I wonder if we should change the name of this blog to, ‘In case anyone cares.’
In case anyone does care, here are my 10 most listened to bands last year, courtesy of last.fm.
| 1 |  |
691
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| 2 |
480
|
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| 3 | |
412
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| 4 | |
377
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| 5 | |
371
|
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| 6 | |
332
|
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| 7 | |
318
|
|||
| 8 | |
311
|
|||
| 9 | |
309
|
|||
| 10 | |
300
|
I used to love Weezer … they were my favorite band from about 1995 up until 2002 … after that point, I was just deluding myself into thinking that they were still great, and would return to the brilliance of the Blue Album and Pinkerton … I thought that maybe Rivers just had to get some more generic shit out of his system before going back to honest, strong songwriting. He seemed genuinely hurt by the initial critical and commercial reception of Pinkerton, and from that point forward decided to go the “Eff you” route of songcrafting … generic lyrics, uninspired composition (using the song’s melody for every guitar solo??? in the eternal words of GOB Bluth, “C’mon!!!”), safe 4 chord power pop … it’s as if he was saying,
“I am way better than this, and I showed it on the first two records, but you bitches didn’t appreciate it … I poured myself into Pinkerton, and you hated it! and because that record had so much of me in it, by hating it and rejecting it, you have hated and rejected me. Don’t expect to see that Rivers again. I’m gonna write watered down lyrics that make no sense, I’m gonna make sure I flash some of my former brilliance, but that’s just to tease you mofos … sure the amps are still gonna go to 11, but don’t expect anything new and original to come forth.”
It is sad as shit … the last album I actually purchased was “Make Believe” … I can’t say that I’ve listened to the whole CD. I guess Weezer has released two albums since … The Red Album and Raditude … haven’t heard them … couldn’t bring myself to listen to see how far they’ve fallen … so what was it that compelled me to listen to a stream of their newest (and as of now, unreleased) record? Curiosity, I suppose. I don’t know … like a car accident you can’t seem to look away from, I found myself rubbernecking … looking back to see what has become of these four gentlemen from Weezer. Maybe I am just waiting for them to return to form … holding out hope that an album to rival Pinkerton’s rawness and beauty will be made again … After listening to all 10 tracks off the new album “Hurley” on their myspace, it is now safe to call off the search and rescue party, not because we’ve found survivors in the wreckage, but because there are no survivors. Weezer is officially dead to me. In case you want to hear for yourself: go here …
But if you’re looking for something way more awesome [and this is the New (Awesome Shit)] …
Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino, is the shit. If you’ve been around, you know that we here at Roused feel this way about him. Whether he’s doing stand-up, acting on “Community”, writing for “30 Rock”, or being a supremely talented MC, he is awesome. He self-released an album earlier this year, “Culdesac”, and he’s been playing a few shows, and filming the new season of “Community”, and he came to Bumbershoot to perform stand-up … but even with all of this, he’s still finding time to make amazing hip hop … See?
Who would be in your emcee dream team?
I recently watched a video on YouTube featuring an interview in which Mos Def talked about an idea he had to raise money for charity by having an epic hip hop battle. In said battle, the masters of Hip Hop culture, in its varied forms, would be crowned by actual competition as opposed to vague and baseless bragging, or by trademarking yourself as “The Greatest Rapper Alive.”
The showdown would have a battle of marching bands, followed by a battle of the breakers, a battle of the DJs, and then a battle of the beats (Kanye anyone?). The finale would be a Battle Royale in which two emcee dream teams competed to see which team was the best.
Since the idea was also a way to call out Lil’ Wayne, Mos said he would captain one team and Wayne would captain the other, with each captain being able to assemble the team out of whoever he chose. Mos Def said the other four members of his team would be Doom, Nas, Jay Electronica, and Black Thought.
This got me to thinking, it would be fun to see who people came up with for their own dream teams.
If you had the chance to win a million dollars if the team you formed could defeat all comers, who would be your five emcees? I’m really hoping to get feedback on this, I really want to see who everyone picks.
My dream team is as follows, in no particular order (I know, it is really close to Mos Def’s, but that is part of what got me so excited watching the video. Brian and I instantly mentioned Doom and Black Thought the moment Mos said “Dream Team”):
1. Mos Def
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2. Doom (aka, MF Doom, aka, Mad Villain, etc.)
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3. Black Thought
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4. Q-Tip
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5. Childish Gambino
This is clearly the most controversial pick. I very well may regret it, being that Gambino has been on the scene all of ten minutes, and his inclusion on the list means leaving off guys like KRS-One and Nas.
Yet, for now, I stand by the pick. It’s always good to have new blood on the team, and I have never been as impressed, as quickly, and as early in an emcee’s career as I am with the young Mr. Glover. He hearkens back to when Hip Hop was supposed to make you smile. I laugh out loud at his turns of phrase consistently, even though he isn’t some sort of novelty act, he’s just really clever. See that, there I go singing his praises, that should be saved for another post.
So, there’s mine, who is on your team?!?
/you’re stuck in my mind/all the time/
I discovered Yeasayer completely by accident. It was all thanks to Donald Glover, aka, Childish Gambino. He used two of their songs on his mixtapes, which led Brian and me to starting doing some digging on eMusic. The result is that it goes down as just another reason for me to thank the heavens that Glover decided to show the world how great he is at everything.
My first experience of them without the amazing emcee stylings of Childish Gambino was their Feb. 9th release, Odd Blood. The CD is fantastic! For me, it’s this year’s version of 2007’s Boxer, and by that I mean that it’s the CD I listen to for the 50th time and I still find myself pausing from whatever I am doing and thinking, “These guys are fucking amazing!.”
/don’t give up on me/and i won’t give up on you/
I’m not sure what their genre should be called. Genres usually suck, it’s better to just have fun with the whole concept instead. Thus, the best I’ve come up with so far is neo80sdarkwavesynthpopawesomemusicyoucandanceto. Apparently they themselves have called it “Middle Eastern-psych-snap-gospel.”
Yeasayer hearkens back to those days when you didn’t necessarily have to share your angst and heartbreak by whining about it to slow, sad songs. The best of the 80s (we are all aware of all the bad, but forget that there was some pretty good shit too) was often when you could be dark or sad or even apocalyptic, but show it by creating music you could dance your pants off to.
/hold me like you used to/control me like you used to/
Want evidence? Watch this music video, which in the world of Scott fits the following equation: frowning + watching this video = metaphysical impossibility. Or, to simplify that a bit, watching this video ≠ frowning. This is true thanks to a delicious cocktail of awesome and 80s childhood nostalgia.
Just about every day I fall in love with another track on this album. From the ups of ‘Mondegreen’ to the more melancholy but no less percussive or synthtastic ‘Madder Red’ and/or ‘I Remember.’
Obviously, Yeasayer won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but if Yeasayer is tea then you can call me a tea-partier… wait, on second thought, don’t do that. Maybe Yeasayer isn’t your particular brand of whiskey, but if Yeasayer is whiskey, call me an 1800’s drunk in the wild west.
