Saturday, January 31, 2015
Friday, January 30, 2015
"I agree with these statements."
words.
"The Philadelphia singer Jazmine Sullivan is such a singular artist there's an easy temptation to contrast her latest album, Reality Show, with everything else—to define her work by its negatives, by the paths it avoids rather than those it follows. For example: No one will look to this album's sonic signatures to discover the texture of R&B's future. But if it's more difficult to speak to what Sullivan does, that's our failure, an inability to recognize R&B as a discrete, heterogeneous genre. Because more than any artist, Sullivan encapsulates the breadth of R&B's emotional range not by riding the margins, but from a proud position at its center. Every maneuver can appeal to about as wide a range of R&B fans as exist, in 2015—aside from those looking exclusively for something "different." They'll have to deal with something exceptional instead."
PITCHFORK: Jazmine Sullivan - Reality Show. A Review.
blessings.
starring big sean, drake, & kanye west.
PITCHFORK: Big Sean Teams with Drake and Kanye West for "Blessings"
PITCHFORK: Big Sean Teams with Drake and Kanye West for "Blessings"
Thursday, January 29, 2015
love and hip-hop.
a moment of clarity.
words.
"The release date leak date is a grand event, the starved and deprived community comes together and lets their thoughts overflow, interjecting their opinions into a sea of other opinions until we’re submerged in a unified pool of thoughts. It’s like everyone gives their “1 Listen Review” at once; we argue, debate and then chase after the next cover and tracklisting. It becomes old news the moment there’s a new topic, something shinier, more mysterious. Lupe’s album is basically already in the retirement home, Joey’s album will be yesterday’s news before the season finale of Empire. Music as an intimate entertainment has been changed, it’s now only a source of social discussion.
...Art needs time to manifest, but the internet's constant desire for relevance makes that hard. We are truly living in the era of, “only funky as your last cut.” What happens once Andre3000 drops a solo album? Does he ruin himself indefinitely by feeding us what we want most? Same goes for Jay Electonrica. Will Act II only be a masterpiece if it never drops? At this point can the reality match the expectation? Music is the offspring of creativity, emotion and time (with the occasional shot of whiskey.) Realistically, we can’t expect artists to put out the best product without having “time.” D’Angelo made fans wait 14 years, he didn’t care about relevance, but about delivering a product that represented his art form. He showed me that listeners need to be humbled by patience, that music is a gift, and should be cherished.
Let’s stop treating hip-hop like the Playboy mansion and more like the Smithsonian."
DJ BOOTH: Fast Food Music: How Our Hunger for More is Killing Hip-Hop
words.
"The release date leak date is a grand event, the starved and deprived community comes together and lets their thoughts overflow, interjecting their opinions into a sea of other opinions until we’re submerged in a unified pool of thoughts. It’s like everyone gives their “1 Listen Review” at once; we argue, debate and then chase after the next cover and tracklisting. It becomes old news the moment there’s a new topic, something shinier, more mysterious. Lupe’s album is basically already in the retirement home, Joey’s album will be yesterday’s news before the season finale of Empire. Music as an intimate entertainment has been changed, it’s now only a source of social discussion.
...Art needs time to manifest, but the internet's constant desire for relevance makes that hard. We are truly living in the era of, “only funky as your last cut.” What happens once Andre3000 drops a solo album? Does he ruin himself indefinitely by feeding us what we want most? Same goes for Jay Electonrica. Will Act II only be a masterpiece if it never drops? At this point can the reality match the expectation? Music is the offspring of creativity, emotion and time (with the occasional shot of whiskey.) Realistically, we can’t expect artists to put out the best product without having “time.” D’Angelo made fans wait 14 years, he didn’t care about relevance, but about delivering a product that represented his art form. He showed me that listeners need to be humbled by patience, that music is a gift, and should be cherished.
Let’s stop treating hip-hop like the Playboy mansion and more like the Smithsonian."
DJ BOOTH: Fast Food Music: How Our Hunger for More is Killing Hip-Hop
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Monday, January 26, 2015
black sun.
starring death cab for cutie.
