Big Boi – “Sir Lucious Left Foot” Review

Outkast has always been a left-of-center, experimental hip-hop duo, bringing a certain unique sound only these two Atlanta-natives could bring.  They’ve never accompanied the trends surrounding them, which is what made them so amazing.  Ever since the Speakerboxxx/The Love Below album, both artists have chosen to carry on in solo directions.  You may not have heard from Andre 3000 in a bit, outside of a Beatle’s “All Together Now” cover he did for some Nike promos, but his partner (Big Boi) hired him to help produce this new album, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty.  Though it’s not a collaborative effort under the name Outkast, this album shines as if it were.  Big Boi quenched the thirst of his fans, and he  quenched it thoroughly.

What’s interesting about this album is that it took nearly three years to record.  Big Boi started it when he was still signed to Jive, and this album is the reason why he left the label.  Jive, at the time, wanted him to have an album similar to Lil’ Wayne’s “Lollipop” record.  Big Boi became offended that his label wanted him to bite another artist’s style, so he jumped ship while claiming “creative and artistic differences.”  According to Boi, Jive viewed the album as “a piece of art, and they didn’t know what to do with it.”  After signing with Def Jam in March of 2010, Jive then continued to cause a fuss by forcing Def Jam to continuously push back the album, which had an original release date of late 2008.  It finally had it’s release on July 6th, 2010.

Now that I have the backstory out of the way, this album is fucking awesome.  Even if it was written and originally planned to release two years ago, this would still be brilliant if it were to be released another two years from now.  Every track on this album is enjoyable.  Even on the intro, you get pumped up and excited for everything that follows.  It gives you the nostalgia of Outkast, while bringing you new direction.  Usually, when an album takes this long to record and produce, with so much anticipation and waiting, it disappoints and comes out weak.  This album is the exception.  Unlike other albums that faced a similar backstory (I’m looking at you, Guns ‘N Roses), this album was worth the wait.  Key tracks would be “General Patton,” “Shutterbug,” “Follow Us,” “Shine Blockas,” “Back Up Plan,” and well…all the other songs.  It’s one of the better hip hop albums that have come out in the past four or five years.  And with all the new hip hop artists coming out (Drake, Kid Cudi, etc), this is quite the breathe of fresh air.  As much as I’m digging the new era of hip hop, or what I like to call “hipster-hop,” it’s great to hear something come out to remind all the upcoming artists that the generation prior can still bring something amazing to the table.  And yes, I did say generation.  Not a literal decade-differentiated generation, but with the way the music industry is today, each generation can be separated by nearly three to five years.

The only problem I have with the album is the track “Tangerine,” where the hook is “shake it like a tambourine.”  Not only has the hook “shake it like…” been done before, but it’s be done twice before, once by Andre 3000, his artistic partner, and the other being “shake it like a salt-shaker” by Lil’ Jon.  It’s also odd knowing this because not only did Andre help produce a track on the album, but so did Jon.  Even if both Andre and Jon were cool with it, it still comes off as unoriginal and played out.  But if the hook wasn’t enough, the background beat sounds dangerously close to about half a dozen Lil’ Jon tracks.  However, this doesn’t seem to stop the song from being overly enjoyable as you find yourself singing along and bobbing your head.

The album is the first five-star hip hop album I have done in a quite some time, if not ever.  Though I have my problems with the “Tangerine” track, it doesn’t stop the album from being amazing.  Buy this album, you won’t be disappointed and you’ll thank me. *****

Eminem – “Recovery” Review

Eminem seems pretty hellbent on making sure people know that he is sorry for his previous work, Relapse.  While Relapse was a long-awaited comeback full of nostalgic vulgarity, it ultimately left the listener unsatisfied and disappointed.  The songs were ok, but for them to be coming from Eminem, they didn’t seem to meet the bar set by his previous works.  Not only does he feel bad about Relapse, but he also mentions how he wasn’t happy about Encore either.  He mentions how he was on too many drugs when making Encore, and flushing everything out with Relapse.  Now, after giving himself time to sober up, he’s released his latest work, Recovery.  It was originally titled “Relapse 2,” but since he was so unhappy with the first, he wrote entirely new songs and slapped on a new titile, completely differentiating it from what he is straying so far from.  The verdict? It’s actually pretty awesome.

