"For my prayer has always been Love"

Indie Folk...

When I hear this the first thing I think about is those songs that play in between those sad scenes of romantic comedies where the main protagonists have an argument and go their separate ways temporarily. You'll understand what I'm talking about when you hear the album. Anywaaay. 

Those who read this blog frequently would guess that I listen to a lot of Hip-Hop due to most posts I have are related to this genre. Although this is true I love all music of different types and genres which is why I want to review this particular album. 

I first heard of Sufjan Stevens when I checked the producer credits of Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly and saw that "Hood Politics" was sampled from "All for Myself" from Sufjan's "The Age of Adz's" album. So it was just a coincidence where he released Carrie & Lowell 15 days later. 

Good:

When I heard the first opening chords on "Death With Dignity" I was completely in love. This type of music is something I'm not really used to but I was so impressed at the subtleness of the guitar and how this element alone can make such a rewarding song and album. Sufjan's vocals and lyrics is some of the best I've ever heard, I'm mesmerised with his robotic but sweet sounding voice, what makes it better is that the lyrics he's singing are so coherent and meaningful. For example in the song "Drawn To The Blood"  the song conceptualises love and religion and the accompanying chords make the song so beautiful and moving. By far one of the highlights of the album. Another thing I like about the album is just the fact that it's so mellow, you can listen to it anywhere at any time, it's very easy on the ears. The way Sufjan Stevens uses simple guitar, pianos and his own voice to create an incredible sound is fantastic and not many artists at present have that quality

Bad:
The only bad thing I can point out is the hollow instrumentals at the end of some songs such as in Drawn To The Blood and Death With Dignity. I feel like they can be a bit harsh on my ears after hearing such smooth and soft vocals and sounds.

Favourite Tracks/Things I love:

• Should Have Known Better
• Eugene
• Fourth Of July
• Death With Dignity 
• Drawn To The Blood
• Sufjan's Lyrics
• The subtle but powerful instrumentation 

Final Rating: TTTTTTTTTT

If you're unaware, Tyler, the Creator announced last week that he will release his new album "Chery Bomb" tomorrow (13/04/14). It's been 2 years since his last album "WOLF" which I felt was a refreshing improvement to Tyler's music as a whole, even with lyricism although some of the lines on "GOBLIN" were amazing. His production improved even more and he just continued to improve. In "WOLF", Tyler used the synthesisers less and developed a more orchestral sound and a range of different genres from different artists.

In promotion of the song Odd future are known to make 1 music video for 2 songs, as a result Tyler released a video for "Fucking Young/Perfect and Deathcamp". Fucking Young is a poignant track about Tyler being in love with someone who is too young for him. The flowery instrumentation accompanied by melodies from the singers on the track make the song work well, however if "GOBLIN" Tyler the creator heard this song he'd probably kill himself (Yonkers). 

A snippet of "Deathcamp" follows and you can hear the N.E.R.D. straight away, as if it was a song that didn't make the final cut of "In Search Of..." The electric guitar chords and the heavy baseline makes it an enjoyable rock/rap rhythm. 

I'm anticipating this album due to its lack of media coverage, because I wasn't impressed with Earl Sweatshirt's album and because Kanye West was rumoured to be working with Tyler on the project and whenever he is involved I'm more than impressed 

Anyways will this album be another concept? As seen in "GOBLIN" and "WOLF"? Will we discover the whole of concept behind the people of campflognaww? 

Will this be an advancement of everything musical from Tyler or due to his success in other fields would her forget about what got him there in the first place, Rap? 

I think it's fair to say this album is one of Track Fiction's "Highly Anticipated" 

Another single from the psychedelic groove sensation of Australia Tame Impala. Well it has finally been confirmed that we will be getting some new music from Tame Impala and I'm very excited by this.

http://instagram.com/p/1E16SVqXe2/

In promotion of the new album, "Currents" the second single " 'Caus I'm A Man" was released on the 6th April. From listening to both Let It Happen and this track I can hear that this whole album is going to be a mellowed chilled out album which would be purely psychedelic. Songs such as Mind Mischief, Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control and Elephant (from their "Lonerism" album) are so different to the songs that have been released lately that you would ask yourself if you were listening to the same person or group.

This song is a prime example of psychedelia. The song is just so chilled out, as if you're listening to a dream, Kevin Parker's vocals are particularly sublime on this track and you can hear the distinct melodies in his voice. The hook of the song has the correct amount of bass and it ties in well with all the vocals, Let it Happen didn't involve a guitar (in case you didn't notice) but in this new song it returns with some very psychedelic chords. From listening to this track I'm more excited for the release. It is obvious Tame Impala are experimenting with a new way of making their psychedelic songs and it seems to be working so far.

