Drake - Thank Me Later

“Hip – Hop is dead.” professes Nas and the stream of under par debuts and less than bad hip hop songs, concede to this statement. Though the veterans still cast their shadow over hip hop (even bloody P Diddy), the game has lost so much. Introspection left with Arrested Development and Common still struggles to get airplay. Love is bumping, grinding and booty shakin’. Either way, it’s not like I’m struggling from romantic nostalgia or anything but what hip hop needs is an injection of performance enhancing beats and steady stream of excitement. Lucky for us Drake is this; integrating what Hip Hop has lost as well as excitement on this hotly anticipated debut.

For all its pros Thank Me Later is neither bold nor original despite its attempts. Vocoder?  Yes, but no 808’s. Karaoke’s is the only left field song, a Smooth Operator for the hip –hop generation. Regardless, originality isn’t everything despite what Pitchfork says. Drake delivers a strong album exhibiting his RnB credentials with help from RnB machine The Dream on Shut it Down and the fact that he does not shy away from his inner most emotions.

It is on this note that Drake has revamped Hip – Hop/R and B. While his contemporaries churn out songs about their ability to ‘hold an erection for aaagggess’ Drake anchors his material in emotion. He's not out  for ‘Making Love in a Club’, he’s up for the true kind. Fireworks tells of the short exhilarating relationship he had with some girl called Rihanna.  The Resistance shows a man in fear of losing his character as a result of the limelight ‘what am I afraid of/this is supposed to be what dreams are made of’  he laments in the first person. In Over he begins in a stream of consiousness format giving you chance surf the mind of Drizzy. In hip hop men want to retain their hood-like image yet he’s not afraid to say he's vulnerable.When you open the album you are entering the psychology of the man; the man of the moment and the man vulnerable and searching for love.

With Alicia Key’s honeyed vocals on the first track, you know you’re in store for some more big hitters. With the likes of Jay Z and TI featuring, Drake plays the name game successfully. Up all Night features his Young Money acquaintance Nicki Minaj. The lone female rapper (who’s Trina, really?) on top of the game she has managed to steal all the Young Money songs she’s featured in accept for this. He couples with Young Jeezy on the Aaliyah sampled Unforgettable and again Drakes floetic prowess is shown outshining Jeezy’s signature wheezy vocals. But these strong collaborations are somewhat marred by  Drake’s hip – hop Santa Clause Lil Wayne’s feature on Miss Me. Drake as strong as ever, starts the song well and leaves Weezy to ruin it showing how two dimensional his rhymes are; call me a prude but I don’t really appreciate lyrics like “man I swear my bitches do it  til they suck the brown off” to which he continues ‘urgh/ that’s nasty”. Nasty it is, but more importantly it shows that Weezy’s game lies firmly in songs that do not expose his lyrical inferiority. The album shows that if Weezy’s reign as the Nu School’s Head of State is up, Drake is bound for the torch.

Drake was the hype and though hype only ever lasts 15 minutes max, his debut shows that the furore over the Canadian saviour was justified. Far from his days as a wheelchair bound Degrassi character, Drake is making the steps to certified success. Kanye aside, he’s making mainstream hip hop art again. He’s asking those who thought they could ride off the success of the Dirty South the questions. Drake is here to stay and long may his tenure as Hip – Hop’s MVP continue.

8.5/10
Listen to: Fireworks, The Resistance, Over, Shut it Down, Unforgettable, Light Up, Show Me a Good Time

The Drums - The Drums

I never believe hype. To believe hype is to strip music of subjectivity and submit to media whirl wind. These four men from Brooklyn have had a fair share of it and with their growing fan base of fashion conscious indie kids on the back of the promising Summertime EP, the eyes of music journalists and fans alike were peeled. But did they create those teenage anthems that Summertime promised? Are the songs on the album reminiscent of the cute jangled guitars that were ever-present on the EP? Is the hype justified? The answer is yes, but not overwhelmingly so.