If you read my review of Relapse, you’ll know that I had a lot of complaints.  His voice was nasally, his lyrics were tried, and his beats were poor.  With this album, it was almost as if he read my review and took notes.  There are no nasal-pushed vocals or forgettable beats, and his lyrics have drastically improved.  His desire to gain forgiveness inspired him to show us that there’s a reason why he was named one of the greatest rappers of all time.  Given, you hear a lot of the same “suck my dick” lyrics, which I can honestly do without (he’s been saying it for years, it’s pretty damn annoying by now), but there are also fantastic eyebrow-raising hotspots. Though it seems there really isn’t anything new that Eminem could show us, as he is well past the point of shocking the audience with his lyrics, he is still able to give you that “wow” factor.

• The cons:

1. as much as his lyrical patterns are both nostalgic and refreshing in a market saturated by Wayne, Kanye, and Drake, there are many times where it’s a fault.  There are times when I’m listening and I feel like the flow of the music is being mudded up by the flow of the lyrics.
2. Eminem really must stop trying to sing.  A melodic chant here and there is ok, but when he’s straining his vocal chords trying to hit a high note, it takes the audience member out of the moment (“Not Afraid”).
3. If he wants to come off as vulgar, he’s going to have to talk about something else than his dick getting sucked or about gay guys.  It’s played out, annoying, overdone, over-saturated, etc.
4. The album artwork looks like it was designed by a high-schooler who pirated his first copy of CS4.

• The Pros

1. Much better than Relapse – both lyrically and musically.
2. The samples of Ozzy and “What Is Love (Baby Don’t Hurt Me)” come off perfectly.
3. Listen to the track “25 To Life,” and pay close attention to the lyrics.  The ending is phenomenal.
4. Lil’ Wayne makes a strong appearance on “No Love,” and as impressive as his verse is, Eminem slaughters him with some of the best lyrics on the entire album

The album isn’t anything shockingly different than what we’re use to, it does give us the reminder that his writing skills are some of the best in hip-hop.  He may have the stigma of the early 2000′s attached, but this won’t stop you from turning up the music and reliving the early decade.  Simply put, its a great album.  It’s certainly not his best, but its far from his worst.This album takes Eminem out of the early decade’s angry white rapper caricature and puts him right back where he needs to be.  It leaves you begging for more, with a strong desire to see how much further he will carry his career. I give it four out of five stars. ****

UPDATE:

So I guess some kid made a horrible rendition of the album cover and it flooded the interwebs.  The actual album cover looks amazing, here is a shitty pixelated version:

Drake – “Thank Me Later” Review

Drake is one of the most hyped artists in hip hop history.  It’s a bold statement, but it’s true.  The kid is in his early 20′s and started winning grammy’s before his debut album even came out, as well as having collaborations with the genre’s top names (Jay-Z, Eminem, Lil’ Wayne, etc).  I’ve been excited about this album for a while now, and I finally got to give it a good listen and review.  Here we go:

Have you ever wondered what something would sound like if you mixed the Kid Cudi album with the Kanye West 808‘s album? Cause this is pretty much it, with hints of Lil’ Wayne.  The majority of the beats are comparable to Kid Cudi, while most others will remind you of 808′s & Heartbreaks.  The song “Find Your Love” is nearly dead-on with Kanye’s “Paranoid.”  It honestly sounds like he used the same sample library.  For someone so hyped and anticipated, things like this don’t necessarily come as a knock-off, but more of a frustrating disappointment.  A lot of this album seems unfinished, like Drake wanted to lay down a bunch of great ideas but never finished the songwriting aspect of them.  Many of the choruses seem rushed and contrived, and though I understand the direction he pushes for, the melodies come off bland and uninspiring.  Along with that, Drake seems to rap the same way in each song.  I imagine someone could take the a-cappella tracks and mix-match them with any beat on the album.

