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Retro Spotlight: Blur - She's So High

Blur - She's So High
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School has been crazy, guys. I'm really sorry about the long hiatus, but, let's face it, I'm not being paid for this. I only write when I can, and opportunities are tough to come by during semesters when I'm taking two journalism classes.

The best I can offer in apology is this gem from Blur. Yes, it's a single, but an oft overlooked one from their debut album, Leisure. Everything about this song screams 'britpop'. The psychedelic-infused jangly guitar riffs (a la The Stone Roses) create a lush dreamscape where plenty of 'drugs, sex and rock n' roll' are to be had on the slightest whim. Unfortunately, even in this land o' plenty, there is still the girl you can't have.

It's under arching themes like this that always elevated Blur above their small picture-obsessed contemporaries. Most britpop groups, like Oasis and Pulp, wrote for pub crawlers and soccer hooligans, championing the geezers and celebrating the debauchery and lowlights of the Manchester scene. Blur instead wrote for the collegiate set. The band churned out tunes parodying the American grunge scene, the Americanization of Britain and the plastic pleasures of the modern world. This is perhaps why when most britpop groups struggled to make an impression on the American music scene, Blur managed to create a strong cult fanbase in the states that persists to this day. Most American college kids probably couldn't care less about vague promises of "living forever" or starting the day off with a snort of coke. What they did connect with was a drug-addled take on unrequited love.

Metronome Song

I stumbled upon this hidden gem during a typical day of trolling /mu/. The anonymous poster recorded this track using only a metronome, a whammy pedal and a spider amp. I think Merzbow would be proud.

Kanye West Rises to New Levels Of Douchery at the MTV VMA's

I'm not going to pretend that part of me didn't enjoy this. Strangely, the crowd seemed to agree.

I usually avoid all things MTV-related like the plague. Once again though, Kanye West proves that wherever he goes, drama is sure to follow. This time, Mr. "George Bush hates black people" West pulls one of the coldest pranks ever on Taylor Swift for winning big over Beyonce at the VMA's. The look on Swift's face is priceless. Kanye, how could you be so heartless?

Weezer Unveils 'Raditude' Cover

Wow. Just when I thought Weezer couldn't get any sillier, they drop this:

Yep, this is the cover of the band's upcoming LP. Needless to say, I am the furthest thing possible from amused. The word "appalled" comes to mind. I know Weezer has never been a band known for it's stoicism, but this sort of dashes the last shred of hope I had left for Rivers Cuomo to ever put out anything nearly as good as The Blue Album ever again.

More here: http://www.spinner.com/2009/09/11/weezers-raditude-cover-is-doggone-awesome/

Album Review: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Pt II

September has been a curiously auspicious month for hip hop. First, Jay-Z drops Blueprint 3 and now enters Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Pt II, the long-awaited sequel to his classic solo debut.

Artists generally avoid sequel albums. Revisiting old ideas is usually just plain boring, both for them and the listener. Making a sequel to a classic album like Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… is an especially daunting endeavor because of the 15 years of hype separating it from a fellow-up effort. It’s why Metallica nearly shat in their Armani suits when Rick Rubin told them to make Death Magnetic the sequel to Master of Puppets (it didn’t come close by the way). If they just can’t resist temptation, most artists play it safe and pull a Robert Smith -- just lump a bunch of alike-sounding albums together and call them a “trilogy”. Raekwon is a different cut from those guys. He’s a Wu after all, and a Wu’s word is bond. If the Chef says he’s going to cook up a sequel, then it’s going to be feast for the ears.

Linx II picks up right where the first Linx left off. Linx II’s opener, “The Return of the North Star” retains the same cinematic atmosphere of Linx I’s closer, “North Star (Jewels)”, with a moody treatment of slow horns, tense percussion and some words of wisdom from Papa Wu before melting into a buttery soul-groove sample. The intro sets the album’s tone and tells you everything you need to know since Linx I: Raekwon is back on his old hustle, the streets are restless and some serious **** is about to go down. ose byC
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>1@ey just can’t resist temptation, most artists play it safe and pull a Robert Smith -- just lump a bunch of alike-sounding albums together and call them a “trilogy”. Raekwon is a different cut from those guys. He’s a Wu after all, and a Wu’s word is bond. If the Chef says he’s going to cook up a sequel, then it’s going to be feast for the ears.

Some things never change.