The album’s opener ‘Best Friend’ is a remarkable start and perhaps one of the best indie pop songs released this year. Jonathan Pierce does an A star performance of the whiney teenage voice we’re so used to hearing in 1980s American dramas. But his voice is weaved into the music creating a retro feel that meanders throughout the album. The simplicity of the instruments adds to the endearing character of the song.

And that is the word to describe this debut: simplicity. It’s not the difficult listen that so often mars the efforts of bands that are under pressure to impress. They stick to what they know, and what they know is the eighties. The decade of overstated drum machines as shown in ‘Me and the Moon’; the decade of the Molly Ringwald in a poofy prom dresses and the slow dance; Down by the Water should have been in ‘Pretty in Pink’. As I stated in a previous post, the Drums are an unashamed revival band. Don’t let anyone tell you that there is anything remotely modern on this album. So often, this is a criticism, but this adds to the charm. At a gig you’ll see Ian Curtis, when you key in close to the vocals, you’’ll here Moz, when you listen to the musical patterns you’ll here the Shangri-Las. Despite not creating anything fresh, they bring joy to anyone who has wondered what a mash-up of all these artists would sound like.

What is commendable to the band alone, is their ability to juxtapose their hyperactive music against SOME OF THE MOST DEPRESSING LYRICS YOU’LL EVER HEAR. For a band that appears all for show, the introspective lyrics often get lost in the joyous pop. Without lyrics at hand you miss ‘it’s another night with me and the moon/ it’s another night with that look in your eyes’ or ‘I don’t believe you when you lie/ because your eyes are always saying goodbye’. It’s hard to dislike the calls of ‘ooo ee oo’ and bouncy nature of ‘Skippin Town’, but it’s easy to sympathise with the victim in the song “I know you’re trying to kill me / Cuz you’re chasing me around town” The lyrics are generally as good what some of the great lyricists would write. The ability to key into teenage emotion yet maintain sincerity is something that is theirs.

But amongst the praise that this debut deserves, a factor that will always play against a band with explicit attachments to their influences is whether their releases will tell the test of time. It’s hard to listen to the album and not think ‘The Smiths could have done this better’, particularly as they would have been in competition with them if we were in the 80s. 

There’s a problem with longevity. How do they expand on a release that is as time oriented as this, without coming out with something completely different and losing the support of the media, those who influence the consumer? MGMT’s Congratulations is an example of this.

And there’s that problem with hype. The hype that will follow you and judge you as long as your band survives. But these are questions for the future.

This album is a commendable listen. It may not have that instant kick for some, but as you take a few more listens you come to appreciate the simplistically engaging nature of it. Take a peak at the lyrics and you’ll value the innocence and introspection. But don’t forget, they came in a time machine from the 80’s and they aren’t willing to change to fit the quo.

7.5 / 10 

Listen to: Best Friend, Skippin Town, Forever and Ever Amen, I Need Fun in My Life, The Future

Beach Fossils - Beach Fossils

The band’s name gives you a clue of what they’ll sound like: As a listener you are the archaeologist discovering the fossilised remnants of The Beach Boys that have been weathered overtime by 1970’s American lo-Fi resulting in catchy guitar rhythm and drone tone vocals.

This band is fighting against time. Producing an album fitting for probably any decade prior to the present, they manage to create a listen that does not exhaust their influences but transmits the cool and retro. It’s a great introduction to anyone interested in music been and gone.

Like many present bands, Beach Fossils employ the jangled guitars and neat drums producing a compact sound. But this sound is accompanied by a thick layer of ambience throughout the album which effectively reduces the album from a train made up of eleven carriages to one long single carriage diverting every two to four minutes. It feels like a never ending ride that comes to an abrupt end all too soon, “And the seconds to slow but the moment’s all too fast”

Having said this, range would be nice. Listening to it for the first time you feel as though it’s magic, but once it’s over you wonder what you spent thirty odd minutes listening to. The second time and you wait for the magic you heard the last time and aside from a few sprinkles of gold dust, ‘Daydream’, ‘Youth’ and ‘Wide Awake’ are my particular favourites, the rest is just dark matter: it’s there but not quite there, hidden for the next album perhaps.

