I started this post last night, so I guess it was only fitting that the New York Times would post this article about Lil Wayne this morning. I tend to believe that by the time the New York Times gets around to reporting on a popular music artist, that artist's unique appeal or niche is so well known and traversed that it can hardly be considered news anymore. The Times are good at a lot of things and no periodical is good at everything, so it's obviously forgivable, but I have to admit, I really liked that article.

Lil Wayne is more than a little eccentric and he's probably deserving of plenty of the criticisms leveled at popular rap. He can be misogynistic and certainly references drugs and occasionally violence. But there's something insincere and playful about his discussion of these subjects and I don't think it's fair to put someone like him and someone like Prodigy in the same group. Then again, it's probably not fair to put him and Lupe Fiasco in the same group either, but that's a different point.

Lil Wayne has spoken affectionately about the strong women in his life and about the influence of his mother. As far as I know, he's never actually been involved in any serious violence and his drug dealing seems like it was for a very very brief period. He's been an artist since he was a teenager and I think when he raps about these topics, there's a noticeable cognitive distance from the subject matter. He's clever and I imagine he would be just as popular if popular rap subject matter consisted of different topics. It doesn't and this is the culture he grew up in and sprung out of and thus these are his raps. I just think it's hard not to get behind an artist who says he's the "number one Lakers fan: yellow bottle, yellow bottle; purple bag, purple bag."

This song works because everyone does their job exceedingly well. Even Mac Maine, whose verse is both somewhat offensive and not amazingly exciting, hits a tight flow approaching the hook. But I think DJ Drama is the strongest member of the supporting cast. The swinging horn track and and the gospel vocals give the beat a light bounce, which never really gets muddied by bad rapping or harshly contrasting subject matter, with the exception of the first part of Mac Maine's verse. The entire song is about drinking and smoking and neither of those activities are ever given the Three 6 Mafia smoke-weed-and-kill-someone treatment. They can be, and I believe they mostly are, celebratory activities and they most certainly are in this context. The vocal harmonies here remind me of "International Players Anthem" and I think it's fair to say that both songs benefit from that playful bounce, something that especially benefited a group like UGK. But "International Players Anthem" was not actually as celebratory as this and I think there the harmonies, while sounding amazing, didn't really play well with the lyrical content. "Poppin Them Bottles," on the other hand, sounds like a well-planned package.

"Poppin Them Bottles" - The Dedication 2

OK, OK, I read Status Ain't Hood often. I think Tom Breihan writes accessible and engaging music criticism that's nerdy without being self-indulgent. He also knows how to appreciate an over-the-top rap song and that's definitely something I can get behind. So I have to admit that I wouldn't have known about Crystal Castles if I hadn't read this post earlier today.

I don't listen to enough dance or electronic music to really talk about Crystal Castles' peers or who their influences are. I wish I could, but I'm not going to try because it would just get embarrassing. I can say that Crystal Castles seem to enjoy deconstructing instrumentality to the point where it boarders on distracting noise and weaving it in to a more familiar dance framework. I wouldn't go so far as to that's their sound, at least from what I've heard, but they seem to have an appreciation for controlled chaos and they understand how to direct it. See: "xxzxczx me" on their myspace. You can really push your limits within a song if you give the listeners something to hold onto. That tends to be the beat in these situations, but then again, that's probably the most important anchor a listener can have.

I think Tom Breihan was right to mention screamy basement shows in his post. The vocals in a song like "Alice Practice" have the kind of urgency you'd hear from old Riot Grrl bands and the sort of strain necessary to match the chaos they're engulfed in. They sound reckless without sounding tormented or angry and that tends to be a line a lot of vocalists can't locate.

Crystal Castles own their low-fi sound and I think that's why Breihan's comparison to Justice is inapplicable and unfair. Justice sounds clean and clever, which may be why they've been featured in a recent Cadillac commercial. If we need to get technical, Justice is certainly electronic, but hardly dancey and they're appeal is somewhat predicated on their polish and definitely on their accessible grooves. Justice sounds like they belong in a 2,000 - 4,000 person club with booming bass and a synchronized light show. Crystal Castles sounds like they belong in a packed basement maxing out someone's PA. I just hope they don't lose that sound when they inevitably start selling out larger clubs.

Crystal Castles Myspace

I liked the Distillers a lot from the age of 16 or 17 until I was about 21. My interest kind of started to wane after that. Maybe that was because the Distillers only put out one great album, maybe it was because that album is as aggressive a punk record as I have ever owned, or maybe it was because their later material seemed to lack the urgency of Sing Sing Death House. I actually believe that the band took a turn for the worse when their singer, Brody, started hanging out with Courtney Love, but that's neither here nor there.

