Q2 Music: In Which Big Boi Makes the Cut Because I Said So

Tracks (download link) -

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Round and Round"
Janelle Monae - "Round and Round (ft. Big Boi)"
Crystal Castles - "Baptism"
Flying Lotus - "Do the Astral Plane"
Against Me! - "White Crosses"
Nada Surf - "Love and Anger"
Uffie - "ADD SUV (Armand Van Helden vocal mix)"
Reflection Eternal - "Just Begun (ft. Mos Def and Jay Electronica)"
Juvenile - "Drop That Thing"
Caribou - "Odessa"
HEALTH - "USA BOYS"
Sleigh Bells - "Tell 'em"
Kanyeeeezeee - "Power"
Big Boi - "Daddy Fat Stax"
The National - "Lemonworld"
Jay Electronica - "Exhibit C"
The-Dream - "Yamaha"
Wolf Parade - "Ghost Pressure"
LCD Soundsystem - "I Can Change"
Delorean - "Simple Graces"
Japandroids - "Younger Us"
Sage Francis - "The Best of Times"

Albums That Kept Me Awake and Sweating on Various Airport Tarmacs:
Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: the Son of Chico Dusty (HOLY BALLS)
Sleigh Bells - Treats
Delorean - Subiza
Against Me! - White Crosses
Crystal Castles - (self-titled)
The National - High Violet
Reflection Eternal - Revolutions Per Minute

Those Which Require More Time But Get A Prospective Thumbs Up:
Eminem - Recovery
Guilty Simpson - OJ Simpson
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
HEALTH - ::DISCO2
ceo - white magic
Javelin - No Mas
Murs & 9th Wonder - Fornever

2010 Q1: There was music.

OK - Instead of piling it all at the end of the year, might as well break it into smaller chunks . . .

Tracks (download here), in no particular order:
-LCD Soundsystem, "Drunk Girls"
-Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, "Bottled in Cork" (ABSURD)
-Yeasayer, "ONE"
-Titus Andronicus, "Titus Andronicus Forever"
-Fang Island, "Life Coach"
-The Hold Steady, "Rock Problems"
-Broken Social Scene, "All to All"
-Pavement, "Gold Soundz" (reissued!)
-Vega, "She's Electric (Vega Italo Dub)"
-Big Boi, "Fo Yo Sorrows (ft. George Clinton)"
-Big Boi, "Shutterbugg" (Yep - there's two, it's worth it)
-Cults, "Go Outside"
-Drake, "Over"
-Blitzen Trapper, "Heaven and Earth"
-Hot Chip, "Take It In"
-Wiley, "Never Be Your Woman (Herve Mix)"
-TI, "I'm Back"
-Surfer Blood, "Take It Easy"


OMGOMGOMG
Surfer Blood, Astro Coast
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, The Brutalist Bricks
Hot Chip, One Life Stand
Titus Andronicus, The Monitor
Vega, Well Known Pleasures
Broken Social Scene, Forgiveness Rock Record
LCD Soundsystem, This is Happening
Fang Island, Fang Island
Vampire Weekend, Contra

Like, Not Love
Love is All, Two Thousand and Ten Injuries
Spoon, Transference
Yeasayer, Odd Blood
jj, jj no. 3
Gonjasufi, A Sufi and A Killer
Freeway & Jake One, The Stimulus Package
Four Tet, There Is Love In You

My Top 11 for 2008

You have to have a list, right?

Honorable mention:
Wale, The Mixtape About Nothing
So it's a mixtape inspired by Seinfeld. For real. And it's incredibly good - just very odd, to the point of being kind of awkward. I don't think it's the 'best' anything this year, but it's so different that it's worth a shot - Wale is one of the brightest things to come out of 2008, a true cross-over-able intelligent rapper.

Just missed: Lil' Wayne, The Hold Steady, Okkervil River, The Black Ghosts

11- The Knux, Remind Me in 3 Days
I can remember starting college as a freshman and having a pretty extensive collection of very narrow music. Napster broke big, and completely changed my life - that's not even really hyperbole . . . there was a fundamental shift in my mentality courtesy of Napster. Two specific tracks then blew my mind: "Like Today" by Atmosphere, and "Letter from an Occupant" by The New Pornographers. All of the sudden, there was an entire world beyond Moon Records, Sublime and modern rock radio, combining elements I'd never seen mixed before. The Knux record surprised me like no rap record I've heard in a long, long time - not exactly traditional, not exactly backpack, not exactly even hip hop . . .

10- Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours
Music is mostly about moods for me. By that, I mean that most music matches a feeling or time or place in my mind, and I'll usually go back to songs to match a certain place. For In Ghost Colours, that place is my car while in a completely unexpected good mood, such as a random endorphin high after leaving the office and heading to happy hour, or getting good news, or simply feeling good for no damn reason.

9- The Gaslight Anthem, The '59 Sound
Whenever a friend actively apologizes for liking an album (just like my incredible co-author C did, via Facebook no less, in re: this record), I almost invariably purchase/download it immediately. Sometimes this is good (like this), and sometimes it's bad (like ... almost every other time), but the search for a guilty pleasure marches on. I'm not even ashamed. This is probably the record that Craig Finn would have made at 15, if he weren't getting drunk in K-Mart parking lots in Minnetonka instead. We're all glad it went down like it did.

8- Titus Andronicus, The Airing of Grievances
A part of me will always want to light things on fire, or get into fights with assholes during rec league sports, or devastate people who have hurt me in the past, or rage against structure, or lash out at things that are completely unfair even if I can't do a single thing about it. That part doesn't really get out very much, and I'm pretty happy about that. I'm also happy that some bands rely on just that part of them as muse.

7- Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
When the days get shorter and winter sets in, slow nights can become almost interminable. The sun sets incredibly early, and weekdays are met with only brief periods of light. It's almost as if time passes more slowly - I can't tell you how many times I've looked at the clock and said "Holy God - it's only 8:30?" This has that same nearly-brutal quality, like waiting for warmth.

6- Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping
Schadenfreude is a powerful phenomenon - people love seeing others going crazy, almost as if it validates their own sanity. Yet we also fear it - the guy outside Marlboro Market lobbing imaginary grenades at Charley can touch a little close to home, or maybe we can connect or understand with the way someone like Hannibal Lecter or Gordon Gekko rationalizes things when we know we shouldn't. Still, the spectacle draws our attention - Kevin Barnes is now the spectacle, by choice and by consequence.

5- The Cool Kids, The Bake Sale
In the video for Dude 'N Nem's "Watch My Feet" the group is rocking the coolest thing I've ever seen in my entire fucking life: a t-shirt (apparently put out on Shorty Capone's line, which I've never found for sale anywhere), in either black or white, with contrasting rhinestone-laden letters that simply spell out "SHIRT." I have no clue why I think it's so awesome, but I would kill a child for one. Basically, that's how I feel about the Cool Kids at this point, too.

4- Deerhunter, Microcastle
Music reviews throw around meaningless words like "dreamy" or "atmospheric" all the time - these are shitty shorthand, allowing for lazy journalism and truly uninspired review. Still, they perfectly describe this album . . . whoops.

3- Frightened Rabbit, The Midnight Organ Fight
I pulled a series of near-all-nighters to finish up a research study early this year - a good friend and the only other co-writer for that specific material made a tough choice to take another job, and I was left with a ton of work on a tight time frame. Obviously, it got finished, but it required typing in the back of a few bars like the Lift until closing time, knocking back beers with headphones as loud as they go. This was the perfect soundtrack for those nights - including how ridiculous I must have looked to everyone else.

2- TV on the Radio, Dear Science
There's a weird arc to the way sexual interaction happens in a relationship. At the beginning, there's some fumbling and struggling, definite awkwardness - but that's awash in a sort of animal interest, a drive that is both exciting and disorienting (Young Liars EP, Dirty Youth). As the relationship coalesces into the honeymoon phase, the frenzy remains, but there is some focus - you're discovering what each of you enjoys most, and you can apply that learning while retaining some of the fierceness, while still exploring and testing boundaries (Return to Cookie Mountain). Then, finally, you settle into a groove - you can become efficient and effective, and you can proceed with some pace, with just enough experimentation to keep it interesting . . . overall, this is the most satisfying phase, even while lacking many of the positives from the earlier phase. That's where TVOTR are today.

1- Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
It's always better to go to the beach when you're hung over - you can sleep more easily, the beer goes down smoother, and that little bit of dehydration makes everyone seem more attractive (even you, being a little more cut based on an utter lack of water in your body). This record will always be the sound of driving to the beach while hung over, and (hopefully) the party afterward.

