March 2014
Katy B
Little Red
Rinse.FM/Columbia
Katy drags us back into club for another night of tell-alls, set to a soundtrack inspired by the early 90s. "Little Red" exudes a sexual prowess that "On a Mission" showcased a bit. Case in point, "All My Lovin'" where Miss B goes into great detail about a late night rendezvous with her man. "Can you see my cheeks red, as my palms sweat
You can cut the tension, come on, cut it please" she coos over echoing drums. Album opener "Next Thing" , could be about finding alternative for a night on the town or a long intimate session. The album isn't without it's emotionally captivating moments. "Crying For No Reason" and "Emotions" delve deeper into relationships where the love went sour on one end of spectrum or the other and reconciliation is the only way to make some type of amends.
The Jessie Ware-assisted "Aaliyah", released back in 2012 on her "Danger" EP, wanders into "The Boy Is Mine" territory, with each girl lamenting that their respective men are being lured away by the late R&B songstress, or her tunes to me more exact. "Aaliyah please? This is green envy, why must you taunt me girl?" A a dance floor mantra to follow for the ages. "Everything" brings back the properties of the oft-sampled "Show Me Love" by Robin S. : snares fit for striking poses, sporadic handclaps and a reassuring chorus. Lyrically, "Little Red" seems less developed with some questionable one liners more fitting for Katy Perry's catalogue of hits. Sampha's flat and occasionally cringe-worthy vocal range and downtrodden production on "Play" makes it the only wrinkle on a near flawless garment. "Little Red" is a new classic and a house DJ's
wet dream.
Recommended Tracks:Crying For No Reason, Everything, Emotions, Sapphire Blue, Aaliyah
January 2014
TVXQ!
Tense
S.M Entertainmet
"Tense" is a celebratory record, commemorating the TVXQ! brand as a whole rather than just remaining members Max and Yuhno's time there. A mix of retro pop numbers and smooth R&B, it's not atypical for a K-Pop release, but a welcome change from 2012's "Catch Me" record, which came at the tail-end EDM/electropop trend that saturated the market. "Ten" is strange as an opener: the R&B stylings but winds up being a thank you message to the Cassies for sticking with them from their debut back in 2003 up until this point. "Something" the title track makes its presence known as a standout with its swing style production and jazz breakdown, but can be only be taken as seriously as its live performances (which have been stellar). "Double Trouble" would be the ideal follow-up song to "Something":it's sensational funk rock blended with big vocals and a heart stopping dubstep breakdown that is too short to fully enjoy. "Off-Road" throws you through a loop,beginning like a elephantine club banger, but is quickly pulled into the midtempo ballad territory thanks to higher and softer vocal range. A slow jam follows the form of "Smoky Heart" and the somber mood continues through ballad "Love Again", then to some extent lifts back up with "Steppin'", which incorporate heavy bass wobbles and a haunting "steppin' steppin'" refrain. One bummer song invades the whole atmosphere of the full length: the substandard "Always With With You" who's tone reflects that of the closing song of a happy go-lucky American dub of an anime film.
When it comes to K-Pop releases, you're usually given a strong single with a bunch of weak filler tracks, but "Tense" is able to maintain a solidarity that is reflected by their careers in the ever-changing K-Pop landscape. Congratulations and let's hope for another ten years...
Recommended Tracks:Something, Off-Road, Double Trouble
Yong Junhyung
Flower
Cube Entertainmet
Yong Junhyng may be known for his clean and concise rapping skills, but his composing skills seem to go under the radar. He produced his entire BEAST band mate Yoseob’s “The First Collage” mini in 2012 and scored an all-kill with “Will You Be Okay?” for the group last year. It was a matter of time before he would be focusing his talents on his solo debut. “Flower” is that debut and it’s chock full of surprises.
The album opener “Nothing is Forever” is a prelude to the album’s title track, made up Autotuned ad-libs, repeats of the English line “Nothing is Forever, everybody know that” and a strong, yet unfortunately short rap. This could have worked as a full track rather than an intro.
Next is the title track “Flower” which is the strongest song on the mini. We hear more Junhyung’s rapping as it takes front and center, over a beat that recalls a lot of American R&B hits done in the late 90s mixed in with some complex electronic beeps and a little bit of dubstep for good measure. The only pitfall of the track is the drowning out of the trumpet towards the end.
