The Universal Sigh - Supercollider & The Butcher

THE UNIVERSAL SIGH

Radiohead gave away copies of their free newspaper “The Universal Sigh” at street corners around the world on Tuesday. The addresses for the give aways were listed on the paper’s website.

Short stories, poetry, and illustrations?

Unfortunately I could not find who won race 4 at Sandown yesterday or the overnight price on prok bellies from the USA. Radiohead fans only kind of thing.

Meh.

Lucky i find these things for you.

Read it here if you missed out on the Universal Sign newspaper.







but..........


What has got me excited (once again) the just announced release of:

'THE BUTCHER' AND 'SUPERCOLLIDER'

Radiohead will be releasing new singles for Record Store Day on April 16th. The two unreleased songs called Supercollider and The Butcher will both be released on Vinyl. The release is limited to 2,000 copies in the UK and Ireland, features two new tracks, The Butcher and Supercollider, the latter of which has featured in the band’s live shows.

The Track Supercollider was an unreleased track from 2008 album In Rainbows and was played on tour for the album. It won’t be available for release in Australia.

Record Store Day is held on April 16, a day where artists celebrate the art of making music by releasing special vinyl, CD and promotional products - with 2000 UK copies only, good luck.


In this instance illegal downloading is condoned. (by me anyway)

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Explosions in the Sky - New Album Leaked !! (updated)

I know music piracy is bad but..........


I just found a leaked copy of the forthcoming Explosions in the Sky album "Take Care, Take Care, Take Care"  


Yeah - I am more than a little bit excited.

Take Care, Take Care, Take Care is the sixth studio album by the American instrumental post rock band and it is to be released on 18 April 2011 in the UK, 25 April 2011 in Europe, and 26 April 2011 in the US.  It is the top of my most anticipated albums for 2011 and whilst I was somewhat disappointed with one of the others I was hanging out for - Mogwai's "Hardcore will Never' die but you will" (well the title was almost adequate) - this I hold very very high hopes for.



Track listing

"Last Known Surroundings" - 8:22
"Human Qualities" - 8:10
"Trembling Hands" - 3:31
"Be Comfortable, Creature" - 8:48
"Postcard from 1952" - 7:07
"Let Me Back In" - 10:07

Now I don't want to go into a whole spiel about the ethics of downloading music, but yes, i feel a certain sense of guilt. However, i will be buying the album - especially when it comes from the artist and it is packaged like this........

(get yours from http://explosionsinthesky.com/)

I love that music retailing is changing, that artists like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have been able to pioneer a new method in retailing - of course they have the fan base and the funds to do this.  Explosions in the Sky don't - so of course I will be supporting them.  I love the band would love nothing more than increased exposure and financial reward.  Just getting their music heard irrespective of remuneration is fine for some artists who don't oppose music piracy, however buying music straight from the artists is the way it should be.  

So I'm off with my headphones for a night of aural bliss........

............and I will buy the album.  

(how long does guilt take to fade?) 

---

UPDATED.

After a week of listening  - The Review..........

In a word:  Brilliant

I challenge anyone to listen to Explosions in the Sky and not fall in love with the world (if you were not already). It is epic and passionate without words, a perfect encapsulation of everything that is good about the world - especially music.  These emotionally dynamic compositions of soaring highs and haunting lows we have heard before, but the development of the band since their last album in 2007 is apparent here.  Possibly more ambient in part than prior albums, but certainly less minimalist. Nondescript vocals appear on Trembling Hands (their shortest song ever on a studio album at three and a half minutes!, but the use of electronic loops and background noise add body and texture to the huge build ups that they craft. Layered Guitars, soaring and delicate at the same time punctuated by perfect drumming with intricate time signatures create well crafted tales, with emotions expressed instrumentally through the movements, changes, highs and lows - it is nothing short of beautiful. There is no point doing a track by track analysis - just get it and listen.

With Godspeed You! Black Emperor having been on a hiatus without an album since 2003, these guys truly are the kings of post rock. They are continuing to develop their sound and therefore the genre - and we benefit.


Explosions In The Sky from Explosions in the Sky on Vimeo.






Take Care, Take Care, Take Care from Explosions in the Sky on Vimeo.

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Sunny Day Real Estate - Seven.

Considering their relatively brief existence, Sunny Day Real Estate racked up enough dramatic twists and turns to rank with some of the great rock soap operas. Its members engaged in just about every rock cliché imaginable, including finding religion, refusing to work with the media, breaking up, and joining a big-name group (The Foo Fighters) and even recording an ambitious full-orchestra pop album - all before reuniting in 1997, disbanding in 2001 and again reuniting in 2010.

In my ever humble opinion, one of the most under rated bands of the 90s.