Yet another 10x10

Brought to you by "hangover at work," ten more record reviews in ten words or less. Life is easy.

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Seriously unreal. Nearly flawless. Jesus.
10/10


The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Will grow on you - expands their sound, for the better.
8/10

Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
Surprise! The previously leaked tracks are the only good ones!
5/10

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Best opening sequence of songs in history. Close to perfect.
9/10


Air France - No Way Down
Pitchfork-fueled mirage - not enough substance to overcome monotony.
6.5/10

Cut Copy - In Ghost Colors
Solid effort that sways toward cheesy just a touch too often.
7.5/10

Tapes 'n Tapes - Walk it Off
Surprisingly inconsistent - hasn't caught hold in my CD player. Weird.
7/10

Nas - Untitled
Fuck Nas. Seriously irrelevant. This guy made "Illmatic"?

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Pershing
Still the worst name in music, still a great record. (Breaking my own rule but FU: download this. It's this year's "The Orchids" - a very good thing)
8.5/10

Shearwater - Rook
I don't get the hype - way worse than Okkervil River.
4/10

Pittsburgh's Finest (not Iron City beer)

Late last week, Girl Talk released his fourth proper album and the follow-up to minor smash Night Ripper, a genre- (and potentially law-)bending reinterpretation of pop music that ranked somewhere between "OMG" and "OMG Just Pissed Myself" on my list of favorite albums of all time. Anyone paying any attention to music probably knows by now that the record is in the same vein as Radiohead's In Rainbows, in that Illegal Art and Girl Talk are allowing people to name their own price.

While I'll give a brief review (I'm sure you can guess that I'm down with it), the truly amazing thing about the album is that Greg Gillis, the man behind the awful teen game moniker, finished mixing the album on Tuesday and his label had it up on the web ready for purchase on Thursday. The proper physical release is scheduled for September of this year - an amazing change from the usual music industry meme of carefully planned releases, A&R bullshit, and extensive (poor) advertising and placement on MTV or Grey's Anatomy.

The ability to go directly to the fans and bypass any price or positioning issues by effectively giving the music away for possible donations represents hope that the music industry might be taking off the Corky Thatcher glasses and moving into the 21st Century (or, at the least, the mid-90s). The rise of digital media, file sharing, iPods and even Pandora has punished the music industry, and the current state gives someone like me, who purchases somewhere between 100 and 200 albums a year, absolutely zero incentive to purchase a physical album. Moving distribution to digital (especially when lossless audio technology like FLAC encoding can be utilized to satisfy even the most dickish basement-dwelling audiophile) not only staunches the bleeding, but it should more effectively and efficiently play to the actual target of non-mainstream music. Well done, Girl Talk (and Illegal Art), and we can only hope others carry on in this vein. Radiohead may have truly changed the world, and not just through the annoying quasi-intellectual girl at happy hour who can't WAIT to break down Thom Yorke for hours while I wait interminably for a shot to have mediocre sexual relations.

As far as the album goes, it doesn't bend the mind the way certain elements of Night Ripper did, but it does show some expansion or growth of the genre. Again, the ephemeral and borderline-salacious elements of pop music are tossed in a blender and served cold - every type of cheesy pop is on display, from Thin Lizzy to UNK and everything in between. While Night Ripper played flawlessly as a "DJ set" from track to track (in fact, the listening experience is MUCH more enjoyable taken as an album instead of individual tracks), Feed the Animals shows much different pacing from track to track, giving some different moods and looks to the entire arrangement. It's subtle, but the formula is a little more broad than "rapping over a beat lifted from a '70s karaoke staple" - and it's a welcome shift.

Of course, the "Eminem rapping over that Yael Naim song from the MacBook commercials" parts are still pure, bizarre fun - a great summer album, and a more-than-worthy successor to Night Ripper. Plus, you can pay literally anything you want for it - if it's not worth your $2.50, I'm not sure what to tell you, other than it might be time to pick up a bartending job or something. Seriously, the economy's rough, there's no shame.

Download:
Grizzly Bear - The Knife (Girl Talk Remix)

We ain't worried 'bout nothing/ Hakuna Ma Tata

It's that time, boys and girls - Clipse (along with sidecars Ad Libba and Sandman, cumulatively the Re-Up Gang), fresh off a new record deal, have released We Got It For Cheap v.3 - an obvious must-have at the cost (free, obv).

