Audio, Video, Disco Review

lot has happened to me musically since 2007 when Justice's first album, †, was released. For one, I didn't listen to Justice. I didn't listen to much of anything to be honest outside of hip-hop and R&B. In 2009 I was introduced to Daft Punk and later on, Justice. House quickly became one of my favorite genres and † set the bar for what I was looking for in all electronic music. Two years later, Justice has finally released their sophomore record, Audio, Video, Disco and this is my review.

The album starts with a track called "Horsepower." As it's name suggests, this piece gets the album going strong. It hits you with the dirty sound you've come to love and expect from Justice and lifts the spirits for this album to be more of the same from this group. In some cases, that would be a bad thing. However, when it comes to Justice, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has just been craving more from them. The next track is the first single from AVD entitled "Civilization." Justice introduces some vocals this time but the formula is still pretty much the same. By the time you get into "Ohio" you kinda get the sense that this is a more watered down version of Justice. If this is your first time getting into House music or just this band, you might find this easier to attach to. Of course, I'm always an advocate of diving right into a group's best or first so I'd still recommend †. I have to admit though, I love "Canon." It reminds me of Human After All era Daft Punk the way it repeats the same riffs over and over until you care about them.

By the time "On'n'On" finished, I realized how much I prefer the vocals on †. The childlike sounds of "D.A.N.C.E." and whatever you wanna call Uffie in "Tthhee Ppaarrttyy" have been replaced with the airy, high-pitched male vocals that are so popular these days. "Parade" starts with some strong base but never really goes anywhere. It'll certainly attract the dance fans though. By "Newlands," I was thinking to myself "hey, this is really different?" I didn't even realize it but the direction on AVD is just completely different. It sounds a little more rock-influenced. Pitchfork claims it's prog-rock influenced and I guess I can hear it but I didn't pick that up for myself. They get paid for this shit though, right? I'm doin' this for the love of you people. Anyway, back on topic. "Helix" is kinda what I expected this whole album to sound like. It's still more conventional dance music but it has a Justice tinge. I dig it, and that's as good of a compliment it'll get. AVD finishes with a title track. This was also released as a single so anyone who cares has probably already formed opinions about it. I prefer closing tracks to be a surprise when I first listen to an album but hey, who cares what I want? I'm just a potential customer. My opinions on this song pretty much summarize the whole project. I like it, I don't love it. Will I listen to it again? Definitely. If Justice wants to tour around here I'll definitely try to get into the show. To be honest, I expected to be disappointed but I'm really not. Audio, Video, Disco is a solid album and it shows Justice isn't just some fad who made some mediocre music that crowds attached to. They're serious and I'm fully expecting to be impressed by whatever they release next.

I'm giving Audio, Video, Disco a 1985 White Lamborghini Countach. Just one of 'em though. Chyeah!

Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch The Throne REVIEW (Deluxe Version)

Collaboration between Jay-Z and Kanye West is nothing new (Swagga Like Us (remix), Monster, Run This Town), as the duo are some of the most talented artists in Hip-Hop today. With many Grammy wins, Platinum records, and large followings, the rap group, "The Throne" was born, when these lyrical geniuses collided, Watch the Throne, is the near-perfect-love-child of their efforts.

Kanye West coming off the excellent, "My Twisted, Dark, Beautiful Fantasy", and Jay-Z releasing well recieved "The Blueprint 3" in 2009, nothing but great lyrics, and quality production would be anticipated from their dual efforts. After listening to the album multiple times, I can safely say that this album is the best albums both Kanye West AND Jay-Z (behind College Dropout, and The Blueprint respectively). Watch The Throne sounds so well put together, and just screams detail and quality which isn't surprising, but after every track, I can't stop being surprised.




From the first track, titled "No Church in the Wild", which features Frank Ocean of Odd Future fame (who delivers a great chorus to the track), the album starts on a rapid pace, which only increases throughout the duration of the album. Watch The Throne leads the listener into deep emotional territory in some songs, such as "New Day", where Jay-Z and Kanye address how a good father is something that is hard to be, but how the modern day child need this figure in their young life. This message is only one of the deep thoughts that the Throne drive deep into the audience, leaving them with a sense of spiritual branding from the lyrics. The album stays relatively low on featuring artists, with Frank Ocean, Beyonce, and Mr. Hudson being the only artists on the album besides the duo. This actually helps Watch The Throne reach heights of lyric balance between Jay-Z and West, establishing their great chemistry even further. The whole album is an example to this, but "Otis" and "Gotta Have It" are some of the best examples of this chemistry, as they add on to each others verses, finishing metaphors and adding a sound which is rare in Hip-Hop today.