For his next trick, he enlists label mate G.NA for “Anything” the vocal assist. To be honest, it’s a bit too simple. We’ve all heard the rapper featuring singer thing numerous times and it would have been nice to give the song some more variety: have them alternate the lines, maybe have G Na rap. But it works for this album. Simple, just too simple.
It then flows back into the 90s R&B for “Slow” where the rapping is put aside for a minute and singing is the main attraction, at least for most of the song. The rap during the second verse is freer flowing than on the previous tracks matching the tempo of the track nicely.
The final track of the album is “Caffeine”, the hit that Junhuyng composed for Yoseob, now retooled as a piano and string driven duet. Junhyung takes most the vocals while Yoseob is given the chorus. It winds the album down from the upbeat tracks “Flower” and “Slow” and ends on a high note, literally with Yoseob pulling of an impressive falsetto.
The mini does a great job at showcasing Junhyung’s talents as a composer and as an artist, with nice production and solid vocals. Of course every work can use some improvement, but that just seems nitpicky for a mini. Anticipate a full length album sometime in the future because this much perfection is too good to waste.
October 2013
King Krule
Six Feet Beneath The Moon
True Panther/XL Recordings
Most people would describe Archy Marshall’s (the artist
formerly known as Zoo Kid and currently known as King Krule or Edgar The
Beatmaker) earlier work as guitar driven surfer rock with Morrissey like
tendencies. At the age of 16, he’s already won the praise of the indie music community, but has yet to make a major crossover to a mainstream darling like Lorde did so swiftly.
“Six Feet Beneath The Moon,” his long anticipated debut is a
schizophrenic curve ball of a mess: a conglomeration of all of his performance personas with influence
from late hip-hop producers J.Dilla and nujabes and acid jazz band Jamiroquai
are prevalent as well. In some of the album’s best cuts including the trippy “Foreign 2”
and arguably the crown jewel of the LP “Boarder Line,” Krule laments and moans over a dreamy, well-produced landscape courtesy of the album's co-producer Rodaidh McDonald. Then there are track like "A Lizard State" which shifts from almost comical horn and surf motif to a haphazard jazz number that could easily fit during an action sequence in the anime classic “Cowboy Bebop.”
King Krule’s deep growl in undeniably the icing on the cake of the work:
listeners will either indulge in its naturally husky brilliance or hate it
all together, but it is what gives the album the character that extra umph.
Updated versions of “Out Getting Ribs” “Baby Blue” and Ocean
Bed are included in the tracklisting, but snubs “Rock Bottom” one of 2012’s standout
tunes.
The biggest pitfall of the album is its potential longevity
with listeners. While it is certainly no “The 20/20 Experience” in terms of
song length, its close to an hour runtime may not fit well with casual
listeners and thematically, unless you’re feeling somber, sad or heartbroken
more than a couple times a year, you won’t feel compelled to listen to the
album more than twice at the most.
King Krule’s album was a long time coming, but was it worth
the wait? Possibly. Either way, a debut with should only make people excited
for what Marshall has to offer with his next record.
Recommendeded Tracks: A Lizard State, Foreign 2, Boarder Line,
Out Getting Ribs
Rating:4.9/5
Eliza Doolittle
In Your Hands
Parlophone
All was silent for a hot minute with Eliza Doolittle. She
was introduced to the world with her self-titked debut back in 2010, which was
littered with some pop quirkiness only someone in the vein of Lily Allen could
deliver. The blatant but indirect
message of makeup sex in “Skinny Genes” the jazziness of “Pack Up” the peppy
but self-deprecating “Nobody” is what built Miss Doolittle’s brand
She steps the pop factor down half a notch for “In Your
Hands” her second studio effort, virtually removes any of the old school
influences, substituting it with smidgens of R&B. Surprisingly, there are
no 90s deep house influences present, which has been all the rage this year and
would have fit Doolittle well (she did collaborate with Disclosure on the hit
“You and Me” earlier this year).
One of the biggest surprises on this record, “Let It Rain”
is extremely confident sounding, dated and corny to say the least. Eliza would
be one of the artists that would go down the road of a self-empowerment track. Some
of the charms of her first album makes it way onto the project with first
single “Big When I Was Little” and cut “Checkmate”. “No Man Can” is begging to become a single as it’s reminiscent of Third Eye
Blind’s somber breakup hit, “How’s It Gonna Be” and has elements of the
stomping rowdiness of The Lumineers’s “Ho Hey.”
Though her reaching for higher octaves is commendable, it sometimes
comes off as scratchy and grating and is best when she is at level pitch.
