Brand New – “Daisy” Review

Brand New came on the scene alongside bands like Thrice, Taking Back Sunday, The Used, and all the other acts that blew up around the same time as Fuse TV and Hot Topic.  After their album Deja Entendu, I didn’t think too much of them and I honestly didn’t really expect to hear of them again.  Though they were more original than the other screamo/post-hardcore bullshit coming out at that time, I kinda expected them to fall through the cracks with everyone else.  To my amazement, they put out the album The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me, which, if you haven’t heard it, you should go download it immediately.  That album blew my fucking mind.

Daisy seems to pick up shortly where The Devil And God left off, though this effort is not nearly as poignant.  Daisy is a good album, but compared to their previous, it just doesn’t do the band justice.  Through several front-to-back listens, I found myself becoming almost bored (though it honestly may just be coming from the comparison).  The songs are more than decent, but I can’t help but feel a lack of passion in the writing.  This almost feels like they tried too hard to keep writing in order to avoid the road.

One thing that is very noticeably different on this album is the overall vintage feel it has.  It opens and closes with a female opera singer belting out notes behind old-school, mono vinyl effects, giving the listener phonographic images.  Throughout the entire album, the production gives you this feel, however modernized it may be.  The vocals peak (on purpose) at times and the overall feel of most songs bring you back to a time before radio.  This album is good, but for Brand New, it’s borderline mediocre.  Fans of the band will love it, but for me, it will only get so many rotations in my iPod.  I give it a 3 out of 5 stars.  ***

Kid Cudi – “Man On The Moon: The End Of The Day” Review

Are there such things as hip-hop-stoner-hippies? Because this album is just for them.  With that said, Kid Cudi’s debut album is all about being very deep, out there, spacey, and hypnotic.  For the most part, it seems to work. However, like most music deeming to be spacey and hypnotic, much of it just doesn’t make sense.

Kid Cudi is an artist that wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Kanye West.  He was initially a film school drop-out that moved to Brooklyn to pursue music, where he made a mixtape which caught the attention of Mr. West himself.  Kanye then brought him in to sing guest vocals on “Welcome To Heartbreak” as well as helping him write lyrics and melodies for the songs “Heartless” and “Paranoid”, all of which appeared on West’s album 808′s and Heartbreaks.  Though I was personally a big fan of the 808′s album, while listening to this new Cudi album, it’s obvious where the influence came from.  Also, even with Kanye’s album being very experimental and a great effort, Man On The Moon seems to be what Kanye should have done and what he actually meant to do.   Meaning, this is very similar to 808′s, yet fortunately lacking a vocoder.

Musically, this album is absolutely amazing.  It nearly perfectly symbolizes the new direction hip-hop seems to be taking with all the dance influence.  However, lyrically, I feel this album tries a bit too hard.  More times than not, when Kid tries to say something deep and powerful, it comes off as…stupid.  There are two perfect examples of this, one of them being the intro track titled “In My Dreams,” and the other being in the song “Enter Galactic.”  When the intro track starts, the music brings you back to the first time you saw 2001: A Space Odyssey, but when the lyrics come in, it seems very half-assed.  It sounds like he smoked far too much pot and freelanced over the string section, saying to himself “yo this is gonna really make people think.”  It’s not making me think, it’s making me skip to the next track.

The next example would be “Enter Galactic.”  During the bridge/breakdown of the song, he beings a poetic, spoken-word-esque type of rant.  This is where he says the words, “If you can’t do what you imagine, then what is imagination to you?”  I’ll be honest.  At first, I thought that was pretty cool.  That is…until I went back and listened to it again.  Though it sounds cool, it doesn’t fucking mean anything.  It’s a dead sentence bound to blow the minds of people who’s minds are already depleted by pot and LSD.  When I hear lyrics like this, it just bothers me.  I’ve honestly had conversations with legitimately psychologically-damaged homeless people who have come up with phrases that make more sense than that.

And I also need to comment on the role that Common plays on this album.  He has these moments at the beginning or end of certain songs where he seems to be telling a story.  You would initially think that whatever story he is telling about the “main character” would be something that relates to the lyrics or the overall theme of the album, but it doesn’t.  It tries to tell the story about the upcoming of Kid Cudi, as he refers to him as “the man on the moon,” but it continues throughout the album as if to set up a backstory to certain tracks.  This seems to be an added-on attempt to be more poetic, but comes off very fumbled.

But don’t get me wrong, I actually highly enjoy this album.  Tracks like “Soundtrack To My Life” and “Simple As” are fantastic tracks, not to mention the amazing singles “Day ‘n’ Nite” and ” Make Her Say.”  ”Simple As” is a highlight simply because it starts off making you believe the song is in a 3/4 time signature, until the main beat drops in at 4/4 while still holding the 3/4 pattern behind it.  This has never been done in hip-hop before (as far as I know).  This album is begging to be heard, and it deserves every listener.  I think its experimental and will certainly lead to a new sub-genre of hip-hop that needs to be discovered.  Though this album will be regarded as one of the top front-runners of that genre, I don’t feel this album is nearly close to a perfected version of it.  I do think, however, that because of this album, better things are on the way.   Though there is much to complain about on my part, I’m giving this album a 4 out of 5.  ****

Muse – “The Resistance” Review

Muse is possibly one of the most hyped-about bands this past decade, blowing up overseas with the album Showbiz, while waiting until the release of Absolution to explode in the states.  Songs like “Time Is Running Out” and “Hysteria” dominated U.S. charts only to be continued in 2006 with “Supermassive Black Hole.”  It’s obvious to say, though I’m sure other elitist music-snobs (much like myself) will disagree, Muse is one of the most original bands to hit radio in what seems to be a very long time.

