Category Archives: Entertainment

Entertainment, radio, Song Review

Mnstrm Song Reviews

Leave a comment

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.

Art, Entertainment, history, Music, pictures

I Don’t Control Time Zones

2 Comments

Once upon a time I was at a party and some gal mentioned Terry Gilliam and I told her my favorite Terry Gilliam film was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). She responded that it was “too mainstream,” a point I beg to differ, but regardless, I was taken back. I tend to pride myself on my love of relatively obscure and non mainstream artists (particularly in music). Now, let’s not mince ;) our words here, I do not base my tastes on how commercially successful or not a piece of music is. It’s simply not a factor. I listen to a song/album and if I like it I do, if I don’t, then I don’t. As simple as that. The mainstream just isn’t my bag and I have a hatred for much of it, there’s no reason I need to be associated with it, like Chomsky and Porn. With that being said, if we Klaymers, especially me, grew up in the 60s, we would be surfing safari on the mainstream. You would probably catch me crying my eyes out with all the ladies in the sea of Beatlemania. Now today, my favorites conist of 90-95% independent, underground artists and 5-10% heavy hitters in the mainstream. If we took Doc Brown’s Delorean for a spin and hit up 1967, it would be vice versa, and even my then unknown faves of that era like the Velvet Underground, were on the majors. Strange. The reason I find this peculiar is because I feel like the whole DIY, Punk ethic and aesthetic and what have you is something I highly value and is a big part of music/art for me. If I was a teen a few decades back I would have a totally different experience. In this respect, I am really glad I was born twenty years ago.

Anyone else’s mind wander like mine or do I just have too much time on my hands? lol

Chris

Entertainment, EP Review, Music

EP Review: Square Shells [2010]

Leave a comment

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)