Three years away did Eliza good. The record is cool, confident and self-assuring to say the least: "In Your Hands" won't be suffering the slump.
Recommended Tracks: Don’t Call It Love, No Man Can,
Backpacking, Hush
Final Grade:4.1/5
Zendaya
Zendaya
Hollywood Records
Zendaya is the only Disney Channel star at the point that
has any star power that could reach beyond her tenure with the company at this
point. The 17-year olds debut album, detached from her TV show “Shake It Up”
and free from the shared shackles of her over-Auto Tuned co-star Bella Thorne
is a refreshing change of pace from the sugar coated top forty electro-dance
records that have littered her years with the show. A mixture of chilly hip-hop,
understated EDM and forward thinking pop, Miss Coleman seems to be in her
element throughout, with a few minor (and understandable) missteps. While Hollywood
Records usually delegate their Disney affiliates first musical endeavor to be
of the strictly teeny bopper pop/rock variety with one or two dance songs (hear
Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez and the Scene, Miley Cyrus), Zendaya jumps skips the
safe zone and hops right into the mosh pit, to much admiration. Cuts like first
single “Replay” midtempo (and hopeful second single) “Bottle You Up” and the
Justin Timberlake inspired “Heaven Lost an Angel” keep the album fresh with
each subsequent listen.
There are also tunes that may come off as her trying a bit
too hard such as the “Putcha Body Down,” which seems more like a homage to her
song “Swag It Out” or are just not fit for the backdrop of the record (“Cry For
Love”)
When Miley Cyrus was striving for the urban sound, she
should have waited for Zendaya to drop her album before embarrassing herself
with “We Can’t Stop.”
Recommended Songs: Fireflies, Replay, Bottle You Up, Heaven
Lost an Angel
Rating:3.7/5
August 2013
AlunaGeorge
Body Music
Island Records
Recommended:You Know You Like It, Your Drums Your Love, Bad Idea, Kaleidoscope Love
Rating:3/5
July 2013
Jay-Z
Magna Carta Holy Grail
Roc-A-Fella
While “Tom Ford” and “Somewhere In America” are fun to listen
to, they are ultimately the only songs that Jay doesn’t sound utterly dry, no
matter how hard he tries to inflect his voice. The album doesn’t highlight
Jay’s greatness or his longevity in the hip-hop/rap genre, and instead makes him sound bored with the game, like he's accomplished all he could. The album is like Mrs. George in Mean Girls:
parades around like a ‘cool parent’ but instead comes off more as a sedated people
pleaser. It also doesn’t help that after 2009’s disappointing “Blueprint 3”
release, that he hasn’t retraced his steps to see why he seems to be hit and miss with his latest works.
Recommend Tracks: Tom Ford, Somewhere In America
Rating: 2/5
Kanye West
Yeezus
Def Jam
While many praised Mr. Kanye West’s last studio album, “My
Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” as a masterpiece and his best work to date, there were a few (a FEW) who were less than impressed.
The album’s utter narcissistic self-glorification, lack of lyrical depth (which he has shown
in his past works) and laundry list of unnecessary guest spots should have
made fans scratch their heads in confusion rather than garner any type of acclaim.
When he announced that his next album
was going to be called “Yeezus” it was expected that the same level of douchiness would be
thrown into the mix and Kanye West would be unable to redeem himself.
Kanye isn’t trying to
appease fans that long for his pre-808 days, but sonically move forward with "Yeezus". The
album includes some of the pretentiousness that made his last album a turn off
for some (hear “I Am a God”), but tones it down a tad in favour of some slightly contrived humbleness.
Sonically, it is West’s most adventurous work, with much darker production, a Marylin Manson
sample in "Black Skinhead" and even some post-dubstep influences, something that West has rarely disappointing with.
He gives a nod to his former selves in the form of two of
the albums standout pieces: “Blood On
The Leaves,” which 808's and “Bound 2” which wouldn't have been out of place on "Graduation", complete with it's 70s R&B sample and all. Errors come with its collabs, who really drag the songs quality down or seem to be non-existent to the ones they're attached to. Yeezus proves that he hasn't lost complete sight of his artistic integrity and that the follow-up could be a return to former glory or utter superiority complex territory.
