What I've been listening to

On 03/21/2015 at 08:53 PM by Blake Turner

Hey you beautiful people. This is what I've been listening to lately.

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly

Holy shit Kendrick's new album is insane. Before I jump into that, I need to talk about the song. The last line of this still gives me chills everytime I hear it. The song is brilliant in it's condemnation of the hypocricy of condemning racial violence but romanticising gang violence when they're quite similar.

The whole album touches on these themes. It's a very racially motivated album, and dear lord is it powerful. Kendrick throws blame at white america, black america, and himself and it's a fucking joy to listen to. Plus, musically, the album is insane. It reminds me of Outkast a little, in it's mixing soul, funk, and jazz with modern sensibilities. This is quite genre-bending though, and I'm sure it's going to upset a few fans of GKMC.

Enslaved - In Times

Enslaved is extremely consistent in their output. I don't think they've actually ever put out a bad album through their slow movement from black metal to prog band. Their latest definitely leans more on prog than black metal. It has some heavy moments, but it seems more concerned with melody and clean vocals this time around. Which is far from a bad thing, it's just not what I expected. Still, a pretty good record, if not an amazing Enslaved album.

Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2

It turns out if you mix two underground rappers with somewhat of a weird approach to the genre you get a breakout mainstream hit. Odd I guess, but El-P and Killer Mike have made a pretty kickass album. It's aggressive, political, sometimes, corny, but always entertaining. I'm disappointed in El-P's output lyrically in this album though as he's usually a much more technical and metaphorical rapper.

This song makes me very happy as a Rage Against the Machine fan. It's the first time I've heard a post RATM verse by zach dela rocha that didn't make me suicidal.

Soen - Cognitive

After Soen's Tellurian slowly became my favourite album last year, I decided to go out and purchase their debut. It's pretty solid, if far from a masterpiece. It's not as original or heavy, and sounds a hell of a lot like Tool. Which I'm kind of okay with since Tool haven't made an album since I started fucking High School.

Troldhaugen - Obzcure Anekdotez For Maniakal Massez

I finally found a physical copy of this album, and it's fantastic. I have some gripes with it - it's a touch too ADHD. If an awesome part comes on it doesn't stay long enough to get caught up in it before the next part. The songs are too short for all of the ideas they have. That said, it's still a fun and infectious album.

mothman

03/21/2015 at 09:49 PM

The Troidhaugen is mental and I love it. Overall a great bunch of tracks. :)

Blake Turner Staff Writer

03/21/2015 at 11:07 PM

Cheers :). I do think they are a bit too ADHD though and need to draw out some of their sections a bit more. Maybe it's just because I'm used to listening to 5-10 minute prog opuses but 2-3 minutes isn't enough time to allow them to make make the most out of their musical ideas. That song may be a bad example, but on the rest of the album I just wish they'd let a riff or section go on for a bit longer so I can rock out/enjoy the music at hand.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

03/21/2015 at 09:56 PM

yeah, that's one problem I have to... yes, white on black violence is bad, and of course there's black on white violence too. But the black on black gang violence has GOT to end.

03/21/2015 at 11:03 PM

Right? It's not the fucking 90's anymore. The problem is it's still romanticised somewhat in music and film. It's a damn good thing people like Kendrick are condemning it and getting attention. That he has Dr Dre backing him can't help either.

Super Step Contributing Writer

03/21/2015 at 10:46 PM

I dug the Lamar music though I only heard a few lyrics. And yeah, that Enslaved was way different from what I'd expect.

03/21/2015 at 11:04 PM

The lyrics are exceptional, although it seems like a typical "fuck white people song" until you hear the ending and it completely transforms the song.

jgusw

03/22/2015 at 07:50 AM

We really need more non white people in the US speaking out about the retard crap that's getting media attention here. 1 white cop kills 1 black criminal in self defense and it's like the whole nation is in an uproar. Yet, black criminals are killing other black criminals and innocent black people every freaking day. Where are the speeches, the marches, the t-shirts, and media attention on that? A white man better not lift a finger to a non white person and/or woman or risk getting throw out of the country as a misogynistic racist. I swear, I miss the 90s. It was better then. And I could rant all day about how racist the media is of everyone with their "helping" in the situation. Stupidity is in the air around here. At least my family and friends remind me I'm not alone in this insanity. This racial, gender, and pc crap is seeping into everything and ruining it. It's gotten so bad that many liberal people are like, "WTF".

Damn shame the Run the Jewels song is blocked. I'll have to find it somewhere else. I really hadn't heard anything from Zach dela Rocha since RAGE ended. I've heard over the years, he's made some good stuff. I'll get to it one of these days.

KnightDriver

03/23/2015 at 01:21 AM

Troidhaugen is cool. I can feel their humor in each track. I really like that. I'd like to play a game to this music.

PixlBit