I thought Brody's voice was one of the best punk voices I had ever heard. It was a little rough and she often strained it, but she knew when to let up at the right times and could carry a dynamic melody. I guess that's what appeals to me about the Muffs.

The Muffs were one of those bands that I would hear and like, but would never actively listen to on my own. I definitely jumped that hurdle earlier this year when a handful of their songs became the soundtrack for a relentless assault of academic obligations. The Muffs sounds like late 90's punk rock and I often wonder why I didn't listen to them when I was younger. I think it's difficult for a woman-fronted band to be taken seriously in the world of hard rock without being a sex symbol. The bar to make it on talent alone is raised much higher. It is tremendously unfair and I wonder if that had any bearing on them not showing up on my radar. Either way, it was my loss.

"Crush Me" - Happy Birthday To Me

Every memory I have of listening to Digger's "Boy Toy Days" involves highway driving on a beautiful summer afternoon with my windows down and my volume up. My iTunes shuffle feature, which seems to always find the most awful grindcore songs when I just want to relax and listen to music, pulled this one out.

Digger was a pop punk band that was more punk than pop and whose song writing and ideas always seemed to be slightly shortchanged by their recording budget or technical limitations, although it's really hard to tell to what extent the latter had an influence. I always thought there was something charming about that, something really infatuating about a low-fi recording of great songs. Usually, when you see those bands live, the place goes wild. Everyone's been waiting for a chance to hear those tracks without budgetary limitations and sometimes those shows can be amazingly electric.

When I saw Digger play the day I got my driver's license the show wasn't so electric. They played their hearts out to a half full Fireside Bowl, but people weren't blown away. That show is always contrasted in my mind with the Alkaline Trio set I saw the next day where it may have been too crowded to open the door to the bathroom. Comparing those two shows and those two bands says a lot about the emerging trends in popular punk rock at the time and kind of the eventual changing of the guard from pop punk to pop emo (has there ever been a word misused so often?).

I sometimes wonder if a band like Digger could be popular now and then I wonder if Digger was ever really popular. I guess it doesn't matter though. "Boy Toy Days" is still great.

"Boy Toy Days" - Powerbait

I know so little about the Velvet Underground and Lou Reed that I probably should be embarrassed to talk about them. I mean, the Velvet Underground were incredibly important and I've liked Nico for long enough that I have no excuse for not checking out more of their stuff. But that's beside the point.

I heard "Waves of Fear" in my friend's car on the way back from the ESPN Zone where we watched the Packers fall apart in the playoffs. The fretless bass works so well here it kind of blows my mind. Instead of sounding like a jazzy double bass, it gives the song this really great warm, rolling groove. Without that kind of melodic stability the lead guitar would massacre the song. Reed sings with a lot more conviction here than he does on the rest of the album, which is kind of completely necessary given the song's tenor and subject matter.

I can't tell if the drummer is throwing in double bass fills or if he's just really proficient with a single kick, but either way it is incredibly powerful and, in a weird way, pulls the song back towards its heavier rock elements without destroying the somewhat freeform Lou Reed style.

"Waves of Fear" isn't the perfect song, but its exciting to hear people play with the format and sound of hard rock songs and still convey many of the same emotions. Maybe it's time for me to hear some more Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground.

Waves of Fear - The Blue Mask

Whoa. Kanye West has his own search engine. Fucking whoa.

I don't think I was sick more often than the next person when I was in high school, but I do think that I was questionably sick more often than most of my peers. I didn't really enjoy high school and I almost always enjoyed going home more than going to class. Either way, I usually found myself laying around the house for the day, trying to recover and stopping myself from getting too bored.

Hopeless Records used to put out VHS compilations of music videos from punk and hardcore bands. As far as I know, that was one of the only way to see those videos back then. They would occasionally show some of the bigger groups on MTV2 and every now and then you could catch a few on public access, but that was a gamble and I certainly didn't have access to them like I do now with youtube. These tapes were amazing and most people I knew who were into the punk scene owned at least one of them. A sick day meant a day of watching punk videos in bed.

I have very vivid memories of watching Scared of Chaka's video for "All My Friends Are Ghosts" as I laid around the house and tried to recover from whatever brought me home. I remember being unimpressed with the simplicity of the song or the very very low-fi video and I'm sure I skipped past it any number of times. But there's something charming about it, something very unassuming that feels almost radical when held up to current music videos of any genre. Maybe it's just me, but I understand why that's one of the few videos I remember.

My friend Brian reviewed a Super Furry Animals and Firey Furnaces show for the AMG. Check it out!

