If I could re-title Vampire Weekend'sself-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.
It still amazes me. Sade can release a new album once every 10 years and still be massively successful like she never left. Her (or I should say Their... Sade is a group with lead vocalist Sade Adu) newest album "Soldier of Love" seems to be no exception. Released almost exactly 10 years since her last "Lovers Rock", it seemed as soon as it was announced that the album was being released, it shot to the top of several Pre-Order lists. In fact, based on Pre-orders alone the album stayed in the Top 10 iTunes Album charts for over a month. Clearly the group has a very well-established and well-respected name in the industry, but on top of that they released a Monster of a first single in the albums title track. The song is very minimalist but also in a lot of ways very contemporary and has lyrics everyone can relate to. Unfortunately nothing on the album really matches the intensity or even the change in style that song has, but it's still a solid Sade album. I think when this group releases an album, it's not so much about what new style or new direction they are taking that gets fans excited, it's really just the fact that they are back. And they are definitely back to form, with a very smooth R&B leaning collection of songs. And though not many of the songs can match the greatness of the title track, it's not to say that the album is all filler. There are some tremendous stand outs on the album, starting with the very first track "The Moon and the Sky" continuing with excellent slow-burners "Morning Bird" and "Long Hard Road".Personally, there are a few miss-steps. I feel like the reggae-tinged "Babyfather", while very catchy, comes off as very contrived and a little forced. Same with the Country leaning "Be That Easy" and "Bring Me Home" which seems to get really bogged down in trying to be too contemporary and not even focusing on a memorable hook. The last few songs more than save the album from those few bad apples, "In Another Time" triumphs with great lyrics, great production and a pretty amazing and restrained vocal from Adu. "Skin" plays a little more contemporary, but it breezes through to the end not sounding forced at all, and the only complaint I have about the albums closer "The Safest Place" is that it's way too short. I actually prefer this album off the top over 2000's "Lovers Rock" as there are more songs that instantly stand out. I think the world will be enjoying this album until 2020, when the groups next album may or not appear.
By the Way, the video to "Soldier of Love" is AWESOME.
The Grammy's were Sunday night and I probably should have written something either Sunday night or Monday, I've been kind of busy at work and starting this Spring semester. And on top of that I unfortunately missed a good chunk of the telecast. When I finally actually remembered it was on, Jamie Foxx was performing. Having missed all of my favorite artists performances I watched the rest on Mute.
So what I'll be doing here is just to Gloat on how close I was with my predictions and just talk about the wins.
First let's talk about Me, (and by the way, i advertised the Mess out of my Grammy prediction blog on Twitter, and only one comment. I Love comments, so if you happen to be reading my blog now or in the future, don't be afraid to leave a comment) of the 20 categories I ventured to make predictions on, I got 11 of them correct and only 8 wrong. I got a half point for the biggest surprise of the night Album of the Year, I said Dave Matthews Band "Will Win" (they didn't) but I said Taylor Swift "Should Win" (she did).
Here's a quick rundown of the predictions I got right:
New Artist - Zac Brown Band (Only because I don't see any other act winning) Female Pop Vocal Performance - Beyoncé "Halo" (A Heartfelt Emotional and Intense vocal on a really popular song) Male Pop Vocal Performance - Jason Mraz "Make it Mine" (Sometimes Grammy's give an artist an award one year because they lost the previous year. Mraz should have gotten Grammy gold for his now Record Breaking hit "I'm Yours" but went home empty handed. This award might be his redemption.) Pop Vocal Album - Black Eyed Peas "The E.N.D." (this may be their category) Dance Recording - Lady GaGa "Poker Face" (If she only gets one award on Sunday, this will be it. It has her name written all over it.)
Rock Performance, Duo or Group - Kings of Leon "Use Somebody" (No Brainer. I talked them up for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, so there's no reason they can't take this.) Female R&B Vocal Performance - Beyoncé "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (I don't think Mrs. Carter has anything to worry about here.) Male R&B Vocal Performance - Maxwell "Pretty Wings" (Another No Brainer... nobody else even comes close.) R&B Album - Maxwell "Blacksummers'night" (His first album in 8 years, it debuts at #1 and has a #1 single. No way he won't win.) Contemporary R&B Album - Beyoncé "I Am... Sasha Fierce" (Although I consider this album a POP album, this should be the clear winner.) Rap Album - Eminem "Relapse" (His album was a major disappointment, but in this race he's the most popular and most successful name. So unfortunately this goes to him.)
