Danny Brown – XXX (6/10)
This was Spin’s top hip hop album for 2011. Like most of the rappers on a lot of top lists I’d never heard of Danny Brown before.
1. XXX (7/10)
The beat is pretty good, the lyrics are decent, but Brown’s voice isn’t something I’m sure I want to listen to for an hour.
2. Die Like a Rockstar (6/10)
This guy seems like the type that needs to be in group instead of solo.
3. Pac Blood (5/10)
Now this is more traditionally listenable, but it’s a worse song.
4. Radio Song (8/10)
5. Lie4 (9/10)
This song is kind of hypnotizing.
6. I Will (5/10)
This makes me think of MC Paul Barman for some reason.
7. Bruiser Brigade (5/10)
???? I like a lot about this, but it gets pretty much ruined in the middle.
8. Detroit 187 (4/10)
This is definitely MC Paul Barman style rapping. Barman’s better I think.
9. Monopoly (6/10)
Danny Brown’s voice spans a spectrum that centers on the limit of listenability. This song slowly teeters back and forth.
10. Blunt After Blunt (3/10)
This is quite bad.
11. Outer Space (6/10)
I like where this is trying to go, but it broke down somewhere around half way.
12. Adderall Admiral (4/10)
13. DNA (10/10)
Where was this hiding? This is great stuff.
14. Nosebleeds (6/10)
15. Party All the Time (6/10)
This is quite a turn in style over the past couple of songs.
16. EWNESW (4/10)
No.
17. Fields (7/10)
18. Scrap or Die (8/10)
This is a step or two away from being pretty great.
19. 30 (6/10)
This song pretty much mirrors the entire album. It has wild swings from some of the worst sounds I’ve heard to near greatness and then ends in a mish mash of mediocrity.
I don’t understand the hype around this album at all. There are couple good songs, a couple decent ones, and a whole lot of crap. Danny Brown seems to have some talent, but he needs some polishing and some focus. This album is all over the place and in a lot of cases so are the songs.
Bon Iver – Bon Iver (5.5/10)
So this is Pitchfork’s best album of 2011. Since Justin Vernon has Minnesota connections Bon Iver gets quite a bit of play on The Current. Going in to this I have lukewarm feelings about what I’ve heard up this point.
1. Perth (7/10)
This sounds slightly Sufjan Stevens-y at points. Not necessarily a good thing, but not bad.
2. Minnesota, WI (6/10)
There’s way too much going on here. Stick with the banjo and possible steel guitar.
3. Holocene (7/10)
I’m not sure that any of this could appeal to me enough to give it more than a 7.
4. Towers (7/10)
This is on the radio a lot. I like it more than anything else I’ve heard.
5. Michicant (6/10)
6. Hinnom, TX (5/10)
7. Wash. (5/10)
8. Calgary (5/10)
Wait, didn’t I hear this song earlier? This whole album blends into the same song after a while.
9. Lisbon, OH (5/10)
10. Beth/Rest (2/10)
I seem to have accidentally tuned to a bad Adult Contemporary station, except it’s even worse because Auto Tune is involved. This may be the worst song I’ve heard all year.
Justin Vernon’s voice doesn’t do much for me. I feel like that is at least half the appeal for a lot people. Maybe I’m wrong. I think I would like Bon Iver more if the folk-ish, country aspects were more prominent than the more synthesizer-y stuff. I know there are a lot of actual instruments on this album, but I don’t think that is the feel that I get. I also think the album comes off a bit cold. That may be the angle Vernon was going for, but I don’t think it really works. This makes for perfectly inoffensive background music (minus the last track), but nothing sticks out to lead me to agree that it is as great as so many others seem to believe it is.
Quick Fire Reviews
While I was home in Arkansas I listened to a couple albums from the past year that my dad had. I rated each song, but didn’t make any individual notes.
Adele - 21 (7.6/10)
1. Rolling in the Deep (10/10)
2. Rumour Has It (9/10)
3. Turning Tables (7/10)
4. Don’t You Remember (7/10)
5. Set Fire to the Rain (7/10)
6. He Won’t Go (7/10)
7. Take It All (6/10)
8. I’ll Be Waiting (8/10)
9. One and Only (5/10)
10. Lovesong (8/10)
11. Someone Like You (10/10)
Another English female vocalist. As with PJ Harvey this isn’t really the type of music that I often feel the urge to listen to. Adele has an amazing voice and isn’t nearly as annoying as say Joss Stone. A few of the songs on this album are extremely catchy and hard not to like, but the rest just seem like filler.
