Milkman

"I wish the milk man would deliver my milk, in the morning"

Rather than reviewing an album, I'm going to review an up and coming artist.  Gregg Luskin, aka Milkman, is a glitch-pop remix artist (in laymen's terms, a mash-up artist) from San Diego, CA rocking a tight Jew fro.  His first album "Lactose and THC" was released on January 22, 2008 and he released his second album, "Circle of Fifths," on March 29, 2009.  

Milkman was originally introduced to me by a friend of mine and I really like his creativity and the variety of samples he uses.  He uses samples of artists ranging from Journey, Tiesto, Beck, Jay-Z, No Doubt, Eminem, Outkast, Lupe Fiasco, Britney Spears, Daft Punk, and Missy Elliot among several others.  What I want to do is compare his two albums and talk a bit about what he does and where he's going.  So, here goes:

"Lactose and THC"

Although this was his first album, I listened to this one after I listened to "Circle of Fifths" which was bit of a mistake.  While "Lactose and THC" has received some high praise, being called the second best mash-up album of all time by DJ Forum, it is extremely rough.  The first song "All About It" didn't exactly set a good tone for me to want to listen to the rest of the album.  I actually could not listen to the song all the way through and had to skip it because it was just too much.  It is quite possibly the worst, most obnoxious mash-up I have ever heard in my life.  It wasn't bad up until about three minutes in where Milkman decides its a good idea to include a siren... a sire that will not stop.  The siren is mixed in with some sort of bass beat, with "Call on me" being repeated in the background incessantly.  On top of that, he adds Pitbull's "Go Girl" and later Justin Timberlake's "Sexyback" followed by 50 Cent's "Candy Shop."  That's upwards of four different things going on at one time.  Not to mention that the only part of "Sexyback" that is played is "I'm bring sexy back (Yeah!)" and the only part of "Candy Shop" that is sampled is "I let you lick the lollipop/ Keep going til you hit the spot (Woah!)," each of which is repeated over and over and over and over.  I'm listening to it as I write and am trying to write faster so I can skip the damn song. 

Another problem is that Milkman not only reuses samples from his first album in his second album (such as "Ms. New Booty" by Bubba Sparxxx and "Bring 'Em Out" by T.I.), but he reuses samples within the album.  There's more than enough material out there for him to do sample something else, not to mention that his mass amount of creativity shouldn't lead him to reuse old materials, no matter how much he likes them.  Milkman also tends to ruin certain moods he sets up.  In "Dreams" he sets up a very laid back sort of gangsta lean song using samples from The Ying Yang Twins, Hot Chocolate (totally gangsta), and Lil Wayne.  This attitude is only to later be ruined by the back beat to Daft Punk's "Digital Love."  Don't get me wrong, that's a great song, but its more of a light hearted, lovey-dovey beat which does not work with what Milkman set up in the first half of the song.  Also, last thing, in "Light It Up" he alters Jay-Z's voice to be higher in his sample of "Dirt Off Your Shoulders," which is a little irksome.  

"Circle of Fifths"

This album is significantly more successful than his first.  There are very few awkward mash-ups and Milkman has really learned how to set up a mood and keep it.  Even if he does decide to change the sound of a song later on, its a subtle transition, nothing awkward.  It seems as though he's really figured out what goes together and what doesn't.  This isn't as much genre matching as you would think, seeing as how he mixes Snoop Dogg and Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's cover of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and it works incredibly well, but also matching rhythm and musical count.  Certain songs have the same rhythmic count and others don't (musicians will know what I'm talking about); trying to put a song that is in 6/8 and one that is in 4/4 together doesn't work out as well as putting two 4/4's together. 

His two most successful tracks have to be "Good Sex" and "Rap Is Beneath Me."  Each has its own sort of attitude that it keeps throughout the song.  Its incredible how in "Good Sex" he combines the Ying Yang Twins rap from "Get Low" over Maroon 5's piano line from "This Love."  You would never think they would work, but they create an amazing sound.  Now, not every track on here is incredible, there are definitely songs I tuned out for, but the two aforementioned songs definitely have that WOW factor.  Its a lot of fun to be able to pick something like Maroon 5 out of a song or No Doubt; stuff like that really shows how various his samples are across "Circle of Fifths."  Milkman does, however, lose points in reusing "Ms. New Booty" and "Bring 'Em Out" in this new album.  Unfortunately, those are only the two I can recall off the top of my head, as far as I know, he reuses somewhere in between five and eight samples from his first album.

