Myriad Muzik

Reviews

Solange ‘A Seat At The Table’ Review

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As America’s first black President is getting ready to leave and the two replacement choices range between an outright arrogant anti-other non-inclusive billionaire and the former’s former foe, with more behind the scenes ties to people identical to her adversary than her actual adversary, people of color seem to be approaching this transition with a new reemergence of 60’s-esque political consciousness and racial pride. ‘A Seat At The Table’ will truly take a long time but if metaphors mirror reality the process will be completed simply with perseverance, dedication and an acknowledgement for the need of independence. ‘Table’ has been in the works, according to some publications, as early as 2008-09. After suffering “a little of a breakdown” Solange stepped back and reevaluated her artistic approach and the toll it was taking on her life, set up her own label, dropped an EP, and continued to craft “Table” with just a piano, melodies and ideas.

These sketches were brought to soul music heavyweights ?uestlove and Raphael Saadiq to flesh them out and add their special brand of sauce to the slow cooking recipe. Solange cooks up a soulful dish which has not many contemporary equals, “a project on identity, empowerment, independence, grief and healing” is how Knowles describes ‘Table’ all topics that transcend time and human barriers giving way to having tracks come to fruition almost a decade after inception. ‘Cranes’ originally worked up as a demo from a Raphael Saadiq instrumental CD in 2008 gets revisited and polished by it’s original creator and years later is reborn as a Billboard Hot 100 lead single. Sonically ‘Table’ never really wavers from a soulful somber melancholy mood, a feeling characteristic of the social change the album speaks on topically. Live instrumentation and an astonishing ensemble of guest appearances and collaborative contributors weave in and out of the airy strings, funky basslines and programmed-acoustic drums intertwined with interludes that construct a project more along the lines of documentary than album. Master P narrates an intrepid journey to independence through self-awareness and enlightenment.

‘Mad’ features Lil Wayne venting, alongside philosophical sung lyrics on the dangers of the self-titled emotion, only to come to the correct conclusion a verse later. ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’ and ‘F.U.B.U. pinpoint emotions and frustrations almost all blacks face in a world so obviously stricken with the fear of a black planet. “Don’t feel bad you can’t sing along just be glad you got the whole wide world” lyrics that perfectly simplify the “why can’t we use the N word” argument to those too blind or foolish to see the world for what it really is, all cleverly sung over an interpolation of C-Murder’s ‘Down For My Niggas’. Knowles really shows the power of music with this LP showcasing how effective an honest message is over artistically beautiful and accessible music. ‘Table’ concludes with Master P professing ‘We are the chosen ones’ and declaring that ‘we are going out as royalty’ a real seat at the table.

Rating 8.6/10

‘No One Here Gets Out Alive’ Jim Morrison Biography

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The Doors have reached mythical status and with every passing decade they gain an insurgence of new young fans. Idolizing the front man Jim Morrison is something every new generation of rock and art fans do at some point. Jim Morrison seems to be the one rock legend that truly embodied what it meant to be a Rock and Roll star: Drugs, Sex and Rock and Roll, but what really holds fans attention besides his outlandish behavior and untimely death is the duality of Mr. Morrison. Yes he was a rebel who rejected all authority but his rejection was steeped in intellect, theory and contemplation not a childish automatic reaction to control but a mature analysis of existential existence.

The 1991 Oliver Stone film many have seen will throw this half of the dichotomous division out the window and paint Morrison solely as an insane madman. Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman’s book will paint the picture of a more sane madman. Though there are large amounts of hero worship (Sugerman worked for The Doors as a teen) prevalent in the book, both authors in the aferword admit after doing extensive research and numerous interviews they both came back liking Jim Morrison a little less. The mythical image is stripped away and a true nuanced idiosyncratic artist is left standing, flawed as any man. His genius (a poet film student turned rock-theater rock star) is almost overshadowed by his strange behavior and self harming habits.

This book is a best seller for a reason and is a must read for any rock fan let alone Doors fan. Any artist that is up and coming no matter what genre or avenue of art they are in can take away a lot from this book, from how to construct the proper image, manipulate the press, conjure up controversy and control (and lose control) of an audience.