Tom Waits - Bad As Me (7.5/10)
1. Chicago (8/10)
2. Raised Right Men (8/10)
3. Talking at the Same Time (7/10)
4. Get Lost (9/10)
5. Face to the Highway (7/10)
6. Pay Me (7/10)
7. Back in the Crowd (6/10)
8. Bad As Me (8/10)
9. Kiss Me (6/10)
10. Satisfied (7/10)
11. Last Leaf (8/10)
12. Hell Broke Luce (10/10)
13. New Year’s Eve (7/10)
As someone on The Current put it, even a mediocre Tom Waits album is pretty good. In general I prefer a certain type of Tom Waits song, like those on Mule Variations or Hell Broke Luce on this one. Tom Waits is great lyricist, but I generally treat vocals as just another instrument. So some of the more laid back songs on this album don’t really do much for me. There are definitely songs where I pay close attention to the lyrics, but for the most part I’m more interesting in the overall sound of a song. I think this is why I have a hard time getting into the singer/songwriters.
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I hope to do quite a few reviews this week so that I can put out something resembling a top 10 list by the end of the year or shortly there after.
Big KRIT – Return of 4Eva (7.2/10)
One of the downsides to my current musical intake is the lack of rap and hip hop. The Current plays local hip hop, but that is about it. That is probably one thing WUOG has over them. Anyway, I’ve seen this album listed a few different places as one of the best of the year, so I thought I would give it a listen. I’d never heard of Big KRIT before.
1. R4 Intro (7/10)
Sounds like I’m in for something interesting.
2. Rise and Shine (9/10)
I’ve been transported to the early 90s. This is really good.
3. R4 Theme Song (8/10)
The production on this is fantastic. Really simple, really great.
4. Dreamin’ (6/10)
This needs some polishing I think.
5. Rotation (7/10)
These songs are just long enough to win me over. I started out kind of hating this, but something turned me.
6. My Sub (5/10)
I don’t think the beats on this can overcome the vocals. I’m not really sure what this is supposed to be about.
7. Sookie Now (6/10)
I could really do without this chorus.
8. American Rapstar (6/10)
9. Highs & Lows (6/10)
I’m not opposed to songs like this, but it takes a lot for me to like one.
10. Shake It (5/10)
11. Made A lot (7/10)
12. Lions and Lambs (7/10)
This builds into a fairly decent song, but I can’t help but think that the rapping should be a bit better to be featured so prominently with such a laid back beat.
13. King’s Blues (7/10)
This album would be greatly improved if more of the songs featured scratching.
14. Time Machine (8/10)
15. Get Right (7/10)
16. Amtrak (6/10)
This should be a lot better than it is.
17. Players Ballad (6/10)
18. Another Naive Individual Glorifying Greed and Encouraging Racism (9/10)
19. Free My Soul (7/10)
20. The Vent (7/10)
21. Country Shit (9/10)
I feel bad saying this is the best song on the album since it’s the only one with mainstream appeal, but the truth is the truth.
The star of this album is the production. The vocals are good in places, but the beats aren’t always good enough to compensate when they aren’t. There is a ton of talent here, but I don’t see this getting popular. Big KRIT is at least a decade too late. I see him either embracing his niche and not really growing his audience or hooking up with some already popular rapper and creating a decent to great album with more pop friendly beats. Personally this seems like more of a situational rap album that I would listen to only at times when interested in the overall sound of the album and not actually listening to the songs themselves. That’s not a bad thing; this is a good album, but there is very little that requires closer attention.
tUnE-yArDs – w h o k i l l (7/10)
I saw tUnE-yArDs earlier this year and if it wasn’t the best concert I saw this year it is close behind TV On The Radio. Yet, I have not listened to all of this album yet. So here goes.
1. My Country (8/10)
Even though there are parts of this I don’t like it really comes together as a whole.
2. Es-So (7/10)
This was one of my favorite songs at the concert that I hadn’t heard before. I think it was a bit better live.