Seven - Track 1 off their 1994 Debut Album - Diary.

Enjoy.

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Kanye - I'm Sorry..............

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West

I was less than effusive in my comments about Kanye West's 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' in my 2010 Albums of the Year entry





It went something like this

.........and you will note that there is no Kanye West here. Not because you probably own it, but because I thought my beautiful dark twisted fantasy was absolute shite. Very well (if not slightly over-) produced, but for me it does not hold a candle to his first two albums. Don't buy it. Or even steal it. Not worth it.

Well.  Ahem. (*coughs, clears throat.....)

We all make mistakes don't we Kanye?  Well, this is a first for me, so go easy, it is a new experience.

In light of me listening to a heap of old hip hop (Public Enemy, NWA & Wu Tang on high rotation past few weeks - results here) I thought i was in the right mindset to revisit Mr Wests 5th album and see once and for all if i could work out why music critics and publications were falling over themselves to rate this album 10 out of 10 and give it a universal album of the year tag.

Pitchfork I'm looking squarely at you. 10.  Seriously?
Rolling Stone, XXL and a host of other reportedly reputable publications failed in my eyes as well.

Giving a brand new album 10 is rather pointless.  Well, i suppose it serves a point, to a point that is.  Giving an album 10 is saying that perfection has been achieved. Saying that every moment of the album was perfect, that there is nothing that could have been done better, no room for improvement.  The reviewer loved every moment.  My rateyourmusic.com page (here if you are at all interested, excuse the mess and the 1000s of missing albums)  has just 25 albums rated 5 stars - in the history of music.  To be fair i have not reviewed the full history of music but then again i don't think i need to. The Beatles get a few 10s, Led Zep, Radiohead.  Yeah.  Kanye might think he is the voice of a generation, but I'm not so sure he has scaled those lofty heights.

Giving out perfect 10s without the benefit of hindsight really only serves to generate hype in this online media age, however it also tells me that the reviewer is potentially a knobber who certainly lacks credibility.

Great artists derive a certain amount of expectation.  Take Radioheads new Album The King of Limbs I was always going to get it, review it and seeing that it is Radiohead and I hold them above all others, probably love it.  But when it came down to it. King of Limbs 9 out of 10. No perfection. Sad but true. When reviewing an album I really do think everyone needs to maintain a certain level of objectivity, no matter what kind of love you may have for the artist.  Everyone is anonymous on the net - anonymity makes everyone a critic, or at least a reviewer with a  teenage girl / Justin Beiber like love for certain artists.  Reviewers encompass the positives but leave out the negative - can't see the forest for the trees. We have to separate the hype from the music, not feed the hype.  The fear of being different ie. not liking Kanye, or whatever else, drives some to hype.

I'm telling it like it is.

So, my earlier comments about Kanye were possibly a little rash, however in revisiting the album many times, i can see some really good things.


The Tracks.

1. "Dark Fantasy"  - Excellent.  Could have done without the spoken word intro in my opinion, but a brilliant bit of work.
2. "Gorgeous" - Love it, probably my favourite track on the album, Raekwon (Wu-Tang) helps Kanye kill it.
3. "Power"  - Another great hip hop track.

At this point, I think fabulous production, dark lyrics, intricate.  But.......

4. "All of the Lights" (Interlude) Terrible.  No Need.
5. "All of the Lights"  - Things take a turn. Terrible.  Heavy Auto Tune, dont like the production. Or Rhianna / Alicia Keys / Fergie.
6. "Monster" Bon Iver and Kanye? WTF i first thought.  Interesting, starts well, then just ho hum from there. Meh.
7. "So Appalled"  Nothing special - more ho hum.  Wanted more from The RZA
8. "Devil in a New Dress" Just filler hip hop.
9. "Runaway" Yep. Fantastic.  Brilliant. Wonderful.  Watch the 34 minute extended film.
10. "Hell of a Life"  Killer intro, not a big fan of the autotune but otherwise a good track.
11. "Blame Game" meh.  Nothing.
12. "Lost in the World" I love Bon Iver. Usually.  This might sell him a shit load of albums, but the song is just ordinary.
13."Who Will Survive in America"  Essentially a Gil Scott Heron spoken word. pointless.


So 13 tracks - 2 are essentially interludes.
11 songs.  I like the first 3, albums starts really well.  Then just 2 others have merit.

Artists invariably suffer from comparison to their past works.
Kanye is a genius producer turned MC / hip hop mega star.  Would Jay - Z be where he is without Kanyes production on the Blueprint in 2001? Probably, although he would only be filthy stinking rich instead of filthy stinking rich Billionaire.

