Shad- Progress Progress (Part 1: American Pie, Part 2: The Future is here)

I have been listening to Shad’s latest album ‘Flying Colours’ for the last two or three weeks and I wish to fully articulate how great the album is in a couple of weeks, cause I am too hyped up by it at the moment that I see myself blurting out words like ‘classic’ and ‘masterpiece’. However one of my favourite tracks on the album comes in Track 7 with this odyssey of ‘The Night the Music Died’. The first verse of the track starts with the lines…

‘The night the music died
There were flashes of massive plane and stock crashes
Flower baskets and caskets
A.I.G. and B.I.G. and C.I.G.-arette ashes’

I personally read the lyrics as a made up future with Mad Max ‘Thunder Dome’ connotations with how damaged the landscape has became a la The King Blues ‘What if Punk Never Happened’ with no music;  but it can also be read looking at different events such as 9/11, The night Biggie died and The Stock crashes and how that affected music. The song is centered around the old Don Mclean classic ‘American Pie’ and one line that says ‘The Day the Music Died’ and by elaborating further on this and constantly singing the ‘American Pie’ hook, there is a spine to the song to let him go off on tangents in the verses. From this crux Shad just delivers quips and some of the best word play i’ve heard in a while, line after line.

Some of my favourite are..

‘She cried “I’m bored!”
Said “Yeah you’re starting to bore us”
Never gone this long without a chorus’

Which is just brilliant. and then follows it up by telling a story of a car he got and traded it for another car and then it was 

‘Stripped and sold for her parts like porn stars‘

Which again is genius, but then follows it up with in my opinion the best couplet in rap this year by rhyming

My mind’s the same as Usain’s footspeed
And that pushed me off the beaten trail
Like a runaway slave on some underground VIA-Rail
Cause we still feel them beats
But I don’t mean Pharrell
I mean we still feel them beats
We were beaten well

That last bit about still feeling the beats as slaves rather than of a fan of Pharrell’s hip-hop orientated beats, is brilliant. Then Shad lambastes the new age of pop-stars who are all about fame and selling sex rather than making great music as he raps

The night the music died it slept with a fan
Put her breasts in his hands
And said “Never sing for less than a grand” bam

If at this point in the song you are questioning Shad’s brilliance as a rapper as well his writing talent he ends his rapping verse with this..

No blaming the products of the products
May the pop cans and Pop-Tarts and pop charts and all stars
And doll parts and stock cars and Walmarts with shop carts
And ballparks with playoffs and day jobs with layoffs between faded soft
And the night the music died nobody investigated it
Just another one of us laying on the Vegas Strip
They close the casket and the case up quick
Guess they figured it was gang related and never gave a shh…

The song is seemingly about to end and then a hauntingly beautiful Bon Iver sounding instrumental from his ‘For Emma’ album echoes in the background whilst Shad quitely sings over it. The track racks up at the 7minute mark and I’m always disappointed it’s ended so soon, the track is incredible, and whilst I’m sure everyone else won’t appreciate it like I am at the moment, you would be a fool not to check it out, A FOOL!

Songs mentioned in this article

King Blues-What if Punk Never Happened

Don Mclean-American Pie

Bon Iver- Flume

Context-Small Town Lad Sentiments (Mike Skinner remix)

This track has been around for a bit now with Mistajam showcasing it on his Radio 1 show but the song now has a video (four weeks ago). The video features Mike Skinner, and this track could easily have featured on Original Pirate Material with lines such as ‘We grew up being told that actions speak louder than words, but you need cash to act and I’m skint – fractions speak louder than verbs’ it is pure brilliance.

Speed Rapping

Now the undeserved buzz concerning Eminem’s return to some kind of form has faded, I have seen a number of people talk about his fast rapping in the third verse. I thought I would have a little look at the art of ‘Speed-Rapping’ and some of the best examples of ‘going-in’ on a track.

Around 2003 with Twista hitting the mainstream, fast rapping became a bit of a sub-genre, but it just entails weak lyrics getting spit really quick with no real flow. When Busta Rhymes fast verse on ‘Look at Me Now’ came out, you had every youtube wannabe spitting the verse, some were impressive but obviously it showed no talent. Below are some of the fastest rappers of all time (I shall omit Twista, because everyone knows about him), and my favourite examples of rappers unexpectedly ‘going-in’ on a track.