The screaming, glowing, ever-expanding abyss that is music journalism have so thoroughly assaulted me with reviews and opinions of Vampire Weekend's album, education and fashion sense that I felt compelled to dedicate a decent chunk of time to the album this weekend. I really don't want to repeat all the 100% recycled phrases that have been inextricably sutured onto this record, but yes, there is a serious Paul Simon Graceland influence and yes they like the Talking Heads and obviously come from a well-rounded musical background. The sound is squeaky clean, playful and accessible like a smart romantic comedy. I guess I just don't understand all the attention.

I don't mean to say that Vampire Weekend isn't a good band or that they're undeserving of press, I'm just astonished by the volume. This week, the Village Voice published not one, not two, but three articles discussing the band. They've been reviewed by countless music blogs, Pitchfork, the AV Club and any number of magazines. Vampire Weekend's self-titled album is also their debut, so what makes them so special, so deserving of this extended discussion?

Well, a quick google search and a look at any of those links will tell you that much of the discussion surrounds their privilege and incorporation of afro-pop elements, such as hand drums and any number of smart accompanying instruments (see: woodwinds). The indictment reads that these presumably wealthy Ivy League kids are playfully flaunting the trappings and indicia of their class so that others cannot easily join in. The only thing that's clear is that it's insider humor and the language they use and the scenes they evoke are unfamiliar to a lot of us. I don't know what a Mansard roof is. The afro-pop somehow comes into play here, both because it is an obvious reference and because I'm not sure if everyone is OK with a bunch of rich white kids borrowing so heavily from it.

These criticisms are bullshit. They're grounded in jealousy and reek of racism and classism. When Rich Boy explicitly raps about all the money he has, literally no one says he should stop flaunting his newly acquired privilege. When any hip-hop artist references violence or uses incredibly misogynistic language, he gets a pass. The line is that he's writing about his experiences and using the language he learned from his environment growing up. But the truth is they often get a pass because they're black and because they're language isn't exclusionary. I've seen countless white people in their early twenties speak with in faux ebonics in the company of other white people to amuse themselves. They're sitting at the poor kids table at high school and they know they can get up and leave whenever they want.

Wealth and an Ivy League education are not things that can be feigned and for the large majority of the indie rock consuming public (reads: yuppies) these are things they will never attain. They can't visit this world even if they wanted to and Vampire Weekend doesn't really make it clear if they'd be invited in the first place. What's left is an album full of simple and, at time, very catchy pop songs that will undoubtedly bring more wealth and privilege onto these young men and a lot of people just can't handle that.

I like Vampire Weekend's album. I understand the criticisms. But I think a band deserves to be judged by more than the respective class of its members and if they were coming from the other end of the privilege spectrum, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Website
Myspace

I downloaded the Best of Papoose mixtape without knowing who Papoose was or what to expect and I have to, I'm impressed. The mixtape flows beautifully and is mostly devoid of the omnipresent DJ hyping just about everything, but especially the track he's yelling over. It's kind of like watching a movie with your drunk friend whose already seen it and wants to tell you when the best parts are coming up. But Best of Papoose doesn't do much of that and that works in its favor.

Best of Papoose does an excellent job of showing the different voices of Papoose, flattering each one by pointing to those moments when he's at his best. And when he's at his best, his rhymes are tight and clever and tend to lead towards a larger point, as opposed to getting to the next punch-line or keeping his thoughts within a two or four line parameter. There are plenty of tracks on the mixtape where his rapping has direction and he doesn't repeat the same idea twice. Those tracks also tend to be the more political and personal tracks on the mixtape. Rarely does Papoose sound as in control when he's talking about anything even remotely related to guns or money.

If Wikipedia is telling the truth, Papoose has never released an album, but he's already got some big name producers lined up. I think that's impressive but not surprising. There are plenty of tracks on this mixtape where he does his thing over club or radio ready beats, but devoid of any mention of violence or misogyny. It's always been unclear to me to what extent those topics are responsible for album sales and to what extent they disturb listeners, even to the point where they avoid the artist altogether. So many big rap songs have amazing beats and somewhat upsetting lyrics that it's hard for me to tell if they've been married to capitalize on the marketability of both or if the latter has just been tacked onto the former because, up till now, that's what has always worked. Either way, that dynamic is obviously not as ubiquitous as it once was (see: Graduation) and a Papoose record might be able to give all those big producers a chance to work with a talented rapper who isn't going to need an abacus to score the body count by the end of the album.

The Best of Papoose isn't perfect. There are some dead tracks and it can occasionally feel disjointed, although very rarely. These tracks were obviously recorded over a wide time span and the quality of Papoose's voice tends to vary every few tracks. But these are small things and the mixtape is worth listening to - maybe right now. I'm excited for his album, I just hope he stays in his comfort zone and listens to his political voice. Otherwise, he might just blend in.

Papoose - Best of Papoose