Between the massive sugar rushes and 15-hour marathons of cycles three, four and five of ?America?s Next Top Model? that have come to define winter break, college students seem to have developed a total ambivalence toward the music world. They no longer have the ambition even to lift the front page of Rolling Stone or to browse the Internet casually to read reviews of new records from Lupe Fiasco or Sia.
Well, you lazy bums and indulgers, you?re in luck: The Badger Herald has compiled a smattering of reviews for records released over winter break to satisfy those musical cravings. So, read on, and reinvigorate your musically inclined mind.
Lupe Fiasco,The Cool
On his breakout debut,Food & Liqueur, Lupe Fiasco established he?s a bit of an oddball among mainstream hip-hop success stories, preferring to describe his passion for skateboarding and racking up high scores in the arcades rather than addressing the standard subject matter of girls, gats and grills. So it?s no surprise his feverish brain has taken it a step further on his follow-up,The Cool, an album packed with so many ideas that Lupe barely tackles them all.
After starting things with a spoken-word intro and the spiritual half-song ?Free Chilly,? Lupe fires it up on ?Go Go Gadget Flow,? rhyming in an Outkast-circa-?B.O.B.? fashion, as he outlines his modus operandi ? ?All me/ No ghost no 16-bit/
Like Sega Genesis??while staccato strings sting behind him. The track also serves as one big shoutout to Chicago: ?Best city in the whole wide world.?
Fiasco?s greatest gift as an MC is his penchant for storytelling, evident in his tale of a down-and-out MC trying to craft a hit on ?Hip-Hop Saved My Life.? He uses these powers to their best effect on the centerpiece of this semi-concept album, fleshing out the narrative of The Cool established inFood & Liqueur.Pairing him with two surrogate guardians, The Streets and The Game (?The Streets got my heart/ The Game got my soul?), Fiasco creates an intricate plotline that weaves between the three; however, it?s not worth teasing it all out, unless you read press releases and track down obscure B-sides.
Instead, sitting back and enjoying the ride is the way to go.
In ?The Die,? Lupe warns The Cool that ?There?s a bounty on the chain that’s hangin’ from your neck,? while he trades verses with his immensely talented sideman Gemstones.On ?Put You On Game,? Lupe takes on the persona of The Game in a grand, boasting soliloquy like a pinstriped gangster in a hip-hop musical. He spits ?from a throne of bones? as he reveals how he is the ?The American Dream/ The rape of Africa/ The undying machine/ The murderous regime.?
Gemstones also works as Lupe?s foil on ?Dumb It Down,? giving voice to Lupe?s detractors as he puts together a series of cerebral puns and internal rhymes: ?I’m peerless/ That means I’m eyeless/ Which means I’m tearless/
Which means my iris resides where my ears is.?
Taken as a whole,The Cooldoesn?t quite come together ? it runs too long and pulls in too many directions. Still, the record consistently reaches so many highs that you can?t call it anything but an unqualified success.
4.5 out of 5 stars
? Jason Lester
Rivers Cuomo, Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
With his thick-rimmed glasses, jet black hair and sweater vests, it?s hard not to fall in love with Rivers Cuomo, the Weezer?s frontman. Alone:
The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo was released Dec. 18, 2007 as an invitation to the inner workings of this nonsensical songwriter?s head. Unfortunately, the compilation of demos Cuomo recorded between 1992 and 2007 doesn?t quite equal his work with Weezer, and the album is more disappointing than insightful.
Alone is a compilation of 18 demos, which counts in its roster the original cut of Weezer?s ?Buddy Holly? as well as the unmistakably Weezer-esque tracks ?Lemonade? and ?I Was Made for You.? Cuomo also provides several covers including ?The World We Love So Much? by New Radicals? Gregg Alexander and, hysterically, ?The Bomb? by Ice Cube.
Four tracks off the compilation, ?Who You Calling Bitch,?
?Dude, We?re Finally Landing,? ?Superfriend? and ?Blast Off!? were originally written for ?Songs from the Blackhole,? a rock musical the bespectacled front man was composing at the time. Sadly, Cuomo abandoned his pet project before Weezer?s 1996 album Pinkerton was written.
Considering Cuomo recorded every track on Alone without the aid of expensive equipment and relied mostly on his cassette 8-track, it?s unfair to expect these demos be finished or polished in any way. Still, Cuomo must have spent numerous hours messing around with his 8-track, guitar and drum set to have created such an extensive list of demos.
Despite Cuomo?s meticulous attention to production, his decision to fill Alone?s track list with so many covers is slightly perplexing, while his rock musical demos? childish lyrics and off-kilter, dissonant melodies manage to instill listeners with gratitude for the creation ofPinkerton.
The news of an album created solely by Rivers Cuomo produced false hope in many Weezer fans, as the longtime plea from many Cuomo admirers has been for the creation of a solo side project album full of original nerd pop-rock tracks. Sadly, this is not the case. Instead, Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo is a messy amalgamation of seemingly unfinished soundtracks, covers and the results of Cuomo?s antics with Ice Cube in his basement studio.
