Album Review: Big Boi

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

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.