Jay-Z feat. Kanye West & Rihanna

Fresh off the fist of Chris Brown comes Rihanna with a new song with Jay-Z and Kanye. Ok, I know that was a very late joke, and a lot of you may be a little offended, but if that was written like three months ago, that shit would be funny. Anyway, a new song hit the inter-webs today and it’s off Jay-Z’s upcoming album. The song is pretty sweet, too. I’ve never been huge into Jay-Z, mostly because I feel he freestyle’s too much on record rather than actually writing lyrics that tell a story or have a deep meaning. But that is pretty much what he literally does. When in a studio, he never writes anything down, he listens to the beat, thinks up lyrics, and spits. That both helps prove my theory as well as signifying his talent. For example, remember the song “Diamonds” from Kanye West that had Jay-Z on it? Kanye raps the whole time about the diamond trade in Africa and how children in Africa die so rappers can have bling. Then Jay-Z comes on and talks about how cool he is. It can be really stressful sometimes. He’s one of the most legendary rappers in existence, but that doesn’t mean he can do no wrong.

This song is catchy, has a decent hook, and three of the biggest names in the hip-hop/R&B genre. Rihanna comes on with the hook, Jay-Z follows with two verses of how his bank account has millions and how he runs circles around people, and Kanye comes on with the third verse and saves the whole song. He starts off complaining once again about paparazzi and how hard it is being a celebrity (no surprise there), but how he saves the song is through his rhyme scheme and his lyrics. It proves once again how Kanye has surpassed everyone in the game as possibly the best rapper of his generation.

Overall, the song doesn’t really have a purpose to it, or even a solid meaning. It’s funny how a song like this can be strangely good with such few reasons. I’d personally give the song a 4 out of 5, but listen for yourself or download below to form your own opinion:

Click here to download the track for yourself

New Beastie Boys track with Nas

The Beastie Boys are probably my all-time favorite hip hop act.  They are absolutely phenomenal and without them, we wouldn’t have people like Kanye or Common or nearly anyone big out there now.  With their new track they paired up with Nas, one of the most respected rappers in the past two decades.  Personally, I’ve never really been much into Nas, but I am well aware of his talent.  The song is amazing, with a drum beat you’d expect from The Beastie Boys (which means its awesome).  There isn’t much tone, there is a faint guitar in the background giving a little bit of a melody, but the entire song is primarily vocals and drums.  Check it out below.  I love it and so should you:

Kazaa claims to be the “future of digital music”

I literally don’t know a single person that uses P2P programs like Kazaa anymore.  That shit was SO 2003.  But supposedly people still use it because they like downloading viruses on their computers.  They’re probably the same people that have sex in club bathrooms with people they don’t know without using condoms because they say that STD’s are “just a rumor” and refuse to believe that the things on their genitalia are just skin tags.  Anyway, Kazaa is tired of being sued all the time so they are going the same route as Napster and Rhapsody.  This is where people have a monthly fee and they are free to download as much music as they like.  They seemed to have worked out a deal with all the major labels, but honestly, if I was a label, I’d tell them to fuck off.  There’s already enough digital music outlets that Kazaa is entirely unnecessary.  Nearly everyone who downloads from a digital music source uses iTunes anyway.  I don’t think I know of anyone that uses Amazon or Rhapsody or Napster.  It’s pretty pointless.  Also, for Kazaa to call itself the “future of digital music” is just frustrating.  If this was 1998, then yes, they would be the “future.”  But this is 2009, and they are about a decade late.  I honestly hope they fail miserably.

Thrice – “Beggars” Leak News and Review

Thrice has gradually become one of my favorite bands.  Everything they put out is just astounding.  You can hear an inner evolution between the members with each new song.  I am quick to recommend them to any new friend, or whenever someone asks “I can’t figure out what to listen to.”  I can’t say enough great things about this band.

Unfortunately for them, their new album that doesn’t come out for another three months, entitled “Beggars” has leaked online.  Now, I am not one to promote illegal downloading, especially when it comes to bands that deserve every penny that goes their way.  I did grab a copy of this watermarked promotional piece, and I am here to tell you that I am going to review each song as I listen to it for the first time.  However, I have to strongly contest that I plan on buying a copy of it when it comes out, regardless if it’s good or bad.  Here it goes:

“All The World Is Mad” – fantastic.  You can already tell with the quality of the production that this is possibly their most stripped album to date.  No special effects, no over produced studio nonsense.  It honestly sounds like the whole band played together in one take.  The song is great, the lyrics are catchy, and this is a great opening to what I’m hoping is an amazing album.

