Last Night A DJ Saved My Life

16/Spoon - Transference

20/Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)

23/Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer & Jazmine Sullivan - Love Me Back

Saturday, January 08, 2011

"SPEAKERS GOING HAMMER!": The Albums: 2010.

11/Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

Nine tracks in. Meet Me in the Basement. This album’s centerpiece. Seven musicians together as one. Alone in the studio, a room like a basement, sans words, lost in the music, lost in the sound, and the act of creating; A multi-layered composition that rises and falls, switching moods, and changing tempos at a fascinating pace. This album’s centerpiece, indicative of what this album’s sets out to do and achieves. Brendan, Justin, Kevin, Andrew, Sam, Charles, Lisa, John, Martin, plus the usual suspects, here collaborating, meshing and providing emotional grit here, there, and everywhere as is needed. Vocally, musically, together. Forgiveness Rock Record makes a joyful noise onto the world, finding comfort in creation, and comfort in the sound.
KEY TRACKS: Texico Bitches/Meet Me in the Basement/Sentimental X’s

12/Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

13/Freeway & Jake One - The Stimulus Package

16/Spoon - Transference

20/Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)

23/Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer & Jazmine Sullivan - Love Me Back

Friday, January 07, 2011

"SPEAKERS GOING HAMMER!": The Albums: 2010.

12/Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Sir Lucious Left Foot. Daddy Fat Sax B-I-G, B-O-I. The Son of Chico Dusty. Him and Rena’s baby. Their first born son. Antwan Andre Patton, the only one, ridin’ solo, Pimpin’. With his ears to the street and his eyes to the sky, this Old school Musicologist/Purveyor of the funk gets up for the down stroke, digging deep into the crates, and far into the vaults to do what he does best, HIM. Sir Lucious Left Foot is a smooth, bass heavy ride shotgun in the front with Antwan and his down for the cause band of cohorts. Knock out songs laced with clever wordplay (Thinking words! Humorous words! BOASTFUL words! Straight Hip-Hop Quotables!), that 2 steps with guests on that shine tip, and beats that reverberate, pushing this southernplayalisticadillacmuzik to infinity and beyond. With Him and Rena’s baby. Their first born son. Antwan Andre Patton the only one positioned comfortably in the driver’s seat, stimulatin’ the minds of the masses and makin’ the club get crunk. He, you, and this, baptized in the funk. CHURCH. Please believe.
KEY TRACKS: Shutterbug/Tangerine/Shine Blockas

13/Freeway & Jake One - The Stimulus Package

16/Spoon - Transference

20/Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)

23/Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer & Jazmine Sullivan - Love Me Back

HEALTH!

Words. For Your Consideration...

LOS ANGELES TIMES: An essential mandate

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Sure Thing.

A video.

Starring Miguel.

"SPEAKERS GOING HAMMER!": The Albums: 2010.

American Gangster.

13/Freeway & Jake One - The Stimulus Package

LADIES & GENTLEMEN! “Throw your hands up, it's ‘The Stimulus Package’!” That “new school, Hip-Hop you can trust”, from Jake One and Philly Freezer, givin’ back to the people that old school gimmick free Hip-Hop sound. That keep it real, showin’ skills, mic heatin’ up sound. Just two dope boys on the 1’s and 2’s with them beats to get you hyped and some microphones. Straight grindin’, rhymin’ like they got something to prove; always hungry; never slouched. Jake One and Philly Freezer, (the “’Barack of the block’”) “doin’ hip-hop a favor”. Got you stuck off that realness. “Fake and False rappers” can all “fall and collapse”; your presence is not welcomed/granted permission here. This that art of storytellin’. Tales of the grind (With a few words for the honeys too). This is straight HIP-HOP from top to the bottom, and the bottom to the top. No games, no tricks, no bullshitin’. No gimmicks, no skits, just rhymes and beats. Just two dope boys and a handful of guests, together as one, grindin’ and rhymin’ like they got something to prove, “bringin’ that 98’ back”. Go head and nod on in agreement.
KEY TRACKS: She Makes Me Feel Alright/One Thing/Free People

16/Spoon - Transference

20/Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)

23/Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer & Jazmine Sullivan - Love Me Back

NPR MUSIC: First Listen Live: Iron And Wine

Kiss Each Other Clean.

For Your Consideration...

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Kaputt.

A video.

From Destroyer.

"SPEAKERS GOING HAMMER!": The Albums: 2010.

14/Of Montreal - False Priest

False Priest, I see you girlfriend. I got so lucky with you. I feel ya strutter, I got so lucky with you. I bow at your feet. Worship at your altar. Bishop Barnes, you funky. Bishop Barnes, you crazy. Bishop Barnes, you’s a freak. And the gospel you’ve put forth right here is TOUGH. You groove me, brotha. Straight move me, playa. Man, when you hit me? I'm a cloud baby, I'm a cloud, buoyed and comforted by these popstastic funk workouts that come at me track after track after track til the beats go stop and there’s nothing left. I’m stuck in that head of yours with ya. I’m reaching for that falsetto, and harmonizing on the multiples. You got it together. I feel ya strutter. Your sexuality is more fleshed out and more fully realized. And the pace as well as the music is more focused and less scattered. This is some joyful polyphonic noise from a wondrously seductive playground. I see you girlfriend. I got so lucky with you.
KEY TRACKS: Godly Intersex/Enemy Gene/Girl Named Hello

16/Spoon - Transference

20/Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)

23/Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer & Jazmine Sullivan - Love Me Back

THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive video: Hercules and Love Affair - My House

My House.

A video.

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

For Your Consideration.

A Moment of Clarity.

THE WASHINGTON POST: Michael Vick: Symbol of the second chance

"SPEAKERS GOING HAMMER!": The Albums: 2010.

