of my favorite producers Mr. Bangladesh who has been floating under the radar for Years (but finally has some major exposure this year because of "A Milli") also came to work. Although "Diva" does sound almost exactly like "A Milli" (and also Kelis' "Aww Shit!!") his production of "Video Phone" is f'ing awesome

November 30, 2008 - Sunday

Kanye, Killers, TPain & Britney Spears
Current mood: happy
Category: Music

I am So Late.
Being Unemployed now, I wanted to really start trying to do weekly blogs. Maybe bi-weekly. And I meant to post this Blog about two weeks ago... but have just been really lazy. That being said, I want to get this out for Monday... because Monday is going to be my Official New Blog date.
So now that that's all cleared up, here we go...

Firstly, the album I've been Dying to write about... Yeezy's new one. Now the song "Amazing" is the best way to describe both Kanye Wests 4th album just released November 25th "808s and Heartbreak", and Kanye west himself.

I'm a monster
I'm a maven
I know this world is changin'

Never gave in
Never gave up
I'm the only thing I'm afraid of

No matter what
You'll never take that from me
My reign is as far as your eyes can see

It's amazin'
So amazin'

Speaking about the artist first, he's definitely drives in his own lane and always has. He has always gone slightly left from everybody else in both Hip Hop and just Music in general, especially on his Second album "Late registration", but still making his stuff mainstream enough for it not to be ignored on the charts. With this album though, he seems to be driving on an entirely different Highway than everybody else. And some of the creative calls he made on this album truly (imo) present him as a genuine Artists, the likes of which we haven't seen probably in a decade. For instance, the longer than 3 minute instrumental looping at the end of album opener "Say You Will" track, or the minimal lyrics on the also Amazing "Street Lights". The tracks in themselves also take music to new grounds. He seems to have cultivated a Perfect blend of real late 90's Electronica, Hip Hop and Mainstream Pop classics, and normally trying to hybrid too many styles ends up a mess and this works seamlessly. Because he's a genius. One complaint about the album is that he seems to be talking about the same thing on every song. However that complaint also sort of proves what a great artist he is, this album was obviously motivated by his emotions at the time and a way to vent to get over the Heartbreak. And not only lyrically, but vocally (and yes he does sing most of the songs... but not in the way where he's trying to become the next John Legend. More of just a melodic way to get his lyrics across) you can feel the pain, like when he screams "I won't EVER Love again... Never again" on the albums BEST track "Coldest Winter" you really really feel it. This is truly my album of the Year. Kanye has Yet to disapoint.

However, Britney disapoints me all the time. She had a trio of live televised performances within the past few days... and let's just say she's no longer the Dynamic Live Performer fans Claimed her to be. Which is truly disapointing because before those performances I did get to listen to her new (now 6th album) "Circus" being released Tuesday and I don't hate it. Her last album "Blackout" released in the midst of her "Crazy Bitch" phase, was Fun but very One-Note and Britney was barely there. Her vocals were totally vocoded and there was just no life behind the lyrics. "Circus" fortunately does bring her voice more to the forefront, and while there are an awful lot of "Blackout"-like Dance cuts, on the whole is alot more diverse and somewhat similar to her Best album 2002's "In the Zone". The standout cut on this album is "Unusual You" which may just be the best song she's ever recorded. It really is a beautiful song, lyrically production wise and her vocals do really set the song off. The next really great track is the Addicting Max Martin production "If U Seek Amy", which suceeds in being that Guilty Pleasure song that actually eclipses Katy Perry's trio of addictive singles put out this year. And it's such a "naughty" little hook that's so much fun to sing a long to...

All of the girls
and All of the boys
are begging to
If U Seek Amy
(get it? If U Seek Amy... F U C K ME)

... The album actually shows a little progression in Britney's stifled career and is actually a pretty good (stay clear of "Kill the Lights" and "My Baby" - but Do check out "Out from Under") listen. She just needs to work round the clock on delivering an Awesome performance one of these days or this album is gonna tank Hard!

I was also surprised that T-Pain's third album "Thr33 Ringz" didn't completely suck. It's really just a Fun, Funny album. You dont really expect anything of much substance from a dude who could deliver such a hilarious lyric like...