PITCHFORK: Death Cab for Cutie Share "Black Sun" Lyric Video, Announce Tour
PITCHFORK: Death Cab for Cutie Share "Black Sun" Lyric Video, Announce Tour
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Friday, January 23, 2015
detroit vs. everybody.
a video.
starring eminem, big sean, danny brown, dej loaf, royce da 5'9", and trick trick.
starring eminem, big sean, danny brown, dej loaf, royce da 5'9", and trick trick.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
the voyager.
a moment of clarity.
words.
"The government's not going to create jobs," he said. "It doesn't have to. People have to create jobs, and these big billionaires are the ones who can do it."
But instead of doing that, he said he sees inner cities festering with crime and people "turning to alcohol and drugs." "They could all have work created for them by all these hotshot billionaires," Dylan said. "For sure, that would create lot of happiness. Now, I'm not saying they have to — I'm not talking about communism — but what do they do with their money?"
He later turned his attention back to the underprivileged. "There are good people there, but they've been oppressed by lack of work," Dylan said. "Those people can all be working at something. These multibillionaires can create industries right here in America. But no one can tell them what to do. God's got to lead them."
ROLLING STONE: Bob Dylan: The Government's Not Going to Create Jobs. Billionaires Can
words.
"The government's not going to create jobs," he said. "It doesn't have to. People have to create jobs, and these big billionaires are the ones who can do it."
But instead of doing that, he said he sees inner cities festering with crime and people "turning to alcohol and drugs." "They could all have work created for them by all these hotshot billionaires," Dylan said. "For sure, that would create lot of happiness. Now, I'm not saying they have to — I'm not talking about communism — but what do they do with their money?"
He later turned his attention back to the underprivileged. "There are good people there, but they've been oppressed by lack of work," Dylan said. "Those people can all be working at something. These multibillionaires can create industries right here in America. But no one can tell them what to do. God's got to lead them."
ROLLING STONE: Bob Dylan: The Government's Not Going to Create Jobs. Billionaires Can
still life.
a video.
from spirit club.
PITCHFORK: Wavves' Nathan Williams' Band Spirit Club Get Very '90s in the "Still Life" Video
from spirit club.
PITCHFORK: Wavves' Nathan Williams' Band Spirit Club Get Very '90s in the "Still Life" Video
"I agree with these statements."
words.
"...don’t let the deadpan song titles like "Pointless Experience" and "March of Progress" throw you: the Calgary band’s self-titled debut projects unbridled passion, creativity, and possibilities while speaking in a presumably dead language of post-punk.
...whether you’re familiar with their past or you’re just here because you’ve been hearing things about this band, everyone is getting the same first impression: That of a very serious rock record that won’t offer too many cuddly points of self-disclosure. So, in the moments where Viet Cong do reveal themselves, you might want to pay attention.
Two important instances occur during "March of Progress", Viet Cong’s astonishing six-minute centerpiece. Matt Flegel could be mocking the speculative nature of music criticism and predictable, tiresome process of "proving" one’s self in dazed, layered harmony: "Your reputation is preceding you/ We’re all sufficiently impressed/ And this incessant march of progress/ Can guarantee our sure success." It proves Viet Cong are self-aware, have a subzero sense of humor to match their environs, and recognize those two qualities might combine to give the impression that this isn’t music that is meant to be enjoyed. That’s when the double-time beat kicks in, and Viet Cong make a sprightly, major-key sprint towards a dead halt. There’s mastery of form, instrumental prowess, and on a record that thrives on unpredictability, "March of Progress" elicits the most unexpected response—that was fun..."
PITCHFORK: Viet Cong - Viet Cong. A Review.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
broad city.
with sleater-kinney, abbi jacobson, & ilana glazer.
NPR MUSIC: 'We Can't Just Settle': Broad City Meets Sleater-Kinney
NPR MUSIC: 'We Can't Just Settle': Broad City Meets Sleater-Kinney
get up.
a moment of clarity.
words.
