CD Review: How I Got Over [2010]

Band: The Roots
Release: 6/2010
Label: Def Jam

1. “A Peace of Light” – C-
2. “Walk Alone” – B+
3. “Dear God 2.0” – A
4. “Radio Daze” – A-
5. “Now Or Never” – B
6. “How I Got Over” – B
7. “DillaTUDE: The Flight of Titus” – C
8. “The Day” – B+
9. “Right On” – B+
10. “Doin’ It Again” – B
11. “The Fire” – B
12. “Tunnel Vision” – C-
13. “Web 20/20” – B-
14. “Hustla” – B+

Comments: I liked “Walk Alone” for the most part, but “Dear God” is where it’s at. The verses are top shelf hip-hop. My gripe with a lot of this album is the amount of half-ass tunes. What I mean is that The Roots seem to have a consistent focus on the way these songs are structured. That might appeal to a lot of folks who like a good amount of rap, but also don’t mind a soulful or R&B flavored chorus. I get bored with that. Also, does this record really need short interludes every five or six songs? OK so this isn’t that great in the whole scheme of hip hop records. It might be one of the best of its kind this year, though.

Grade: B- (83)

Auditing Massachusetts Law: Crimes Against Gov’ts

This is a new feature where I’m going to audit many of the General Laws of Massachusetts so as to show basic violations of freedom. Some of these crimes and punishments are utterly absurd. I didn’t include it in this segment, but my very utterance of that could somehow be considered treason under the vague language of Massachusetts Law.

Flag Burning/Flag Misuse

– Chapter 264: Section 5. Whoever publicly burns or otherwise mutilates, tramples upon, defaces or treats contemptuously the flag of the United States or of Massachusetts…shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.
– Chapter 264. Section 7. Whoever publicly mutilates, tramples upon, defaces or treats contemptuously the flag or emblem of a foreign country at peace with the United States…shall be punished by a fine of not less than five nor more than fifty dollars.
– Chapter 264. Section 8. Whoever displays the flag or emblem of a foreign country upon the outside of a state, county, city or town building or public schoolhouse shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars.

Screwing With The National Anthem
– Chapter 264. Section 9. Whoever plays, sings or renders the “Star Spangled Banner”, or any part thereof, as dance music, as an exit march or as a part of a medley of any kind, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.

Anarchy
– Chapter 264. Section 11. Whoever by speech or by exhibition, distribution or promulgation of any written or printed document, paper or pictorial representation advocates, advises, counsels or incites assault upon any public official, or the killing of any person, or the unlawful destruction of real or personal property, or the overthrow by force or violence or other unlawful means of the government of the commonwealth or of the United States, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than three years, or in jail for not more than two and one half years, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars; provided, that this section shall not be construed as reducing the penalty now imposed for the violation of any law.

Subversive Organizations/Membership
– Chapter 264. Section 16. The term “subversive organization” as used in sections seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-two and twenty-three of this chapter shall mean any form of association of three or more persons, however named or characterized, and by whatever legal or non-legal entity or non-entity it be established, and whether incorporated or otherwise for the common purpose of advocating, advising, counseling or inciting the overthrow by force or violence, or by other unlawful means, of the government of the commonwealth or of the United States.
– Chapter 264. Section 22. Whoever being in charge of an auditorium, hall or other building shall knowingly permit it to be used by the Communist Party or by an organization which has been adjudicated a subversive organization under the provisions of section eighteen shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.
– Chapter 264. Section 19. Any person who becomes or remains a member of any organization knowing it to be a subversive organization shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than three years or in jail for not more than two and one half years or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars.

Communist Party
– Chapter 264. Section 16A. The Communist Party is hereby declared to be a subversive organization.

Favorite Songs of 2010 (So Far)

Limit One Song Per Band

– “Brian Eno” by MGMT
– “Walk in the Park” by Beach House
– “Tiny Sioux” by Box Elders
– “Fresh” by Devo
– “Jail La La” by Dum Dum Girls
– “Gay Human Bones” by Harlem
– “Go Berserk” by Mark Sultan
– “1000 Years” by Portugal. The Man
– “Be Brave” by The Strange Boys
– “Take On the World” by Wavves
– “Cloud Shadow on the Mountain” by Wolf Parade

I’m leaving out a lot; these are just ones that I found on a quick run through of my media player.

THE LAST FEW POSTS

Yeah, it’s SATURDAY NIGHT what do you think I’ve been doing? Twiddling my thumbs and reading twitters? NO, far from it. I’ve been ranting. I’ve been in the mood. I should probably stay away from message boards because I’m going to make some posts that are going to make people wonder if I am truly a reatard. And yes, matter of fact, they would be right, but you know, matter of fact, I don’t care. I love when my fingers type without any regard to what I am actually thinking. IN FACT, I am thinking this. Screw those posers who say they lose control. THAT doesn’t happen! You have to be simply dumb. DUMB.