Overall, Milkman has a lot of potential, but he really needs to smooth out his rough edges.  He needs to bring new material to the table especially when he is working within an album.  As far as I'm concerned, and maybe I'm being a little harsh, using a sample two or three times within the same album is a big cop-out.  It makes me think that Milkman is lazy and really didn't want to look for a sound that could fill that certain gap.  He still has some mash-ups that really do not work, but he has gotten better about his layering, keeping his songs to about three samples at a time and rarely more than that.  I would definitely give him a listen though and definitely download "Lactose and THC" if you're interested seeing as how its FREE off of his website.  If you want to take a listen to either album, you can check them out at his website as well.

"Lactose and THC": 56/100

"Circle Of Fifths": 78/100

This Is Happening

"Just laugh it off, its better than it seems"

So, I decided to review something a little more foreign to me, LCD Soundsystem, a band I had never heard of.  However, their album "This Is Happening" (2010) released May 18th got great reviews, so I thought I would give it a shot.  At the head of LCD Soundsystem is James Murphy, a musician, producer, and co-founder of dance-punk label DFA Records.  Supposedly, "This Is Happening" is Murphy's last album as LCD Soundsystem, so I guess it was a good time for me to find him.  LCD Soundsystem has received overwhelming support in the UK and is beginning to become more popular in the US, especially with "This Is Happening" breaking into the Billboard Top 10 (after looking on the Billboard site to see where he was at as of now, I noticed he dropped down to #58; something more terrifying was that Justin Bieber is at #2... someone please end this).

LCD Soundsystem does a good job with their album in successfully synthesizing an electronic-dance feel with more punk vocals.  At first I was really unsure as to how I was supposed to listen to them.  When I listen to Daft Punk or Ratatat, I go into it with a certain mindset; when I listen to Sum 41 or Blink 182, I go into it with a certain mindset.  For LCD Soundsystem, I had to merge those two different mindsets.  The minute I started getting into a funky dance beat, punk vocals would jump in a catch me off guard and vice versa.  I had to get used to this because originally it upset me because I would really dig the instrumentals/vocals and then the added punk vocals/dance beat would totally throw me off.

With that out of the way, I can easily say that, once wrapping my mind around it, LCD Soundsystem has a very successful hybrid of electronica-dance and punk.  One of the most successful of these hybrids is "One Touch," which features a very technological, trance-like beat accompanied by very monotone, droned out vocals.  However, the punk hops in once the chorus hits with Murphy chanting "One touch is never enough/ You gave the opening, opening/ One touch is never enough/ People who need people, to the back of the bus" with female vocals shouting "One touch!" at the same time he chants it.  The vocals really compliment the back track and although Murphy's vocals almost sound like Mike Score, lead singer of A Flock of Seagulls, he manages to incorporate it well with the more contemporary dance track.  He keeps his chorus interesting as well, with variations on the phrase "People who need people, to the back of the bus."  

Unfortunately, where LCD Soundsytem is a melting pot of sound in certain songs, he seems to ruin the mood for other songs.  My favorite song on the album is his opener, "Dance Yrself Clean."  The track opens up with a very mellow beginning: light drumming and a very simple bass line.  Soft vocals eventually creep into the mix creating a very calm, relaxing, and serene sound; almost a hybrid of sounds found in Iron & Wine and Zero 7.  Murphy repeats the phrase "present company" throughout the song in lines such as, "Present company/ The best that you can find" and "Present company/ Makes me want to stay" translating to a very warm message.  However, around three minutes into the song, Murphy drops a very heavy synthesized beat with a drum machine.  The soft vocals transform into... well, the best way I can describe it is soft shouting; his voice is more strained, but he's not screaming.  Now, after listening to this song a few times, I expected it to come and it really does work with the song as a whole.  However, the first time I heard it, I was disappointed that he killed the amazing atmospheric sound he had setup in the first three minutes of his song.  While the song is almost nine minutes long, those first three are still what I wish I could hear more of.

LCD Soundsytem does this again in their second to last song "Throw."  The beat is awesome, one of the best dance beats I've heard in a long time.  Its really repetitive, but has enough variation to keep a listener interested and builds a lot of tension that dance listeners are always looking for.  Unfortunately, around six minutes into the song, Murphy starts screeching long held notes over the funky beat.  When I first heard this, I almost thought it was a joke because I imagine these vocals as how Towelie from South Park hears himself when he's high.  This is no exaggeration either, you need to hear this.  The vocals in this song are really annoying and don't fit the back beat at all; the bass line is so funky and the drums are quick and fun, but the vocals just sound like some guy who's drunk at karaoke.  On top of that, the notes are held way too long, some going for over 20 seconds; I highly doubt he holds those notes live, much to the appreciation of the audience, I'm sure.