Final Raring: FFFF

Lonerism is an album that everyone should listen to, but obviously not everyone is open minded to that kind of music, regardless of this it is obvious that the Australian band have some serious talents, their groovy psychedelic synths, vocals and instruments leave a sense of adventure in your earlobes especially when Kevin Parker stops singing and allows the instrumentation mesmerise you.

Innerspeaker was an album which set the signature Tame Impala sound however this was a debut and Tame Impala wasn't really able to develop more of this sound. Then Lonerism came which is one of my favourite albums of all time. I felt that in this album Tame Impala ventured into a wide variety of psychedelic rock. Even though I listened to Lonerism before Innerspeaker, Lonerism just sounded more polished more thought out. So now I can only expect improvement...

Let It Happen was released March 11th but obviously with my busy 18 year old life I was too busy to write any opinion. I could here immediately that Tame Impala have ventured into new sounds, however I feel this song is more robotic wit they synthesised everything. But I'm not complaining. The song is groovy, The song has elements of their original styles and It is pleasant to listen to. However it gets a bit repetitive and I feel that it didn't need to be 7 minutes.

Final Rating: FFF

When pop Music finally discovers that it can be listen-able without having to creating the odd sensation in your head of "this is trash, but it's catchy and it won't leave".

Paul Dixon or as we know him "Fyfe" is a relatively new artist originating from Manchester, Northern England. His debut record "Control". The album itself was released on the 9th of March on CD and MP3 via Rough Trade however the vinyl versions are to be released on the 16th.

Since developing my obsession with Rough Trade (the coolest and most abstract record store around) I noticed via their website that Fyfe's album was an exclusive. Spotify has the album available so I gave it a listen (full review to come) however the song "Solace" really reached out to me. The angelic however subtle melodies of both Fyfe's voice and the various instrumental chords join together to make a perfect song. 

What I love the most is the fact that the song has nothing major apart from Fyfe's vocals and a small amount of computerised snares. But it gets to the hook and the bass and the chords just tie together in such a fantastic way. The production of this song as stated is just so subtle but it works so well. The song is just fantastic.

If Pop sounded like this on now, I would buy into it more as I feel as if Pop nowadays (Top 40 Chart) is just extremely repetitive it bores me. However Fyfe should continue to make music like this and explore different types of production however I love the production on this song and the rest of the album.

Final Rating: FFFFF

"Niggas is fake, I limit the features I give 'em"

Earl Sweatshirt. A member of the seemingly unproductive Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. It has been established since their popularity back in 2007 that this was a group of talented Nigg**. However I felt recently that the group haven't been up to their full potential. Mellowhype's release for me didn't really speak to me, I think there was only 1 song I liked and I don't remember it so it isn't that important. Doris is the best I've heard from these guys in a while and that came out back in 2013. 

It's obvious that Earl Sweatshirt is one of the best if not the best rapper in the collective and his début studio album "Doris" was by far one of the best projects to come from anyone in the group. So obviously hearing his studio début (but sophomore album) I expected fire from whatever he would release next. 

*Sigh* I was wrong. 

Good: 

I felt that on "Doris" that Earl's flow was lazy, as if he doesn't want to rap, as if he was mumbling to someone because he didn't want them to hear what he said but at the same time he wants someone to hear what he said. But with this project I feel that he is more energetic with his flow. He knows he is one of the best rappers at the moment and he wants to give us a reason as to why we should continue to think that. If you look at the album credits you will notice that all the songs apart from "Off Top" (which is produced by Leftbrain) are produced by a "randomblackdude". This is Earl's pseudonym for his production credits. I like that Earl has given producing his own music a chance and I think he can get better once he has found his signature sound as it is extremely experimental at the moment, you can hear it especially with his instrumentals you hear. I feel Earl is trying to do a Tyler The Creator in terms of producing and writing his own music and he can surpass him with time and effort. 

Bad:

Doris was waaaaaaay better. Not a little, not a small amount but a huge amount. I feel that Earl has taken the piss a bit with this album and I don't know why he made a big deal about his record label messing up the release date because if this was the surprise I wouldn't be happy. His record label did him a big favour. When I saw that the album was less than 30 minutes and the cover artwork I just thought that Earl released something just for the sake of it and I still think that. Going back to the production style I feel that Earl tries so hard to keep his music sounding authentic and alternative that in the end it just sounds like a mess. Apart from Grown Ups which has an interesting beat and an eerie feel with the dark melody. I feel as if this isn't Earl's best effort and I was expecting a big improvement from Doris. However I take into account that Earl is trying to develop his own sound. He uses a lot of organs, distorted snares and beats and it may be possible that the RZA must have influenced this production style from his own Wu-Tang tunes and the collaboration on "Molasses" back in "Doris". An example of this is in the song "Grief". but he has a long way to go, When Tyler, The Creator released Goblin the production on that was also below average and I feel that Earl is at this stage. He has a long way to go before he reaches his "Wolf" stage of production.

