Tag: jay-z

My favorite albums of 2017 so far

I’m not 100-percent sure, but I’m fairly certain that I’ve listened to more new music in 2017 than I have in any other year.

My New Year’s resolution was to listen to at least one album I had not heard before per week. I’m cruising along and already past 40 albums, so barring a monumental collapse I should hit my target.

About 90 percent of my first-time listens this year have been new music.

In no particular order, these are the releases from this year that I’ve enjoyed the most.

White Reaper – The World’s Best American Band

Truly, this is good, uh, rock’n’roll music. The second album from Louisville-based power-poppers, White Reaper, is one of the year’s most fun releases so far. It’s unabashed, straight-forward rock influenced by The Ramones, Cheap Trick, Big Star, The Replacements and The Exploding Hearts. There’s genuine guitar heroics, and the hooks are plentiful.

Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory

Vince Staples released his second consecutive instant classic LP this year. He continues to rap about depressing realities over severe-sounding beats in a way that’s fun, mostly thanks to gallows humor punchlines and a rapid pace. Not a single song surpasses the five-minute mark and most are shorter than three minutes.

Jay-Z – 4:44

I expected this corporate partnership release to be as uninspired as Magna Carter Holy Grail or Kingdom Come or The Blueprint 3, and was floored to hear an album that can comfortable mingle in the upper echelon of Shawn Carter’s discography. Certainly not better than Reasonable Doubt or The Blueprint , but it compares favorably to The Black Album and American Gangster. The No I.D. production sounds amazing. It is warm, slightly opulent and gives the album a cohesion lacking from some of Jay’s lesser works. The tabloid-fodder infidelity confessions are what’s drawn the most coverage, which makes sense because I can’t recall Jay-Z ever sharing this much of his personal life, but equally interesting are Jay-Z’s thoughts on race and black unity, which I don’t recall ever before being quite so explicitly dissected on an album by HOV. Strictly speaking, these aren’t Jay’s best bars. His flow sounds off, and the rhymes aren’t always particularly clever. But, it is some of his most interesting and personal work ever.

Kendrick Lamar – Damn. 

Kendrick Lamar continues his streak of dominating the rap game. His flow continues to be a dense labyrinth of internal rhyme and references, but in a way that’s more approachable than To Pimp a Butterfly. The album is a little less focused than some of Kdot’s other releases (I can’t picture a U2 feature on any of his other albums), but not every album needs to be a Statement.

Ty Segall – Ty Segall

Ty isn’t reinventing the wheel here in any sense. He’s even done a self-titled release before. But this might strike the best balance among the prolific garage-rockers prodigious-but-disparate strengths. There’s straight-ahead rockers, Sid Barrett-esque psyche-pop and a really sweet love song. Unlike some past releases (looking at you Manipulator) this album is a tight collection. This really is a virtuosic display of everything one of rock music’s best working songwriters does right.

(Sandy) Alex G – Rocket

This album is equal parts hummable alt-country and industrial freakout. I prefer the warmer, mellow first half of the album. “Bobby”, “Poison Root” and “Proud” are fine, extremely pleasant and slightly weird pop songs with warm twang. That may sound like faint praise, but it’s meant as a rousing endorsement. That basically describes most of my favorite Wilco songs, after all. The string-filled melodies are made all the more remarkable because they share an album with “Brick”, which has more in common with Death Grips than a lot of songs on Rocket.

Charly Bliss – Guppy

Guppy is an entirely transparent attempt to replicate the soaring buzz of ’90s alternative-rock, and it accomplishes that modest goal with aplomb. Lead singer Eva Hendricks sounds downright effervescent, but her high, perky voice fits in with songs that are all forward momentum and chugging guitar. “DQ” is on my shortlist for songs of the year, and one that I’m sure will be in my rotation for years to come.

