Oct 23, 2015

Eminem - The Hills Remix
7.5/10

 

Oct 23, 2015

Yep, last night. I wrote that mini-review prior to re-listening but I enjoyed it more this time.

 

Oct 23, 2015

Give it a few more spins - I think it's not only their most accessible, but all around best (Microcastle is a close second, but a bit tougher to get into).

Enjoying Fading Frontier a lot!

 

Oct 27, 2015

Eminem Slim Shady LP- 9.5/10

 

Nov 1, 2015

Jay Rock - 90059 - 7.5/10

Care to explain?

 

Nov 1, 2015

It didn't really wow me, it was lyrically rich, yes, but d--- near none of the songs were all that memorable (due to the "meh" production for the most part), i never find myself going back to listen to them (except like two tracks). Sonically/aesthetically it just wasn't as exciting as disc 1 for me.

 

Nov 1, 2015

Just curious, where would you put Doc. 2 and 2.5 if you were to rank all his solo studio albums?

 

Nov 1, 2015

Doc 2 for 2nd place (after Doc 1)
Then Doctors Advocate for 3rd.
Then Doc 2.5 for 4th.

 

Nov 1, 2015

I'm probably the only person who'd put the original Documentary under Doctors Advocate and the Doc. 2 and 2.5 lol.

Fair enough though. Thanks for explaining why you don't like 2.5

 

Nov 6, 2015

Eminem Marshal Mathers lp - 9.8/10

 

Nov 6, 2015

The Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death - 10/10

 

Nov 9, 2015

Raury - CPU ft.RZA
10/10

 

Nov 9, 2015

Kanye - wolves

10/10

 

Nov 9, 2015

Dean Blunt - The Redeemer

If you've ever been through depression, you get to a phase where you just feel empty. You're just going about your day for the sake of it, not really having any feelings but dread. *The Redeemer* is an album that perfectly encapsulates that feeling of emptiness. As I stated earlier, the album is about a breakup or some sort of heartbreak, vague in its story and out of chronological order.

Compared to his work with Hype Williams and his previous album, *The Redeemer* is a change of pace, as the electronic elements of his previous work are toned down in favor of strings, guitars, piano, field recordings, and some brass and percussion. Besides some synths here and there (specifically on the track "Need 2 Let U Go"), a lot of the electronics used on the album are mostly sampling work, building upon already eclectic production.

As I sort of alluded to, the album is structured very oddly, unlike another breakup album which shares a lot of similarities, Björk's *Vulnicura*. *Vulnicura* is mostly structured in chronological order of the breakup (the before and after), while Blunt plays with the timeline, as the entire album is essentially a look into his mind reminiscing on the breakup and the relationship.

Another thing Blunt does throughout the album that goes outside normal structure is the number of skits, interludes, and instrumental pieces he throws in the tracklisting, all of which are either beautifully composed/produced and emotionally striking, as most of the skits are voicemails from an unknown female voice, whose somewhat distorted voice can be heard talking about uncertainty of where the relationship's going ("V"), telling the guy (Blunt) to leave her alone ("Dread"), and a quick "nevermind" and hanging up ("Predator"). “V” and “Dread” both end with the message that you need to “defend your girl.”

On the second track "The Pedigree," we see Blunt taking on an "alpha" role, telling this girl that she's "just another lady," but through the emotions in his voice, we can tell this is alphaness is all just a facade, especially with his delivery on the closing line "Call me when your heart is empty / Happy we can still be friends." The entire album in general seems to play on Blunt’s insecurities and tearing himself down as a person.

“Demon,” my favorite song on the album possibly, is a 5 minute epic of contained anger, as the pounding drums and vocal samples in the background play into the emotions of Blunt as he seems to coming to the realization that his girl is cheating on him, building up that anger with recordings of bottles breaking and car alarms going off as a robotic female voice tells him “So what did you do? / What you did was wrong / wrong.” Towards the end we also get a great vocal appearance from Joanne Robertson, who also shows up on the acoustic track “Imperial Gold.”

Because of the odd structure the album has, Blunt is able to look at his failed relationship from multiple aspects. We can see how things were in the beginning with the track “Make It Official” which purposefully tries too hard to be sexy and instead comes off as awkward (and even a little creepy) like someone might be at the beginning of a relationship. On the lush title track, Inga Copeland starts things off with a mumbly verse criticizing Blunt for not being close enough, tying into the voicemail themes of defending your girl. Also, this song features a Puff Daddy sample that is probably the best thing he’ll ever do musically as his distorted voice yells “What I'ma do now? /
It's all f----- up now,” representing that the relationship is broken beyond repair.

Now, whenever you go through a breakup, sometimes you feel like a part of you was taken away. Blunt illustrates this feeling perfectly on “Papi” with the simple repeated line of “you bring out the best of me,” also mentioning his own faults in the relationship in a vague manner that still gets the point across. On this album, Blunt is able to add depth to what appears to be simple lyrics thanks to his delivery. He’s extremely vulnerable throughout album, but with tracks like this and previously mentioned “The Pedigree,” he still feels the need to bring upon a tough exterior to fight these insecurities.

One of the tracks where he lets down this tough exterior is on the track “Need 2 Let U Go,” the only track where Blunt uses vocal manipulation on himself, adding a level of distortion and lo-fi-ness to his voice, almost trying to mask this break in character. This track also ties back into “Demon,” as Blunt mumbles “I know what I did was wrong” repeatedly, letting the listener decide whether or not he’s bullshitting this girl, not taking the consequences for his mistakes and wrong-doings.

Also, I should mention the instrumental tracks, which include the opener “I Run New York,” “Flaxen,” “Seven Seals of Affirmation” and “All Dogs Go To Heaven” are produced extremely well, as the first two tracks are mostly sampled based ("I Run New York" flat out steals a sample), while “Seven Seals of Affirmation” mixes plucky guitars over field recordings of water and “All Dogs Go To Heaven” mixes Hendrix-esque guitars, a pretty synth line, and soft drums playing off more like a slow 5 minute improv session than a composed track.

The last actual song on this album, “Brutal,” is the conclusion of the album’s story Blunt has told us, but not necessarily the real story. We see Blunt deal with feelings of jealousy (“you gave your a--- to someone else”) , arrogance (“you will fall from grace without me”), hope (“I can do my thing without you here”), disappointment (“when you would call my name, I would never be here”), and heartbreak (“it has gone away, but I’m still here”). Through these feelings it’s easy to tell he isn’t over the breakup, but he’d like to think he is. And then the album ends with one last voicemail, saying “You have no more messages," ending the album on a cold note.

*The Redeemer* is an album that deals with complex emotions, emotions that become so tangled and intertwined that it leads to a number of hypocrisies. There are no heroes and villains in this album, there are people. Blunt does not make himself look favorably in this album, and neither does he make his ex look favorably either, he simply tries his best to lay out the story of his breakup through his perspective, which in turn he’s interpreted into this amazing but disjointed album.

9.8/10

Read the full write-up here.

 

Nov 9, 2015

Radiohead - Kid A
f---ing 10/10

 

Nov 10, 2015

The Game - The Documentary 2 - 8.5/10

 

Nov 11, 2015

Disintegration - The Cure
classic/classic

 

Nov 11, 2015

The Game - The Doctors Advocate - 10/10
Classic

 

Nov 26, 2015

Grimes - Art Angels

What can I say about this lovely girl who delivered once again? It's in her blood to drop classics after classics.

9/10

 

Nov 26, 2015

Ice Cube - I Am The West - 8.5/10