Because I feel like I should give LCD SOundsystem a little bump before finishing off this review, I'll talk about another one of his more successful songs briefly.  "Pow Pow," again, has a good synthesis of dance beats and vocals.  Murphy essentially talks throughout the whole track with little actual singing.  However, all of this works together to create a very unique song that stands out from the rest of his album.  The talking vocals really make you want to listen and the catchy phrases and comparisons he makes within the lyrics (such as "You on the outside/ Me on the inside/ There's advantage to both" and "I have been untied/ And you are all cross-eyed/ There's advantages to each") really suck the listener in.  With all of his creative lyrics though, my favorite has to be "Three, we have a black president and you do not, so shut up, because you don't know shit about where I'm from that you didn't get from your TV," which is incredibly ballsy considering that a large portion of his audience is from the UK.

Overall, LCD Soundsystem has a great album.  The sounds Murphy creates by intertwining electronica-dance and punk are really interesting and its definitely worth a listen.  I would recommend either giving yourself about two hours to listen to this or try to listen to it in chunks.  The album as a whole is only eleven songs long, but takes up nearly eighty minutes (there are only two songs under four minutes long, most being around seven or eight).  I can safely say that after listening to "This Is Happening" I will be downloading more LCD Soundsystem at a later point in time.  The album is good and well deserved of the marks it has received, averaging a Metacritic score of 84.  I definitely enjoyed this album, but I think LCD Soundsystem is stretched a little too far vocally and needs to really try to settle within a few different vocals ranges instead of a different one for nearly every song.  I give it an 82/100.  Take a listen here.

Also, seriously... someone please stop Bieber.

EDIT:  I just realized that "Throw" is an exclusive track on iTunes and maybe the UK version of his album, as is another track, "Oh You (Christmas Blues)."  If anyone wants to listen to those tracks, let me know and I'll get them for you.

Thoughts

 

This video is just a song I've been listening to.  Hopefully I'll be reviewing this album next, but the start of this song really stood out to me, so I thought I'd share it.

I've wanted to start branching out this blog a little bit.  I know I started it mainly to talk about music and to review albums and whatnot, but I thought I could use it just to talk about stuff in general.  I used to write a lot back when i was a senior in high school.  I had this really eccentric writing style, which, as far as I know, was a little hard to read and follow.  Even though it was a bit unorganized and awkward syntax wise it was really cathartic for me just to write.  I probably won't be as expressive as I was in my own private journal here on my blog, but I figure writing in general can only help.

Its been nice to read Becca's blog and see her just talk about things in general.  She's not writing for anyone except herself.  There's no direct message to anyone in most of her posts, she just wants to share.  If people want to read, they will, if not, that's okay.  I've been one of those people that's been lucky enough to read.  

I realized I've started seeing the world a lot differently than I used to.  A few years ago, I had a very spiritual mind set.  I tried to take in as much as I could: trees, clouds, rain, cars, buildings, sounds, smells.  Now, however, how I see the world has closed off from that a bit.  I tend to be caught up in my head a bit more, just thinking about things.  Another thing that has happened is that I start seeing the world in patterns.  I was driving home tonight in the rain and noticed how, every time I went under a street light, the pattern of rain drops on my windshield changed.  Some times it was really organized and linear but other times it had blotches and was more chaotic.

This sort of epiphany helped me to realize that artists really do see the world differently than everyone else.  Not just visual artists like me, but all artists: musicians, writers, photographers, sculptors, architects, chefs, all of them.  Its kind of fun to think about it that way in all honesty.  I can't imagine what it would be like seeing the world from a different perspective.  But, then again, I guess everyone sees the world differently.  I'd like to start taking everything in like I used to.  For some reason, when I was able to do that, it really put me at ease about everything.  Everything just seemed in order, everything was in its place.

How do you see the world?

Guilty Pleasures #2

You know you have more...

Alright, now that my blog has a nice, new face lift, I decided I should go ahead and write something.  I'm a bit empty right now as far as new albums go to review, but hopefully I'll be able to put up a couple on my days off next week.  If anyone has any suggestions of things I should listen to or things they want me to review, please, feel free to toss them out there; I'm open to anything.