3. Gangsta (10/10)
This is my favorite song 2011.
4. Powa (6/10)
Huh, I don’t remember hearing this song. This really showcases Merrill Garbus’ amazing voice, but as a whole I’m not sure I’m a fan.
5. Riotriot (5/10)
6. Bizness (7/10)
This got a decent amount of airplay locally, but I never really liked it as much as Gangsta. Once things kick in it really improves. The layering is really done well.
7. Doorstep (6/10)
This almost sounds like something out of the 50s.
8. You Yes You (7/10)
9. Wooly Wolly Gong (6/10)
Not bad, but long and not especially good.
10. Killa (7/10)
A pretty decent, upbeat way to end the album.
I feel like perhaps this album is a bit overproduced. The sound live was a bit more raw and well better. This is just too clean in a lot of cases, especially on You Yes You. I also really liked how live you get to see Garbus create the loops prior to each song. I think that acts as a good intro, getting to hear the songs being built. To be honest this is kind of a letdown from the show, especially since I think the studio version of Gangsta is better because of the production aspects that aren’t really available live.
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake (6.6/10)
My dad has a copy of Rid Of Me on cassette that I listened to once or twice when I was in high school, and that is really my only exposure to PJ Harvey. She is one of those musicians that I always felt I should get into, but never did. However this is the number one album of 2011 according to the combined ratings on rateyourmusic.com, so I thought I’d give it a try.
1. Let England Shake (7/10)
This is oddly appealing to me, but at the same time kind of annoying. I think I like it though.
2. The Last Living Rose (7/10)
I’m a fan of horns in songs like this. The first two thirds were quite good then it kind of devolved.
3. The Glorious Land (5/10)
If this song is any sign of things to come, even the bad songs on this album are alright.
4. The Words That Maketh Murder (6/10)
5. All and Everyone (7/10)
The end of this song caused me to increase my score by a point.
6. On Battleship Hill (7/10)
I like the mildly Hawaiian nature of this opening. The vocals really aren’t doing much for me though.
7. England (3/10)
I take back what I said in my note on The Glorious Land. This is like bad Bjork. Do not want.
8. In the Dark Places (7/10)
9. Bitter Branches (9/10)
Well this is quite good.
10. Hanging in the Wire (8/10)
11. Written on the Forehead (7/10)
This actually isn’t too bad, even with the reggae-ish vocals in background.
12. The Colour of the Earth (6/10)
Well I think it’s clear now that PJ Harvey isn’t for me. That said, she is definitely a talented musician; I think that is pretty evident here. This is a good album and I can see why it will be on a lot of top ten lists for the year, but like I say this isn’t something I ever see myself listening to again. Harvey has a rather lovely voice though.
Mastodon – The Hunter (6.5/10)
After around two or more years of not listening to much new music except what I hear on The Current, I’m trying to get back into actively exploring music. Toward that end I’m going to attempt to begin reviewing albums for this blog. My aggressive goal is an album a day, but realistically I’d be happy with 4 or 5 a week.
There are tons of albums over the last few years that I want to get around to, but since it’s the end of the year and lot of top 10 lists are coming out I’m going to focus primarily on 2011 to begin with. My planned format for the reviews is to give each song on an album a score from 0 to 10 and then average those scores to arrive at the score for the entire album. I may or may not write something about each song depending on if there is anything worth saying, but I’ll always have a final review of the album as a whole.
Lastly, before I get to my first review I’ll end with a disclaimer that I know next to nothing about the technical aspects of music. It’s likely I will misuse musical terms throughout my reviews and in some cases be completely wrong about what I’m saying. My goal here is just to measure how much I like particular songs and albums and try to express that in writing with various levels of success. Hopefully over time my reviews with improve.
Now onto the review.
1. Black Tongue (6/10)
This has tempo changes and great drumming, so yeah I’m listening to Mastodon. This is a good song, but it doesn’t stand out too much for me.
2. Curl of the Burl (3/10)
This song really didn’t do it for me. The chorus was bothersome. This is definitely a song I would probably skip if I was going to listen to this album frequently.
3. Blasteroid (7/10)
Now this is more what I want and expect from Mastodon.
