Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris - "We Found Love"
While you might think what we have is a simple pop song, you'd be wrong. Sure it has all the tell-tale signs of pop; catchy melody, simple lyrics, love. But this is not pop music. This is hardcore house. This is the kind of four on the floor, hopelessly romantic, unrelentingly pounding jams that gay men in London and Chicago grinded to in 1989. Whoever was behind this beat should be named Funkmaster Kid Hott or Mr. House or Phuture or Phortune. But his name is Calvin Harris, he's from the UK, and he's obviously done his homework.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Best Songs of 2011: #13
Fleet Foxes - "Helplessness Blues"
The Occupy Wall Street movement has generated so much attention these past few months and a great deal of anger. Voices in the media, mostly aged ones, seem to cast so much animosity on the movement they deem it irrelevant. I think a lot of this must come from a view of the youthful generations as entitled brats, smoking pot and squatting in public parks demanding older, richer men cut them a slice of the pie. I feel like the sentiments expressed in "Helplessness Blues" much more accurately represent the feelings of the scores young and disenfranchised emanating from Zucotti Park. Our generations were promised the world, but now that we're grown we don't want the world. We just want a living. Give me an orchard and I'll work til I'm raw.
The Occupy Wall Street movement has generated so much attention these past few months and a great deal of anger. Voices in the media, mostly aged ones, seem to cast so much animosity on the movement they deem it irrelevant. I think a lot of this must come from a view of the youthful generations as entitled brats, smoking pot and squatting in public parks demanding older, richer men cut them a slice of the pie. I feel like the sentiments expressed in "Helplessness Blues" much more accurately represent the feelings of the scores young and disenfranchised emanating from Zucotti Park. Our generations were promised the world, but now that we're grown we don't want the world. We just want a living. Give me an orchard and I'll work til I'm raw.
Best Songs of 2011: #14
Beyoncé - "Countdown"
I've been trying to find a place in these year end lists for the group of critically-acclaimed pop ingenues coming out the UK. Singers like Adele and Florence Welch have been praised for crafting edgy new takes on female pop music, and while I liked Florence + the Machine's album as well as "Rolling In The Deep", I couldn't bring myself to include them. Maybe it's because those singers have to stray too far from what pop music is in order to make their music unique, so you get dour black & white of Adele or the new found piety of Florence. Beyoncé Knowles has never had that problem. She makes 100% Grade A American Pop Music, and she makes it incredibly well. God bless her for it.
I've been trying to find a place in these year end lists for the group of critically-acclaimed pop ingenues coming out the UK. Singers like Adele and Florence Welch have been praised for crafting edgy new takes on female pop music, and while I liked Florence + the Machine's album as well as "Rolling In The Deep", I couldn't bring myself to include them. Maybe it's because those singers have to stray too far from what pop music is in order to make their music unique, so you get dour black & white of Adele or the new found piety of Florence. Beyoncé Knowles has never had that problem. She makes 100% Grade A American Pop Music, and she makes it incredibly well. God bless her for it.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Best Songs of 2011: #15
M83 - "Midnight City"
The cover to M83's 2008 album Saturdays=Youth featured a tribute to the late John Hughes; blindingly white youths adorned in the idiosyncratic costumes of the 80s. That album relied heavily on sounds from that decade, but their new (and perhaps best) song "Midnight City" is able to capture the emotions of the New Wave masters while making concessions to the contemporary dancefloor.
The cover to M83's 2008 album Saturdays=Youth featured a tribute to the late John Hughes; blindingly white youths adorned in the idiosyncratic costumes of the 80s. That album relied heavily on sounds from that decade, but their new (and perhaps best) song "Midnight City" is able to capture the emotions of the New Wave masters while making concessions to the contemporary dancefloor.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Best Songs of 2011: #16
WOODKID - "Iron"
WOODKID is Yoann Lemoine, noted music video director known for his work with saccharine dreams Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. "Iron" is a chilling slab of gothic electronica that is hopelessly entwined with its superb video. Unfortunately nothing else on the Iron EP is even remotely this mesmerizing. 2011's best one hit wonder.
WOODKID is Yoann Lemoine, noted music video director known for his work with saccharine dreams Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. "Iron" is a chilling slab of gothic electronica that is hopelessly entwined with its superb video. Unfortunately nothing else on the Iron EP is even remotely this mesmerizing. 2011's best one hit wonder.
Best Songs of 2011: #17
G-Side - "Y U Mad"
Huntsville, Alabama, a declining southern city founded around the swiftly deteriorating space industry, seems like a strange choice for the next big Hip-Hop scene. Listening to G-Side's phenomenal The One...Cohesive makes it all make sense; a laid-back but melancholic slow ride through pine trees and faded rocket ships. "Y U Mad" features some of the lushest and emotional production in contemporary rap music, and cuts to the core of hater nation. The stars look so bright when you come from a city with no lights.
Huntsville, Alabama, a declining southern city founded around the swiftly deteriorating space industry, seems like a strange choice for the next big Hip-Hop scene. Listening to G-Side's phenomenal The One...Cohesive makes it all make sense; a laid-back but melancholic slow ride through pine trees and faded rocket ships. "Y U Mad" features some of the lushest and emotional production in contemporary rap music, and cuts to the core of hater nation. The stars look so bright when you come from a city with no lights.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Best Songs of 2011: #18
Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx - "I'll Take Care of U"
Gil Scott-Heron, spoken word revolutionary and Hip-Hop poet laureate, covers an old Brook Benton ballad for his first album in decades and his last. A young up and coming musician takes that and turns into a sweetly sentimental dancefloor swoon. Now you can here a reworked version being crooned by Rihanna on the radio. Such is the strangeness of life, but this song should soothe your blues.
Gil Scott-Heron, spoken word revolutionary and Hip-Hop poet laureate, covers an old Brook Benton ballad for his first album in decades and his last. A young up and coming musician takes that and turns into a sweetly sentimental dancefloor swoon. Now you can here a reworked version being crooned by Rihanna on the radio. Such is the strangeness of life, but this song should soothe your blues.
Best Songs of 2011: #19
Drive-By Truckers - "Used To Be a Cop"
What's made Alabama's Drive-By Truckers so consistent in their excellence is their unmatched storytelling. Working class landscapes filled with good down trodden folk either just a little too kind or a little too crooked. How do you make guitar licks that evoke staring out the back window of a sheriff's Crown Vic? Like this.
What's made Alabama's Drive-By Truckers so consistent in their excellence is their unmatched storytelling. Working class landscapes filled with good down trodden folk either just a little too kind or a little too crooked. How do you make guitar licks that evoke staring out the back window of a sheriff's Crown Vic? Like this.
Best Songs of 2011: #20
Björk - "Crystalline"
Björk's first major single since 2008, "Crystalline" is a haunting electro jam full of stabs and slams ripped from the palette of alternative electronic music. The sounds are much more reminiscent of her experimentation on Medulla than the questionable Timbaland-assisted Volta, and better for it.
Björk's first major single since 2008, "Crystalline" is a haunting electro jam full of stabs and slams ripped from the palette of alternative electronic music. The sounds are much more reminiscent of her experimentation on Medulla than the questionable Timbaland-assisted Volta, and better for it.
2011: The Year in Review
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Jay-Z Kanye West Watch the Throne: Niggas in Paris 8 Times in Chicago!
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