Showing posts with label Hayes Carll. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hayes Carll. Show all posts
Monday, December 5, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Couldawouldashoulda: June 2011
Hayes Carll – KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories)
Now’s about the time when the Couldawouldashoulda’s start to really look like Honorable Mentions, albums you wish could have stayed on the top fifty for just a little while longer, but, alas, had to make way for other deserving releases. Hayes Carll’s fourth album is a great exhibit of an engaging personality. His voice is cracked and borderline drunken, slurring through his lines like he may just hiccup the next verse. But where this description may connote laziness, Carll brings a distinct voice to each of his songs, whether with wry political humor or homely specifics. His best work comes out on the hapless duet, “Another Like You”, the wartime frenzy of “KMAG YOYO” and the still heartwarming family get-together, “Grateful for Christmas”. Even if you’re not a fan of country music, KMAG YOYO is an album more than worth your time.
E-40 – Revenue Retrievin’: Graveyard Shift
Right now, I’m working on a review compilation of E-40’s Revenue Retrievin’ series, so it’s fitting that this album should appear in this segment. We know that E-40 felt like releasing two albums on the same day last year and now two albums on the same day this year. This year’s Overtime Shift is the clear best of all four, so, thusly, Graveyard Shift should be completely ignored. Well hold on a second, not so fast. Graveyard Shift may not be as colossally satisfying as Overtime Shift, but it’s still a great album. Tracks like “E-40” and “My Shit Bang”… well, bang, and I’m not going to just sit around and watch people disparage it just because its companion piece is the musical equivalent of the doctor brother that the family keeps complimenting at Thanksgiving dinner. Graveyard Shift may not be as fruitful as Overtime Shift, but, if you’re an E-40 or just plain old hip hop fan, it’s a no brainer to get. Who knows, you might even enjoy it more.
Lupe Fiasco – Lasers
LOL REALLY? I like thought this album was total shit! Lupe goes mainstream? HOW DROLL!!!!!! How could it possibly be on any honorable mention list? RU some kind of Lupe Fiasco fanboy or something? Well, yes, but that’s beside the point. We can get into a conversation as to whether it was right of Lupe Fiasco to go in the direction he did for his third album, Lasers, but there is no denying that, nevertheless, it is a very solid album. It sounds nothing like his magnum opus Food & Liquor or the comparatively disappointing The Cool, but it still observes Lupe in fine lyrical form over hooks that are actually quite catchy. So what if it works better at a club than a house party this time around? Does that make it worse? It doesn’t, so don’t believe the anti-hype. Lasers is a worthy addition to the Lupe catalogue, and I’m glad he’s back in the hip hop conversation.
Julian Lynch – Terra
June 12th
Check Your Mode: Hey Julian Lynch.
Julian Lynch: Ummm, yes?
Check Your Mode: I wuv you.
Julian Lynch: Well gee… thanks.
July 7th
Check Your Mode: Hey Julian Lynch.
Julian Lynch: Yeah?
Check Your Mode:
:)
Julian Lynch: *sigh* Thanks.
Primordial – Redemption at the Puritan’s Hand
Because I am constantly making lists and categorizing the music that comes out of the 2010’s, comparisons are inevitable, and the biggest may be 2010 overall vs. 2011 overall. It’s a valid query, but one that cannot be objectively inspected, because there are too many variables. However, I can safely say this: In terms of metal, 2010 definitely has the upper hand. By this time last year we had fantastic releases from Barren Earth, Stam1na, Triptykon and Nachtmystium. As of now, we only have two outstanding releases from Moonsorrow and Septic Flesh. Things can change of course, but I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say I was a little disappointed, being an enormous metal fan and all.
