Music Monday: How I got Over by The Roots

All rejoice, The Roots have just put out another great album. I have to admit, I was worried. Their previous album, Rising Down was only a shadow of their masterpiece Game Theory. Then, to the surprise of many, they signed on to be the backing band for the unfunny-man Jimmy Fallon. Long time fans including me feared that they were selling out, would stop touring and not release anything. The Roots shatter these fears by releasing a focused, mature work, album calling back to their early days as a soul/jazz group with rapping over the top.

How I got over finds them stripped down to keys, guitar, drums, bass, and vocals, with only a few of samples that had beefed up every album since Phrenology. Spending every day playing together as band has made them once again a band. Their playing with various guest artists on Jimmy's show has also made their sound a bit more eclectic, especially when it comes to guest stars who include Joanne Newsome, Monsters of Folk, and John Legend.

The album starts with a dark, chilled out into that sets up a great vibe that continues through most of the album. Every song flows into the other and most songs are catchy and have a great groove. It sounds like an album Curtis Mayfield would make if he was a hip-hop artist. Not until the last two tracks does the album loose its momentum and not surprisingly, these are the two most "typical" hip-hop tracks on the album. The closer "Hustla" is terrible in my opinion.

Hardcore hip-hop fans may be alienated by this album and they have every right to be. This album has "sellout" written all over it to those who haven't really payed attention of The Roots. It is just a further evolution of their sound. They have skirted the line of hip-hop, jazz, and rock for years. Will this push them into the mainstream? Maybe. "Dear God 2.0" is getting a lot of radio play. I can see many singles/itunes-orientated listeners finding the album boring, it is a start to finish type affair. This is another great album for haters of hip-hop to start.

Searching for the perfect Beach

I rode off on a hot summer day to search for the perfect beach. There are many places in our chain of lakes to stop off for a dip, but few lack the milfoil or crowds to be considered a perfect beach. There needed to be some people though. An empty beach can be nice, but people watching is one of the best parts of a beach visit. Too many people though and it looses all serenity of being close to a body of water. I eliminated Lake Calhoun from my search. As much as I do love seeing half the female population of Minneapolis nearly naked, I wanted to write and this would prove too distracting. So I headed North, to the Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake. The first didn't seem to have any beaches, but was gorgeous and deserted. Being only three feet from Lake Calhoun, it confuses me that it is not more crowded.

It took me a while to even find Cedar Lake, since I took the wrong trail and ended up near downtown. Cedar Lake, once I found it, was lovely. The trails were only paved in sections and it seemed quite secluded, despite being in a pocket between a series of highway interchanges. The first beach I came to was the East Beach, but it seemed just like Calhoun with some trees. I biked around for a while, passing hidden lagoons that were already discovered by earlier riders. Finally, I came across the type of beach for which I was searching. Cedar Point beach. I don't know if this is the perfect beach in Minneapolis, but I was craving a dip in the lake after eight miles of random biking in the hot June sun.

The water was cold and relatively clean. There was plenty of room for sitting, yet enough people around to provide a city ambience. From the point, I could see at least three other beaches that also looked relaxing. There is the legendary Hidden Beach, the hippie hang famous for its joint circles and topless sunbathing. (Post journal note: Hidden Beach is not so hidden anymore. The aforementioned East Beach is Hidden Beach.) To explore the other beaches, I'll just have to spend more days in the sun, reading, writing, swimming and people watching, much like I did for months in Australia. Maybe "home" is a cooler place than I originally realized.

Annapurna Circut vs. Everest Base Camp

I'm in the current process of planning my trip to Asia. One of the main highlights and primary reason for going is to see the Himalayas in one of Nepal's spectacular treks. Since this is only going to be a portion of a longer trip, bringing larges amounts of trekking gear is silly. This will thankfully not be a problem because of the highly developed trekking infrastructure of Nepal. With most of the most popular treks going through either small villages or lodge towns, there is indoor accommodation and food for the entire time. This is called "teahouse trekking"; though not as rustic, it is easier and safer since I'll be in the Himalayas.

I'm am stuck between the two most popular treks, the Annapurna Circut Trek or the Everest Base Camp Trek. Both are ranked among the worlds best walks. My research shows that Annapurna has better scenery and is more of cultural experience since it goes through so many villages. The Everest hike is also very scenic and climaxes with a view of the world's highest mountain.

Whichever one I do, I need to start training now, that means at least 30 minutes of cardio a day, which is not too bad of deal; it'll get me in better shape and get me outside.

Music Mondays: The XX

It has been a while since I've posted any music Monday entry (or much of anything on this site.) Much of this is the result of my usual monday day off becoming a regular monday day shift. Well, with another changing of my schedule, I'm sitting here during the day on Monday, listening to the group I am about to review and thinking to myself, "by golly, I should do the music mondays again....yep. here it is.