Beach Fossils make fine pop music suited for your washed-up ex stoner father to your hipster friend. This is only their first album and, as any good debut should, it leaves you wanting more.

Listen to: Youth, Daydream, Golden Age, Wide Awake

7/10 

The Drums: Forever and Ever, Amen Video

"Baby, It's Forever..."

Bombay Bicycle Club - Motel Blues (B-Side)

People should know about this song! If there ever was a song that engages with your sensitive side this is it.

Reflecting sexual desire and club love,  the lyrics are beautiful in an tongue in cheek manner. On the surface they appear to celebrate the life of the band, but they don’t. They explore the feeling of being ‘up-rooted’ when travelling the world, “I don't wanna make no late night, New York calls, I don't wanna stare at them ugly grass-mat walls” sings Steadman whose shaky vocals add to the sensitivity of the song.

Band life often sparks images of wild parties and loose groupies but the song's underlying meaning tells the other side: missing life before the interviews,  fans and tours.

As a teen I often feel trapped, but from this song, it appears that seeing the world can’t replace a home, a love, and roots. 


Found on: "Magnet" single (2009)

Blood Red Shoes - Fire Like This

There are two of them, just two. Yet they are able to produce the noise of dozen men. Imagine a group of rowdy teens on a Friday night wielding guitars and drums and exercising hoarse vocal cords. Never has this noise sounded so good.

The Album title is fitting; as the album progresses the heat radiates. Its confrontational music, bound to flare up the synthetic anger of a mosh pit. The lead single “Light It Up” has a steady introduction preparing you for the riotous chorus. Prickly guitars, lawless drums, rebellious vocals all meshed to form something like a modern day punk song. The song is a convincing call to arms; Laura Mary Carter’s screaming of the track title conjures up your inner pyromaniac.

They have been written off as rebels without a cause constantly complaining about their angst ridden lives. This album does nothing to appease the critics and neither should it. They stay true to their roots and by changing their style they wouldn’t be the same Blood Red Shoes. What BRS fans want to hear is battle; every note has to be a fight, every word a hint of conflict. The proclaiming of ‘I can’t stand it, everybody out of hear’ on “It Is Happening” keeps to the BRS formula. “When We Wake” leads you into a false sense of security with the morose introduction but half way through the cantankerous musicianship begins.  The difference in this song is that Carter sings the lyrics rather than shouts reflecting a melancholic anger: ‘in the end is this all we can ask for’. There isn’t a song to be hated, but maybe a critique of the length of “Colour Fade” (7:08) which appears out of place on this fast-paced album.

Their influences are obvious: imagine the love child of anti-pop Nirvana and Doolittle Pixies with Brit-Pop bands as distant relatives. Yet they manage not to abuse these influences. The Pixies ‘quiet LOUD’ hybrid has been violated many times yet they are able to use this nugget of influence and create an even quieter quiet and louder loud, “One More Empty Chair” is an example of this.

The music has not changed from their debut effort Box of Secrets. Rather they have developed providing us with tighter play, more angst and in my humble opinion, better songs throughout the album. This album is an excellent listen.  The Brighton twosome have made created one of the best releases of the year so far. 


Listen to: Light It Up, When We Wake, Count Me Out, Heart Sink , Follow the Lines
9/10

Illegal Downloaders vs. the Music Industry: Who is the Enemy?

The Digital Economy Act (April 2010): With the law firmly on the Music Industry’s side, whose should we be on?

The illegal downloader is like marmite: loved by attention seeking musicians, loathed by music industry corporations. The creation of electronic commerce has enabled the illegal downloader, spiralling anti-capitalist sentiment which claims that ‘music should be free and accessible for all’, challenging the very foundation that western economic system is built on: Capitalism. The record label, dependent on this ideology, has seen its power slowly chipping away: built by music loving entrepreneurs, nurtured by money grabbing music executives, brought down by the power of the people. Marx is smiling in his grave. Record Labels hate the amount of freedom that internet users have; freedom for the ordinary man; freedom to explore, absorb and attain through the tip, tap and click of a few buttons. The clash of the internet Marxist and the big-name label is ignited and a long tug of war ensues. Through streaming sites like Spotify and We7 the all-powerful have made viable concessions. Among giants the seemingly powerless many were winning the battle, but as of April 2010 it appears the powerful few have won the war through the Digital Rights Bill.

