05.14.09

There has been so much music coming out over the past few months that I’ve been neglecting a lot of album reviews for the simple fact that I don’t have a whole lot of time. By the time I finally sit down to do an album writeup, there’s 4 or 5 other albums that have my interest. It’s a blessing and a curse to live in this digital age, as we have so much great music right at our fingertips, but not enough time to digest and enjoy it before something new comes along. This especially a problem for someone like me, who loves collecting EVERYTHING. So for the sake of catching up with myself and saving myself time in the future (although a few of these reviews I have half-done already, but am scrapping in favor of this format), here is part one of all of the albums fit for coverage – now in bite size:

March 10, 2009

Album: The Truth is Here EP
Artist: Brother Ali
Label: Rhymesayers Entertainment
Featured Artists: Slug of Atmosphere
Featured Producers: ANT
Analysis: Another nice release from Brother Ali, with sole production from Atmosphere’s ANT.  At nine songs long, you forget that this is only an EP, and that a full LP is coming in the 4th quarter of the year. It’s long for an EP, but still short enough to stay juicy without many lulls in the action. The Truth is Here is worth the attention of real hip hop fans, and definitely worth the attention of those who’ve never heard his stuff before.
Highlights: ‘Phillistine David’, Talkin My Shit’, ‘The Believers’
Rating: 8.0

March 17, 2009

Album: All in a Day’s Work
Artist: Saigon & Statik Selektah
Label: Amalgam Digital
Featured Artists: none
Featured Producers: Statik Selektah
Analysis: Most rap music already feels too rushed and lackadaisical as it is. I’m talking about the guys who write their verses within five minutes (and some who don’t write anything at all), just to rely on the production and use their own words as filler. I’m not saying that Saigon is that type of artist, but to be able to put an entire album together in one day doesn’t do much to fight the “rap is easy” argument. Sai actually is a talented artist though, just not all too interesting of one. Thankfully he has the excellent production of Statik Selektah to fall back on here. At the end of the day though, the album really does feel hurried and All in a Day’s Work is a classic example of just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should.
Highlights: ‘So Cruel’, ‘The Rules’
Rating: 5.5

March 24, 2009

Album: The Hazards of Love
Artist: The Decemberists
Label: Capitol Records
Analysis: Concept albums only work when all of the music is good. You can’t ask me to sit through a 60 minute musical story and actually follow what is happening unless you are making music that is keeping my attention. This is the problem on The Hazards of Love, for me. For perspective, I loved The Crane Wife. But on their latest, I found myself wanting to doze off on nearly half the songs. Not to mention the guest vocals by Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond and Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond (any female-led bands without “diamond” in the name?), who both have nice voices and all, but I don’t want to listen to them. Do we really need to hear multi-voiced characters? Lead singer Colin Meloy would have been better off taking on the role of everyone, and I think it would have made a much better, more concise album.
Highlights: ‘A Bower Scene’, ‘Won’t Want for Love (Margaret In the Taiga)’, ‘The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All)’, ‘Annan Water’
Rating: 6.0

Album: Born Like This
Artist: DOOM
Label: Lex Records
Featured Artists: Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Slug, Bumpy Knuckles, Kurious, Mobonix, Empress Stahr
Featured Producers: DOOM, J Dilla, Jake One, Madlib
Analysis: DOOM is known for his free-association rhymes, super villian obsession, and sinister unconventional beats. He’s one of the strangest, but most fascinating artists in hip hop today and Born Like This translates similarly. DOOM is like the Wu-Tang member who never was, rattling off gruff rhymes over damp, dark & sludgy music. None of the lyrics feel like they have any sort of purpose, but if you can hand-shovel through the muck, it’s a raw listen that is unlike anything else out right now.
Highlights: ‘Gazzillion Ear’, ‘Yessir!’, ‘Absolutely’, ‘Angelz’, ‘That’s That’
Rating: 7.5

