March August Madness!
There are a surprising number of releases coming out this month that I’m looking forward to. Outkast, J. Dilla, The Roots, Pete Yorn and even Masta Killa all have albums due this month that I’m really kind of excited about.
Oh and I’ll probably pick up Pharrell and Method Man while I’m out.
Man, if you’d told me ten years ago and I’d be more excited about Masta Killa’s latest than Method Man’s I’d have said you were crazy. Yet here we are.
In Praise Of
Three years ago I detailed my beef with R&B. But now three years later, I’m much more mellow and I’ve decided to rave about what’s tickled my musical fancy this past week.
Sufjan Stevens – I really think that I’ve got a bit of a crush on Sufjan. Not a sexually crush, but an intellectual one. I’m completely enamored with ability to craft narratives that seem to embody the spirit of geographical locations. I swear if I wasn’t saving money at the moment, I’d have picked up his non-geographical albums.
He really creates characters that I believe existed. Once again, I’ve got to thank my best friend, Jason Torres for putting me down this cat’s music. If it wasn’t for Jason I’d be pretty oblivious about this dudes genius. Good look.
But he’s way in heavy rotation. I’m not sick of him, but I want to pull him for rotation because he’s hogging too much of my attention.
Radiohead – Whenever I need to cleanse my mental musical palette I listen to Radiohead’s albums. I listen to one album a day and that clears everything out. And this isn’t just for my musical palette; I also do this when I’m feeling down on the industry, like I’ve been feeling lately.
Oddly enough Radiohead picks me up. Oh and I’ve been loving The Eraser.
The Roots – In preparation for Game Theory I’ve broken out all of my albums from The Roots. I’m a longtime fan of The Roots and I’ve heard good things about the album.
I’m certainly looking forward to hearing what they do without expectations for making a radio single. It’s really cool to hear the progression of The Roots over the years. With that in my mind it almost makes me even more hungry for Game Theory.
Ghostface – I’ve been down on Hip Hop lately, but listening to Ghostface picks those spirits right up. I’ve been bumping the hell out of The Broiled Salmon Mixtape and Hidden Darts III.
Listening to his stuff makes me ever more of a fan of Ghosts and I was already a fan. I’m pretty sure that Ghost is underrated as an MC, as I rarely see anyone mention him in their “Top Five.” Allow me to say it bluntly; Ghost is sick.
Tha Alkaholiks – Firewater – This final album has really grown on me. Tash is another underrated MC. He’s so clever and has such a swagger; he’s like Cam’ron is Cam was actually trying.
The beats are dope and the rhymes are tight. Usually break up albums are from groups past their prime (ATCQ), but the ‘Liks went out in peak form.
Eddie Murphy – Party All the Time – I’ve already gone on record as saying this is a great video, but allow me to reiterate it. This is a great video.
It’s possibly Eddie Murphy’s greatest achievement as an actor, (and yes, I’m even counting Pluto Nash.) First off, I believe that Eddie is actually recording the song as the camera’s roll. Furthermore I actually believe that those are his handclaps on the record.
But perhaps most importantly I honestly believe that he’s holding that note.
It was really all downhill for Eddie after that video.
Bold
Shawn sold 700 CD’s, from his personal collection!
Gloomchen dissects unsigned bands.
Italics
Ian covers solos and new band members.
Phil covers Hip Hop.
Five Artists That Need Sophomore Albums Released
1. Styles P.
2. Joe Budden
3. Freeway
4. Cody ChesnuTT
5. Res