"...What came as more of a surprise was the President’s over-all tone, which clearly reflected his recent successes in doing an end run around Congress on immigration policy, reaching a deal on climate change with China, reversing U.S. policy toward Cuba, and seeing his approval ratings rise on the back of good economic news. From the beginning, his language was much more celebratory than in his previous State of the Union speeches. “We are fifteen years into this new century,” he said. “It has been, and still is, a hard time for many. But tonight, we turn the page.” There followed a litany of indicators showing that things are going right in the Union: a growing economy, shrinking deficits, a falling unemployment rate, millions fewer people without health insurance, an end to the combat mission in Afghanistan. “America, for all that we have endured, for all the grit and hard work required to come back, for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this: the shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong,” he said.
The President wasn’t merely upbeat. He was self-assured, glib, and, at times, bordering on bumptious. “
...In fact, he now seems quite comfortable with embracing partisanship and economic populism. Until the end of the speech, when Obama circa 2004 put in a cameo appearance, he had provided a welcome glance of the Obama whom many Democrats believed they had elected in 2008: progressive, impassioned, and persuasive. “Where was this economic Obama in 2009?” the documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney asked on Twitter. That’s a question that historians will certainly ponder. Last night, though, the President showed up and staged a successful occupation of Capitol Hill."
THE NEW YORKER: Obama Occupies Capitol Hill
words.
"...What came as more of a surprise was the President’s over-all tone, which clearly reflected his recent successes in doing an end run around Congress on immigration policy, reaching a deal on climate change with China, reversing U.S. policy toward Cuba, and seeing his approval ratings rise on the back of good economic news. From the beginning, his language was much more celebratory than in his previous State of the Union speeches. “We are fifteen years into this new century,” he said. “It has been, and still is, a hard time for many. But tonight, we turn the page.” There followed a litany of indicators showing that things are going right in the Union: a growing economy, shrinking deficits, a falling unemployment rate, millions fewer people without health insurance, an end to the combat mission in Afghanistan. “America, for all that we have endured, for all the grit and hard work required to come back, for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this: the shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong,” he said.
The President wasn’t merely upbeat. He was self-assured, glib, and, at times, bordering on bumptious. “
...In fact, he now seems quite comfortable with embracing partisanship and economic populism. Until the end of the speech, when Obama circa 2004 put in a cameo appearance, he had provided a welcome glance of the Obama whom many Democrats believed they had elected in 2008: progressive, impassioned, and persuasive. “Where was this economic Obama in 2009?” the documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney asked on Twitter. That’s a question that historians will certainly ponder. Last night, though, the President showed up and staged a successful occupation of Capitol Hill."
THE NEW YORKER: Obama Occupies Capitol Hill
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Monday, January 19, 2015
king.
a moment of clarity.
words.
"From the moment Obama emerged as a serious Presidential contender, he has been viewed as a symbol of the successes of King and the movement that he led. Early in the campaign, when some African-Americans still harbored doubts about Obama’s identity, he travelled to Selma to mark the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march and to talk explicitly about the ways in which the movement had made it possible for the union between his black Kenyan father and his white American mother to exist legally. His nomination, at the Democratic Convention in August of 2008, coincided with the forty-fifth anniversary of King’s “Dream” speech. After the election, cartoonists deployed King in all manner of celebratory endorsement, and, after the Inauguration, Obama placed a bust of King in the Oval Office. This week, he will deliver his sixth State of the Union address, as he did his first inaugural, a day after the holiday that commemorates King.
Yet six years in the White House have vastly complicated Obama’s relationship to King.
...nearly six years after the Cairo speech, Obama is less able to deploy the moral capital of civil rights, at least in the Middle East, not only because he is now established as the face of American authority but also because many of the battles that King fought have still not been resolved. Racism remains an Achilles’ heel. The protests in Ferguson, New York, and beyond were watched by a global audience, and, as during the Cold War, America’s domestic troubles become fodder for a morally compromised foreign power to deflect attention from its own failings. Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei took to Twitter to highlight the seeming contradiction that such actions were taking place under a black President. He tweeted, “Racial discrimination’s still a dilemma in US. Still ppl are unsecure for having dark skins. The way police treat them confirms it.” In spite of Obama’s debt to the civil-rights movement, the ideal of American exceptionalism is only as valid as the standing of people who have just as often been seen as exceptions to America."