Fastest Rappers…

Daddy Freddy

The fast rapping style stems from Dancehall and Ragamuffin music that rappers such as Jaz-O were listening a lot to in 1989. Daddy Freddy made an album with Asher D (Ashley Thomas of Top Boy fame) in 1988 and then joined Congo Natty record label. He also became popular by beating the world record by rapping 598 syllables in a minute.

Twisted Insane

Twisted Insane is one of those rappers that you think that it isn’t all a front and he really is a scary fucking guy, he has got a reputation for being one of the fastest rappers and in the below tune Brainsyck, I have no idea what the fuck he is saying but it’s quick!

Tech N9ne

Tech N9ne is another artist who raps ridiculously fast, he constantly switches up his flow in songs but when it goes for it, it is quick stuff, which he supposedly does to devastating effect in his live gigs as well. Below is a track ‘Be Warned’ which showcases his ability to switch up his delivery and his fast rapping credentials.

Bizzy Bone

Bizzy Bone is one of the funniest and weirdest rappers around, in every interview he seems off his face and admitted that he nearly killed Eazy E’s wife and was part of the group that made ‘Crossroads’ in Bone Thugz and Harmony. Bizzy Bone and Krayzie Bone are two of the fastest rappers around and below is a tune by Bizzy Bone which shows how fast he can rap.

But who really gives a shit, it is usually sped up by the studio and a complete disappointment when they avoid the song all together live, or boycott that particular verse. The best element of ‘going-in’ on a record is the surprise element to it and below is some of favourite examples of this.

Big L- Let Em Have it

The late and great Big L could switch it and suddenly destroy a track as is shown on this track, if I could resurrect him, 2pac or Biggie I think Big L would be rapping over Dj Premier beats for years to come.

Outkast- Return of the G

I wanted to feature another Outkast song than B.o.B due to its popularity and everyone knows how much Andre kills that track. Dre 3000 goes in on ‘Hootie Hoo’ and ‘Gangsta Shit’ but in the first verse of ‘Return of the G’, Andre shows why his latest solo album is so anticipated.

Big Pun ft Fat Joe- Twinz

The late Big Pun is renowned as one of the best lyricists of all time and Twinz is probably his finest hour as from the introduction, Big Pun absolutely owns the track with Fat Joe adding in ad-libs in the background. Hilariously this song came out in 1998, the same year Big Pun and Fat Joe got arrested together for beating a man with a baseball bat and stealing his gold chain.

Kendrick Lamar- Heaven and Hell

K.Dot’s flow on this track from his earlier years show just how it was going to ascend to the greatest voices in rap music at the moment. The old school beat in the background with his hypnotising on point verse is brilliant.

Reasons Why Eminem’s ‘Rap God’ isn’t a return to form

I used to love Eminem, Marshall Mathers LP got me into rap music, his South Park-esque humour combined with Dre’s ability to find the perfect beat was brilliant. I had gone off Eminem after MMLP and wasn’t particularly interested in The Eminem Show but a couple of weeks before the release of ‘Bezerk’ I went through Youtube and found loads of unreleased tracks I hadn’t heard before. Tracks like ‘Till Hell Freezes over’, ‘We Shine’ and the forboding ‘I Do Pop Pills’ showed me why Kendrick could call Eminem an all-time great on ‘Control’ and there would be a distinct lack of naysayers. Now with Eminem’s latest release from forthcoming ‘MMLP2’ in ‘Rap God’ music blogs and different social media sites are rife with comments about Eminem being back to his furious best. I disagree with this and will show why ‘Rap God’ is not a return to form for Eminem and why he is irrelevant in the current rap scene.