The XX - The XX

I accepted years ago that rock was dead. The only bands that seemed to do anything new were the veterans of the world. With each single by Panic at the Disco!, a part of me died. Nobody was doing anything new. Well, then I picked up this album at Target (thanks to a recommendation by Brant). The XX is a fantastic debut by a group that will be setting the tone for the rock music of the next few years. Rock seems to accepted that it has eaten itself. The XX is one of the many new groups leading the way in a "new" sound. Rock is softer, subtler, spacier now. This album shines with thoughtful songwriting, with a ear for pop, without being pop. The guitars fill in a few well place notes here and there. The rest of the sound is dominated by gentle electronic touches, with little snippets of R&B, hip-hop, 80's pop, and club music. All the songs float along gently, with much of the power coming from the trade off vocals of the male and female singers of the group.

The album starts strong with the instrumental "Intro" which was apparently used in some commercial I never saw. It continues off the tracks momentum until breaking down mid-album into the dreamy doldrums of post-post-rock. The album ends with three great pop songs. It stands as something different and rehashed at the same time. New ideas in rock don't exist, but this comes close to being something new.

A more sensible, revised plan

When looking back at my original plan, I realized I wasn't thinking too clearly. First off, to do a trip like that, I would have to have a very scripted itinerary with little leeway for relaxing, emergency plan changes, and other necessary precautions for world travel. It would have been expensive and doable, but I don't think I would have enjoyed the trip much. Too much structure kills the very nature of traveling, i would be essentially taking a long vacation.

So I started again and formed a revised, more sensible plan. Round trip tickets to Beijing are about the same price as a round trip ticket to London (go fig), so this is where I will start. First, I will tour the mountains of Northern China for a few days, see the great wall, the forbidden kingdom, and those other popular sights that make Beijing the top tourist destination in China.

Then I will ignore any political debates about China's occupation of Tibet and take a ride on the world's highest train to Lhasa. I will kick around the area, see some temples, then join a week long Friendship Highway tour to Kathmandu. Nepal contains some of the most established trekking infrastructure in the world, so there will be some hiking in the Himalayas.

Then on to Sikkim, one of India's smallest, yet arguably most beautiful states. This will be followed by three weeks in Northern India, which will include a stop at the Taj Mahal and golden Temple in Armistar. (Essentials).

Next, a plane will take me from Delhi to Thailand, where I will visit Nat, hike in the mountains then spends some weeks regaining my stamina on the worlds' prettiest beaches. A bus or train will take me from Thailand to Vietnam through either Cambodia or Laos (I don't plan to spend much time in either country). I will do some temple touring in Vietnam, then back to china to visit Fai in Hong Kong.

Next, I will travel up the coast of china then take a ferry to Taiwan to visit Ray. Then back to China, back to Beijing and home.

This sounds much more enjoyable.

Here is a map of my plan. Blue is boat, red is plane, green is train or bus.

The beast gains strength

It is the middle of may, the sun is shining, the weather is perfect and the smell of spring is in the air. There is another smell in the air...the smell of mountains. The sweet air of the rainforest. What is causing these foreign smells? Where are all these lonely planet guides coming from? This can only mean one thing. The presence of the beast....the wanderlust gains strength.

I am swiftly running of out time when I can responsibly pack up my life and travel for months. I am 27, adulthood gains strength too, but the wanderlust is a fierce beast. There are many places I want to see, and to see them in small mini vacations is inefficient and expensive. Instead, I going to do a giant trip around the world. Kinda.

The details are thus far unclear. I know that it is going to include Northern India, Nepal, Bejing, and hong kong. I'd love to visit Egypt. I've been looking up costs, tossing around ideas and doing much dreaming and here is a rough draft of my grand, multi-month tour of the Eurasian Continent (with a bit of Africa tossed in):



Red= Overland Travel
Blue= Boat Travel
Green = Flights

It is cheapest to book a round trip ticket places. So London is a good hub to fly to. Start in london in September. Fly through Europe in a quick amount of time (Europe is easy to get to anyway. This I can do at later points in my life). Maybe stop in Czech Republic, eventually going to Greece. Find a ferry to Egypt (no direct ferries, you have to go through Cyprus). Go from Alexandria to Cairo, maybe ferry across the red sea to Jordan or something (the red sea is supposed to be amazing). Fly from Egypt to North India, hit up nepal and sikhim. Then back to New Delhi and fly to Bangkok. Go from Bangkok overland through hong kong to Bejing. Seeing some of china. Then take the Trans-Siberian Railroad across Mongolia and Siberia (in the middle of winter woohahaha) to Moscow and St. Peterburg, then hit the train back to London and fly in February or sometime like that. Sounds like fun? I think so.

