| Amy Winehouse Back to Black | 4.0 |
| Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Volume II | 4.5 |
| Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works 85-92 | 4.5 |
| Arcade Fire Neon Bible | 2.5 |
| Ben Harper Live From Mars | 3.5 |
| Bjork Medulla | 2.5 |
| Black Milk Tronic | 4.5 |
I felt strangely embarrassed and stupid after listening to Black Milk's Tronic last week. How was it possible that I could be caught completely unawares by an artist who has quietly managed to make the best Hip Hop album of the year? How is it possible that I had not even heard of him until recently? I'm not a hip hop expert, but this was a terrible lapse....unforgivable!
Tronic is everything we want from a Hip Hop album. It boasts fantastic, fist pumping production, thoughtful, well delivered rhymes, and a sense of hunger and earnestness that sadly tends to get lost once artists reach a certain level of stardom.
The other reason for my high review is that the album has consistent quality throughout. We are not subjected to pointless skits or vapid 'filler' songs. I get the sense that Black Milk believes in quality control and probably has a fair amount of material that he deemed not worthy for this release.
From a production standpoint, I hear echoes of so many producers who must have influenced Black Milk. RZA, DJ Premier, Kanye, DJ Muggs are all easily discernable in the production, but Black Milk has also definitely been listening to UK grime artists (I definitely heard echoes of Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Brand New Day’ on ‘Hell Yeah’), old Jazz and Blues records, and Electro/Minimal, displaying that he has an appetite for music which transcends traditional Hip Hop influences.
From a delivery standpoint, Black Milk gets his stylistic cues from Eminem. While he does not yet possess the vocal acrobatics and emotive ability of his Detroit colleague, there is no doubt that Black Milk is more than a producer who raps from time to time.
Get this one. Trust. |
| Blackalicious The Craft | 3.0 |
| Broken Bells Broken Bells | 3.5 |
| Brotha Lynch Hung Season of da Siccness | 3.5 |
| Buena Vista Social Club Buena Vista Social Club | 3.5 |
| Burial Burial | 3.5 |
| Burial Untrue | 4.5 |
| Citizen Cope Every Waking Moment | 3.0 |
| Citizen Cope The Clarence Greewood Recordings | 4.0 |
| Clipse Hell Hath No Fury | 4.0 |
| IMO one of the best Hip Hop releases in 2006 and possibly since. The material is hard edged but diverse enough to be interesting, and the guys definitely have the ability to delve beyond the basic brag and brawl raps that many in the hardcore hip hop scene seem to be unable to transcend. The production is sparse yet well done, props to Pharrell and co. |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival Chronicle, Vol. 1 | 4.5 |
| Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young 4 Way Street | 4.0 |
| Damian Marley Welcome To Jamrock | 3.5 |
| Diplo Florida | 2.5 |
| Dire Straits Alchemy: Dire Straits Live | 4.5 |
| DJ Shadow Endtroducing..... | 4.5 |
| Eddie Vedder Into the Wild | 4.0 |
| Eminem Encore | 2.0 |
| Eminem The Slim Shady LP | 4.0 |
| Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP | 4.0 |
| Faker Be The Twilight | 3.0 |
| Faker Addicted Romantic | 3.0 |
| Flying Lotus Cosmogramma | 2.5 |
| Flying Lotus Los Angeles | 3.5 |
| Foals Antidotes | 3.0 |
| Ghostface Killah Ironman | 3.5 |
| Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere | 2.5 |
| Green Day Nimrod | 2.5 |
| Green Day Insomniac | 3.0 |
| Green Day Dookie | 3.0 |
| Green Day Warning | 2.5 |
| Green Day American Idiot | 4.0 |
| Guilty Simpson Ode to the Ghetto | 2.0 |
| Hot Chip One Life Stand | 4.0 |
| Ian Brown The World is Yours | 3.0 |
| Ida Maria Fortress Round My Heart | 3.5 |
| Infected Mushroom Converting Vegetarians | 3.5 |
| Jay-Z American Gangster | 3.0 |
| Jay-Z The Black Album | 4.5 |
| Jay-Z Reasonable Doubt | 4.0 |
| Jesse Malin Glitter in the gutter | 3.5 |
| Jesse Malin The Fine Art Of Self Destruction | 3.5 |
| Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros Streetcore | 4.0 |
| Jonsi Go | 3.5 |
| Junior Boys Last Exit | 4.0 |
| Junior Boys So This Is Goodbye | 4.0 |
| Jurassic 5 Quality Control | 3.5 |
| Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak | 1.5 |
6) 808's & Heartbreaks: Kanye West
Ok so I got around to listening to this and it is awful I find it bewildering that so many reviewers gave it good to decent marks. The only think I can think of is that they were so taken aback by differences between this and his previous work that they felt intimidated enough to give it critical praise ("I don't wanna look like I don't 'get it' so i'll pretend that I do. I mean, if its like, different, then it must be good, right?"). Let me break it down for them.