One, two, three, four
Get the hell up out my door
Five, six, seven, eight
I don't need your sex, I'll masturbate

... but a line like that is really Fun to sing and he has alot of stuff like that on here. I think what he was trying to accomplish was pulling off a great Album instead of just another vehicle for a few singles to be plucked from. He does try to get diverse on us, with the truly Hardcore Hip Hop (Karaoke with Dj Khaled) and some straight up R&B (Reality Show with Musiq Soulchild and Raheem Devaughn). He even tries (and fails in my opinion) to do a bit of a Message song with Mary J Blige, Diddy and Akon in the form of "Change". He doesn't totally fail with this album, none of the songs are Unbearable, but he's showing that he's a bit more than just the Auto Tune dude. All that being said, this album basically comes down to 5 great songs. The singles "Cant believe it" with Lil Wayne, "Chopped and Skrewed" with Ludacris and three great album cuts "Blowing up" with Ciara "It aint me" with an amazing verse from T.I. and "Therapy" with Kanye. I think you can get away with just those 5.

And while we were speaking, kind of, about Disapointments I have to say The Killers have (at this moment) disapointed me. Their third proper album "Day and Age" was released the same day as Kanye. And maybe being so blown away by that album set my expectations higher for the Killers. I mean, they are my favourite Rock/Alternative group for the past few years and add that they hooked up with one of my Favourite EuroDance producers Stuart Price I expected to listen to what I assumed would be the Greatest album of the Year. However, when i first listened to it, i felt like i was listening to some weird 80's compilation. I heard a bit of Paul Simon, Huey Lewis, Hall and Oates and even Madonna in there. I've only listened to the album once since than, and it did sound better the second time around so maybe i should just save the Definitive review for a few weeks and see where how much, if at all, it has grown on me. "Neon Tiger" and "Goodnight, Travel Well" are pretty Great songs though as are the two singles "Spaceman" and "Human".

December 3, 2008 - Wednesday

Grammy Predictions
Current mood: optimistic
Category: Music

The Grammy nominations will be announced Tonight. They are making a big Television special out of the nominees, seems pretty lame to me, but the Grammy nominations actually do excite me. This year should be really surprising. I've actually been listening to older music this year so I've been somewhat out of the loop of today's music (besides it generally sucks so bad can you blame me). I mean I've JUST discovered a couple of acts (keep reading) that had their buzz brewing since the Beginning of the year. So obviously if i made some predictions I'd probably be all wrong, but I do have some Hopes for nominees ... artists and songs that i think actually Deserve nominations. So here we go.

I had this feeling in the summer when M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" song became so Huge in the US, that they might actually put this up for Record of the Year. And not only because the song is amazing, also because M.I.A. has been getting a Huge critical reception since her 2005 debut album "Arular" and she has yet to be nominated for a Grammy or any other American award for that matter. The Grammy committee loves to Look like they are young, fresh, and worldly and that's M.I.A. and that's Paper Planes. On top of that, she actually was set to Retire this year (which she has since retracted thanks to this song). She's not a new artist but she's a critical and media favorite who attained that commercial success this year and Grammy's tend to award that. I wouldn't be surprised if she got a couple of nominations. They'll either put her in Urban/Alternative Performace or Dance recording. They might actually put her up for Hip Hop Performance Female which would be Smart because she would have virtually NO competition.

I'm just gonna say Rihanna needs to win Dance recording for "Disturbia". However, the dance category is probably going to be filled up with MGMT, Lady Gaga, Ting Tings, Madonna, Janet. Plus they generally tend to have a bunch of respected House DJ's and Electro heads in this category as opposed to pop stars. They'll probably put her up for R&B Song and R&B Vocal Female for "Take a Bow".

Jason Mraz should be nominated and Win Pop Vocal, Male for "I'm Yours". And I'm guessing Sara Bareilles ("Love Song") and Colbie Callait ("Bubbly") will be in the running for Pop Vocal Female. However the obvious Winner in that category is going to be Leona Lewis who I predict will be a Grammy favorite this year. I see her getting this award for "Bleeding Love". And she'll definitley be in the running for New Artist which i was sure she would win a few months ago but she's going to have to fend off other Critical favorites Adele, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Ray Lamontagne and Estelle. By the way, put money on Adele for "Chasing Pavement" in that Pop Vocal Female category.

