Through my internet browsing I stumbled across firstly this awesome music blog Aurgasm, and on it they have posted two songs from a relatively unknown artist named Javier Dunn. I haven’t been able to stop listening to his ‘If You Go’ song. Definitely head over to the post and check out his music here. Great tone. Perfect for autumn.
Stereogum Music Blog has posted their 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2011. It serves as a nice list of what’s in store for 2011 and what music we have to listen forward to hearing. Top of my list has me waiting for new The Avalanches, Fleet Foxes, M83, My Morning Jacket, Radiohead, and The Strokes album. Just like every year, 2011 is shaping up to be a great year for music. However in all honesty I am truly biting at the git for the new Avalanches album. This has been way too long coming.
Although not yet officially released, I’ve been able to listen and immensely enjoy Kanye West’s latest album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The man may exhibit an ego the size of a small asteroid, and he may be fluent in the art of public agitation – despite his last record being decidedly bland and dull – the one thing you can’t fault this man is his ability – when fully expressed – to create great and powerful music. And that is most certainly this record.
I don’t know where Kanye’s been over the past year – aside from his public altercations – but the man has certainly been going through a plethora of experiences. It’s impossible for a person to create music so deep, complex, and textured without the accompanying emotion and experience. Each track on this record (aside from the interludes) are wonderfully and fully developed. I haven’t listened to this record enough to be confidently conclusive, however from my initial listens I haven’t experienced one track that didn’t sound as if it was meticulously crafted, critiqued, and revised.
The sound of this record can be seen as a logical albeit large improvement from 808s & Heartbreak. The setting is dark and replete with an introspection greater than his first three albums. In comparison to 808s & Heartbreak this album is less dark and more lucid – there are no latent emotions holding back the quality of the tracks. The tracks on 808s bordered on angst and immaturity, dwelling and enjoying the pain that prompted the songs creation. What wasn’t apparent on 808s (but is now) was the turn Kanye has taken with the direction of his music. While once content to focus on poppy, radio-friendly tracks, Kanye began turning his attention to creating longer more complex tracks with 808s. On My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy we are now able to see his vision come into wonderful, beautiful, dark, and twisted clarity.
There is absolutely emotional anguish on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy however it is clear the pain and emotions have been logically considered and evaluated. Each track clearly relates to some aspect of Kanye’s life, however the presentation of his thoughts and feelings are wholly conclusive and confident. Kanye has collaborated with many great artists on this record, one most notable is Bon Iver of indie world fame. Bon Iver’s music is mostly acoustic and dwells in falsetto vocal harmonies. On the awesome track, Lost In The World, Kanye managed to combine the musical interests and talents of Bon Iver with his own to create a song that is haunting, catchy, and powerful. Incredible.
Leaving aside all Kanye-gossip, you can only come away from this record with respect and appreciation. Kanye West has once again proven to all that he is an excellent producer and artist. He has erased all doubts in my mind that he lost his ability to create great music. The man is talented, and this record is great.
Underground rap artists don’t get much press. It’s a shame, some of these artists are incredible, bringing new ideas and sounds to the musical soundscape unheard of before. And really the more diversity that’s out there the better it is for everyone, hearing the same type of sound over and over gets old and boring. So thank goodness for these under-promoted, highly-qualified artists.
I want to bring your attention to two new underground rap artists that I have recently come across. They both have a unique style of lyrical delivery that, in its current incarnation, I doubt would be accepted on most mainstream radio stations. I don’t think it’s impossible for them to ever achieve mainstream success however I don’t think it’s their intention. They know what they do, they do it well, and I’m looking forward to hearing more of it. Continue reading
Reggie Watts is a comedian I hadn’t heard of until I found out he was the opening act for Conan O’Brien’s comedy tour. Even after I found out about him I still wasn’t interested.
Then one day I decided to Google Reggie Watts. This is his video that I found [NSFW]:
Catchy, ain’t it? My favorite part are his lyrics on women. Classy all the way.
This isn’t a new song. It’s been out for a while, but I can’t stop playing it today. I find it a nice compliment to the weather: like the weather this song is calm and energetic at times. How wondrous are uncertainties.
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My Official Week of Music (OWoM TM not pending) has officially drawn to a close. From Monday till Friday I’ve posted almost exclusively about music, with posts about music videos, songs, and three full-length album reviews. To say its been exhausting would be accurate, however an exhaustion that I have fully enjoyed.
I rather enjoyed this arbitrary assignment I enforced on myself. It gave me direction and purpose, allowing me to not worry about what I would write about and just focus on the music – not that I don’t usually do that anyways. However, by knowing that I would need to write a review I listened to the albums much more critically. I left the role of passive listener and stepped into the role of critic with much more frequency.
It was an interesting shift in approach, one that I tend to only perform after listening to an album frequently. Rather, I was approaching these albums – on my first listen-through – with an already critical ear which emphasized different parts of the music that normally I would have ignored. And that’s the reason I generally first approach music passively: I fear I will not enjoy it as much as I could. I fear a type of ‘critic’s curse’ that prevents enjoyment of artwork when approached critically. However by listening to the albums critically I felt myself delve into its sound-scape with greater ease and pace, giving me many more thoughts that I was then able to share with you.
The only downside of this method is the amount of attention and energy it consumes. A leisure activity becomes laborious, sapping one’s energy and tiring them out. The result is welcome, however the time spent consuming the music didn’t allow for its enjoyment. And really that’s why I listen to music: to enjoy it. I’m ready to become a passive listener again; it’s going to be a real joy.
If you live in the New England area and you haven’t gone outside yet today let me save you the trouble: it’s blisteringly hot out there. I had the luxury (or medical necessity) of sleeping in late today and I just stepped outside to test the weather, and I think the weather passed its exam with flying colors. I felt like I had put on a very warm blanket that was smothering the life out of me. It’s not only hot outside today but it’s as uncomfortable as a jacuzzi in Antarctica – something that I’d love to experience one day.
Hot weather demands hot music; music that moves your feet and gets your booty dancing. To celebrate the blistering heat of today allow me to introduce you to the debut album from Mayer Hawthorne, A Strange Arrangement, an R&B record with soul and character.
Continue reading
Power song, power chords, powerful voice. Pretty neat summary of Lissie’s cover of Kid Cudi’s song Pursuit Of Happiness. Never heard of Lissie before, I don’t even know if it’s just the name of the lead vocalist or the name of the band. I don’t really care – although I am dreadfully curious – but the song is great. Thanks to Hype Machine for pointing me in the direction of the song and thank you to The Digital Outhouse for posting it. Check out their website for the video of the performance.
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Aloe Blacc has an upcoming album called Good Things that’d due to come out sometime later this year. I’m not sure the exact date but I’ve been listening to his single, I Need A Dollar, repeatedly for the past few days and boy is it good. Soulful and upbeat with a great video as well.