General Music Discussion

[Nihilego]

oh dear lord i saw something about more kanye west

Don't get me wrong, I do like me some Kanye - but narrowing down what exactly it is about him that I like, I... keep finding myself sorta lost the second I try to step outside of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I mean some of the stuff he did with Jay-Z was cool but I think that was probably more due to the influence from the (imo) significantly better of the duo (seriously, go listen to Reasonable Doubt. His 1996 debut and it's fantastic) and that Gold Digger song was good too but otherwise... eh?

I don't think he's quite all he's cracked up to be and I think a lot of his popularity comes from his attitude - which he had absolutely no reservations showing off in Yeezus. So hearing that he's throwing out another album so close to his last one suggests a load more clearly rushed egocentric nonsense which he'll use to take in yet more money from people trying to cling to any respectable musical ability he once had (and he had it in spades - MBDTF was incredible) and the suckers over at Pitchfork who fell hook, line and sinker for Yeezus (#8 album of the decade so far...) and mostly likely will do again.

The difference with Yeezus, and what honestly gave me a bit of a soft spot for it, was how pretty much hilarious it was. It was almost like Kanye was making a joke out of just how self-indulgent he could be with stuff like I Am A God, but it... didn't stop. The joke got old after a good forty or so minutes of it and the whole thing was summarised neatly by Bound 2. But it's old now; the Yeezus novelty has worn off and another album of that would just be... urgh. Let's hope it isn't. I think Kanye has his good moments. Black Skinhead was awesome for example, as was... pretty much all of MBDTF. But he needs to go back to making music rather than just talking about himself and how great he is and how much he's getting off Kim.

...if it happens at all, haha.


On another note, anyone else read that Pitchfork list? Thoughts?

 

[Rogue planet]

snip

Awesome mate. I don't like the band but I can relate to the feeling you describe. Don't despair! you can have that feeling again. Keep that memory, and remember it when the opportunity to see another band live comes up. Take up that chance again, remember it when you feel down even, take it as an experience and use it to motivate you to see more live music.


As for Kanye. He's adapting, he's changing with the times, he's too fast for most people. I was an MBDTF die-hard fan, greatest album of all time. I hated Yeezus when it first came out. Now, I'm slowly realising that Kanye is ahead of me (I'm catching up slowly). He's doing his own thing. Kanye doesn't have anything to prove any more, he's been there, done that. He's not looking for new fans, he's testing people to see if they can keep up with him. If you can't, no shame, you're one of many. It's worth a try to see if you can though, because it'll be rewarding.

PS. Reasonable Doubt, hellllllll yes.

 

[Eruption]

I saw Panic! at the Disco live last night and it changed my life. The whole experience was just so fantastic and even now I smile thinking about it. It's one of those things that leaves you with the worst depression after it's over because you'll never be able to relive it in person and the memories are great but the passion of the moment was incomparable. So the best parts were the fact ****ing WALK THE MOON (and Youngblood Hawke but I didn't know them, though they were fantastic) OPENED AND I COULD'VE CRIED with how hard I was shivering. I love them sooo much and never heard them live and elheroeoscuro promised that they were more than amazing live and they WERE. They performed a good 8 songs, one of which was new (Sidekick) and it was... so great. Jenny and I Can Lift a Car blew me away, and Anna Sun created the most euphoric atmosphere.

Panic! was great as well. They performed some songs I didn't know, or didn't know the lyrics to, which was expected. They opened with Vegas Lights which was perfect given the countdown at the beginning. That lead into Time to Dance and with the line that goes SHOTGUN READY the crowd was involved as well so that pulled the beginning of the show together. Everything else was just as amazing if not more - they performed Bohemian Rhapsody and killed it in every sense of the phrase.

I've always thought Brendon Urie knows how to put on a show and connect with his crowd, and that was affirmed when in the finale (I Write Sins Not Tragedies) he had the crowd singing the chorus by ourselves twice in a row and then told the band "do that again, that was ****ing fantastic" so we resung the chorus another two or three times and ;__;

so emotional, so grand I might have cried during the end of all things but

can i do it again pls

That sounds amazing honestly and it makes me hope some decent artists swing by my region at some point or another so I can experience a great live show. I doubt I'd take as much of it away from you because it seems like 95% of my emotion was removed at birth, but it would be cool.