Kanye used to sample heavily - yeah, no denying I loved that.  He has always used string arrangements and that I love as well. The use of guitar is very evident on MDBTF. Lyrically he has always been very interesting, but i cant help but feel MDBTF is just KanyeEminem whining about how poor he is, then when he is rich & famous how hard it is to be - rich & famous. Poor guy.  blah blah blah.  Lyrically it is good, really good - that i cant knock. But singing? With Autotune?   Artists change & evolve, its not always for the better.  Just because its Kanye you don't have to give him a 10 what do you do if you like the next album more? eleventeen?

The College Dropout (2004) Insanely awesome and thoroughly mind blowing.  A catalyst in the step away from Gangsta Rap with wonderful lyrics about life.  Brilliant samples, use of guests, insanely good production.  WOW.  Changed the Game.
9 out of 10.

Late Registration (2005) Continues where The College Dropout left off, with more commercial merit. Kayne becomes a superstar with songs such as Gold Digger & Touch the Sky. Cant have enough superlatives here.
9 out of 10.

Graduation (2007) Mega Star Kayne delivers an overly produced synth heavy unspectacular 3rd album.
7 out of 10.

808s and Heartbreak (2009) Terrible. Autotune & Synth.  Horrible.
4 out of 10.

and this..........

My Dark Beautiful twisted Fantasy (2010)
7 out of 10.
70%.  That's about it. Basically on the strength of 5 songs.
It is a huge grandiose album, it is obviously very personal, and emotive to him.  A lot of work obviously went in - but it just seems overblown. Lyrically, it is stunning in parts, very serious. He has packed all his weird and wonderful shit he has got up to (read: material) over the past 18 months into this.
But that don't make an album great.

This album does not have ANYTHING on The College Dropout and Late Registration.  Nothing.
Not lyrically, not in production and arrangements, not in delivery.

The old Kanye is gone, no more rapping, no catchy as hell samples, no awesome guests - instead it is Kanye with autotune and with that Kanye has just become another hip hop artist - albeit lyrically superior.  Gone is the man who inspired an entire generation of artists to step their game up 

This blog is about albums - I love albums, complete albums. It's is becoming a lost art.
You cant call a few good songs on an album a perfect album.

Lets hope the slated 2011 album 'Watch the Throne' is an improvement.

Sorry Kanye - I was wrong.  Its worth having - but its not a 10.  Not at all.

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Two of the best...

On todays Menu - Two Legendary Hip Hop Albums from 1988

Not much good came out of the 80s. I know many will refute that, but the 80s is a musical wasteland - for the larger part. Some good stuff, some highly influential stuff, sure. It is a rash generalisation and of course there are examples, but for the most part ordinary. Mainstream music from the 1980s? Now that was a define wasteland. If you were into 80s music in the 80s - i hope you have moved on by now.

However there were some shining beacons - the underground world of hip hop was starting to get recognition with artists such as grandmaster Flash, Run DMC and the Beastie Boys.

Then in 1988 hip hop & music changed forever..............

N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton.

"you are about to witness the strength of street knowledge"

It does not matter how many listens I give this album, I press play and Dr Dre announces that first line - I just know i am about to hear something special.

"Straight Outta Compton" was probably not the first Gangsta Rap Album, but it created a revolution in hip hop and perhaps gave birth to the sub- genre of gangsta rap. Either way it has come to epitomise the genre and influenced countless others to follow in their footsteps. In 1988 hip-hop was barely a blip on the musical radar - this album was put it very much front and center and not just from an artistic point of view, it redefined hip hop and through the next decade gangsta rap would enjoy huge popularity. The FBI sent a letter to the bands record label advising them that "advocating violence and assault is wrong and we in the law enforcement community take exception to such action." this of course just drew more attention. The Album became the first to ever go platinum without radio airplay and they were largely banned from touring. Some stores would not sell the album with the song "Fuck tha Police" on it - rather than editing the song, the censored version of the album did not feature the song at all. In 1989, Australian radio station Triple J had been playing "Fuck tha Police" for up to six months, before gaining the attention of Australian Broadcasting Corporation management who subsequently banned it. As a reaction the staff went on strike and put N.W.A's "Express Yourself" on continuous play for 24 hours, playing it roughly 360 times in a row.

The stories held within are frightening, and riveting; thought provoking and unapologetic. Main members, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren and Eazy-E, paint a vivid picture of L.A.'s rough Compton ghetto. You really feel the empathy of the life that they live through their brutally honest delivery of pain, anger and the need to be heard. The lyrical content provides powerful images of poverty, guns, violence, police, women and more violence. It is rough, raw, misogynistic, homophobic and whatever other negative labels you want to stick to it.