The Beat

The biggest problem with the track is obviously the beat, I vented a lot of anger at Dr Dre the first time I heard the track, thinking he completely abandoned his G-Funk roots and produced a wanky trap track. However it was DVLP who produced this song, who has made a couple of songs for Lil Wayne and Rick Ross, which says it all. Having Rick Rubin and Dr Dre as head producers and going for a DVLP beat is kind of like having Lebron James and Kobe Bryant but playing Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones instead. In fact I can’t even believe Rick Rubin allowed this production to be on the album, the intro is solid and the drums come in giving the track promise, then the American Trap beat booms and reverberates like a shit Squash match in the background. It is awful, it is a beat that couldn’t even cut the mustard in Pusha T’s latest album, and for someone as a fan of the early Eminem when he used Labi Siffre, Curtis Mayfield and Led Zeppelin samples to use this shite was depressing.

The Lyrics

Okay the beat has divided a lot of people on the interweb, but the majority of people seem big fans of Eminem’s rapping style and lyrics, it is the reason Rap Genius has been down for the majority of the day, but are they really all that? Some lines are great, yes, but the majority of it shows Eminem stroking his foregone brilliance. It is a long rapping track without a real hook, which is a huge message of intent from Eminem which I like, he’s going back to why there was so much buzz about him in the early years, his brilliant rapping style, not his hit-making credentials.  From the off it features a reference to Slim Shady of yesteryear with an allusion to ‘Remember Me’ and then a comment about Bill Cinton’s sex scandal which was mentioned a lot in the original Marshall Mathers LP. Eminem then gives a nod to his heroes Rakim, Pharoahe Monch and even Lakim Shabazz. Eminem then has a dig at the current scene of rap when he rhymes ‘Rappers are having a rough time period, here’s a maxipad’ which makes it seem like Eminem was retired, but he was actually part of that period, a period which is seemingly behind the rap scene to many commentators. Then a reference straight from 1998 comes out when he starts calling other rappers ‘Gay’ and ‘Fags’ and especially Waka Flocka Flame, which is a bit of a joke considering that he makes more party songs than actual rap tunes. Just to reassert that he is stuck in the Marshall Mathers LP era he brings in a line off of ‘I’m Back’ about the Columbine Massacre which due to Parental Advisory was censored. Then at around the 4minute mark Eminem goes all Busta Rhymes on the track and starts speed rapping but doesn’t really say anything of note during this little exchange live, but it would be ridiculously impressive if he did it live.

Summary

The lyrics show Eminem back rhyming the best he has done in years, the line about Faboulous and Ray J’s beef had me creasing however he has made Marshall Mathers, if he really was a ‘Rap God’ he would be making another independent masterpiece. You don’t see Nas re-making Illmatic or even Kanye West recreating ‘My Beautiful Dark Fantasy’ they are evolving, something which Eminem cannot do. Although I appreciate some of the call-backs to MMLP, it is dated, even the use of words such as ‘Faggot’ and ‘Gay’ seem quite unfashionable in the current rap scene. I’m not even going to mention Eminem’s voice, which is nowhere near as strong as it was 15 years ago, affecting the delivery of many of his quips. Yes this is more like the Eminem people want to hear, rather than that ‘Survival’ and ‘Bezerk’ bollocks, but a true genius moves on, Van Gough only made one ‘Starry Night’ and Eminem can only make one Marshall Mathers LP.

And anyway we already have a Rap-based god.
Lil B!

Test of Time- Classic Albums 30 years on

In 1983 not a lot of great things came out to be honest, Tony Montana was born to become every rappers idol and to be honest the music wasn’t great and that is why I will spend more attention on 1973, which was superb for music. Below are three albums which came out in 1983, but just to prove it wasn’t such a shit year, the McNugget and Mila Kunis were both born in 1983 also.

Metallica- Kill em all

The debut album from Metallica which is regarded as the start of Thrash metal, they brought the genre from the underground into the forefront and were henceforth disciples of the new speed metal orientated genre. Dave Mustaine (creator of Megadeth) had written a lot of the guitar parts of the album but was kicked out, for basically being a boozed up asshole, something Hetfield would later emulate and a student of Joe Satriani in the brilliant Kirk Hammett was brought in. Although it is not Metallica’s finest work which is a debate in itself, this was the birth of Metallica and all the legends and great music that surrounded them afterwards. In terms of playability in 2013, ‘Seek and Destroy’ may be the only track which stands tall as a metal anthem 30 years later.

