I know what you’re thinking. This is some bubblegum, radio-friendly, autotune bullshit. Can’t really argue with you there. But fuck, this is catchy. “Your Love” wasn’t really doing it for me, but if Nicki is trying to make looping up ’80s shit a trademark, “Video Killed the Radio Star” is a good place to start. For the record, will.i.am is a genius. Yeah, his songs are generally about nothing. Yes, you can usually fit the lyrics to an entire Black Eyed Peas song on a small napkin. And yes, his songs are ubiquitous to the point that they make you want to burn down your local radio station. But it’s hardly his fault. The dude knows pop. And pop makes people happy. Don’t be surprised if you end up hearing this more times than you wanted to.
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First off, I gotta thank Alan for putting me up on The Hood Internet. I was snoozing pretty hard, but luckily Alan had folks juiced off the Drizzy/Miike Snow mashup this weekend, so I got my first proper introduction. Also known as DJs Aaron Brink and Steve Reidell, The Hood Internet specializes in the art of the mashup, creating improbable blends between radio-friendly hip-hop and indie pop or electro. Think good times like Girl Talk, but without having to hear Journey and Fergie in the process. “Trey-dio” (Trey’s “Say Aah” + and Radio Dept.’s “Heaven’s On Fire”) is just the inaugural. Please believe there’s more to come.
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They say this is the place
where angels come again
They say that this is the place
where it all can happen for you…”
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For the kids like myself that grew up in ’90s, I think most of us remember an era when MTV was the purveyor of all things cool. Beavis & Butthead and Daria aired daily, The Real World wasn’t scripted yet and alternative, electronica, and hip-hop music inspired some of the dopest music videos of all time. The music video was a full-fledged art form, complete with superstar directors (Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry) and full of weird shit an eight year-old kid probably shouldn’t have been watching.
But hey. Now that MTV programming is almost exclusively dedicated to quality, thought-provoking programming like Jersey Shore and The Hills, it’s hard to see why anyone would be nostalgic for a time when these five-minute masterpieces ruled the small screen. In any case, Pitchfork picked 50 of their favorites, and luckily for us nostalgia junkies, Maaria gave me the heads up. Check here for the full list, and hit MORE for a few of my personal favorites.
First off, can we just take a minute to consider the fucking lineup on this track? Yeezy, Hov, Rozay and Nicki would be crazy already. But guest vocals from Bon Iver and Uncle Charlie? Fresh off the news that he and Jay are set to drop a five-track album soon, Ye dropped off the first official track tonight, via Twitter. “Monster”, also the first installment of Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music Fridays, is as varied, and maybe even as weird as the guest list looks on paper. It’s six minutes plus, and Ye went in. Nicki too. There’s a lot going on here, but at it’s best moments “Monster”, lives up to it’s name.
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Good songs come from a lot of different places. I remember last month at the Foreign Exchange show at Yoshi’s SF, Phonte spoke on the all-too-common, and frankly unnecessary debate between “mainstream” and “indie” fans. The Foreign Exchange proceeded to hit us with the musically inclined, neo-soul versions of “Turn My Swag On” and “Stanky Leg”, among others. That shit was comedy. The point being that at the end of the day, it’s all music, and the lines people tend to draw often have more to do with perception than musical quality. With the Bowties crowd, maybe I’m preaching to the choir. You guys have some eclectic tastes, which is why I can drop some Diddy and some Beach House in the same post, and not really think twice about it. Anyway, we’re glad to have you behind us. The best is yet to come.
No one really likes Monday mornings. Getting up early is weak. Work is weak, unless you’re job is really that clean (Crosby, Will and the rest of the Google staff, I see you). But hey, getting up early has its upside sometimes. Take right now for instance. It’s been a slow ass week, so today’s a good day to drop a gang of new tracks. For the folks who missed the latest snippet from Andre 3000, feel free to peep below, and expect to see the CDQ off Jeezy’s album soon. The K-Os & Drizzy is serious, the Röyksopp is a jam, the Matthew Dear is geeked and that Twista damn near gave me chills. One of the best verses I’ve heard in a minute. Anyway, there’s a bunch of new shit to check out, and the last two songs are about hard drugs, which is cool too. For the folks on the grind, I hope you work somewhere where it’s cool to have some headphones on.
So where do you go after you’ve done it all musically? Well after the polarizing, genre-stretching autotune opus that was 808s, I guess a return to his hip-hop anthem comfort zone makes sense. Following up the portrait of “Power”, Mr. West stopped by Angie Martinez’ show earlier today to premier the latest from his forthcoming, still-untitled album. Accompanied by a soulful pair of appearances from Beyonce and Charlie Wilson, Ye drops quotables left and right (“I’m Socrates, but my skin more chocolatey”), over smooth fare from No I.D. with a little help from Lex Luger (Rick’s “B.M.F.”). It’s unmastered, and as far as the new material we’ve heard so far, it’s pretty light stuff. But given that there’s only so much summer left, it’s pretty good timing. Thoughts?
