Filed under: Releases of the Week | Tags: Gucci Mane, Kanye West, Lady GaGa, Seinfeld, Wale
Wale's debut album delivers in pieces, but overall, lacks a theme
PREVIEW: VISIT Wale’s MySpace
WE GIVE IT: 15/20 Watts
With an entire mixtape inspired by Seinfeld, and his own brand of not-quite-conventional hip-hop, DC-based rapper Wale already made a splash even before releasing his first studio album. Leaning heavily on soul, jazz and funk samples, along with a bevy of pop-culture references, one would assume Attention Deficit to be one of the year’s most interesting and unique hip-hop releases. Unfortunately, however, this does not come to be. (more…)
Filed under: Issue 19, Issue 19 Lofi | Tags: Aux Records, Bears in America, beck, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Buddy Holly, Devon James Stewart, Devon Stewart, Dinosaur Jr., GarageBand, Jimi Hendrix, John Frusciante, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, lo-fi, Logic Pro Studio, Maroon 5, Metallica, Modest Mouse, Mouth's Cradle, Nebraska, Pink Floyd, Rascal Flatts, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Syracuse University, Tascam Portastudio, The Band, The Basement Tapes, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, the Black Keys, Ween
Devon Stewart rocks the Shaefer studios while working on his self-titled solo project
Lil Wayne. Kanye West. Maroon 5. Rascal Flatts. Music purists loathe them for at least one reason — Auto-Tune, a downloadable audio processor that corrects vocal and instrumental blunders in order to attain perfect pitch. By using this program, a producer can fill in a recorded performance’s holes, smooth its edges and polish its smudges. Everyone must use this to attain musical nirvana, right? Negatory. In fact, musicians that admire large holes, adore peculiar edges, and worship pesky smudges are alive, well and plentiful. They are lo-fi artists.
Lo-fi is a shortened form of “low-fidelity,” fidelity meaning the extent to which an electronic device such as a radio or television can accurately reproduce a sound or an image. Taken literally, lo-fi can be defined as low-quality sound. (more…)
Filed under: Issue 19, Issue 19 Artists | Tags: Thao Nguyen, Kanye West, Cat Power, Taylor Swift, Billboard, Erica Scarano, The Avett Brothers, Neko Case, Jenny Lewis
Taylor Swift shares a sound with plenty of indie artists out there
Taylor Swift may not have Kanye West’s approval, but the girl makes music people like. Swift was the first country artist to win an MTV Video Music Award, and her album Fearless has been wildly successful on the Billboard charts since its release last November. And, oh yeah, she’s just 19 years old — an age when most kids can barely do their own laundry, let alone front their own tour.
Despite her success, Swift seems to have managed to keep acting like a regular girl. In her video “Thug Story (w/ T-Pain)” she jokes about her love for her mom and the joys of baking cookies. On her Twitter page, she regularly discusses argyle socks, hanging with her friends and walking through Radio City Music Hall.
Basically if you like Taylor Swift, you’re probably drawn to her love-struck country ballads and cute-and-wholesome girl-next-door image. The only thing she’s missing is indie cred, which is why 20 Watts has compiled this list of similar indie artists — you’ll likely love them, too. (more…)
Filed under: Issue 19 Artists | Tags: Erica Scarano, Jenny Lewis, Kanye West, Neko Case, Taylor Swift, Thao Nguyen, The Avett Brothers
Taylor Swift may not have Kanye West’s approval, but the girl makes music people like. The only thing she’s missing is indie cred, which is why 20 Watts has compiled this list of similar indie artists you’ll likely love.
Mary Cappabianca dishes the dirt on Neko Case, Jenny Lewis and others in this 20 Watts podcast. Read her print story here.
– Mary Cappabianca and Irina Dvalidze
Spike Jonze and Kanye West collaborate on a short film
WATCH: VIDEO of Kanye West and Spike Jonze’s “We Were Once a Fairytale”
Yo Kanye! I am really happy for you and I’mma let you finish but… seriously? The Spike Jonze-directed short film starring Kanye West, “We Were Once a Fairytale” follows the plastered rapper at a club. Kanye, embarrassingly drunk, mocks his notorious reputation as he obnoxiously shows off his money, distastefully hits on women, and immodestly freaks out when the DJ plays his song.