I really can't call who I think will be the lead nominees or even the Album of the Year category. Last year, (when the Grammy telecast turned into "The Amy Winehouse Show" - still mad at that.) the nominees almost mirrored the Billboard top Albums and Singles, giving the impression that Grammy voters only voted for stuff that they heard on Top 40 Radio, and this year might just be the same. Having said that, Coldplay would probably get the most nods. Their album "Viva La Vida" got some of the best reviews this year and sold through the roof. Plus the Grammy's already LOVE Coldplay, this could be the year when they truly become U2. I'd definitley put money on them for Album of the Year and since they are favorites one of their songs (don't ask me which) should be in Record and Song of the Year as well. Also if we're looking at chart dominance you might even see Lil Wayne up for Album of the Year for "Tha Carter III", if not he's definitley going to sweep practically All of the Hip Hop categories (Rap Album, Rap Song, Rap Solo, Rap Solo Male, Rap Performance Duo or Group, Rap/Sung Collab, ) and I don't see why he wouldn't Win all of those awards to be honest.
If we're looking critically, you might see Vampire Weekend, Portishead, The Black Keys, The Racounters, Ray Lamontagne, Robyn and MGMT in the mix in the big 4 categories. I would also count in Raphael Saadiq, Beck, The-Dream, Ne-Yo, Gnarls Barkley, Panic at the Disco, Mary J. Blige, Keyshia Cole, and even Katy Perry for a nod or two.

So, let's see how well I do.

December 9, 2008 - Tuesday

Grammy Noms, Brandy, Common, Akon ... Week in Music
Current mood: impatient
Category: Music

Yeah Yeah Yeah, it's Tuesday. I was supposed to post this yesterday... but whatever, nobody reads my blog. So just one day late isn't going to kill... Anybody.

Now let's first talk about how Awesome I am, and how good I was at predicting the Grammy nominations. Lil Wayne actually came out the leader in nominations with 8, and I really can't say I'm surprised. His album sold through the roof this year, and Grammy's just couldn't ignore him. What's even more awesome, is he was nominated for every single thing I predicted last week:

Also if we're looking at chart dominance you might even see Lil Wayne
up for Album of the Year for "Tha Carter III", if not he's definitley
going to sweep practically All of the Hip Hop categories (Rap Album,
Rap Song, Rap Solo, Rap Solo Male, Rap Performance Duo or Group,
Rap/Sung Collab, ) and I don't see why he wouldn't Win all of those
awards to be honest.

7 of his nominations came straight from the Rap categories (Rap Album, Rap Solo for "A Milli", Rap Performance Duo or Group twice for "Mr. Carter" and "Swagga Like Us", Rap/Sung Collab for "Got Money" and Rap Song twice for "Lollipop" and "Swagga Like Us") his eighth nomination came for Album of the Year. So I did pretty good there. Coldplay trailed Weezy with 7 nominations, and as you can see I was pretty spot on with those predictions as well:

Coldplay would probably get the
most nods. Their album "Viva La Vida" got some of the best reviews this
year and sold through the roof. Plus the Grammy's already LOVE
Coldplay, this could be the year when they truly become U2. I'd
definitley put money on them for Album of the Year and since they are
favorites one of their songs (don't ask me which) should be in Record
and Song of the Year as well.

They are up for Album of the Year, as well as Record and Song of the Year plus Pop Performance Duo or Groupfor "Viva la Vida", Rock Song and Rock Performance Duo or Group for "Violet Hill", and Rock Album.
Outside of the lead nominees I definitley called a few other nominations... "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. for Record of the Year. Adele and Sara Bareilles for Pop Vocal Female (additionally Adele surprised me and got Record of the Year and Song of the Year for her song). Jason Mraz competing in Pop Vocal Male for "I'm Yours" (also nominated for Song of the Year). Rihanna's "Disturbia" up for Dance Recording, and Leona Lewis for Pop Vocal Female for "Bleeding Love" (also nominated for Record of the Year).
Which leads us to my biggest surprises or Snubs of the year. The most glaring snub was Leona Lewis in the New Artist category. I mean seriously... The Jonas Brothers and Jazmine Sullivan over her? The-Dream not getting ANY nominations for his superior "Love/Hate" album and singles (while J. Holiday - whose only hit "Bed" was written by The-Dream - is up for Contemporary R&B Album of the Year? Did anybody even listen to that album?). And i'm not entirely surprised by the snubs of Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey, but given this years nominees they should have found themselves in at least two or three categories (especially Janet, who should have been up for Dance Recording with "Rock With You" or "Feedback"). I was really surprised that MGMT or Vampire Weekend weren't mentioned at all.
And I guess I should talk about the welcome surprises. Ne-Yo , Album of the Year? Again, I felt like The-Dream and even Raphael Saadiq's albums were better but I was proud to see Ne-Yo up there. Keyshia Cole stormed through the R&B categories with "Heaven Sent" and I really believe she should win, that was one of the Few TRUE R&B Singles out this year. I was really happy to see Robyn up for Dance/Electronic Album as well as Beck and Gnarls Barkley competing for Alternative Album. Also Very happy to see the producer of both of those albums (as well as the Snubbed Black Keys) Danger Mouse up for Producer of the Year (He should win it).
In a couple of weeks I'll post my predictions for Winners and see how I do. The awards will be telecast sometime in early February (really close to my Birthday... hint hint)