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Whether we’re looking at albums, or artistic statements, I think few are more important or more impressive than the ones we’ve had a chance to see from Ms. Badu so far this year. Two important things to keep in mind about Erykah though for this one. For one, she’s a hip-hop head. Secondly, she likes to throw curveballs every once in a while. So if the collab/short-film with Ricky Ross sitting shotgun wasn’t quite what you expected, that’s okay. The best artists keep us guessing, and this one is something special. I’d recommend waiting this one out til the end.
Whether you love Kanye or hate him, you have to admire the fact that he’s insisted on doing things his way from the jump. For better or for worse, Ye always manages to create things that are distinctively his own. So when he tweeted recently that the video for “Power’ was in fact not a video, but a “painting”, I got the feeling we were in for something unusual. Marco Brambilla on the visuals, Yeezy on the track. You can decide what to make of it.
Damn, is it really August already? By some folks’ logic, I think that’s supposed to mean Summer should be winding down. Personally, I like my glasses half-full, so let’s just say there’s a whole month left. Lately, I’m pretty partial to the Freddie Gibbs tape, but Arcade Fire, Slum Village and Seu Jorge’s new projects have all been getting some burn too. For my B-Town folks, I’m not mad at the latest from the Cataracs either. A little pop shit is only healthy. Hit MORE for all of the above, plus the new single from Wayne and Drizzy.
First off, I’d like to preface this post by saying that I hate DJ drops. I really can’t fucking stand hearing the same verse spun back four times before the song starts, or listening to some dude yelling all over my favorite tracks. But with that said, Str8 Killa No Filla is one of the dopest mixtapes I’ve heard all year, and it’s well worth the hundred or so DJ drops stamped all over it.
“Rap ain’t nothin’ but talkin’ shit, I’m just the best at it,” Gibbs explains on “Crushin’ Feelins”. The approach isn’t really unique, but what’s exciting about Freddie is that he really means it. Like most other gangsta rappers who get praise from indie critics and bloggers for their unpretentious approach, Gibbs isn’t trying to do too much. But it’s not because he can’t. The shit-talking is actually legitimized by the fact that he’s one of the talented spitters to come up in the last few years. The lyrics, the storytelling, the voice – it’s all there. At 21 tracks, Str8 Killa No Filla doesn’t quite live up to its title, but it’s pretty damn close. For the folks in need of some raw shit, please don’t sleep.
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Fresh off Hard in New York, Theophilus seems to keep finding himself in all the right places. “Groove Me” is the second single from Maximum Balloon, one of several side projects from TV On the Radio guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Dave Sitek. Due out August 24th, Sitek’s Maximum Balloon album enlists, as you might expect from somebody in TVOTR, a handful of the coolest artists in pop music today, including Karen O, David Byrne, and Little Dragon. For the time being, “Groove Me” is the slap. Saturday night music.
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Unheard music from Ms. Hill is pretty rare. I’d say every blue moon, but it’s really more like every few blue moons. Without stating the obvious, I feel like it’s kind of tragic that Lauryn never went back to the studio for any extended period of time after Miseducation. All exaggeration aside, it really was one of the most important records to drop during my lifetime. And it’s not like there’s anyone to blame either. Becoming that famous that quickly would get to anybody’s head. So given the history, any new music she drops is appreciated. Who knows when it was recorded, but “Repercussions” feels like a quick trip back to when the picture to the left was probably taken. Back when Lauryn was racking up Grammies, and inspiring kids like myself. Or my sister. Or most of the people I know. Word is she’s back in the lab too. For now, catch her at Rock The Bells in August.
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The story of Janette Beckman‘s early career goes roughly like this: after shooting album covers for The Police, and portraits of everyone from The Clash to Boy George in her native England, she moved to New York in 1982, only to capture some of the most iconic shots in hip-hop’s golden age. To rattle off just a few quick names, Run DMC, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys and Eric B. & Rakim were among some of the more famous subjects. Arkitip’s Project Space in L.A. will be featuring a retrospective of Beckman’s work, aptly titled Archive of Attitude, opening August 12th, and highlighting some of the more iconic shots from her storied career. If you get a chance to stop in, don’t miss it.
I know what you’re thinking. This is some bubblegum, radio-friendly, autotune bullshit. Can’t really argue with you there. But fuck, this is catchy. “Your Love” wasn’t really doing it for me, but if Nicki is trying to make looping up ’80s shit a trademark, “Video Killed the Radio Star” is a good place to start. For the record, will.i.am is a genius. Yeah, his songs are generally about nothing. Yes, you can usually fit the lyrics to an entire Black Eyed Peas song on a small napkin. And yes, his songs are ubiquitous to the point that they make you want to burn down your local radio station. But it’s hardly his fault. The dude knows pop. And pop makes people happy. Don’t be surprised if you end up hearing this more times than you wanted to.