On to what this post is about, however, guilty pleasures.  In my last post I talked about Britney Spears, Fallout Boy, and The Ying Yang Twins.  Little to my surprise, once I let the idea of "guilty musical pleasures" sink in, several other things came rushing to me.  I figure I should save some in case I ever need to make a "Guilty Pleasures #3," so for this round, I'm just going to put up another three.

I was trying to think of what order to put these three in and it was a little tough because two of them are certainly things that I have always gotten a semi-negative reaction from.  That being said, I'll put the easy one first: Chris Brown.  Now, I know some people were turned off by him once he beat Rihanna to hell, but others weren't.  I was one of those people that wasn't.  Now, its not that I'm condoning him beating her or condoning the hitting of women, but artists do stupid shit a lot and while this affects their popularity, they're still artists.  God only knows how many rock and roll artists have been charged with abuse or domestic violence; damn near everyone of them does drugs at least.  The only thing that pissed me off about Chris Brown beating Rihanna (outside of her looking like the ShamWow guy got his hands on her) was that his entire album after the event was about her.  She's already stated that she doesn't want to be with him and, personally, I don't blame her.  Yeah, yeah, do that song about how sorry you are, but make a decent album outside of that.  Nearly every single song in this album can be drawn back to Rihanna in some way, shape, or form.  His album "Graffiti" (2009) wasn't terribly bad, but it definitely wasn't good (Also, it quite possibly has some of the worst album art ever).

More to the point, I do enjoy listening to his bad music.  He has a pretty good voice and his songs are pretty catchy.  One thing I really do like about Chris Brown is the people he collaborates with, Big Boi and Lupe Fiasco among them.  He's fun to listen to and I'll admit it, but he needs to stop whining and go bang one of the other million women who still want him after the Rihanna debacle.  In fact, I'm sure there's even some male suitors out there for Mr. Brown.

Alright, now, which one of my last two will be my number two?  Hmmm... this is tough.  Should I make you question my sexuality or throw up first?  Which would you prefer?  Well, since no one is reading as I write, I'm going to chose for you.  You're going to throw up.  Are you ready?  

My second guilty pleasure, my number two: Limp Bizkit.  Boy, oh boy, does that bring back some memories, haha.  I can't even begin to tell you how into Limp Bizkit I was when I was in 4th-6th grade.  Not only were they my favorite band, but get this, me and two friends of mine were planning on making a band INSPIRED by Limp Bizkit.  Who in particular was I inspired by you say?  Was it their relatively talented guitarist Wes Borland aka Monkey Face?  No.  Was it their DJ, DJ Lethal?  No.  It was god damn Fred Durst.  Yeah, that's right, Fred Durst was my hero for a good two years.  Not until I got into high school did I realize he was a pedophile thanks to Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's one hit wonder "I Keed" where Triumph states: "And yet you're too old for Fred Durst to desire/ He's checking out the cast of Lizzie McGuire/ Soon Fred will try to get Mandy Moore/ To open for him and I don't mean on tour!"  At that point I started to reconsider ever having listened to Limp Bizkit.  For some reason though, I can't stop enjoying them.  I'm not saying that I listen to them every single day of my life, that, in fact, would most likely give me cancer.  When they do come on on shuffle, however, seven times out of ten, I'll stop and listen.  Now, I would never ask you to listen to Limp Bizkit for fear that you would never read my blog again, but I do think that if you were ever in your life to listen to Limp Bizkit you should listen to their rendition of "Behind Blue Eyes" which Fred Durst did for Halle Berry's 2003 release "Gothika."  I know its a cover of The Who, but at least listen to it before you entirely dismiss it.

*Thanks to Miss Becca Skinner for telling me how to embed videos from YouTube.  She has an amazing blog, which you really should check out: Thoughts about Rocks & other valuable things*

Hey, after watching that, you have to give props to Fred Durst for even touching Halle Berry let alone making out with her. Alright, and now we come down to it, my third and final guilty pleasure.  What I hear most often from people when I tell them that I like Limp Bizkit is, "Why do you listen to that crap?"  What I hear most often from people when I tell them I listen to my third guilty pleasure is, "You're gay, right?"  My third guilty pleasure is Mr. Justin Timberlake himself.  Now, personally, I think JT is great... well, once he went solo at least.  In 'N Sync he was a total creep with his white boy fro and obviously lack of swag.  However, once he had openly deflowered Britney Spears and gone solo, he changed a lot.  He had a new look and early on in his career discovered some beat boxing talent, something I also discovered in 7th grade, memorizing every beat box part in his song "Rock Your Body" from his 2002 release "Justified."  He was part of the Janet Jackson Super Bowl XXXVIII Half-time Show scandal without getting any of the heat and he even hooked up with Janet on top of that;  I have to say that's pretty sly.  He's also been with another hot lady that is easily in my top 5, Scarlett Johansson.  JT is a big playboy and he knows how to get around.