A cursory listening agrees with the Pitchfork review - it's not nearly the same level of legendary as vol. 2 (which included "Zen," one of the best songs of 2005) or Hell Hath No Fury, which was a top-5 album of 2006. Still, living up to those lofty expectations would likely prove impossible - what you do have is a great album of rips and punchlines, mostly based around slangin' rock. Nothing wrong with that shit.

A cursory listen puts this album in a MUCH more relaxed vibe - the angry snarls and shunting of other rappers has largely disappeared, as is wont to happen when you've blown out just about every other mainstream rapper not named Kanye in the past few months (and, even then, I mean . . . dorks like me love Clipse, and Kanye didn't even make my list).

Genuine introspection is difficult territory for the Re-Up boys - there are some legit stumbles where the lyrical content reaches too far, or inadequately describes just why it sucks to be rich and respected. Still, though, it's legit growth, and the majority of the first listen proved beyond satisfactory and head-nod-able. It's 100% worth the download, and should likely get spins in the car or on the subway - it seems perfectly situated for people-watching or observing in those types of situations.

2007 Music Retrospective

After a lot of thought (sort of), I figured I should uphold my status as a nerd and actually put down some thoughts on the year in music, since MK did such a fantastic job with the movie review side. First off, usually I care more about tracks, and this year is no exception - to facilitate that, I put together a 'mixtape' of some of my favorite songs (and mixes) from this year. Obviously it isn't exactly complete - how could it be, in 80 minutes? - but it should get things started:

RC's 2007 Mixtape Extravaganza

As far as albums, this year proved a bizarre one, with great albums springing up in odd categories. It would be nearly impossible to go through them all, but the ubiquitous and probably irrelevant Top 10 analysis is what blogs were made for, so pretty much FU.

Honorable Mention: The Hood Internet, (Mixtape No. 1) (which is just unreal - check these guys out here, it's the mash-up given new life as a remix . . . )

10. Okkervil River, The Stage Names
Where Black Sheep Boy traded in rough edges and some degree of inconsistency as endearing for the listener, The Stage Names works a borderline-melodrama into a much smoother, more consistent shape. A fantastic album, with a solid premise that never falls into "hokey" even though it could have at any point.

9. Simian Mobile Disco, Attack Decay Sustain Release
Originally, I found myself surprised this was so low on my list - I would guess that at least three singles off this album ("I Believe", "Hustler" and "Sleep Deprivation") had to be in the top-25 most listened to in my car this year. However, as an album, it falls into the "Electronic Music Trap": it just doesn't flow, the connectivity wains, and it begins to sound like a collection of singles instead of an album. This CD just didn't have the staying power for me - although the raw strength of it keeps it solidly in the top 10.

8. Spoon, Ga ga ga ga ga ga
Putting Spoon on lists like this is old hat - you just sort of pencil them in whenever they release something new, at this point. However, Britt Daniel's ego and songwriting benefited greatly from the inclusion of Jon Brion in production (and on bass), giving Spoon's stripped-down sound a sheen and depth that makes tracks like "The Ghost of You Lingers" work and not flop. Besides this, the album finishes with its two strongest songs ("Black Like Me" and "Finer Feelings"), which earns brownie points in my world.

7. Blitzen Trapper, Wild Mountain Nation
An oddball choice, to be certain - these guys are all over the map, sounding alternately like a retard Grateful Dead ("Wild Mountain Nation") and a '90s alt-rock cover band ("Sci-Fi Kid", which might be the best song released all year) and everything in between . . . but somehow it works.

6. Panda Bear, Person Pitch
My favorite 'review' of this album came from Bradford Cox of Deerhunter, who said that he hated this album when he first listened because it was "too perfect" . . . and it might be. A modern equivalent of all the best Brian Wilson Beach Boys materials, but with a sensibility and scope unlike really anything else released this year. Originally I wrote this off as a 'summer album' (something like The Boy Least Likely To last year), but I'm pleased to say out loud that I was completely wrong. This one just makes you feel better about everything when you listen.