There are, however, some great moments on this album.  Said moments come in the form of lyrics, though too few and far between.  When Drake talks about anything other than the usual hype of “I’m so awesome, I have money, look at me,” he talks directly about individual women.  Lyrically, it sounds like a teenager writing poetry in his English class, though an extremely talented one at that.  Every so often you’ll hear something so clever you’ll have a nice chuckle, like when Drake describes a girl as being “fine like a ticket on the dash.”  Other impressive moments will come from the featured artists; Young Jeezy kills it in “Unforgettable,” Lil’ Wayne does a good job with “Miss Me,” and T.I. and Swizz Beats team up on “Fancy” to make it a highlight of the album.  Alicia Keys makes an unimpressive appearance on the opening track, and Jay-Z gives yet another mediocre and forgettable verse in “Light Up.”  The best track on the album is the single, “Over,” and its frustrating realizing that there are only a few other tracks on the album that are as good.

When listening to the album in its entirety, you grow tired of the lyrical themes, but you leave the album somewhat satisfied.  But even with that satisfied feeling, taking into account all the hype and push, the album overall is a bit of a disappointment.  It’s exciting to listen to at first because of the hype, but you quickly realize just what it is – hype.  I give this album a 3 out of 5.  It’s enjoyable, but not nearly as enjoyable as it was supposed to be.

Kanye West – “Power” Single Review

LISTEN TO THE SINGLE HERE

Kanye’s new single is, whether you hate him or love him, pretty damn good.  ”Power” is his return to rap, his reminder to people who hated on the 808‘s album that this is the reason media outlets refer to him as an “icon.”  The single takes what was good on his previous album (the tribe-influenced rhythms and percussions) and  blends it underneath the rhyming that made him famous.  The lyrics are filled with how critics tried to tear him apart, how the cast of SNL can kiss his ass, and how he needed time to gather his thoughts, take a deep breathe, and continue with his art.

My opinion? I think the song is good, I’ve always been a fan of Kanye and I can guarantee you I will own a copy of the new album and review it, but there are certain things he needs to let go of.  For one, ever since the 808′s album, he’s done guest spots on numerous records and complained nearly each time about the paparazzi and how he wishes he could live a normal life.  Then he comes in with this single talking shit to the SNL cast because they ripped on him a couple times.  If you’re going to get pissed at someone who made fun of you, you might as well talk about EVERYONE ELSE who did the same.  Is he going to ignore the South Park episode? From what I recall he went on his blog the day after the episode aired talking about how funny he thought it was.  You can’t just pick and choose the jokes you like, Kanye.  If you don’t like a joke, don’t rap about it.  It’s comedy.  Whether someone sucks at it or not, if you go after one you might as well go after them all.  I don’t even know which joke in particular he refers to, but unless is was completely below the belt (which SNL isn’t necessarily known for), then rhyme in a different direction.

Outside of that, the song is pretty good.  You’ll definitely dig it if you’re a Kanye Fan.  If you already jumped on the “Fuck Kanye” bandwagon, then the song isn’t for you.  I give it four out of five stars.  I’m excited about the rest of the album.

Foxy Shazam – “Foxy Shazam” Review

Every so often, an album comes along that changes your perception on music as a whole.  Something that comes along when things are looking bleak; lifting you up and giving you hope for a bright, musical future ahead.  This is that album.  And it needs to be in your hands.

Foxy Shazam is a band I have mentioned previously on this website, as I gave their last album a full 5 star review.  This album is bigger and better than the previous by miles.  It opens with harmonizing canines and ends with what sounds like an entire orchestra of horns, guitars, and vocal explosions.  What is truly unfortunate about this album is that it more than likely won’t get accepted by the American audience, merely because they won’t “get it.”  This band is likely to follow the suit of Muse.  I imagine them being gigantic in Europe and the UK, only later to become the largest band in the United States.  It would truly be a shame and a horribly accurate stereotype of the American entertainment-industry bubble if this were to happen.