Karaoke

I love karaoke, this is no secret to anybody who's met me for even a couple minutes. It combines many of my favorite things in life: Music, good friends, beer, being the center of attention, and in certain seasons, baseball games. I attend karaoke two times a week. Mondays, I go to my workplace, often with Cailin to play board games and do my best Lou Gramm scatting in the informal, nearly empty environment where I practically live. The others is Thursday at Old Mexico, where a large spattering of many of my friends hit up every week. This is a quick to settle many of my social needs.

I try not to sing the same song more than once. If I hear a song on the radio that day that gets stuck in my head, it'll probably be sung. Some Aaron karaoke stats:

Total number of different songs sung: 384 (that I distinctly remember)
Most Sung group: The Rolling Stones (this surprised me)
First Ever song: Locomotive Breathe by Jethro Tull
Most recent song sung: Wonderboy by Tenacious D
Favorite Group to Sing: Foreigner or Meatloaf
Best Songs: Tom Sawyer by Rush, Two out of Three Ain't Bad by Meatloaf
Favorite hated song to sing: With Arms Wide Open by Creed
Worst Song: In a Big Country by Big Country
Favorite Group to sing that doesn't work with my voice: Hall and Oates

Idenity Crisis

This blog is going through an identity crisis at the moment. It just doesn't know what it wants to be. A year ago, in the midst of traveling in the strange upside down culture of Australia, the blog knew very clearly its role in the world: to tell stories of the road and gush upon some WTF moments abroad. After I returned to America, the blog took a new spin on the idea, traveling back to the United States and giving a similar treatment to America. This did not last long because the writer of the blog stopped noticing things very quickly after his speedy readjustment to American life. The blog kept chugging by, being home for Aaron's creative writing efforts, mainly a bunch of essays inspired by the change of seasons. Once winter hit, everything was White, as well as the inspiration. What was a blog to do? It decided to become a forum for weekly music review. This proved to me more of chore.

Then the blog took a nap.

Spring came early, and the blog woke up from his sleep in grumpy mood, mainly since Sandra Bullock won best actress in a great market of performances. What will the blog become now? I don't know. It has tried everything but putting on a dress. Maybe, it could be a home for unending optimism about the Minnesota Twins World Series chances. Maybe.

KFC's Double Down

Hold on to your butts people. You've had a sandwich right? Of course you have. I don't know about you, but I didn't think the whole concept of a sandwich could be improved upon. I mean, it's a sandwich...Well, that was until I saw a commercial for a revolution and not that crappy Decemberist Revolution of 1825...I'm talking the real deal here, the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution of Sandwiches.

What is better than sliced bread? NO BREAD!!

That's right. KFC has rejected bread. How did they do it you ask? They replaced bread, with two pieces of fried chicken. The Double Down: the Colonel's Sandwich Manifesto. Fried chicken, bacon, two types of cheese, creamy colonel sauce and then more fried chicken. This is better than sliced bread....it's a coronary.

My review of the Trailer for the film the Blind Side

Ok, this is a long overdue blog. Not only has the Blind Side gone through its theatrical run, been released on DVD, and earned a Best Actress award for Sandra Bullock. but people have already forgotten about what appears to be the one of the most terrible movies ever made. At least that's what the trailer portrays.

At first glance, The Blind Side's trailer seems like a trailer for a million trite movies I've already decided not to see. It tells the inspirational story of an underprivileged youth, who was destined to be a football player, all he ever needed was somebody to believe in him. A touching story told with just the right amount of minimalist piano and strings to create tears in the stongest of viewers.

What makes this film look so terrible is not the fact that it has already been made many times. For some reason people crave stories of people who overcome the odds to become something great. Horatio Alger did the same thing over a hundred years ago. It is the fact that it is a racist trailer that seems to touch on a long tradition of how white people turn a Blind Side on themes that portray African Americans as helpless.

Here's a synopsis of the trailer:

It's the only world Sandra Bullock has ever known...

A successful career woman with an attractive, submissive husband and perfect kids lives in the White dominated suburbs of some Southern city, let's call it "Atlanta." She had everything she's ever wanted in this world, except a way to unload all of her white guilt from be descended from slave owning plantation farmers.

It's the only world Big Mike has ever known...

Enter "Big Mike" a big black kid who somehow was allowed within ten feet of her child's suburban school, despite being a homeless, yet kind-hearted inner-city youth. We know he's one of those nice black folks, because he gives Sandra Bullock's son props on the playground. One night, while Big Mike is walking home in the rain with just a t-shirt, Sandra Bullock drives by and sees a perfect opportunity to show the world that she isn't a racist. By merely saying, "Don't lie to me!" Sandra Bullock is able to tame the wild, homeless black man and get him into her car. Because ultimately, even 350lb black men need to be submissive to little white chicks.