“The Weight” – It starts off with what sounds like a blues jam, and quickly turns into a rock blast with feels of funk and soul.  Not their greatest, but still very good.  Don’t ever think when I say something about this band like “not their greatest,” that it’s bad.  I’ve honestly never heard a bad song from this band.  Ever.

“Circles” – This is more of their ambient side that was very heavy in The Alchemy Indexalbums.  A very slow, gradually moving song with a very cool percussion during the chorus made by what seems like shakers and finger snaps.  If you listen carefully, you can actually hear the squeaks from the high-hat pedal, which I think is amazing.  Very much a calming experience.

“Doublespeak” – A very cool song, with a chorus thats unexpected and rough as hell.  By rough, I mean beautifully dirty.  This accompanied by the hard-hitting piano chords in the verses make this the favorite of the album so far, followed closely by “All The World Is Mad.”

“In Exile” – A good throwback to The Alchemy Index, immediately reminding you of “Daedalus” but quickly moving into something new.  This is definitely something I haven’t heard from Thrice before, and I’m a little unsure.  This is probably one that will have to grow on me.  It’s has more of a pop feel to it, with a drum beat I feel is a tad too repetitive.  It would make sense to release this as a single, though I feel it certainly isn’t catchy enough to be one.  Now that I’m in the end, it’s sounding much better, as the drums are going crazy and the song is sounding more Thrice authentic.  It is a little disappointing I had to wait through all of that to get to it.

“At The Last” – A heavier song, but I’ve noticed on this album so far that there are no screams, which is a little odd but not too surprising.  A very cool song, very different guitar riffs, certainly new directions.

“Wood & Wire” – Once again, sounding much like they are all jamming at once, with random studio talk in the background at the very beginning.  For some reason, I absolutely love when bands do this.  It makes me feel like I have more of a personal connection to the recording.  This song is definitely in the ambient, slow feel that they love to touch on several times in an album.  I am digging this one much more than I was “Circles” though.  Pretty amazing.

“Talking Through Glass” – Great start with distorted drums moving quickly into distorted guitars and yelling.  Fast paced and definitely interesting.  Two-thirds of the way through changes into acoustic guitar and soft hums.  Very nice, but will definitely need to get used to it.

“The Great Exchange” – Yet another soft ambient track.  The third so far on the album, which is a good balance.  Normally, bands will have too much of the loud or too much of the soft, or even with a dead balance, and it just won’t be comfortable.  Thrice has always seemed to do this very well.  Whether it be a majority of soft or loud, it always seems just right.  Great song.

“Beggars” – Title track and final track.  It moves slowly and gradually, with amazing lyrics and calming melody.  The end of the song evolves into a beautifully noisy orchestra of guitar and distorted drums.  Certainly an interesting way to close the album.

All in all, I think its an amazing album.  Possibly the best album of the year so far (challenged with Swoon from Silversun Pickups).  Thrice proves once again how overly musically  talented they are.  And right now I’m really hoping that I don’t get sued for this review.  I’m not sure how I could be, but still.  I encourage each of you to BUY a copy of this album when it comes out, because it is certainly worth the money.  Thrice fans will have some getting-use-to when it comes to this, but I’m sure they will find it absolutely gratifying.  I am giving this album a 5 out of 5.

Regina Spektor – "Far" Review (3 out of 5)

Admit it, even if you’re not a fan of the piano driven, singer-songwriter style, Regina Spektor is still your guilty pleasure.  You more than likely first heard of her when she debuted her single “Fidelity” off her last album, “Begin To Hope.”  That album had a pop-feel to it, even though it was really only in the song “Fidelity” and especially in the song “Better” (which quickly became my least favorite track on the album).  Regina is simply amazing.  If you are a fan, you love her ability to pair beautiful piano melodies with childish lyrics, giving each song a cryptic depression that makes your eyes tear up and calms your soul.  Now that I have that cheese out of the way, let’s get to how I feel about her new album, “Far.”

“Far” is…good.  It’s really an album for all of her fans.  It has the pop smoothness that fans loved about “Begin To Hope” and it also has the quirkiness that “Soviet Kitsch” so eloquently gave.  It’s almost like an audio summation of her career to this point.  It opens with the song “The Calculation,” allowing the pop fans to rejoice and clap along, and then continues later into songs like “Machine” and “Dance Anthem Of The 80′s” letting the eccentric indie kids have even more reason to wear skinny pants and low cut v-neck shirts from American Apparel.  The songs are good, the vocal melodies are more of what you love about Regina, and the instrumentation accompanying the songs give it a really nice boost.  The only thing is, the entire album has too much of a pop feel and not enough of a balance with the quirk.

