album review: 'phantom and the ghost' by styles p

So I'll be the first to admit that as much I've learned about hip-hop over the course of the past several months of reviewing albums, I still have a ton to learn and explore, especially in the underground. Now thanks to the Internet, we probably live in the easiest time to get access to underground hip-hop, but at the same time, it also means my backlog has started to reach startling levels. And thus, given my own preferences, I tend to keep my eyes open for underground MCs that catch my eye based on my own preferences in rap music - a smarter, lyrical focus, real charisma, and the ability to talk about other concepts than standard gangsta rap.

So it wasn't long for Styles P popped up on my radar. Now I remember him a little bit from the charts in the late 90s and early 2000s, mostly due to his affiliation with The LOX, a rap group I mostly like but don't love. Now granted, my ambivalent feelings towards The LOX mostly extend to frustrations I have with Jadakiss, but that's a whole other issue - to me, Styles P was the least direct and outwardly aggressive of the trio, which I found interesting. Most recently, he dropped a verse on 'No Hesitation', a track from the Alchemist & Evidence collaboration project Lord Steppington - and I'll be blunt, it's probably my favourite song from that album. His flow and wordplay have only improved, as has his stage presence, so I made a point to look up his new album Phantom And The Ghost, which was getting positive buzz for being a more thoughtful gangsta rap record. So, how was it?

video review: 'i never learn' by lykke li

Holy shit, this album was great. Seriously, I hope her singles blow up like nobody's business, because the mainstream is perfect for this sort of thing right about now.

Okay, next I'm going to talk about Styles P, because I need more time for Epica. Stay tuned!

album review: 'i never learn' by lykke li

I've talked before about my general aversion to cutesy, small-minded indie pop, especially the type that sticks close to conventional instrumentation and plays up the twee element to eleven - but at the same time, it's a genre that has other facets, and subverting those expectations can often be just as rewarding. I've talked before about St. Vincent, who undercut her classically-inspired instrumentation with subversive lyrics and experimental edge, but she's not the only one who has tackled this playing field.

This brings us to Lykke Li, an artist who I originally expected to dislike a lot more than I do, especially off of her first album Youth Novels. It was a minimalist, underwritten exploration of young, immature emotion, all delivered through Lykke Li's high girlish vocals - and yet it worked. Lykke Li had a great grasp of melody, a phenomenal grip on atmosphere thanks to stellar production, and the balance she held between saccharine sweetness and unnerving wisdom was impressive. And in a natural step forward, her second album Wounded Rhymes improved every element, deepening and expanding the soundscapes while bringing forward a much more assertive presence behind the microphone and cleaning up some of the clumsier songwriting. It's definitely a solid record that showed Lykke Li was a force in indie pop to be reckoned with, and I was psyched for her newest album I Never Learn, not just for the album but for the potential mainstream breakthrough it could represent. After all, she was only getting better and if there was a time where minimalist, melody-driven indie pop could have a crack at the mainstream, it'd be now. As great as 'I Follow Rivers' was - and make no mistake, that song's amazing - it came out in 2011, the charts were still locked in the club boom, they weren't ready for Lykke Li yet. So, I picked up her newest album and gave it a few listens - is this the smash for which we've been waiting?

video review: 'sheezus' by lily allen

Well, glad I could finally get this out. Fascinating album and definitely worth listening through if only to talk about it, because I get the feeling this one will inspire some real debate.

Okay, Lykke Li up next. Stay tuned!

album review: 'sheezus' by lily allen

I've got a complicated relationship with Lily Allen.

See, for the longest time, she was one of the most frustrating artists I've ever listened to, an act with very clear talent in instrumentation and songwriting, and I could tell she was genuinely clever and had a knack for incisive, biting songwriting. But every time I'd go back to that first album Alright, Still, I despised it more and more every single time. The rational part of my brain was telling me it wasn't a bad record, but for the life of me, I hated the framing of that album, overloaded with vapid, spiteful bitchiness that screamed of self-aware hypocrisy but didn't have the nuance or depth to really justify it. I'm told this is a British thing in how Lily Allen is supposed to be funny, but for me it was aggressively the opposite. My issue was always in the framing, which was trying to paint Lily Allen as at least a flawed protagonist figure who was skewering shallow mainstream culture, and while there was some self-awareness at how awful she came across, it was never enough to support her hollow justifications and I never felt her rather inert delivery was cute or charming or interesting enough to ignore it.

