Here is the music I listened to most from last year:
Caribou - Swim
Girl Talk - All Day
Hot Chip - One Life Stand
LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
New Pornographers - Together
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Monday, January 10, 2011
Saturday, November 20, 2010
KiD CuDi, Please Impress Me
Kid Cudi has released a another album. I still don't know what to think. A handful of songs on his original mixtape hinted much promise, but few tracks on his first two commercial releases live up, especially since "Day 'N' Nite" was on the mixtape first. I really like some of his songs, but his albums as whole pieces of work have yet to truly impress me. I know a lot of people have issues with the reviewers at Pitchfork, but their reviews of Man on the Moon and the cleverly named Man on the Moon II actually manage to sum up how I feel pretty well.
"Man on the Moon: The End of the Day, was a modest commercial success but a mortifying creative face-plant, a compilation of the most two-dimensional art-school-kid clichés (I'm sad, I'm stoned, I'm deep) imaginable" - Jayson Greene, Pitchfork Review, November 18, 2010
"Man on the Moon: The End of the Day, was a modest commercial success but a mortifying creative face-plant, a compilation of the most two-dimensional art-school-kid clichés (I'm sad, I'm stoned, I'm deep) imaginable" - Jayson Greene, Pitchfork Review, November 18, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Generic Indie Music
I love music. I love indie music, but so much of the indie music scene, while good, is boring - put me to sleep boring. There is a time for that music and I appreciate it, but why would anyone just listen to that and nothing else? Generic indie music seems to lack the variety and flair that makes music so interesting.
Interesting at least to me. That is why I still listen to Top 40. It's catchy and keeps the eyes open.
I'll listen to your indie music because its good, but if given a choice you'll probably find me listening to hip hop or something with a little electronica tossed in.*
*Said hip hop and electronica usually fall under the umbrella terms of alternative or indie (since it now apparently refers to everything).
Interesting at least to me. That is why I still listen to Top 40. It's catchy and keeps the eyes open.
I'll listen to your indie music because its good, but if given a choice you'll probably find me listening to hip hop or something with a little electronica tossed in.*
*Said hip hop and electronica usually fall under the umbrella terms of alternative or indie (since it now apparently refers to everything).
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Some Thoughts on Alternative Hip Hop
Two nights ago I attended the final day of Rock the Rapids. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much. It was hosted by WSNX and included such fantastic acts as Baby Bash, Aaron Fresh, and Shontelle. Those were mediocre performances that I expected, and many people enjoyed them and the Top 40 power they employ. The low point was definitely when Cody Simpson, the next reincarnation of Justin Bieber, performed. He is younger than our favorite 15 year old Canadian and happens to hail from Australia. He can't sing very well - at least not without auto-tune, and he didn't even impress when playing the guitar on the song he wrote that "meant a lot to him". Perhaps, but I'm not going to trust a 14-ish year old kid about love.
Good thing we had some good people to sit by, and our buddy Michael - the concession kid - coming by to throw ice at us in the heat. Yeah, this concert happened to be outdoors at 5/3 Ball Park on just about the hottest day Grand Rapids has seen in a while.
Now for the redeeming factors. Headliner B.o.B. and an early performance by Chiddy Bang managed to make the concert entirely worth the $10.45 that tickets cost. Both of these artists happen to fall under the label of "Alternative Hip Hop", which is kind of an umbrella term for artists making hip hop outside of traditional stereotypes in beats and lyrics. Kanye West is probably one of the biggest names in the alternative hip hop and has pulled it into the mainstream.
Kid Cudi is another artist to note, and although it didn't get great reviews from places like Pitchfork, his debut album is solid. Cudi managed to team up with other artists like MGMT and Ratatat giving a unique sound to his album. An appreciation and use of indie musicians has increased in alternative hip hop. In his mixtape, Cudi sampled Band of Horses and he has also used Vampire Weekend.
B.o.B. and Chiddy Bang are similar to this. B.o.B. has largely stuck to his own material, but also used and changed up some Vampire Weekend in his song "The Kids". He has also strayed from straight rapping and does some of his own guitar playing and crosses into indie/rock at times. This was the major complaint from Pitchfork reviewers and a reason for the mediocre review for B.o.B. Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. I like the cross over - he doesn't restrict himself to the hip hop genre; however, he is best at rapping and at times that is missing.