Los Campesinos! – Sick Scenes

The hyper-literate twee punks I’ve loved for a full decade now have grown into a wonderfully dependable, mature indie rock band. As always, these songs are lyrically captivating. Gareth never stops being Gareth whether that means setting an almost literary scene, capturing a particular brand of malaise, whip-smart punchlines or super-specific sports references. Musically, this album includes some of the most energetic songs LC! has put out since the absolutely transcendent Romance is Boring. There’s also “The Fall of Home” which is just heart-achingly gorgeous. All snark is set aside to explore the sensation of seeing the places we come from crumble after moving on to some place ostensibly better.

Smidley – Smidley

 

 

I’m not a huge fan of Foxing, but Conor Murphy’s side project was unexpectedly winning. Lightly psychedelic indie rock will always be in my wheelhouse. “Hell” is one of the year’s better side one track ones. It sounds both dark and jaunty in a way that recalls The National, has group vocals that make me think of Local Natives (which isn’t something I’ve done often since 2012} and there’s some trumpet that somehow sounds perfectly in place. “No One Likes You” and “Pink Gallo” make good use of Murphy’s unique voice and are very good and just slightly odd. “Milk Shake” is an interesting, bare bones acoustic take that surprises with its vulnerability, but really shouldn’t considering singing in an emo band is Murphy’s main hustle. For me, the standout track is “Fuck This”, and it’s really what pushes Smidley’s eponymous debut onto this list. It’s essentially a perfect instant classic. A springy, midtempo number with a seesaw melody and shouted chorus that features multiple lengthy crescendoing chants of “Fuck this, fuck this” will always, and I mean always, have a spot in my heart.

The Sadies – Northern Passages

The Sadies are absolutely crackerjack musicians, and that shines through on every track on Northern Passages. They sound equally comfortably on the rave up “Another Season Again” and the sleepy, Kurt Vile-assisted “It’s Easy (Like Walking)” and both songs are positively delightful. Not since The Band have Canadians so effectively mined American to thoroughly winning effect. I think this album has largely gone overlooked, and it might be because The Sadies have served as a backing band for the likes of John Doe and Neko Case in the past. If you’ve got a soft spot for countrified rock, you owe it to yourself to listen to this album.

 

Rock around the clock: a song from every hour of the day

Earlier this year, when Girlpool and Hop Along were both in my main rotation, I couldn’t help but notice “Before the World Was Big” starts at 7:45 a.m., while “The Knock” starts at 8:45 a.m.

I wondered if I could track down a song from every hour of the day, and I succeeded. Stumbling across The Human Clock’s list of songs was a huge boon to this arbitrary and wildly unnecessary project, but  a few of my songs are not on the list, and a few of my choices are creative interpretations.

When possible, I tried to eschew obvious picks and select quality tracks.

Midnight: “Midnight City” by M83

The breakout song from the outstanding Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is my choice from a cluttered field of songs referencing midnight.

  • 1 a.m. “In the Midnight Hour” by Wilson Pickett

“Wicked” Wilson Pickett is not a punctual man. Sure, he says he’ll come for you in the midnight hour, but I’d be floored if he meant any earlier than 1:15 a.m.

  • 2 a.m. “Gin and Juice” by Snoop Doggy Dogg

There are several times mentioned during this recount of a raucous party, notably 6 in the mornin’, but at 2 a.m., the party’s still jumping, and a bizarre number of good songs reference 6 a,m,

  • 3 a.m. “SpottieOttieDopaliscious” by Outkast

This Outkast classic takes a laid-back approach to recounting a connection made during a wild night. It’s about 3 in the morning when three knife fight combatants are taken to the hospital.

  • 4 a.m. “This Is How You Spell ‘HAHAHA, We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics'” by Los Campesinos!

This song with a cumbersome title is off of Los Campesinos! wonderful debut album, Hold On Now, Youngster. It rules, and during the course of the song, an alarm clock is set for 4 a.m. the next morning. Apparently, Gareth Campesinos! does not omit redundancies.

  • 5 a.m. “She’s Leaving Home” by The Beatles

At 5 a.m., on a Wednesday, the day is just beginning, and the song’s protagonist is just beginning to slink away from her home.

  • 6 a.m. “911” by Delta Spirit

This song, which tracks post-9-11 fallout begins with the speaker upset to be waking at 6 a.m.

