This is one of the few Emily Dickinson poems I really like. It’s an appropriate choice for today.
Hope
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
Short list of what I’ve been listening to this week:
The Tallest Man on Earth - great summer tunes in general. Lots of great lyrics.
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis - so much force. Great stuff for that whole spoken word/hip-hop fusion.
Future Islands - I can’t get enough of this album. Really, it is just too good.
A Weather - The most sentimentally wrenching music around.
Haddaway - “What is love?” over and over times infinity
Taylor Swift - Yes, I know
So I let the whole blogging thing fall by the wayside, but I don’t think there is a better time then right now to get rolling on this again. This first post will be small, but expect some big things in the next few days and weeks. But to tie you over:
I promise to not be this edgy either.
So, I first heard this when it was being called “My Nikes” on the interwebs, and when Macklemore did it a long time ago for Songs for Eating and Drinking. At that point it was, how can I say, much more humble, than the incarnation put forth on the forthcoming album. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing in any way. In fact, this version is quite the banger. If anyone had the desire to get awesome shoes when they were little kids, listen to the track. It’s all about that, and maybe a little more, but it still feels all sort of nostalgic, and maybe a little disgusted.
Link/Download: here
I am in love with this album after the first listen. This is an 8-bit dubstep LP that really feels like a dub album. I usually think that most of the stuff that gets into glitch or 8-bit/lo-fi sorts of setups falls victim to only creating house inspired music or poor attempts at electronic. Mexican producer Kupa DJ has taken 8-bit almost entirely, and made some really fun sounding stuff. I enjoy that a lot of it could still fit in the “video-game music” category, but there is a bunch more going on. There’s definitely wonk going on on a bunch of tracks. Maybe it won’t be most people’s sort of thing, but I do dig it.
Here’s a couple youtube tracks for teasers:
Apparently, it seems that most places may have sort of “forgiven” Kanye for the whole fiasco that was his blow up last year. But, what has happened since he’s been gone? Pitchfork loves him now, among other positive things. Are Pitchfork and other places simply using Kanye to increase traffic due to the buzz he generates? If the recent leak of “Lost in the World” is any indication, Kanye is getting attention because he deserves it. I’m not going to post it up here due to the whole copyright thing, but if you just search it up, you’ll find it and should listen to it.
“Lost in the World” feels as sort of a conglomeration of the Kanye of 808s and of all his other albums, especially the Kanye of old. This track has more or less everything. Justin Vernon’s “Woods” is transposed up a little and used wonderfully. We’ve got one rap verse from Kanye, one small addition from Vernon, some tribal inspired chants, a head nod to a 80′s club standard, and finally, we’ve got some contentious spoken word.
When the news of Kanye’s collaborators on this new album broke, I didn’t really know what to think. It screamed “gimmick to break back into the spotlight” that Kanye’s career seemingly needed. Collaborating with indie artists is so in now it’s painful. I don’t really think that that’s the case. I think what Kanye is doing is reimagining what it means to be a pop artist – what it means to be a human being in the spotlight. This spirit was apparent on 808′s, but it was obviously muted by the emotional content. The melancholy is still here, but what’s different is the apparent drive behind it.
So does Kanye deserve the attention he is getting? I hate to say it, but I think so. He’s creating music that can be appreciated across a vast preference set. It is GOOD music. Is he catering to the masses? Oh yeah, everyone appreciates anti-democratic spoken word albums. I forgot.
Kanye West could very well be the Darth Vader of our era of music.
Commence polite applause.
Originally I had stayed away from this album. Keenbean put it on the last time I was over there and the general annoyance that Southern style ‘move-b-get-out-the-way’ rap causes me managed to escape this album. It may have something to do with the great production or catchy hooks, but this album lives up to every bit of hype it received. If I would have had it earlier, I would have been shaking it like tambourine all summer long. The material is obviously rough, but it is still super awesome. Man, Turns Me On is such a jam! It’s like Roses got soul!