Even though little girls run away from the giant because he's big and black (actually, he's more yellow, if he was really dark, there'd be no hope for him), Sandra Bullock sees something special in the young man. All she needs to do is give him the only thing he's never had in his short life, a bed. One gentle rub of the 1200 thread count sheets and suddenly Big Mike has all the inspiration he needs to realize his true potential. Being a large, African American male, Big Mike is unable to become a doctor or a lawyer, thankfully, he has other options for getting ahead in this world, becoming a linebacker for an NFL team. Sandra Bullock shows him the way, by helping raise his grades to an acceptable 'C' average so he can get into a college on a football scholarship and major in "general studies" or something like that. Thank goodness Sandra Bullock is there to change this young man's life. Wanna know what's the best part? He changes her life too, cause if she ever finds herself clutching at her purse at night in the inner city or if she calls the cops on some darkie that has lost his keys in the car, she knows that she's still not racist.

Is the film that bad and that racist? Most likely not. I'm sure there is a genuine desire to help the life of this young man. Ultimately, though the trailer is perfect White person bait, cause it paints a picture of how non-racist white people perceive themselves. The trailer plays on 5 general racist assumptions: 1. Black people only look scary, but really, a couple of them, (unlike the card playing, drug-dealing gangsta from the trailer) can be nice people. 2. Black people are inherently lost, helpless and cold. 3. White people ultimately have the ability to give Black people the power to overcome adversity. 4. Black people are submissive too and must trust the giving hands of White People. 5. That said, even with proper guidance, Black People are only able to succeed at sports.

music monday: Closing Time by Tom Waits

Tom Waits - Closing Time

When many people hear the name Tom Waits, they conjure images of a drunk sounding cookie monster belting avant-garde jazz sing-songwriter music. Now, this image is completely accurate; it describes most of his fantastic output. Closing Time his first album was quite different than many of his other album. First off, this is before he became too much of a cartoon character. His drunken piano man persona is definitely already present, but his voice lacks much of the gravel that became his signature. Jazz plays a heavy part in the styling of this album, but it doesn't have the extremely inaccessible artiness of his other stuff. Instead, Closing Time is a collection of beautiful piano ballads surrounded by lovely string and horn arrangements. There are some different styles present. The jazz of the title track, "Virginia Avenue", and "Grapefruit Moon" are places next to low-key country tunes like "Ol' 55" (a hit when covered by the Eagles) and "Rosie". "Martha" a nostalgic trip through memories of lost love foreshadows much of his later work and nearly makes me cry everytime I hear it. Tom Waits uses his voice to great effect at bringing out the sad emotions of these songs.

This stands as a masterpiece, which is impressive since it was his debut. Waits would make albums that rival this effort, but he has yet to top it. This is a good place to start in Tom Waits catalogue of twenty or so albums to date.

Avatar

I really had no intention of seeing the most expensive film of all time. For months, the world was saturated by the buzz, constantly in the ear, more annoying than sharing a tent with a rouge mosquito. I remembered this same kind of buzz for James Cameron's Titanic, another big-budget, special effects extravaganza that became the highest grossing film of that time. And of course, I did see Titanic at the cinema.

I had decided to boycott the quarter-million epic on mere principal sometime after I saw the trailer for the 900th time. This was especially amazing considering I don't even have television at home. Then the film came out. The reviews were as I expected, lukewarm. They hailed the effects, panned the film. I further felt justified in my boycott. Then, people started watching it. The talk, oh lord the talk. So many people were saying such great things. This further fueled my anti-Avatar fire. This was until the right person talked, my friend Brant. His tastes in film are pretty reliable. If he recommends a film, I watch it.

After he hailed it as an amazing experience, I reached the inevitable point that I had to see the film. My decision to watch the film had less to do with wanting to see it than not wanting to miss it. I mean, $250,000,000 is a lot of money; it had to go somewhere. Imagine what I'd say to my future children when they ask, "What was it like seeing Avatar when those effects were cutting edge, not just expected?" I'd hate to reply, "honestly children, I'm a crazy, pretentious asshole who overtly avoids anything that the corporate media deems worthwhile. I chose to boycott this film in an effort to advance my internal socialist struggle." Hardly a worthwhile story to tell a child.

On Sunday night, a couple of my friends, Cailin and I went to a late night showing of it at our local imax theater. It wasn't really much of an imax, just a big curved screen, but it must be cooler than a normal movie screen, since the tickets were $5 more expensive. We donned giant silly 3D glasses. The only difference from the red/blue silly 3D glasses of old, is that the colors are less extreme and they are made of plastic instead of cardboard. Hardly the "cutting-edge" I was expecting.