Talking Heads-Speaking in Tongues

When you imagine the 80’s on the whole, the image that comes to mind is new-wave romanticism, something which David Byrne and the rest of the band embody. On their fifth album ‘Speaking in Tongues’ isn’t a far-cry away from their earlier work with the same synth orientated beats with David Byrne seeing how many words he can fit into a single line. Like a lot of other 80’s records, they are lost to a modern audience with the sound evolving drastically, and the synths sounding very dated. ‘Bringing down the house’ will still do exactly what it says on the tin, and I feel that ‘This must be the place’ and ‘Girlfriend is better’ must be Arcade Fire anthems, but other than those two standouts the album is underwhelming to a modern audience.

U2-War

To a lot of people who know Bono for being a bit of a self-righteous bell-end and songs that feature in the ‘Tomb Raider’ soundtrack, do not appreciate how good U2 were. It was Joshua Tree that sprouted U2 to stadium rock titans, but it was War that planted the seeds. To start any album with a protest song is pretty ballsy, and ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ is just that, although it contains an easy to sing-along hook, the genius in the track comes from The Edge much like a lot of the album. Some of the guitar work on the album is darker and exacting than U2’s other stuff and this stems from The Edge using less echo on this album and it works to tremendous affect with songs like ‘New Years Day’ still holding up thirty years later. To use a modern example, some of the songs have layers that bands such as Foals and Maccabees possess now, but with Bono as a singer it elevates the songs and still sounds superb today.

James Blake and Chance the Rapper-Life Round Here

Good new video from James Blake and Chance the Rapper.

Shad- He say, She Say

Shad’s new album ‘Flying Colours’ is one of it not the best hip-hop album released this year. Check it out!

The Test of Time- Classic Albums 20 Years on

1993 saw the creation of Jurassic Park, Beanie Babies, The Investigation of MJ’s Child Abuse and most importantly Cool Runnings. Some pretty good music came out too, and here is how they fare 20 years on.

Wu Tang Clan- 36 Chambers

The kings of the rap collective that Pro Era, Asap mob and Odd Future have all aspired to be and it all started with 36 Chambers. The reason why Wu-Tang are superior to formerly stated outfits is due to the depth of quality rappers that they possessed in their arsenal. Everyone seems to have a different Wu-Tang rapper, although if a list was compiled, Method Man, Ghostface Killah and ODB may be the most prominent, you cannot underestimate the skill of Raekwon, GZA, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killah and U-God. Even RZA who is predominately a producer shows that he can rhyme with the best. The album is still relevant today, and when you hear tracks such as ‘Protect Ya Neck’ which is just quality bar after quality bar with no hook, you could say this was rap at its purest.  The group steam roll through tracks with nothing to lose and reach their triumphant best during ‘C.R.E.A.M’, and such tracks as well as the album are still genius 10 years later with 36 Chambers maybe being one of the best debut albums ever made.

Counting Crows- August and Everything After

Another superbly created debut album, Counting Crows blend of grunge ideals over soft alternative rock guitar entered the fray with decent reviews but nothing too impressive. Then the single Mr Jones was played all over the radio and people started to take notice, their influences were scattered drawing inspiration from The Band, REM and Bruce Springsteen. Although I think the biggest influence comes from Eddie Vedder in Adam Duritz’s incredibly vulnerable sounding vocals. There is something so confident about this debut album with attempts at different styles and a certain strut which the band failed to replicate on future albums. This was definitely the pinnacle of their career, however when such a great album is made, there can be no shame in this. In 2013 where even One Republic sounds dated to me, some of their Third Eyed Blind sounding tracks do not work, but with tracks such as ‘Mr Jones’, ‘Round Here’, ‘Rain King’ and ‘Murder of one’, it shows how good radio friendly alternative rock could be.

Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese dream

Before I start looking at the album which I haven’t listened to in years I shall state that I hate Billy Corgan (the main singer) with a passion. He is a real life Lex Luthor and a horrible front-person for a band as he constantly comes out with shit which drove away most of the original Smashing Pumpkins line up. If he’s starting his own wrestling league, playing in Michigan and joking about all the girls being ugly, being homophobic or following the Bob Dylan school of thought and playing whatever song he feels like, he is a class-a twat. Okay now onto the album, the production by Butch Vig is brilliant and Billy Corgan’s whinny vocals work really well propped against the screechy guitar licks. Tracks such as ‘Spaceboy’, ‘Disarm’ and especially ‘Cherub Rock’ wouldn’t be radio hits today like they were then, but this is a bad thing cause they are great songs. I don’t think Smashing Pumpkins could survive in the music climate if they started out today, which is a shame as we would never have heard the great ‘Tonight, Tonight’ but then Billy Corgan would just be a bald guy sucking his own ego off.

Snoop Dogg-Doggystyle

In 1993 the West Side beats which are prominent on Doggystyle, which Dr Dre became famous for post-NWA fame are somewhat dead in 2013. The wavy funk inspired beats which became known as G-Funk is what set this album apart from everything else at the time, and propelled Snoop into the star he is today before his latest reincarnation as Snoop Lion. With singles such as ‘What’s My Name’, ‘Gin and Juice’ and ‘Doggy Dog World’ it’s easy to see why some critics called it merely a homage to George Clinton. However with Snoops relaxed and smooth vocals it turned Dre’s production into some great songs which spurned a host of copy-cat artists years later. The beats may feel outdated in 2013, but the only reason for that is because Dre perfected them in 1993 and then later with The Chronic, G-Funk was perfected and Snoop and Dre were its masters.

Honorable mentions of albums I nearly wrote about

Souls of Mischief-93’ till Infinity
A Tribe Called Quest-Midnight Marauders
Nirvana- In Utero
Blur- Modern Life is Rubbish
Radiohead- Pablo Honey

The Test of Time- Classic Albums 10 Years On

Some things get better with age such as a fine whiskey and Elizabeth Hurley whereas some things don’t age as well, for instance the film Dr No and Marlon Brando. I thought I would look at albums that were released 10 years ago in 2002 or 2003 and how they fare now.

                               

 

Original Pirate Material- The Streets

The album which heralded the arrival of a new working class idol in Mike Skinner, this album became the soundtrack to boozed up nights and smoke up’s across the country. Just like Bruce Springsteen sang about the New Jersey plight and girls called Rosalita, Mike Skinner created poetry-esque rhymes about nights out in London and not mugging yourself off with girls. The album has so many different aspects to it, which are just as significant now as they were then. The funny rhymes on tracks like ‘Too Much Brandy’ are still hilarious and the garage infused beats on songs like ‘Weak Become Heroes’ are still fresh sounding. Mike Skinner’s life drastically changed after the release of this album and he was no longer having to record vocals in a cupboard like he did for some tracks on OPM, but this is when he was at his underdog best. Just as he says ‘Cult Classic, not bestseller’ and that’s exactly what Mike Skinner has achieved. It is a superbly produced record which for me still gets a weekly play ten years after he told us that ‘You’re going mad//Perhaps you always were//But when things was good you just didn’t care’.

Youth and Young Manhood- Kings of Leon

This was the first Followill Family record the world had heard and allowed Kings of Leon to explode on to the scene as a 21^st century Creedence Clearwater Revival. The album wasn’t afraid to show off its inspiration with some Thin Lizzy like riffs and the southern rock vocals and beat which was huge in the 70’s. From the aptly named opening guitar in ‘Genius’ to the Fifa endorsed ‘Red Morning Light’ the record showed something that the band is desperately trying to recapture in their latest offering and that is some fun and passion. Some of the lyrics are stupid, some of the production sounds like a Garage Rock band, but that’s why it is brilliant, it’s not perfect but rock never should be and with tracks such as ‘California Waiting’ and the hidden track ‘Talihina Sky’ it is some of the best song-writing the group have done. In retrospect and analysing how the band became such Stadium rock behemoths, this album features some of their finest tunes and still sounds exciting and fun ten years into the future.