Album: Technicolor Health
Artist: Harlem Shakes
Label: Gigantic Records
Analysis: Harlem Shakes have only recently come under my radar, and I’m glad that they came across my plate. Technicolor Health is a shiny, jangly indie pop/rock record with breezy melodies and catchy tracks that actually stand out from the large number of groups making similar music. Tracks like ‘Strictly Game’ and ‘Sunlight’ would be crazy hits if there were anything right in this industry, but there isn’t, so for now they’re just to be enjoyed by those of us ahead of the mainstream curve.
Highlights: ‘Strictly Game’, ‘TFO’, ‘Niagra Falls’, ‘Sunlight’, ‘Technicolor Health’
Rating: 7.5

Album: Crack the Skye
Artist: Mastodon
Label: Reprise Records
Analysis: I don’t think I’ll be pissing off any metal fans out there by saying that Mastodon is the best metal band in the country today. Dueling singers Troy Sanders and Brent Hinds’ vocals can hang with the best, and that includes Ozzy, Dio & Wylde. The guitars are maniacal; sweeping and spiralling all over the record, most especially on standout single ‘Divinations‘ which feels like a windstorm of amazing. Crack the Skye is heavy enough to be considered “brutal”, but melodic enough to be enjoyed and understood. At only six tracks, it still clocks in at just over 50 minutes, so you should already know that there is some epic, out-of-this-world shit going down here. It’s a highly recommended album for anyone struggling to find some good progressive metal these days, as I was.
Highlights: ‘Divinations’
Rating: 8.5

Part 2 coming soon. I have a lot to catch up on.

05.04.09

Song: Cloud 9 [ft. Marsha Ambrosius]
Artist: Slum Village
Album: unknown
Label: Barak Records
Producer: unknown
Notes: 1st single from LP
Analysis: While no official album has been announced yet, Slum Village is back to putting out material as a group after a brief hiatus. T3, Baatin, Elzhi & now late producer J Dilla’s younger brother Illa J are the names, but I’m sure there’s still enough Dilla instrumentals to rhyme over to still consider him a member. On ‘Cloud 9′, the sound is a bit less subtle than some of their earlier work (probably due to Marsha Ambrosius’ guest singing rather than a vocal sample use), but it’s still a nice representation of what made the group underground legends in the first place. The boys rhyme over a slick piano loop about, what else, fly women. Aside from one or two corny lines (the ‘just call me Real like Chance brother’ line, I’m embarrassed to recognize as an I Love New York reference), everyone brings it like they should. It’s exciting to hear some new Slum Village after over four years away from recording together, and even if ‘Cloud 9′ isn’t their best stuff, it’s exciting to think about what kind of dope music is in the works.
Rating: 7.5
Source: Nah Right

04.22.09

Song: Reality Check [ft. Black Thought]
Artist: J Dilla
Album: Jay Stay Paid
Label: Nature Sounds
Producer: J Dilla
Notes: none
Analysis: Dilla’s music is still living on three years after his death, with a new collaboration album coming out this summer. On ‘Reality Check’, The Roots’ frontman Black Thought crams in the most reality tv show references in a song in the history of hip hop. The always-energetic Thought expresses disappointment in Americans watching so much reality television, with so much history-in-the-making, for better or worse,  going on around us. All of your favorite shows get name-dropped, both the pure “entertainment” shows and the grittier A&E/History Channel docu-dramas:

My head’s so spinnin’,
I’m so through with women
who watch reruns of The Real World with dinner.
And Kim Kardashian, moms and Bruce Jenner.
And Three 6 Mafia show and Jerry Springer.
Scott Baio, 46 and Knocked Up
I’d rather see The First 48 and Locked Up.