  • 7 a.m. “Before the World Was Big” by Girlpool

7:45, the song’s speaker leaves her house attempting to ignore the irrefutable passage of time.

  • 8 a.m. “The Knock” by Hop Along

The knock, which sets the opening track from this year’s amazing Painted Shut into motion comes at 8:45 a.m.

  • 9 a.m. “Elevator Operator” by Courtney Barnett

Oliver Paul wakes up at 9:15 a.m., then dramatically decides to skip work. Whose office job starts later than 9:15 a.m? Of course, Oliver enjoys a Vegemite breakfast, so obviously there’s a cultural barrier here, but it’s perplexing.

  • 10 a.m. “10 a.m. Automatic” by The Black Keys

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. It’s also a pretty good garage-blues number.

  • 11 a.m. “11:11” by Rufus Waingwright

Rufus wakes up at the titular time unable to differentiate between Heaven and Portland. Angels don’t wear flannel, so it seems easy enough to sort out.

  • Noon. “Boyz-N-The-Hood” by Eazy-E

Eazy wakes up late, at approximately noon, he is hit with the realization he must make haste to Compton. This is one of the most famous openings in rap history.

  • 1 p.m. “One p.m. Again” by Yo La Tengo

I tried to stay away from songs that just contain times in the title, but the mid-afternoon times were pretty barren.

  • 2 p.m. “2:35 p.m.” by Spaceman 3

YLT and Spaceman 3 are both seminal independent rock bands, and they both adore the middle of the day.

  •  3 p.m. “Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts” by Arctic Monkeys

A bigger, intimidating boy picks up the object of our protagonist’s affection at 3:20 in this early Arctic Monkeys standout.

  • 4 p.m. “Babies” by Pulp

It seems like generally speaking, British rockers feel more compelled to slip a time reference into their lyrics. It’s around 4 p.m. when the singer–hiding in a wardrobe– spies his crush’s sister doing unsavory things.

  • 5 p.m. “A Well Respected Man” by The Kinks

The well respected man gets home at 5:30 p.m., everyday, because he has a predilection for catching the same train. Punctuality is a defining characteristic of this repressed individual.

  • 6 p.m. “It’s the End of the World As We Know It”

Famously, these lyrics are incomprehensible, but 6 p.m. is given a quick shoutout right before the, “slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn,” bit.

  • 7 p.m. “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot

In this delightful retelling of a nautical disaster, a main hatchway caves in, and death is accepted as imminent.

  • 8 p.m. “Justify my Thug” by Jay-Z

I WILL ALWAYS HYPHENATE JAY-Z. With that out of the way, Hov does a time run down inspired by “Rock Around the Clock” in this song. It was tough to find an 8 p.m. song.

  • 9 p.m. “Girl on T.V.” By LFO

These ’90s boy band also-rans recorded a song about meeting a television star and immediately falling in love. Is 9 p.m. forcefully rhymed with again? Youtube this and find out, The Lyte Funkie Ones do not disappoint.

  • 10 p.m. “The Clock Strikes 10” by Cheap Trick

This hugely influential power pop outfit from Rockford, Ill., managed implement the harmony a grandfather clock makes at the top of an hour into a song, and it’s actually pretty awesome.

  • 11 p.m. “Give Me Scabies” by Kitty Pryde

This song riffs on the inescapable “Call Me Maybe”, and is an early standout from the artist, who now bills herself as Kitty–one of my guiltiest pleasures. Honestly, I think I could more easily reconcile with a love of thrill-killing than fully accept how much I enjoy Kitty’s music. Anyway, it’s 11:11 p.m. when Kitty unlocks her Droid.

I cobbled together a playlist of as many of the songs as I could find on Spotify. Enjoy.