It’s very, very hard to have a Regina Spektor song not be poppy when the drums are added in the background.  I’m not sure if it was just the drummer she found, but every time a song starts with its beautiful combination of Regina’s voice and her piano, I start to really enjoy it.  Then the drums kick in and the whole mood and feel of the song shifts into something resembling Vanessa Carlton.  Literally, the only song on the album containing drums that doesn’t have an obvious pop feel is the song “Machine,” and that’s more than likely due to the fact that it’s a programmed loop.  This is, by far, her most pop album.  But that isn’t really what bothers me most about the album.

Everyone who loves Regina loves her because her voice is angelic and her childish lyrics send shivers up your spine.  Yes, her voice is still amazing, but you can’t help but cringe sometimes when she seems to push some of the notes in a couple of the songs.  The opening track, “The Calculation,” has a second verse that starts nicely but midway through makes you want to turn the music down because she pushes two notes in the words “beating” and “bleeding” to the point of cringe.  You think it was a fluke until the next song “Eet” when only 1:10 or so into the song you hear an attempt to make the loudest falsetto possible on notes that should have remained at a quarter of the volume.   The song “Eet” itself is amazing, but the falsetto she hits nearly ruins it for me.

This is the feel for the entire album.  Each song is amazing in it’s own way, but there always seems to be one little thing about it that should have been left out or changed.  In most of the songs, you will listen to it and immediately think,”I’m not sure why there are drums in the background.  The song doesn’t call for it and it would have been much more beautiful without them.”  The drums and the beats in the background of nearly every song are a definite downfall of this album.  Songs like “Two Birds” should have been left without drums and probably about 15-20 bpms slower.  So many of these songs are pop when they shouldn’t be.

In summation, the reasons this album only gets a 3 out of 5 is because of the overly-pop feel, the few pushed vocals, and the overuse of drums.  If you liked her single, “Better” off the previous album, then this album is for you (so is a Coldplay album).  I know I may seem biased against pop music, but from experience of songwriting, producing, and A&R, I can pretty much tell you that pop music is the easiest genre of music to create and make popular.  Hence, my distaste for talented artists going the easy route to make radio.

Brandon Flowers is kind of a douche.

Brandon Flowers, of The Killers fame, has been going around lately and ranting about how he thinks Nirvana and Zeppelin are overrated and that America needs to concentrate more on modern rock.  Let’s revue the situation:

On the 15th anniversary of the day Kurt Cobain’s body was found, Brandon Flowers went on to say, “I think Kurt Cobain and grunge took the fun out of rock ‘n roll. Everything’s changing, though, and it’s starting to become a lot more playful and brighter.”  This, as offensive as it was, brought a good point, though it was a tad inaccurate. This also coming from a man quoted to say, I grew up seeing people like Morrissey,” as if Morrissey was such a happy camper.  If what Flowers meant was that Nirvana killed the over-saturation of hair-metal and the effeminate party scene, then he was entirely accurate.  Nirvana did do that, and it was completely necessary. They certainly didn’t take any “fun” out of rock.  It happens with every scene.  Kiss killed disco and paved the way for hair-metal, Nirvana killed that, Korn killed grunge, and emo killed nu-metal.  Now we have a myriad of rock styles, some being influenced by the 70′s classic rock, and far too much being influenced by 80′s new wave.  Not to mention all the different sub-genres of metal that are out there now.

He then went on to say, “We’ve been embraced in Britain in a way that I’ll never understand, and it’s such a wonderful thing… But over here [in America], people are still so obsessed with Led Zeppelin and Nirvana, those sorts of bands, that nobody else is allowed [to grow].”  Flowers is correct that people need to stop concentrating so much on how Zeppelin or Nirvana, or any one particular band for that matter, were the greatest and the such a huge influence on music today.  What he fails to comprehend, however, is how much his music is based on 80′s new wave.

His main argument is that American music is too obsessed with Nirvana and Zeppelin, which then forms a bubble around the industry, putting boundaries on creativity.  It’s a good point, but he is still ignoring the fact that his own band is so obsessed with a genre that came and went quickly in the 80′s because it was terrible music.  When people listen to old 80′s new wave, they don’t do it because it’s amazing music and they really get into it.  They listen to it for the comical nostalgia.  When was the last time you met someone that said, “ahhhhh ‘You Spin Me Right Round’ from Dead Or Alive was one of the greatest songs ever written!” and been serious about it.  No one.  You know why? Because new wave was fucking stupid.  The reason it’s become so big now is because people are fusing it with different genres, making it catchier and (to some sad extent) more original.  The reason The Killers are bigger overseas is because Europe is more susceptible to techno.