I'm definitely into his music, especially his last album "Futuresex/Lovesounds" (2007).  He's always been known for his high hitting notes and stellar performing abilities.  JT always puts on a great show where ever he performs, whether it be the MTV Music Video Awards or even the New York Live Garden Show, singing a duet with Beyonce.  More recently, he hasn't been doing much in terms of his own solo career, but rather has been helping out other artists such as Timbaland, T.I., and an up and coming pop star Esmee Denters.  On top of that, the best thing he's done in the past year is parody "Single Ladies" on SNL.  Its quite possibly one of the best SNL skits of all time, at least in the Top 25.  Let me tell you, Justin Timberlake is one hot biscuit.

justin timberlake snl beyonce single ladies video

So, there you are, my Guilty Pleasures #2.  Again, if anyone has any music they want me to check out, feel free to hit me up on here or on Facebook.  Also, let me know, what's your guilty pleasure?

Why Shock Value II Isn't as Good as the First

"Oh, Timbaland, where you gon' run to?"

I cannot tell you how disappointed I was once "Shock Value II" (2009) by Timbaland came out.  Now, as far as ratings go, "Timbaland Presents Shock Value" (2007) didn't do much better, it had an overall score of 54 whereas "Shock Value II" only dropped four points to a 50.  However, there are three reasons in particular why Timbaland's second round of Shock Value isn't as good as his first.

1. Beats

To start off light, Timba's beats aren't nearly as catchy as in his first album.  He had fun playful beats in songs like "The Way I Are" and "Give It To Me," he had heavier beats in songs like "Bounce" and "Apologize," not to mention his incredibly unique beats in songs like "Oh, Timbaland" and "Bombay."  His second album however really is lacking in this department outside of a select few songs ("Carry Out" and "If We Ever Meet Again" among them). 

2. "Oh my goodness, [Timbaland has] built in auto-tune!" (Name the song and you win forever)

This second point bothered me a lot.  Timbaland had a few different songs in his first album where he used auto-tune, but it was relatively limited.  For the most part he rapped and was pretty good at it.  To put it in perspective for you, in his first album he uses it a few times, maybe three times, the only stand out song being his hit "The Way I Are;" even then, its very subtle and adds more of a vibrato if anything.  In his second album, Timbaland uses auto-tune heavily in eight different songs, not to mention lightly in several others; the album only has 17 tracks in total, you do the math.  Why is Timbaland using auto-tune so heavily?  Well, as far as I can gather from listening to the album its because he wants to sing.  His first album only had a few instances where he really relied on singing, whether it be verses or choruses.  In his second album, in nearly every song, either a verse or chorus has Timbaland singing with the help of auto-tune.  You're not T-Pain, Timba, there's a reason why people respect you more than him, but you're tarnishing you're reputation.

3. Guest Appearances

This, in my opinion, is what hurt Timbaland's second album the most.  In Timbaland's first album, you could tell right away that he knew EVERYONE.  He had collaborators that were familiar faces, such as Justin Timberlake, Kari Hilson, and Nelly Furtado, to ones that were completely out of left field, like Elton John, The Hives, and M.I.A.  Now, while some of these people return in his second album (namely the familiar faces), Timba has a completely different list of guest appearances.  Let me name a few for you: Jojo, Drake, Chad Kroeger (lead singer of Nickelback), Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, The Fray, Daughtry, Jet.  Do you notice a patern?  Each of these artists has had some sort of break in the MTV mainstream culture.  Jojo was a teen sensation a few years ago, Katy Perry broke out onto MTV last year, Daughtry originated from American Idol, and we don't need to mention Miley Cyrus.  Timbaland has taken a drastic turn towards the pop scene and left his creative sound in the dust.  Where on his first album he used Elton John's piano styling and The Hives abrasive yet unique sound to create new and exciting tracks, in his second he tries to appeal to what is "now."  Drake is a new pop hip-hop artists that is "now" (How do I know this?  He was on a Sprite commercial) and Miley Cyrus is currently, and regrettably, the face of teenage girls across America.  