Over a “motherfuckin’ neck breakin’ Dilla beat” as Pete Rock introduces it as the beginning of the clip, Black Thought electrifies an otherwise corny concept, and knocks it out of the park. I’m intrigued to see who else will pop up on Jay Stay Paid, but I wouldn’t be mad at some more Roots collabos.
Rating: 8.0
Source: Nah Right

01.01.09

I was skeptical at first of the intentions of this mixtape. I am quite sure that Termanology & late producer J Dilla (who passed in 2006) have never previously collaborated. Neither of them share any song credits to my knowledge, and at first I was afraid that the relatively-new MC was somehow capitalizing on the trend of saluting Dilla, who has become more known in death than he was in life. In 2007, Busta Rhymes also released a free mixtape called Dilla-gence, providing new vocals over unreleased Dilla beats, but they had been frequent collaborators throughout their careers. How can someone give a tribute to another person who they’ve never even known? If heaven was a mile away, would J Dilla even know who Termanology was? Then I remembered how good an album Termanology’s Politics as Usual was this past year. And I remembered how Term is one of the nicest upcoming artists in the hip hop world, and how his raw, energetic style is remeniscent of early New York rap that we’ve been badly missing for years now. So I started looking at this mixtape in a different light. Term is simply just a fan.

Termanology, who in my opinion sounds best over DJ Premier beats, sounds very at home with Dilla providing the soundtrack. He matches the lighter, smoother tracks like ‘Spazz Out’ with a lighter, smoother flow. And when Dilla calls for harder, heavier vocals like on ‘Circulate (100 Bars)’, and ‘What Type of Money’, Term is right there with him, and you can tell he is having a good time with it all. ‘She Wants a SuperSTar’ is one of my favorite tracks musically on the album, with a cool upbeat sped-up sample, and retardedly named members (SuperSTah Snuk & Ea$y Money) of Termanology’s equally retardedly named ST. da Squad join him. But all three guys hold the track down really well, with an ode to starfuckers. Bonus track ‘Bars 4 the Stars’ features the criminally underrated Reks, and Skyzoo, who kicks one of the best lines on the album (what’s the furthest galaxy you can name? I’m aiming beyond that). The beat is probably my favorite on If Heaven; a nice head-nodder with DJ Statik Selektah cutting in a classic Notorious B.I.G. sample for the hook. Another standout cut is ‘Say It’, which features unneeded, but still welcome help from 5 outstanding MC’s: Sheek Louch, Joell Ortiz, Bun B, Saigon & Freeway. Termanology somehow manages to outshine ALL of them with a rapid-fire, Big Pun-like flow that hits like an onslaught:

I pledge allegiance to beatin’ the shit out of every beat that I’m greeted with immediately, me and Sheek and Joell might as well be Rakim, Kane and LL.

He obviously respects the history of hip hop, and in this new world of ungrateful, ignorant young rappers, Termanology stands out positively. Musically, this album is extraordinary. Dilla’s leftover beats are better than 9 out of 10 beats you will hear anywhere else. But as good as Term compliments the music, this mixtape isn’t much of a “tribute” to Dilla, aside from just utilizing his beats. Sure, there a bunch of “RIP J Dilla”s thrown around, and a few other quick mentions of the late producer, but aside from ‘Pay Jay’, featuring Chaundon, Joe Scudda & Little Brother’s Rapper Big Pooh, none of these songs could really be considered tributes. Does that take away from the enjoying the music? Absolutely not. Like I already said, Termanology is one of the top up and coming emcee’s out right now, and if this is the kind of quality material is he putting out for free, you know this kid is good. J Dilla might not have known who Termanology was during his lifetime, but he obviously influenced Term in some way, which turned out this excellent mixtape album. If Heaven Was a Mile Away (A Tribute to J Dilla) is currently the best release of 2009, and even though we are only one day into the new year, I am certain that it will be at the top of my list for the next 12 months.

Album: If Heaven Was a Mile Away (A Tribute to J Dilla)
Artist: Termanology
Label: Showoff Records
Producers: J Dilla, Statik Selektah
Featured Artists: Bun B, Freeway, Joell Ortiz, Sheek Louch, Saigon, Rapper Big Pooh, Chaundon, Joe Scudda, Skyzoo, Reks, Smif N Wessun, & ST. da Squad
Highlights: ‘Say It’, ‘Spazz Out’, ‘Pay Jay’, ‘She Wants a SuperSTar’, ‘Bars 4 the Stars’
Rating: 8.0