Joseph - Native Dreamer Kin. Absolutely lovely music. Beautiful female voices. Very simple arrangements, but the harmonies are killer. Here is "Lifted Away"
Live version, but you get what they have going on here. Their band name leaves something to be desired, but I'd love to go see these ladies live. Modest Mouse - Strangers to Ourselves. I was never on board with MM in the past all that much. I will entirely agree with people who say that "Float On" is a great tune, but I've just never really gotten into their catalog before. But this disc has some good tunes. I think they are best when the bass kicks in and they get funky with their indie-ness. "Lampshades on Fire" is the current hit, I am also digging on "The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box." "Coyotes" and "The Best Room" are also pretty good. But I won't say the whole thing hits that same way - "Pistol" is kind of annoying, and after a while the yelp-y tone of the lead singer gets on my nerves. But still, some of these are fun songs.
Madonna - Rebel Heart. Old school Madonna was amazing. I've had this internal debate over the past few months about realizing that pop music is actually pretty cool, and doesn't need to be shredded for being popcorn/bubblegum. The thing is, in the mid-80's, I thought stuff like Madonna, Prince, Bon Jovi, and Huey Lewis and the News were the end-all-be-all of musical expression. And then I discovered R.E.M. and U2. But I still think "Into the Groove" is amazing, and Holiday, Lucky Star, Borderline, Material Girl, etc. all work well after 25-30 years.
But now we have the 60-something year old Madonna still doing her thing. And while I don't hear unstoppable classics on here, its still a fine album. She still has a beautiful voice and can make it shine. Unfortunately, her sound has been cribbed by so many other people that this feels derivative, watered down. And then she tries for her mid-career shock value garbage (S.E.X. or Holy Water), which is just unfortunate. But some of these are new sounding and pretty fun, like the reggae/dancehall-ish "Unapologetic Bitch." Sticking with the theme of unfortunately named songs, I also kind of liked "Bitch I'm Madonna," which features a slick verse from Nicki Minaj. But overall, I'm not keeping this album around.
OG Maco - OG Maco EP. Rapper who sounds truly unbalanced.
I bet it sucked to be staying at that Holiday Inn Express the day he shot that video. "Um, excuse me, sir? I don't, uh, want any trouble here, uh. Could you fellas please stop making scary gun shooting noises with your mouth and cavorting on the carpet in front of my room? My kids are asleep in here. Thanks buddy." But, kind of a boss song though, right? His other songs have a similar barking, staccato vibe to them - lots of yelling and BUCKEMBUCKEMBUCKEM sounding hollers. I think the best is "U Guessed It," with "Want More" right behind that. I'm interested enough to want to hear his next album to see what it is like.
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly. First things first, that album title is boss. No clue what it means, but a strong arm word like "pimp" with a soft image like "butterfly" is already great wordplay, before you even drop the needle. Next, the album cover lays a theme for the whole thing too - a bunch of dudes in full rapper generica - stacks o' cash, bottles of Cristal, some chains - posing on the White House lawn over what looks like a dead Supreme Court justice. Which is a hell of an image:
And I think it sets up the style of the whole album. This isn't just another album of brags and boasts about cash, money, girls, hoes, rides, whips, rocks, and knots. It takes a good number of listens to even get in to what all is being said - Lamar's lyrics have way more than meets the eye in there. But he can still get wild as well. For example, the contrast in opening track "Wesley's Theory," with some George Clinton funk and lyrics that sound like good time party stuff. Gettin' a nut, buying a Cutty on fours, actin' a fool, platinum on everything, etc. But keep listening and you'll notice that he's talking about people being dumb with money. The next song is a jazzy super scat of a rap, then King Kunta brings a great funk beat under a pretty bad ass rap about coming from the bottom to the top.
Lamar won two Grammys this year, for the early single off of this album called "i." It's a damn fun song:
That hot 70's scorch from the Isley's Brothers is gold. The lyrics are dense as hell, but I think he might be trying to convince himself that he loves himself despite not really believing it? Smiling while the world falls apart? But the good times vibe of the tune makes it sound like a sunny tune. And for some reason, the album version of the track doesn't go into the synth boogie breakdown at the end, but gets interrupted as though at a live show and then Kendrick lays down some spoken knowledge on the black people in his audience before adding some freestyle history lessons.