The men with U.N.C.L.E.’s

2015 has been a particularly fertile year for solid rap releases. A$AP Rocky Beyoncé-ed us with a surprise album; Action Bronson put out a strong, ’80s-inspired effort; Towkio put out an uneven mixtape with some summer fun, Earl Sweatshirt got even more bleak and minimal and somehow better; Tyler, the Creator is doing Tyler, the Creator things to diminishing returns; and Kendrick Lemar fused Flying Lotus-esque acid-jazz-rap with Del tha Funkee Homosapien approved G-funk.

With the bevy of new tunes to listen to, I’ve also been listening to more old school rap, because modern hip-hop is steeped in homage. While revisiting some classics, I was struck by how frequently random family members, specifically uncles,  received shout outs.

Obviously, a listicle was in order. With apologies to Uncle Murda, here is a ranking of my favorite hip-hop uncles.

3. Uncle Ray as mentioned by Jay-Z in “Pray”, “Big Chips” and “Moment of Clarity”

Jay-Z name checks his deceased uncle in several songs and mentions the impact of his death in the book, Decoded. In Decoded, Jay-Z identifies his uncle’s death as the catalyst for young Shawn Carter’s abandonment and subsequent drug dealing. Uncle Ray’s death is never mentioned in a positive light, and is actually pretty depressing, because his killer was never caught. Pretty easy to slot the upsetting cold case in at No. 3. Moving on.

2. Uncle Charles as mentioned by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

The lamentation, “I miss my Uncle Charles ya’ll,” is probably the most famous part of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s most famous song. It’s an absolute coup that ultimately, the man who inspired this list will not top the list. Apparently, Uncle Charles was absolutely a real person, and he was a driving force behind young Bone Thugs. The upsetting nature of his absence ultimately cost Charles some points, because I was hellbent on ending this list somewhat happily.

1. Uncle Darnell as mentioned by Big Boi in “ATLiens”

After two tragic, uncle-related entries, I’m ending on a lighthearted note. The absolutely random shout out to Uncle Darnell delivered by Big Boi is one of my favorite moments in Hip-Hop. Seemingly delivered solely to provide a rhyming word for listen Big Boi says, “Giving a shout out to my Uncle Darnell locked up in prison,” roughly a minute into Outkast’s seond album’s title track. As is most of ATLiens’ content,  it comes out of left field while being simultaneously perfect. The best part is, Uncle Darnell is out of prison and tours with Big Boi. Uncle Darnell also feels passionately about Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s contributions to society.

Uncle Darnell is the best. Ya feel me?

The Heart wants what it wants

Today, it occurred to me that a lot of excellent songs have titles containing the word “Heart”. After appreciating this truth, I decided I should arbitrarily rank them and create a playlist based upon the results.

While this exercise was initially prompted by the song “Heartbeat” by Cloud Nothings, I decided to exclude song titles, which include the words “Heartbeat” or “Heatless”. I also tried to skip songs I’ve written about before, or plan to write about,  so “Open your Heart” by The Men and “I am Trying to Break Your Heart” by Wilco were cut. Oddly, this also eliminated “Heart in a Cage” by the Strokes.

Anyway, in honor of the worst Planeteer, Ma-Ti, here are the best songs with “Heart” in the title.

1. “Heart of Glass” by Blondie.

This was incredibly easy. “Heart of Glass” is a stone-cold classic and an absolute jam. While it may represent Blondie selling out and embracing a commercially appealing disco song, it is also probably the single greatest song that genre ever produced.

2. “Young Hearts Spark Fire” by Japandroids.

Shockingly, this song was not event clearly the best Japandroids “Heart” song. It wasn’t even clearly the best “Heart” song on Post-Nothing. “Heart Sweats” is pretty awesome and devolves into a raucous scream-along when performed live. However, “Young Hearts Spark Fire” pretty much encapsulates Japandroids’ nihilism with a sighed admission of mortality aesthetic.  “We used to dream/ Now we worry about dying/ I don’t wanna worry about dying/ I just want to worry about those sunshine girls” sums it up beautifully.

3. “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)”

This Bobby “Blue” Bland sampling hit features one of the best beats Kanye West ever produced. It is also arguably the best song on Jay-z’s best album. This automatically catapults it onto this playlist.

