Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds release another single

If you read my previous post about Nick Cave, you'll know that I have a huge love for his music. He released another song and it made me anticipated the album even more. The track is nice and simple like the previous one and a nice return to the more serious ballad side of Nick Cave.

 I'm willing to bet that the album will sound more like his album The Boatman's Call with a little more instrument arrangement, which sounds awesome to me. This sounds more like a band effort and not just solo Nick Cave like Boatman's Call.

ASAP Rocky LongLiveASAP album review

ASAP Rocky has come a long way since the hip hop world first gain noticed of him with his hit song 'Peso'. His LiveLoveASAP was a huge hit in 2011. Most of 2012 consisted with ASAP Rocky rising more to fame because one of the most known new artist and gaining respect from other well known artist like Drake who put him on tour with him.

While I like ASAP a whole lot, it always struck me as odd that he was from New York yet adapted a southern like flow. But that's one of the reasons he became so known and even though there are better southern rappers that are more 'true southern' ASAP Rocky doesn't really come off as a poser since you can tell that he is a huge fan of that style of hip hop and forms it in a unique way. This also causes many of his fans to tick me off when they claim that he is the best thing out there because of his flow, but that's just me being an hip hop elitist.

Listening to this album though I started to think that his whole style might have only worked once for me. This is pretty much more of the same with a little more mainstream appeal to it. I found myself being sort of bored by some of the songs wanting to just skip them to find a better one. Not that they were bad, some were okay but it was all the same type stuff. I feel this album is more of a mainstream type of ASAP Rocky with plenty of guest on the album. I never was that fond of Fucking Problem when I first heard it but it sort of grew on me over time because of it airplay on the radio. Although I feel I liked the song more because of the awesome guest on it especially Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz on the chorus, and hell even Drake which I don't really like.I usually hate albums filled with guest, I actually feel that this album benefits from it. I'm not saying that the album is filled with guest, which it's not, but it has enough to get ASAP Rocky attention from a more mainstream appeal, which seems to be what ASAP Rocky is trying to do with this album. Still don't believe me when I say that ASAP Rocky is trying to get mainstream appeal? Go listen to Wild for the Night. Keep listening. Do you hear it? Yes that is a dubstep track. More specifically Skrillex. Now do you believe me?

It seems like I'm bashing the album and ASAP Rocky. But there are things that I liked about the album. Even though its all the same from Rocky in terms of rapping its still fun to listen to if you are a fan and his beats are always on point.

Okay that's something those are things that I liked. Here is something I LOVED. The track 1 Train was the best thing on the album and the best thing to come out in 2013 yet. Even though I heard it when it leaked in December it's still amazing and technically a 2013 track. What's so great about the track? ASAP Rocky, Joey Badass, Kendrick Lamar, Action Bronson, Big KRIT, Yelawolf (Which I don't usually care for but he did a good job and didn't distract me) and the one and only Danny Brown. Every rapper made this track amazing, no weak rhymes here, everyone brought there all to it. If you were to ask me to rank them, I couldn't even think who would even be the weakest because they all did so damn good.

So the final word on the album: If you are a big ASAP Rocky fan and don't expect much but just Rocky doing Rocky, get the album. If you don't like him, don't get it. If you like ASAP Rocky but have more knowledge on other southern hip hop artists than the normal ASAP fan, get it just for 1 Train. 

Jon Connor

Jon Connor has been here for a while but I feel a lot of people are sleeping on him (He even knows this by naming one of his albums While You Were Sleeping). Even though he hasn't put out anything out lately, I feel its not to late to simply just try to convince you why Jon Connor is the most underrated and slept on artist right now.

Jon Connor just seems to get better and better and it blows my mind that he is not signed and that he is not as well known among casual hip hop fans. With a hand full of mixtapes Jon Connor is always consistent. His lyrics are raw, honest, personal, deep, and intelligent. His flow is excellent and makes the songs engaging to listen to, you get the feel that Jon Connor is hungry to be known by just letting it all go on his tracks. He can be serious, laid back, or just go hard. He has lots of range and can nail each one.

If I had some complaints about Jon Connor it has to be two things. 1: The production on his mix tapes are decent but I feel if he collaborated with a producer he shares chemistry with he could really achieve more success and get more well known. 2: His lyrics are great and on point but at times he seems repetitive rapping about how the current state of hip hop is lacking substance and how he is the real thing.

 Although those two complaints kinda pointless since Jon Connor does not sound like he wants a huge audience. He is content on just giving it his all for the true fans that listen to his music. He is a rapper that raps for his fans and only for his fans; Jon Connor is not worried about achieving a great mass audience. He knows his music is not for the radio, he knows his music is true hip hop. He claims he is 'The Peoples Rapper' and I fully agree.

Jon Connor did something that completely blew me away last year. He released a mixtape titled The People
Rapper LP. Being from Detroit, he decided to rap over Eminem beats on the entirely mixtape. Now Im not a fan of Eminem, at one point in time Ill agree that he was really good though. I was nervous about the listen at first since it sounds like he might be doing a sort of beat cover album that lacks Jon Connor. I was wrong, way wrong, Jon Connor borrowed these beats and honored the Detroit legend by showing love with shoutouts in the beginning. Jon Connor set fire on each song, lots of the songs had a great aggressive energy that the beats provided. He totally made the beats his own and dropped some of his best lyrics, showing his more aggressive and personal side.