4. Stargasm (8/10)
5. Octopus Has No Friends (6/10)
Perhaps the octopus would find some friends if he didn’t use vocal effects. Otherwise this is quite a good song, but I have to dock it a couple points.
6. All the Heavy Lifting (7/10)
7. The Hunter (7/10)
I have a feeling this is the type of song that will grow on me after a few listens, so I’m going to go ahead and bump it up a point or two.
8. Dry Bone Valley (8/10)
9. Thickening (7.5/10)
The opening of this song is great. The rest of the song though is a bit of a disappointment, but not too much. I think the problem is that the tempo changes aren’t executed well enough and as a result the song kind of feels jumbled. Still good as a whole.
10. Creature Lives (4/10)
The opening of this song is not so great. Uhh, when the vocals kick it sounds kind of like it is breaking into A Very Mastodon Christmas.
11. Spectrelight (9/10)
Classic Mastodon.
12. Bedazzled Fingernails (4/10)
I’m not really sure what’s going on here. I guess it’s not horrible when it isn’t mimicking Buckethead or Rob Zombie, neither of which are necessarily bad things.
13. The Sparrow (7/10)
This song could probably be improved by chopping of the first minute or so.
I get it that this isn’t a concept album, but I feel like it would be better if all the songs fit together a bit more. The middle of the album accomplishes this quite well and is the best part of the album. This follows up Crack The Skye with a somewhat similar sound, but the execution is a bit lacking. I feel if I listened to this more my rating might jump up to around 7.5, but that is optimistic. This is by no means a bad album, but it does have a couple bad songs. It is hard for me not to compare this to Blood Mountain, which is a tour de force of awesomeness without a bad song in sight.
To Fund Or Not To Fund (A New Vikings Stadium)
It seems like every time I turn on the local news the anchors are talking about a new Vikings stadium whether there is anything new to report or not. My feelings on the topic are mixed. There is plenty of evidence that arguments about the positive economic impact of new stadiums are flawed at best. As a result I used to be dead set against any public funding for sports stadiums, but over the years my libertarian leanings have lessened. However I now find myself in a confusing middle ground trying to stake down a solid, educated opinion on the issue.
Minnesota and Minneapolis in particular have quite a history when it comes to public funding for parks. Theodore Wirth was one of the early forces behind building the Minneapolis public park system and had a vision that every house would be within six blocks of green space. While that might not strictly be the case today, the Twin Cities are still teeming with parks. Building on Wirth’s efforts, the last 20 years have seen the metro area transform into one of the most bikeable locations in the country, with improvements still ongoing. With the evidence of how well used public funding can be used to benefit a populace staring me in the face every day, it is hard not to overlook the misguided economics arguments and still support a new stadium for the Vikings.
There is a difference however between building a park and building a stadium primarily for use by a professional sports franchise. The key of course being that the Vikings are a corporation out to make money which certainly benefits economically from a new stadium. The amount by which they benefit is in large part based on how much the various governments and the public are willing to kick in. Obviously the less the team has to pay the better it is for their bottom line. At the same time the owner of stadium, whether it is the city of Minneapolis or some conglomeration of city, county, and state governments, is trying to make money too. The Twin Cities currently have 4 major stadiums that are publicly owned. Two of those, Target Center and Xcel Energy Center, are home to multiple professional sports teams each and regularly feature concerts and other events, and Target Field holds events 81+ times per year solely based on the MLB schedule. However due to the limited number of games played in an NFL season and the size of football stadiums (which make it hard to attract concerts and other events) it is likely that a new Vikings stadium would spend a large majority of the year empty. This means that the public cost of the stadium would only get paid back after many years of the Vikings leasing the stadium.
Since it’s clear that public will not see a financial return on building a new stadium for many years, if ever, the noneconomic benefits of a new stadium need to be taken into account. I only ever went to a Twins game at the Metrodome once, while on vacation when I was in sixth grade or so. My memories of the game aren’t very clear, but public opinion was that seeing a Twins game in the dome wasn’t a very great experience. Target Field on the other hand has been named one of the best ballparks in the country. Having been there six times I find it hard to disagree. The stadium itself is amazing and it is also well tied into the public transportation system. It is hard for me to say just how much of impact it has had on the area since I moved to the Twin Cities less than a week before its inaugural game, but again based on public opinion it seems to have been a major success. I realize however that the success of Target Field is no guarantee for a new Vikings Stadium. I recently went the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis, which is only a few years older than Target Field, for a second time. On my first visit I found the ballpark to be quite great, but on returning I was rather disappointed. Both stadiums were designed by the same architecture firm, but the superiority of one over the other is clear. I’m sure any replacement for the Metrodome will be a vast improvement, but the quality of stadium, and in the end the benefit to the public, isn’t something that is easy to predict.