                                                                                             

But whose side should we be on? Speaking as an audiophile, my allegiance naturally gravitates to people who love listening to music but don’t want to pay the price. As a soon-to-be uni student, knowing that I’ll no longer be able to fish into mummy and daddy’s pockets, would I be willing to pay the price if I can get my songs through the tip, tap, click…? If someone asked me this question two years ago the answer would be no. I was reluctant to part with money then, even on musical terms. Had I been faced with the dilemma of choosing to buy The Strokes on CD or download them for free, I would always have chosen the latter despite my fanatical obsession with them then. I could not see the sentimental or auditory value of buying a CD when I could download it for free; not least appreciate the work that Julian Casablancas and Co. put in. Luckily if not selfishly, my dad bought me “Is This It” with his own money. Limewire was not known to me then…

But that was two years ago. After building a sizable library through… erhum, non-profit downloading, it suddenly came to me as a sat with laptop on lap: ‘if this specimen of modern technology were to fail on me right here and now, my music library would vanish’. For this reason and just to be different from my friends who incessantly downloaded music, I started buying CD’s with my own money. It quickly became routine: jump off the bus from school, pop into HMV and come out with a tidy 2 for £10 CD deal. Despite the monetary incentive, I appreciated the feeling of poring over album art work, listening to albums in the order intended, enjoying the High Fidelity, but most of all, the fact that I had paid for it.

I still contend that there is nothing better than saving up your cash to spend it on something you want, whether that be music, widescreen TV, a holiday, love… ok perhaps not love. If you really appreciate the artists who create the music you love, the one way you can show this is by buying there music, or going to their concerts. Money makes the world go round and musicians are part of this capitalist world we live in.

Tight fans often use pathetic excuses to justify why illegally downloaded music is ok. I read an interview with Frank Turner where a fan told him that while he illegally downloads Frank’s music, he pays to go to his concerts cancelling out his illegal activity. One word: Stupid. Frank Turner eloquently countered his argument stating: “that’s like saying it’s ok to steal a car because you’ll pay for the petrol later”. It’s not ok, and in a society that reviles any stealing of any sort, music is no different

         

So as you can see my thoughts have progressed from young girl with “short arms and deep pockets” using money only when she has to, to a young woman knocking on the doors of adulthood who more readily parts with money where she feels it's appreciated. I don’t have a personal vendetta against people who illegally download music, I just feel they are missing out on the ‘warm and fuzzy’ feeling of knowing that your money is going to artists who have (generally) worked hard at their craft.

Review: Foals - Total Life Forever

Our Foals are All Grown Up.

From the first note of the track one, to the last of track eleven, you would not be a fool for thinking Foals are an entirely different band. Their debut "Antidotes" propelled them to indie fame as htey graced the cover of the NME. With Total Life Forever, we are served with a drastic and important departure from their first effort. 

The change is emotion and it is raw. In 2008 we filed foals under 'fun listen', 'party music' 'hedonist anthems'. But with TLF the new found sense of sensitivity and rawness exude from bar to bar. Blue Blood is a casing point: it has the most beautifully simplistic intro that exemplifies the increased delicacy in Yannis Phillipakis’ voice. forty seconds in there is a hint (just a hint) of Foals of the past – syncopation, staccato guitars and all. But,  where their first effort was entirely robotic, rigid and kinetic, TLF is sentimental, moving and fragile.

Foals have added another aspect to their game to support their new found affection. Lyrics are undoubtedly more important completing their fresh dynamic. Antidotes had words, yes, but words without depth. Writing a song in French about Andy Roddick’s serve did fit with the two-dimensional aesthetic of the first album with instrument and voice as focal points. But some prefer a listen with more feeling so a third dimension is needed: meaning. Yannis explores “identity, heartbreak, loss and Mike Tyson” to quote the man himself and while the sporting reference remains, the song in question ‘Black Gold’ permeates the general inspiration of the song by examining feelings of nostalgia and identity “they buried the gold, your ancestry’s sold and left”. 