Foxy Shazam, right now, is possibly the greatest band on the face of the earth, and this album is the exact proof of it.  Each song has stadium-anthem appeal, as Eric Nally’s enormous voice belts through brilliant waves of piano and guitar, with perfected percussion in full support.  When I say perfected, I mean just that.  Not only does this album contain some of the best song writing I’ve ever heard in years, but it also sounds phenomenal.  Production-wise, this is what makes college kids fight over studio internships.  This is what builds their desire to become studio gurus.  With songs like “Oh Lord,” “Unstoppable,” and “The Only Way To My Heart,” this album is never going to leave your head, let alone your cd player or iPod.  And if you get the chance to see this band live, you’ll be doing yourself a favor.  They also put on a live performance that would make Queen jealous.

This album goes beyond a five star rating.  It hasn’t been out a month, and each track on the album is already on my iTunes Top 25 Most Played playlist, with each song clocking in over 50 plays.  It’s that good.

The Dillinger Escape Plan – “Option Paralysis”

Dillinger Escape Plan have always been the masters of their craft, the ones who pretty much own the genre that they are in.  When a metal band comes out with rhythms you can’t really understand, when the time signatures change before you can even tell what they are, or when it’s just pure chaos, the crowd usually yells back something along the lines of, “Dillinger does it better!”  They’ve been around since 1997, originating from a hardcore punk band in Jersey, with only one original member left.  Through their years they have become one of the largest and most respected names in the metal industry, as they continue to grow and perfect what you didn’t think could get any more perfect.

This album is a perfect example of their growth over the years.  For the fans starting to grow tired of their push into the digital realm, this album will certainly regain their trust.  Comparatively, there are few moments of digital additions, with the other 95% of the album being physical, pure, and mind-blowing.  The highlight of the album also comes as the best example of their growth.  The track, “Widower,” showcases their talents as songwriters, as it  pushes their limits by having them successfully take a step back from the chaos and compose something beautiful.  The debut single, “Farewell, Mona Lisa,” starts the album and gives you a great idea of what follows.  Though the video kinda sucks (sorry, guys, but the video seems cheaply made and poorly put together), the song is a perfect, up-to-date representation of the band’s style and production.  It encompasses their chaotic behavior, their ability to change styles fluently and appropriately, as well as their suck you into a bridge and then slam you right back into a distorted frenzy.  I am completely serious when I say that this album may just be remembered as their greatest.  From a production standpoint, it’s near perfect.  This is how metal albums should sound.   This is the first album of 2010 to get my 5 out of 5 rating.
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Look What I Did – “Atlas Drugged”

If you’ve heard this band before, and especially if you’re a fan, then their previous work Minuteman For The Moment is more than likely at the top of your list of most interesting albums you’ve ever heard, as their myspace quote pretty much sums up their brilliant existence: “confusing the shit out of hardcore kids since 2001.”  LWID is not the most popular band, but their fan-base is strong and devoted.  Their on-stage presence is unlike most, being fronted by a seemingly meth’ed out political lunatic backed by guitar noises among the likes of The Jesus Lizard mixed with Frank Zappa, Marnie Stern, and Faith No More.  Not strange enough? How about you take all those references and throw in the fact that it’s CATCHY?  This is the band that music snobs wish they could see on MTV and hear on the radio, but hope will never get too big so that they can pretentiously name them on the top of their list knowing not many people will understand.

Look What I Did’s latest effort, Atlas Drugged, is driven by politics, radio repetition,  anti-misandry, religion, philosophy, and much more.  However, it is done so well that you don’t even realize a song is about burning down the federal reserve until you’re singing along while reading the lyrics.  The messages aren’t so cleverly hidden or subliminal as much as they are beautifully written in.  The album moves swiftly, taking you from banging your head against the wall to jumping up and down to sitting back trying to figure out all the layers while hearing your own heartbeat.  This album will certainly be at the top of your playlist for weeks on end, if not months (that is, if you can get a grasp in understanding the music).  This isn’t for the commercial-friendly, but is certainly needs to be heard.  Five out of five stars.

30 Seconds To Mars – “This Is War” Review

30 Seconds to Mars is a band which use to have an underground respect back in 2003 with their self-titled debut.  In the past 2 or 3 years however, 30STM has been tarnished by douchebaggery, fashion, and ego.  The last of the three being incredibly evident in their latest effort, This Is War.