THE NEW YORKER: A President and a King
SEE ALSO:
OKAYPLAYER: OKP Exclusive: Killer Mike Speaks On Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Revolutionary Legacy On MLK Day 2015
THE WASHINGTON POST: A powerful Starbucks homage to MLK
THE NEW YORK TIMES: What, To the Black American, Is Martin Luther King Jr. Day?
words.
"From the moment Obama emerged as a serious Presidential contender, he has been viewed as a symbol of the successes of King and the movement that he led. Early in the campaign, when some African-Americans still harbored doubts about Obama’s identity, he travelled to Selma to mark the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march and to talk explicitly about the ways in which the movement had made it possible for the union between his black Kenyan father and his white American mother to exist legally. His nomination, at the Democratic Convention in August of 2008, coincided with the forty-fifth anniversary of King’s “Dream” speech. After the election, cartoonists deployed King in all manner of celebratory endorsement, and, after the Inauguration, Obama placed a bust of King in the Oval Office. This week, he will deliver his sixth State of the Union address, as he did his first inaugural, a day after the holiday that commemorates King.
Yet six years in the White House have vastly complicated Obama’s relationship to King.
...nearly six years after the Cairo speech, Obama is less able to deploy the moral capital of civil rights, at least in the Middle East, not only because he is now established as the face of American authority but also because many of the battles that King fought have still not been resolved. Racism remains an Achilles’ heel. The protests in Ferguson, New York, and beyond were watched by a global audience, and, as during the Cold War, America’s domestic troubles become fodder for a morally compromised foreign power to deflect attention from its own failings. Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei took to Twitter to highlight the seeming contradiction that such actions were taking place under a black President. He tweeted, “Racial discrimination’s still a dilemma in US. Still ppl are unsecure for having dark skins. The way police treat them confirms it.” In spite of Obama’s debt to the civil-rights movement, the ideal of American exceptionalism is only as valid as the standing of people who have just as often been seen as exceptions to America."
THE NEW YORKER: A President and a King
SEE ALSO:
OKAYPLAYER: OKP Exclusive: Killer Mike Speaks On Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Revolutionary Legacy On MLK Day 2015
THE WASHINGTON POST: A powerful Starbucks homage to MLK
THE NEW YORK TIMES: What, To the Black American, Is Martin Luther King Jr. Day?
Friday, January 16, 2015
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
get it.
a lyric video.
from matt & kim.
PITCHFORK: Matt & Kim Announce New Glow LP, Share "Get It" Lyric Video
from matt & kim.
PITCHFORK: Matt & Kim Announce New Glow LP, Share "Get It" Lyric Video
a moment of clarity.
words.
"Race is a nettlesome issue, and I recognize that I’m calling for more diversity and accountability in police forces even as my own institution — the press — doesn’t look like America either.
We can all do better. Put yourselves in the shoes of the family of Tamir Rice, the black 12-year-old boy shot dead in November in Cleveland. A 911 call had reported someone carrying a “probably fake” gun, and Tamir was carrying a pellet pistol.
A white police officer, who had previously been judged unprepared for the stresses of the job, shot Tamir. A video released a few days ago shows the boy’s 14-year-old sister rushing to her fallen brother — and then tackled by police, handcuffed, and placed in a police car a few feet from her dying brother. The officers stood around and gave him no medical aid.
To those who see no problem in policing, just one question: What if that were your son or daughter?"
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Race, the Police and the Propaganda
SEE ALSO:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Tamir Rice and the Value of Life
GAWKER: Some of My Best Cousins Are White
"Race is a nettlesome issue, and I recognize that I’m calling for more diversity and accountability in police forces even as my own institution — the press — doesn’t look like America either.
We can all do better. Put yourselves in the shoes of the family of Tamir Rice, the black 12-year-old boy shot dead in November in Cleveland. A 911 call had reported someone carrying a “probably fake” gun, and Tamir was carrying a pellet pistol.
A white police officer, who had previously been judged unprepared for the stresses of the job, shot Tamir. A video released a few days ago shows the boy’s 14-year-old sister rushing to her fallen brother — and then tackled by police, handcuffed, and placed in a police car a few feet from her dying brother. The officers stood around and gave him no medical aid.