Thankfully, she seemed to clue into this problem in time for her second album It's Not Me It's You, which I liked a bit more in making Lily Allen a little more sympathetic and the framing a little more intelligent. But at the same time, the songwriting went broader in its portrayal of her newfound maturity, and her stabs at 'deeper' topics like religion and politics were shallow at best, almost cartoonish to the point of not being able to take seriously. On top of that, her instrumentation was even more of a mixed bag, displaying more influences and styles but some seriously obnoxious hooks. And the more I listened to the album, the more I got the impression that Lily Allen was never really trying or had her heart in her music - which she flat out admitted after the release of that album and then proceeded to take a five year hiatus. 

But now she's back with an album titled Sheezus, a title modeled off of Kanye West's controversial and critically acclaimed album that came out last year. And honestly, I was intrigued where she was going with this, because there are recognizable similarities between both artists. For one, they both have a tendency to mix genres in unconventional ways, they both can be insightful and somewhat self-aware songwriters about how terrible they can come across, and yet they both have egos the size of the British Isles and can be overwhelmingly full of shit. So I figured even if the album sucked, it'd still be interesting, so I gave it a few listens - how did it turn out?

video review: 'shatter me' by lindsey stirling

Well, this was quick. Glad it came out as well as it did.

Okay, I think I'll talk about Ought first, then either Lily Allen or Lykke Li. Stay tuned!

album review: 'shatter me' by lindsey stirling

I wasn't planning on covering this album.

See, the last time I talked about dubstep was with Skrillex, and since I haven't had as much of a chance to familiarize myself with that musical subgenre since that review, I felt as though tackling more reviews of it might be a misstep. And since I also tend to be a music critic with more of a focus on lyrics, primarily instrumental albums leave me feeling simultaneously lacking material and out-of-my-depth. I tend to focus on lyrics more than most because I'm a writer and my expertise is stronger in that sort of analysis - but while I have a fair amount of musical knowledge, I'm by no means classically trained outside of several years of piano and a few years of theory. 

And with all of that, I was feeling a little intimidated to talk about Lindsey Stirling's newest orchestral-dubstep album Shatter Me. A critically beloved YouTube musician who built a huge following through covers and fusing her amazing violin skills with electronica, she's got more musical talent and creativity than I'll ever have. But that being said, I was curious all the same and I figured the more exposure I get to these sorts of eclectic fusions, the better it'll be for me in the long run anyways. So I bought Shatter Me by Lindsey Stirling and hoped for the best - did I get it?

video review: 'by nicole' by frankmusik

Well, this was fairly quick to take in.

Okay, I still need more time before covering Lykke Li, Epica, or Lily Allen, so either Lindsey Stirling or that Ought band Pitchfork went crazy about. Stay tuned!

album review: 'by nicole' by frankmusik

One of the very first video reviews I ever did was one that caught me by surprise in a good way. The album was Colette Carr's debut album Skitszo, and while I won't deny there were significant issues with that album, it did showcase a promising talent with a lot of personality, and 'No I.D.', a song from that album, landed on my year-end list of the Top 50 songs of 2013.

What's interesting is that that song didn't technically debut in 2013. In fact, the song was originally placed on the album of her main collaborator Frankmusik, a synthpop musician and producer who released that album Do It In The AM in 2011. Admittedly, this proves more than a little frustrating for me, but the song is still great and giving it a chance to get it and Colette Carr some additional recognition is all a good thing. Plus, given the fact that Skitszo was assembled from numerous assorted EPs and other songs, I'm inclined to give it a pass.

But what about Frankmusik, the male singer on the track? Well, after parting ways with his record label in 2011, he set off to make synthpop albums on his own label, first with Between in 2013 and now By Nicole this year. And I'll admit I was curious - I liked the slick glossiness of his production, he had a taste for solid melodic progressions, and he was a convincing presence behind the microphone. So I gave the new album By Nicole a few listens - how did it go?

video review: 'peace, love, and country music' by ronnie dunn

Well, this has been in my backlog way too long. Glad to finally get a chance to talk about it, especially considering it turned out to be an interesting, if not exactly workable album.

Okay, next up will either be Ought or Frankmusik, because I need a little more time to cover Lykke Li, Epica, and (UGH) Lily Allen. Stay tuned!

album review: 'peace, love, and country music' by ronnie dunn

My very first concert was a Brooks & Dunn concert.

I don't remember much of it - I remember Lonestar opened for them and did a pretty solid job, and that Brooks & Dunn really had a lot of flashy fireworks in their show - but the duo left on an impression on me growing up. When I was listening to 90s country, I listened to a lot of Brooks & Dunn, and looking back on them now, I'm not surprised why they did so well. Kix Brooks had the smoother tones to bring in a more pop audience, and Ronnie Dunn had the rougher, more 'country' vocals to appeal to mainstream country fans. 