2.5 out of 5 stars
? Holly Robertson
Sia, Some People Have Real Problems
Australian singer Sia, known for her quirky electronica-infused sound, always seems to defy convention. Unfortunately, so does her latest album, Some People Have Real Problems. It is, in a word, dull.
Half the songs, including the aptly titled ?Lullaby,? serve perfectly to lull listeners off to dreamland. Low-key piano ballads can be wonderful ? when they aren?t entirely uninspired and insipid. While they are in no way fresh or memorable, most of the bedtime ballads are at least pretty.
The other half of the album is a diverse though generally messy blend of R&B, soul and jazz-inspired pop songs, most of which fit the category of ?radio trash,? with their painfully overabundant backup vocals that only detract from Sia?s eccentric voice. Even the songs with some melodic promise collapse from lack of flair. Only two songs on the album capture the quirky, fun essence Sia fans have come to expect: ?Academia,? which offers bizarre school terminology lyrics in a whimsical melody with backups from Beck, and the hidden track ?Buttons,? which is, not surprisingly, a previously recorded and released single.
Her Hear Music record label might be trying to make Sia sound grown up, abandoning much of the eccentricities of prior albums, but it seems Sia herself either isn?t ready or isn?t capable of delivering potent soul-infused jazz or genuinely emotional piano ballads. Maybe Hear Music got just what they wanted ? background noise to percolate through Starbucks.
2 out of 5 stars
? Alex Garens
The Magnetic Fields, Distortion
It goes without saying that synth group supreme, The Magnetic Fields, are fans of the concept album. In 1999, the Fields created69 Love Songs, a collection of 69 well-crafted songs from frontman Stephen Merritt, while the group?s 2004 albumi contains only songs that begin with the letter ?i.? Although the group?s latest albumDistortion
lacks a theme so literal, each track coheres to the next because of the masterful instrumental and lyrical simplicity and, of course, heavy doses of distortion found throughout.
For an East Coast band, The Magnetic Fields pull off sunshine pop like native Californians. Opening tracks ?Three Way? and ?California Girls? bring the best of the surfer genre to the forefront. Despite its bubbly melody, however, the latter track ironically condemns the West Coast environment and its ladies as Merritt sings, ?They come on like squares/ Then get off like squirrels/ I hate California girls.?
This classically dark and ironic element is one the Fields seem to incorporate into every track ofDistortion. ?Please Stop Dancing? ? a track so upbeat and harmonically complex even A.C. Newman would envy it ? begs an unknown person to ?stop dancing in my soul,? while the Gregorian chant intro to ?Too Drunk to Dream? offers a cheeky and irreverent contrast between the simple, priestly melody and lyrics like ?Sober, nobody wants you/ Shitfaced, they?re all undressed.? The Fields continue their irreverence on ?The Nun?s Litany,? in which a ?woman of the cloth? expresses her desire to be a topless waitress, a go-go dancer, a dominatrix and, of all things, a porn star.
Although it is not quite a concept album, The Magnetic Fields’ Distortion follows along the same lines as their past efforts with its quality gems of distortion, and it promises to be a modern synth-rock must-have.
4.5 out of 5 stars
? Sarah Probst
Kate Nash, Made of Bricks?
Call 2007 the year of the Brit-pop phenomena: Everybody?s favorite champions of girl power, the Spice Girls, reunited, and even Amy Winehouse ? all legal, marital and substance abuse problems aside ? found the past year profitable.
Kate Nash, the keyboard-wielding 19-year-old from London, seems destined for similar success in 2008 with her debut album,Made of Bricks, which has already topped U.K. charts since its release in August.
With her playful instrumentation and delightful anecdotes, Nash?s work shows the influence of fellow British imports. On ?Foundations,?
Nash channels the feisty, take-no-prisoners nature of Lily Allen, but also the honesty of Kate Bush as she sings, ?You say I must eat so many lemons/ ?Cause I am so bitter/ Well, I?d rather be with your friends, mate/ ?Cause they are much fitter.?
Other tracks, like ?Mariella? and ?Skeleton Song,?
incorporate this same nuance while adopting the child-like storytelling, well-orchestrated instrumentation and bare-bones percussion similar to that found on New York native Regina Spektor?s11:11 andSongs.
However, that?s not to say Nash doesn?t offer listeners a few self-inspired pop gems. ?Pumpkin Soup? incorporates big band and R&B styles to create one of the most uniquely infectious and surefire mainstream successes of the new year. Other mellow tracks, like the delightful sock-hop number ?We Get On,? the ode to self-confidence ?Mouthwash,? and the beautifully reflective piano ballad ?Little Red,? provide the perfect complement to Nash?s more upbeat tunes.
However, other tracks onMade of Bricks stretch Nash?s unique talents a little too far. Lounge-inspired ?Dickhead? tries too hard to be cheeky with lyrics like ?Why are you being a dickhead for/ Stop being a dickhead.? ?Play? and ?Shit Song?
share similar lyrical downfalls, with the former only containing nine different words.
Still, these musical transgressions aren?t enough to diminish the overall effect ofMade of Bricks. With her quirky pop sensibility, Kate Nash seems well-equipped for a successful 2008.
3 out of 5 stars
? Sarah Probst