Travis Scott ‘Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight’ Review

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“Dropped the ‘Rodeo’ I dodged the bull like ole” Scott raps on one of the early standout tracks on ‘Mcknight’, a fitting line as now he is getting adjusted to stardom after years of hard work, dedication and ‘bull’. ‘Rodeo’, Travis’ 2015 debut album, plays as an autobiographical journey from rags to riches heavily influenced by the pressures and plight of any enduring up and coming independent artist. Most artists debut albums play as a catharsis of their complete life journey up until that point, and then the sophomore release displays only the emotions and trials in the time between. ‘Rodeo’ was a young Scott trying to make it in the world, a picture of his fears, goals, failures and triumphs up until actually fulfilling his dreams. ‘Birds’ finds itself in a strange place, the angst and frustration that lead to Travis’ socially awkward but sonically and artistically phenomenal product has subsided due to his success.

Scott’s pop sensibilities however remain sharp as ever, the diversity in sonic pallets has constricted but he pinpoints on the natural catchiness previously displayed on his debut and zeros in on the dark ominous anti-song-sound that has become his staple. Melodies are made mostly by repetition of ambient sounds and distorted basslines with bent 808 kicks, all with Scott’s keen, and evolved, sense of song structure and choruses. ‘SDP interlude’ is a prime example, here he sheds all other song elements simply for a hypnotic hook which hovers over a minimal synth bassline and a looped vocal sample. Ironically Scott admits to not doing any hard drugs and rarely drinking or even smoking, he regardless is able to tap into the current ethos and nail the vibe and mind state of the masses, one of the only traits that carried over into ‘Mcknight’ from ‘Rodeo’.

‘Birds’ boast a strong line up of guest stars, still eclectic Scott gives us an Andre 3000 feature along side the likes of Hip Hop newcomers Bryson Tiller and 21 Savage a range most artists could not successfully pull off. ‘Goosebumps’ features a song structure that’s only strange once read on paper, choruses and verses blend together to create an intoxicating track that’s only amplified once heavy weight Kendrick Lamar appears. ‘Pick Up The Phone’ and ‘Way Back’ also feature Scott’s signature expanded sound with extra instrumentation added and minimalist solos subtlety take the listener to new heights during both songs outros. Rightfully so none of the tracks list the featured artists (except ‘Phone’ with Young Thug) as Travis explains that he looks at each guest verse as a sample rather than a feature, just another element he adds to his music like the live instrumentation hes known for on the production side. In comparison to ‘Rodeo’ ‘McKnight’ lacks wide content and a diverse sonic landscape but it makes up for these changes with a more focused sound and a more honed game plan: Get The Vibe Right, and as Scott says “they can’t kill the vibe it’s immortal”

 

Rating: 6.7/10

De La Soul ‘and the Anonymous Nobody…’ Album Review

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Hip Hop as a genre is relatively young compared to it’s musical relatives. As a genre gets on its feet the founding fathers and original innovators usually get left behind in obscurity as commercialism, mainstream and social acceptance latch on. This leads to De La Soul, born in the right time this Long Island trio released it’s groundbreaking debut at a time still reminiscent of the unadulterated glory years and also the nascent ascension of a culture into a full-on mainstream product. They dodged being too early and, to their artistically creative culturally true core, missed being too late. This allowed their debut ‘3 Feet High And Rising’ to be as critically acclaimed and respected as it was commercially successful, breaking boundaries in a very dominant boisterous alpha-male environment ‘3 Feet’ cracked open a door for outsiders as being the antithesis to the norm.

Fast forwarded about 30 years and these ‘Anonymous Nobodies’ are still the antithesis to the norm. De La Soul have showcased a new aspect of their multifaceted talent with every release, they have gone from psychedelic, sporadic, resurrected, mature, frustrated, fun, contemplative, dedicated and all the way back to psychedelic. In many ways ‘Nobody’ sounds like ‘3 Feet High & Rising’ has been living a life of it’s own unknown to the listener and has finally come back to the public eye as a grown man years later. Again cracking the door open for outsiders ‘Nobody’ dabbles in Synth Pop, Alternative, Punk, Rock & Roll, B-Boy Hip Hop, and even Orchestral Spoken Word. Evolved beyond a time when sampling Hall & Oats was as unheard of as it was groundbreaking, De La have now literally incorporated the actual current living diverse elements into their brand of Hip Hop. Alternative Synth Pop band Little Dragon appear as the living breathing descendants of a vinyl Hall & Oats sample allowing fans of other genres to dive into this refreshing LP.