To those who see no problem in policing, just one question: What if that were your son or daughter?"
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Race, the Police and the Propaganda
SEE ALSO:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Tamir Rice and the Value of Life
GAWKER: Some of My Best Cousins Are White
Monday, January 12, 2015
Sunday, January 11, 2015
recognize.
a moment of clarity.
words.
"It is not known what will come of the current upheaval in the North. The protests are a response to unprosecuted police brutality but are also a plea for recognition of African-Americans’ humanity. How can success be measured when the goals are so basic and enduring? History tells us that enough people acting together can have an impact beyond what could be imagined. The Great Migration changed American culture as we know it, produced jazz and Motown, playwrights and novelists, and transformed the social geography of most every city outside of the South. At the start of the movement, one of its chroniclers put the migrants’ aims in perspective. “If all of their dream does not come true,” The Chicago Defender newspaper wrote, “enough will come to pass to justify their actions.”
If the events of the last year have taught us anything, it is that, as much progress has been made over the generations, the challenges of color and tribe were not locked away in another century or confined to a single region but persist as a national problem and require the commitment of the entire nation to resolve."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: When Will the North Face Its Racism?
words.
"It is not known what will come of the current upheaval in the North. The protests are a response to unprosecuted police brutality but are also a plea for recognition of African-Americans’ humanity. How can success be measured when the goals are so basic and enduring? History tells us that enough people acting together can have an impact beyond what could be imagined. The Great Migration changed American culture as we know it, produced jazz and Motown, playwrights and novelists, and transformed the social geography of most every city outside of the South. At the start of the movement, one of its chroniclers put the migrants’ aims in perspective. “If all of their dream does not come true,” The Chicago Defender newspaper wrote, “enough will come to pass to justify their actions.”
If the events of the last year have taught us anything, it is that, as much progress has been made over the generations, the challenges of color and tribe were not locked away in another century or confined to a single region but persist as a national problem and require the commitment of the entire nation to resolve."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: When Will the North Face Its Racism?
Friday, January 09, 2015
ray gun.
starring ghostface killah & doom &badbadnotgood.
PITCHFORK: Ghostface Killah and DOOM Reunite for "Ray Gun"
PITCHFORK: Ghostface Killah and DOOM Reunite for "Ray Gun"
Thursday, January 08, 2015
Wednesday, January 07, 2015
Tuesday, January 06, 2015
alone again.
starring king khan & the bbq show.
PITCHFORK: The King Khan & BBQ Show Return With Bad News Boys, Share "Alone Again"
PITCHFORK: The King Khan & BBQ Show Return With Bad News Boys, Share "Alone Again"
a moment of clarity.
words.
"A lot of people who moved to New York after the millennium and could afford to live in more expensive neighborhoods must have thought they had relocated to wonderland: artisanal pickles, upscale cupcake shops, Stumptown cafes, shiny playgrounds, safe subways, humming nighttime streets. How many of them wanted to think about the constant chafing between cops and young people two or three neighborhoods away that partly underwrote their happiness? Or the way the growing gulf between the two cities made the chafing harsher? The renaissance of the city has produced a different moral situation from that of the previous era, when New York was feared and shunned. The problem today is more like bad faith—the phenomenon of New Yorkers whose well-being here depends on cops whose behavior (if given a bit of thought) they don’t like.
...The Mayor is doing what he can to overcome ill will among police. It’s probably too late—in just a year he’s lost his department. This is a disaster for a city that elected de Blasio with seventy-three per cent of the vote, and that also—judging by the wide and deep sympathy expressed after the execution of two officers in Brooklyn—generally supports its police force. Patrick Lynch, the demagogue who leads the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, is playing a very dangerous game by inflaming his rank and file, politicizing funerals, countenancing an unprofessional work stoppage (imagine aggrieved nurses refusing to treat patients), and laying the two officers’ murders at de Blasio’s feet. If New Yorkers are forced to choose between the Mayor and the police, the result—already showing up in polls and public discourse—will be a racially polarized city. If the police who turned their backs on the Mayor imagine that this confrontation will bring the city around to their side, they’re deluded. The only way for the police to keep the public’s trust is by stopping crime, which requires the public’s support.
