S/o to fuckjerry, to tatum.strangely, and whoever originally created this meme....
This actually may be the most real thing ever created and it's not often that I literally LOL on the sidewalk as a I walk home from work -- so THANK YOU for that, internet.
It has been ages since posting, and a lot has changed --- I finally set up my first-ever record player and now have three full LPs to accompany it. Oh, what a wonderful day.
Some things I've been listening to and you should also listen to:
What a Jam. The lyrics are silly and repetitive, yet it really doesn't matter; the song carries you with its unrelenting enthusiasm for love, and it's irresistible. To be honest, I've never attached a whole lot of importance to lyrics. I primarily enjoy music for the music itself, and the FEELS that it brings. THANK YOU for this, John Lennon, you magnificent bastard.
There's nothing about Vince Staples that hasn't been said already in past year and a half -- but listen to the second verse of this track and tell me it's not one of the best verses you've heard since the turn of the century. 3230 Matters.
If you're not on Beach House already, here's your chance. Baltimore's Finest.
Greetings, all. If you read my last post, about Kanye's most recent Mess-terpiece (ha!) you may have noticed the line begging Christopher Francis Breaux, a.k.a Frank Ocean to release his next album, a follow up to 2012's Channel Orange. This new album, apparently named Boys Don't Cry, was SUPPOSED to be released on July 2015, at least according to his tumblr. It's now February 2016 and no album has been released, much to the exasperation of myself and, I presume, millions of other fans. Basically, RELEASE THE FUCKING ALBUM, FRANK. It's okay if it's shit (simply not possible) -- we just want to hear your voice and make sure you're still alive, and that Kanye didn't just find a Frank Ocean imposter (to match his Future imposter, Desiigner) to do that last epic bit on Wolves.
CHANNEL ORANGE RANT TIME!
Anyone who knows me well knows that Channel Orange is an album that I hold in very high regard. Several people have witnessed me say that it is the best collection of music (i.e. album) ever assembled. This is a declaration that cannot be taken lightly, and one that some people may think is ludicrous, but I stand by it, because when I first listened to the entirely of Channel Orange, it was the most magical 62:18 of music I had ever experienced, and I have yet to find another album that has taken me back to that place of utter musical nirvana. There are, of course, other truly fantastic albums to listen to, but personally, not many have affected me as much emotionally or have made me sing in the shower, dance by myself, or just straight-up vibe as much as this one has. And at the end of the day, to me, that's what music is all about.
HOLY SHIT that album was good. It gives me the chills just thinking about the first time I listened to it. As incredible as Good Kid, M.A.A.D City was, also released in 2012, I much more frequently find myself coming back to listen to Orange, even nearly four years after it's release. Of course since then I have become a little weary of a few tracks (like, Sweet Life and Lost), but I also have gotten closer to several that I initially overlooked. Some of the toned-down cuts, like "Sierra Leone" and "Pilot Jones" --which don't immediately grab your attention next to jams like "Super Rich Kids", "Pyramids", or "Monks" -- are actually, in retrospect, some of the best songs on the album... and perhaps the ones with true staying power, because they don't overwhelm you, not in spite of it.
"Crack Rock" continues to be one of my favorite tracks on the album, and is a song I think is criminally underrated -- the instrumental is incredibly smooth, with a killer drum beat, bass line, and organ chords that shine through, and its subject matter feels real and grounded in reality, in contrast to many of his other songs. Monks has a killer snare beat that makes it impossible not to drum your fingers along to, and is an upbeat entryway into "Bad Religion", the emotional epicenter of the album. Listening to that song, you feel as though you get to the core of Frank Ocean, and you get a glimpse of his suffering as someone "cursed' by love. Such a beautiful fucking song. LISTEN TO IT NOW. Moving on -- "Pink Matter" is a great song to have sex to, and Andre 3000 kills his verse as usual. "Forrest Gump" is a bit of a silly track, but also an appreciated light-hearted ending to otherwise very emotional final third of the album, and I don't think anybody was expecting an ode to Forrest Gump ending to the album.. "I was screamin' run 44!"
Part of the reason why I cherish Channel Orange so much is because it took several different musical genres and coalesced them into this unique mosaic... Specifically, there's: Classic R&B, Contemporary R&B, Hip-hop, Soul, Pop -- oh yeah, and Andre 3 Stacks.... Sweet Jesus! "Pyramids" is emblematic of this idea. In a nine-minute span, we get some Pop, EDM, R&B -- lyrically, we get some allegorical references to ancient Egypt and modern day strip clubs -- AND a jaw dropping beat change around the halfway point, with a badass rap verse, where Frank rhymes about twisting up cigars and sipping champagne. I think Frank could be a popular rapper if he wanted to be... if you don't believe me, check out his verse on Earl Sweatshirt's "Sunday", a song on Doris.