The legendary Long Island trio also pull from their own catalog and bag of tricks as well, Atlanta Trap star 2Chainz appears on ‘Whoodeeni” to trade bars with Pos and Dave, a match up as head-scratching as Redman teaming up with the ‘Hippies Of Hip Hop’ almost 20 years earlier- the result is just as amazing! The Spitkicker.com robot-voice also reappears on a track, Estelle and Pete Rock also add their talents to a track that could easily be a ‘Stakes Is High’ hidden track reupholstered for current day. Due to all their sampling woes the constraint of legalities forced De La to think outside the box (something they have years of experience at) and figure out a way to sample and not have to get caught in another lawsuit -the result they sample themselves! Bringing in a band and having them jam for hours on hours they later go in and flip their own jam sessions with producer Super Dave West. Most De La albums require some sort of indulgence and  conscious aware thought while listening and ‘Nobody’ not only holds up it flies far beyond its predecessor ‘The Grind Date’ as a complete unique piece of art that forces the listener to play catch up while enjoying the complete flowing artistic soundscape that it is. A genius victory lap for one of the genres most slept on legends.

 

Rating 9.2/10

‘The Life Of Pablo’ Review

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Kanye West has many attributes that factor into his greatness. In a little under a decade Kanye has managed to become one of, if not the, biggest names in music. His contradicted personality has always sparked intrigue and curiosity, this dichotomy allows him to reach broad and polarized fan bases.  “Call him Kweli or Kwaali I put him on songs with Jay-z” -Kanye has known this from the beginning as he stated in this lyric from his debut album “The College Dropout”, bridging commercial major label Hip Hop with the back-pack Underground scene. What is more admirable than this rare talent of combining conflicting communities is his ability to reinvent, embrace and adapt to new styles, as he most recently showed on “Yeezus”– “Pop a wheelie on a zeitgeist” –it seems he is also pretty self aware of this ability as well. These two sections of his skill set reach their max on “The Life Of Pablo” and to some they exceed their limit to the detriment of the brand he has created.

“Ultralight Beam” opens the album up, Kanye’s eclectic -and sometimes perplexing- features borderline a caricature of his former albums. Kirk Franklin and Chance The Rapper, who delivers a show stealing verse, almost seems normal compared to El Debarge and Young Thug on “High Lights” both brilliant songs, the latter truly showing Kanye’s genius and madness all in the same verse. Ye goes from wishing his “dick had Go-Pro” to referencing Ray’s sad attempt of a diss song, to comparing his family to the “new Jackson’s” , himself to Farrakhan. dropping subtle- or not so subtle- hints to Fear Of A Black Planet by advising “all niggas impregnate Bridget, so when she have a baby she gone make another nigga”, the Fruit Of Islam, and Black Chyna & Rob Kardashian all within a 20bar span. Subject matter that when looked at on paper one would certainly conclude was a mistake, a sort of stream of consciousness lyricism that only is dwarfed by the following track “Freestyle 4” a Lil B-esque track that makes the lyrical lunacy of the last track seem logical. “Pablo”, like “Yeezus”, has polarized fans, some feel his genius has fully tipped into madness and that Kanye has completely lost touch with reality, “I Love Kanye” is Kanye’s brilliant way of showing he knows exactly what he is doing, and also exactly what you are thinking.

Kanye’s attempts to embrace the future become quite literal on “Pt.2” where Ye completely takes hit record “Panda” by young star (and new GOOD Music signee) Desiigner and raps on it and simply adds it to his album. Reaching a younger generation Kanye restates his mission statement in about 16bars or less before letting the song basically play out as it is aside from some additional adlibs, another polarizing stroke of genius. Keeping with the theme of embracing the future Kanye vowed to no longer release physical albums and released “Pablo” solely on streaming services- first as a Tidal exclusive- this allowed for the album to constantly be updated. Songs have been mixed, changed, and tracks even completely added on weeks after its “release date” something that, in keeping with the contradictions, is both good and bad in a climate when the industry is so focused on the now. True fans continue to go back to hear each addition while many fair-weather fans may not even know the album has a new final track “Saint Pablo” a reflective piece that clears up any confusion that the album or recent interviews may have created.

“The Life Of Pablo” when the smoke clears will be looked at as another classic in the discography of one of music’s newest icons.  A complete culmination of what makes Kanye, Kanye. All West’s positive attributes are turned up to  the max on this LP and to most it’s too much at first listen. It’s interesting to see how many risks were taken on this album as it is the follow up to the risky “Yeezus”, originally planned to be more commercial and accessible as to reel fans back in Kanye has tossed aside convention and firmly sits at the peak of genius and madness without a care of catering to what the consumer thinks they want.

 

Rating 9.1/10