In terms of quality, Primordial is in a run for third place for best metal album so far (In a dead heat between Devin Townsend and Týr). The Irish metal group’s seventh album slays like their others, trudging through lands of distortion and double bass drum to deliver blows and vanquish enemies with the uniting power of massive balls. Singer Naihmass Nemtheanga rants at you to an almost numbing degree, but it’s all motivational, so it’s all good. Redemption at the Puritan’s Hand makes you less want to destroy shit than spout rhetoric at that shit until it realizes its life is worthless and decides to shy away and kill itself. Not much music does that, but, if there’s one thing you need to know about the newest Primordial album, it’s that it succeeds at it. Oh yes does it succeed.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Hayes Carll - KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories): B+ / Charles Bradley - No Time For Dreaming: B+
Well, it was bound to happen eventually. Election season has begun, and President Obama has initiated his campaign for a second term in 2012. That means we can now start the conversation of what the man’s done for our country, whether we should trust him to lead for another four years, and whether he is worth our vote. For me, it’s the beginning of an unfortunate time, because I don’t think I will be comfortable casting a ballot for either of the sides from which I will be ultimately made to choose. We all know Obama sailed into the oval office on a wave of change, and the music immediately following his election reflected that virile surge of hope (Pearl Jam’s gloriously uncharacteristic optimist anthem, “The Fixer” comes readily to mind). But now, as it becomes an increasingly dreary task to parse out what has been made better in America under his first term, it is no surprise that music being released is beginning to echo the economic, social and political futility that exists now more than ever. It was in the start of the decade when this mentality started to take shape in music, and, in 2011, there is no escaping it. Although Hayes Carll is a country singer from Houston, Texas and Charles Bradley is a soul singer from Poughkeepsie, New York, the new albums from both typify this mounting negativity reflective of the state of the country.
Throughout KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories), Hayes Carll comes off as the true postmodern country singer. His voice is sloppy and unhinged and his lyrics are flippant, making the pain and hardship described in most of his songs far more endearing than anything Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift or even Jamey Johnson could write. In the title track, “KMAG YOYO,” Carll chronicles a hilariously fabricated series of events that unfold after he signs up for the army (Arms dealing, space travel. You’d have to hear it to believe it) and “Another Like You” pairs him with a lovable lass that’s just as deranged as he (--“Shouldn’t you be purging?” --“Well you’re probably still a virgin.” --“I can’t believe you’re not on The View.”). KMAG YOYO is an endlessly quotable album, apparent whether Carll is chiding love or politics. His finest moment, though, comes toward the album’s end, when he depicts a recessional holiday with devastating specificity on “Grateful For Christmas.” It’s a tear-jerking ode to imperfection, and, even if KMAG YOYO has some significant filler in between such highlights, it’s still nice to hear some country that’s clever and genuinely relatable for a change.
Charles Bradley toiled on the musical circuit for decades before Daptone Records picked him up a few years ago and finally gave him the platform for a debut album. Bradley, now 62, hefts all those years of disappointment onto that record, No Time For Dreaming. The first line on the album is indicative of its tone. “This world is going up in flames / And nobody wanna take the blame,” he rebukes amidst the retro instrumentation of the Daptones, No Time For Dreaming’s backup band. Often, Bradley’s fervent pleas sound on the verge of tears, a sentiment that is supported by the expressive instrumentation of trumpet player Dave Guy and saxophonist Leon Michaels. Together, they create the nostalgic soul not dissimilar to the work The Daptones have done with Sharon Jones, but, like her music, it’s hard to imagine the new-world perspective of No Time for Dreaming fitting in with the soul music of the 1960’s. The devastating sadness that often boils over in songs like “How Long” and “Heartaches and Pain” are wholly unique to Bradley, and the way he inhabits them makes for an overwhelming performance that rivals that of Otis Redding, a clear influence here. In “Why Is It So Hard,” Bradley tells the story of how he got to this point in his life, how he moved to Brooklyn from Florida and then to Poughkeepsie to escape his many stresses, bookending his verses by crying, “Why is it so hard to make it in America?” One would hope that the existence of No Time for Dreaming is an indication that things are looking up for Bradley. His voice and songwriting ability are somewhat of lost treasures, and it’s better late than never that we get to hear the genius this guy has been ceaselessly peddling for most of his life.
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