For ardent “Antidotes” fans, this album may take a while to get used to. Some may write this album off as a mundane effort; Foals have always been a band to get you in the mood for reckless fun and frolics. But they are quickly becoming a band to make you think. The groove-funk style is still there "Miami" shows the 'fun' side of Foals, but what we are witnessing is a band exploring the conceptual. There is no question that Foals can play instruments but this is not what makes a band. The best have the ability to take their talent and use it to reflect the abstract in ways that discussion or debate cannot. Music is not just in itself but for itself and Foals have successfully intertwined their talent and emotion showing their collective progression. Total Life Forever surpasses their first jab creating an album that is cohesive, balanced and beautiful. One of the best albums of the year so far!!

Listen to: Alabaster, Blue Blood, What Remains, Spanish Sahara, This Orient, Black Gold



8.5/10

Rock and Art: 50 years of Awe Inspiring Photography

 

"Some people think that little girls should be seen and not heard. But I think, Oh Bondage, Up Yours!!"

"You were only waiting for this moment to arise"

"With Your Hook in Line, I still Blow Away"

"He Tries to Pacify Her, But What's Insides Her Never Dies"

"Love is Life and Life is Free, Take a Ride on Life with Me"

"Freedom is Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose"

"What Price Now For a Shallow Piece of Dignity"

If i die, I wonder if Heaven Got a Ghetto"

"I never meant to be the needle that broke your back"

"I grow impatient for a love to call my own"

"Lover, Please do not fall to your knees

It's not like I believe in everlasting love"

"Wild horses couldn't drag me away"

Well, it's a sharp shock to your soft side
Summer moon, catch your shut eye

OLD, NEW, BORROWED, BLUE: WOMEN IN MUSIC

Old – Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin is the Queen of Soul. Possessing a powerful voice that invokes emotion in anyone listening, it is difficult to compare her to any other singer within soul music. Her roots were in gospel music particularly as her father was a preacher. But, surprisingly it was he who tuned her to singing for mainstream R ‘n’ B, a style so often described as ‘the music of the devil’ in religious circles. But despite targeting the white market in the 1960’s she maintained her gospel voice, an attribute considered ‘unsuitable’ when targeting said audience, explaining why artists under the Motown and Chess label had their voices polished and primed deducing it of soul and thus garnering perfect pop songs. Aretha was not just a woman who could sing, she was a crusader fighting on the behalf of black people in ‘Think’ which became part of the Civil Rights Soundtrack and empowering women in ‘Respect’, a song powerful and controversial in equal measure during a time of inequality for women.

Her contribution to music is second to none, inspiring other musicians but also showing that one can stay true to their roots and still be successful.

New – Laura-Mary Carter

Beautiful. Talented. Rockstar. She is Laura-Mary Carter and she is other half of the punk revival duo Blood Red Shoes. It would be easy to compare her to Karen O another woman with punk presence; however Carter presents a different style of punk.  She presents us with a gentle voice that alludes to angst and anger without having to actually play out those emotions. O on the other hand is a show- woman making it imperative to exacerbate anger, happiness, and angst in the style of Ari Up or Poly Styrene. Her individual style and fashionable demeanour may cause people to think that Blood Red Shoes are a fashion band. But listening to their music and watching them lives affirms that their band ‘ain’t no fashion show’.

For a band as young as they are, only releasing two albums, they possess a level of maturity that makes other up and coming bands green with envy.

Borrowed – Mariza

A singer who found success on the world music stage singing Fado (a branch of Portuguese music), Mariza soon became the most successful singer of this style. In the western world, American and English music is put on a pedestal, discounting other forms of credible music. Whilst not being a household name outside of Portugal she has sold over 1 million records world wide and was also nominated for Best folk Album at the Latin Grammy awards in 2007 and 2008. Her success is partly due to her talent but also her ability to convey emotion and sing about her personal truth. In the same as Edith Piaf was able to connect with a multi-nationalist audience, Mariza is able to do the same.

