In an effort to do less writing in which I know not of what I type, I downloaded M.I.A.’s Vicki Leekx mixtape once Peter Suderman recommended it. I’m not really qualified to make any judgements on the production, and the lyrics mostly didn’t stand out to me (except in moments of occasional annoying puerility). But I enjoyed the tape for a couple of reasons. First, in its... 

I’ve heard a few albums in the past few months that should have been nominated for Grammys: Little Dragon and Joe Henry both put out singular albums, lyrics and melodies that challenged the listeners to buy into the proud overlapping of genres. Yukumi Nagano deserves a Grammy, damn it, based on her voice alone. And Joe’s a quiet veteran of the business, he’s played with and produced... 

For all her tough-girl posturing and business sense (even if her MBA appears have to been with a concentration in haters and Sun Trust withdrawals), I really love that it’s pretty clear that Nicki Minaj’s debut album, Pink Friday, is going to be sort adorably romantic. First, there was the community-theater kabuki of “Your Love.” Now we’ve got the leak for “Right... 

Of course, it’s ridiculously grandiose for Kanye West to shoot a 40-minute narrative music video based on his new album. On the other hand, I kind of think it makes sense at this point in his career. “Heartless,” the Hype Williams-directed video is probably the one that’s stuck in my consciousness most: But his videos have always been full of strong, striking images rather... 

I wrote about how psyched I am for Travis Barker’s solo album.  Read More »

Like Kay, I was at the Arcade Fire/Spoon show at Merriweather last Friday. All of it was fantastic, but the most surprising moment was Spoon’s cover of “Modern World” by Wolf Parade. Apparently they’ve being playing it for much of the Transference tour; here’s them with Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade at Radio City Music Hall: Wolf Parade has sort of fallen off the radar;... 

I’m sorry I’ve been slow to get these links posted. Things at work have been busy, and things after work no less relaxing. I’m going on vacation later this week, about which details to be posted very soon (I have an amazing crew of guestbloggers lined up). But I had some thoughts about the Norwegian Wood movie adaptation, the title song on Katy Perry’s latest album, and... 

Image used under a Creative Commons license courtesy emoeby. Dude, I’ve been waiting for a full version of “Lookin 4 Ya,” the Andre 3000-Big Boi joint theoretically off Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (due next month, guys!) for literally six months since a verse of it leaked earlier in the year. Sadly, the song’s not going to be on the album, which is coming... 

Vulture wonders what’s going on with Kanye West’s new album in the wake of 808s and Heartbreak: Jones claims the album sounds like “real hip-hop,” but without Kanye’s staple soul samples. Kanye has relied on prominent samples less and less over the years — is he now ditching them altogether? Will it sound more like the stuff he did on Blueprint 3, or the new Drake... 

Just listen now to what I say. Or, you know, read my piece in The Atlantic on Janelle Monae, in which I have fun with one of my pet ideas: the eroding boundary between hip-hop, pop, and rock.  Among other things: Brentin hears Toni Morrisson, Mad Max, Prince, and Parliament in The ArchAndroid, but for me, part of the album’s beauty is that I heard an entirely different...