The film was simply put, an amazing experience. The money was well used to create a spectacle of the grandest kind. The alien planet was full of life and stunningly beautiful. The wildlife looked like real animals. The blue people, despite being a work of pure high-definition pixels were exceptionally human like and warm. Never has CGI looked better and more realistic than this. The 3D effects heightened the action of the film and added a depth that further immersed the viewer into the fictional world of the film. Sadly, this was the best aspect of the film.

The story was unoriginal; just combine together Dances with Wolves and Dune and you get Avatar. Every plot idea presented on the screen was rehashed from every other war epic ever done. The script was very non-cheesy, which was nice. The actors did a splendid job with the material that was there. The film lacked much needed depth, especially with the internal conflicts within the characters. They change without looking back, old prejudices die easily on Pandora apparently. This may not be a bad thing however. With the intense sensory overload of the film, more depth of plot may have hurt the film. Plus, when this much money is pumped into a movie, it needs to reach every possible viewer.

The most astounding aspect of the film are the overt socialist themes. The evil capitalist Americans are essentially destroying this alien planet for profit. The only people who stand in their way are the communal wildlife of the planet, who are all linked by a strange force and have literal bonds to each other. No creature is more important than any other. To see such ideas used in a film that was specifically calculated to make insane amounts of money, could potentially be hinting of some larger social movement of which may are not overtly aware.

This film won't win any non-technology related Oscars, but it will be loved by current and future generations for years. Calling it the Star Wars of our generation may not be long shot. I recommend that people get up and see the film immediately, because taken out of the context of the movie screen, it will probably just be a pretty, yet flawed film when viewed upon a television.

Music Monday: Powerslave by Iron Maiden

Powerslave by Iron Maiden

Here stands one of the magnum opus of 80's British Metal. This is an album of sheer beauty, epic wonder, and kick ass metal! For some strange reason, Iron Maiden get labeled as extreme satanic metal which is just odd. It is one of the nerdiest bands ever. I mean, who the hell writes a 14minute metal adaptation of Samuel Coleridge Taylor's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

The music, much like the cover art has an Egyptian, mid-eastern quality to it that melds well with metal. This is especially effective on the title track, which contains one of the hardest-hitting, awesome, galloping guitar riffs of the 80's. The album starts with a one-two punch of two of the most popular, anthemic tracks, "Aces High" and "Two Minutes to Midnight." The instrumental, "Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)", despite the terrible title shows off Maiden's chops like none other. Though it lack a lot of the punk influence that made their earlier albums classics of the genre. They fill this void with prog rock to great results. The epic closer, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" for better or worse, helped laid the tracks from future Prog-metal bands such as Dream Theater . An essential for any metal fan.

Music Monday: Top 10 Albums of 2000-2009

Here ya go, the final ten...I bet you are all dying of suspense.


10. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R (2000)

Although they climbed the charts with their followup, Songs for the Deaf, it was it's predecessor that was their true achievement. Full of tight, catchy, kick ass stoner-metal, this stands as the best album of the entire genre. "Better Living Through Chemistry" could possibly be the greatest hard rock song of the decade.



9. Ataxia - Automatic Writing (2004)

This unnoticed album isn't making anyone's lists. This was one of the billion of albums the Red Hot Chili Pepper's John Fruciante made in 2004. A collaboration between him and Josh Klinghofer (his replacement in the RHCP), and Joe Lally, this is a droning album of sparse post-punk-like rock that stands as one of the most depressing albums of the decade. It features some great solos and amazing bass lines. Too bad they only came together for one session.



8. System of a Down - Toxicity (2001)

This stands as of the few Nu Metal albums that shouldn't be destroyed forever (oh yeah, that's another style of the decade I forgot to trash). Unlike their untalented peers, System of a Down managed to make complex experimental pop-metal. The songs change tempos suddenly without warning. Thrash becomes Armenian folk, then combines together. Dark and powerful, the lyrics in this album are either genius political satire or a bunch of nonsense. I can't really tell. All I know is that this album is awesome and stands the soundtrack to late teen years for many of my generation.



7. Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium (2002)

In late 2002, early 2003, everyone I know put this album into the CD player and it didn't leave until later that summer. This album was the musical equivalent to crack. Somehow, The Mars Volta combined, the prog-excess and soaring falsetto vocals of Rush, with the catchiness of Ramones style punk, the mystique of Led Zeppelin, and a little bit of Latin Jazz to make a album that is unlike no other. It featured some of the most kick-ass guitar solos of the decade, solid bass playing that proves that Flea is the great rock bassist ever, lyrics that were so pretentious, they had to be awesome. Mars Volta was shaping up to be the greatest band ever, then their prog excess imploded upon itself again and again with each successive release. All we have is this, their tightest album (running at only 60 minutes!).




6. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief (2004)

Radiohead finally returned to rock with this moody masterpiece. Still laden with the electronic textures and tear-inducing harmonies that made previous Radiohead so great. The beefed up length softened its impact a bit, but this still stands up as another incredible release from the greatest band of my lifetime.



