Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Awesome End of the Decade Village Voice Article

http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-12-22/music/the-decade-in-music-genre-hype/1

This Village Voice article by Christopher R. Weingarten details the rise and fall of numerous micro genres over the last decade thanks to the birth of the internet.

My favorite part is the ridiculous examples of horrible music critic writing (particularly by the biggest culprit of overly romanticized praise, Pitchfork).

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Alan Parsons Project - Tales of Mystery and Imagination




Artist: Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Album: Alan Parsons Project
Genre: Prog-rock, Concept
Release Date: 1975
Label: Mercury

Rating: *****

A concept album based on Poe's literature, including songs based on his poems with lyrics constructed around quotes from his writings. Alan Parson's Project's interesting style of prog-rock (of which I refer to as "production prog") holds more focus on synthesizers and deep well-thought out layers of sound than fancy high brow instrumentation. However they maintain conceptual motives and a certain "artiness" to the whole affair. But, "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" is first and foremost an album of striking mood, that of down, right ice cold terror. No other album has ever made me more afraid to be alone listening to than this, with disturbing psychotic vocals (as on "Tell Tale Heart") and booming sudden musical crescendos and decrescendos (as on the classically driven 5-part instrumental overture, "Fall of the House of Usher"). Although Alan Parsons Project does utilize a number of expected cliches, such as thunder sound effects and a spoken word intro by Orson Welles, all of these are effective--and only further build the mood. And unlike lots of early synth work, nothing sounds very dated here (one would expect the altered vocals of "The Raven" to annoy, but they are indeed quite timelessly disturbing). Highly, highly recommended.
  1. A Dream within a Dream ****
  2. The Raven *****
  3. The Tell-Tale Heart *****
  4. The Cask of Amontillado ****
  5. (The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather *****
  6. Fall of the House of Usher (Overture) *****
  7. To One in Paradise ***


Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue

Can't... get... this song... out of my head....

Friday, December 18, 2009

In the Christmas Groove



Artist: In the Christmas Groove
Album: Various Artists
Genre: Funk, Holiday
Release Date: Sep 29, 2009
Label: Strut

Rating: *****

I can't give this the most honest review, as I'm no deep funk expert, but I have to say the concept is excellent--it is a compilation of Christmas themed funk songs to get your groove on with your loved ones this holiday season. If you are looking to boogie down, get ready to dance. A very enjoyable listen all the way through, featuring some well known funk stars such as Jimmy Reed, as well as many forgotten artists. Songs often fuse familiar Christmas standards with a funk rhythms such as on "Auld Lang Style" and the amazing "Funky Funky Christmas".
  1. Christmas Present Blues ****
  2. Funky Funky Christmas *****
  3. Soul Santa *****
  4. Gettin' Down for Xmas *****
  5. Black Christmas *****
  6. Angel's Christmas ****
  7. Home on Christmas Day ***
  8. Boogaloo Santa Claus ***
  9. Christmas Morning *****
  10. Let's Get It Together this Christmas ***
  11. The New Year ****
  12. Auld Lang Style *****

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Vybz Kartel - Up 2 Di Time













Artist: Vybz Kartel
Album: Up 2 Di Time
Genre: Reggae: Dancehall
Release Date: Oct 28, 2003
Label: Greensleeves
RIYL: Busy Signal, Mavado

Rating: ****

Vybz Kartel is one of the leading artists of a young generation of dancehall toasters of the new millenium. When this, his debut dropped, it was refreshing, filled with fantastic lyrics featuring excellent allusions and a great flow Vybz, busts his way through 19 tracks and nearly an hour of material. Ultimately this is the album's problem as some of the tracks are a bit forgettable. Regardless, it's an extremely strong effort with plenty of highlights and no truly bad songs. Vybz tastefully uses hip-hop fusion in places such as on the catchy "Start Well", however, the majority of the album is straightforward dancehall. Many lyrics are typical of the genre, tales of sexual prowess and murder, but the occasional social critique (such as on "Who Knows") appears along with the surprisingly mature feminist "Why Again" where Vybz attacks the treatment of woman by gangster culture. On the absolutely genius "Robbery", Vybz Kartel disses almost every major old jamaican artist out there (including Buju Banton, Beres Hammond, Beenie Man, and Mad Cobra among others) by telling a fake narrative of robbing each of them by gunpoint. He keeps the song tastefully playful by telling us in the chorus "This ain't serious". It's this creativity and skill that puts Vybz a head above the rest contemporary dancehall has to offer.
  1. Badman Party ***
  2. Tattoo ****
  3. Good Inna Clothes ***
  4. Sweet to the Belly *****
  5. Kartel & Kardinal ***
  6. Sen On ****
  7. Di Way We Roll ****
  8. Badman Nah *****
  9. New Millenium ****
  10. Robbery *****
  11. Live U Life ****
  12. Why Doing It ****
  13. Start Well *****
  14. Pussy Jaw ****
  15. A.K.A. ***
  16. Who Knows ***
  17. Why Again *****
  18. Buss It Off ****
  19. Bonus: Freestyle *****

Midwestern Decline










Blog for Midwestern hardcore/punk/metal news, shows, and releases. Check it.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Snoop Dogg's Music Videos

He is a music video genius:
Sexual Eruption (2008)
Gangsta Luv (2009)

Favorites of the Decade (2000s)

I make no claims the following are the best albums of the 2000s, but I will say they are my favorites, the one's I've listened to the most if I don't lie to myself. This list is extremely subjective, and subject to change, as there's so many gaps in my listening that I plan to fill. Regardless, it is an interesting thing to think about music in the now, and so without further ado, I present my top ten for the '00s:

10. Cadence Weapon - Breaking Kayfabe (2008): Cadence Weapon's debut sound was refreshing, and remains one of my favorite hip-hop albums of the decade.