My point: you can’t have a valid argument while ignoring your own hypocrisy.  Yes, people need to start branching out to create more original forms of music, having past genres and bands as influences but not sole-influences.  But, The Killers are not too original.  They aren’t playing anything that hasn’t been played before.  No one can listen to “Human” from The Killers and say, “This is awesome! I’ve never heard ANYTHING like this before!”  If you want to encourage originality from artists; if you want to try and get people to stand out on their own and start having multiple influences as opposed to a single major influence, then you need to be the example.  Brandon Flowers is not that example.

Labels Losing Money With iTunes Variable Pricing

It’s really no surprise.  The fear of the new variable pricing with iTunes was that raising the price on newer albums would result in less sales.  This is just obvious.  The reason of the variable pricing was Apple being stubborn and the labels demanding more revenue from the digital sales.  Currently, iTunes takes, literally, nearly 20% of the sales.  That is pretty damn ridiculous considering iTunes is becoming the primary source for music.  TDR wrote about the variable pricing before, and we warned of people becoming angry about it.  This is coming true sooner than later.  With both iTunes and labels losing revenues over the pricing, something is bound to change soon.  My opinion is that iTunes will, hopefully, give in and take less of a share.  If you think about it, with iTunes taking 20% of a $10-$12 album, the rest of the money going through the trickle-down process of a label, the artist gets practically nothing at all.  iTunes needs to change their take, preferably in half to about 10%, in order for labels to start seeing more revenue and possibly even the artist seeing a little cash flow.  That is, until the more than likely downfall of the record label industry as a whole.

New Green Day Track – "Hearts Collide"

Another track was released from the upcoming Green Day album 21st Century Breakdown.  The track is called “Hearts Collide,” and it is MUCH better than single they very recently released, “Know Your Enemy.” “Hearts” is a throwback to old-school beach rock, much like you would find in the movie That Thing You Do.  It’s catchy, the guitar is still very simple, yet still more complex than the riff overly-used in “Know Your Enemy.”  The chorus in this song is very repetitive, with the lines “tonight, hearts collide, hearts collide,” but the mixture of the vocal melody and the guitars are much more tolerable than the ones in “Know Your Enemy.” All in all, it’s just better than “Enemy.”  If you were disappointed by the first single and video of the upcoming album, listen to this.  It may just give you that shimmer of hope that could cause you to buy the album.  The song gets a 4 out of 5.  Click below to listen to the song (right-click to save as):

Green Day – \”Hearts Collide\”

Eminem Reveals What We Already Knew

Eminem: “I have a secret that’s been building up inside me and I feel now, with my new album coming out, is the time for me to reveal said secret.”

TDR: “What’s up, Slim?”

Eminem: “I use to have a pill problem.”

TDR: “…and…”

Eminem: “That’s it.”

TDR: “…what”

Eminem: “Yup.  Big pill problem.  Surprise!”

TDR: “…*sigh*…goddamnit”

So Eminem decided to come clean to Vibe Magazine and reveal that he had a pill problem.  He also said that because of his addiction, he was able to identify more with his mother.  He claimed that rap use to be his main high, and when he became uber-famous, that high died down so he went to pills.  Now that he’s clean and had a good break, he says rap is getting him high again.  Hence, his comeback album.  So yeah, we already knew he was a drug addict.  When you release a song called “Purple Pills,” we kinda get the hint.  It’s good that he’s clean now, but The Dune Review is still hoping he has better songs in the works outside of “We Made You” and “3am.”

Sorry Ladies, The Goth King Is Taken

Trent Reznor recently got engaged, and it was officially announced on the website of his new fiance’s band, West Indian Girl.  Her name is Mariqueen Maandig and she’s pretty damn cute (if you’re into the whole foreign thing).  In 2005, Trent Reznor was interviewed and he said that his career and drug addiction had delayed the possibility of marriage and kids for him.  Now that he’s been clean and able to focus more clearly on his music and personal life, his relationship with the West Indian Girl singer was able to progress into an engagement.  So ladies, I’m sorry.  I guess you’ll have to put up your white face paint and thick black eyeliner.  The goth king is no longer single.  Good luck with your follow-up: Marilyn Manson.