On to some new releases that might (but probably won't) be up for Next Years Grammy nominations. Released last Tuesday was Akon's now third album "Freedom" and it's set to debut in the top 5 albums this week. And if you're a fan of the albums first single "Right Now (Na Na Na)" than you'll most likely dig this album on the whole. Akon is a pretty talented producer and writer (I mean if you can put a song together that's good enough to not be totally irritated by his voice than he's doing Something right) but this album isn't anything revoultionary. It's actually a bit dated in certain respects, if this album came out last year I would have liked it alot better. It just relies a little too much on the electro-pop sound that's been inundating the radio for the past two years, although songs like "Keep You Much Longer" and "Beautiful", which features Colby O'Donis and Kardinal Offishall, are a little above average and do fit into that sound really well. Akon does try to diversify this album a bit, which makes the album not a total dud. The albums follow up singles "I'm So Paid" and "Holla Holla" are standouts, as are "Against the Grain" (featuring Ray Lavender -- Nice Voice) and "Be With You". The rest, well I have to admit that I kept thinking "when is this song going to be Over" a few times. For Akon though this is his most solid album to date. And it's alot better than I expected.

Meanwhile, Brandy's 5th album "Human" hits stores today, and it's a little weaker than I expected. I have always given Brandy praise for getting better with each album. However "Human" isn't better than her previous (damn near Masterpeice) "Afrodisiac", while that album was alot more mature and real, this album seems to cater to a Younger Poppier crowd with some pretty generic lyrics and concepts. I mean her answer to the World's problems is to "Warm it Up (With Love)", she talks about how her man is the "Definition of Love", and the title track she sings "I'm only Human, Forgive me... I'm only Human, Love me". None of those songs are awful, but given all that Brandy has been through since the release of the last album, you'd think she'd sing something a little more personal and heartfelt instead of Any-Artist-Pop-Songs. There are some moments of genius on this album though and they mostly come in the form of ballads along the line of her past hits "Have You Ever" and "He Is". The albums second single "Long Distance" (which also suffers from very generic lyrics "You know right now I can't be home, but I'm coming home soon") just sounds like an instant Classic, and even better is "True" which wins on all levels (Lyrics, Production, Vocals) and even that song gets eclipsed by the "Acapella" of "Something's Missing" which is a very fresh and original arrangement. Vocally, Brandy has always been very underrated and her voice has just grown leaps and bounds with every album. And on top of the growth, she's a very creative vocalist and that is one of the things that is clearly displayed on this album. I would recommend the album though, even though it's pretty Generic, there is alot on here that most people will relate to and again Brandy came to work vocally on this album. However, if you go to the store to buy this album and you don't have "Afrodisiac" or the 3rd album "Full Moon", do yourself a favor and pick both of them up.

Finally, also being released today, is Common's "Universal Mind Control". The album was initially supposed to be released this summer under the title "Invincible Summer". Than news came that Common only intended to do an EP for that title and put together a full album due in November. Knowing that, I can understand some of the inconsistency on this album. Even with that one complaint, this really is one of the better albums this year. Firstly, I have to say that I'm loving the fact that Pharrell is back, he really impressed me earlier this year with the stuff he did for Madonna's album and now on Common's album (which he produced 7 of the 10 tracks) he gives you a taste of why we loved the Neptunes in the first place (the club banger "Sex 4 Suga", the laid back old school "Announcement") and a taste of where he's headed (the albums best track "What A World" featuring Chester French). A producer by the name of Mr DJ takes the reigns for the remaining 3 tracks and from the sounds of it ("Make My Day" featuring Cee-Lo, and "Everywhere" featuring Martina Topley-Bird which are two of the more superior tracks) he might be here to stay. Aside from the production, Common does bring something to this album (which yeah, it could have been just as good if it was all instrumental). Common commented on the album earlier this year and said that it was supposed to be a bit of a throwback dance Hip Hop album and he does bring very old school 80's Rap flows very nicely to the very futuristic tracks, which are best displayed on the aforementioned "Make my Day", which has him telling a Story in the same vein as Slick Rick and "What a World". I'd definitley recommend this album, it's not the classic that his last album "Finding Forever" was (which if you don't have it, Buy it... Excellent Kanye and Will.I.Am productions), but at least it's different and in this late stage of Common's career it's good to see he's getting a little more Fearless with his music.