Unfortunately I'm indifferent to every act I've seen live so far now, I don't listen to any of them anymore.

Also the crying at The End Of All Things is understandable.

oh dear lord i saw something about more kanye west

Don't get me wrong, I do like me some Kanye - but narrowing down what exactly it is about him that I like, I... keep finding myself sorta lost the second I try to step outside of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I mean some of the stuff he did with Jay-Z was cool but I think that was probably more due to the influence from the (imo) significantly better of the duo (seriously, go listen to Reasonable Doubt. His 1996 debut and it's fantastic) and that Gold Digger song was good too but otherwise... eh?

I don't think he's quite all he's cracked up to be and I think a lot of his popularity comes from his attitude - which he had absolutely no reservations showing off in Yeezus. So hearing that he's throwing out another album so close to his last one suggests a load more clearly rushed egocentric nonsense which he'll use to take in yet more money from people trying to cling to any respectable musical ability he once had (and he had it in spades - MBDTF was incredible) and the suckers over at Pitchfork who fell hook, line and sinker for Yeezus (#8 album of the decade so far...) and mostly likely will do again.

The difference with Yeezus, and what honestly gave me a bit of a soft spot for it, was how pretty much hilarious it was. It was almost like Kanye was making a joke out of just how self-indulgent he could be with stuff like I Am A God, but it... didn't stop. The joke got old after a good forty or so minutes of it and the whole thing was summarised neatly by Bound 2. But it's old now; the Yeezus novelty has worn off and another album of that would just be... urgh. Let's hope it isn't. I think Kanye has his good moments. Black Skinhead was awesome for example, as was... pretty much all of MBDTF. But he needs to go back to making music rather than just talking about himself and how great he is and how much he's getting off Kim.

...if it happens at all, haha.


On another note, anyone else read that Pitchfork list? Thoughts?

I'm not sure, I regularly stalk a rap discussion board and there's basically recurring discussions over which of Kanye's albums are classics. Some go as far as saying all of them, most say College Dropout + MBDTF and a very small minority refute him entirely. There's definitely something to his popularity outside of his arrogance, though obviously the reason he's as big as he is overall is his ability to craft radio hits in the past (Gold Digger, Stronger etc.) while still making merit worthy albums. Personally the only album of his I don't enjoy is 808s and there's still some amazing tracks on there.

Also you could probably reinvigorate your interest in Yeezus for a few weeks by specifically listening out for the occasionally terrible lyrics. Most of which I can't mention here so I won't.

I don't think you can hold out much hope for the new album anyway, one of the tracks previewed so far is called 'Piss On A Grave' and the snippet is just the title of the song repeated with a yeezus type beat in the background.

Anyway, I've recently been listening to Jay-Z's albums in order of release and The Dynasty is so unbelievably underrated. Obviously it doesn't touch Reasonable Doubt, but it's much better than Vol 1-3 and yet I tend to see it ranked lower than all of them.

As for the Pitchfork list, I did see it the other day and Chief Keef is on it when various hip-hop albums are ignored like Jesus Piece and Life Is Good. I can't understand. GKMC is too high as well, it's great but people need to stop trying to promote it as a masterpiece.

 

[maccrash]

yo GKMC is promoted as a masterpiece because it is a masterpiece. this might sound cliched and very white of me to say but it's my favorite hip-hop album of all time probably.

as for Kanye, MBDTF is his one true masterpiece; College Dropout and Late Registration both have their moments but are pretty inconsistent as far as I'm concerned, and Yeezus was mostly awful, half-assed and self-indulgent but Blood on the Leaves and Black Skinhead both bang.

the pitchfork list was pretty much exactly what I expected it to be. do with that what you will.

 

[Eruption]

It's a great album like I said, but I think it just has those few tracks that are a bit sonically weak that stop it short of being a masterpiece. Obviously they're fine on the first listen because they contribute to the story, but as individual tracks they're just a bit poor. Section.80 manages to be very deep without having any weak tracks imo too so it's a bit frustrating. I'm also a bit salty that Cartoon & Cereal isn't on the album since it's my favourite song of his, but oh well.

I don't know, it probably sounds nitpicky, but with albums like Illmatic or MBDTF I genuinely like every track on them and could listen to them whenever.

I do respect that most people would class it as a masterpiece though, just to me personally it isn't.