I won’t lie…I actually use to be a big fan of this band.  Their debut album I thought was amazing because it didn’t sound too much like everything else going on at the time, and being such a big fan of the movie Requiem For A Dream, I naturally thought it was cool to see Jared Leto having other talents outside of acting.  It wasn’t so much him trying to make it as a singer because he wasn’t going on television putting his name out there as a musician.  He came out with his band instead of as a solo act, which I thought was pretty  humble.  Even when A Beautiful Lie came out, I thought it was a pretty good album.  It wasn’t until stories of Jared being a douchebag to people surfaced that I started losing respect (telling critics he wants to bash their heads in with a bat, pressing charges on a girl after getting punched in the face, etc).  Along with that, every video they made was an epic attempt, which is nice at first, but can be extremely annoying three times after.

Enough on why everyone dislikes Jared, lets get to why I don’t like this album.  Lets begin with the first track.  Jared sings softly into the microphone similar to a Jonas brother while strings play in the background.  The track ends with a choir of children yelling “this is war.”  It then goes into the first fully-written song titled “Night Of The Hunter.”  30STM has always been known for their electronic sound, but the beginning of this song sounds far too similar to the cheesy Bon Jovi guitar effect.  I keep waiting for Jared to scream out “it’s my life and it’s now or never.”

The rest of the album goes on to reveal more songs similar to “Night Of The Hunter” and the single, “Kings and Queens.”  Though the production on this album is pretty amazing, I can’t help but feel that this album went far beyond what it needed.  The song-writing is mediocre, and without the huge production budget this album would sound as terrible as the lyrics.  In their previous albums, there was always a constant theme, but the songs seemed to differ from one another enough lyrically and musically to the point where it seemed justified.  With This Is War, the theme is constant with the lyrics and all the songs sound far too much alike.  At most times you can take the chorus to “Kings And Queens” and sing it over the others.

Jared seems to have bit off a bit more than he can chew with this album.  The production is much bigger than his vision, and his writing has greatly suffered because of it.  If you’re a fan of the band, you’ll find the album entertaining, but you certainly won’t like it as much as their previous efforts.  It’s a shame to see such great production and engineering go to waste on mediocre music.  For Jared’s sake, I know he’s been having a lot of money troubles so I hope this helps him, but I’m only giving this album a 2 out of 5.  It’s not something I have much interest in listening to ever again.

Weezer – “Raditude” Review

This is a review I’ve been meaning to do for a bit, but kept putting it off due to whatever stupid crazy shit is going on in my life at the moment.  I apologize about the lateness.  But now that I’m doing it, I have to start off by saying how much of an absolute frustration this album is. I’ll get to that soon, let me rant a bit on my history with them first.

Weezer is a band that took my generation by storm in 1994 with the release of the blue album.  I was 9 years old and had only started realizing what differentiates shit music from amazing music.  You gotta realize all the amazing shit going on those years.  Nirvana’s Nevermind.  Sublime’s Sublime.  Dookie.  Siamese Dream.  These were some of the greatest albums of all time.  Weezer’s debut was, in my opinion, certainly up there because it broke away from the grunge, dark and brooding writing going on and it brought about a happier side to things.

They fell off afterwards with the release of Pinkerton, though it remains to be a fan favorite and certainly one of the most critically underrated albums of that decade.  It wasn’t until 5 years after Pinkerton that they came out with the green album, certainly one of the most anticipated albums of that year.  I remember that day very clearly because it was the same day that Marilyn Manson’s Golden Age Of Grotesque came out.  Needless to say, this was possibly my most disappointing day in music purchasing. I listened to both albums back to back, countless times, trying to convince myself that they were good.  There was no way that both influential artists could put out something so aggravatingly  disappointing at the same time.  I ended up, literally, being so angry I threw both albums out of my moving car.

