Thursday, May 04, 2006
Quick'n'dirty:
Ghostface Killah's Fishscale is pretty undeniably the album of the year, at least so far. It's clear that Def Jam (thank you, Mr. Carter!) was willing to spend more on its production than Epic would pony up, based on the sheer volume of '70s-soul samples here. I'm particularly fond of the Freda Payne song used on "Crack Spot" (which Elliott Wilson points out here actually isn't the one Def Jam cleared) (link from Nate), and the following Raekwon-featuring "R.A.G.U." sounds like the acest Ghostface classic. "Kilo"'s highly-touted edumacational math lesson is brilliant as well, but don't sleep on Ghost's biggest (solo) single ever, though - the Ne-Yo-hooked "Back Like That" (laced with a bangin' Willie Hutch loop) is a did-me-wrong ugly-side-of-love song like only Ghost could flip it; I'm stunned that R&B stations are giving it love (#21 on this week's Billboard R&B chart!). Fishscale's already certified gold - let's go for platinum. Buy 2 copies. (I didn't even mention that Ghostface is the flyest rhyme-spitter on a major label right now, but you shoulda already known that. His lines are clean like the purest, well, you know.)
For those of you inclined to purchase maxi-singles, I highly recommend Missy Elliott's "Teary Eyed" remixes. (Yes, I know we've already moved on to her great "We Run This" single from the inevitably noxious film Stick It, but bear with me.) The Tiefschwarz mixes are nicely squelchy-glitchy, reminding me of the days of the 1,000 "Get Ur Freak On" bootlegs. AFTC goes peak-hour, with nicely weird results (this ain't no disco, or trance party neither). I've never heard of Sugardip before, but they turn in a pair of solid, albeit super-commercial, takes. Really, though, you buy this for one easy reason: Maurice Joshua does what only he (okay, and MAW and one or two others) can, reshaping Missy's so-so sorta-ballad into a creamy dreamy deep house anthem, complete with a deeper-than-the-holler bassline. The campaign for Joshua's 2007 Grammy (for Best Remixed Recording) starts here.
I've already reviewed Biggie's Duets: The Final Chapter, but it keeps growing on me. "Nasty Girl" is a great single, and "Spit Your Game" is, too. About a further half of the album would be as well. I'd give it a B now, verging on (but not quite) a B+.
Track down the Australian single for Kelly Clarkson's "Walk Away" for a good live version of "Since U Been Gone" and a splendiferous Ralphi Rosario remix of "Walk Away." Avoid the Chris Cox remix of same song at all costs. Rosario's work here is just as fine as his brilliant rub of PCD's "Don't Cha" last year, which should've won him a Grammy - so maybe he deserves it more than Joshua next year...
Great year for Britrock: Art Brut's finally come out in the U.S. (a full year after its U.K. release!), and Editors and Arctic Monkeys are worthy of their hype. I'm quite eager to hear if the Monkeys can keep it up; I've no doubts that Editors, a real honest-to-goodness find (who've clearly been listening to their Bunnymen records, and that's a fucking compliment), can and will.
Ghostface Killah's Fishscale is pretty undeniably the album of the year, at least so far. It's clear that Def Jam (thank you, Mr. Carter!) was willing to spend more on its production than Epic would pony up, based on the sheer volume of '70s-soul samples here. I'm particularly fond of the Freda Payne song used on "Crack Spot" (which Elliott Wilson points out here actually isn't the one Def Jam cleared) (link from Nate), and the following Raekwon-featuring "R.A.G.U." sounds like the acest Ghostface classic. "Kilo"'s highly-touted edumacational math lesson is brilliant as well, but don't sleep on Ghost's biggest (solo) single ever, though - the Ne-Yo-hooked "Back Like That" (laced with a bangin' Willie Hutch loop) is a did-me-wrong ugly-side-of-love song like only Ghost could flip it; I'm stunned that R&B stations are giving it love (#21 on this week's Billboard R&B chart!). Fishscale's already certified gold - let's go for platinum. Buy 2 copies. (I didn't even mention that Ghostface is the flyest rhyme-spitter on a major label right now, but you shoulda already known that. His lines are clean like the purest, well, you know.)
For those of you inclined to purchase maxi-singles, I highly recommend Missy Elliott's "Teary Eyed" remixes. (Yes, I know we've already moved on to her great "We Run This" single from the inevitably noxious film Stick It, but bear with me.) The Tiefschwarz mixes are nicely squelchy-glitchy, reminding me of the days of the 1,000 "Get Ur Freak On" bootlegs. AFTC goes peak-hour, with nicely weird results (this ain't no disco, or trance party neither). I've never heard of Sugardip before, but they turn in a pair of solid, albeit super-commercial, takes. Really, though, you buy this for one easy reason: Maurice Joshua does what only he (okay, and MAW and one or two others) can, reshaping Missy's so-so sorta-ballad into a creamy dreamy deep house anthem, complete with a deeper-than-the-holler bassline. The campaign for Joshua's 2007 Grammy (for Best Remixed Recording) starts here.
I've already reviewed Biggie's Duets: The Final Chapter, but it keeps growing on me. "Nasty Girl" is a great single, and "Spit Your Game" is, too. About a further half of the album would be as well. I'd give it a B now, verging on (but not quite) a B+.
Track down the Australian single for Kelly Clarkson's "Walk Away" for a good live version of "Since U Been Gone" and a splendiferous Ralphi Rosario remix of "Walk Away." Avoid the Chris Cox remix of same song at all costs. Rosario's work here is just as fine as his brilliant rub of PCD's "Don't Cha" last year, which should've won him a Grammy - so maybe he deserves it more than Joshua next year...
Great year for Britrock: Art Brut's finally come out in the U.S. (a full year after its U.K. release!), and Editors and Arctic Monkeys are worthy of their hype. I'm quite eager to hear if the Monkeys can keep it up; I've no doubts that Editors, a real honest-to-goodness find (who've clearly been listening to their Bunnymen records, and that's a fucking compliment), can and will.
# posted by Thomas : 1:06 PM
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"Three Bricks" is awful - it's not just tacked on the end of Ghost's album, it sounds like it; it's obvious why this didn't make the cut for BIG's full-length. The production's surprisingly weak.
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