Apple, which recently bought the Lala music service that I so consistently use to supplement my musical hype digestion, is closing down the site. I say Boo-urns. Lala was a great way to get a single, full sampling of a song or album, to see if you dig a band's vibe and are ready to make to the necessary emotional and financial investment.
So you'll be seeing a lot more YouTube links on the site.
Timbaland is not cool anymore. His last couple albums have been big on hype and low on return, save for a quality single or two, like Shock Value's played-out "Apologize (ft. One Republic)" and "Way I Are (ft. Keri Hilson)." This, of course, curbing the massive cred he earned in 2006 sculpting Justin Timberlake ("My Love," "LoveStoned") and Nelly Furtado ("Say It Right," "Promiscuous"), as well as his prudent finagling onto M.I.A.'s much-loved Kala ("Come Around").
Drake isn't very cool either, so "Say Something" mostly works. Timbaland mugs his way throughout, taking the music world about as serious as a music producer veteran predictably should; Drake tries too hard, but it's endearing in a way. He's no Kanye or Weezy, and he'll never be, but he and T.I. can respectfully hang out in the second tier.
Los Campesinos! made two of the best albums of 2008: their visceral debut Hold on Now, Youngster... and the nearly-equal follow-up faux-EP We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed. My first thought: prolific, anyone?
It's not surprising then that their one-year hiatus produced the 15-track barrage Romance is Boring, which overflows with (dark, provocative, often elegant, often comical) ideas. Most of the experimentation pays off (like killer opener "In Medias Res"), just watch out for those that fall flat (the raw ra-ra of "Plan A"). And don't expect a smooth ride.
Los Campesinos! have two dimensions to their alluring madness: words and temperment.
I'm not arguing that it all makes sense, but how can you argue against lines like "I'm leaving my body to science/Not medical but physics," "I think we need more post-coital and less post-rock," "Said I'd gone deaf/But I'd heard everything they said/It's just I had no interest," and even the album's titular "romance is boring."
This all might sound pretentious on paper, or if it were strewn over an acoustic guitar (check the song titles, e.g. "This Is a Flag. There Is No Wind"). Not a problem: they tie this sensible nonsense to a fitting high-energy constitution. The result: Another great effort from on of music's most interesting and compelling outfits.
To be clear, I heard Nirvana's paradigmatic Nevermind in its entirety during my formative elementary and middle school years. But I never owned it. And I'd never revisited it since. Until recently.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was an impossible song to escape growing up, and it remains a stellar opening track, forever bound to its hazy, too-cool-to-fit-in music video (although watch out for the throaty non-sequitur "A mullato/An albino/A mosquito/My libido/Hey...Yay," which has become somewhat cringe-worthy with age). Other memorable singles from my youth now invoke a range of responses, from eternal admiration ("Come As You Are") to mood-dependent appreciation ("In Bloom") to acquired indifference ("Stay Away").
The biggest surprises are the ones I wasn't ready for at the time: the downtempo depravity of "Polly" and the phemonenal closer "Something in the Way" ("it's okay to eat fish 'cause they don't have any feelings"). Over the years, the ennui has translated a lot better than the angst, and this is indeed Nirvana's lasting message. Nevermind's statement, convoluted through years of hype and pop cultural progression, and dampened by its epochal grunginess, remains a uniformly potent codification of suburban distopia.
Amazing, huh? Three actors of this caliber all recording a song together!
I kid, I kid. The best Jamie Foxx song since Kanye's "Gold Digger" collab, and the best Justin Timberlake track since "Dick in a Box," and the best T.I. song since, well, T.I. actually doesn't seem to be trying that hard here. Actually, the whole thing is about one level above mediocrity; the bland boasting-to-one-in-particular of "Cause I'm a winner/Yea I'm a winner" brings down an otherwise impressive production effort. It's what we in the business call a 'relative success.'
I was a huge fan of The Trials of Van Occupanther (outdoing the Decemberists at their own game in the same year, brilliant!). Which is why I was disappointed to hear recent critical intimations of a sophomore drop-off.
The Courage of Others is surely a much weaker narrative than the Van Occupanther, feeling like a regular 'ol hipster prog-folk record instead of an amazing and lush PBS mini-series set to sound. The visions here are more lulling, and the musical accompaniment more heavy-footed (check out the plodding "Small Mountain" if you need evidence). The most captivating presence is the bare-bones "Acts of Man," which carries a patient urgency and epic-ness that Midlake have historically made the norm.
