quickcrit - music reviews

5) Danceable Hip Hop Songs and Summer Jammy Jams
I always inexplicably get more into hip hop in the summer and love the remixes of these already awesome tracks: Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" and Kid Cudi's "Day 'N' Nite." Unbelievably great danceable hotness that makes me car-dance with myself whenever they come on (looks more embarrassing than it sounds). But my summer anthem is Jamie Foxx's (feat. T-Pain) - "Blame It," especially that infectious chorus I know by heart. Not only does this track provide the impure thoughts, but it actually makes me wanna put them into action.. with or without the Goose ("gotcha feelin' loose"), the 'Tron ("gotcha in the zone"), or the Henny ("gotcha feelin' dizzy"). It's all good, just "blame it on the ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-alcohol."


4) Rediscovering Rogue Wave
Ever the huge fan, I've recently fallen back in love with their sonic beauty- namely, Descended Like Vultures and Asleep At Heaven's Gate. Tender, gorgeous, lush, melodic, layered, can't even begin to describe their arrangements. I've been known to fall asleep to "Missed" and actually lounged on my couch all pensive and shit last weekend listening to "Eyes" on loop (I do this quite often to their records, in general). Enjoy this favs. sampler: older (1, 2, 3, 4), newer (1, 2, 3, 4).


3) Going To Shows I Actually Care About vs. Being A Show-whore
I've been too tired for shows for shows-sake and these days only hit up "must-sees" or else I'll get in a fight with myself and brood for days type-shows. Stellar nights that have made my half-year: Phoenix, Harlem Shakes record release party, Duncan Sheik, Blind Pilot, and the GUK reunion show. All uber-worth it and kept me in a good mood for at least two weeks afterwards.


2) [Indie] Rock In Advertisements...?
TV-watching feels like less of a waste with all the goodass music in commercials of late. I don't even hit the mute button anymore just in case I may hear The Dodos hawk Miller Chill, The Moody Blues add to the wondrous nature of this Visa ad, Matt and Kim invite me out 'til "Daylight," Mazzy Star makes me rethink my cellular service (effin love this song!), The Submarines sell their souls to Apple, and/or watch Her Space Holiday soundtrack this confusing one.



1) Meeting Musical Peoples
Surreality mixed with WTF, with a dash of "I must call everyone I know/someone who'd care!?" I've discussed Dan Auerbach with Matt Pinfield as he exited his cab, jumped into another and learned my driver had just dropped off Courtney Love as I sat in her warm seat (do I have an STD now?), got snubbed by Kimya Dawson, asked Michael Stipe the meaning of "Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite," discussed alternate endings to Once with Glan Hansard, stared at Ingrid Michaelson's incredible rack while jokingly trying to hook her up with Rhett Miller (within earshot), asked Hootie himself where the Blowfish were, laughed with Guster about their pot-smoking "star-fucker moment" with Willie Nelson, and unwittingly asked Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel if "the lasagna is vegetarian," only to realize 5 seconds later when he walked away that I'm an idiot who just asked Jeff Mangum from Neutral Milk Hotel if the lasagna was vegetarian. Yeah, that last one was very Baby "I, uhh, carried a watermelon" from Dirty Dancing.

All hail the Beatbox Battle Wildcard Champion!

What’s happenin’ Quickcrit gang? It’s been a slow 09’ for me so far musically, but luckily you guys and gals have been hookin it up with awesome articles, and I have been content listening to your featured artists. But recently I heard an awesome song and had to pick up the album. The artist is the 5 ft 1 inch teenage female rapper from North London Lady Sovereign. I first heard of her when Jay Z signed her to Def Jam, but I never listened to the single “Love Me or Hate Me”. Her latest album is “Jigsaw”, and it’s pretty good. I’m in love with the song “I Got You Dancing”. She has the total Santogold vibe where she’s rappin, but the songs take on a more alternative rock feel, especially in the track “Jigsaw”, which I also really like. However, I feel her youth definitely shows in that the work is not super polished, and some of the songs end up sounding the same. Like they were made strictly as marketing tools, hits for the radio rotation, see “So Human” and “Let’s Be Mates”. But the girl does have talent and I’m definitely interested as to see what comes next from the dirty mouthed self described “pixie with passion.”

Working with a similar influential underpinning of hip hop, ska, pop-reggae and/or reggae-rock as the likes of Sublime, Pepper, Slightly Stoopid, and Santa Cruz's own, The Expendables (the list goes on), Any Port In A Storm has, what I would call, a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" sensation to it. What I mean is, on this album, the combination of the two primarily used influences—reggae & "white-boy" hip hop—make for a drastically conflicting tempo, intensity, and therefore, overarching feeling, from track to track. For example, I enjoyed the mellow & melodious—albeit familiar for anyone who recognized the aforementioned bands—pop-reggae tracks such as: "Everything I'm Looking For," "Know That I," "Chelsea," and the clear standout, "Stand Tall," that gave more weight to the reggae influence. However, I found myself immediately skipping over tracks like "Hip Hop Misfits," "Morning Light," and "Check The Level," because they entirely shifted style, tone, and approach and agitated the mood and theme that the other tracks had developed. I know that the variation of influence and flux in disposition is natural and appealing for some, and may be stimulating in a concert setting; however, the fluctuations in style make Any Port difficult to enjoy in its entirety.

Do we do singles? well anyhoo..

Mike Skinner has this ability to create songs and albums where consistently upon first listen I think I don't like them. For this reason I always approach each Streets offering with some trepidation.. I'd mainly only heard talk about the long walking video that was being made for this song and hadn't really read much else about what the Streets were up to. When I saw that you can download this song for free it seemed like a worthwhile investment.

