Take Care, Check it out.

The Weeknd is my favorite new artist this year. Everything that this guy touches shines so bright. With a stellar freshman debut mix-tape (House of Balloons) and a good follow-up in the Thursday mix-tape, The Weeknd started to really take form and run. When I caught wind that The Weeknd was going to work with Drake I became excited, not because of Drake. I don't even really like this guy. However, the thought of new Weeknd material seemed intriguing. I knew it was a no-brainer. Drake & The Weeknd have had this teaser of a collaboration since Weeknd popped. It has been written about in various articles over at pitchfork.

So the collaborative track Crew Love is really what brought me to this album. Not for Drake. To hear how the Weeknd worked with this guy. I can't really seem to mesh with Drake's past work, it all seems too transparent. However, I listened to this album all of the way through. I wouldn't say that I loved this album, but I did enjoy a few tracks. First and foremost Crew Love, which I explained above. His track with fellow Young Money-er Nicki Minaj, titled Make Me Proud. Is a great stand out from the rest of what sounded like a passable attempt at an R-Kelly album. (circa. Trapped in the Closet). That is just due to my love for Minaj. I was mostly disappointed with the wasted collaboration of Lil Wayne, Andre 3000, and Drizzy, The Real Her. Looking at the track listing is appears as if this would be the club song, but it just turned out to be a slow B-Side. Drake makes up for that though with a harsher track featuring Weezy again, HYFR (Hell Yeah Fuckin' Right). That takes us to the end of the album...

Overall this mainstream hip-hop runoff release is pretty decent. With a steady line-up of guests and perfectly produced beats, Drake has picked up a few points. There is still a vast room for improvement. Drake, your still closer to Jimmy Brooks than Kanye West. There is a link to the album on Spotify at the bottom of this post. I am also posting the song Crew Love.

Check it out



S!D

...the week that R.E.M. broke up (a few tracks)

Last week was a pretty crazy week. R.E.M. broke up before I had a chance to see them live! How unfair is that! Lets count on them getting back together in a couple years for one last shot.

Thrice - Yellow Belly
This throwback to 2003 sounds like it was modeled after a song on a video game soundtrack, a selection in the Madden series perhaps.  Thrice is past their prime in my eyes, this sort of screaming/alt-easy-metal had it moment in the sun and they are just releasing some hold-over tracks. Something has to be working though, this album is pulling a 94 on Metacritic. It does sound cleaner than their previous songs. Its like they are just now getting the production that they could of done with years back. Check out the song and twitter about it or something.
Thrice - Yellow Belly

tUnE-yArDs - Gangsta
This is exactly what I needed this week, some creativity on a track! This highly experimental and fun track has me grooving while I am sitting here enjoying a carne-asada burrito. I love everything about this highly catchy and infectious track. The bizarre beats and often off time samples are just what intrigued me into catching this track. If you like Animal Collective you will like this better. Forget those guys, listen to tUnE-yArDs.
tUnE-yArDs - Gangsta

Mastodon - Curl of the Burl
Wow! This is Mastodon doing their best Queens of the Stone Age impression and it is so much better than anything off of Crack the Skye. That album just seemed so forced to me. This feels like an actual follow up to Blood Mountain. This is a great song to get your metal fix out too. I would suggest playing this song at maximum level with safe distances around your dome for heavy metal meat-head head banging. GET IT!!!
Mastodon - Curl of the Burl

R.E.M. - What's the Frequency Kenneth?
OK, OK so I can't start a music blog that reflects on the previous week and leave out the biggest story in music. Its just that, R.E.M. broke up a couple of days ago and it is already starting to become old news. Everyone is tired of hearing about the "break-up", "retirement", "hiatus", what have you. This is my favorite R.E.M. song, I am not sad or happy about whatever happened to them. I am sure Michael Stipe will still preform and the others have bands. This won't be the last we have heard of R.E.M. For now enjoy What's the Frequency Kenneth?
R.E.M. - What's The Frequency, Kenneth?