The starting point should be an honest recognition of the human reality between cops and citizens. When the police find themselves criticized, challenged, sometimes shoved back, the reason might be that dis works both ways—that they’re not the only ones who need to show heart. When the police stand around in insular groups and show no interest in talking to the people they’re protecting—a sight so regular I usually forget to be bothered by it—the reason might be that they don’t feel much solidarity with those of us who can afford to live in neighborhoods they can’t, but don’t have to absorb the hostility and take the risks."
THE NEW YORKER: The Heart of Policing
"A lot of people who moved to New York after the millennium and could afford to live in more expensive neighborhoods must have thought they had relocated to wonderland: artisanal pickles, upscale cupcake shops, Stumptown cafes, shiny playgrounds, safe subways, humming nighttime streets. How many of them wanted to think about the constant chafing between cops and young people two or three neighborhoods away that partly underwrote their happiness? Or the way the growing gulf between the two cities made the chafing harsher? The renaissance of the city has produced a different moral situation from that of the previous era, when New York was feared and shunned. The problem today is more like bad faith—the phenomenon of New Yorkers whose well-being here depends on cops whose behavior (if given a bit of thought) they don’t like.
...The Mayor is doing what he can to overcome ill will among police. It’s probably too late—in just a year he’s lost his department. This is a disaster for a city that elected de Blasio with seventy-three per cent of the vote, and that also—judging by the wide and deep sympathy expressed after the execution of two officers in Brooklyn—generally supports its police force. Patrick Lynch, the demagogue who leads the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, is playing a very dangerous game by inflaming his rank and file, politicizing funerals, countenancing an unprofessional work stoppage (imagine aggrieved nurses refusing to treat patients), and laying the two officers’ murders at de Blasio’s feet. If New Yorkers are forced to choose between the Mayor and the police, the result—already showing up in polls and public discourse—will be a racially polarized city. If the police who turned their backs on the Mayor imagine that this confrontation will bring the city around to their side, they’re deluded. The only way for the police to keep the public’s trust is by stopping crime, which requires the public’s support.
The starting point should be an honest recognition of the human reality between cops and citizens. When the police find themselves criticized, challenged, sometimes shoved back, the reason might be that dis works both ways—that they’re not the only ones who need to show heart. When the police stand around in insular groups and show no interest in talking to the people they’re protecting—a sight so regular I usually forget to be bothered by it—the reason might be that they don’t feel much solidarity with those of us who can afford to live in neighborhoods they can’t, but don’t have to absorb the hostility and take the risks."
THE NEW YORKER: The Heart of Policing
Monday, January 05, 2015
21.
FILE UNDER: DUDES.
kinda want to have all of the sex to marvin gaye's i want you album. might need to make this happen soon.
— dj dark roast. (@OneTokenBlack) January 5, 2015
will most definitely be better than that time dude played adele's 21 album during intercourse.
— dj dark roast. (@OneTokenBlack) January 5, 2015
hearing adele's 21 during sex made my brain hurt cuz i had never heard it b4so, i was engaging with him while reviewing the album. in 2014.
— dj dark roast. (@OneTokenBlack) January 5, 2015
I wanted to know who adele was. was she more than good singles? why all the rage?
— dj dark roast. (@OneTokenBlack) January 5, 2015
you know what I heard when I listened to 21 during sex?: her age. her shortcomings. a few good singles surrounded by middling filler.
— dj dark roast. (@OneTokenBlack) January 5, 2015
what else did I hear while listening to adele's 21 during sex? music and ideas that overwhelmed the singer. trying too hard.
— dj dark roast. (@OneTokenBlack) January 5, 2015
it's funny, we feel so deprived sometimes by what is offered by the labels and popular kids that we overhype those that don't do that.
— dj dark roast. (@OneTokenBlack) January 5, 2015
adele is good/talented/smart yes. but also overpraised. whtevr. let me stop. soundin like dude from grizzly bear complainin bout the grammys
— dj dark roast. (@OneTokenBlack) January 5, 2015
Sunday, January 04, 2015
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