Since then, they’ve had several albums.  Starting with Maladroit, which they released nearly a year later to the day, almost to make up for the shittiness of the green album.  Maladroit was a throwback to their more rock sound that put them on the map in the first place, though many say this album was a bit heavier than usual, but maybe that’s why I enjoyed it so much.  What followed after this album was their dive into experimentation with different sounds, a stray from their raw guitar feel.  They started with Make Believe, continued with the red album, and now with their recent release of Raditude.  It seems that as each album goes, they delve deeper into using poppy synth noises, breaking away from the sound that their fans love them so much for.  This has never been so apparent with the release of Raditude.

Raditude, as bluntly as I can put this, is just bad.  I am close to saying it’s horrible, but I would feel guilty.  I don’t want to go to any extreme adjectives just because I wanted to sever a newborn’s head after I heard it.  It starts off with the greatest song on the album, which is absolutely amazing the more you listen to it, but is followed by what can easily be argued as the worst Weezer music to date.  The songs are heavily compressed, overproduced, and devoid of anything you loved about the band before (aside from the first track, “If You’re Wondering”).

Rivers, what the hell is wrong with you? You can’t just tease us with a brilliant first track and then continue with absolute mediocrity.  You need an example of why it’s so bad you say?  Listen to the song “Can’t Stop Partying” and you’ll forget why you ever loved this group.  It’s a club song.  I know that sounds odd, but just listen.  It’s a fucking club song.  It has a programmed beat, and the chorus is about drinking Patron and dancing with hot chicks in a club.  Not only that, but Lil’ Wayne has a guest appearance in the third verse rapping about how he mixes pills with alcohol and how he loves to party with beautiful women.  I realize that Weezer more than likely did this as a joke, but it’s not funny.  It’s not witty.  When listening to this I can only imagine my friend Sarah from high school listening to it and crying through her Cuomo glasses.

The entire album is so overly-rich with pop that it makes you immediately turn your iPod to Pinkerton just so you can justify ever enjoying them.  I was horribly angry when the green album released, but move over my green enemy, you just got bumped a spot.  If it wasn’t for the first track, I would have given this album only one star, if any at all.  Therefore, I’m giving it two stars out of five. Just to give you some glimmer of hope, I’ll post the music video for that song below.  I actually love the video, it’s one of the best ones I’ve seen in a very long time, but I beg you.  Save yourself by only listening to this song.  If you really want to be disappointed, listen to the rest.  But take my word for it, this is the only promising part of the entire thing.  Good luck.  **

Local Nashville Band of The Moment: H-Beam

I get it.  Around 75% of my visitors and readers are friends of mine, or at least people that know me or follow me on twitter or something.  With that reasoning behind me, I think I’ll try doing a new thing where I start posting segments about local bands in Nashville that I feel are worth a damn.  If you live in Nashville (if you’re reading this review then you more than likely do), or especially if you don’t live in Nashville and are a random visitor to the site, then you should definitely check out these unknown bands.  The first I will mention is a band called H-Beam.  Their album was just released and it’s pretty awesome.

H-Beam is the Frank Zappa/Mike Patton fix that you’ve been needing for the past 5 years.  Their music is spastic, eccentric, non-sensical, and terribly amusing to the point where you find yourself chuckling in your car-seat while on a business call.  Their debut album, Useful Box Of Hair, has the Dune Review Seal-Of-Approval and is certainly something to check out.  When I say its a mix between Zappa and Patton, I mean just that.  But in NO way is that a bad thing in this situation.  I’ve heard bands influenced by Zappa and Patton before, and it sounded like absolute garbage.  When bands try to pull it off it sounds tried and unoriginal, but H-Beam pulls it off so well that it makes you wish Frank was still alive so that he and Patton could do a double-album together.

Don’t be fooled; I’m not just going to be praising this album or this act out of bias or favor, there are things about this album that I am not too fond of.  The vocals are spread out so much in stereo sometimes that the alignment seems off, out of personal preference I’d enjoy more snare, and other simple things that all come from me being overly critical.  These minor complaints, however, are not enough to dislike the music.  It’s not a major label act; it’s two guys from Nashville creating a monster of an album with a low budget, so don’t get excited thinking that it’s a production masterpiece.  The album sounds amazing for what it is, and The Dune Review feels you should give it a listen.

Head over to their official WEBSITE, or check them out on their MYSPACE in order to grab a listen.  You’re welcome.