Recommended Tracks:Black Skinhead, Blood on The Leaves**, Bound 2**, I Am a God
Rating:3.5/5
June 2013
Disclosure
Settle
PMR
Calculated dance pop is dying a slow death (finally) in the
United Kingdom and Disclosure is in the forefront leading the crusade. The duo
has been around for a while, but 2013 is proving to be their breakout. With
three singles on the charts. “Settle” is their full length debut and can be
described in one word: brilliant. Deep house, garage and disco come together in
probably the best debut album, if not the best album of 2013. The Brothers Howard
take a do it yourself approach with a time machine’s worth of material, 80s
meets the new millennium if you will.
While most will dismiss most of the tracks as monotonous and bland, “Settle”
is anything but. The duos first charting single “Latch” is a modern day slow
jam, with a dash of dub and R&B. Much like Katy B did with her debut “On a
Mission,” Settle rips the club away from the excessive drinkers and molly
poppers and into the hands and hearts of hopeless romantics worldwide. The
album’s most disheartening moment is “When a Fire Starts To Burn”, mostly
because of the vocal sample, making it seem out of place. Other collabs include
Eliza Doolittle, London Grammar, Jessie Ware and Friendly Fires' lead singer,
Edward Macfarlane who provides a labored, almost out of breath vocal on the the album’s longest and exceptional track “Defeated (No More).”
Recommended Tracks:Latch,F For You,You and Me,Defeated (No More)**,Help Me Lose My Mind
Rating:4.6/5
EXO
XOXO (Kiss Version)
SM Entertainment
Recommended Tracks:Wolf ,Baby Don’t Cry, Black Pearl, 365, My Lady
Final Grade:3.9/5
January 2013
Richard Osborne
Late Night Thoughts [EP]
Osborne has really branched out sonically, using more electronically driven beats instead of the basic hip-hop build ups and 808 drum patterns. seemingly taking inspiration from Canadian singer Lights on the cut "Just Leave" and giving us a blend of Ed Sheeran and Drake on the title cut. However, it is the "Better" that is the standout on this five track project, with it's 90s throwback sound that you can't help but want to bump and grind to. "Like That" has an understated throbbing electro-R&B beat, a throwback to Justin Timberlake's "FutureSex/LoveSounds" era and would have been a lot better without the rap verse, which didn't really add to the song. With this transformation, a full-length album has to be next. It would be criminal if it wasn't.
Score:4/5
Infinite H
FLY HIGH [Mini-Album]
Woolliment
The first album from the subunit of the highly successful Infinite group definitely shows that they have an ear for melody and rhymes. The album has more influences of R&B and pop and the hip-hop only seems to stem from the H in their name and the 808 drum beats located in each and every track on the EP. Case in point, songs like "Special Girl" and "Can’t Do It" work very nicely with both of their approaches to the delivery, giving a more soulful and meaningful feeling rather than the brashness of the hip-hop they are attempting to portray. The greatest instance of hip-hop is found in "Victorious Way," utilizing an early 90s flare to it, right down to the duo of Dooyoung and Hoya chanting the chorus. Aside from that, "Fly High" is a decent start off point for the subunit and they can only hope to improve if they plan on releasing another piece of work.
Score:3.75/5
December 2012
Katy B
Danger [EP]
1. Aaliyah (Feat. Jessie Ware and Geenus)-Bonus points for enlisting one of my favourite artists of 2012, Jessie Ware. The song seems to be about the two being jealous of a girl in the club who seems to be ensnaring the attention of every man on the dancefloor. Jessie delivers her sultry vocals and Katy works it like always over Geenus' pulsating nu-disco instrumentals. The ending is a bit anti-climatic, but it still slays most dance songs released this year. Can this be a single? B+
2.Got Paid (Feat. Wiley and Zinc)-It starts out with this all over the place zaps and buzzes, which really captures how fun the song is. Katy is celebrating getting her bi-weekly (or weekly, or welfare)check and she's going out to do some serious partying. UK rapper Wiley pops in for an unneeded cameo and I wish she would have toned down the yell-singing before Wiley began his rap. Fun tune nonetheless. C+
3.Light As A Feather (Feat. Iggy Azalea and Diplo)-I would have loved this track so much better if Iggy didn't pop up in the tune. Katy would have slayed this perfectly on her own. It reminds of something that would be on Jessie Ware's "Devotion". It's light, sensual ethereal and it gives me "Esta Noche" vibes. Bonus points for the Diplo collab. B
4.Danger (Feat.Jacques Greene)-She closes it out with another sensual track, where she slows it down and puts some American hip-hop on it. Jacques does a great job of intertwining her voice to the instrumentals and keeps the listener interested while Katy lulls us to sleep (in the most respectful way possible) and we let down our guard.B+
Final Grade:B
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