The 808s & Heartbreak song, “See You in My Nightmares” fades in and out becoming less and less audible as Kanye gets more and more wasted. The flashing lights of the dance floor blur the stumbling rapper creating a dizzying drunk vision.
Upon watching the 11-minute film, most will dismiss it as Kanye just being Kanye. I mean, isn’t this what everyone imagined drunk (or sober) Kanye to be like in real life — crazy eyes, passing out on top of girls, and for the most part, everyone ignoring him?
But really, this is likely just Kanye’s egotistical way of apologizing for his ego. Yanking out the furry Maurice Sendack-like creature and letting it stab itself symbolizes Kanye’s destruction of his ego, or at least his desire to do so. And although this was originally filmed almost a year ago before the VMA stunt, its release this week couldn’t be more timely (and it’s not like that was the public’s first realization, anyway).
– Carly Wolkoff, Front-of-Book Editor
Filed under: Editor Picks | Tags: Black Panther Party, Chris Rock, Civil Rights, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Elaine Brown, George Jackson, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Huey P. Newton, Jonathan Jackson, Kanye West, Seize the Time, Until We're Free
Elaine Brown's music is the Civil Rights era's underappreciated Molotov cocktail
PREVIEW: DOWNLOAD Elaine Brown’s “Seize the Time” MP3
“Yet, I see they’ve taken liberties / With your souls and your lives.” Elaine Brown led the Black Panther Party from 1974 to 1977, while party leader Huey P. Newton was in Cuba on the run. These lines from the title track of her 1969 album Seize the Time effectively map out Brown’s party, life and activism.
Brown’s music is explicitly African American. In “The Panther” she describes her “hero” clearly: “His name is man / His face is black.” On her second full-length release, 1973’s Until We’re Free, she sings love ballads to dedicated revolutionaries (criminals in the American political structure) George Jackson and his brother Jonathan. (more…)
Filed under: Releases of the Week | Tags: Adrienne Bailon, Estelle, fabolous, Ghostface Killah, John Legend, Kanye West, Lloyd, Raheem Devaughn, Rhymefest, Ron Browz, The Whatnauts, Wu-Tang Clan
Ghostface Killah's soulful experiment is a success
PREVIEW: DOWNLOAD Ghostface Killah’s “Paragraphs of Love” MP3
WE GIVE IT: 17/20 Watts
Ghostface Killah’s new album Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City is a highly creative and uniquely conceptual work. Ghostface, one of the nine original members of the Wu-Tang Clan, strays far from the venomous battle raps he was dishing out in the early nineties. The love-themed Ghostdini is a marked departure from older themes, displaying his versatility even as a chart-topping artist.
As Ghostface said himself, the album is R&B-inspired, and all of the songs, both from a production and lyrical standpoint, have a soulful and loving feel. Ghostface also recruited a handful of singers to help him with the choruses and progressions on the songs. Appearances by Lloyd, Estelle, John Legend, Adrienne Bailon and Raheem Devaughn provide the album with a coherent feel that strengthens the fluidity between the track listing. (more…)
Filed under: Editor Picks | Tags: Busdriver, Islands, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Nick Thorburn, Th' Corn Gangg
Busdriver is unashamed at being your "Least Favorite Rapper"
PREVIEW: DOWNLOAD Busdriver’s “Least Favorite Rapper” (Feat. Nocando) Mp3
I wouldn’t call Busdriver’s “Least Favorite Rapper,” off his most recent effort, Jhelli Beam, self-loathing, as much as humble.
For the uninitiated, perhaps you recognize Busdriver from Nick Thorburn’s ridiculous side project Th’ Corn Gangg, or as the unfamiliar voice on Islands’ “Where There’s a Will There’s a Whalebone.” One of the fastest rappers in the game today, Busdriver was embracing indie rock years before Jay-Z did, and has piled up a pretty fair amount of friends within the genre.
