Singles - Lupe Fiasco - Mural

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It's a 1,600 word, 9 minute rap song that's propelled with a beat from The Buchanans who sampled the track Chanson D'un Jour D'hiver from the album Troupeau Bleu released in 1975 by a group called Cortex.

The most amazing thing about this song is the thought that Lupe could perform it live. Baffling with his wordplay and lyrical layers.

"My rap position was black condition and activism / Ammunition for abolition, missions attacking systems / But they're not apt to listen / unless it's dropping on Activision / Are we apps or are we bodies filled with apparitions? / Operating applications, stuck inside an Apple prison / Chicken hack and download updates that lack religion / Or...are we more?"

And that's only about 4% of the lyrics from that track...

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Album Review - The Maccabees - Given to the Wild

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The Maccabees, a pretty well known band in the UK pretty well forgotten in the States, released their third album, Given to the Wild, in 2012. The album won NME's Best Album of the Year.  It was listed as #15 in my Top 25 Albums of 2012, and now that I'm listening to it again, I think it deserved to have a higher ranking.

The album is an original. I can't think of any apt comparisons other than Bombay Bicycle Club's So Long See You Tomorrow (especially the atmospheric intro tracks that flow right into the second) sounding somewhat similar, but the BBC album pales in comparison.   

This album is all about love - that which we follow, idealize, grab and grasp for, then take for granted and ultimately lose.

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Singles - New Artist - Natalie Prass - Bird of Prey

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A couple days ago I went through a musical exercise that was one of the many reminders why music touches so many different people in different influences. One of the artist involved, Natalie Prass, will be releasing a new album on January 26th. This is the first song I heard by her. She reminds me of a folksy Feist with her melodies, various instruments, and distinct voice. Check her live version of this song out (I can't seem to embed the YouTube video...) which really showcases her voice!

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A Quick Musical Journey

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I'm first taken by its relaxed pace. Then Prass begins to sing. That melody. I've heard that before. But from where? I think and think and think. I listen to it again. Pause. Think. Listen again. That melody is on Drake's last album! So I'm scrounging through all the tracks when I remember, wait, it's on Kendrick Lamar's last album! I immediately cue up "Poetic Justice.”

So Prass did a cover of Janet Jackson's original which Kendrick Lamar sampled (and I'm guessing the title "Poetic Justice" is a sly shout-out to Janet since she was in a movie - with Tupac - with the same title.) What a beautiful circle of music. Thanks Janet!

Can you hear the same melody? I then chuckle when Drake starts rapping (half credit?). But then I'm intrigued as to whom is singing the melody on Lamar's track. Sure enough, it's a sample from a Janet Jackson song entitled, you guessed it, "Any time, Any Place:"

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Albums to look forward to in 2015!

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I've scoured the interwebs for a bunch of info on 2015 album releases (thank you Consequence of Sound, Stereogum, Pitchfork, Metacritic, Ranker) and here's an incredibly quick listing of albums that I promise to listen to MANY MANY times which are ranked from somewhat excited to RIDICULOUSLY excited):

Brandon Flowers - TBA
Savages - TBA
The Dodos - Individ (1/27)
Wild Nothing - TBA
Panda Bear (Noah Lennox from Animal Collective) - Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper
Heems (from the now extinct Das Racist) - Eat Pray Thug (3/10)
Jose Gonzalez - Vestiges & Claws (2/17)
Fleetwood Mac - TBA
Chromatics - Dear Tommy
Pusha T - King Push
Freddie Gibbs - Lifestyles of the Insane
James Blake - TBA
DIIV - TBA
Purity Ring
Belle & Sebastian - Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance (1/20)
The Decemberists - What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World (1/20)
Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear (2/10)
Death Cab for Cutie - TBA
Chance the Rapper - Surf
Blood Orange - TBA
Joey Bada$$ (finally!) - B4.DA.$$ (1/20)
Band of Horses - TBA
Drake - Views From the 6
Adele - TBA
Modest Mouse - Strangers to Ourselves (3/3)
Beach House - TBA
A$AP Rocky
Grimes - TBA
Run the Jewels - RTJ3
My Morning Jacket - TBA
Kanye West - TBA
Kendrick Lamar - TBA
Radiohead - TBA
Frank Ocean - TBA

Album Review - Mac Demarco - Salad Days

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“As I’m getting older, chip up on my shoulder, rolling through life to roll over and die.”

Mac Demarco’s first line on the title track (and my #2 Top Song of 2014) of his album Salad Days perpetuates the strange dichotomy between Demarco’s public persona and his writing as a singer/songwriter. 

One one side, there's his public persona - goofy, humorous, playful, idiotic, likable, and crude (instead of a band prayer/pep talk, I envision Demarco and his buddies playing the “Penis” game prior to stepping on stage). There's his ridiculously and I presume intentionally stupid documentary, Pepperoni Playboy, that has amassed over 500,000 views. His music videos are beyond comprehensible.  His live shows are messy and completely enjoyable. I saw Demarco at The Great American Music Hall in SF, and Demarco broke his strings on three separate occasions, once asking his bassist to do a cover of Coldplay while he restrung his guitar. “Let Her Go” was played completely out of time, and Demarco laughingly stated so after they got through it. Demarco and Co. were in the middle of one song, and a fan jumped on stage, put his arms around the bassist and took a selfie. The bassist smiled happily for the camera. The show was more like a circus act, and I loved it. Demarco’s crazy persona was in full force. 

Then there’s the other side.

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Top 25 Albums of 2014

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“As I’m getting older, chip up on my shoulder, rolling through life to roll over and die.”

Mac Demarco’s first line on the title track (and my #2 Top Song of 2014) of his album Salad Days perpetuates the strange dichotomy between Demarco’s public persona and his writing as a singer/songwriter. 

One one side, there's his public persona - goofy, humorous, playful, idiotic, likable, and crude (instead of a band prayer/pep talk, I envision Demarco and his buddies playing the “Penis” game prior to stepping on stage). There's his ridiculously and I presume intentionally stupid documentary, Pepperoni Playboy, that has amassed over 500,000 views. His music videos are beyond comprehensible.  His live shows are messy and completely enjoyable. I saw Demarco at The Great American Music Hall in SF, and Demarco broke his strings on three separate occasions, once asking his bassist to do a cover of Coldplay while he restrung his guitar. “Let Her Go” was played completely out of time, and Demarco laughingly stated so after they got through it. Demarco and Co. were in the middle of one song, and a fan jumped on stage, put his arms around the bassist and took a selfie. The bassist smiled happily for the camera. The show was more like a circus act, and I loved it. Demarco’s crazy persona was in full force. 

Then there’s the other side...

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Top 100 Songs of 2014

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After listening to music on Spotify for 101,976 minutes this year (I will forever remember that number!), I was able to whittle down my list of top tracks of the year from roughly 240 to 100. It was a tough process. A lot of great songs got left off, but what I love about making these lists is that all 100 songs I truly enjoyed and listened to many, many times. In fact, “last place” at #100 was Theophilus London’s “Do Girls,” a song that I played constantly over a two week span. 

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Bands and Money - Pomplamoose

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I've always been interested in the finances of bands, especially smaller indie bands, to learn how they get by and how much money comes in and out during their tours.  We probably all remember the New York Magazine article on Grizzly Bear which revealed that despite being one of the bigger and more critically adored indie bands around, some in the the band still didn't have health insurance.

A much smaller band, Pomplamoose, just wrote a blog post about their finances on their recent 28-day tour. The bottom line:

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