Great quote, I've always adored the aspect of rap that just fully embraces how epic and dramatic a string/horn section can be, even the chord progressions and structural ideas of rap over the last two decades have roots in 16th-20th century classical as much as they do roots in blues, rock, soul, and jazz (which all themselves borrow from classical by degrees, never quite as emphatically as rap). Combine that with the producer's mindset of going for cutting edge technology, this whole hippin and the hoppin and the bippin and the boppin will be around forever
has anyone's favorite song/albums list changed outside of Channel Orange?
The only recent album I'd list among my favourites this year is Life is Good.
From: CherryCokes | #098
also, reading the Life is Good review, this paragraph is the truest thing Pitchfork has ever published
Life Is Good is so consistent, in fact, that it's disorienting, and those of us with a long history navigating Nas albums will have a lot of pressing questions: What are all these top-shelf beats doing here? Where are the queasy sex jams, the songs rapped from the perspective of heroin spoons or discarded E&J bottles, the choruses about being a Warrior and a Hero? Where is the blindingly ill-fitting Nas Radio Bid? (The lone example, the Swizz Beatz-produced "Summer on Smash", is just inoffensively generic.) But above all: What happened this time?
"Summer on Smash" is anything but inoffensive. And I'm not a fan of the review; it wasn't written by Ian Cohen, but Jayson Greene is just as bad.
I think I may be the only person in the world (certainly on the internet) who actually likes Summer on Smash. I mean, Miguel's verse adds absolutely nothing to the song, and that post-chorus bit where the beat breaks down and Swizz says SUMMER ON SMASH yet more times is irritating, but that beat is great.
And vocally Swizz Beatz has been in "so bad he's hilarious" territory for a while now. I mean, how can you hear WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE WELL and not smile out of sheer bemusement?
As for that trio of new albums that I checked out last week, I'm currently going Channel Orange > Skelethon > Life is Good. The latter's pretty consistent for a Nas album, but his on-mic performance has nothing on even Untitled (which, to be fair, I've always thought was unfairly maligned). Bye Baby is the only song where he displays even a modicum of emotion, and he simply doesn't rap well enough to make up for that for the most part.
WFNX officially changed over to WHBA "The Harbor" today (computers had been running the station since Friday due to paperwork issues on Clear Channel's end).
I know none of you really have any reason to care all that much, but The Phoenix, the company that owned and operated FNX, posted this great history of the station. It's a long read, but it's really fascinating. Worth the time, I think.
edit: Especially the audio clips. Really great stuff from back when radio was crucial.
Also, I saw Dirty Projectors and Psychic Paramount about a week ago. Surprisingly, I didn't care for them life. Either band actually. Still a good show but not great. David's a pretty funny dude though, he's got this thing where he sticks out his lower lip when playing which makes him look ridiculous. Psychic Paramount was loud. That's about it.
Recently though I've been listening to a lot of Walk the Moon and Passion Pit. Yup...
Yeah they're goofy. Not a big fan of their new album but Bitte Orca is great. Same with Rise Above. I'll end up picking up the new Cat Power, was just wondering what first impressions were.
Also, best show I've seen this year was Real Estate. Or Feist. Probably Real Estate though.
Jay Electronica is the one rapper who can get my hype by a reissue of an old song.
Dear Moleskin's "new version" could be my favorite rap song of this year. Dude's tracks just never get old.
Am I the only one weirded out the The Dream being on his album? Everyone else makes sense in some way but The Dream and Jay just don't seem to click for me.
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Realo won gold at the Sex Olympics with a BROKEN FRIGGIN NECK.-Voltch
Pyramids, Bad Religion, Pink Matter, and Crack Rock for me right now. I've been working out Bad Religion guitar/piano trying to master that little vocal switch from EM to Em in the chorus, dude has songwriting chops but you can totally hear where he had to do a lil copy/pasting to piece together the vocal performance :p
I'm glad everyone's into Flylo by now, my Cosmogramma tee is neva goin outta style
Crack Rock makes me laugh. I try to listen to it seriously but I just can't stop smiling and giggling.
Exactly, dude the first time listening to this when he gets mellow for a second and then outta nowhere the big CRACK ROCK CRACK ROCK right in the middle, I was bustin a gut at that. "How ya feelin girl? How's the gutter doing?"
And the drums on that track are seriously boss.
Which reminds me I had the best Endtroducing vinyl session today, Stem/Long Stem was a standout, Mutual Slump is great, Midnight in a Perfect World hits with such a swampy drum track it can't help but be the greatest song on the album. I've been thinking about this lineage of standout sample-heavy albums from Endtroducing > Since I Left You > Donuts > Cosmogramma, my buddy thinks Deadringer is just as good as Endtroducing, that one had little staying power for me. Does anyone still listen to Deadringer?