5. The Roots - Game Theory (2006)

The Roots finally cut out the sprawling excess and experimentation for their seventh studio album. ?love's grooves have never been tighter, Black Thought's lyrics have never been sharper, the songwriting has never been catchier. This is also the darkest the group has ever been. More proof that hip/hop deserves to be taken seriously as a musical style.




4. Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun (2000)

Yeah, this album does have some filler, but for the first eight tracks, it features some of the funkiest R&B made after the genre peaked in the late-1970's. Throw in the extended suite, "Green Eyes" and the tear-inducing, "Bag Lady" with ?love on drums, not to mention Erykah Badu's divine voice and you have neo-soul's ultimate achievement.



3. Beck - Sea Change (2002)

Somehow, Beck went from a super fun, country-funk hipster to a morose, weeping folk-rocker. The ultimate breakup album, this is a man crying through music. The album is made all the more incredible by the Beatles-style melodies throughout the album. I love to put this on when I feel sad; it always does the trick.




2. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003)

So, how do you follow up a critical and popular smash hit album like, Stankonia...break up of course. Outkast's Big Boi and Andre 3000 didn't actually breakup, but they did record two solo albums and threw them together into a single package, highlighting the individual strengths. Not to say this isn't an Outkast album. Andre was present in much of Speakerboxx, exchanging verses here and there as if they are still a group, but Speakerboxx was obviously the work of Big Boi and the Love Below was obviously the work of Dre. Speakerboxxx is pop rap at its finest, funky, fun and above all danceable. The Love Below was the greatest album Prince never made. A sprawling, insane funk album with hints of club, hip/hop, lounge jazz, psychadelic rock, among other styles. The album went number one, spawned two number one hits, "The Way You Move" and "Hey Ya". It also won the Grammy for album of the year. Not bad.



1. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)

Ok Computer is considered by many to be the greatest rock album of the 90s. It was an international smash hit that nearly unanimously praised by critics world wide. Suddenly, Radiohead went from being the band that did that one song "Creep" in the early 90's to superstars. So they did what any band would, abandoned their popular sound and release something completely different. Somehow, they got even better. Trading guitars for synthesizers and some boxes with cords, Radiohead made one of the greatest electronica albums ever and my personal favorite album of the decade. Despite the overt artiness of this album, it is still a collection of perfect pop songs, just well obscured by gorgeous sonic textures and other musically descriptive words that critics love to use. All I'll say is that it is an incredible album, a Sgt. Peppers of my generation.

Music Monday: Top 25 Albums of the Decade (25-11)

Well, to commemorate the end of this decade (I guess this depends on which school of decade counting one ascribes to. I'm a decade starts with 1 type person, since there is no year 0, so to me this is a silly list, but I'll stick with the popular trends here.) This was a special decade for me. Although I did pay attention to trends in the 90's, this decade was the first that I listened to new bands throughout the entire ten years. I often wonder how people will look back on the 2000's music wise. The 90's started with grunge and ended with the most bland, unoriginal crap-rock in music's history. This decade continued the trend, but the underground showed some promise. Electronica and hip/hop invade every aspect of popular music. Rock was officially buried as irrelevant (for the most part), leaving evolution to the hip/hop crowd. Indie rock became big, which was another word for more bland, rehashed crap that was a mostly major-label trend, despite the trendy name. Granted, this decade did have some of the greatest recordings of all time, but for the most part, this was another decade of CRAP!! Further proving my point that music has stopped evolving. We saw the return of the 80's, 60's, and 70's style wise, since nobody had any new ideas. After twenty years or so, we apparently forget what the music of that time was like. God help us when bands look back to 90's for some "new" ideas. Ok, enough bitching about how bad this decade of music was, now for some good!

Top 25 Albums of 2000-2009

25. Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the Way (2002)

By far the most relaxing album these guys have ever done. For once the Chili Peppers actually sound like 40 year olds. This is not a bad thing; they wear the hat well, dishing out some of their best songs in years, such as "Can't Stop", "Minor Thing", and "Venice Queen". Sadly, it is also twenty minutes too long and filled with boring, minor key ballads that became big hits for some stupid reason. Still one of their best efforts.

24. Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)

Hopefully, this album will be remembered as another great album in Radiohead's outstanding catalogue and not that one album that old band gave away for free online. I paid $15 for the album and it was worth every penny. For those used to the ridiculously dense soundscapes of Radiohead's past album ,this stripped down effort may seem a letdown. After a few listens, the songwriting reveals its rewards and further shows that Radiohead is The Beatles of now.

23. Flaming Lip - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)

Let's not hate this album. Yeah, it may have been one of the big albums to usher in the whole "indie rock" phase, but this is too weird to be overtly pop. A modern psychedelic masterpiece with a keen ear for pop melodies.