I emptied every canteen just to wear that straight edge varsity you think’s cool/
They thought me soft in High School, thank God I’m jagged/
Forgot you don’t like it rough, I mean he called me a faggot / I was just callin' his bluff/
I mean how anal am I gon' be when I'm aimin' my gun?/
WORDPLAY 4 DAYZ. This dude is versatile as fuck. Basically, if you haven't already, please go back and listen to Channel Orange, and Frank's first release/mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra. I promise you won't be disappointed. Also, while you're at it, listen to "She" from Tyler The Creator's album, Goblin.
-- Quick aside, I was once told I looked like Earl Sweatshirt, which is one of the cruelest things anyone has ever said to me -- FAAAAACK
And with that, here's a list of my 10 favorite Frank Ocean songs, because lists are fun:
1) Bad Religion
2) Thinkin Bout You
3) Swim Good
4) Crack Rock
5) Pilot Jones
6) Songs 4 Women
7) Pyramids
8) Pink Matter
9) Super Rich Kids
10) Sierra Leone
To sum it up, music won't be whole again until Frankie O comes back to us. Until then, Channel Orange will continue to be one of my most treasured albums, and it should be celebrated accordingly --
P.S. Anyone else miss the old Odd Future days as much as I do? 2010/2011 was such an exciting time for hip-hop because of them... I could have sworn Tyler & Co. were going to take over the world --- C'est la vie.
By now, basically the entire Internet has had its say about Kanye's most recent album, The Life of Pablo (Escobar? Picasso? Sanchez?), but I figured I'd throw in my two cents about it anyway, because that's what we do here at Ambivalence L& -- we are nothing if not masters in redundancy. Also, witnessing Kanye create always seems to inspire me to do the same. Now, I should note that I'm still digesting this album, and thus my opinions could differ greatly with more time to reflect on it, but here are my thoughts on it so far:
Basically, Pablo is a mess -- if there's one sentiment that the Internet seems to agree on, it's that. And accordingly, my personal feelings about Pablo are also a mess. Pablo was rushed, and was clearly sloppily assembled. Shit, this man didn't even have a title or a final track listing done the day before he released it. But sometimes, in music, a mess can actually be a really fantastic thing, especially when it comes from a genius. A mess can bring an authenticity that a nicely packaged, and perfectly sonically designed album can lack. A mess seems more human; more real. In some ways, this strikes me as the most "real" Kanye record we have gotten in years. However, the first thing I thought of when I started listening to The Life of Pablo, other than general frustration that Kanye was SERIOUSLY?? trying to get me to listen to this shit on Tidal (for fuck's sake, man), was The Beatles' White Album. Not that I'm comparing Kanye to The Beatles, but the White Album is also an utter mess. The White Album has some truly horrendous music on it. But the White Album also contains some of The Beatles' most indispensable stuff. For every "Wild Honey Pie", there's a "Blackbird; for every "Piggies", there's a "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", etc. For every severely misguided track, you can find one of equal and opposite beauty. Likewise, on Pablo, in the wake of the abrasive "Freestyle 4", there's the gorgeous "Waves" (No pun intended!!). In the wake of the infamous (and stupid) Taylor Swift line, there's the final 1:15 of "Famous", which features a "Bam Bam" and Swizz Beatz mash-up that is sublime. For every "Facts" (perhaps the worst song of Kanye's career), there's an "Ultralight Beam" or "FML". This, in essence, is the story of The Life of Pablo -- a convoluted edifice of ideas, but with musical gems scattered in every nook and cranny. I should mention, though, that the White Album is definitely not my favorite Beatles album, and Pablo is certainly not my favorite Kanye album -- madness can be beautiful, but a collection of madness can be exhausting, and it can lead to a lot of pressing of the skip-button down the road...
Pablo lacks a cohesiveness that his previous albums have consistently had, which in some ways makes this the most unique Kanye record to date. This album does not have one voice or one point of view -- we see so many different versions of Kanye, and in some ways, it reflects his schizophrenic public persona. We get the boastful and bombastic Kanye on tracks like "Famous", "Feedback" and "Highlights", where he raps lines like: "I bet me and Ray J would be friends/If we ain't love the same bitch/Yeah, he might have hit it first/Only problem is I'm Rich". This is the classic Kanye that people love to hate. This is also the incredibly hilarious Kanye. The line about being the "Ghetto Oprah" on "Feedback" legitimately made me chuckle. Likewise, on tracks like "FML", and "Wolves", we get the thoughtful, sentimental and fiercely loyal Kanye. We even get some self-awareness from Kanye on tracks like "I Love Kanye", in which he nails what I'd suspect most of his fans and critics have thought about him over the past 4-5 years since the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Kanye's production is fantastic as usual. Some of the absolutely golden moments here are: Chance's verse on "Ultralight Beam", the entirety of "Low Lights" (some say it's filler, but I love that beat and the eeriness of it all), Breezy's lines on "Waves", Kendrick's tumbling verse on "No More Parties in LA" and Frank Ocean's 30-second stanza on "Wolves", which almost brought me to tears due to it's sheer beauty (RELEASE YOUR ALBUM, FRANK. PLEASE. please?). Notice how none of these bits actually feature Kanye on the mic -- Kanye's true brilliance has always been in his ability to collaborate with unexpected artists and bring the best out of his features (the dude introduced me to Bon Iver, for christ's sake), and that has never been more apparent than on Pablo. Seriously, these bits of music are up there with my favorite, favorite, Kanye moments. The musical peaks that this album hits are simply second-to-none. God bless you, Kanye, you crazy motherfucker.
