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.
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