What IS different is the brutal “House of Flying Daggers” featuring an artery-bursting joint from the late, great J-Dilla. Some of the best rapping to come out of the Wu dojo in years is on this one, with heavyweight wordplay from Inspectah Deck (“I pop off like a mobster boss/Angel hair with the lobster sauce/ Summertime can’t top the scorch”), Raekwon (“Fly criteria/Bury me in Africa/With whips and spears and rough diamonds out of Syria”), Ghostface Killah (Usually we bust down niggas with bats and swell they joints/Elbow, wrists, they shins get cracked) and Method Man (“Past the joint/ Let’s push this music past the point/Of no return/Til they crash and burn down the ashes/The placed inside Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Urn”). The Clan hasn’t sounded this resolute in years, and it’s only the album’s SECOND TRACK.

Raekwon keeps the fire hot on “Sonny’s Missing” and “Pyrex Vision” with some help from the ace samplers Pete Rock and Marley Marl respectively. The former is driven by a cheesy kung-fu hook with a muddled piano and deep bass line interjected with sound-effects that tell a vivid story. The latter is driven by a nostalgic guitar hook and subtle percussion and chimes with the smattered sounds of a drug lab. Both are short, sweet bridges for “Cold Outside”, a track that bawls with weeping mariachi horns and a tortured blues chorus. This is the point where I expected the album to fall off for a few tracks (as most albums do after the five-track mark), but there really isn’t a non-single track on Linx II that doesn’t hold up. The spooky organ loop in the album’s first RZA offering, “Black Mozart”, plays masterfully off a subtle background guitar lick. The titular element on his later contribution, “Fat Lady Sings”, is equally charming. BT may be the most undersung beat-layer on this project. Besides the atmospheric intro, he also puts down a tight, by-the-book effort with on the jittery “Penitentiary”. Necro delivers on the beat for “Gihad”, a muted chorus of ominous ‘la-la’s’ which works disturbingly well with Ghostfaces’ rhymes about blowjob follies. The other album single “New Wu” exceeds all expectations of dopeness with a laid-back, silky-smooth vocal loop by RZA. Method Man’s cold-blooded flow (“I’m pinching/My pop’s lift it/ Need business/I’m not finished/ I’m *sniff* too hot with it/You bitchin’/ The plot thicken”) is almost too much for it. “Baggin Crack” is a solid Raekwon solo tip that serves to retain the album’s concept, and has a classic blaxploitation-esque feel courtesy of Erick Sermon. The Alchemist transmutes an unassuming bass line into a certified banger with the album’s hidden-gem, “Surgical Gloves”, another Raekwon solo spot that reminds you who this album belongs to. “Broken Safety” feels underwritten, but it’s probably because it has to make room for “Canal Street” with an instrumental that could be stand-in trailer music for -insert random 1930’s gangster flick here-.

“Ason Jones” is a touching departure from the album’s overbearing mafioso theme. Here, Raekwon honors the deceased Wu legend, Ol’ Dirty Bastard with a sentimental beat by another dead man, J-Dilla. The irony here is both arresting and ingenious, two dead masters being recognized for the impact on the game in one stroke. The moody “Have Mercy” is an appropriate follow-up that puts things back on track with Raekwon rapping about being locked in isolation over soulful loop of R&B vocals and pensive piano keys. J-Dilla strikes from beyond the grave again with a murderous Asiatic string-plucking driven beat on “10 Bricks”, another track where Ghostface is practically foaming at the mouth by the end. Dr. Dre’s contributions range from lukewarm to A-level, but are a far-cry from his earlier G-Funk stylings on The Chronic and Doggystyle. “Catalina” begins with an interesting wood-chime that quickly becomes another passable Carribean-flavored luxury romp. Raekwon comes much harder on “About Me” with support from Busta Rhymes. The vocal track underneath the piano and handclaps explodes with tactical precision here, an interesting preview for Dre’s anticipated Detox album. “Mean Streets” is a snarling, late-album attempt by Allah Mathematics to make a hustler’s anthem, but the weak hook and leftover rhymes drag it down into forgettable territory. “Kiss the Ring” is a regal, chipmunk-vocal wrap-up with Scram Jones on point.

Raekwon did the impossible here. He made a worthy successor to a classic LP, a lesson that reclusive perfectionists like Kevin Shields could stand to learn from. Standing at a monstrous 22 tracks, Linx II is The Chef cooking with nothing but pure fire. If you needed any reassurance that the Wu is still force to be reckoned with, this is it. ODB would be proud.

Album Review: Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3

Jay-Z is the last guy I would ever expect to be fishing for indie cred. So…what WAS he doing at that Grizzly Bear concert last month? Apparently, Jay just likes good music, and he can’t help but give credit where credit is due. The world’s most recognized rapper even went so far as to say that he hopes, “Indie rock will push rap back a bit because it will force people to make great music for the sake of making great music.”