Overall, this is a much heavier album than you are used to hearing out of rap stars. He digs into slavery, inequality, black on black violence, and self-loathing/depression (the crazy ass "u" where it sounds like Kendrick got drunk, maybe in a hotel because housekeeping shows up in the middle, and screamed at himself in rhyme for a couple minutes). "The Blacker the Berry" takes a damn hard look at rap/black culture - talking about chains on slaves and gold chains on rappers, or whips leaving scars on backs only now to own a big whip (car) of your own. But its the last couplet: "So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street? When gang banging made me kill a n***** blacker than me? Hypocrite." I mean, that is dark and hard stuff to talk about. And then the interview with 2Pac at the end, where Pac was talking about revolution many years ago, is also an interesting addition. The interview sounds entirely current, like something that could be said today and not 20 years ago.
I think its a good thing, but I will be curious to read what others say about it in the next few weeks - I wonder if it will cause any new dialogue or just get swept under the rug by Kardashian butts and snow in New England and Presidential announcements like many other good conversation starters in the past. I'll keep listening to this one to see if I can dig through it all and unpack it. It's worth your listen.
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Chasing Yesterday.I love Oasis. Morning Glory was brilliant, Definitely Maybe and Be Here Now were great, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants was good, and then everything fell apart and I can't remember if they made anything else worthwhile. Well, in case you lived under a rock, know that Noel was one half of the Gallagher brain trust behind Oasis, and if this album is an indicator, he was the best half. This is good stuff.
The album sounds very much like classic Oasis. "Lock all the Doors" has the same chug and rhythm of "Morning Glory" or "Hello." "Girl with the X-Ray Eyes" even fades out with the same sounds as "Don't Look Back in Anger." He also changes things up - "Riverman" includes some Pink Floyd-esque sax, and "The Right Stuff" also employs a saxman. The apparent hit (from number of plays) is "Ballad of the Mighty I," which is a little funkier than the old band:
Pretty good track. Very good album.
I read an interview with Noel in Rolling Stone a month or two ago, and he was his usual acerbic self, crapping on Jimi's version of All Along the Watchtower, Kanye's knock on Beck's artistry, anyone who didn't think the ZooTv tour was the greatest of all time, Ed Sheeran as a headliner, Taylor Swift as a songwriter ("Q: What about Taylor Swift? She's a pop star, but many people praise her talent as a songwriter. A: [Laughs] Who says that? Her parents? Q: Lots of people. A: Name these people. That's bullshit. You're fucking lying. She seems like a nice girl but no one has ever said those words and you know it."), and bands who don't write their own songs. The guy definitely knows how to get a rise from people.
Of Montreal - Aureate Gloom. The first track of this thing flies out of the gate like a funky, psych-y, hand-clappy, Franz Ferdinandy indie-disco bomb. Really a great song. No surprise that is has the most listens by far, here is Bassem Sabry:
That video is hipster-weirdo-Wes-Anderson-porn. And then, the rest of the album is heavy-duty David Bowie sounding indie rock. Pretty entertaining, but it didn't really knock my socks off after that first song.
Colleen Green - I Want to Grow Up. Fuzzed out 90's alt rock. Dig the opener "I Want to Grow Up" a bunch - reminds me of the Breeders. Here is the video for "TV"
Which reminds me entirely of Weezer. And I think Weezer rocks, so this is pretty dope too. TV is my friend! And it has been! Always there for me! Jam chord fest. There are a couple drum machine/synth tunes on here that I don't dig quite so much, but when she rocks, this rocks. Cool disc.
As I stated a few weeks ago, you can usually look to the Lolla line-up to get clues for what C3 is going to book for ACL. 2014 had major (7 of 9) overlap between the big acts booked: Eminem, Outkast, Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Lorde, The Avett Brothers, and Foster the People. So maybe you can figure out a few things from the lineup released this morning.
Big Three: - Paul McCartney. Sorry, but not entirely pumped about that. I recall people digging him when he came to the Erwin Center a few years ago, but whatevs. - Metallica. A) Called it. B) Would be freaking super fun and amazing to go thrash around to Metallica. Please come to Austin. I will scream For Whom the Bell Tolls at max volume for you. - Florence + the Machine. A) Called it. B) I'd love to go see her. Amazing voice and good music.