Blue – Janis Joplin

Though Janis Joplin is identified as part of the sixties rock ‘n’ roll counterculture, her roots lay in Blues, evident in her style of singing. Her life is often described as being marred due to her drug habits which ultimately led to her premature death and becoming a member of the 27’s club. But unlike stars who abuse drugs today, Pete Doherty for example, her talent is always appreciated first and foremost, as extraordinary, for better or worse. Her back catalogue with Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie including the posthumous platinum selling ‘Pearl’ album prove that she wasn’t just ‘some white girl singing black music’. She was the real deal and her talent is what she will be remembered for. 

BACK TO THE OLD FUCKING SKOOOLLL!

"Life as a Shortie Shouldn't be So Rough"

The New - Two Door Cinema Club

Two Door Cinema Club are an awesome indie listen. I first heard Two Door Cinema Club on Zane Lowe's Show. He played Undercover Martyn which oozes dance floor potential. Anyone who says nothing good comes out of Northern Ireland is wwrrrooonng!!

Label: Kitsune Music
Album: Tourist History OUT NOW!

The Drums: A Transatlantic Musical Love Affair

They could be an all male sixties pop group. They could be an English band from the seventies. In fact they are The Drums, they are American and this is 2010. Performing classic robotic dancing that would make Ian Curtis proud, featuring vocals reflecting Morrissey’s jumpy, yet gentle tone, and even a Shangri-Las-esque lyrical structure, they are most recent American anglophiles since The Killers. 

Their latest EP entitled ‘Summertime’ is concentrated in influence from ‘the Brits across the pond’ and sixties pop. ‘Lets Go Surfing’, which apparently has nothing to do with surfing at all, presents us with quick paced clattered guitars akin to the style of Johnny Marr. ‘Make You Mine’ is a song rooted in sixties pop with cutesy Beach Boy whistling, perfectly timed hand clapping and a ‘call and response’ pattern between Jonathan Pierce’s sensitive cry of ‘sleeping in the kiii-tchen’ and a echoic female reply resulting in a strange yet endearing hybrid between black gospel and pop.

No doubt, The Drums are a revival band, meshing the likes of The Smiths and The Shangri-La’s in one pleasing melodic stew. It’s fair to say The Drums live through their influences. But with their nostalgic appreciation of music been-and- gone and being a part of scene plagued by Indie fakes, The Drums are marketed as being original and it would be unfair to take this away from them. They are a fun listen reflecting timeless teenage emotion, simultaneously liked by twenty-something rock ‘n’ roll hipsters, producing songs destined for indie dance floors.

The future looks bright for the Brooklyn band. Named as one of the British BBC’s Sounds of 2010, suggests that they will receive greater attention than any other underground band this year. The Drums are here to stay. But despite critical acclaim, It’s fairly likely that their retro sound and niche look will not create quite the hype garnered by The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys or The Strokes. Like other bands who have found critical acclaim, The XX and Animal Collective come to mind, their music is reserved only for people with particular interest in Indie music. But with further listening and a full length debut out in July, it will be interesting to see if the band will cling to their nostalgia or pertain to the 21^st Century Indie scene, creating a sound that can fit in with the guitar driven bands of today.

www.myspace.com/thedrumsforever

©

Review: Foals - Spanish Sahara

It’s been two years since foals released their début 'Antidotes'. A quirky, kinetic album that included the club hits ‘Balloons’ and ‘Cassius’, they were dubbed the band that could bring math-rock out of the undergrowth. So upon waiting for Foals' latest release I expected much of the same jolty guitars and syncopated sharp rhythms that made the debut good but more importantly highlighted greater potential of a band still finding it’s feet.

My expectations were wrong. There are no jolty guitars or syncopated sharp rhythms on this song, only dulcet tones, gentle yet grizzly vocals and an atmospheric presence that features throughout the entirety of the song. This is not Foals, or at least not the Foals we knew. This song is not a dance floor filler that makes you want to jerk and jolt. It is auditory aesthetic beauty for which appreciation would be shown just by lending you ears. From the tentative, crawling introduction to the explosive ending which sees the clattered collaborative musicianship that we are used to with Foals; the song is a narrative, telling a story through a duality of sound, much like a single loop of the ‘quiet LOUD’ Pixies formation but less brazen and lyrics which allude to regret, fear and emotional progression with words like ‘forget the horror here, leave it all down here’.