Hmm…music for the sake of music, eh? Jay might be on to something there. His new attitude is probably responsible for Blueprint 3 kicking off with the synth-storm by the name of “What We Talkin’ Bout”. The track is enough to make one wonder if this is going to be Manners: Hova Edition, but “Thank You” soon clears all that up while stacking on the total mindfuck of hearing Jay cop Lil’ Wayne’s flow in the first verse.

So, just what the hell is going on here?

Jay’s success is his shield. He doesn’t give a damn what anyone thinks because he’s been there, done that and bought the t-shirt several billion times over. Experience has given Jay an ear for what works and what doesn’t. He figures if Weezy’s flow is what’s hot, why not try it on for size? Sampling French house tracks made Kanye’s Graduation the new hotness? Hova can dig it too. Blueprint 3 is where Jay set out to prove that he can take what works for everyone else and make it work for himself, and it’s a mean feat that he proved to be largely correct.

Jay’s choices in production both make and break this album. Jay himself is rarely off the mark in the lyrics department with only a few exceptions worth griping about (“I’m an animal/ half man, half mammal” from “Already Home” being the most unforgivable). He spends most of the album just enjoying his new position as the blinged-out Obi-Wan of the rap game. Jay may have abdicated his throne but he’s still part of the force, offering some helpful advice to his contemporaries (“Get back to rappin’/You’re T-Paining too much”) and leading by example (“I used to drink Cristal/ But those fuckers is racist”). Stripping B3 down to the beats is where you can see the real heavy lifting being done, and the cast of selected producers is dazzling. The Kanye West/No ID collabs stand out as the most memorable thanks to their evenhanded treatment of melding stately orchestration with pop sensibilities. “Thank You” gets a regal treatment of slow, brass-heavy swing. “Run This Town” will no doubt be an inescapable fact of life for months to come thanks to Rihanna’s star-power vocals and the heavy radio rotation that adores them. “A Star is Born”’s ingenious echo hook and sped-up hand claps are the perfect debut for J. Cole’s young-hype flow. ID’s only solo joint, “D.O.A. (Death of Autotune),” is a saucy gumbo of blues guitar and drums with a clarinet that comes out of nowhere but fills in all the right places. The remaining West offerings, “Already Home” and “Hate” are at totally different ends of West’s production spectrum. The former relies on strings with a hook that never really rears its head, while the latter may as well be one big hook of a synthesized voice. Both songs are album staples.

Remaining production duties fall to everyone else aka two industry dinosaurs and four up-and-comers. Luke Steele of Empire of the Sun does a great job of boosting that indie cred for Hova I was talking about on the aforementioned ocean-of-syth, “What We Talkin’ Bout”. Al Shux (who produced the track “Hi-Definition” on Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool) gets all the credit for cooking up the soon-to-be everyone’s favorite track on B3, “Empire State of Mind”. Beginning with a sentimental piano loop, the song’s chorus soars on the wings of Alicia Key’s skyscraper-sized vocal talents. Timbaland isn’t quite as successful, but manages to go 2 for 3 out of the tracks he handles here. “Off That” is the album’s centerpiece, a frenetic electro-future shock for the MTV crowd. Canadian rapper, Drake’s ineffectual cameo will probably only serve any purpose for the video. “Venus vs. Mars” is a disappointing, minimalist xx vs. xy bore. (Seriously, just skip it). The annoying chorus in “Reminder” almost makes the song unlistenable, but after repeated listens it just melds in with the keyboards. It’s not like anyone can resist a track where Jay says upfront “I’ll crush Elvis in his blue suede shoes/ Made the Rolling Stones seem sweet as kool-aid too” anyway. The Virginia based Inkredibles craft a gaudy beat tailor-made for Young Jeezy’s guest spot on “Real as it Gets”, but it won’t get nearly as many asses shaking at the club this year as Swizz Beatz’ Justice-fueled “On to the Next One.” The Neptunes’ too-suave-for its-own-good “So Ambitious” raises an eyebrow over a duo that seemed to have fallen off half a decade ago, and gives weight to my theory that Pharrell can do no wrong with Jigga in his corner. Mr. Hudson’s appearance at the end of this album is almost downright hypocritical considering he’s just coming fresh off West’s 808’s and Heartbreak (THE autotune album), but Jay uses his talents like a tactical nuke. While technically lazy, laying a beat over Youth Group’s “Forever Young” is irresistibly catchy and makes for a satisfying album closer. Sometimes, true genius lies in simplicity.

Blueprint 3 is Jay leading by example. He’s at his most fearless here, sampling a bit of everyone’s style and running off with it to the bank. Hip hop can really benefit from this sort of musicality. Before that happens though, Jay has already made sure he got the first buck and the last word. Welcome to the future, everybody.