Chiddy Bang is even more exciting. Chiddy Bang is made up of two guys creating a fusion genre of hip hop and electronica using sampling. Many of the samples are from alternative or indie sources. For example the following are all used in Chiddy Bang songs: Ratatat, Notorious B.I.G., Passion Pit, Belle and Sebastian, MGMT, Sufjan Stevens, Hot Chip, Gorillaz, La Roux, and Major Lazer.
No matter how mediocre Pitchfork reviews groups like these, I think I'll continue to listen. They are catchy and make things interesting by exploring sound and crossing boundaries. Now, just to wait for the new Kanye album, which according to Spinner features a collaboration with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.
Like a skit on the Chiddy Bang mixtape, The Swelly Express, says: It's like rap, but not rap. I love it.
Good thing we had some good people to sit by, and our buddy Michael - the concession kid - coming by to throw ice at us in the heat. Yeah, this concert happened to be outdoors at 5/3 Ball Park on just about the hottest day Grand Rapids has seen in a while.
Now for the redeeming factors. Headliner B.o.B. and an early performance by Chiddy Bang managed to make the concert entirely worth the $10.45 that tickets cost. Both of these artists happen to fall under the label of "Alternative Hip Hop", which is kind of an umbrella term for artists making hip hop outside of traditional stereotypes in beats and lyrics. Kanye West is probably one of the biggest names in the alternative hip hop and has pulled it into the mainstream.
Kid Cudi is another artist to note, and although it didn't get great reviews from places like Pitchfork, his debut album is solid. Cudi managed to team up with other artists like MGMT and Ratatat giving a unique sound to his album. An appreciation and use of indie musicians has increased in alternative hip hop. In his mixtape, Cudi sampled Band of Horses and he has also used Vampire Weekend.
B.o.B. and Chiddy Bang are similar to this. B.o.B. has largely stuck to his own material, but also used and changed up some Vampire Weekend in his song "The Kids". He has also strayed from straight rapping and does some of his own guitar playing and crosses into indie/rock at times. This was the major complaint from Pitchfork reviewers and a reason for the mediocre review for B.o.B. Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. I like the cross over - he doesn't restrict himself to the hip hop genre; however, he is best at rapping and at times that is missing.
Chiddy Bang is even more exciting. Chiddy Bang is made up of two guys creating a fusion genre of hip hop and electronica using sampling. Many of the samples are from alternative or indie sources. For example the following are all used in Chiddy Bang songs: Ratatat, Notorious B.I.G., Passion Pit, Belle and Sebastian, MGMT, Sufjan Stevens, Hot Chip, Gorillaz, La Roux, and Major Lazer.
No matter how mediocre Pitchfork reviews groups like these, I think I'll continue to listen. They are catchy and make things interesting by exploring sound and crossing boundaries. Now, just to wait for the new Kanye album, which according to Spinner features a collaboration with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.
Like a skit on the Chiddy Bang mixtape, The Swelly Express, says: It's like rap, but not rap. I love it.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Rock the Bells: Quality Hip-Hop?
This past summer I had another opportunity to work in Colorado, and, as a result, had another opportunity to attend a concert at Red Rocks natural amphitheater. The previous summer I had seen R.E.M. with Modest Mouse and the National.
For the early part of the summer, I was looking forward to seeing Death Cab for Cutie with Andrew Bird and Ra Ra Riot. However, over the course of looking at other shows and talking with people I worked with, I decided to go see Rock the Bells instead. Rock the Bells touts itself as a "World-Class Hip-Hop Platform" and is substantially different than the typical indie and rock based concerts I normally find myself at. I wanted to break away from some norms and expand my viewing of hip-hop some more (I had seen Lupe Fiasco and K'naan before).
Rock the Bells is a festival series that began in 2004 and travels to multiple locations around the world each summer. Previous headliners have included the Wu-Tang Clan, Rage Against the Machine, and A Tribe Called Quest. This year was headlined by Nas & Damian Marley in anticipation of their upcoming album Distant Relatives. Other big acts on tour included Cypress Hill, Ice Cube, Common, and the Roots.
Unfortunately, not all acts perform at each venue, and the show in Denver was one of the smaller shows on the tour. Only Nas & Damian Marley, of the acts I listed, performed, and other acts I was interested in, such as K'naan and Sage Francis, I missed out on. There was a positive of this, which was a decently priced ticket for 8 hours of live music, and there were still a lot of great acts to see.