Next Six: - Sam Smith. As previously discussed, yawn. - Bassnectar. Pretty fun two or three years ago at ACL, but nothing I'd go out of my way to see. - The Weeknd. Don't know what this means. They need spellcheck. According to the Lolla website, this guy made music for 50 Shades of Grey and is an "Alternative R&B revolutionary." That sounds flipping awful. - alt-J. Liked their first album, am not hip enough to comprehend their new album. - Alabama Shakes. Like them well enough, although their set at ACL a few years ago was disappointing. - Of Monsters and Men. Great music, although I've seen them twice now at festivals and their music just doesn't translate well to the big stage and big crowd.
Line Six of the Poster: I've never heard of any of these groups. I feel like I know a lot of music. This is lame. If you are a big fan of Kygo, Carnage, Twenty One Pilots, of G-Eazy, I apologize for not being in your wheelhouse.
Other things I'd love if they brought them to Austin: A$AP Rocky. TV on the Radio. Gary Clark Jr. Father John Misty. Sturgill Simpson. First Aid Kit. Moon Taxi. Shakey Graves (called it!).
By the way, for all of me saying I called stuff, I missed on just about everything except for Florence, Sturgill Simpson, Lotus, Father John Misty, and Shakey Graves. That's about a 5% rate, so I find myself successful! Depressing thing is that I feel like I am pretty up on new music and yet I have no clue who half of these bands/people are. About a month until ACL announces! Pretty excited!
Steve Earle - Terraplane. I love me some Steve Earle. His two-disc "Ain't Never Satisfied" got me through a couple lean musical years living in Dallas, when the radio was full of pretty heavy duty garbage, and I was driving a million miles a day from central Dallas to Lewisville and back for my first job out of college. "Copperhead Road" freaking rules. Anyway, this is his new disc with The Dukes, and it is more good time country blues rock music that doesn't break the mold Earle previously set for his music. "Baby Baby Baby (Baby)" wins for best song title, and is a fun boogie of a tune as well, while "The Tennessee Kid" is a cool storyteller riff on the devil taking his due from the kid. Here is the final tune off the album, "King of the Blues." Salty.
IamSu - Sincerely Yours 1.5. This is a crazy long (22 tracks) album from this Cali rapper with a weird name. Uneven as a whole, but some of the tracks are solid. His hit is this weird video over a pretty basic rap about being real and awesome and stuff.
I am not a fan of the dumb AutoTune action, but he is definitely the best of these three rappers (Sage the Gemini and 2 Chainz). I also dig "I Love My Squad." However, know that this is not all that lyrically interesting. Lots of brags and getting my money and not being scared and gettin' dem ladies and blah blah blah...
Will Butler - Policy. Great solo debut from one of the Arcade Fire guys. It is kind of all over the place, ranging from the opener's jangly Brit-rock, some 80's pop to piano ballad to rock and roll, but I think it is super cool. Here is "Anna," which sounds like an old Devo track.
My only beef with the album after a few listens is that it is so short. 8 songs and 27 minutes? Less than half an hour? Come on, man. Well, hopefully this will just be the first salvo in more to come from the less famous Butler.
Saint Motel - My Type EP. Great funky dance rock. Feel like I have heard these tunes before, but they are awesome. Play "My Type," below, and try not to feel like grooving out. Horns, cowbell, and a funky disco beat. Get some.
The rest of this EP is just as fun, with loads of good times. Pop rock crackling in your ears. Reminds me of the good Franz Ferdinand songs, sing-along party songs you can dance to.
Kelly Clarkson - Piece by Piece. Pretty pleasant dance tunes. The one that stuck out to me immediately was "Dance With Me," mainly because it so blatantly cribs the Edge's guitar sound among a sped-up "Heart of Glass" rip off beat that should have Clarkson paying royalties to a bunch of people. Probably Tom Petty will claim some as well. Or maybe Marvin Gaye's kids. Apart from the humor in that tune, I'd say that this is a straight-forward, old-school-new-wave-ish, power pop album. Clarkson still has a killer voice, and some of these songs ("Nostalgic" and "Bad Reputation") are pretty dang groovy tunes you could get after on the dance floor. Others are empowerment anthems ("Invincible") or love songs (the hit with 20 million+ listens, "Heartbeat Song"), but I think I prefer the straight dance. Fun for a few listens, but I'm not going to keep this one around.
