REVIEW -- Artist: The Roots Album: “Game Theory” Label: Def Jam

On

"Game Theory"

the rap-band

The Roots

(they play instruments) bring their best, tightest, angriest, most driven album to date. At approximately forty-seven minutes it is much more condensed than their other records (which usually clock in around the seventy minute mark.) The mixes are more exciting, the grooves are tighter, and the tone is darker. The jazzy-style which set the tone for their earlier records like 1994’s “Do You Want More?!!!??!” and 1996’s “Illadelph Halflife” are gone. After the breakthrough of 1999’s “Things Fall Apart” they experimented more with their parameters on 2002’s “Phrenology” and 2004’s magnificent “The Tipping Point”, leaving them as refined and focused as they’ve ever been. “Game Theory” is their first record to channel the excitement they deliver in a live setting. Over the years, they have allowed guitars more into the mix.
The tone is set by “False Media” an indictment of the world state and the war. A sampled voice says, “I don’t think old men ought to promote wars for young men to fight!” The war, the state of our country, the struggle to make ends meet are all at the center of this record.
The key stand-out, the highly funky “Long Time,” has a repeated refrain that “Everybody’s 50 cents away from a quarter where I come from.” This is educated hip-hop at it’s best, sans any bling talk and gangsta-posturing . The Roots have always more in the enlightened Native Tongue-esqe school of thought. On this track, both Black Thought and guest Peedi Peedi deliver fast-spewed verses, with as much rhythmic get-up to maintain some awesome momentum. The guitars echo, the beat crashes, the chorus is layered and over all it stands as perhaps the single strongest track the Roots have ever done.
There are other highlights as well. The ominous street-throb of “In The Music” which features long absent former member, Malik B., the groovy laid-back stroll of “Livin’ In A New World,” and “Atonement” which does well with a nice sample of Radiohead’s “You And Whose Army. “
The Roots seem to have a soft spot for Radiohead. They name-checked them on their album “Things Fall Apart”, and their drummer Amir “?uestlove” Thompson appeared on the hip-hop/R&B/Jazz tribute to Radiohead compilation album “Exit Music: Songs With Radio Heads” In fact “Game Theory” most represents a timeless hybrid between the downtrodden futurist downer motif of Radiohead’s “OK Computer” and the urban commentary of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.”
The album closes with” Can’t Stop this,” a tribute to their late friend, producer Jay Dee (a.k.a. J Dilla) who died in February from Lupus. It’s a powerful and groundbreaking way to end a fantastic album. All in all, a must-have for any Roots fan, any hip-hip fan, and any music fan.

REVIEW -- Artist: Art Brut Album: "Bang Bang Rock & Roll" Label: Downtown Records

Forget what you’ve heard. The Arctic Monkeys are good, but the coolest band to come out of England this year is

Art Brut

They are also the probably the coolest band to be named after a painting movement! (Big up to Jean Dubuffet!) Their style, consists of stripped down new-wave-esque rock with a goofball, art-house edge. Musically, they recall Elastica the most, as well as all the bands Elastica expertly ripped off. Layers of guitars pile on and recede as needed, thrashing and cutting with the method the Pixies spun into gold in the late eighties. But the most engaging and original part of Art Brut comes from lead singer Eddie Argos and his deadpan musings on the concerns of the modern hipster. Argos doesn’t sing. He lectures in an off-kilter, humorous spoken word style, which sounds more like the headiest clown in your philosophy class hijacked the microphone.
His targets are varied, from lampooning elitist music snobs as in “My Little Brother,” (“He no longer listens to A-sides/He made me a tape of bootlegs and B-sides. / And every song/Every single song on that tape says the exact same thing/ ‘Why don’t our parents worry about us?’ ) , to browsing at modern Art in museums in “Modern Art” (“Modern Art makes me want to rock out!!!”)
“Maternity Ward” is about sitting around and being bored enough to go down to the hospital and serenade the newborns. Argos’ chorus is “Everything's gonna be alright!!!” but his tone and his last minute addings of “I hope” and “I promise,” add a wacky punch to his sincerity. It adds a sense of realness, any cynic can be down with.
“Emily Kane” is a wistful ode to his girlfriend from when he was fifteen. (“I want school-kids on busses shouting your name!”) The nostalgia is highly relatable, and even though it’s highly sentimental, it’s slightly stalkeresque tone and tongue-in-cheek acceptance of an intangible lost youth, keep it from being anything but cheesy.
But Miss Kane is forgotten by the time “Good Weekend” comes along, in which over a go-go style drumming march, Argos spouts off with glee the exclamation, (“I got myself a brand new girlfriend!”) He shouts giddily, “I’ve seen her naked TWICE! I’ve seen her naked, TWICE!” It’s a silly standout, and the excitement channels something universal. It all comes crashing down though in it’s sequels “Bad Weekend” and “Really Bad Weekend.” Happiness is fleeting!
The title track mocks the Velvet Underground, (perhaps sarcastically,) and “18,000 Lira” is a song about the prep for a mystery plan, (perhaps a heist) involving a guy named Enrico and “scooters, very fast scooters!”
Overall,

"Bang Bang Rock & Roll"

is a wise, rollicking, cultured journey through our modern life. As funny as it is loud, it’s an album you recommend, unflinchingly, to your friends in the hopes that they will enjoy it as much as you do.

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Welcome. With this blog I hope to open up a discussion about the state of pop culture, with emphasis on musIc, but perhaps not exclusively. It will be a place to look for reviews of new music, cool bands, some of which you have heard of, and some of which you may not have heard of. Enjoy and continue checking for new entries. Tell your friends.