9. Ratatat - Classics (2006): Today they have a bit of a bad rap due to their popularity. And due to overplaying, today I find myself tired of their sound. But if I remind myself how much I used to listen to "Classics", when there was still an air of being underground and fresh to their sound, I have to include this on the list.







8. Listener [Project] - Return to Struggleville (2007): Poetic and beautiful, Listener's album is one of my favorite underground works. His "talk music", is honest, simplistic, and inspiring.








7. Yndi Haldi - Enjoy Eternal Bliss (2007) - My favorite album from my instrumental post-rock days, and one of the few I still listen to. Beautiful and epic.










6. Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain (2005): Lightning Bolt is endlessly intense. I remember listening to this for weeks after I first got it in the mail, and I couldn't bear staying still in my chair listening to it's frantic attacks. My favorite noise work of the last decade.







5. Kings of Leon - Because of the Times (2007): Today, the Kings of Leon are huge. Everyone has heard of them. But this was not always so. Pre-2008, and basically selling their sound out with indie pop fusion (which isn't entirely awful, but certainly is frustrating) very few knew this garage band from Nashville. Aggressively gruff and with a punk aesthetic, I fell in love with their first album. It may have been the first album I ever loved. And so I bought their second and their third. And I was delighted with this album. Suddenly mature, aggressive and often dark but still preserving their older garage sound I listened to it hundreds of times. Thinking about it only makes me sadder about the direction they have chose with their music.

4. Fugazi - The Argument (2001): Fugazi finally culminates their sound into perfection on this album. After years of making amazing music, this album is quite possibly their best. A post-hardcore masterpiece.








3. Converge - Jane Doe (2001): I haven't had this album very long. But I've listened to it many times already. I've been informed about it's importance and immediate influence on Metalcore and the current underground scene, and upon the first listen I could see why. This album is lyrically and musically perfect.







2. Q-Tip - The Renaissance (2008): I've said many times it was my favorite album of 2008. And upon further inspection it's my favorite rap album of the decade. Mind blowing production and flow shows what a veteran hip-hop artist like Q-tip can do. You can check out the review I've posted up about it for more information.






1. Buju Banton - Unchained Spirit (2000): With this album, Buju Banton perfected his spiritual sound. The opening 3 tracks are musical perfect. The middle features some of his best feel-good dancehall. Although it's taken a lot of listening, I believe this album has finally emerged as my favorite of Banton's work... and since Buju is my favorite artist of all time, that puts it on a pretty high pedestal. I don't just enjoy this album's entertainment value, it literally has influenced me spiritually and philosophically, and shivers go down my spine for its opening 15 minutes or so.

Runner Ups:
Andrew WK - I Get Wet (2001)
Beck - Sea Change (2002)
Roots - Phrenology (2002)
Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003)
Vybz Kartel - Up 2 Di Time (2003)
Busdriver -Cosmic Cleavage (2004)
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand (2004)
Sizzla - Jah Knows Best (2004)
Thievery Corporation - Cosmic Game (2005)
Avishai Cohen - Continuo (2006)
This Will Destroy You - Young Mountain (2006)
Andy D - Choose Your Perversion (2007)
Busman's Holiday - Old Friends (2008)
Buraka Som Sistema - Black Diamond (2008)
Mr. Oizo - Lamb's Anger (2008)

Album Continually on These Lists that I Just Don't Get:
Radiohead - Kid A (2000): Seriously this isn't nearly as good as Ok, Computer (1997) and sometimes I even feel like arguing that In Rainbows (2000) is better. A far from perfect album, it's actually rather boring at parts.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Deastro - Keepers




Artist: Deastro
Album: Keepers
Genre: Indie Electronic, Synth-pop
Release Date: Nov 18th, 2008
Label: Ghostly International

Rating: **

A collection of home recordings by Detroit, Michigan artist, Randolph Chabot (pseudonym: Deastro). Synthesizers, midi sounding bass and drum lines (sometimes resembling video game music, as in "Light Powered"), and Deastro's emo-like vocals add up to a general warm washy feeling. It is a solid and original style and there are a number of impressive tracks on this album. However, the material is largely hit and miss. Quality jumps around as one listens, from the fantastic to borderline awful (but there's always a certain sincerity to every song that saves them from being unlistenable). This can likely be attributed to the time span of the recordings, and the home demo nature of the album (which has it's advantages as well). I should also note that I have seen Deastro live, and he puts on a good, energetic show (much better than this collection recording at least). And if I gave stars based on album cover artwork, this would be a definite 5.
  1. Michael, the Lone Archer of the North Shore ****
  2. The Shaded Forests *****
  3. Light Powered *****
  4. The Goodman of the House ***
  5. The Green Harbor ***
  6. Wind Powered ****
  7. The Floating Cradle **
  8. Leah's Daughter the Giraffe **
  9. Open Up Ye Dark Gates ***
  10. Child of Man, Son of God *