ITS QUARTER PAST SHUT THE FUCK UP!

All these songs about needing people while drunk is just dumb as fuck. You don’t need anyone when you are fucked up, you little puss. Oh yeah you need the guy of your fucking dreams. Chances are the fuck just wants to fuck and you’ve gotten past the point where you actually give a shit. You give and shit happens. You regret the next day. The fuck absolutely doesn’t and tells all his friends.

Socialism

It’s just as bad as capitalism. The isms tend to suck. Capitalism sucks for the people who don’t have a great opportunity or don’t want to further advance themselves into the “owning class.” Yeah, that’s not an easy feat, but some people are content at doing the bare minimum to make things work. Socialism sucks for people who actually want to be able to do whatever they want. Should everyone be equal? Probably not. There has to be some level of commitment in people to do something. Setting people equal is just a form of manipulation, especially since I imagine not a lot of people want that. I know inequalities create conflict, but what can you do? The whole worker management system is a generally good idea, but wouldn’t work in every scenario. In some industries there has to be some level of hierarchy — provided that this hierarchy is agreed upon by basically every stakeholder. And finally, I have understood socialism and communism! Yes, I have! Well kind of. A whole lot of socialists and communists are atheists so they are like yo, yo, I want THIS life to be awesome because we are just going to rot afterward. The capitalists are like yo, yo, suffer and believe and you shall be granted a great afterlife. Both are pretty crooked outlooks, in my opinion. I’m a pretty religious guy, but I want the poor and the near-poor to get their share. They can just lounge around. I’m not making excuses in support of the owning class, but let’s get real here. If you come from no money, it’s going to suck, but at least make some kind of attempt to rebel or just work your ass off. K bye.

Classic Film Review: Stop Making Sense

Full Title: Stop Making Sense
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Talking Heads and various special guests
Year: 1984
Set List:

1) Psycho Killer
2) Heaven
3) Thank You for Sending Me an Angel
4) Found a Job
5) Slippery People
6) Burning Down the House
7) Life During Wartime
8) Making Flippy Floppy
9) Swamp
10) What a Day That Was
11) This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
12) Once in a Lifetime
13) Genius of Love
14) Girlfriend is Better
15) Take Me to the River

Encore:

16) Crosseyed and Painless

Comments:
Stop Making Sense? When did the Talking Heads ever make sense?! Haha, of course their brand of weirdness, a “good” weirdness is exactly what made the Talking Heads, the Talking Heads. The other night I had the pleasure of revisiting this 1984 classic via a screening at the Sommerville Theater. I had been a fan of the live CD Stop Making Sense for years, but never got around to seeing it’s cinematic coutnerpart. Well, what better a venue than the Sommerville Theater?! And it was. The sound was a tad lower than desired, but besides that it fit really well for this presentation. Now to the film itself. David Byrne kicks things off with the TH classic, “Psycho Killer,” just Byrne himself gently rocking out on acoustic guitar with a tape player. As the song reaches its final moments, Byrne stumbles to the beat. He fake trips then catches himself, then again and again; fitting perfectly with the music. Next, the nerdy, neurotic singer is accompanied by his bandmate, Tina Weymouth (who is looking rather attractive here) on bass. The two launch into an impassioned, acoustic version of “Heaven.” And with each song another member hits the stage to join the circus. It should be noted that the Talking Heads put on an extremely entertaining show with incredible energy, charisma, and showmanship, without any of the big theatrics, i.e. light shows, back drop videos, etc. (at least in the first half of the film), oft-seen in such concert films. This speaks volumes for how well they can captivate an audience with just themselves as the visual stimulants; essentially less is more. They use a lot of light humor in their approach, such antics as the “Running Man” dance; at one point Byrne acutally runs around the whole stage at full speed! We also see him playfully push a lampshade back and forth, each time catching it at the last second just as it is about to hit the floor, amongst other weird, but amusing stunts. Byrne and crew seriously dance their asses off as the tunes become heavier and funkier. Songs that stood out in particular included “Burning Down the House,” “Life During Wartime,” and “Once In a Lifetime.” Perhaps they stood out to me because they are some of the bigger songs and/or some of my favorite TH numbers, but either way the performances were near perfect. Without a doubt, the most iconic moment in the picture is when we see the fabulous frontman in his lovely “Big Suit,” once again a bizarre, humorous, and ultimately memorable element of the Talking Heads’ craft. All in all, there is very little to nothing I can say bad about this movie. My one complaint, (a very small one) is that at some points it drags a bit on some of the tracks I am less enthusiastic about, such as “What a Day That Was” and “Girlfriend Is Better.” I feel like it wouldn’t have hurt to do some time truncating in these areas. Probably just me, but in the long run, this didn’t really harm my opinion of the performance. In short, for concert films this is top notch and certainly sets the bar for competition.

Grade: A/A-

Boston based shows/fests – DIY, punk, noise