5. MIA, Kala
If there was an award for being the favorite on the car stereo, this would be MIA's second such victory. Not really "rap" in the truest sense, nor "techno" in any reasonable sense, Kala strikes me as the ultimate evolution of the Baltimore Gutter scene fused with modern indie music - a connection that doesn't seem intuitive, but makes perfect sense when performed by a radical revolutionary who can't spell well enough to keep a MySpace blog (or get a visa into the US). "Paper Planes" also reaches the short list for best song of the year - really, it's everything that Kanye's "Stronger" did for modern radio rap, on a smaller scale.

4. Burial, Untrue
Burial makes dubstep for people who have never even heard of dubstep, and the results could not be any better. Whereas last year's self-titled album came off as creepy, rumbling and fresh, Untrue produces better songs and a nearly ghostly vibe. The haunted, echoing, chopped "vocal" samples can be hard to work with if you're not used to this sort of thing, but on the whole, this is an electronic CD that produces an album feeling better than almost any other out there. Dark, moist, dreary music that becomes beautiful in an unexpected fashion.

3. Justice, [Cross]
Likely the party album of the year, Justice makes sounds that should not come out of good speakers and somehow make the whitest white kid indie geek shake his/her ass. Among the static and the harsh tones comes Daft Punk reincarnate, with a sense of melody and proportion that rival the most immense of the French DJ set. Quick tip: the singles get the most attention, but "DVNO" is the track that gives me the biggest thrill when it comes on.

2. Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are you the Destroyer?
An early-year release that blew the doors off my expectations - while some have considered Of Montreal a sort of novelty act, Hissing Fauna instead became Kevin Barnes's coming-out party. A quick, short move into a freakshow version of the glam-rock that infected mainstream radio, as well as a soul-searing separation from his wife produced an album that pleases the ears beyond previous Of Montreal work, as well as lyrics that produce both wonder and satisfaction to support the tracks. This CD is simply a blast to listen to, and has given me so many great listens over the year that it is amazing this can only rise to #2.

1. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
Then again, the #1 album just blows everything else out of the water. James Murphy, under the LCD Soundsystem moniker, has produced some of the best singles of the past 5-10 years . . . but until now, the concept of "album" has eluded him just as the concept of "cohesive, insightful lyrics" often flew by the wayside. Sound of Silver fixes both problems, producing a series of tracks that jump off the album and gain notice. A beautiful album about growing old, staying cool, finding yourself, rediscovering things like friends and music, and just living, Sound of Silver produced more spins than any other album in my collection in 2007. A worth champion, to say the least, and an album that should appeal to a broad base of music lovers, no matter whether they lean to the rock, electronic, indie or "other" sides of the aisle.

10x10 - Round 1

It's that time again: the 10x10, or "Ten Album Reviews, All Ten Words or Less" (also known as the dumbest idea in history) . . .

Sound of Silver - LCD Soundsystem
Unreal album - vast lyrical improvement, massive nerd boner
9.5/10
Legally download: "Someone Great", "All My Friends", Us vs. Them"




Person Pitch - Panda Bear
Uhhhhhhh . . . Beach Boys on ecstasy? Maybe?
7/10
Legally download: "Comfy in Nautica"

We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank - Modest Mouse
Not disappointing - different direction, but not the one expected
8/10
Legally download: "Dashboard" (obv), "Florida", "Parting of the Sensory", "Education"

Plays - Secret Mommy
I have no idea what this album is about (drugs?)
6/10
Legally download: "Kool Aid River"

Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
No less weird - hate "mirror mirror" line, unlike the blogs
7.5/10
Legally download: uhhh probably the whole thing, it's swingy, make your own call

New Magnetic Wonder - Apples in Stereo
Feel-good album + vocoder = summer album, too early
8/10
Legally download: "Can You Feel It?", "Same Old Drag"

Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? - Of Montreal
Best album of the year so far?
10/10
Legally download: "Suffer for Fashion", "Gronlandic Edit", "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse"

Living with the Living - Ted Leo/Pharmacists
Stylistic expansion, lyrically solid . . . but not satisfying, somehow
7.5/10
Legally download: "The Sons of Cain", "The Unwanted Things", "Colleen"

A Weekend in the City - Bloc Party
Um . . . sort of boring (sick remixes though)
7/10
Legally download: (Just email/IM me for the remixes, especially by SebastiAn and RAC)

Xan Valleys (EP) - Klaxons
New Rave? Big Gulps huh? Welp . . .
8/10
Legally download: whole thing (4 meaningful tracks)