 

Boy In Da Corner- Dizzee Rascal

The Mercury award winning album which graduated Dizzee from Roll Deep and petty feuds with MC Crazy Titch to become one of the most important voices in UK music. This privilege he has since abandoned with his latest two albums and a strange attempt to pretend he is from Houston. However this album at the time was a massive landmark for Grime as a genre and what made this album great was ruined by Maths + English as they tried to get him to rap slower and be more US-Friendly. Dizzee has since stated that this album was the limits to his production skills, but by claiming that he made the beat for ‘I Luv U’ in ten minutes is astounding. Most of the album is still relevant and a good listen ten years later with songs such as ‘Paranoid’ and ‘Jezebel’ being favourites of mine, although some tracks in ‘Stop Dat’ and ‘Do It’ do not translate as well with every person with a basic knowledge of Fruity Loops being able to replicate the beats.

 

The Black Album- Jay-Z

I wish this was Jigga’s last album, I wouldn’t have minded him bringing out singles such as ‘D.O.A’ and ‘Niggas in Paris’ but Blueprint 3 and Magna Carta are a travesty compared to how great The Black Album is. From the Kanye West produced comeback single in ‘Encore’ to Neptunes made hit ‘Change Clothes’ this album showcased everything that was great about Jay-Z. The album features some of Jay-Z’s best tracks in ’99 Problems’, ‘Lucifer’ and ‘Public Service Announcement’ and although some of it sounds a bit dated, only in the respects that ‘Ready to Die’ sounds a bit dated because it doesn’t feature Hudson Mohawke’s shitty beats. The Black Album has a place as one of the best rap albums of the 00’s and it still sounds superb today at Jay Z at his hungry best.

Justified- Justin Timberlake

I know Justin Timberlake obviously had the look, the voice and the moves but he has to thank three people which really propelled his career to become the star he is today and not Chris Kirkpatrick. Chris Kirkpatrick was a member of Nsync but you wouldn’t know that because he didn’t releaseJustified! But the 3 people that JT is forever indebted to are Pharrell Williams,Chad Hugo from the Neptunes and Michael Jackson. Pharrell and Chad were the brains and beat-makers behind the whole album, reportedly they were listening to a lot of Earth Wind and Fire when they came up with the sounds, and the production on the album is completely on point. The reason JT has to thank the late Prince of Pop is because the songs were made for Michael Jackson but he turned the album down. To be honest  some of the tracks on the album such as ‘Take me Now’ and  ‘Let’s take a Ride’ are fillers but with huge anthems in ‘Senorita’, ‘Like I love you’ and ‘Rock Your Body’ the majority of album sounds great ten years later.

The Libertines- The Libertines

Released in 2004 about a decade prior to the cautionary tale that Pete Doherty is today, the indie classic in ‘The Libertines’ was released to mass appreciation. Indie rock has taken a smashing in the charts recently still trying to recuperate from the damage The Kooks did to the genre, but the album The Libertines shows the genre at its decadent and self-indulgent best. The magical guitarist and singer relationship shared by Carl Barat and Doherty was reminiscent of Rolling Stones and Mick Jones of The Clash fame’s production on tracks such as ‘What Katie Did’ fortify this album as a British Classic. The music world has moved on and seemingly forgotten about The Libertines but tracks such as ‘What Became of the Likely Lads’ will always evoke a football firm-esque sign-along. It seems dated in 2013 but I will always remember Pete at his best when he sings ‘The Boy kicked out at the world//And the world kick back a lot fucking harder.’

The Rock Revival 2013

It is a tired debate that Hip-hop and dance has eclipsed rock in terms of popularity with rappers and super-DJ’s being heralded as the new era of rock stars. It is a debate I feel has been ignited through the years with the rise of Disco in the 70’s, and the birth of Gangster rap in the early 90’s stoking the anti-rock fire. But for the first time in a number of years, Rock is making a mini revival which I feel will continue on to the advent of next year, and below I list a couple of reasons why this is happening.

