Finals Music

Can you tell what I've been lsitening to whilst studying/writing papers over the past week?

Prepare to get "Donkey Punched"

That's right America, Donkey Punch is coming to a theater near you, apparently on 1/23.
(Spotted via Videogum)

Live Every Week Like It's Shark Week

After going over the final exam, and seeing as revising our stories and poems is all that's left to do, my Writing Fiction and poetry teacher made us watch '30 Rock.' That was amazing. And now this? In a week that has and will continue to be filled with The Siege of Tobruk and other useless writing, it appears as though I can still count on the best show on TV to make me happy.

I've Been Swayed by the Cool (And Procrastination)

So I took down my Thanksgiving post because i couldn't stand looking at the guys face anymore(thanks Pitchfork!.) So here is a link to Flying Lotus' "Parisian Goldfish" video, aka, the greatest thing ever(it still contains flashing lights and is super nsfw):"Parisian Goldfish". Other than that not much is new around here. Kanye is growing on me, Quantam of Solace was awesome, and I continue to digitally wear out Gaslight Anthem's '59 Sound. Don't expect to see many updates in the next week or two though, because I have an outrageous amount of homework due this week, and then finals... so this should be fun.

A Brief Possibility of my Favorite Albums of 2008(update)

So the year is winding down and magazines and such are making their year-end lists which got me thinking about what albums I have liked this year. Here is a list of albums in contention that I could remember with help from wikikipedia. They are in "qwerty" order (seriously) because I started off the narrowing process by typing letters into strereogum's "gummy" nomination page. Please let me know if you think there is anything I missed, by omission, or that I may not have given a chance.

Wale - A Mixtape About Nothing
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
The Game - L.A.X.
The Gaslight Anthem - '59 Sound
T.I. - Paper Trail
TV On the Radio - Dear Science
Islands - Arm's Way
Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
She & Him - Volume 1
Sun Kil Moon - April
Destroyer - Trouble in Dreams
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
GZA - Pro Tools
Kanye West - 808's & Heartbreak
Land of Talk - Some Are Lakes
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Back Milk - Tronic
Back Mountain - In the Future
N.E.R.D. - Seeing Sounds
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Kid CuDi - A Kid Named CuDi
Update: I forgot Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark. (whoops)
And here are a few albums yet to come out that I don't want to knock out of contention:

Common - Universal Mind Control
EPMD - We Mean Business
Justice - A Cross the Universe

Some Thoughts While Digesting Kanye and GnR

Well I am apparently Greg Peck today, listening to Guns N' Roses and playing online poker. But besides that I just wanted to put out my initial thoughts of 808's & Heartbreak before I (hopefully) write a full-fledged review of it.

- For the most part it sounds good, not necessarily saying that it is good. The production is pretty solid and I like the sound Kanye is going for. For the most part. There are some missteps so far. On the Glow in the Dark Tour and at Lollapalooza Kanye loved belnding songs together by way of extended outros and interludes. This was alright, but somewhat frustrating live, mostly because i just wanted to hear the next song. These outros show up in a couple of occasions on 808's. Now, he has done this before, Late Registration in particular, but there is a difference here. On Late Registration, the songs were layered with strings, drums, horns and anything Kanye and Jon Brion wanted to throw in there. They were well orchestrated and lush. The outro at the end of "Say You Will" is just 808's some "Exit Music"esque vocals and those pong noises. These aren't very interesting to hear on their own for a minute if they never change.

-The singing. I am not going to talk shit about the singing because it's not the point of the album. Kanye has said he just loved using the Autotune, and he didn't want to stop so he made a whole album. The only times I ahve a problem is when I hear his voice and wish someone else was signing. This realy hit me today while listening to the new "Robocop" with the strings supposedly added by Herbie Hancock(?!). Kanye's voice does not sound right with the strings. Even with the Autotune he sounds like he's in a different key or something than the strings. I could only imagine how much better it would sound if a talented singer was singing that. Kind of had the same feeling with "Street Lights" but I like that song.

-Finally, a thought I should probably save for my review if I want it to be good, but I don't want to forget my point.

In his review of Chinese Democracy for the A.V. Club, Chuck Klosterman, a writer I still like at his most grating, and whom I a aspire to be at his best, talked about how the album was maybe the last of it's format(CD) to have this feeling of anticipation. That the new age of leaks and the fact people have been waiting fifteen years to hear this album give it a feeling of anticipation that is not common in the music industry anymore. I feel as though 808's represents the antithesis of that opinion. Before the whole album leaked, nine out of eleven tacks had leaked individually. Now Kanye claims to have been responsible for a few of those, but I am not totally sure I buy that. The point of Kanye leaking the songs appears to me to be a way of getting initial reaction from listeners and making changes from there. Hence why I have four different version of Love Lockdown on my hard drive and the song was only introduced to my ears two or three months ago. It seems as though Kanye doesn't care about the sense of anticipation due to his outrageous pursuit of perfection. He wants people, all people, to think what he is doing to be the best. I think that hurts the final product. It all feels too calculated. That was the problem with Late Registration, and at this point in time it seems as though that will be the problem for me with 808's & Heartbreak. I think the opposite is what made College Dropout a classic, and still so fun to listen to. There was clearly a genius behind it, and that man had some tracks he wanted to say a whole lot and be important("Jesus Walks.") But there was also a sense of fun in tracks like "Workout Plan" and less of an ego on tracks like "Two Words" where he does not spit the best verse, and maybe even the worst. It appears as though that will never happen again on a Kanye CD. In his current state of mind he cannot allow anyone, at anytime, appear to be at all better than him. Which is good for driving himself, but he can't always be the best. This is something I have just come to realize. Up until very recently I admired his bull-headedness because it defined him. Now I think it is a little ill-conceived, and it is also probably what has led to him being so depressed now. He puts way too much pressure on himself. If he went back to having fun while making great music I think the product will improve and he won't talk about how "lonely it is at the top" and suicide or whatever.

The end of an Era

So someone (John Galligan) asked me to write about the end of TRL, and I will oblige. TRL is a show that now means absolutely nothing to me. Everytime I watch it there seems llike less and less music, plus Damien is a total douche bag. But once upon a time TRL was basically what determined what I thought was cool. I was a fourth grader who had spent his entire life listeneing to oldies/classic rock radio and my parents did not want me to watch MTV. Then they finally let me come home after school without anyone else at home, and I discovered TRL. I thought Carson Daly was the shit at the time. I wanted to host a show that showed all of the coolest songs andhad all of the hottest artists on. Without TRL I probably would have never heard "The Bum Bum Song" or Korn, and the "Freak on a Leash" video basically changed my life. However, even as I hit middle school Igot sick of the fact that they didn't show the whole video and I also realized Carson was a douche.

I realized this around the time Carson started calling Kid Rock "Bob" like they wre fucking best friends and they weren't on tv. But they were on tv, and I doubt they are best friends. Soon I realized TRL sucked and I stopped watching it. Now, I basicaly look back at the couple of years I watched TRL and loved it. New NSync, Britney Spears and all those other 90's pop groups videos basically led what I listened to. But now I realize that what I listened to was deterined by a large group of teenage girls, and that is too bad, because I stil love some of those songs. So in closing I will remember TRL as a show that was great for a couple years of my life, and I'll love it for that, but in all actuality scuked