Now, in all fairness, after listening to "Shock Value II" over the past couple of days, its not nearly as bad as what I had first thought and that's probably because I had really, REALLY high expectations.  I thought "Carry Out" was a stupid track, but after comparing it to "Bounce" from his first album, I realized they were counterparts.  I can't help but laugh when Timbaland compares a woman to an IHOP.  Secondly, although I don't approve of his turning towards more "now" guest appearances, some don't do a terrible job, namely Katy Perry and, as much as I hate to say it, Miley Cyrus (her song is set-up much better for her than are the songs for Chad Kroeger and Daughtry, which are unimpressive to say the least).  Overall, Timbaland really needs to go back to finding a unique sound rather than what's "now."  His first album was so unique and creative that it deserves more credit than it originally received.  Also, I cannot stress this enough, LAY OFF THE AUTO-TUNE!  Its fun sometimes, yes, but not for nearly every single song.  Remember where you came from Timba: You're an excellent producer and not a half bad rapper, however, singing is not in the cards for you.  I hope Shock Value III is better than II.  With that being said, I would highly recommend listening to "Timbaland Presents: Shock Value."  Take a listen here and if you really want to, "Shock Value II" is here.

"Timbaland Presents: Shock Value": 87/100

"Shock Value II": 58/100

The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book

The Rock is the shining moment of this album.  That's right, The Rock.

Surprisingly enough, this is the first hip-hop album I've ever reviewed.  Being someone who listens to a larger amount of hip-hop than anything else, I found this surprising.  Here we go though, my first hip-hop review.  I've been seeing Wyclef Jean everywhere and I was curious as to what his music sounded like so I downloaded one of his more popular albums "The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book" (2000). Although its not his highest rated album (that would be "Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant" (2007) scoring a 72 overall), scoring mixed reviews ranging from 91 as the high and 20 as a low with an average of 67, it still seems to be Wyclef's first major album that brought him attention after his split from The Fugees in 1997.  

Overall, the first thing you notice when looking at the album is that Wyclef definitely knows people.  He has several different people (not artists) featuring on his album, including Mary J. Blige, Earth, Wind, & Fire, Whitney Houston, Kenny Rogers (yes, that Kenny Rogers), and, the reason I said people, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson;  Yes, Wyclef Jean has a track with The Rock on it.  Surprisingly enough, the song that The Rock features on, titled "It Doesn't Matter," is actually really catchy and The Rock is limited enough on the track that it doesn't seem like some sort of gimmick.  

A lot of Wyclef's songs are very hit or miss.  Most of his songs in which he raps are very solid and even on the track "However You Want It," his flow sounds a lot like that of Mos Def from his track "New World Water" from the album "Black on Both Sides."  Where Wyclef has a fairly good flow with decent subject matter (although his line "Wake up, wake up, I'm in a nightmare dream" makes me want to throw up), the same cannot be said for his singing.  His vocals are rough and although he does sound passionate, its not very good.  Singing is something Wyclef should definitely keep to a minimum on this album, however, the tracks are almost split 50/50 with rapping and singing (He should take a hint from Eminem who tried to sing on his album "The Eminem Show," but kept the singing to one track, "Hailie's Song").  The worst among these tracks has to be "911" which features Mary J. Blige.  This track is especially disappointing because, although I'm not a huge fan of Mary J. Blige, she does an incredible job on this track.  However, with each verse, Wyclef and Blige switch off singing.  Wyclef attempts to sing within the same vocal ranges as Blige and all that comes out are flat, sharp, and off key notes.  Had this been a song that alternated between Blige's vocals and Wyclef's rapping it would have been a significantly more enjoyable track.

The entire first half of "The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book"  is pretty good.  The rapping is consistent and even the track with Kenny Rogers isn't half bad.  However, once the album hits the track "Perfect Gentleman," the album takes a dive bomb.  "Perfect Gentleman" is close to the worst song I have ever heard in my life;  Its at least a lot less than what I expected from Wyclef Jean.  The beat is terrible, combining a subtle symphony with a drum machine beat on top and it easily has the worst chorus in the world: "Just 'cuz she dances go-go/ It don't make her a ho, no/ Maxine, put your red shoes on, hon/ We going to the disco/ We gonna eeeeelope to Meeeexico/ Called up my mama, said I'm in love with this strippah, yo."  Really?  "Just 'cuz she dances go-go/ It don't make her a ho, no" as a hook?  Terrible, terrible.  Not to mention the way its sung makes it even worse.  

Overall, Wyclef does a good job on this album, but only insofar as his rapping goes.  His singing is warm and heartfelt, but its so rough that its incredibly hard to listen to.  "It Doesn't Matter" featuring The Rock and "However You Want It" really save this album.  These two tracks should be a guideline for how all of Wyclef's albums should be.  He needs to stay away from singing unless he takes lessons and learns what pitch is.  That being said, this album is good, but only half of it.  I give it a 60/100.  Take a listen here.

