Kanye? Is that you?

So I heard this song about a month ago, listened to it 3 times today (consecutively) and honestly I can say I have no fuckin clue how to feel about it. I mean on the one hand it's Kanye so of course I wanna buy into the hype just because of the special place I have for Yeezy due to his "Still love H.E.R." track and fond memories of Late Registration and Graduation. But honestly I gotta say...what the fuck is this shit? I mean damn Kanye, it's kinda sad that a music video has to redeem a song for me and that's how I feel. Now let me clarify. Kanye's new found weirdness isn't an issue to me at all and honestly I dug 808's so now that that's outta the way I feel like I don't like this track because maybe I'm outgrowing Kanye's flow. I mean I'm just saying in his absence I've adjusted to Blu, Curren$y, Wiz Khalifa, and Stalley just to name a few cats and I think coming back to Kanye is like going to church after a great night on the town...something's just missing (probably the weed) but I digress. All metaphors aside I think Kanye needs to step his game up for the other tracks on his album unless I'll be one disappointed guy and while I can appreciate the artistry of the music video I feel like the actual song could've went a lot harder than it did. Like damn Kanye, I think Pac Div roasted you on their track and it's damn near a year old and drastically less produced than your newest shit. (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPZ0C_gp4us) I guess what I'm getting at is if Kanye wants to really shake up the industry than he needs to dial back the ego and make music from his life again (you know...the real shit that got him in the game in the first place) and stop trying to be the latest pop sensation in the game. Be as weird as you want but at least give me some shit I can vibe with without feeling superficial/facetious. I'll reserve judgment on the album till it drops. Until then, draw your own conclusions on Kanye's new Power.

Yet Another Find

It's rare that a battle rapper can make an impression on a mixtape, much less an album. The only people to successfully carry over the energy of a live performance into the studio to my knowledge have been the Notorious B.I.G. and Eminem. I'm sure there are some more out there but these are the ones I can think of off the cuff. But maybe there's another we can add to the list in the form of Edan (E- Dan).

Edan is a native of Rockville, Maryland and from the beginning it seems like he was destined to make hip hop. From building his own home studio complete with a 4 and an 8 track recorder and a pair of turn tables to landing a spot at the Berklee College of Music for production, this cat's always held hip hop as a love and with his Beauty and the Beat album it appears that love is strong as ever!

So this album is cool as hell if you haven't gotten that already. I'll be brief but let's just say if you're looking for something different in hip hop then definitely give this mix a listen. And for those of you not trying to take a leap into the unknown I'll give you a visual...imagine battle rap lyrics rapped over 60's rock samples with enough trippy wonderfullness to rival Puff the Magic Dragon and the Yo Gabba Gabba guy mixed into one. It's an amazing ride I'd recommend to anyone so there's only one question left to ask yourself...Are you Experienced?

Haven't done a music thing in a while...

Hello music lovers, I'm back with yet another album you should listen to: The Kills - Midnight Boom. I won't lie, this album may take a little getting used to but once you get the vibe you're hooked. I ran across this group by accident really. During one of my more riveting days of unemployment I was watching the Current Network (Awesome tv by the way...) and they did an interview with VV and Hotel from the group The Kills. I had heard about them before from artists like Lightspeed Champion (His album review coming soon) and The Wombats but I never really looked into them much. Better late than never I suppose.

All anecdotes aside I really really really digg this band. They're kind of like a grittier version of The White Stripes if Jack and Meg White switched places and shared the spotlight more often. VV (Alison Mosshart) delivers her vocals with the perfect balance of raw, in-your-face power and laid-back (almost teasing) cocky playfulness. Hotel (Jamie Hince) delivers his heavy guitar work in such striking fashion that I'm still left reeling from the chords after the album's finished. This is such a good album any music fan should check it out at least as a break from the mainstream. It's raw, it's gritty, it's heavy-hitting but you'll love every second of it.

So just when I was completely starting to give up on rap, one of my friends hands me this mixtape and now I feel there's hope for this genre yet. Uriyah and Hen are a Hebrew duo whose rhymes are filled with more socially conscious lines than you can shake a stick at. From the Fall of Babylon to the unwitting worship of the All-seeing Eye, Uriyah and Hen have definitely taken off the kid gloves and went to the max with this their second mixtape. The first debut of this mixtape was during a show at The Camel, and now it's available for free download on their website www.myspace.com/uriyahmusic. I strongly recommend checking this out and I personally can't wait for their EP "Till War is Won" to drop, it should be crazy! All in all this duo is definitely on the up and up and will make you think as well as vibe off their music which is a rare find in today's music scene.

-Entry 2- A Blast From the Past -Entry 2-

So once upon a time there was a band, who was arguably the baddest band in the land, led by none other than George Clinton. This band brought a whole new sound to the American music scene and created a whole new vocabulary along with it...this band ofcourse is Parliament Funkadelic, but that's just an anecdote. The real story here is about my favorite member of this legendary band Glenn Goins, and in my effort to bring you guys stuff you haven't heard of, I now present his side project before his untimely death entitled Quazar. This thing is funky...and by funky I mean these cats are gettin down like there ain't no tomorrow, but let me stop talkin and just let you listen to the link.

-Entry 1- Empire of the Sun -Entry 1-

And just when you thought pop was dead, here comes something truly original. Straight outta the down under comes a band from another megaverse known simply as Empire of the Sun. This duo blends the electronica groovyness of Daft Punk with the pop elements of your typical Asian karaoke bar, but trust me...Emperor Steel is no Willy Hung by any means so don't expect a performance on the level of "She Bangs." Their debut album "Walking on a Dream" walks the fine line between trippy/happy psychedelica/wtf?!?ness marvelously and if you download it from iTunes you get an exclusive track "Breakdown" that taps into the group's more funky Prince-esque-ness (I'll leave a link to the vid at the end). All in all, this band looks promising and I can't wait to see what's on the horizon for these guys.