True to my word upon first listen I thought it was weird. However listens number 2-10 have been great. If this song is an indication of how the new album will sound I'm stoked..

Here's the aforementioned long walking video.

Dubbed as "Mozart Gone Hip-Hop, Pop and R&B," David Sides is a Cali-based pianist that specializes in covers of popular mainstream R&B, hip hop, and sometimes pop rock songs. The best part about "D-Sides" (as he's known in the Industry) is that he is basically self-taught and plays songs by ear. He's working on an album of originals, but for the time being he's garnered quite a following on YouTube with The Collection: Volume 1 (Volume 2 isn't officially out yet, but he's already leaked a few tracks on YouTube). Already one of the top watched artists of 2008, he boasts upwards of 40 million views thus far. His most popular cover to date, OneRepublic's "Apologize," racked up 4.5 million views alone!

He's so much fun to watch because he just looks so happy and into what he's playing. He sways around like Ray Charles, snaps his fingers like T-Pain, and I love the head nodding during his more hip-hopified tracks as if he's driving around, with the top down of course, listening to his favorite jam. Plus he covers everyone... from Shop Boyz's "Party Like A Rockstar" and a Kanye West Medley, to Linkin Park's "In The End." He can play fast during Ne-Yo's "Because Of You" or crank it down a notch for slow jams like the gorgeous "Bed" by J Holiday and the super-sexy "Lost Without U" by Robin Thicke. He goes cutesy with Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" but comes hard with "Anonymous" by Bobby Valentino (one of my favorite R&B songs of last summer). He really hits the vocals and intricate Timbaland beat-work of that tune in each note on the piano, it's rather wondrous how he manages to capture all the musical layers so well. Plus, I think Timbaland may have found his new "Danjahandz" here, literally!

D-Sides would be perfect for live background music for that hip-hop-lovin' couple who want to add a little flava to their wedding reception, but still want to keep things classy. It's awesome for laying around on the couch, with or without someone. You get all the fun energy of hip hop minus the sometimes vulgar, profane, and misogynistic lyrics we're not always in the mood for. If you've been looking for a way to combine your love of classical music while still getting your daily dose of hip hop in a one-two punch, David Sides is the man for the job.

My favorites are his versions of T-Pain's "Buy You A Drank" (the snapping is hysterical), Usher's "Love In This Club" (he really captured the music, vocals, and even the rap in true pretty piano fashion) and, perhaps his best one... the most beautiful rendition I've ever heard of the already beautiful "Forever" by Chris Brown. I highly recommend it.

The Final Verdict:
Give D-Sides a chance, whether you're into hip hop and R&B or not. It's great mood music for those times when you're in "a mood" and simply want to get in "the mood." So lose the 'tude, dude, because who doesn't have the time to get in "the mood?"

In honor of R. Kelly Freedom day, aka Friday June 13 2008. I'd like to review his most recent album, Double Up.

For what it is, which is an album by an insane person, Double Up is awesome. This album marked his ascension to a whole new playing field as he continues to chronicle and find inspiration in his own insanity - and the life it lends itself to.

Lyrically, he is untouchable. "Leave Your Name" is a song about, duh, leaving a voicemail for R Kelly. He's a straight forward kinda guy, so the chorus goes like this "Leave your name right after the beep and I'm sure to get back with you if I'm not asleep/ Or smoking on some trees or having a little sex/ Or if I'm not faded or making a baby." R Kelly is more subtle than you might imagine, which you can see in the above lyrics. Because sometimes, you just be having sex. And sometimes, you be making a baby. Real Talk.

There are so many good songs, its difficult for me to decide which ones to talk about. Other favorites of mine include "The Zoo" (where he refers to himself as a sexasaurus), "Real Talk", and "Sex Planet". The latter of which, contains a mind-blowing amount of outer space sexuality. More than I thought possible. He's not going to rhyme painless with uran.... oh yes he is. Wow.

Some people don't like R Kelly for the multitude of good reasons that exist not to like R Kelly. I choose not to listen to reason, and to appreciate him for what he is. He's a joke that takes himself seriously! He's the funniest "serious" artist I know.

Dirty. This album was released last year, but I want to talk about it now. I’m obsessed with Lil' Wayne. I think it’s starting to damage relationships I have with friends, family and co-workers. Example A: In one of my favorite tracks from Da Drought 3, "Put Some Keys On It", he raps, “Baby girl getting straight dick no cuddle”. That shit is funny ok. And as a result I’ve started saying “straight dick” to describe things that totally rule. The other day a co-worker congratulated me on a successful program, and I was thiiisss close to saying “I know, straight dick, right?” So inappropriate. Also, I think my roommate is sick of me talking about how I’m gonna put some keys on him. Apparently not everyone thinks being a drug mule is as cool as I do. If right now you’re thinking, well that sounds awesome – I want to get into Lil Wayne and be hard like Julia! – I highly suggest starting with Da Drought 3. It’s a mixtape, so you’ll recognize a lot of the background beats and it will be a very easy transition for you from purity to straight… ah almost did it again… ahem from pure to dirty. Lil' Wayne absolutely murders it over the Beyonce song (I know I know, but trust me), "Upgrade". “Even deaf bitches say hi to me/ She tell a blind bitch and she say I gotta see”. At this point in the review you’re probably either totally hyped or totally turned off. Or you stopped reading already.

Faves: Upgrade, Put Some Keys On It, I Can’t Feel My Face, and New Cash Money