So in 2013 don't be sleeping on Jon Connor cause he literally is The Peoples Rapper and he is hear to give you good music. Make sure to check out The Peoples Rapper LP and While You Were Sleeping, free downloads on DatPiff.com.

David Bowie still relevent in 2013? A Short David Bowie Retrospect

Does anyone really care about David Bowie in 2013? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE David Bowie. He has had so many CLASSIC albums and changed the game with albums like Low, also Heroes might be my favorite song ever. I even enjoyed the last two albums on first listen but never listened to them ever. Personally I feel Bowie should ditch music for a now and make more movies cause hes a really good actor.

 Does anyone care for a new Bowie album in 2013? Maybe the die hard fans but I feel his creative peak was during the 70s and start of the 80s. From his first album to Scary Monsters, David Bowie changed the rock world and created new trends and made interesting music. He made glam rock cool, he made electronic music become more accessible, made masterpieces of rock, he hung out with Iggy Pop (the godfather of punk) and was just a hugely interesting dude.  My favorite Bowie story is when he made Station To Station, the legend goes that Bowie was so high off cocaine that he does not even vaguely remember that time in the studio nor making the album. His diet was red chilli peppers and milk. He was under 100 pounds. That's a lot of cocaine!

Bowie's most creative era has to be the "Berlin Era". When he realized he had to let go of his addiction he moved to Berlin and become friends with the great Brian Eno (the godfather of electronic music?). During these years Bowie made three albums that were very different from his previous work and from the mainstream,. Low, Hereos, and Lodger were the albums and they were mainly electronic based with lots of emotion streaming throughout. I personally consider Low a masterpiece along with Ziggy Stardust and are two of my most prized vinyls in my collection.

Most of the 80s for Bowie consisted in the mainstream with hits like Let's Dance, Modern Love, and Under Pressure. Although during the 80s his career started to go to into the mainstream. His music was not interesting and this continued into the 90s and as we know now the present. I will say though that Let's Dance is an amazing fun, catchy, mainstream album. I mean come on. Let's Dance, China Girl, Cat People. So much fun Bowie tunes.

So in 2013 do we really need a new David Bowie album? I would say no. But he is still a legend in my eyes.

Heres his website with his new single along with a video that looks like it was directed by David Lynch
http://www.davidbowie.com/the-next-day

Atoms For Peace New Single

Atoms For Peace has released a new single. Although I'm not to into this Thom Yorke side project, I still will listen to it cause I love everything Radiohead/Thom Yorke (my favorite band of all time). The songs they released really remind me of Yorke's solo album, which I loved. So maybe once the album is released my opinion will change on the super group, as for now its just exciting to hear more of Yorke's voice coming out of my speakers.

Check out the singles they have released and decide for yourselves. The first two were previously released and the last one was just released today.

Isaiah Rashad

Ive never heard about this guy until a couple days ago. I was very impressed by this kid. He has a very nice flow, nice lyrics, and great production in the songs I heard. At first I thought he was gonna be a average youngster rapper but something about his flow and rhymes caught my attention. Sure he is still a young kid but he seems a lot more mature and have much more talent than most his age in the scene right now.

Here are a couple of videos and his soundcloud

 https://soundcloud.com/isaiah_rashad

First Fridays with Lord Huron & Wildcat! Wildcat! 1/4/13

Approaching The Natural History Museum a bit before 8:00, we noticed a sign reading: SOLD OUT. It came as no surprise though since both of these bands have been getting more recognition this past year, 2012. Lord Huron, being featured on KEXP’s Youtube channel as well as the Rollo Grady and Daytrotter blog sites. Wildcat! Wildcat! was being spread throughout the Youtube channels that host all types of interesting new artists. Both bands are local to Los Angeles, which makes this spot, NHM, a great place for a performance.

            After paying for general admission and barely making it to Wildcat! Wildcat!’s opening my friend and I paced around the downstairs part of the exhibits. The bands were playing in a room on one half of the museum, while other rooms with different themes were open too.  It was something different. Wildcat! Wildcat! as always, brought their catchy and up lifting sounds to the show. Wearing tan dress suits, the band kept the sound full and even grabbed the outside audience’s attention. After they finished their set with the song “Mr. Quiche”, it was time for Lord Huron to hit the stage...

            The upstairs exhibits were also open for members of the crowd to walk through different natural habitats. From the prairies to the rain forest it was like a nostalgic flash back in the museum. As 9:00 grew closer, it was time to head back down stairs for the second and final performance by Lord Huron. Not before we took pictures by the large dinosaur skeleton in the main lobby.

They started of the set with a mainly acoustic
song leading the band to play a personal favorite, “The Man Who Lives Forever”. When the drums and percussion kicked in everything was grooving. Fans in the crowd were dancing, smiling and just having a good time. It must have been the bongos or maybe it was the higher end guitar riffs, whatever the band was doing it was being done right! Lord Huron can easily be enjoyed by ages of all sorts, which gives them so much potential in 2013.

After the show, members from Wildcat! Wildcat! were selling vinyl’s and shirts. My friend bought a vinyl, which they autographed and mentioned an up coming album. Hopefully soon. All in all it was a great experience and I hope to go back to another First Friday.