Speaking of sound, the production of this album is something that is not to be taken for granted, from Q-Tip (Lift Off, Thats My B*tch), to Swizz Beats (Welcome To The Jungle), The Neptunes (Gotta Have It), and RZA (New Day), Pete Rock (The Joy) and Lex Luger (H•A•M) offering their talents, with some of the best production I have ever heard on a rap album, including hard hitting beats (Murder to Excellence), some ballad types (Made in America), some club bangers (Welcome to the Jungle), not to mention the soulful overall tone of the album, which beckons over all 16 tracks (12 in the regular edition). The samples used in this album have reached the peak in mixing soul with rap, creating seamless lyrical fabric, weaving between The Throne, and soul stars as, James Brown, Otis Redding, Syl Johnson, Nina Simone, and Curtis Mayfield.

In the process of writing this review, I tried to find something negative to say about Watch The Throne, from Kanye trying to steal the show to often, not giving Jay-Z enough spotlight, and how that Frank Ocean did not need to be on two whole tracks (No Church in the Wild, and Made in America), that John Legend would have been a better pick. Like Kanye says on Why I Love You, "Too much of a good thing huh?". But as I type in more attacking the album like most reviewers would do in glee, I stop to think, "This album is still fucking amazing, and who gives a shit about duplicating a artist if he is amazing on both tracks, and no one gets overshadowed at all, both artists are even and on the very top of their game" So I end by saying that Watch The Throne is the most complete, well produced and lyrically amazing album I have heard in a long time. Every track sounds different, has it's own flair, from 90's gangsta rap simple beats, to signature Swizz Beats and Neptunes to Kanye's signature "sample happy" production, adding to the melting pot of sounds in Watch The Throne. You have heard it here first, this album is a "mega diverse", well produced collaboration from two of the best artists in Hip-Hop today, which never features a dull song, or a skip-able track.

Normally in a album review you will see songs that are the best on the album, which are recommended, but I think almost every song on Watch the Throne is of the same amazing quality, so I will list my favorites:

1. Niggas In Paris 
2.  Why I Love You
3. Murder To Excellence
4. Gotta Have It
5. Who Gon Stop Me
6. Illest Motherfucker Alive
7. Welcome To The Jungle

You can now purchase the album on iTunes for $14.99, otherwise you can purchase the physical release on August 12th. Best album of the year. Why are you still here? Get it now.

This is Killer, signing out.

Chyeah!

Finally Famous: The Album: The Review

I HATE THIS ALBUM COVER. But that's beside the point...


Kanye West's GOOD Music label has recently been officially accepted into the Def Jam family. The first release under the label after this new partnership is that of Kanye's protégé, Big Sean. Finally Famous is something like Big Sean's version of The College Dropout. He tells his story, backs himself with industry talent, and most importantly, makes something that's going to ensure that he'll be back for another album in the future and quite possibly be a Big name in the industry for a long time.

Maybe I shouldn't compare Finally Famous to College Dropout. I don't want you thinking it's THAT good. It's not changing the game or anything. Sean also has the disadvantage of not being a producer. Obviously when you compose the music to a project you're going to provide the vocals for, you have more control over the overall product. Sean touches on a lot of topics but there aren't a lot of obvious, meaningful themes throughout the entire CD. I would say the album suffers from Sean not being that great of a rapper, but he's streets ahead of a lot of his young competition. He's still somewhat incosistent but the featured artists do manage to shine from start to finish. Pharell, John Legend, Kanye, and Lupe all back Sean in his 12-track story. Dwele and Pusha T can also be found as featured artists on some of the bonus tracks. You'll also find artists like Wiz Khalifa, Rick Ross, Chris Brown, and The-Dream if you're into that sort of thing. Honestly, that's what Finally Famous is all about. It's an album straight from Sean for hip-hop fans of every sort. In the past I've thought of Sean's verses as lazy but now I see that his flow is just really laid back. That's fine but I wish he'd get really angry every once in a while. He does the whole "fuck you" thing like most rappers but I feel like it's coming from a place where he doesn't care about his haters. I want to hear him hate his haters for a second.

Def Jam wants Big Sean to do for hip-hop what Beyonce's done for R&B. Now I'm honestly not exactly sure what that means. If I had to guess, I'd say they want him to have hit after hit after manufactured billboard hit. They want us to get completely sick of seeing and hearing Big Sean. They want us to get tired of him but not hate him, just really not want to hear him ever. I doubt that's what they mean though. They probably just want him to get huge. I'm not sure Finally Famous is going to propel him to that level of popularity but it proves that he can make music the masses will want to listen to. I'm just glad he can do this without becoming a clone of what's been successful for other rappers.

If you've got dreams of being famous, your theme song might be somewhere on Finally Famous. If you're not one of those people, you should still check it out for something to bob your head to. A few of the lines might actually catch you by surprise and you'll probably like something you hear. I'm giving this album 10 Jesus Pieces. CHYEAH!