That said, as much great line-dancing music as they made, they were never critical darlings, mostly because they weren't exactly deep songwriters before they subsumed to the Nashville songwriting machine. And as much as I like the band for making some 90s country standards, you didn't go to Brooks & Dunn for depth in mainstream country, you had Alan Jackson and George Strait for that. And thus, when Brooks & Dunn split up after two decades of music, I wasn't that fazed. 

What did interest me was Ronnie Dunn's continued solo career, which he kicked off in 2011 with a self-titled album and is most remembered by me with 'Cost Of Livin'', a brutally tragic song about the continued recession across the United States, especially in rural states and small towns. It was a daring move for a second single, and what makes the song so powerful is that it doesn't present a solution or a message that it's all going to be okay. That song, combined with some vitriolic remarks against the evolving state of modern country, did have me curious about his newest album, albeit with a certain degree of caution. After all, I appreciate steps in a more mature or deep direction, but I'm also aware those comments can be used to placate country music press concerned with authenticity from examining your material. So, what does Ronnie Dunn deliver?

video review: 'pop psychology' by neon trees

Oh, I bet I'm going to get some hatred for this - which will be frustrating, because I still really do like this band. Eh, what can you do.

Next up, I finally tackle Ronnie Dunn before moving onto the May releases. Stay tuned!

album review: 'pop psychology' by neon trees

Here's one of the funny quirks about pop music, especially about artists who don't chart many hits: said artists will only typically be remembered for the element that stands out the most, which can often be a radically unfair definition of the band's content. And thus when the Neon Trees' singles 'Animal' and 'Everybody Talks' charts highly in 2010 and 2012 respectively, the popular consciousness is that they were a indie pop rock act who wrote plenty of songs about getting laid with almost naively teenage brand of kitsch.

And speaking as a fan of the band who really likes both Habits and Picture Show as pop albums, I can say this definitively: that's all they do. They might switch up their style from clattery late-70s/early-80s retropop to Depeche Mode-reminiscent icy synthpop, but Neon Trees almost exclusively write about songs about hooking up and having sex, or being frustrated that they aren't having sex. It's the sort of straightforward narrow-minded pursuit that can straddle the line between embarrassingly cheesy and more than a little unsettling, and this caused some critics to brand the band as one-dimensional.

That honestly strikes me as a little unfair, because Neon Trees have tried to switch up the formula across many genres of pop rock, past and present, with varying degrees of success. Personally, I think they score the most points with the committed embrace of ridiculous retro-70s cheese that worked so well for The Killers and Franz Ferdinand, but on their 2012 album there were attempts to go for darker, late 80s-inspired synthpop and darkwave tones with mixed results. What concerned me most about the Neon Trees is that the frenetic edge of their sound was slowly falling away in favour of glossier music, and while they did have a grasp of solid melodies, they might lose of their flavour, especially considering retro-disco pop returned to the charts last year and doesn't seem to be leaving any time soon. And considering I wasn't exactly blown away by their lead-off single 'Sleeping With A Friend', I was a little worried to dig into their newest album Pop Psychology. Was I worrying for nothing, were my fears unfounded?

video review: 'retrohash' by asher roth

And to end off a week of hip-hop, we get this. Ugh, wish this was better.

Okay, likely no reviews tomorrow given my schedule, but I think I owe everyone a Neon Trees review at some point, so stay tuned!

album review: 'retrohash' by asher roth

You know, there are certain one hit wonders that really don't deserve the title. Upon further research, bands like a-ha and Semisonic and Chumbawamba and Dexy's Midnight Runners turn out to be far more than just 'Take On Me' or 'Closing Time' or 'Tubthumping' or 'Come On Eileen'. Just because they managed to capture mainstream attention for a brief, shining second doesn't mean their larger body of work wasn't worth considering, or that the band could or should solely be defined by their one hit.

And then there's Asher Roth, who released 'I Love College' in 2009 and immediately fell into the trap so much worse than the one-hit wonder: that of the Novelty Song artist. Where the song might have captured the zeitgeist for an instant before immediately becoming an instant punchline - or hell, it might have been the punchline upon release. The later reconsideration that can redeem some one-hit wonders is much less likely with Novelty Song artists... and to be fair, it's not like some of them deserve the additional attention. Does Asher Roth deserve reconsideration?