December 25, 2008 - Thursday

Best of 2008
Current mood: drunk
Category: Music

Merry Christmas to all my adoring fans.

Right!

Anyhow I have my lists of best albums and singles of 2008, and I meant to write a blurb about each album/song. However, it's Christmas and I'm at my Grandma's house and I guess I should enjoy the Holiday instead of blogging unnecessarily. I just thought I should post something... it's been about three weeks since my DSL at home was shut off and I've missed some entries... so here is the most important entry of the year.

So I'll just list my favorites now, and maybe one day at the library I'll fill in my critiques about each ranking.

Top 15 Albums.

1. Modern Guilt, Beck

2. Paper Trail, T.I.

3. Robyn, Robyn

4. 808's and Heartbreak, Kanye West

5. The Odd Couple, The Odd Couple

6. E=MC2, Mariah Carey

7. Oracular Spectacular, MGMT

8. Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne

9. Evolver, John Legend

10. I Am... Sasha Fierce, Beyonce

11. Year of the Gentleman, Ne-Yo

12. Universal Mind Control, Common

13. Not 4 Sale, Kardinal Offishall

14. Untitled, Nas

15. Shine, Estelle

Top 25 Singles.

1. Disturbia, Rihanna

2. Paper Planes, M.I.A.

3. Gamma Ray, Beck

4. Feedback, Janet Jackson

5. A Milli, Lil Wayne

6. Closer, Ne-Yo

7. I Luv Your Girl, The-Dream

8. With Every Heartbeat, Robyn

9. I'm Yours, Jason Mraz

10. Touch my Body, Mariah Carey

11. Great DJ, The Ting Tings

12. Let It Rock, Kevin Rudolf featuring Lil Wayne

13. American Boy, Estelle featuring Kanye West

14. Heaven Sent, Keyshia Cole

15. Heart Songs, Weezer

16. The Youth, MGMT

17. If I Were a Boy, Beyonce

18. Swagga Like Us, T.I. featuring Jay Z, Kanye West & Lil Wayne

19. No Air, Jordin Sparks with Chris Brown

20. Dangerous, Kardinal Offishall featuring Akon

21. Love Lockdown, Kanye West

22. Don't Touch Me (Throw Da Water On Em), Busta Rhymes

23. I Don't Care, Fall Out Boy

24. Everyone Nose (All The Girls Standing In The Line For The Bathroom) [Remix], N.E.R.D. featuring Kanye West, Clipse & Lupe Fiasco

25. We Made It, Busta Rhymes with Linkin Park.

Album Reviews: Usher, Ludacris, Monica

2010-03-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

Even though on my last post I spoke about how this years album releases have been lacking. Well three new releases that I wasn't expecting much from have actually really surprised me (well, two of the three) and make 2010 seem like it might be a nice year in music after all. This is what I'd like to call my Atlanta Special Edition because not only are all of these artists from Atlanta, but they have all collaborated with each other on multiple occasions.