22. Opeth - Blackwater Park (2001)

Opeth is extremely bad at two things, changing their sound and making bad albums. Although this sounds like a rehash of everything after My Arms, Your Hearse, they finally find the perfect mix of mellow prog rock and "kick-you-in-the-balls" death metal. Enlisting Steve Wilson of Porcupine Tree was the best decision they've made in their career; his production style suits the band perfect on this, their strongest album.

21. Porcupine Tree - In Absentia (2002)

Steve Wilson once again proves that it is possible to make relevant original prog-rock in the 2000's. As a bonus, he recorded a list of songs that could easily be radio hits as well.

20. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Lyre of Orpheus/Abbatoir Blues (2004)

Somehow, Nick Cave excels at two opposite things, hard rock and sad-bluesy ballads. He show both sides in this double album. This is my current musical addiction. Check out this crazy Aussie if you've not yet.

19. Medeski, Martin, and Wood - Uninivisible

After Combustication and the avant-garde The Dropper, MMW finally finds a way to combine electronica and the soul-jazz styles of Jimmy Smith with one of the catchiest jazz albums every made.

18. Air - Talkie Walkie (2004)

This may be a formulaic effort. This may be once again, another rehashing of their masterpiece Moon Safari, but I really don't care. This is catchy, beautiful, and relaxing. The French know how to do electronic music right.

17. Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors (2002)

The only thing nerdier and more inaccessible than Scandinavian Metal is Avant-Garde Scandinavian Metal. Oddly enough, this is their most accessible. It is also awesome.

16. Kanye West - Graduation (2007)

Finally, Kanye West releases an album that isn't bloated or filled with skits that poison the minds of impressionable inner-city youths. Instead, he made a quick effort full of perfect pop songs where he shows that he is one of hip/hops most innovative producers. If only he rapped about things that didn't make him such an asshole.

15. Common - Be (2005)

Ah, Common is such a breathe of fresh air. He is a positive, intelligent rapper, who actually delivers poetry, like the father's of the genre intended. Throw in Kanye Wests ability to make a melody stuck in your head and you get one of the best hip/hop albums of the decade.

14. Tool - Lateralus (2001)

Just like Aenema, only more self-indulgent and long. Thank goodness Aenema was so amazing. Tool strikes again.

13. The Roots - Phrenology (2002)

Ah, The Roots go experimental! For the follow-up to their commericial breakthrough, Things Fall Apart, the live hip/hop band (god, I love saying hip/hop band) decided to make ambitious, progressive hip/hop, mixing club music, jazz, hard-core punk, and old-school rock and roll creating one of the most exciting hip/hop albums of all time. Oh yeah, it is also full of some great pop hooks.

12. Q-Tip - The Rennaissance (2008)

Here's a word to those younger, phoney rappers, Q-Tip always has been, still is, and always will be catchier, more intelligent, and in all ways better than you. Just deal with it.

11. Sigur Ros - Takk (2005)

Ok, this is a controversial choice over the also incredible album (), the sixty minute, untitled masterpiece of eight untitled songs all in a made up language based upon ancient Norse and Icelandic. The problem is, () is just too hard to digest as a whole. Takk is shorter, tighter, more accessible, yet just as powerful and beautiful. It is incredible to listen to Sigur Ros, knowing that this is the sound of the typical rock lineup, keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums (with some strings and horns for extra depth). They are either a band to love or hate; they are self-indulgent, pretentious, and their music is really too complex for its own good. That said, they also have created a sound that has never been done before. I also doubt too many people will choose to play a rock guitar with a cello bow anytime in the near future.

Music Monday: The Kinks...Are the Village Green Preservation Society

The Kinks...Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968)

Whenever I listen to one of The Kinks many classic albums, I wonder why they never were as popular are such other British Invasion groups such as The Who, The Beatles, or The Rolling Stones. Ray Davies was not only a catchy song-writer, but an innovative one as well. The Kinks basically pioneered the power chord riff. Sadly, in the US, they are just known as the band that did "Lola" and "You Really Got Me".

Village Green is arguably their finest album. By this point, the hard-rocking sound of the early 60's had been ditched for a folkier, more British sound. Almost like "Waterloo Sunset" for a whole album. The chords are perky and fun. The songs are catchy and endlessly singable. I defy one to listen to "People Take Pictures of Each Other" and not clap along. Oddly enough, this album had no charting hits, thus resulting in one of their poorest selling albums of the 60's. Thankfully, this has grown on the music loving public to become their most popular album, outside of greatest hits collections (which is sad, cause The Kinks recorded only a handful of weak songs in the 60's). This is essential for anyone!