Hip-hop and rap music always has certain ideas and stereotypes attached to it, and Rock the Bells showed that, in some cases, stereotypes can be totally true, but also totally false. These following acts showed me both the positives and negatives of hip-hop culture.
The show began with some smooth rhymes from the Knux, representing New Orleans and the indier side of the genre, and Chali 2Na (pictured above) of Jurassic 5. At this point, I was really excited for where the show would go, even if I didn't know the music of every artist.
Following these two sets, one of the show's hosts, Supernatural showed the crowd some of his mind-blowing freestyle skills, making up rhymes about objects the crowd gave him on the spot.
Next up was the group Slaughterhouse, which is made up of four different rap artists (Royce da 5'9", Crooked I, Joe Budden, and Joell Ortiz) from around the country (Detroit, Long Beach, Jersey City, and Brooklyn). This set was the first lapse of quality that I saw in the show. While each rapper could spit like the best, they didn't seem to be on the same page, and Joe Budden seemed more interested in smoking than participating. I'll try not to speculate what his issue was.
The other host for the night, KRS-One, righted the ship again by educating the audience about emceeing and the work they do. To quote: "Rap is something we do. Hip-hop is something we live."
While the Wu-Tang clan was not present this year in its entirety, a number of its members were on tour. The privilege of addressing the Denver crowd was GZA, and he showed why the Wu-Tang clan is continually invited to perform for Rock the Bells.
One of my favorite sets of the night came next, with the reunion of Reflection Eternal. Consisting of Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek, Reflection Eternal was only matched, in my opinion, by Nas & Damian Marley.
For the early part of the summer, I was looking forward to seeing Death Cab for Cutie with Andrew Bird and Ra Ra Riot. However, over the course of looking at other shows and talking with people I worked with, I decided to go see Rock the Bells instead. Rock the Bells touts itself as a "World-Class Hip-Hop Platform" and is substantially different than the typical indie and rock based concerts I normally find myself at. I wanted to break away from some norms and expand my viewing of hip-hop some more (I had seen Lupe Fiasco and K'naan before).
Rock the Bells is a festival series that began in 2004 and travels to multiple locations around the world each summer. Previous headliners have included the Wu-Tang Clan, Rage Against the Machine, and A Tribe Called Quest. This year was headlined by Nas & Damian Marley in anticipation of their upcoming album Distant Relatives. Other big acts on tour included Cypress Hill, Ice Cube, Common, and the Roots.
Unfortunately, not all acts perform at each venue, and the show in Denver was one of the smaller shows on the tour. Only Nas & Damian Marley, of the acts I listed, performed, and other acts I was interested in, such as K'naan and Sage Francis, I missed out on. There was a positive of this, which was a decently priced ticket for 8 hours of live music, and there were still a lot of great acts to see.
Hip-hop and rap music always has certain ideas and stereotypes attached to it, and Rock the Bells showed that, in some cases, stereotypes can be totally true, but also totally false. These following acts showed me both the positives and negatives of hip-hop culture.
The show began with some smooth rhymes from the Knux, representing New Orleans and the indier side of the genre, and Chali 2Na (pictured above) of Jurassic 5. At this point, I was really excited for where the show would go, even if I didn't know the music of every artist.
Following these two sets, one of the show's hosts, Supernatural showed the crowd some of his mind-blowing freestyle skills, making up rhymes about objects the crowd gave him on the spot.
Next up was the group Slaughterhouse, which is made up of four different rap artists (Royce da 5'9", Crooked I, Joe Budden, and Joell Ortiz) from around the country (Detroit, Long Beach, Jersey City, and Brooklyn). This set was the first lapse of quality that I saw in the show. While each rapper could spit like the best, they didn't seem to be on the same page, and Joe Budden seemed more interested in smoking than participating. I'll try not to speculate what his issue was.
The other host for the night, KRS-One, righted the ship again by educating the audience about emceeing and the work they do. To quote: "Rap is something we do. Hip-hop is something we live."
While the Wu-Tang clan was not present this year in its entirety, a number of its members were on tour. The privilege of addressing the Denver crowd was GZA, and he showed why the Wu-Tang clan is continually invited to perform for Rock the Bells.
One of my favorite sets of the night came next, with the reunion of Reflection Eternal. Consisting of Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek, Reflection Eternal was only matched, in my opinion, by Nas & Damian Marley.
Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek perform as Reflection Eternal
Following up Reflection Eternal was Tech N9ne. Tech N9ne was the obvious reason why most of the crowd came to Rock the Bells and many were decked out in baggy clothes, wearing bandannas, and painted with tribal face paint just like their favorite artist. I did enjoy his set, which he performed with label-mates Krizz Kaliko and Kutt Calhoun. It was full of energy and the precision of his speedy delivery was stunning. However, after his set was done, he proceeded to encourage women in the crowd to flash the rest of the audience, claiming it was something he promised to the festival promoters. This kind of treatment toward women promoted by some hip-hop artists is one stereotype that I was extremely disappointed to see, especially after such an enjoyable set, musically.
Tech N9ne performs at Rock the Bells 2009 in Denver, CO
Now it was time for some of the bigger names to reveal themselves. First up was Big Boi, one half of the group Outkast. He performed a solid set with hits such as "So Fresh, So Clean" and some of his newer, solo material.
Big Boi on stage at Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Next was Busta Rhymes, who knocked the crowd out with his up-tempo performance, but, like Tech N9ne, let off some negative vibes by using derogatory remarks and obscene gestures on stage.
Finally, it was time for Nas & Damian Marley, and they did not disappoint. Nas was up first with some solo material, including "Hip Hop is Dead". Eventually, Marley joined in and the two performed together on some tracks, even covering Bob Marley's track "One Love". Marley followed in a set of his own with some quality reggae music. To end the night, Nas came back out and the two showed what kind of sound Distant Relatives might have.
Nas and Damian Marley performing at Rock the Bells
Rock the Bells was definitely a different experience compared to seeing R.E.M. or Death Cab for Cutie, and I'm glad that I exited my box to see this show. Most of the performers had top-notch lyrical quality and excelled at what they did. Unfortunately, at an event like this, the negative stereotypes and associations with hip-hop still exist, even outside of the mainstream. But, based on the majority of the artists I saw at Rock the Bells, there is a level that exists beyond the misogyny and dumbed down lyrics that plagues most mainstream lyrical hip-hop and rap found on the local top 40 radio station. I can only hope that artists continue to shoot for this higher level of quality I saw on display (for the most part) at Rock the Bells.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Stuck on Repeat, for Better or Worse
Ripping an idea from The War on Pop and a series called "Repeat Offenders" I have decided to list some songs that I have been listening to a lot over the last couple of weeks.
The first two songs have gotten some playtime in a large part because of my recent reading of the Pitchfork Media Top 100 Tracks of 2009, part of their Year in Music. The other four have just been played a lot, and, in some cases, probably far too much so.
Phoenix - "1901"
Some may recognize this from a Cadillac car commercial.
Fuck Buttons - "Surf Solar"
The best in synth-noize rock since, well, Fuck Buttons. Penguins are a plus too.
MGMT - "Kids"
Hearing this song some time ago is probably the only reason I had for checking MGMT at all, and I'm so happy I did.
Guru Josh Project - "Infinity 2008"
Heard this song while spending a month in the Netherlands about a year ago. There is something about the whole European house and techno music thing that gets me.
Ke$ha - "TiK ToK"
This is where I run into the problem of overplaying something, but this song is just so catchy. It is top 40 for a reason, right?
Lupe Fiasco feat. Nikki Jean - "Hip-Hop Saved My Life"
Competes with "Dumb it Down" for my favorite song on "The Cool".
EDIT: I compiled the songs on YouTube into a playlist. Seen here.
The first two songs have gotten some playtime in a large part because of my recent reading of the Pitchfork Media Top 100 Tracks of 2009, part of their Year in Music. The other four have just been played a lot, and, in some cases, probably far too much so.
Phoenix - "1901"
Some may recognize this from a Cadillac car commercial.
Fuck Buttons - "Surf Solar"
The best in synth-noize rock since, well, Fuck Buttons. Penguins are a plus too.
MGMT - "Kids"
Hearing this song some time ago is probably the only reason I had for checking MGMT at all, and I'm so happy I did.
Guru Josh Project - "Infinity 2008"
Heard this song while spending a month in the Netherlands about a year ago. There is something about the whole European house and techno music thing that gets me.
Ke$ha - "TiK ToK"
This is where I run into the problem of overplaying something, but this song is just so catchy. It is top 40 for a reason, right?
Lupe Fiasco feat. Nikki Jean - "Hip-Hop Saved My Life"
Competes with "Dumb it Down" for my favorite song on "The Cool".
EDIT: I compiled the songs on YouTube into a playlist. Seen here.
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