Usher's 6th studio album "Raymond v. Raymond" will be released March 30th, and I'm so proud to report that this one is worth the purchase. 2008's "Here I Stand", had Usher playing the "devoted husband and father" role and I think the album and it's promotion suffered because of it. Not a terrible album by any means, but his live performances were severely lacking and his interviews became intolerable with him trying to convince everybody how much in Love with his new wife he was. And than just a few months after that album dropped it was announced that he was getting a divorce. This album starts off by making the point "there are three sides to every story. One side. The Other Side. and The Truth" and the rest of album seems to just point out the different sides and doesn't really seem to deal with the truth. However that's not a complaint, because pretty much everything about this album is great. Just on a production level, this is one of his best albums. The various producers ranging from Jim Jonsin to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis offer Usher tracks with so much depth and complexity. Even though the album sticks to what Usher is good at, R&B, there is a good bit of diversity on the album as far as it's tracks. And even on the Dance/Pop'ish tracks it's not just the typical and lazy repeated loop of a keyboard sequence, there's always something new coming up with each minute on each song.
Lyrically it's also very on point, as I keep listening and noticing clever lines and even some thought provoking ones. The albums BEST (yeah I said it!) track "Mars v. Venus" is a great example, where he uses space travel and astronomy terms to equate with sex and love. "Pro Lover" is another well-written track, you might miss the genius of the lyrics at first because the track is so fun and his vocal delivery is so creative, but listen to the lyrics on the second go round. Throughout the album, like I said before, he shows the different sides of what can make a marriage go south. And I definitely appreciate that he's not blaming anybody, (well at least not on every track), he accepts his part and also acknowledges how the female in the relationship might feel. It's a really well-rounded album lyrically.
And Vocally, Usher is on fire on this album. The lead in track "Monstar" almost doesn't even sound like him, his vocals are way more relaxed and even conversational on this Disco inspired track. And even though "Foolin' Around" plays like "Burn part Two", his vocals actually save what might be considered a dated track. The difference from this album from the last album vocally is Usher seems to be a lot more present and determined to let his voice be the star even though he has A+ tracks to sing over. He plays with his voice in so many different ways, and truly shows that he does have some major talent outside of his dance skills.
I can't wait to see some Live performances from him to show if he's Really back, but this album is a winner. There's really not a bad track on the album, and even if certain songs have things lacking, the amazing production lyrics or vocals save it from floundering.

Ludacris released his 7th album "Battle of the Sexes" on March 9th. And having been very disappointed in his last two albums I didn't expect hardly anything from this one. Once a great force in the Hip Hop game, I had counted Ludacris out really. Upon listening to his new album though, I realized what was missing from the last two albums. FUN! Luda was always the rapper with the great skills, but the one that always made you laugh (in a good way) while listening to his rhymes. It seems like on the last two efforts "Release Therapy" and "Theater of the Mind", he tried to get too serious and forgot what made him a star. So happy he returned to form with this effort because not only does it make for a solid album, but in a lot of ways made me love Hip Hop again. Having said that, the "Battle of the Sexes" theme isn't very obvious throughout the album except for "B.O.T.S.", if the idea was to show conflicting sides of this battle, he kind of failed because instead of it being about a Battle it's more just talking about relationships in general. Even than, "Everybody Drunk" and "Party No Mo" don't seem to fit at all, even though they are two of the better tracks. "How Low" and "My Chick Bad", which are the two first singles, are two of his best songs because though they seem misogynistic based on the titles, he actually does celebrate women and doesn't degrade them as hard as some other rappers even R&B singers (this is something I've always loved about Luda actually, he's very pro-woman and definitely appreciates and celebrates them). He has his required sex songs with what seem to be required guest appearances by Trey Songz and Ne-Yo. (Speaking of, Ne-Yo's collaboration "Tell me a Secret" is a great song... but the true star is Swizz Beatz for the very subtle but very original and creative drum track) Overall, it's not his best album by a long shot but it's a great return to form and just a Fun album.

Monica, on the other hand, has just released her 6th studio album "Still Standing" and Fun is definitely not a word you can use to describe this outing. If you can get past her and producer Missy Elliott taking a DUMP on two R&B Classics ("Silly" by Deneice Williams is turned into the awful "Everything to Me" and "Betcha She Don't Love You" by Evelyn 'Champagne' King into "If You Were My Man"), what your left with is a pretty standard contemporary R&B album. With her singing about the standard R&B stuff... Love, Love Loss, Cheating, Breaking Up, etc etc. However I think the biggest problem with this album, and Monica's entire discography the past 8 years, is that she takes herself a little too seriously. The albums title track proves this, where she paints herself out to be this artist with so much adversity and so much hate, when that's never been the case. Monica has always been one of the more respected artists in the R&B game, and she's been wealthy and successful since she was 14 years old. So lyrics like "been through the storm, had dirt on my name" and "Whatever don't kill you make you stronger, well I must be the world's strongest woman" don't make much sense to me knowing her story. And I think this self-imposed importance really makes some tracks that might have been great a little dull. Her contemporary and one time Rival Brandy released an album full of generic Pop songs in 2008, but it was her voice and her energy that brought those songs up. Monica is just lacking something and it's probably because she thinks she can't have fun or she won't be taken seriously. The very last two songs are winners though, the Jermaine Dupri produced ballad "Love All Over Me" and the Stargate produced "Believing In Me" are a lot better than you would think given just the titles, and her voice matches up nicely with the simple productions. Overall, not a very good album, and to be frank Monica hasn't really progressed much and that's probably another major problem I have with the album. It can very easily blend into her last two albums "After the Storm" and "The Makings of Me", and to me that's not a good thing.