The ambience and vocals create a truly beautiful, honest and reflective song which can only help but conjure an emotional response from the listener. A track only released for promotion suggests greater things to come from this band and an album that will surpass the notable yet half-baked effort of its predecessor.

5/5

Download Foals - Spanish Sahara



Transgressive Official Release: May 3rd
Found on: Total Life Forever, Released May 10th 2010

Review: Jay Electronica - Exhibit C

What is good with Hip-Hop? Amidst the media hype surrounding artists like Drake (deserved hype I’d argue), Jay Electronica has stayed largely on the underground hip-hop scene. The heavy sampling on his latest single Exhibit C and his old school flow could be compared to a freshman Jigga. But truthfully, Jay is an individual. Despite those stereotypical references to money: ‘shittin’ out chains’ and drugs: ‘smokin’ weed on the corners’, they are entwined in a kind of lyrical purity that sets him apart from Fiddy or Lloyd Banks. Talking Hanukkah and 5 percenters, his rhyming pattern almost confuses you at first but it’s presented in such a way that forces you to do a double take. Citing the boyhood metaphors of ‘transforming with the MegaTronDon’, even extracting influence from MGMT, his ability as good as it is, is carried through with heavy production from Just Blaze that will have you bopping your head to the accentuated drum machine. Any nostalgic Hip-Hop fan wondering how the links between the Old School and the New School tattered will ask where Jay Electronica has been all this time.


Rating: 5/5
For Fans of: Nas, Jay-Z, Common


©

Too Many Man...On the Indie Scene

It’s 2006 and a band, with a sourly underwhelming name is set to release a debut album that will reinvigorate the British indie scene since the demise of Brit-Pop. Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not by Arctic Monkeys has all the makings of an epic album: searing guitars, riotous drums, poignant lyrics and a brazen, honest northern voice putting British bands who try, and fail, to emulate the American accent to shame. They represent everything that could be great about British music. It is only fitting that their album is set to succeed in abundance in Britain yet underwhelm American audiences who prefer Cowell’s new minion Leona Lewis and all other schmoozy X-Factor and Britain’s-Got-Talent-And-Overweight-Mad-People types (not that I’m trying to conflate Susan Boyle with all slightly fat and emotionally imbalanced British people)

But a problem occurs when great bands who single-handedly, well…together with the media, create a scene: carbon copies appear. And like burning a copy of a CD for your mate or attempting your nana’s ‘famous’ Yorkshire pudding recipe, it’s never the same as the original. It lacks the charm, uniqueness and all that makes the original special. But any boy or girl who has yearned to hear their song on the radio or play sell out gigs is willing to imprint a group who has already reached this level hoping that someday people will see in them what they saw in the original…and unfortunately this happens. The British audience is all too willing to accept sound-alike’s as ‘the real deal’. This creates an opportunity for sweaty teenage wannabe rock stars and major record labels.

So, when a scene like noughties British Indie appeared, northern boys stopped being northern boys and began emulating Alex Turner’s uniquely awkward yet endearing charm and started seeing things that they had never seen before like ‘people changing when the sun went down’ and that despite what they had been told they were not from New York but from Rotherham, a point that needed repetition and annunciation in case anyone thought otherwise. Behold the ascendency of The Northern Band: The Pigeon Detectives, Milburn, Little Man Tate…need I say more? It may be harsh to point out that the title of the latter’s second album (yes, they managed a second) ‘Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy’ perhaps should have been addressed more closely. I suggest something worth having is authentic and not a rip-off from a counter-part. Surprisingly, Little Man Tate and Milburn met their, almost predictable demise, whilst the former found platinum (?!) success and live to survive another album or two, neither being as successful as the first.