The album is completely fearless - this is part of the beauty of it. These guys were young when it came out, Ice Cube and MC Ren were just 19 and the others in their early 20s. N.W.A. was a super group of Rap/Hip-Hop's greatest talent before any of them had become known. Ice Cube and Dr Dre are legendary. Even at a very young age, it is apparent that all five were first rate producers, rappers, and lyricists, as each song possesses an infectious groove and a catchy beat. Lyrically it was so confrontational and so explicit for the time that it is hard imagine when compared to much of the content in modern rap. This was like the sex pistols and punk a decade earlier - only young black and angry.

It is not all killing and swearing though, the record sounds insanely fresh and perfect; which is quite a feat, since production value in hip-hop has come a long way since 1988. It highlights what would become apparent over the next 20 years and that is Dr Dre's production mastery. The beats and samples are are funky, innovative, well crafted and most importantly, they serve as a perfect template for their engrossing lyrical flows. The raw samples used tend to provide the perfect atmosphere for all the anger and rebellion featured on this album. Ice Cube's nitty-gritty lyricism and acute observations of society are most impressive. His richly detailed storytelling will captivate Their is a fair amount of comic relief, mainly by the playful Easy-E to balance out the record, especially once the sheer confrontation of the first few tracks is dealt with.

This album was one of the first rap albums to cross into white middle class suburbia - Whether it was the shock value, the profanity, the controversy cause by songs like Fuck tha Police - im not sure. Long before rap artists that grew up in middle class families created a gangsta persona and acted to suit, long before eminem came along, these guys were hardcore and just rapping about what they knew. They changed the game.

Straight Outta Compton" is an angry, raw and beautifully crafted masterpiece.

Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.

Also released in 1988 was the seminal album from East Coast hip hip group Public Enemy. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back has been regarded by music writers and publications as one of the most significant albums of the 1980s, as well as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all-time. The work has been hailed for its production techniques as well as the socially and politically-charged lyricism of lead MC Chuck D.

Almost the rap antithesis of NWA, Public Enemy have eloquent raps not about violence & sexism, but empowerment, self-respect, and self-determination. Artists such as Run D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys, had shown that hip-hop could expand its sound and be more than a passing fad, Public Enemy showed that hip-hop could also be a voice for the black community and its social and political concerns. Intense, angry, militant, political, thoughtful and creative all apply to this album. I'm no proponent of black radicalism, however I definitely admire the intelligence and innovation that went into this recording. If NWA were like the Sex Pistols, then PE were The Clash and the Dead Kennedys. Powerful stuff.

Chuck D is lyrical master - the content is very thought-provoking, eloquent and has some downright quotable expressions of righteous indignation at the American prison system, pop culture "values," the inner-city drug epidemic, the federal government, the media and the education system - among other things. A far cry from today's common topics of "bling and bitches," that's for sure. Flavor Flav, a far cry from the caricature he now portrays on MTV reality shows, provides the perfect foil for Chuck. Hyper-active, abrasive and wild, he underscores all of Chuck D's statements like an exclamation point with humorous rhymes thrown in between Chuck D.'s venom.

Aside from Chuck D and Flavor Flav, it was the Bomb Squad (Hank and Keith Shocklee, and Eric Sadler) who put PE on the map. The Bomb squad were the producers and along with the mayhem of Terminator X on the turntables, they created a furious mixture of whistles, whines, and noise over dense samples, scratches and beats - an unmistakable sound. Constantly self-referencing, the music here is dense and complex, adding to the epic feel of the album. They sample widely, the album includes spoken word from Malcolm X & Louis Farrakhan and music from luminaries such as James Brown, Kool and The Gang, Parliament, Funkadelic, Run DMC, The Jackson 5, Isaac Hayes, Bob Marley, Salt-n-Peppa, they even sample thrash metal icons Slayer and of course they sample themselves. As a whole, the group was way ahead of it's time. Boldly putting out their political views and attacking the media, PE was also unfairly attacked in the press portrayed as anti-semetic and anti-white.

Bring The Noise, Don't Believe The Hype (practically an anti-media anthem), Louder Than A Bomb, Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos (could be one of the best song titles ever!), Prophets Of Rage, Party For Your Right To Fight...all classic hip-hop. To all those who think Eminem & 50-cent are "thought-provoking" or "original" I'd advise you to pick this up and experience the real thing.

Multiple listens reveal more and more of what Public Enemy has embedded into this startling effort. Any fan of hip-hop who doesn't own this album needs to, as does any fan of music who has dismissed hip-hop as anything less than a vibrant art form.

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These two albums changed hip hop, they changed music. You could argue that they were instrumental in bringing a sub culture to the surface.  Both albums are fearless, intelligent, thought provoking and overall an integral part of your collection.

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