Album Review : Quick Update!!!

2010-03-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

So 2010 is shaping up to be a boring year Music wise. There haven't been many big releases thus far, and reading Rolling Stones "Spring Music Preview" it doesn't look like there's much to look forward to either. I've checked out a few new releases, and just now getting into some stuff from last year. So here is just a quick run down of what's standing out to me right now.

Grizzly Bear "Veckatimest"
When I first played this album, only two tracks grabbed me. Those two tracks still remain the standouts on this album, but I grew to love the laid back vibe and beautiful harmonies and melodies this group has put together on their third album which was released last summer. The albums first single (and now featured in a Volkswagen commercial) "Two Weeks" is a light, upbeat and a great showcase for all 4 band members talents. "Ready, Able" is a slower, moodier song that blends perfectly with the vibe of the album -- which is very moody, but also very relaxing and also very Earthy (I suppose this is what you might call Contemporary Folk music). Those two benefit from very strong hooks and melodies, but the entire album with their very textured harmonies is a great listen, a great example of a band that blend together perfectly.

The Temper Trap "Conditions"
This groups break out single "Sweet Disposition" grabbed me when I heard it on the radio, but like Grizzly Bear I wasn't bowled over the first time I listened to the album. And that amazing single is still the only real standout to be honest. The powerful and unique vocals and vocal delivery of Dougie Mandagi, matched with the upbeat instrumentation and strong hook make this one of the better songs I've heard in a while. Unfortunately it seems like the group couldn't match the greatness of this song with anything else on the album. However, if you like that song (and I love it) the rest of the album isn't a big disappointment. It's very much in the same vein of that song, power hooks over very polished electronic/rock beats. "Soldier On" shows a lot more restraint than most of the tracks, with a soft guitar backing and very great delivery by the lead vocalist it also stands out a little more than the rest. However, this is their first studio album. So I think this group has amazing potential to be pretty big in the years to come, if they keep in the same direction as "Sweet Disposition"

Lil Wayne "Rebirth"
Sticking in this, "sort of Rock" tradition, let's talk about Lil Wayne's much talked about Hip Hop/Rock album. I listened to it twice to be sure, and I'm pretty much certain now that this album is Awful to the point of being one of the worst albums I've ever heard. And the thing about it is, it could have been saved. Wayne seems to have gotten too confident that he could pull this off, and he really didn't. At all. "Ground Zero" is no doubt the best song on the album. Weezy and Producers DJ Infamous and Streetrunners do a great job at keeping the dirty vibe of a rock track and mixing it with the dirty vibe of a Hip Hop track. And there are occasions, on a pure instrumental level, that some of the tracks really do work in that way. The problem is the Auto-Tune. Wayne uses it way too much on this album, and at all the wrong moments. Sometimes, most of the times, listening to the album is unbearable because of it. And really if he wanted to embody a Rock Star, they aren't scared to have their voice sound off-pitch, gritty or out of tune because it's Rock and Roll!! I think Wayne thought it was a cool effect and that's really what ruined this album. And the other problem, is that some of the songs don't sound like Rock at all. "On Fire", one of the singles released, is another highlight but it's hectic drum programming and his delivery are pure Hip Hop and nothing else. And there are times when the producers just seemed to throw a bit of a guitar sound on the track and pass it off as Rock. I honestly wasn't expecting much, but I was expecting a lot better. (And don't even get me started on the "Knockout" song, which is just so infuriating in theme)

Gucci Mane "The State Vs. Radric Davis"
The most surprising album so far this year has been Gucci Mane, which I expected NOTHING from. I was a big fan of his single "Wasted", which led me to download this album. And I think everything I like about "Wasted" is the reason why I actually really like this album and why it actually works. Gucci is very simple in delivery, but he does a great job of matching whatever the track dictates. The album begins with a very underground Hip Hop sound with standouts like "Heavy" and "Stupid Wild", but they come off as just very fun songs (almost the feeling of Project PAT). The album than flows into the more commercial ready Rap/R&B stuff (collaborations with Keyshia Cole, Bobby Valentino and Usher on the hit "Spotlight"), and than lands back to a grittier sound to end out the album. Still Fun though, and the bottom half of the album is definitely focused on the party with one of the best tracks "Kush is my Cologne" and two versions of "Wasted". The album is sequenced well, and the guest appearances from the likes of Lil Wayne, Mike Epps, E-40 and Soulja Boy among others are well spaced apart to let the star actually shine. Who knows where Gucci will be next year, there aren't an extraordinary amount of skills coming from this album, but he does bring back the fun that Hip Hop sometimes lacks.