Unfortunately, as a pioneer in this type of a relationship with both hip-hop and indie rock however, Busdriver’s career has floundered a bit, as no one’s really sure which side to categorize him as. Knowing this full well, Busdriver can easily record songs like this one, tallying off reason after reason why you like Lil’ Wayne, Kanye West and Jay more than you’ll ever like him.
At least give him this: What he might be lacking in commercial appeal, he gains in humility, so perhaps it’s worth a listen for people into the art of rap in the purer sense.
– John Cassillo, Reviews Editor
Filed under: Editor Picks | Tags: Kanye West, Maiko, mash-up, Matt Kammerer, Paste, Taylor Swift, VMAs
It was cute, at first. But six days after Kanye’s VMA meltdown, all the “Imma let you finish…” jokes are admittedly getting a little old.
Thankfully, one unlikely DJ has emerged from the fray to feed our lingering “Kanye-gate” obsession without resorting to yet another lame Beyonce pun. Matt Kammerer, a Hawaiian electronic musician who goes by the name Makaio, released an irresistible mash-up of Kanye’s “Stronger” and Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” earlier this week. In an interview with Paste magazine, Kammerer said the original impulse behind the mix was sympathy for the downtrodden Swift — like many of us, he thought “oh this poor girl!” when he saw the VMAs.
“And then I started thinking, oh, it’d be amazing if I could put some Kanye on here,” Kammerer told Paste. ”I thought it would be fun and, forgive me for using this horrible term, post-modern, to put these two artists from completely different genres together, playing off of that conflict from Sunday night.”
I don’t know about postmodern, but the resulting track is definitely fun. Stream it on Kammerer’s Youtube channel and watch for his two-disc debut, “Town/Country,” scheduled to drop sometime this year.
– Caitlin Dewey, Editor in Chief
Filed under: News of Note, Uncategorized | Tags: Jay Leno, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lady GaGa, Phil Selway, Pitchfork, Radiohad, Rihanna, Thom Yorke, Vampire Weekend, VMAs, Wilco
Kanye talks to Jay Leno the day after the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards
PREVIEW: Watch Kanye’s interview with Jay Leno and Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye’s performance of “Run This Town.”
After the Kanye West publicity stunt/VMA debacle Sunday night, the rapper sat down with Jay Leno on Monday and publicly apologized, Pitchfork reports. After giving a heartfelt apology, and shedding some tears when Leno asked West what his late mother would have thought of his disrespectful act, he performed “Run This Town” with Jay-Z and Rihanna. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage:20 Watts Reviews Jay-Z's "Run This Town"]
In other Kanye news, SPIN.COM reported that he and Lady Gaga would join forces and hit the road together this winter. The entire tour will comprise of 34 stops and it starts November 11 in Pheonix, AZ and will end on January 24 in Dallas, TX. The nearest Syracuse date is Buffalo, NY on December 20. If you saw Gaga’s VMA performance you know that this will literally be the craziest winter tour. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Lady Gaga's New Music Video/Short Film]
According to Pitchfork, Vampire Weekend has announced details regarding their second full-length album. The album entitled Contra, will be released January 12, 2010 and the tracklist is currently available on the band’s website. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: 20 Watts Reviews Discovery's The LP]
NME.COM reports that Radiohead drummer Phil Selway will release a solo album. Selway will sing on the album and be joined by Wilco members Glenn Kotche and Pat Sanzone, solo-artist Lisa Germano and bass player Sebastian Steinberg. The albums release date is unknown at this point.
NME.COM also reports that Radiohead’s frontman, Thom Yorke, is set to perform “The Reckoner” after a showing of the new climate change film “The Age of Stupid.” The performance will occur via satellite transmission from a mysterious undisclosed location. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Radiohead Leak Track? "These Are My Twisted Words", Radiohead Wrote A Song That Would Suit A Funeral? No Way!!]
- 20 Watts Staff