Music Monday: Three Friends by Gentle Giant

Gentle Giant - Three Friends

Prog Rock seems to be divided into two main categories, the "pop" prog of bands like Genesis, Pink Floyd, and Jethro Tull (well, if you can really call this pop) and the true prog that just made complex music, no matter what the audiences think. The most notable of these are King Crimson and Gentle Giant.

Mixing classical music and rock is one of the main hallmarks of progressive rock, but whereas bands like Yes incorporated more romantic or baroque styles into their music, Gentle Giant reached even further, throwing in touches of Medieval and Madrigal harmonies, creating a large, complex polyphonic sound that I can't help but love.

They've had a few great albums in the 70's and Three Friends, their third album, stands as one of their best. It is not quite as complex as the prior Acquiring the Taste or their next, Octopus (both are fantastic by the way), but is still more busy than most bands outputs. The playing is top notch, especially Kerry Minnear's keyboards. This album rocks hard with fantastic solos as the softer parts are beautiful. The piano chords of "School Days" are haunting beautiful and their tone was copied by Radiohead. (that's my theory anyway) If you don't like prog, you won't like this album. If you do however, this is worth owning.

Music Monday: Eldorado, a Symphony by Electric Light Orchestra

Eldorado, a Symphony by Electric Light Orchestra

Now, up until this point, I don't think I've featured any guilty pleasures (well, Omnio is pretty ridiculous). I hope that snobbier music lovers will toss away all their closed-minded stereotypes about ELO. Ignore all those big heads that quickly label them 70's pop crap. Jeff Lynne is one of rock's most dismissed songwriters of the 1970's. Now, it is hard to look past many of the unfortunate stylistic choices he made that seem so dated: excessive vocoders, dense spacey keyboards, and far too much falsetto. For every "Don't bring me down Bruce" though, there is a song like "Can't Get it out of my Head", that is just simply some of the catchiest songwriting since the Beatles.

This album suffers far less of the things that label ELO as "silly", making it a good place to start and for some a good place to stop listening to ELO. Like most classic bands, it with their fourth album that ELO finally found their stride. This was fortunately before Jeff Lynne figured out that he could sell more records if he sang like a girl. They did a flawless job of blending a rock band with an orchestra. Whereas other classics of this style such as Days of Future Passed supplemented their rock songs with short orchestral sections, Eldorado sound like one giant band that happens to have about 30 members. The skillfully dense arrangements are done so well, the more stripped-down songs (if a full rock band with a horn section can be considered stripped-down) such as "Illusions in G Major" just sound weak. That said, this album is strong from start to finish. Easily one of the best albums of the early 70's.

Music Monday: The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory

This album is proof that hip hop should be considered just as musically artistic as any other style. After their dense, sample laden first album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, A Tribe Called Quest stripped down their sound to the bare essentials of hip hop: bass, drums, and poetry. Despite its barren, simplistic sound, it is a melodic, catchy album. Standard jazz samples are mixed with 70's funk and hard rock, all used sparingly to add slight melodic touches that give power to the few hooks of the album. From the opening upright bass line of "Excursions" through to the end, there is not a weak or boring track on the album.

Tribe's primary MC's, Q-tip and Phife dog drop some of their best and catchiest lyrics addressing such issues as date rape, the music industry, street crime, and the artifice of African American style in the early 90's. Q-tip proves that he is the master of riding the beats, choosing to use clever turns of phrase that fit with the groove of the music over speed and verbal dexterity. For those that enjoy such styles, this album also features one of the earliest appearances by a young Busta Rhymes on the hit, "Scenario".

The album seamlessly mixes hip hop and jazz, even enlisting jazz great, Ron Carter, to bass on "Verses from the Abstract". It shows that rap is not a string of profanity over dry boring beats. This is the type of album that can convert hip hop haters to lovers. This may be the greatest hip hop album ever recorded, which is quite a feat considering it is only the second best album a Tribe Called Quest made in their ten year career.

Music Monday: The B-52's

Ah, what joy this album brings. It is hard to praise the artistic merits of this because there is very little. It is an incredibly artistic album for sure. It is just too weird to be anything else. Mixing cheery 60's organ, played poorly, with surf guitar, played poorly, simple drums, with an effeminate man, nasally talking or yelling over the music and two women singing eerie spacey harmonies that just don't quite sound right is some sort of statement...or not. Whatever this is, a work of genius or just the work of a bunch of stoned artists, it is undeniably fun. How could a person not love a song like "Rock Lobster"?

The album should fall apart, but somehow it works and has stood the test of time to be hailed one of the highlights of the New Wave movement. From the avant-garde pop of the opening, "Planet Claire" straight through "Hot Lava" there is not a low point in the first have of the album. Sadly, the second side falls apart as the last few songs lack the infectious catchiness and kitchiness of the first half. A camp masterpiece and definitely worth a spot in any person's cd collection.