Favourite Tracks/Things I love:

• Grown Ups (feat. Dash)
• Inside
• Earl's Flow 
• Earl's Creativity 

Final Rating: TTTTTT

"This dick ain't freeeeee" 

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam. Can we have a moment of silence real quick. 

The J.Cole and Kendrick Lamar debate must be dropped now and Kendrick has won. If you don't like my opinion please never return to this blog. 

Anyway, prior to the release of the album I genuinely thought that despite Kendrick's growing talent, he couldn't release an album better than good kid M.A.A.D. City. Even though this was a concept album (and I'm a big fan of these) the actual concept is very basic, Gang warfare and what it does to innocent people, friends, family, religion etc. however the way Kendrick used this concept to create a gripping and thought provoking story is beyond me. 

To pimp a butterfly is a project that I knew very little about prior to its release because Kendrick was very secretive about the music he was releasing but I don't mind that as it was even released early. I am so happy that Interscope messed up the release as I would've had to wait 3 days to listen to it. One thing I noticed when listening to the project is there's no Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q or Jay Rock. I was expecting to hear from at least Ab-Soul however only Jay Rock was on G.K.M.C. anyway so this wasn't a problem.

Strong Points:

The album includes a large amount of black supremacy themes, it is able to access such a controversial topic and do it in a way that it doesn't create a large problem. Kendrick is able to rap so fluently about Black people especially at a time whereby America is facing a large problem with: Police and violence with black people and Black on Black crime. Gangs are still a factor of this album which Kendrick explores however he doesn't do as much in comparison to G.K.M.C. Kendrick's style of rap has not deferred from his natural story telling quality and because of this he is still able to rap his stories or rap at someone else's point of view in tracks like "u" and "King Kunta". Kendrick delivers his very smooth and convincing style of rapping as he's been doing since section 80. A personal favoured line for me was in "Hood Politics" where he says:

Ain’t nothin' new but a flow of new DemoCrips and ReBloodlicans
Red state versus a blue state, which one you governin’?

The spoken word/poetry is something that is new but works extremely well, I mean "this dick ain't free" amazing. The poetry in the album supports the theme of Black power and is even delivered in a Black style, for example in "for free" an ambient jazzy tune plays in the background which is something you would expect in a jazz night at your local poetry club. The thought provoking "Mortal Man" is something that really sticks out to me as a strong album on the track which exemplifies black empowerment with the interview with the late 2pac. I think that the song a constructive use of the 12 minute length in comparison to J. Cole's 14 minute "Note To Self".

One thing that I love about the album is that it explores past music genres which reminds me of Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre's partnership back in the 1990s, even in songs that have a more current Hip-Hop sound like Hood Politics there is still instances of G-Funk signature sounds like in California Love by 2pac. Songs like These Walls, King Kunta and Complexion (A Zulu Love) are great examples of the signature G-Funk that Kendrick has "brought back". We can't give Kendrick all the credit though because his array of producers have helped him make this project into what it is. In-House TDE producers such as Tae Beast and Sounwave have really shone in this project. The song Hood Politics has been produced to perfection (Credits to Thundercat, Tae Beast and Sounwave), the groove and instrumentation on These Walls (Martin, Dopson and Sounwave). The production throughout this album is just executed properly and the result is an all rounded groovy, meaningful, danceable album. I'm also very impressed with the Fela Kuti sample in "Mortal Man" where it incorporates the beat from "I No Get Eye For Back"

Weak Points:

It ends. Also I don't understand the weird moaning at the beginning of the "These Walls" but this is a small detail and it doesn't impact the perfection of the song. "u" is one track which I didn't understand in terms of production and lyrics however i realised that the concept is the opposite of the song "i", plus the song even diverges into a soulful melody as supposed to the abstract "You're Dead!" Flying Lotus kind of style.

Favourite Tracks/Things I love:

• These Walls (feat. Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat)
• Hood Politics
• Alright 
• King Kunta 
• Complexion (A Zulu Love) [feat. Rhapsody] 
• Black Empowerment/Culture Concept 
• Good Length 
• Kendrick's Bars 
• The collaboration of Thundercat
• The Cover Art
• The use of 90's G-Funk and Gangsta Rap songs

Final Rating: TTTTTTTTTT