Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak

(6.5/10)

Kanye West + Auto Tone = Mediocre album

Kanye West’s fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreak, is a departure to say the least. Be prepared for something on this release, Kanye does not rap one line on this entire album! I am a Kanye West fan. I bought his first release, College Dropout, and was floored by the beats and intelligent rhymes and smart guest appreances. His next two albums; Late Registration and Graduation showed Kanye West maturing as a rapper and producer. The “College Trifecta” albums were great and catapulted Kanye to the top of the pop charts and made Kanye a media sensation. (p.s. telling America George Bush does not care about black people on live tv helps you become famous/infamous). West soon realized what Notorious B.I.G. knew, “Mo Money, Mo Problems.”

808s & Heartbreak is an album full of pain and loneliness. Kanye had both to deal with in 2008; his mother died from a botched plastic surgery and his longtime girlfriend broke up with him. I know that would make me not fell like writing another song like “Gold Digger.” This album has serious flaws though that make it an up and down venture. Kanye’s voice is recorded with a studio tool called Auto Tone. Auto Tone if anyone is not familiar is what makes T-Pain well…T-Pain. Kanye West in fact got advice from T-Pain on how to “explore” Auto Tone. What Kanye fails to realize is that it gets monotonous after a few songs. (even T-Pain's "I'm in Love With a Stripper" got annoying after a while). He might legitimately not be able to sing and need it but it seems like just another flavor of the month rap thing.

The album title refers to the electronic drum machine the Roland-808. All of the songs drum beats were created on this machine. West lets us into his psyche and gets a lot off his chest. On the second track “Welcome to the Heartbreak” he is jealous of his friend’s kid and normal life and Kanye only has his cribs and cars to come home to. The track “Heartless” refers to some woman who guess what broke Kanye’s heart. Wonder who that could have been? Kanye’s first single is the club track “Love Lockdown,” one of the stronger tracks on the album. The albums strongest tracks are numbers 1-6, the rest of the album is not exciting and a bit of an exercise to listen to. As a big Kanye West fan I am not worried about his future output. This is his therapy album and he was able to get a lot off his chest. I want my old Kanye West who’s ready to keep my white ass rapping in the car to his records.

TV on the Radio - Dear Science

(9.0/10)

TV on the Radio has done what few bands can do and that is follow up a critically acclaimed album with an equally impressive one. TVotR have answered their fans with an fantastic release many bands would like to imitate. Dear Science is everything that is great about the this New York experimental rock band collected in eleven songs.

The bass thumping opener “Halfway Home” reminds me of “Wolf Like Me” from their last album (Return to Cookie Mountain) which is not a bad thing. What makes TVotR stand above other bands out now is the complex arrangements and outstanding vocals of their music. Case in point is the second track, “Crying,” a true funky number with soulful singing. The next track, “Dancing Choose” could be mistaken for an LCD Soundsystem song if not for the vocals of lead singer Tunde Adebimpe. TVotR is a group that does only one thing and that is keep you entertained throughout an album. Dancier tracks like the afore-mentioned “Dancing Choose,” “Golden Age,” “Red Dress,” and “DLZ” are offset with slower numbers like “Stork and Owl,” “Family Tree,” and “Love Dog.” The great thing about this band is that the slower ones still rock. After all this band above all else is still a rock and roll band.

Dear Science is the fourth full length album from TV on the Radio. Hitting their stride with 2006’s critically acclaimed Return to Cookie Mountain it would seem TVotR would be destined to fail on their next effort. I am hear to tell you Dear Science is better than Return to Cookie Mountain which is no small feat. This band will be here for a long time. They have the formula for success, don’t compromise your values to sell more albums and play and write what comes to your heart. The songs on Dear Science are at once fun and danceable but the lyrics also speak of a bleaker time. Please do yourself a favor and go and pick this album up. Any cd that you can play for yourself and play for a party means one thing…AN AMAZING ALBUM!

Blitzen Trapper - Furr

(8.5/10)

“Southern-laced indie rock from a band from Portland???”

Blitzen Trapper have once again released another dynamite album. Last year’s Wild Mountain Nation was highly praised and their latest Furr picks off right were the group left off. Furr, takes everything that was great with their previous effort and improves upon it. This album is a lot tighter and fuller sounding. The song structures for the most part are of your basic verse-chorus variety. Wild Mountain Nation was a lot noisier and the songs were disparate from each other. Furr takes the album as a whole piece of work not just singles.

The opening track “Sleepytime in the Western World” propels you right into the overall sound of the album with a heavy church organ southern kind of feel to it. The way the songs are sung combined with the lead singer’s actual voice get in your brain and don’t escape. The third song and the title track of the album is a wonderful tune about a boy who wanders into a forest and comes across a wolfpack and joins them and slowly turns into his lupine brethren only to be pulled back to his human form by a woman. Your basic metaphor for not fitting in to the real world but having to grow up anyway in it.
The strongest track on this album to me is a song entitled, “The Black River Killer,” tells the story from the perspective of a serial killer and his struggle with heaven and his murders. You will be singing this song after only a few listens with it’s strong hook and it’s morose but compelling lyrics (see Sufjan Steven’s “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.”). Just when you thought you have the sound of the album down Blitzen Trapper hits you with the gutteral yell of the track “Love U,” which opens with “I love you baby like a thief love money/like a wheel got a roll/like my shoe got sole.” “Love U” takes you through the singer’s torment over a woman and how you would actually yell and scream these lyrics if singing to her.