Ultimately I find myself backtracking to my original position of opposing the use of public funds, at least in this case. While the proposal for an Arden Hills location sounds appealing, especially with the promise of increased tailgating opportunities, the multiple Minneapolis proposals just don’t add up and seem to me to be the city just grasping at straws. The unspoken threat from the team is that they will pack their bags if a new stadium isn’t built, but I’m just not sure that is the case and or, if it is, that it would be such a bad thing. The Twin Cities have a vibrant sports scene and are one of the few locations that actually have a team from each of the four major sports. I know die hard Vikings fans would disagree, but I think the area wouldn’t lose much if the Vikings left and can benefit more by using the proposed stadium money in another way.
Voting
I got back a little while ago from voting for the first time in my life. It was a primary election for US Representative, Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General in the state of Minnesota. As a 27 year old, some people might wonder why I’ve never voted before, especially considering the two presidential elections I’ve been eligible to vote in (I wasn’t old enough for Bush/Gore). I really don’t think my politics have changed much in recent years. They definitely haven’t changed like they did during my freshman year of college.
Arriving at TU in 2001 I was excited to get involved with the groups I had participated in during high school (Young Democrats, Amnesty International, etc) and looked forward to voting for the first time. I registered to vote and there was proposed right-to-work law on the upcoming ballot, which I studied up on. For whatever reason (laziness, nervousness, etc) I didn’t end up voting. For what it’s worth I was and am for right-to-work laws. Not long after that I met a pretty persuasive friend and began reading way more than I ever had about politics, economics, and similar subjects. I quickly discovered how little I actually knew about politics and despite my social views how little my inherent economic views aligned with the Democratic Party and other organizations I had previously been involved with. I almost immediately latched onto some somewhat extreme libertarian ideas, one of which was a desire to participate as little as possible in the elective process in order to show my disapproval of the current political system.
So what now has changed that I am walking down the street and proudly casting my vote in a state election? For one I’m no longer in college and don’t have the liberty to be as idealistic as I once was. In addition my views on my place in the world and what I want out of life have changed. As I said earlier, my politics have changed very little in the past 7 or 8 years, but what has changed is how I see myself attaining the life I hope to live. Standing up for what I really and truly believe in is important and maybe one day some of my crazier wishes might come a little be closer to actualization, but in the meantime there are both small things that will make my life better and big things that will make many people’s lives better that are attainable in the near future. Lastly I’ve moved to a place where I finally feel that my vote may have the tiniest bit of an impact. Until March of this year I lived the entirety of my life in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and a bit of time in Georgia. I’ve enjoyed every place I’ve lived (though I might not have realized it at the time), but living in Minnesota, in the Twin Cities metro, in Hopkins I feel that to a greater degree I am among like minds. I feel that if I have an issue that is important to me and there is candidate who I agree with that my vote is a little more meaningful in the ballot box than in the trash can.
All of that said, what is the deal with prehistoric polling places? I seriously don’t have to show photo ID to vote? In a primary election like the one today turnout is going to be pretty low. It might take some work, but if I wanted to I could quite feasibly travel around the metro area and vote many, many times. Voting technology has a long way to go. Also, when are we going to get some serious movements for alternative voting systems? I’m most familiar with instant run-off, but I know there are plenty of other which I’m sure have merits too. Plenty of studies have been done showing the money that can be saved by eliminating the need for run-off elections, but no one seems to care or discounts the idea as too complicated to for the average person. I think there is also a chance of producing higher turnout by giving people a greater feeling of their vote meaning something. I don’t know. I’m not an expert, but it seems to me there is a lot of room for improvement in how the US votes. Strides are being made slowly, but a lot of people are too afraid of change.