Such is the nature of the British mainstream music industry that indie leeches have a sell-by date. PEOPLE GET BORED and this is why scenes never survive but the great, like Arctic Monkeys live to tell the tale. 2009 saw Brit-rock slipping out the charts replaced by the grime-pop types like Chipmunk and Tinchy Stryder. Not the best trade off in my humblest opinion but all these little bands who dreamed of success at the height of Oasis in their hay, ceased to exist. There are just too many bands trying to be something they are not. Despite the thousands of records a copy-cat indie band may sell today, authenticity prevails in the long run. Who remembers ‘Kula Shaker’ or ‘Menswear’ from the Brit-Pop fad; who remembers ‘Paw’ from Grunge days? This proves just because little girls are poring over your scruffy hair and Topman get up now, doesn’t mean they’ll care about you when they're 20 and a new scene appears.

Grime in the Charts – Talkin’ da Hardest or Putting Money before the Mouth.

Conceived by angry black teens; born on the gritty streets of the Capital, grime music represented a demographic who felt ignored, trapped in a cycle from poverty to violent crime to premature death. American hip-hop could not suffice to present the individual nature of London poverty, the sexualised lyrics of R&B detracted from the situation on the streets, the gentle tones of neo-soul could not convey the anger felt by the black British youth. Like the conception of ‘punk' in the 1970’s, a new form of music was the only way to release the pockets of angst into the atmosphere. Grime meant race, class, poverty, teenage life on London’s mean streets, well…at least this is what grime meant until 2009.

The release of Dizzee Rascal (nee Dylan Mills, Alma matter the streets Bow, East London) Tongue ‘n' Cheek spelt the end of Grime as we knew it. Quirky beats were replaced by pop tones suited for 12 year old public school types and unsettling poetry substituted for slimy yet PG certified sexual lyrics similar to that of the Venga Boys in 1999. Money makes the world go round, this is especially realised for those born in to poverty, but much like the demise of American hip-hop from the harsh yet true Wu- Tang to the ‘P.I.M.P’ Fiddy Cent, money has become the goal for making music. The cost? Real music.

Dizzee is Grime’s poster boy: from pirate radio to Mercury Music Prize in 2002, he put the genre on the map. No one can forget the tale of teenage pregnancy in ‘I Luv U’ or the clever sampling of that prolific rock star Billy Squier’s ‘The Big Beat’ on Fix Up, Look Sharp. It was also his social awareness that caught the eye of white liberal card carrying males proclaiming ‘we used to fight with kids from other estates, now 8 millimetres settle debates’. The genre’s father Wiley of the Roll Deep Crew (of which Dizzee was a part of) held his corner by trying to push the movement forward through production as well as beats. But perhaps he pushed it too far. There is no denying that ‘Wearing my Rolex’ was an excellent song, assimilating grime and electro, showing where Grime could go. But whether in a positive or negative manner, progression is a slippery slope.

Since ‘Wearing My Rolex’, grime-pop has paraded the charts from Dizzee’s Bonkers, Skepta’s Bad Boy and grime’s answer to Take That, N-Dubz. There are some differences from the early to present style of the genre most notably empty statements like ‘some people fink I’m bonkers but I jus’ fink I’m free’ – straight from the mouth of Charles Manson himself, irritating meaningless sounds like ‘na-na-naaaaay’ and dancey Cascada-esque production . It seems that the few who are holding Grime in its truest form lack a sphere of influence, unable to permeate the mainstream force-field. Giggs seemed the only exception after he was nominated as one of the ‘Sounds of 2010’ by the BBC, but after being blacklisted from the 1xtra playlist it seems that whatever the reason for the decision, people still aren’t ready to hear the full unadulterated of grime sans pop, playing straight into the pockets of talented yet money-hungry grime artists.

In hip-hop rhetoric we hear statements like staying ‘true to the streets’ and ‘never forgetting your ends’. But when money enters the equation all ties to the ‘streets’ and ‘ends’ fray causing music to reflect money and not roots. There is nothing wrong with earning money, but staying authentic is also important. Either way, it is impossible to conclusively predict the future, but my strong prediction is a genre that loses its grit, grime and credibility.