i) The production is NOT groundbreaking! It is well within the limits of what many electronic producers have been doing for a very long time. Just because Kanye just discovered the minimal techno sound doesn't make it trailblazing. A lot of it sounds like Kanye just adapted some Junior Boys and Slam beats, threw in a few soul sounds, and called it a day. It's lazy, unconvincing, and disingenuous
ii) For once, 50 Cent was right about something. This does sound like a T-Pain album. Kanye makes the baffling decision to sing rather than rap throughout 90% of the album. Of course the trouble with that is that he can't really sing to save his life. Even the 'ahem' liberal use of Auto Tune can't disguise how below par his singing is. In a sense, it actually makes this worse than a T-Pain album, because at least T-Pain can hold a note. Auto-Tune pitch distortions are ok if they are used sparingly for effect, but throughout the entire album? It doesn't sound 'futuristic' unless your perception of futuristic is Cher circa 1999. It comes as little surprise the the two bearable songs on the album include some rapping by Kanye or Weezy ('Heartless' and 'Tell Everybody That you Know')
iii) The lyrics will make you vomit unless you are an adolescent cretin.
I'm not lovin you, the way I wanted to
What I had to do, had to run from you
I'm in love with you, but the vibe is wrong
And that haunted me, all the way home
So ya never know, never never know
Never know enough, til it's over love
Til we lose control, system overload
Screamin no no no, no no
- Love Lockdown
Do we really deserve to endure this garbage?
We can only hope that Kanye's neurons have been overloaded with post breakup chemicals which have only temporarily rendered his musical ability null and void. |
| Kasabian Empire | 2.5 |
| Kasabian Kasabian | 3.5 |
| Kings of Leon Because Of The Times | 4.0 |
| Kings of Leon Only By The Night | 4.5 |
| Kings of Leon Aha Shake Heartbreak | 3.0 |
| LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver | 3.0 |
| Lily Allen Alright, Still | 3.0 |
| Lou Reed Perfect Night: Live In London | 4.0 |
| Lupe Fiasco Food & Liquor | 3.5 |
| Lupe Fiasco The Cool | 3.5 |
| Lykke Li Youth Novels | 3.5 |
| M.I.A. Arular | 4.0 |
| M.I.A. Kala | 3.0 |
| M.I.A. Piracy Funds Terrorism, Vol. 1 | 3.0 |
| Manu Chao Clandestino | 4.0 |
| Metallica Death Magnetic | 3.5 |
| Method Man Tical | 3.0 |
| Mobb Deep The Infamous | 4.5 |
| Mobb Deep Hell on Earth | 4.5 |
| Muddy Waters Hoochie Coochie Man | 4.0 |
| Muse Black Holes & Revelations | 3.0 |
| Nas Illmatic | 5.0 |
| Nas It Was Written | 4.0 |
| Nas I Am... | 3.5 |
| Nas Nastradamus | 2.0 |
| Nas STILLmatic | 3.5 |
| Nas Hip Hop Is Dead | 3.5 |
| Nas Untitled | 4.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails The Slip | 3.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails With Teeth | 3.5 |
| Nine Inch Nails The Fragile | 3.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails Further Down the Spiral (US) | 3.5 |
| Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral | 5.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine | 4.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails Broken | 2.5 |
| Nirvana From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah | 3.5 |
| Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York | 5.0 |
| Nirvana In Utero | 3.5 |
| Nirvana Incesticide | 3.0 |
| Nirvana Nevermind | 5.0 |
| Nirvana Bleach | 3.5 |
| Oasis Dig Out Your Soul | 3.0 |
| Oasis Don't Believe the Truth | 3.0 |
| Oasis Heathen Chemistry | 3.5 |
| Oasis Familiar To Millions | 3.5 |
| Oasis Standing on the Shoulder of Giants | 4.0 |
| Oasis The Masterplan | 4.5 |
| Oasis Be Here Now | 4.5 |
| Oasis (What's the Story) Morning Glory? | 4.0 |
| Oasis Definitely Maybe | 4.5 |
| Pantera Cowboys from Hell | 4.0 |
| Pantera Far Beyond Driven | 3.0 |
| Pantera The Great Southern Trendkill | 3.0 |
| Pantera Vulgar Display of Power | 3.5 |
| Pearl Jam Binaural | 2.5 |
| Pearl Jam Live On Two Legs | 4.5 |
| Pearl Jam Yield | 3.0 |
| Pearl Jam No Code | 4.5 |
| Pearl Jam Vitalogy | 4.5 |
| Pearl Jam Vs. | 4.5 |
| Pearl Jam Ten | 4.5 |
| Pearl Jam Pearl Jam | 3.0 |
| Pinch Underwater Dancehall | 3.5 |
| Pink Floyd Pulse | 4.5 |
| Pink Floyd The Division Bell | 4.5 |
| Pink Floyd The Wall | 5.0 |
| Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here | 4.0 |
| Pink Floyd Relics | 3.5 |