(On a side note, it sort it of felt like Kanye included the "Silver Surfer Intermission" purely as a retort to Wiz Khalifa's tweets about Max B, which just feels sort of lame to me. Wiz is probably sitting somewhere smoking a fat joint and laughing about it as I write this. Also, it damaged the flow of the second half of the album for me. Care a little less next time, 'Ye.)
This album though, like a lot of Kanye's recent music, feels more like a vehicle to promote himself and his other pursuits (Yeezy Season 3, anyone?), than music created simply for the sake of music. The White Album came towards the end of The Beatles, and part of me thinks we could be witnessing the near-end of Kanye's music career. He's still capable of such brilliance, but I don't think he's as concentrated on his music as he once was. And that's alright -- it's unreasonable for someone as talented and creative as Kanye to stick to one medium for an entire career. At this point, I'm not even sure if Kanye wants to be dropping albums, or if he's doing it simply because he feels obligated to in order to create the other things he wants to create. In his famous interview with Sway, who AIN'T GOT THE ANSWERS, Kanye describes a cycle in which he feels he has to keep dropping music, in order to maintain his mainstream popularity that will allow him to move into fashion. While this struggle is something that an average muggle like myself could hardly imagine experiencing, it still gives an interesting perspective into Kanye's life, and perhaps an explanation for his recent behavior and extended time off between musical projects. (Starts around the 21:00 mark)
Kanye wants to move on to fashion, Kanye wants to move on to shoes. Kanye wants to create a commercial conglomerate. Let's finally LET him do that. If it's time for him to move on to something else, then so be it. The music was never going to last forever. I, for one, am going to stop expecting consistent releases from Kanye as we move forward -- I'd rather see him pursue what he wants than to begrudgingly release music for the sake of maintaining his popularity/brand. Plus, I don't know if he could get away with releasing another Pablo without experiencing critical and commercial backlash. The Beatles only released one White Album for a reason.
It just goes to show how gifted Kanye is that even when he half-asses it, he's better than basically everyone else in the genre who isn't named Kendrick. And for what it's worth, I am satisfied with The Life of Pablo. If I had to guess, however, I'd say that Kanye is heading for his Abbey Road -- a final sendoff that will be unrelentingly perfect and everlasting. At least that's what I'm hoping for. But knowing Kanye, he'll do the complete opposite. After all, that would be so Kanye.
It's impossible. It's not fucking possible. Okay, well, maybe it's not impossible, but it's WAY too difficult. It's honestly one of the hardest things to do in New York, in my limited experience here.
I'm writing this blog from a nifty little Starbucks right at the corner of Lafayette and Astor -- the best bits of Corporate America surround me on all sides. We've got a KMart to my left (they have those here???), a CVS at my 12 o'clock, and a Chase branch to my right. It's beautiful. Basically, and unfortunately, I have found that if you do want to be able to sit and work (i.e. browse Reddit and occasionally visit a company's job site, but then decide that that job is DEFINITELY not for you and that you can find something better and more personally fulfilling that will also probably pay better and may have unlimited snacks in the office and PTO, etc) in a coffee shop, like any normal millennial, your only chance is in a Starbucks. This is utterly ridiculous. I came to this city expecting a never ending supply of trendy, comfortable coffee shops, where I could sit amongst my kind and pretend to be productive. While there are plenty of coffee shops in this city, none of them ever have space, so really what is the point in having them exist? Coffee shops are for sitting. Sometimes I think everyone in this city is unemployed and occupying seats in these shops, just like yours truly...The First World-ness of this problem just kills me.
Every Starbucks seems to have Mumford & Sons on repeat.... For the record, I don't even really drink coffee, mainly because it makes me jittery as hell, and browsing Reddit is tough when your fingers shake like Beyonce....
I think people can smell the unemployment on me when I inevitably walk into a Starbucks. What else would someone my age, wearing a down jacket and a Washington Capitals snow hat be doing in a coffee shop at 4 o'clock in the afternoon? I think the answer is pretty obvious. The good news is that I'm not the only one, and I do feel a sense of camaraderie amongst my fellow unemployed youth occupying these spaces. We're in this thing together. Unless you take my future job, in which case, fuck you.
Without a doubt, this track is better than "FACTS" -- which was some serious garbage -- so at least this is a step in a positive direction for now. I'm digging the piano loop and the melancholy sound of "Real Friends", but I'm not sure how I feel yet about the snippet of the Kendrick track at the end...
Reviving G.O.O.D Fridays is a bold move, because the original string of songs produced one of my favorite feel-good/party tracks of all time, so even comparing these new songs to those old ones is risky -- on the other hand, Kanye can do whatever the hell he wants. Happy Friday to all of my unemployed and unambitious friends out there, this one is for you (Thx, Kanye).