Big Sean - Dark Sky Paradise. I read a review the other day about Big Sean being the worst part of five Kanye songs. I thought he was pretty good on "Clique," which was a pretty awesome song from a few years ago, but this album overall is not very interesting. The Drake, Lil Wayne, and Kanye cameo tunes are entirely forgettable, kind of like the rest of the disc. Maybe "I Don't F*** With You" or "Paradise" are the keepers, although that score is mainly for the beat and not any sort of lyrical prowess. Either way, here is the improbable and explicit Friday Night Lights-esque video for IDFWY:
Why is the quarterback wearing number 88? What quarterback looks into the stands to happen to see exposed boobs right as he is throwing a pass? Why would that girl worry about her eyebrows before going to see the quarterback? Why can't the Pirates tackle? How many product placements were in this video (I recall at least four that were very obvious, not counting Kanye)? Anyway, now you know. Is something wrong with me, or is most rap pretty lame right now?
Badbadnotgood & Ghostface Killah - SOUR SOUL. Nevermind. Nothing is wrong with rap. It's just that some dudes forgot the point. This album is a collaboration between Canadian jazz instrumentalists Badbadnotgood and Ghostface Killah of the Wu Tang Clan. The music/beats are straight old-school soft-core funk/soul, like rappers have cribbed from the 70's for years, except these are new. A few instrumentals in here feel like set pieces from Superfly or a Quentin Tarantino flick. And then Ghost brings his usual - grime and rhyme stories of dope and dealing. "Tone's Rap" is a great tale of a pimp's life in the street - "Keep a blade at the tip of my cane for snakes that slither." I mentioned "Ray Gun" a few weeks ago, and it is still my favorite on this, mainly because the tune is so sick. Good stuff here.
Sons of Texas - Baptized in the Rio Grande. Well, that was a surprise. Thought for sure I had just added a new country album to the Q with some odes to drinking and Waylon and possibly a float down the river. Instead, I get a pretty damn passable Pantera clone band of heavy metal. On the first few listens, I though I was not going to keep this album around, but it has grown on me. If you're into metal with fat, Dimebag-loving guitar solos, heavy riffage, and drums that sound like a 300 pound bad-ass revving his Harley next to your minivan at a stoplight, then go fire this sucker up right now. Righteous!
Neat video shot in Grandma's living room. Bet she loves your music! "Never Bury the Hatchet" is pretty dang awesome Cookie Monster vocals with super heavy kickdrum wailing. As much as I want to dismiss this album, I kinda dig it.
The Sidekicks - Runners in the Nerved World. I am not familiar with these guys, but I swear that this is Band of Horses. Vocal and music both sounds really similar to the older Band of Horses albums I have dug in the past. Weird, because according to the Spotify bio on them, they are a punk band from Cleveland signed to the Epitaph Records label. I would not categorize this as punk by any means. "The Kid Who Broke His Wrist":
Maybe this one is a little punk-ish, in the Blink 182 meets Band of Horses vein? "Everything in Twos":
Anyway, this is a really good album. I like the sound a lot and regardless of what they should or don't sound like, it is a pretty great group of songs.
Grouper - Ruins. Ambient chill without much in the way of lyrics. Perfect nap music. Not my thing.
Mike Will Made It - Ransom. Mike Will is the super-producer behind a huge boatload of rap hits from the past few years. You know it is his song because every one has that stupid "Mike Will Made It" voice-over thing near the beginning to ID his song. Move That Dope was the best one of last year for me. So this is an album of his beats plus collaborations with all of the hot rappers of right now - Lil Wayne, Big Sean, 2 Chainz, Future, Chief Keef, Kendrick Lamar, Young Thug, Migos, etc. My take after a few listens is kinda lukewarm. The most played track on Spotify is the one with Kendrick Lamar and Lil Wayne, likely just because of their names, but listen for yourself:
Beat is mediocre (sounds like old Timbaland), Wayne's verse is a throwaway (seriously, how can you just rhyme the same word with itself for three lines and think you are doing anything worthwhile?), hell, even Kendrick's verse isn't very interesting. Likely won't keep this one around.