15/Drake - Thank Me Later

Look, I know it’s easy to dismiss Drake, but I know this guy. YOU know this guy. We’ve been there on the sidelines with this guy. We’ve shared a few laughs with this guy. Rolled a few blunts with our lists of regrets with this guy. And now, he’s hit it big. And you know what? The boy’s done good. The boy’s done real good. Thank Me Later is a vivid and youthful portrait of that moment when getting put on finally meets FAME, sparing no details/listing of uncertainties or thoughts of confusion about it all. Covering that, plus the heart on his sleeve so as not to lose any of that unspoken, but asked for braggadocio and masculine exuberance that often runs rampant in the Rap Game is non-existent here. Because of this, the album has a comforting and relatable air to it, hence the “I know this guy” feeling expressed at the top of this review. The fact that it flows seamlessly from start to finish with beats that knock and more often than not reflect the mood and atmosphere present in the lyrics (the borrowing from and incorporation of musical elements from R&B is damn near impeccable), and gets A-Game quote worthy turns from each and every guest star attached is just icing on the cake. Well done, Drake. Thanks for the memories.
KEY TRACKS: Fancy/Shut it Down/Cece’s Interlude

16/Spoon - Transference

20/Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)

23/Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer & Jazmine Sullivan - Love Me Back

GAWKER: Kim Kardashian Is As Confused By Her Musical Debut As You Are

"O, LET'S DO IT!"

With "Shazzazz"!

PART 1:

PART 2:

"WELCOME TO THE GOOD LIFE!"

Monday, January 03, 2011

For Your Consideration.

"SPEAKERS GOING HAMMER!": The Albums: 2010.

16/Spoon - Transference

The photograph you see above is William Eggleston’s Untitled from Sumner, Miss 1969, c. 1972. Study it. Look closely. All is still, and all is quiet, and yet, you hear it (A deep sigh). And yet, you see it (The shrug of the shoulders before the slouch). And yet, you feel it (The inner workings of communications between a boy and his girl (s)) Here. There. In the room. Alone in a chair. Together in a space. In the act of observing. Going through the motions, eyes darting where they may, knowing your place. Still, then fidgety. Fidgety, then calm. Alone, then acknowledged. Aware, then silent. Wash, rinse, repeat. Again, and again, and again... With Transference, Spoon walk us through the various wants, needs, trials, and concerns of adults trying to make sense of each other while simultaneously trying to make sense of the self and the living of this life here, there, in the room. Together in a space, in the act of observing. Going through the motions, listening. Still, then fidgety. Fidgety, then calm. Tightly wound, yet ready to burst at the seams. Washed, rinsed, and repeated. Again, and again, and again.
KEY TRACKS: Is Love Forever?/Written in Reverse/I Saw the Light

20/Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)

23/Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer & Jazmine Sullivan - Love Me Back

Sunday, January 02, 2011

"SPEAKERS GOING HAMMER!": The Albums: 2010.

17/The Dream - Love King

Tales as old as time. Chapter three. Love King. As told by he, Mr. Love King himself, Terius Nash, aka The Dream. As was the case with his two albums past, Terius “Mr. Sex Intelligent/Radio Killa extraordinaire” Nash, has crafted yet another crisp collection of pulsating, slow burning beats, tales, and rendezvous that float atop boomin’ 808s, and synths that cascade. Inventive, envelope pushing, take it to another level R&B. “Fiyah. That blazin’ amazin’, hood shit. That bangin’ out them head boards, hood shit. And you know this.” Tales as old as time. Chapter three. Love King. L to the O. V to the E.
KEY TRACKS: Sex Intelligent/Yamaha/Turnt Out

20/Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)

23/Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer & Jazmine Sullivan - Love Me Back

Saturday, January 01, 2011

"SPEAKERS GOING HAMMER!": The Albums: 2010.

Dancing Queens.

18/Scissor Sisters - Night Work

In 2010, no album was as unabashedly sexy and confident as this one right here, album number three from the Scissor Sisters. Night Work is a spastic, expressionistic exercise that revels in the rhythmic musical and lyrical underbelly of days and songs gone by from disco’s/post disco’s finest. Turns ons, come ons, come hither stares. Euphemisms, double entendres, pure sexual honesty…they’re all here, doing that Night Work, stealing all the trade. So Glam, to the nine’s, looking and sounding the part. 45 minutes of pure sexual euphoria. Get you some.
KEY TRACKS: Something Like This/Sex and Violence/Invisible Light

20/Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)

23/Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer & Jazmine Sullivan - Love Me Back

Friday, December 31, 2010

"SPEAKERS GOING HAMMER!": The Albums: 2010.

19/Vampire Weekend - Contra

This holiday season many across America got to hear the music of Vampire Weekend without pressing play on an mp3 as (in what has become par for the course) their music could be heard in many an advertisement for we, the American consumers. Take Tommy Hilfiger, for example, whose latest ad used Vampire Weekend’s exuberantly delightful Holiday to soundtrack the moving portrait of its most recent slice of fashionable New England Americana. It’s a perfect fit, as the label, with its designs on display in the advertisement, attempt to give the viewer a glimpse and idea of what New England Americana looks like, something Vampire Weekend actually does and speaks on frequently within album number two, Contra. Listen carefully and Ezra becomes a masterful fly on the wall in a world not too far removed from the one inhabited by the folks in ‘Gossip Girl’. Missed that? Understandable, as the music underlying it all is so polished, pleasant, and wonderfully melodic that you were probably too busy lost in the sound, adding to the harmonies, or grabbing a hook. Indulge. Enjoy. It’s only right. Treat it like a Holiday.
KEY TRACKS: White Sky/California English/Diplomat’s Son

20/Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)

23/Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer & Jazmine Sullivan - Love Me Back