lol welcome to 6th grade for me dawg

not for long. i think that albums a little overrated if you ask me. its got some really good songs. the score, fug-gee-la, ready or not, zealots and of course killing me softly are all mad straight but it doesnt have any lasting power I feel like.

Braids-Native Speaker: 8/10
it seems like all the albums i've listened to for 2011 have been just as good as eachother.

o.O

This Fugees album being anything less than a miracle of God to me is roughly 46 dimensions away right now. Some of the skits are stupid, but overall I think it's a rich, fantastically chill journey.

i bet you five dollars you wont think its the best hip hop album ever next week

Haha we'll see.

Dreww, since rap clicked for you, have you gone back to Illmatic yet? Read rapgenius as you listen to it too.

Dreww:

agreed, was gonna mention that too, predict drew will love it. 2nd fav rap album for me

Cuong Vu
Vu-Tet:



Over the past week or so, I’ve had two major obsessions in my music listening, both quite different from one another. One is Cuong Vu, a jazz trumpeter just recently introduced to me by a good friend. The other is Autechre, an electronic duo I’ve liked for years. At first glance, they seem rather different. Listen to the first song of Autechre’s LP5 (the album that’s dominated my obsession with them) and you’ll hear a spastic beat combined with a melody appropriate for a video game. Listen to the first song of Vu-Tet and you get a quiet, beautiful group improvisation. There is a link between the two obsessions, however. Both balance chaos and aggression with beauty excellently. Autechre offset the craziness of their beats with haunting ambiance and often softer melodies. And Vu-Tet derives much of its power from the way that it slides effortlessly between the two poles.

Immediately after Intro, Vu-Tet slams into Accelerated Thoughts, an aptly titled song that races along with frenzied trumpet playing (and later, equally frenzied tenor sax playing). Cuong Vu pushes his trumpet to the limit, at times making it squawk in a manner reminiscent to John Zorn’s infamous saxophone squeals. Underneath are crashing drums and bass whose tone can only really be described as mean. It’s a furious song, sitting at an opposite extreme to the calm Intro. These two songs set up the range of the album, and Cuong Vu spends the rest of the time exploring those two poles and the space in between.

The next track, Solitary Confinement, is the best example. Across its ten minutes it builds from a fairly calm beginning almost continuously in energy until it reaches a fever pitch, then plays itself out with an even calmer ending, one of the most beautiful sections of the album. Another highlight, Now I Know (For Vina) shows a very different sort of climax. It lies entirely on the album’s more pensive side, but is also one of its most intense tracks. For about two minutes (starting four minutes in), Vu crafts music with a deep sense of longing. It’s the most powerful, transcendent moment on the album. In fact, the only problem I have with the album is that the song goes on for a minute after this section ends. While not bad at all, it feels extraneous after the power of what came before.

Throughout the album, there is a fantastic sense of interplay between the musicians. While Cuong Vu’s trumpet is clearly the dominant force, accentuated in the foreground by Chris Speed’s tenor saxophone (and occasionally clarinet), the rhythm section is incredibly dynamic. Stumo Takeishi draws an amazing tone out of his bass on every song and provides a melodic center that anchors the songs. Ted Poor’s drumming is equally fantastic. He never settles into a comfortable groove, merely hints at the possibility frequently without ever actually following through. Together, the four have crafted an album that never gets boring, and which stands as one of the best contemporary jazz albums.

Well pnoom I finally broke down and checked out MBDTF despite your warning that I would dislike it (since everyone won't shut up about it). You're right. I'll get a review of my first impression up today but suffice to say at first I didn't see what the fuss was it was a competent hip hop album not amazing not bad. And then Monster came on. I'm not quite through it yet but jesus.

All I'm saying is, give MBDTF a chance.

If you need some fuel for the fire, corrections, here is my early review on it. Pnooms is probably better, just couldn't find it
viewtopic.php?f=38&t=283&start=240

I've decided to review this album by using an emoticon for each song to express my feelings although I'm limited to 10 smilies apparently (consider the confused face just a luke warm response).
1-4.
5.
6.
7.
8. (with a smile in the middle)
9. (with a grin on the front end because the beginning sets up to actually be good)
10.
11. (with a grin until the skit starts)
12.
13.

The first four tracks are competent if not particularly interesting hip hop and track five is actually pretty damn nice but then Monster comes on and the album goes entirely off the rails. Monster is just so cheesily stupid and then So Appalled is absolutely appalling. By the time the album gets to Runaway (which has a very interesting opening set that is ruined by the rest of the song) the album feels like a cry for help (which Runaway in particular is). In the last bit of the album only Blame Game kind of brings it back on the rails before driving if right off a cliff with the awful skit at the end. I did like the unique was Hell of a Life found to plagiarize Iron Man. Then of course the album ends with applause as Kanye congratulates his massive ego on his baroque (in the bad way) accomplishment.

Indeed this album really reminds me of the Cappella dei Principi in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence. Just a disgustingly overwhelming mixture of colored marble that clashes entirely with the rest of the building and just looks putrid. No restraint (very symtomatic of the late Medici's who ruled as Grand Dukes of Tuscany rather than from behind the scenes like the first Medici). In fact those personalities are probably a perfect analog to Kanye West's ridiculously outsized ego.

What he has constructed musically has so little substance and just a lot of flash. Although I do grin a bit when I recognize some of his more famous samples I then cringe (like when I heard the 21st Century Schizoid Man sample in Power or the Iron Man quote in Hell of a Life) because he does absolutely nothing with them other than use them for their most obvious and banal purpose. That proves to be true of most of his sample usage. He's like the sad pseudointellectual who name drops every philosopher and writer he can into conversation in a pathetic attempt to make himself feel superior and erudite. And like that guy he doesn't really understand any of those authors and so he just comes off as tired and sad especially because in this case he's unaware that he doesn't understand.

As drew says art isn't so much about what you say but how you say it. But what you say does matter as to how you present a message and in this case Kanye has so very little to say and yet has such grandiose pretensions that it comes off like a guy standing on the edge of a foot high rock and puffing his chest out like hes on the summit of Everest. In Kanye's own mind he has reached Everest's summit which is what makes this such a tragedy and makes me feel bad for him. No score yet but that will come once I've given it another listen. This is the first time I've written a review on a first impression but I listened closer than I usually do and what I heard did not bode well for it on future listens.

I remember that one and it is a very apt review. Pnoom also caught a lot of what I heard too.

all my reviews are on my RYM