Personally, Showbiz is by far my favorite album from this group.  I consider myself a fan,  but not enough of one to listen to them on a frequent basis.  The song “Muscle Museum” from Showbiz, however, is constantly found in my playlists.  Their new album is coming out soon, and I know a ton of you are really excited.  I have been privileged enough to take a good listen to it this early in the game.  Don’t worry, I’m not the type to say “well they’ll never be as good as Showbiz” or “I just like their old stuff better, the stuff that was out when no one knew who they were.”  Fuck that noise.  People like that bother me, unless the music of a certain band was clearly better years before their fame smacked them in the temple with a cricket bat (Atreyu, System of a Down, Green Day)…  Just kidding (no, I’m not).  Seriously though, when people say things like “Nine Inch Nails will never be as good as they were when The Fragile was out” or saying that the only good Dillinger Escape Plan was Calculating Infinity and everything else sucked, it’s pointless.  The reason Nine Inch Nails will never be the same as they were during the days of The Fragile is because Trent Reznor was a completely drug-addicted maniac on the verge of suicide.  And he’ll never be as angry as he was during the days of The Downward Spiral either, so quit expecting another one!  Bands evolve, and as they do, their music changes.  When bands grow and their music stays the same, it ends up being a horrific train-wreck downfall that brings tears to your eyes as you are forced to watch it, torturing yourself as you hope for something different (by the way, thanks 311, now I don’t even care about your new album).

With that being said, it was obvious listening to Showbiz that this band was meant for a bigger sound.  It was an absolutely massive album.  Guitars blazed alongside monstrous vocals with some of the catchiest bass lines I may have ever heard backing it up.  As the band continued to write and put out hit albums, their sound seemed to get larger and larger.  This album has some of their largest songs by far, ending with a huge three-part symphony orchestrated by Matthew Bellamy himself.  The rest of the album, surprisingly, seems more stripped of effects and computer-generated keyboards than previous albums, yet still having just enough to satisfy the fans that loved it.  This can be said for much of the album.  While each song builds up into what seems to be an imminent explosion of rock and keys, Bellamy seems to hold back at the last minute as if to tease you each time.

My opinion: this album is good, and there are songs on here that will blast onto radio, but outside of it’s near-perfect production, I find it to be somewhat bland for Muse.  The songs are good, but only good.  The ending symphony is pretty sweet, but I don’t feel its something I’m going to run to my friends saying “holy shit, you gotta check this out.”  They are more the quality of, “hey man, did you check out that new Muse album? What did you think of the symphony?”  While you both will agree that its good, the conversation will most likely stop there.  It’s not something to go much into detail about.  Allegedly, the three-part ending took Bellamy quite some years to complete…ouch.  Though it’s bland for Muse, it’s still better than a lot of shit that has come out lately.  I give it a score of 4 out of 5.

Jay-Z – “The Blueprint 3″ Review

Here is an artist known for his lyrics and being able to write quickly and efficiently, while still holding onto a concept worth-while.  Jay-Z is one of the biggest rappers in the industry right now, as he certainly is and will always be a legend, but it seems about time for him to retire for real this time.  If not, then he probably needs to take a good 5 years to find something meaningful to write about.

“I shouldn’t be so popular.”  This is a quote from the second track of this album, which pretty much sums up Jay’s career post-Black Album.  Jay-Z use to be one of the more prolific lyricists in the game; it seems now that he is more concerned with talking about how awesome he is rather than something meaningful.  Simple rhymes about how much of a badass you are, or about how much money you have, is more suited for gangster rap, not for hip hop.  Not only that, but lyrics like this of his new album are overly mediocre, proving that Jay-Z is well past his prime.  The beats here are amazing, but lyrically it leaves no lasting impression or commentarial impact.  The hooks are top-notch, but the verses don’t match.  Every song seems to be the same.  The only songs where Jay-Z seems to actually talk a little about something, yet still going on non-sequitur rants about what a famous person he is, are the tracks “Empire State Of Mind,” “D.O.A.” and “A Star Is Born.”  The track that stands out lyrically is “D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)” because it’s ABOUT FUCKING TIME THAT A RAPPER TALKED ABOUT HOW STUPID AUTO TUNE IS IN HIP HOP.  He comically singles “hey, hey, hey, goodbye” hoping that with this track rappers will take the hint that auto-tune is on the verge of completely ruining the genre. But even with that, the song could be and should be much better than it is.