The ArchAndroid

"Tip on the tightrope"

Janelle Monae comes to the stage with an incredibly successful album release in 2010 with "The ArchAndroid," which is a continuation of her 2007 EP "Metropolis Street I of IV: The Chase," which follows the story of Cindi Mayweather, an android she introduces in the EP.  With Big Boi from Outkast mentoring and collaborating with her on this album, she has a solid rap background, but even so, she manages to jump to a pop/gospel/funk sound with seamless effort.  I can easily say that I did not expect much at all from this album.  I feel like female singers pop up every so often that have these great voices, but don't do anything incredibly special with them.  The last female vocalist I was really impressed by in terms of creativity was Regina Spektor.  Now, Monae is no Spektor, not to say Spektor is better, but they're in completely different fields entirely.  Where Spektor is unique because of her quirkiness, Monae is unique because of her intense vocal and instrumental experimentation.

Monae's single for the album is titled "Tightrope" which features a rap from Big Boi.  The music video for this song is what made me give Monae a chance.  In watching the video, she's incredibly different looking, but very entertaining.  Her sound is unique and although she seems like she would be one of those knockout singers who would just stand in front of you in a pretty dress and belt her lungs out, she presents an entirely different persona.  She seems fun and energetic and this song emulates that perfectly.  "Tightrope" is a very fun song and I'm sure it is the standout favorite among listeners.

What is most surprising about Monae is her versatility in sound, which can best be seen in comparing her songs "Cold War" and "Oh, Maker."  In the former, Monae has very gospel like singing, with long held notes and an intense chorus.  In "Cold War" Monae sounds very reminiscent of Cee-lo from Gnarls Barkley, calling to mind most "Transformer" and "Storm Coming" from Barkley's hit debut album "St. Elsewhere."  Only three songs later, however, Monae sings "Oh, Maker," which starts out with a very soft beat, with an almost indie sound.  Then, a steady bass line drops in with some simple percussion and backup singing while Monae starts to belt a little more.  Suddenly the indie feel (sounding very similar to Panic at the Disco's most recent release) turns into an rhythm and blues sort of feel.  Monae's ability to transform her sound on a dime and, furthermore, be able to pull it off without sounding awkward or wrong is incredible.  As Metacritic put it, "Monáe playfully leaps from cabaret to gospel to rap with a versatility that would make mentor/collaborator Big Boi’s head spin," a statement that could not be more true.

Another song to mention would have to be "Come Alive (War of the Roses)," which is Monae's most experimental song vocally.  The harshness of her voice and almost anger and despair she presents puts the listener on the edge of their seat.  The funky baseline, however, keeps the listener interested and even though the vocals are somewhat cacophonous, the funky instrumentals help to make a perfect synthesis of sound.  Although Monae has this radical experimentation in her album, she manages to keep some of her songs more mainstream to draw in a more traditional audience with songs such as "Faster" (a very poppy song) and "Dance or Die" (a more traditional hip-hop song).

Monae's versatility is incredibly impressive and there's more on her album I could go on and on about such as the quirky "Wodnaland" (something I personally think should have been on the "Alice in Wonderland OST" in place of some of the bullshit that was on there *cough* Avril Lavigne *cough*).  Monae, throughout the entire album only lost me at one point, which was with the last two songs of the album; both are roughly eight and six minutes long respectively, but sound so similar that they merge into one fourteen minute epic.  Its the only time I looked at my iPod confused as to whether or not the song had changed; with so much versatility in her album, I didn't expect the same sound for more than four or five minutes.

Monae received high reviews from Chicago Tribune (100), Entertainment Weekly (91), and Pitchfork (85) with an overall Metacritic score of 90, the highest rated album of 2010 so far.  I would highly, highly recommend "The ArchAndroid" to anyone who enjoys music.  Every song may not appeal to you, but with how experimental Monae is, its almost impossible that she won't have at least one or two songs you won't enjoy.  Overall, I have to give "The ArchAndroid" a 94.  Take a listen to it here.