Start to finish, top to bottom, Furr has it all. Thirteen tracks in right under 40 minutes means there is no filler only meat. The brevity of the album is also it’s greatest ally. You never get stuck in the middle or feel the album drags on. Blitzen Trapper’s Furr is immediate purchase worthy. Don’t pass this one by. Go out, pick it up, put it on, turn it up, and enjoy!

Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads

(4.5/10)

The Kaiser Chiefs’ third full length album, Off With Their Heads, is a radio ready rock album by another new wave brit band. The album has a few good moments. Tracks such as; “Like it too Much” and “Remember the Girl” stand out amongst the mostly generic sound the band is great at producing. At one point in the album I thought I was listening to 80s montage music (think the clean up song in Revenge of the Nerds) turns out it was synthesiser friendly song, “You Want History.” On another track, “Addicted to Drugs” you immediately start thinking of the famous Robert Palmer song, “Addicted to Love,” for good reason too. The choruses are song similarly. Listening to this album made me want to wash my mouth out with good music (thank God, OK Computer was close by).

The Kaiser Chiefs released their first album, Employment, in 2005 and I remember liking quite a few tracks on that album. They followed it up with a less successful sophomore album entitled, Yours, Truly Angry Mob. The Chiefs have flat out just worn out their welcome with me. They are still a big name act in the UK, I believe their album was #2 in their charts. So why the hostility towards them then? I wish nothing but success for them but we don’t have to swallow every British import as the next big thing. The Kaiser Chief’s sound is very repetitive making eleven tracks of it a lot to sit through.

Go ahead and skip this purchase, if you want to hear this band check out their first album, Employment. Their debut is the Kaiser Chief’s at their best. Unfortunately, if I were the executioner I would listen to the king’s order of, “Off With Their Heads”!!!

Fujiya & Miyagi - Lightbulbs

(8.0/10)

Vanilla, Strawberry, Knickerbocker, Glory!

Those are the first four words uttered on this album. Four unrelated words that tell the listener, don’t even begin to worry about the lyrics on this album. This album is pure electronic fun. Lightbulbs, is a groove based album that will have you nodding your head to the beat approximately 25 seconds in to the first cut. The album doesn’t let up either throughout the eleven tracks. Songs titles such as; knickerbocker, goosebumps, rook to queen’s pawn six, pterodactyls and pussyfooting, are examples of the silly nature of this group.

The group as stated on the first track of their last album, Transparent Things, “…are just pretending to be Japanese.” Fujiya & Miyagi are not Japanese but rather English (they hail from Brighton). Fujiya & Miyagi are also a four member group not two as their name would have you believe. They stormed the indie scene with 2007’s, Transparent Things, an album that received critical acclaim from notoriosly fickle groups like NME and Pitchfork.

Lightbulbs does not fall far sonically from their last album. Why change what works? What Fujiya & Miyagi lack in originality they more than make up for in straight forward body moving music. I find myself riding in my car and repeating the repetitive lyrics and bobbing my head to the beat. I just feel cool for lack of a better word when listening to this group. The singer’s breathy delivery of the lyrics allow for easy mimicking, perfect for wanna-be lead singer’s like me. Bring this album with you to be a hit at any party. In the words of Fujiya & Miyagi, “no more pussyfooting around!” Go out and purchase Lightbulbs along with their previous effort, Transparent Things.

Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty

(6.0/10)

If the the Cold War Kids sophomore release, Loyalty to Loyalty, were to be graphed it would look like a slide. All of the best songs on the album are at the beginning and the album drags as it progresses. The songs are not as compelling as the tracks on, Robbers & Cowards. When the Cold War Kids burst onto the scene in the Fall of 2006, I was all aboard. I played it all of 2007 and still have it on heavy rotation.

Loyalty to Loyalty is a decent album and follows in sound to its predecessor; however, it fails to capture the energy of Robbers & Cowards. Nathan Willet’s vocals are strong and still unique. His voice soars up and down across the thirteen tracks. The songwriting on this album though is just not up to par with their debut. On the tracks, “Welcome to the Occupation” he repeats the line (the devil’s in the details) so often you begin to think he could have used some details in the lyrics. On another song entitled, “ Every Man I Fall For” all the comparisons to the man he falls for is made to diminishing returns??? I think less of the sorrow he must feel but rather conjure up some free enterprise class term. The album is spotty to be frank. There are some really good songs on this album; “Against Privacy,” “Mexican Dogs,” “Every Valley is not a Lake,” and “I’ve Seen Enough.” The rest of the album sounds more like filler.

The Cold War Kids have toured with the likes of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Tapes ‘N Tapes, Muse and The White Stripes. I bring that up as a compliment to how well the band has done for itself and the respect they are given by their peers. The bottom line is that the Cold War Kids are for real. Loyalty to Loyalty is a solid effort but ultimately falls short for the aforementioned reasons. I recommend anyone not familiar with the Cold War Kids to pick up their debut album. This album was a let down to the hopes I had after such a strong debut.

The National - Boxer

Nothing new here, but some things never get old. If you haven't heard this album do yourself a favor and get your hands on a copy.

This album plays almost every day at my desk. I hope it brings you the same joy.