4. “Heart in Your Heartbreak” by the Pains of Being Pure at Hear

This song is wordplay about heartbreak over a springy, twee bass-line. It’s pleasant enough, and then a surprisingly gruff guitar bridge hits, and suddenly it’s the fourth best song featuring the word “Heart” in my iTunes library.

5. “Heart Skipped a Beat” by The xx

Although, “Intro” is by far the breakout song from The xx’s eponymous debut, “Heart Skipped a Beat” is by far my favorite song by The XX. Of course, I’m a sucker for guy-girl trade off vocals, and the stuttering drumming meant to evoke a heartbeat is a nice touch.

A tough concept to grasp

There are few traditions in music as openly derided as the concept album.

They have a reputation for being too long, too verbose, grandstanding too much and sacrificing song quality to serve an album’s theme. These perceptions are considered doubly true when the concept album in question is a double album or rock opera.

Even legendary efforts such as The Who’s “Tommy”and Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” are usually used as shorthand for overstuffed bombast or to exemplify empty calories music.

However, there are exceptions to the rule. This is a short list of some good, great and all-time classic concept albums.

These are concept albums for people who normally hate concept albums.

1. The Beatles- “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”

A psychedelic, classic rock album is typically not the direction one should look when searching for a lean listen, but “Sgt. Pepper’s” clocks in at just under 40 minutes. The album is filled with classic songs, poppy hooks and is one of the most exalted albums in the oeuvre of the greatest band ever. Only the Beatles could close an album with a song featuring an orchestra and dog whistle without feeling even slightly excessive.

2. Cloud Nothings- “Attack on Memory”

Cloud Nothings started as a catchy, lofi solo project by Dylan Baldi, but on “Attack on Memory” they had matured into a full-fledged band. As the title suggests this album set out to attach previous conceptions of what the Cloud Nothings were. Also, songs tend to be thematically focused on battling with the past. This theme encapsulates everything from overcoming lingering memories of failed relationships to accepting failure to realize past goals. Sludgy guitars and Albini-produced dry drums let the sound quality match the quality of the song writing. “Attack on Memory” is a hook-laden, angry, wonderful concept album,

3. Fucked Up- “David Comes to Life”

With blaring guitars, multiple characters and female guest vocals there is no mistaking this for anything than a Rock Opera.

However, “David Comes to Life” is to Rock Operas what Thomas Pynchon is to novelists. There are multiple unreliable narrators, the fourth wall is shattered and substantial stylistic shifts. Without a guide it is almost impossible to actually follow the plot.

Also, the topics of death, love, loss pessimism and faith are dealt with in a mature measured way. This is particularly surprising for a band called Fucked Up.

4. Candy Claws- “Ceres and Calypso in Deep Time”

This albums is the chronicle the adventures of an adolescent girl and her prehistoric seal-like companion through time. It is entirely impossible to deduce this from listening to the album. This dream-pop album is so reverb intensive the vocals are barely present over the shimmering buzz. Just kick back and enjoy the pretty grooves.

5.   Titus Andronicus- “The Monitor”

This is a gruff, thoughtful punk album with a novel premise. “The Monitor” takes its name from a Civil War era submarine, and it is a breakup album that parallels a relationship’s end with the war between the states. The album is funny, painful and honest. Its references range from Shakespreare to the Gettysburg Address to “The Dark Knight” to Bruce Springsteen. Plenty of the songs have a running time in excess of five minutes, but they never wear out their welcome.

6. The White Stripes- “Elephant” 

According to Jack White this album is dedicated to the death of the sweetheart. This theme is far from heavy handed, but it does provide a thread through all of its songs. I’ve extolled this album’s virtues many times, but I can never recommend it enough.

7. Jay Z- “American Gangster” 

This is definitely Jay Z’s best post-“Black Album” work. It loosely mirrors the Denzel Washington movie of the same name, but instead of real-life gangster Frank Lucas it focuses primarily on Jay Z’s own meteoric rise. It features some of latter day Jay Z’s hungriest rapping and slick production. The songs even hold up when performed live.