House Music isn’t cool anymore

In the post-dubstep vacuum, house music proved triumphant with an element of Nu-Disco (I hate the term too) creeping into the fray through the sudden rediscovery of the genius that is Nile Rodgers. Many people (myself included) were wankily calling the Summer of 2013, the Summer of Disco. I don’t know what I expected from this, whether it was people loved up listening to Donna Summer in Morrisons but it never really came to fruition. There is no need for another ‘Disco Demolition Night’ a la 1979 and this is quite significant as house/disco isn’t an anti-establishment movement anymore, it had risen from The American scene (or Belgium scene according to The Guardian) and with the accessibility of the internet, infiltrated the music and pop culture of UK in 2012-2013. That is the thing though, everyone now listens to House music, every Geoffrey, Francis and Rufus (My posh university equivalent of Tom, Dick and Harry) is sharing the latest reincarnation of a Nile Rodgers/Rick James riff via social media. The kind of edge that house music used to possess had disappeared. I know many people don’t care about this, and will judge the music on how it sounds, but that is the thing, on the whole the sound hasn’t evolved and it is evident by Julio Bashmore trying to reproduce his best work and failing miserably. I will happily go and see George Fitzgerald, Ben UFO and anyone on Moda Black and have a good night but the time for scanning the internet for another tired mix featuring Storm Queen’s MK dub are over. With October now very much under way I feel like the sun has gone down on us and everything that House music embodied.

Some of the best rock albums of Recent Years have come out

Rock music in the last year or so had seemed exhausted and un-inspired; it was clear with all the buzz of Green Day’s triple album that people were hoping it would become the catalyst for a rock revival. All three albums were complete shite and rock music stagnated with Deftones and The Black Keys making the only great rock albums of 2012 I can remember, with Enter Shikari’s album at least being quite experimental and unique. But now in 2013 Rock music is firing on all cylinders, Arctic Monkeys just made arguably the best album of the career with it reaping in more praise every time I listen to it. Alter Bridge have just released a fantastic new album, hoisting Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy on to the hard rock throne left vacated by Axl Rose and Slash. In terms of Pop-punk The Wonder Years have become a mouthpiece for the movement, making in my opinion the best pop-punk album since Deja Entendu in ‘The Greatest Generation’. In other areas, Balance and Composure are filling the void left by Jesse Lacey’s disappearance and in the British scene, Deaf Havana have progressed from a whiny screamo band to promising students of the New Jersey rock scene. I have probably missed a number of albums and I haven’t even mentioned the new Pearl Jam album which is incredible with them back to their best and a new Arcade Fire set to come out soon. For the first time in a couple of years there is a certain buzz and excitement surrounding the rock scene and it is flourishing.

Kanye West

The other day Kanye West on Jimmy Kimmel remarked ‘I am a creative genius’ and whilst others screwed their face or shouted in shock, I didn’t bat an eyelid. He was correct in stating that it isn’t socially acceptable to state such a thing (just to assure everyone he isn’t a maniac) but he would be lying to himself if he didn’t say that. He is a 100% correct, he is an absolute genius. College Dropout came out in 2004 and affected music for the next couple of years. Pharrell and the Neptunes team get a lot of credit for becoming the pioneers in Hip-hop and pop music for a while but Kanye West through Twista’s career, College Dropout, John Legend and Common’s brilliant album ‘Be’, showed the softer side of rap music. He erupted on to the scene and a number of copy-cat rappers and production followed (although they were all J Dilla copy-cats). Then came 808 Heartbreak, Kanye West again stamped his mark on pop culture on music, although not in a positive way this time by giving the world auto-tune and those fucking shit shutter glasses. Now Kanye West has just produced his most controversial and difficult album in Yeezus. Kanye West now holds a key to enter the hip-hop kingdom but has thrown it away, he doesn’t want to be part of it, he wants to own it and it’s this ambition and hunger which is going to have a massive ripple across all music and in particular rock music. Kanye uses a lot of punk-inspired sounds on his latest album, it is angry; it is the sound of rebellion that we haven’t heard in such a succinct way in a while. There is such reason for anger and although Kanye was only voicing his own personal grievances, I guarantee the consequences that album will have will be huge on the music scene.

Summary

I know a lot of these thoughts are controversial and people will laugh at them, and some of them are simple postulating about something we won’t know the answer about for a while, but in my opinion the souls of Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix are long gone but exist new ones to transform and renovate the state of Rock music. However I believe that the restoration of a once great genre which took over the underground as well as the pop scene is very much underway.