and here's what I got wrong:
Record of the Year - Kings of Leon "Use Somebody"(in my defense: Kings of Leon have a really great shot at winning both of these awards for "Use Somebody") Song of the Year - Beyoncé "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" Electronica/Dance Album - Lady GaGa "The Fame" (GaGa is their biggest competition) Rock Song - Kings of Leon "Use Somebody" Alternative Album - Phoenix "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" (I was so extremely happy to see Phoenix and Yeah Yeah Yeah's nominated in this category... Although I ranked Phoenix higher) R&B Song - Beyoncé "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" Rap Solo Performance - Jay-Z "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" Rap Song - Jay-Z "Run This Town" (Note: i picked Jay-Z for "Should Have Won" just the wrong song... I actually have no idea who is the favorite here. I could say Jay-Z cancels himself out, but "Run this Town" was a pretty big hit for him and he's bound to win at least one award on Sunday)
Although I didn't have a perfect score, I got more than half of my predictions right (but with a 57.5% average, I most certainly would have failed if this was a test) and I'm totally Not surprised by the actual wins. Well a few. Since I had predicted it, I wasn't shocked by Taylor Swift's Album of the Year win. Like I said she's had a great run this past year, and she's like America's Sweetheart of the moment. And in the absence of any real Legendary artists, it was a pretty open race to begin with. I predicted Dave Matthews Band would take that award, but surprisingly enough they lost both of their two nominations for the album.
My predictions for Kings of Leon were pretty spot on though. I actually gave them Song of the Year and not Record of the Year, so I was a little backwards there. They triumphed over Lady GaGa for Record of the Year with "Use Somebody", but Beyoncé took the Song of the Year prize. That actually surprised me, I honestly didn't think the songs popularity would translate into a Songwriting award. However, Kings of Leon ended up winning three awards total and I predicted they'd win two of the three.
Jay-Z's wins were a little surprising to me. Well not his, Rihanna and Kanye West's win for Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Run This Town", but his dominance in every rap category outside of Album (his "Blueprint3" missed the cut off date for nominations, expect it to be nominated next year). He snatched up Rap Solo Performance and Rap Song from newbies Drake and Kid Cudi, who I predicted would win. For Rap Album, I was actually hoping I wasn't right but Eminem's mediocre album won anyway. (I will say that "Crack a Bottle", featuring 50 Cent and Dr. Dre, which won for Rap Performance Duo or Group DID deserve the win it got)
I wanted to point out how happy I am that Phoenix won for Alternative Album. I was certain that award would go to Brian Eno and David Byrne because of their legendary status. I feared that Phoenix was still clinging to the "underground" crowd too much for the more mainstream Grammy voters to give them the prize. They managed to scoop up the very deserved trophy though. The only other win that I was really surprised by was the R&B Song race. Beyoncé triumphed over Maxwell in this category, and I personally don't think it's right. I said it over and over on the last blog post, "Pretty Wings" was almost the epitome of an R&B song whereas "Single Ladies" was more or less a catchy Club song. And I also disagree with the win for Short Form Video to Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow". I bought the video from iTunes, so it is a great video. Not better (in my opinion) than Coldplay's weird but hilarious "Life in Technicolor ii".
So that's the extent of my complaints about the winners. As I said before, I didn't actually see the telecast but I did catch a few of the performances on Youtube. I watched Lady GaGa, prior to the ceremony it was announced that her and Elton John would perform together. She opened the show with "Poker Face" and than her and John sat at a double-sided piano, which was adorned with severed limbs, and belted out a mix of GaGa's "Speechless" and John's classic "Your Song". A Good performance, not as groundbreaking or forward thinking as some of her previous outings but still one of the best of the night.
Upon hearing that Beyoncé broke the record for most wins by a female in a single night, I had to go onto her board and Gloat to all the haters. And on the boards people were talking, glowingly, about Pink's performance. She performed "Glitter in the Air" from her nominated album "Funhouse". The performance started off simple with her just walking and stripping on the stage, than she attached herself to a massive piece of cloth and started her now too familiar Trapeze act. Sure she did practically the same thing on the 09 VMA's (and on her tour DVD from 2007), but it was slightly different in that she ended the performance with water dripping off of her. I was personally not impressed.
I also wasn't very impressed with Beyoncé's performance of "If I Were a Boy". She sounded okay, but I just really don't like the live arrangement of that song with Alanis Morrissette's hit "You Oughta Know" attached. And the way she changed the lyrics to the first verse made the performance feel like a medley of three songs. Not her best, but still pretty solid I suppose.
And of course as I mentioned before I caught a glimpse of Jamie Foxx. His backing track was at a seriously loud volume to drown out his voice, the only way I could tell he was actually singing was due to some glitch with the sound system where you could faintly hear vocals coming from his mic randomly. He brought a bunch of other people on stage, but I muted his performance almost as soon as I turned it on. There were countless performances, but really GaGa, Beyoncé and Pink were the only ones I even cared to watch.
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.