Robin Thicke "Sex Therapy"
Another huge surprise, Thicke's fourth album which was released late 2009. I've never been a big fan of his and I was so ready to put him in the "One Hit Wonder" group after 2006's "Lost Without You" made him the "White boy singing R&B Star of the Moment". Than I heard this albums title track, a very Prince influenced "baby-making" song that is growing into one of my favorite slow burners. I'm not surprised it's sitting at #1 on the R&B Single charts, because it is a real winner. On his 4th studio album there are a good number of other great songs. The summer-y "Meiple" featuring Jay-Z, the electro-disco sound of "Rollercoasta" featuring Estelle, the slow ballads "Brand New Luv" and "2 Luv Birds". There are also a good number of songs that sound really dated (like "Make U Love Me" or the god-awful "Shakin it 4 Daddy" with the ever present Nicki Minaj), but my biggest problem with the album on the whole is that Thicke still isn't really a distinctive singer. He's a bit recognizable because of his falsetto, but he doesn't have enough attitude or personality with his vocals so sometimes it sounds like he's channeling Justin Timberlake sometimes Maxwell sometimes Prince, and never making his own style. I do appreciate an R&B album where the man actually respects women, and that's a running theme on the album. Even on the sex drenched title track, it's about pleasing Her. And "Diamonds" with The Game is another standout where he celebrates black women who have worked hard to get where they are.

Hot Chip "One Life Stand"
I discovered this Electronic group last Fall, and once I listened to some of their music I became a fan. I love that their this electronic group, but somehow they don't over-do it with the effects and keyboards but still make really dance floor ready songs. I became addicted to their second album "The Warning", and really excited when I saw they released a new album earlier this year. And though it's not nearly as good as that aforementioned album, it's a pretty solid and a little more cohesive effort. "I Feel Better" and the title track are clearly the best songs here, and "Brothers" is a sweet love song to brotherly love which has hit potential because it's speaking so obviously to the younger generation (with references to playing X-Box and "drinking my fill with my brothers"). The rest of the album is alright, but it suffers from an insanely irritating lead vocalist Alexis Taylor. And I'm sure his voice would sound fine over some other tracks, but it just didn't mesh all that well with me. However, it's something I could get used to.

Album Review: Vampire Weekend "Contra"

2010-02-18T09:01:00.000-08:00

If I could re-title Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut, it would probably be something like "Summertime in the Hamptons", because it played like an album divulging the exploits of rich college kids on their Summer siesta. Though I couldn't necessarily relate to the lyrical content, this Four piece Indie-Rock group is all about the music and the very skilled band set the album up to also be a very worldly, earthy sound while still having loads of fun. The groups recently released sophomore album titled "Contra" could probably be re-titled as "Winter Time in the Hamptons". The themes of the lyrics hasn't changed drastically, just seemingly the season. Still not being able to relate to their lyrics, the music on this album serves the same purpose of the last outing. They deliver a very earthy and worldly sound on the sophomore as well, not changing up their style too drastically but still succeeding at putting a very sharp and fun album together.

I can't say definitively yet which is the better album, the more I listen to "Contra" the more I'll probably fall in love with it. It has some great stand out tracks including the first single "Cousins", as well as "I Think Your a Contra", "White Sky" and "Horchata". "Taxi Cab" and "Diplomat's Son" are two other really great tracks, but still most of these don't compare (yet) to the greatness of "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance" "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" or "Blake's Got a New Face" from their first outing. Those songs were really simple, but packed a lot of punch in the various instruments used and even the recording method. Maybe the problem with "Contra" is that they got too comfortable and don't have the same Hunger they had when recording the first album. The new one does come off a little more polished and hence a little less effective, in fact "Giving Up the Gun", which isn't a horrible song, feels strange on the album because it seems like it's sole purpose is to become a Top 40 Hit and doesn't seem as organic as most of their material.

Still "Contra" is more than a solid album, and definitely a highlight of 2010's album releases so far. I would assume it would serve as a great road trip or study album as it flows really well and for the most part is very calming music, with some great melodies and a little beat to make it more fun.