Skrillex and Diplo present Jack U. Kingpin EDM stuff, with some of these tunes bringing the pain while others are kind of bland. Best ones are the "Take U There" remix with Missy Elliott, "Beats Knockin'," (this is what I wanted his concert to sound like, instead of lame-o-rama), and "Febreze." The weakest one has Justin Beiber, which is not alone a reason for disliking it, but its just a boring crooner song. And after the initial charge of the first few songs, the majority of the album kind of fades into the background and is less interesting. But check out Missy Misdemeanor, fresh off her Super Bowl renaissance:
Suicidal Tendencies - Suicidal Tendencies. I can almost guarantee that you've never listened to Infectious Grooves, because it was a short-lived band made up of Suicidal Tendencies' singer and bassist and the Jane's Addiction drummer. But their album, The Plague that Makes Your Booty Move, somehow ended up in my hands in the early nineties, and I freaking loved it. Super funky metal with a heavy serving of goofy. Songs such as "You Lie, and Yo Breath Stank" tell you all you need to know about the goofiness, but the main silly portion were the spoken interludes. Anyway, cool album, not available on Spotify, but if you can find some of it, make it happen.
This album is the ST's debut from 1983, and it is hardcore punk thrash. The hit that you may have heard of (or you may just remember the cribbed line "All I wanted was a Pepsi!") is Institutionalized:
I understand that this was pioneering music at one time, but not doing it for me today.
Courtney Barnett - The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas. I read a recent write up of Barnett talking about her being the next great songwriter. This is not her newest album, but that was not yet available on Spotify, so I went with the old disc that got her hype in the first place. Lo-fi tunes, with wordy, conversational singing over the top. Reminds me of the soundtrack to Juno. I think my favorite is Avant Gardener, which I could swear I have heard before, but by someone else? Weird.
Love Aussie accents. Can't think of how I've heard this before but I swear I have. A lot of this music is almost rap - she is less singing and more spitting out rhymes of brainy text over the sloppy, basic rock rhythm. Then other tunes sound like 90's alt rock. Pretty cool, but I feel like I'll need to be in a mood to hear this.
Rhiannon Giddens - Tomorrow is My Turn. Bluesy bluegrass gal with a great voice. She was part of that group doing the old Dylan lyrics I reviewed the other day, but she just put out this solo album of her own, also produced by T. Bone Burnett. It's kind of a weird sound - her voice is strong and southern and sounds like it should be in a different style of music, but the tunes bounce between gospel-soul, bluegrass plucking, or slow-torch-sashay. She rolls through Patsy Cline's "I've Got Your Picture" like a bluesy soul singer, but then puts a light touch on others. "Angel City" is a beauty. Nice album.
Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers. Why do I keep coming back to trying this guy out? "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" is about the best on here, or the ones that have his Wu familia on them, but the only reason this album has any attraction to me is that the beats are pretty salty. Ominous and Wu Tang-esque with some cool twists. But ODB's rapping is just plain annoying. I get that he had a shtick, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. RIP anyway, big guy.
Bob Marley - Easy Skanking in Boston '78. Hells yeah. I love some old school Bob Marley action. Like every other dude my age, I was brought up listening to Legend and believing that Marley was the start and finish of the reggae sound. Legend is a damn classic for sure. Later in life, I found Kaya (my favorite of his albums), Uprising, Burnin', etc., including the kick ass three disc box set that my sister Sharon had and I made tapes of in high school. That box set had an acoustic version of Stir It Up that was flipping amazing - totally makes you realize that it is a love song and should be an intimate plea to your woman to get things going. Anyway, this is a live album from two shows in Boston in 1978. According to that website, there is a DVD coming out with this that has concert footage from just feet away. Here is the trailer.
Enough about the history, just know that this is fantastic, classic stuff with near perfect sound. This does not sound like a crap bootleg, this sounds like studio quality (from the 70's). Cool renditions of Easy Skankin', No Woman No Cry, Jamming, Them Belly Full - its really excellent. Just go throw on "Rebel Music" and try not to groove. Hot stuff.
Aphex Twin - Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2 EP. Nope. Want to be cool and like this stuff, but after a few tracks that got my head bobbing here and there, this is kind of boring jazzy electro. Now, if Ghostface was rhyming over the top? C'mon, someone get Pusha T on the phone and pitch an Aphex Twin collab-O!