Bon Iver Review

Last week, the second Bon Iver album was released. This one is self titled for good reason. With For Emma, Forever Ago, a story was being told. The music was a reflection of Justin Vernon's retreat to solitude due to sickness, both physically and emotionally. It was a cold, lonely collection of songs. This time around, Justin and the band have cranked up the volume and put a spin on their sound to make a much more grandiose sophmore album.

Since his debut, Justin Vernon has been all over the music industry. He made a few appearances on Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and was one of the big members of indie supergroup, Gayngs. The group's musical growth is obvious from the very first song, "Perth." I found this song to be almost post-rockesque with it's loud-quiet-dynamics. The guitars and drums were also reminiscent of something you might hear from Mogwai.  From start to finish, we're given grander instrumentation. That difference makes Bon Iver a less "folky" project. It's closer to what you might expect from more traditional indie or even indie rock.

Influences for this album seem to reach across multiple genres and decades. The sounds combine to create an album that's obviously indie without being generic. My only real issue with it is the vocals. While I love Vernon's voice, it's hard to understand what he's saying. Usually I wouldn't care all that much but if his lyrics are nearly as meaningful here as they are on For Emma, then they're completely worth paying attention to. I think it's obvious that Bon Iver is an improvement, musically, but I can't say yet if I like it better. For Emma, Forever Ago was raw emotion unlike most things I've ever heard. Bon Iver is a real album. Regardless of my feelings towards it, it proves that this band is not a one hit wonder. They are not destined to be defined by the hit success of their first album. Expect these guys to be around for a while, leading the way in the indie scene.

Favorite track: Perth. Check it out here.

Goblin by Tyler, the Creator. Review.

Goblin leaked and I never had any intention on buying it so I downloaded it. I told Turbo that if I didn't hate it I'd review it. Well, this is that. Goblin review. Enjoy.

If you don't know Tyler, he's the frontman of hip-hop collective OFWGKTA. He's one of their better rappers and easily the most charismatic of the group. This is the first Odd Future project that is being released by a label for profit. I haven't listened to all of their stuff but I have heard Tyler's mixtape, their collective mixtape, and OF member, Earl Sweatshirt's, mixtape. Goblin is one of the most interesting hip-hop albums I've ever heard. The beats are minimal, which leave you listening closely to what exactly Tyler is saying. That being said, you might have to skip this one if you have a weak constitution. The language is bad but the subject matter is what really pushes this  and most OF music over the top. Rape and murder are pretty regular subjects for Tyler. If you're not paying close enough attention, you might hear "Kill people, burn shit, fuck school" in the song "Radicals" and think he's literally condoning these actions. He's more saying do whatever you want with your life. He says in the intro to this song not to do anything he says but by the end of the album it's pretty obvious that he doesn't really care what you do. Tyler's flow is unique and fantastic. He really shows some skill in "Sandwitches" where he raps, "The golf wang hooligans is fuckin' up the school again and showing you and yours that breaking rules is fuckin' cool again." 


Tyler also proves he's a talented producer here. I think his production here is generally crisper than his earlier work. In the song "Nightmare" he shows off his ability to combine hard bass, light bells, and some well placed piano into something refreshingly new. Personally, I think the piano raised the quality of the entire album significantly. I'd criticize the relative sameness of his beats to each other in comparison to some of the better producers in the game but this guy is 19 so he'll definitely grow in this field.

I assume Tyler will also grow as a lyricist. Any Wolf Gang aficionado will tell you that Earl is the best of the group's rappers but sadly he couldn't be present on this album. He's in military school or something. Tyler, on the other hand, is here, and he's no slouch. However, his diction gets in the way of his creativity. I'm not one of those people who believes profanity diminishes your vocabulary but in this case, it may have taken the place of what could have been some clever lines. Once again, he is 19 so he will probably get better but it's hard to give him the benefit of the doubt when we account Earl, and even harder when we talk about "Yonkers." As far as I know, "Yonkers" is the only single from Goblin. It really is the perfect song to represent this album and probably the best song on the album. The beat is sick. I might even call it scary. Tyler destroys it with some of his most outrageous lyrics. I'm not even going to post any of the lyrics because the surprise of hearing them in context is something I don't want to steal from anyone. My favorite thing about this song is how scattered he is. At one point he's angry and arrogant then the next moment he's depressed and tired. This range of emotions is what makes up all of Goblin but emotion isn't hit from so many angles on any one track as much as it is on "Yonkers."

Goblin is a personal album from someone you wouldn't expect to get personal with. Tyler is one of the most intriguing figures in hip-hop right now. He's doing things no one else is doing in his music. Goblin should definitely be considered a game changer but whether it actually does change the game remains to be seen. I don't know what will come of this but there's a good chance that it won't be anything good. That is of course, except good music. Chyeah!