AWmusic

I’ve created this list based on 3 things:
1) it made my feet move.
2) it made me put the sh&t on repeat.
3) it made me put it on a playlist.

A. Let’s Go To War – Burn Down The Disco. This group is from Toronto and have opened for M.I.A. and Santogold, and performed at the Virgin fest. This track crosses the “urban” boundaries in my opinion, a nice mix of rock/urban/electro. I love: The intro, the bridge and the riff through the song.
Let’s Go To War – Burn Down The Disco

B. Brazilian Girls – Losing Myself. I’m pretty sure this is not a “single”. But, during their show at the Diesel house (which I weakly reviewed, lol), this track stood out to me most from their 2008 LP. I love: the bilingualism and the strangeness of her voice during the chorus.
Brazilian Girls – Losing Myself

C. Yelle – Je Veux Te Voir. This track is a re-release from 2006. Yelle is French singer from France. The intro is similar to the beginning of the 20 Fingers’ 90s track Short D*ck Man. I love: her high pitch annoying voice, the electro beat and the bridge.
Yelle – Je Veux Te Voir

D. Björk – Earth Intruders. It’s nice to see Timbaland produce something outside his tim-box and evidence that he’s beyond pop. Björk is always producing something innovative and then singing it weirdly. This song sounds like a dance march for funk and freedom I love: the lyrics, her weird articulation, and the beat.
Bjork – Earth Intruders

E. Robyn – Cobrastyle. I’ve always liked Robyn, even when she was a pop star. Robyn came back these last two years an independent artist with a dance movement. Her album is excellent, but this track is most electro danceable for me. I love: the lyrics (I press trigger, I don’t press people button) and the bass line.
Robyn – Cobrastyle.mp3

F. Kanye West – Love Lockdown. I so wanted to do this LP review, someone beat me to it. lol. Anyway, I was thoroughly impressed with this 808 album because it’s Kanye somber, electro and outside his box. The lyrics are weak as hell. I’ll make it an exception on this track because it’s heartfelt. I love: the Auto-tune, the tribal drums on the 808 and the simplicity.
Kanye West – Love Lockdown

G. N.E.R.D. – Spaz. There’s no doubt that N.E.R.D.’s Everybody Nose is a cool electro/dance track too… but Spaz‘s drum-n-bass effect works so much better for me. I always like N.E.R.D.’s work anyway, but this song, it’s a step towards what I want to hear from them. I love: the lyrics “Spaz if you want to…” damn right, the drum-n-bass beat and the mix of rock for the chorus.
N.E.R.D. – Spaz.mp3

H. Santogold – You’ll Find A Way (Switch and Sinden Remix). Of course everybody loves Creator, that’s her anthem (I do too). You’ll Find A Way is always overlooked in favour of L.E.S. Artistes. This track though is “tough” though… I love: the opening beat, the whispers and the bridge.
Santogold – You’ll Find A Way (Switch and Sinden Remix).mp3

I. Janelle Monae- Sincerely Jane. A lot of people like Many Moons more, but I think it sounds too “Outkast”ee for me. Sincerely, Jane is an original urban track that’s danceable with live horns.. mid-tempo dancing maybe, lol, but I still groove to it. I love: the lyrics, the scratching, the live horns, and her voice.
Janelle Monae – Sincerely, Jane

J. Weezer – Troublemaker. Yes, I’m well aware this is not a dance/urban/electro track. But… this track is just so much fun and makes me want to rock out the dance floor. These self-proclaimed nerds’ guitars and drum line makes me move. I love: always the nerdy and sarcastic lyrics, the beat, the little interruption bridges… “I’m gonna be a rock star… marrying a biatch”. lol. This is my anthem of the year. I know.. I’m a total geek. Yes, and the buildup bridge, works every time.
Weezer – Troublemaker.mp3

Coming off the huge success of “Graduation,” the tragic loss of his mother, the break-up with his fiancée and his constant battle with his fame – West has cooked up what Ron Burgundy would call a “glass case of emotion”. Except ten times less funny.

As most of us know, “808s & Heartbreak” has West singing throughout and here’s the worst part – it’s all on Auto-tune (made famous by T-Pain). I absolutely hate Auto-tune and left feeling the same way about it after listening to this album.

On the contrary, West uses this tool effectively to cover up his shortcomings as an RnB singer and to display themes of loneliness, despair and vulnerability that saturates the entire album. On “Bad News”, a distorted voice effect makes it seem like Kanye is crying as he sings, “Didn’t you know I was waiting on you, waiting on a dream that would never come true”.

On a production level, most of the instrumentation is minimal. Oh yeah, there is plenty of 808’s. The minute and euro sound inspired approach he takes musically works well on a few songs – such as the lead single “Love Lockdown”, where a simple 808 pattern is met by a catchy piano melody and chest pounding tribal drums. On “Welcome To Hearkbreak”, West cooks up a pattern on the drum machine that separates him from many other hip-hop producers. “My friend showed me pictures of his kids, and all I could do was show him pictures of my cribs”. Simple and effective. Unfortunately the rest of his album sounds like nursery rhymes.

Where I think this album really falls short is its lack of ability to connect. West constantly preaches about making music that connects and speaks to people. Well it didn’t connect with me. Unlike some of his prior work (mainly College Dropout), “808’s” is an album Kanye created for his own personal reasons, which is okay – but part of his appeal has always been his capability to relate to his audience. It is not that these songs go over my head– matter of fact – the lyrics are just as straightforward as the production. On “See You In My Nightmares”, Kanye comes off a little pretentious, lyrically – lines like, “I got my life, and it’s the only one, I got the night, I’m running from the sun”, make me appreciate “College Dropout” a bit more.

So here is the verdict. Kanye West – undoubtedly a music genius in his own right, has pushed the envelope, crossing musical boundaries to give us his most ambitious work to date. I will definitely give him kudos for taking risks. But whatever it was he wanted to accomplish lyrically, it just didn’t fly for me. It gets highly repetitive fast and I KNOW he can do a lot better – as he’s shown that in the past. He is definitely a more enjoyable listen when he’s “talking his shit” rather than vulnerably moping.

But every great artist has produced at least one album that was a head scratcher: “Electric Circus”, “Kid A” and now “808s”.

Kanye, please leave the singing in the shower and the Auto-tune well….who cares.

3.5/5

Kanye West – Welcome To Heartbreak (ft. Kid Cudi)

Kanye West – Coldest Winter

50 Cent has publicly made a promise that he would retire if “Graduation” outsold “Curtis”. So far the future is looking bleak and the internet has decided to pick up this story and 50 cent will probably undergo heavy criticism if he doesn’t oblige.

It currently 1 million to 700,000 copies sold after the first week.

I think West’s album sales is because of the critical praise it has gotten and 50 cent’s mixed reviews probably has to contribute into the factor.

I am really rooting for West here even though West does annoy me with his controversies. I really think it’s time for 50 cent to hang it up… and try acting or something.

Source: Billboard