The track “Venus vs. Mars” is just creepy.  Jay-Z rhymes about sex and skeeting on a shawty, which, though I would normally find funny, sounds like a sex predator masturbating outside a child’s window.  The song “Hate” features Kanye West and is one of the few times I have found Kanye to be an absolute disappointment.  The song quickly becomes redundant and you begin to resent Outkast for making famous the pronunciation of the word “air” as “ayir.”  This song really takes that pronunciation to a completely different level, and the reason I “hate” the song “Hate” is not because I’m a hater that’s jealous of your fame, it’s because it sounds fucking stupid.  The single “Run This Town” I have already reviewed (which you can read here), and I found it to be frustrating because I could never figure out what the fucking concept was.  The song has no point, other than to prove that Kanye is outwardly more creative.

I’m trying hard to enjoy the album, but the only thing I’m able to enjoy is the amount of amazing beats and hooks.  And though the music industry as a whole would completely disagree with me, a good beat and hook does not make a good hip-hop song.  It’s good business, but its not good art.  And thus describes the entire album.  It’s a good business decision, a sex-symbol for radio, but to people who are particular about their hip-hop and appreciate good lyrics, I feel they will find this album to be completely uninspiring. Jay-Z has become the U2 of rap.  Meaning, he can continue to make mediocre music until he dies, and he will always go platinum, simply because his name is so gigantic that it now well precedes his actual talent.    I’m giving this mediocre album a very mediocre score of 3 out of 5.

The Dead Weather – “Horehound” Review

The Dead Weather is the new new band from critically acclaimed and loved songwriter Jack White.  But don’t get confused when you hear it, because this music is by far the most experimental thing anyone has ever heard from him.  The band is made up of Jack, Alison Mosshart of The Kills, Jean Lawrence of The Raconteurs, and Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age. When you first heard the single, “Hang You From The Heavens,” you were familiarized with it because it sounded like a very rough, dirty version of The White Stripes.  That particular song isn’t very commercial, and certainly not a hit, but that is the closest thing this band has to a radio-friendly tune.  The whole album is very odd.  And by that, I mean that I love it.  If Jack White was not in this band, no one would care or ever really hear of it.  It’s as if Jack White wanted to prove his fame by putting out a band he was pretty sure no one would understand or even like, but knew it would get big simply because his name was attached.

The sound is dark and heavy, but very spaced out.  Nothing gets cluttered as each song sound more eclectic and off-putting than the next.  I may be going a bit overboard with this, but I’m pretty sure I’m giving this album a 5 out of 5, simply because of the punch to the face Jack gave all his commercial-friendly fans.  Not to mention, the video they put out for “Treat Me Like Your Mother” is one of the most badass videos I have ever seen.  Please, go check out this album, whether you like Jack White or hate him, I think you’d at least appreciate it.  5 out of 5.  This is amazing.  Watch the video for “Treat Me Like Your Mother” below.

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.

The Used – “Artwork” Review (1 out of 5)

If you’re a fan of The Used then you pretty much know what you’re in for.  And you more than likely enjoyed this album.  But, aren’t you tired yet?  Haven’t you had enough of Bert’s vocals ruining mediocre rock riffs?  You have to be.  I don’t think anyone can take this anymore.  The Used were once considered the frontrunners in the screamo genre, most notably as the ones who really made it explode.  These days, their music is just horrible.  Horrible, horrible, horrible.

If you recall, The Dune Review took a listen to their previous album, Lies For The Liars, and gave it a very mediocre review.  The main complaints on that album were its lack of originality and it’s abundance of nauseating love ballads, while ironically having probably the greatest song they have ever written (“The Bird And The Worm”).  This album is a change of pace for them, because they tried going heavier than usual.  This is something that, normally, I would highly support and encourage.  But just because a band tries to go heavier doesn’t mean its going to better.  This is absolute garbage.  The songs are very, very poorly written.  The guitar riffs aren’t bad, but they don’t ever surpass the mediocre range and talent that they have proven throughout all of their works.  And on top of the guitar lays Bert.  Bert with his cheesy lyrics and melodies that sound like he made them up the day of recording.  By far the only track on this album with any type of goodness is the opening track, “Blood On My Hands.”  The chorus I thought actually had creativity to it.  Though they attempt heavier music, they still throw in the soft ballads that no one enjoys.  Especially the track, “Kissing You Goodbye.”  This is by far the worst song they have ever written, and by saying that, you know it has to be audible suicide when listening to it.  And keep in mind, this beats out every song from the In Love And Death album, as well as the song “Liar Liar” from their previous album where Bert’s chorus was, and I’m dead fucking serious, “Liar, liar, pants on fire.”  WHY IS THIS BAND STILL MAKING MUSIC?!!!

This album receives one star and only one, simply because of their effort for regaining respect by going heavier.  You rarely see bands do that these days.  But that doesn’t excuse the horribly audible bullshit on this album.  Not even the artwork on the cover of Artwork is good.   This album is both visually and audibly an unwanted enema, slightly short of becoming an actual failed abortion.  Avoid this album, I implore you.