Honestly, I'm not sure. Going back to revisit Asher Roth's debut album Asleep In The Bread Aisle wasn't entirely a pleasant experience. Sure, the production was pretty good and I liked the college-rock inspired instrumentation, but I couldn't exactly call Asher Roth a great performer. Technically, he wasn't exactly impressive as a rapper, and his stoner-douchebro affectation really got insufferable after only a few songs, mostly because it was plainly apparent that Asher Roth wasn't trying. And while there are a few acts that can make 'not trying' work for them, Asher Roth wasn't one of them, half because his lifeless flow didn't have the wit or punchlines to back it up, and half because the tracks where he did try were easily the best on the album. But even with that, I couldn't say that I really liked that album - it was smug, crass, and unbelievably petulant at points, and I really wasn't a fan of Asher Roth's style - the Beastie Boys had spent their time pretending to be and satirizing dumb frat boys, so to see Asher Roth do it somewhat unironically wasn't exactly pleasant.

But to be fair to the guy, he has finally gotten around to releasing his long-delayed sophomore album, and he's claimed that it's a major shift in direction. And while I'm never one to take an artist on his word, I gave Retro Hash a listen - how did it go?

video review: 'so it goes' by ratking

Man, this one took a lot of work to really unpack, but I'm glad I put in the work for it.

Okay, let's round out this week of hip-hop with RetroHash from Asher Roth, and then I'll deal with Neon Trees and Ronnie Dunn. Stay tuned!

album review: 'so it goes' by ratking

How much does it matter where you're from in music?

Because in some genres, nobody will care one way or another - as long as the music is good, most heavy metal or pop or indie acts couldn't care less which city or town from whence you came. But when it comes to music that not only just demands a degree of authenticity, but also harkens back to the community at large, location starts to matter. You see this a lot in country music, where regionalism across the United States and Canada plays a bit of a factor in defining the referenced landmarks and delivering a specific appeal. That's one reason why country acts love to reference rural tropes in their music: whether it's building a sense of community or just affirming the fact they came from that sort of upbringing, it's a nationalist spirit in microcosm.

And yet in one of many bizarre similarities between country and hip-hop, rap music does a lot of the same. Thankfully we've moved past the eras of region conflicts between west and east coast, but there's still plenty of references and callbacks to the places where these artists came, to frame their stories, add richer detail and context, and give their music a definite sense of place. Both country and hip-hop have a sense of richer history about them, and defining one's place with respect to that history is a major part of some rappers' careers.

So when I started to look at Ratking, an upstart alternative hip-hop duo from New York known for chaotic and noisy production in the vein of acts like Death Grips and Clipping and with a reportedly strong punk sensibility, I was curious in spite of my own issues with this particular brand of noise rap. After all, the Beastie Boys were New York rappers who had inclinations towards punk, and they were some of the most influential and awesome acts to ever rock the music world, so it made a certain amount of sense for me to at least get a familiarity with this sort of music. So I picked up So It Goes and gave it a few spins - how did it go?

video review: 'the new classic' by iggy azalea

Well, this was definitely a welcome surprise. Fun stuff.

Next up... hmm, continue with hip-hop and deal with Asher Roth, or finally deal with the Neon Trees? Stay tuned and find out!

album review: 'the new classic' by iggy azalea

So do you want to know something that really pisses me off about mainstream radio in the modern era, something that reveals a certain type of systemic sexism that somehow has only gotten worse in the music industry? It's that whenever you have a new, up-in-coming female rapper who has a reputation for being able to spit and deliver potent lyrics, they try to give her a pop or R&B edge or at least that one song that will cross over to mainstream radio because of that pop edge. And as their careers progress, you quickly realize that the radio is going to stick with those pop-friendly songs instead of letting her step up to the microphone with hard-hitting raps, unlike her male counterparts. I mean, outside of Drake, how often have major labels gone up to rappers and said, 'Yeah, you need to be able to sing an R&B ballad or pop tune or you won't get radio play'? Male acts might be asked to dumb down their content - female rappers are asked to change their entire identity.

What, you want evidence? Look at Nicki Minaj, or Kreayshawn, or even to some extent with Angel Haze. Hell, even though Colette Carr had more outright pop appeal, her singles weren't exactly the songs where she was outstripping her male counterparts, which she can easily do. And thus when I saw early buzz suggesting Australian rapper Iggy Azalea was going to be singing for the first time on her debut album The New Classic, I simply shook my head. Of course she was - even though she featured on XXL's list of top rap freshmen in 2012 with Danny Brown, Hopsin, and Macklemore, I expected that with the long-delayed release and troubled production, this wasn't going to be a hard-hitting rap album. Either way, I gave the album a listen: how did it turn out?

video review: 'honest' by future

Ugh, good lord, this album sucked. Glad to get this shit out of my system once and for all.

Okay, Ratking needs to be addressed, and then... well, not sure, we'll see. Stay tuned!