"Tightrope" video

Brothers

 "Loving you, baby child..."
Let me just start off by saying that I found out about The Black Keys WAY too late.  I consider myself pretty up to date with solid artists that are out there.  A couple of my friends had mentioned them and said how great they were and I had no idea who they were talking about.  A few times I actually said, "Do you mean The Black Kids?"  No, they didn't, The Black Keys are an entirely different band.  Their new album "Brothers" was one of the more highly anticipated albums for early 2010 and it did not disappoint.  The duo of Daniel Auerbach and Patrick Carney got high scores from reviewers such as Entertainment Weekly (83), Rolling Stone (80), and Pitchfork (77) with an overall Metacritic score of 81, putting it just into the range of a "great" album.

I was originally interested in The Black Keys because of their different rock sound.  At times they sound a little bit like The White Stripes (part of this is likely due to the guitar and drum combination) drawing certain influences from blues and other genres that Jack White has also including in his playing style.  The first album of theirs I listened to was "Attack and Release," which is a great album you should also listen too.  At first I was worried I wasn't going to find any hidden gems in "Brothers" because there are a few songs off of "Attack and Release" (2008) that I really enjoy (its one of the few albums I can listen to over and over again without getting sick of it).  "Brothers," however, undoubtedly has more gems.  This might be because it has four more tracks than "Attack and Release", but that's beside the point.  "Brothers" is easily the duos best album to date.

"Brothers" has an overwhelming feeling of love throughout the album.  Whether its family ties or romantic relationships, most of the songs on the album deal with love from one angle or another.  The Black Keys have released two music videos so far from this album, "Tighten Up" and "Next Girl."  "Tighten Up" can be argued as a sort of love ballad.  It has a fun, bouncy beat with some light hearted whistling at the start of the song.  Auerbach's vocals really help to emphasize a feeling of infatuation the person singing the song has for his "baby child" (arguably my favorite line in the song, mainly because it reminds me of Nicholas Cage in Kick Ass: Hit Girl: "Mhmm... but getting shot, Daddy... it hurt a lot more than when you did it." Big Daddy: "That's because I used low velocity rounds, child... he... he.."; Priceless).  The video they produced for the song even further emphasizes this point, not to mention its a hilarious, endearing video.  "Next Girl" has a bit of a different tone, talking about some whore or so I assume.  It has a heavier beat to it with Auerbach singing "My next girl will be nothing like my ex girl."  Clearly he's torn up about it and is bitter about the break so much so that he begins to blame himself for it.  However, he does see the light in the situation, claiming that "I made mistakes back then, I'll never do it again," and "That was a painful dance and I got a second chance."  The music video for this is out of this world.  Probably the best, most hilarious video I have ever seen in my entire life.  Where "Tighten Up" sort of put the song into context, this video does nothing of the sort.  I would describe it to you, but I'd rather you just watch it and be taken back (I'll include links to the videos at the end of the review).

After having watched both of those videos, I had no idea how hilarious The Black Keys were.  They're definitely an awkward looking bunch, what with Auerbach's mountain man beard and Carney's lanky, almost cartoon-like presence, and that's hilarious in and of itself, but these videos really bring a different light to the group.  However, in saying that, they also have a serious side that isn't in either of the videos they have released for this album.  The best example of this is "Never Gonna Give You Up," which is significantly better than Rick Astley's song of the same title.  This song talks about how the singer can't give up the girl he's with.  No matter what she does, no matter how she treats him, he will never give her up; she's like a drug and he can't quit her, sort of like how Jake Gyllenhaal can't quit Heath Ledger... well, I guess he can now, haha... too soon?  Anyway, the song really makes  you feel for the guy and Auerbach's vocals only strengthen the sentiment.  

Overall, "Brothers" is a solid album.  They manage to keep the flavor that makes them unique while still having a vast amount of variety within the album itself.  Each song has its own personal message and each one can mean a lot to someone.  My personal favorite song off of the album would have to be "Ten Cent Pistol."  It is by far the most unique sounding song and has the most interesting subject matter.  The steady and subtle drum beat accompanied by the twangy guitar riffs almost hearken to a Western sort of atmosphere.  The album also does a good job of setting up a sort of story and atmosphere, starting with the upbeat "Everlasting Light" and ending with the very slow and somber "These Days."  The Black Keys keep true to their roots through "Brothers," yet manage to bring back the unique sound we heard in their 2004 release of "Rubber Factory," their highest reviewed album to date until "Brothers" was released (both scored an 81).  I would highly, highly recommend this album to anyone who has yet to listen to The Black Keys.  It is easily the best album they have ever released.  They seem to be getting more popular as well, which makes me happy, I just hope they don't pull a "Kings of Leon."  I give the album a 92/100.  Take a listen to it here.

 "Tighten Up" video
"Next Girl" video