All posts by G. Gordon Gritty
Apologies To J. Johnson Fans
I’m truly sorry. Please accept my apology. I will not be able to completely review Jack Johnson’s latest album To the Sea. I reviewed about 1/3 of it this morning, but then I realized that I must get rid of the album in order to listen to the Back From The Grave compilation. It had to be done.
Mnstrm Song Reviews
Call this a new feature of KLYAM. It probably won’t be something written regularly, but it will show up every now and then. Basically, I’m going to do short reviews of songs that are currently dominating the airwaves of local hip-hop machine JAMN 94.5.
Ludacris Ft. Nicki Minaj – “My Chick Bad” – Grade: B+ – Luda lude drops some sweet lines that deal with shit along the lines of cartoons, hard liquor, and Tiger Woods’ wife. The chorus is weak, yo’. It’s rap chorus writing 101. Minaj, like her boy Luda lude, does no self-censoring of herself. Fuck that. She unleashes some explicitly great lines — most impressive being the first words out of her mouth: “Now all these bitches want to be my bestie, but I leave them hanging like a testy.” That’s just amazing.
Usher Ft. Will-I-Am – “OMG” – Grade: C- – What the fuck is this shit? Seriously. A fake audience clapping alone to a shitty song? Repeats of “oh my God” and “oh my gosh”??? A completely average beat. The verses aren’t completely terrible thanks to some decent instruments. Even the hook to the bridge stands well on its own. Other than that, Will-I-Am and autotune kill this song. Kill in a bad way.
Rihanna – “Rude Boy” – Grade: B – This might be my favorite Rihanna song. There are some songs in her catalog that are absolutely terrible, some average, and that’s about it. This one doesn’t really feel like it has been done before. It sounds surprisingly original for a song of its nature. This does make for quite a club bangerrr. It took enough writers (six) to come up with this, but I’ll let that one slide for now.
Drake – “Over” – Grade: C – Simply stated this song is boring. Even the rapping isn’t anything spectacular. It seems like Drake is racing against a clock once he starts dropping lines.
The Man Behind The Vids
The man behind the Hunx and His Punx music videos is also the man behind Harlem’s “Gay Human Bones” video.
His name is Justin Kelly and there was feature in the San Francisco Bay Guardian on him.
Check it out: http://www.sfbg.com/2010/05/25/gay-outta-hunters-point?page=0,0
Dean Spunt Punched :(
Dean Spunt, drummer/singer of KLYAM favorite band No Age, was recently socked in the face by club bouncers in Portugal. This according to Randy Randall, the other member of No Age. Two close friends of the band were also involved in this random act of violence. Dean is one of the nicest musicians I’ve gotten to meet. I can’t imagine anyone causing harm to such a great guy. From the looks of the pictures, it seems like his eyebrow got messed up pretty bad. No Age’s publicist said he is fine and of course we are all glad to hear that.
Head over to the No Age blog to see pictures.
MCS “Cut Your Hair” Cover
Motion City Soundtrack covers Pavement
Very well done cover I’d say.
Everybody Come Dancing!
Is this different from Chic-a-go-go or no?
Defenders Goodies
I know what you want on your cone!!! I saw the light.
EP Review: Square Shells [2010]
Artist: Kurt Vile
Release: 5/2010
Label: Matador Records
1. “Ocean City” – A-
2. “Invisibility: Non-Existent” – B
3. “Losing Momentum” – C+
4. “I Wanted Everything” – B+
5. “I Know I Got Religion” – B+
6. “The Finder” – C+
7. “Hey, Now I’m Movin” – B+
Comments: Back when I first heard of Kurt Vile in March 2009, he was a relative nobody. He had released a solo record entitled Constant Hitmaker in 2008, but that hardly got any attention until its year later reissue. Vile and his group The War on Drugs had also just put a record called Wagonwheel Blues on Secretly Canadian. Some songs on that record like “Arms Like Boulders,” “A Needle in the Eye…,” and “Taking The Farm,” really won me over and convinced me to go see the band perform at TT The Bears. They played a short, but enjoyable set featuring those songs. All ten of us in the venue (that actually paid attention) seemed to have had a decent enough time. Fast forward to…right now. Vile is signed to Matador Records, is still touring a shitload both solo (with his back-up band The Violators) and as the lead guitarist of The War on Drugs, and put out a fairly well received Matador LP Childish Prodigy later in 2009. Well, Vile is not slowing down. There’s this seven song EP that has just been released for free digitally. And, if Matador isn’t lying, another LP is due out soon enough. You, at this point, may be asking yourself if it is worth downloading the 50.5 MB MP3 folder. It’s only 50.5 MB so you might as well just give it a try anyway. The simple acoustic “Ocean City” ain’t nothing spectacular, but captivates the spirit for a little while. The dude strums heavy, by the way. Instrumental from Vile on “Losing Momentum”??? He’s too young for that. Even though it is a chill tune. Haunting vocals and an excellent rhythm section make up “I Wanted Everything.” If you are a sucker for acoustic rock that is filled with heartfelt emotion and passion then you will enjoy this. If you are someone like me that finds value in this kind of music, but isn’t easily convinced of its beauty, this may only come across as a decent/good record. There’s a slew of similar artists that excel at this craft, perhaps leaps and bounds better than Vile (perhaps not) so it really is a matter of opinion. I guess it is more apropos to mention that for this record than others — minus the instrumentals.
Grade: B (84)
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 