| Pink Floyd Ummagumma | 2.5 |
| Pink Floyd More | 2.5 |
| Public Enemy He Got Game | 2.5 |
| Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back | 3.5 |
| R.E.M. Automatic for the People | 4.0 |
| R.E.M. Document | 3.5 |
| Radiohead In Rainbows | 4.5 |
| Radiohead are truly in fine form with In Rainbows. I had 'All I need' on rotation for ages....love that reverb |
| Radiohead Hail to the Thief | 3.5 |
| Radiohead Amnesiac | 3.0 |
| Radiohead Kid A | 4.0 |
| Radiohead OK Computer | 5.0 |
| Radiohead The Bends | 5.0 |
| Radiohead Pablo Honey | 3.0 |
| Rage Against the Machine Renegades | 4.0 |
| Rage Against the Machine The Battle of Los Angeles | 3.5 |
| Rage Against the Machine Evil Empire | 4.0 |
| Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine | 4.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik | 4.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers One Hot Minute | 3.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication | 3.5 |
| Regina Spektor Begin To Hope | 3.5 |
| Ryan Adams Easy Tiger | 4.0 |
| Ryan Adams Cardinology | 3.0 |
| Sasha Involver | 4.0 |
| Sasha Airdrawndagger | 4.5 |
| Truly a benchmark for progressive EDM. Sasha's ability to mix melody with cathartic peaks and complex yet very danceable beats is second to none. |
| Saul Williams The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust | 4.0 |
| Sigur Ros Med Sud i Eyrum vid Spilum Endalaust | 4.0 |
| Sigur Ros Live at the Icelandic Opera House | 4.0 |
| Silverchair Young Modern | 2.5 |
| Silverchair Diorama | 4.5 |
| Silverchair Frogstomp | 4.0 |
| Silversun Pickups Carnavas | 3.0 |
| Sleater-Kinney The Woods | 2.5 |
| Snoop Dogg Dead Man Walkin' | 2.5 |
| Snoop Dogg Doggystyle | 5.0 |
| Snoop Dogg Tha Doggfather | 3.5 |
| Snoop Dogg No Limit Top Dogg | 3.0 |
| Stone Temple Pilots Core | 3.5 |
| The Beatles Let It Be | 5.0 |
| The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour | 4.0 |
| The Beatles Past Masters, Vol. 2 | 4.0 |
| The Black Keys Attack & Release | 3.5 |
| The Black Keys Magic Potion | 4.0 |
| The Bug London Zoo | 3.0 |
| The Clash London Calling | 5.0 |
| The Clash The Story of the Clash | 4.5 |
| The Field From Here We Go Sublime | 3.0 |
| The Game The Documentary | 4.0 |
| The Game Doctor's Advocate | 3.5 |
| The Game LAX | 3.0 |
| The Good, The Bad and The Queen The Good, The Bad & The Queen | 2.5 |
| The Killers Hot Fuss | 3.0 |
| The Notorious B.I.G. Ready to Die | 5.0 |
| The Police Every Breath You Take: The Classics | 4.0 |
| The Police Synchronicity | 4.0 |
| The Roots Game Theory | 4.5 |
| The Roots Rising Down | 3.0 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Zeitgeist | 2.0 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream | 5.0 |
About as perfect as an album can be. It's all there. Angst, earnestness, artistic vision, catharsis, melody, ballads, all out rockers, soaring vocals, and on and on. What I really love is how the music mimics the lyrical content. At times its angry, over the top, almost violent. Other times, its quiet, almost sweet, and introspective. Yet throughout it is engaging and melodic. There isn't a dud track on the album and although Corgan was said to have been disappointed with the final production, I think that few albums have been produced as expertly as Butch Vig produced this one.
It is and always will be one of my favorites. |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness | 4.0 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Gish | 3.5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Adore | 4.5 |
| The Streets A Grand Don't Come For Free | 4.5 |
| The Streets Original Pirate Material | 4.0 |
| The Streets The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living | 2.5 |
| The Streets Everything is Borrowed | 2.0 |
| The White Stripes Icky Thump | 4.0 |
| The White Stripes Get Behind Me Satan | 3.5 |
| The White Stripes Elephant | 4.0 |
| The White Stripes White Blood Cells | 3.5 |
| The Who The Who Sell Out | 3.5 |
| The Who Tommy | 4.0 |
| The xx xx | 3.5 |
| Tool Undertow | 4.0 |
| Twista Adrenaline Rush | 2.5 |
| Vampire Weekend Contra | 3.5 |
| Wait What the notorious xx | 4.5 |
| Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) | 4.5 |
| Wu-Tang Clan 8 Diagrams | 3.0 |
| Wu-Tang Clan Iron Flag | 3.5 |
| Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Forever | 4.0 |
| Wyclef Jean The Carnival | 3.0 |
| Zero 7 When It Falls | 3.5 |
