[Severian]

Oh, and also... uhh... fuck... well, I'll just say it:

Kanye West is STILL WORKING on TLOP mixes.

Here's an "article" from you-know-who

... Shrugs...

So maybe I was wrong to pressure NR to man up and listen to the goddamn album already, and maybe NR was right to stay away for fear that the "product" wasn't finished. Maybe.

Still no hope for a CD/vinyl release, as yet, which I can't say doesn't piss me off, but as I've said before, any new Kanye music is cause for celebration for me. I hope he comes around to at least putting the thing on iTunes and Spotify so people who are on the fence about the whole Tidal thing can, you know, hear the motherfucking album without breaking the motherfucking law.

Turbo Grafx 16 still allegedly happening, though I simply don't believe it will be out any time before 2019. Kanye has never, even at his prolific, released two albums in single calendar year, unless you count Watch the Throne, which dropped 9 months after MBDTF. I really, really, really doubt that this is going to be the one time a Kanye album drops without being pushed back three to five times.

[louder]

Esperanza Spalding's new album is amazing! It's a big shift from her previous works, basically a fusion jazz / art rock album and it's totally great.

 

[Rob Instigator]

I have always felt that there is a reason beat-based music (dance music, techno/edm, much of hip hop) does not hold up as well as riff-based music (blues, rock, folk) over the years of repeated listens.

To me it is that dance music ( and I am being very general here) is meant to be felt immediately, to make your body move. It takes very exceptional songcraft to make a dance song into something that gets better and better with each listen. Of course you can dance to anything, but I am referring to the quick way in which dance music seems dated and old as compared to riff-based musics.

I love listening to Young Thug, Future, Rich Homie Quan, Chedda, etc. but I also am not avoiding the fact that after 10-15 listens the magic that initially got me into it is gone. I feel that dance music (and hip hop, for the most part, iks dance music) is intended for a visceral experience, and must be simplified to suit it.

What do you guys think?

When I listen to many 10+ year old hip hop tracks it feels very inert and dead, no matter how amazing I found it upon first listen.

Do you think this is why so many young people have no interest in digging into the musical history of hip hop? Like, even the rappers now seem to have no connection emotionally to anything older than 6 years old.

just curious as to what you guys think about this.

[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by louder

Esperanza Spalding's new album is amazing! It's a big shift from her previous works, basically a fusion jazz / art rock album and it's totally great.

 

My wife caught an Esperanza Spalding concert in Houston years and years ago and loved what she was doing. I will let her know to check this out.

[Severian]

Here's hoping Ye makes the following changes to Pablo:

• removing Chris Brown from Waves and putting absolutely anyone in his place. I love the song, but I can't listen to Chris Brown sing "let me crash here for a moment, I don't have to own it" without thinking about a black and blue Rihanna. *shudders*

• turns "Facts" into an explicitly labeled bonus track, or just takes it off the album entirely.

• lets Chance put his goddamn verse on Waves! What the hell? Chance was apparently the reason the album was delayed until Feb. 14th. Apparently he was working on Waves. Kanye went ahead and made the world wait, then released the album without Chance's fucking verse!!! I want more Chance!! I want more Chance the Rapper and Kanye collabs! "Ultralight Beam" is like the best thing ever! Make it happen again!!

• includes the Madonna cut of "Highlights." I've come to really love the album version as is, even though it's got Thugger's bitch ass on it, so I don't nevessarily want the Mo version to replace the current one, but I think it should be on there. Maybe as a bonus track, kinda like how Late Registration had two takes of "Diamonds From Sierra Leone," and used the remix as the album track and the less interesting original as the bonus. Eh?

• Puts Sia and Vic back on "Wolves" ... "Wolves" is one song that he has mentioned by name, with the intention of "fixing" it. It sounds great on the album as is, but it would be great if those of us who've been waiting around for a studio version of the song we heard on SNL would finally fucking get one.

• Remove "I love Kanye" ... I laughed the first time, smiled when it came on the second time, but my smile fades after about 12 seconds. Not necessary. Plays like a skit. Get it off thay bitch.

That's just my ideal scenario for a final TLOP. Actually my ideal scenario would probably include "Only One" and "All Day", and I could do without "Low lights" even though it adds to the album's concept. It's still a great, great, great, great album-ish-type-thing, and I doubt anythjng will outshine it for me this year even if it stays as is. But it could be a perfect 10, and it isn't quite perfect at present.

Here's hoping his craziness, fickle, mind-changing tendencies work in our favor and he goes back on 90% of the things e's said in the last month.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by louder

Esperanza Spalding's new album is amazing! It's a big shift from her previous works, basically a fusion jazz / art rock album and it's totally great.

 

Ooh yeah, I'm super interested in this! I'm actually heading out of town on an assignment today to a place with an actual goddamn music store that isn't Target or Best Buy, so maybe I'll pick this up!

You heard Bas yet bro?

[Severian]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

I have always felt that there is a reason beat-based music (dance music, techno/edm, much of hip hop) does not hold up as well as riff-based music (blues, rock, folk) over the years of repeated listens.

To me it is that dance music ( and I am being very general here) is meant to be felt immediately, to make your body move. It takes very exceptional songcraft to make a dance song into something that gets better and better with each listen. Of course you can dance to anything, but I am referring to the quick way in which dance music seems dated and old as compared to riff-based musics.

I love listening to Young Thug, Future, Rich Homie Quan, Chedda, etc. but I also am not avoiding the fact that after 10-15 listens the magic that initially got me into it is gone. I feel that dance music (and hip hop, for the most part, iks dance music) is intended for a visceral experience, and must be simplified to suit it.

What do you guys think?

When I listen to many 10+ year old hip hop tracks it feels very inert and dead, no matter how amazing I found it upon first listen.

Do you think this is why so many young people have no interest in digging into the musical history of hip hop? Like, even the rappers now seem to have no connection emotionally to anything older than 6 years old.

just curious as to what you guys think about this.

This is a super good question, man, and one that I would love to talk about at length. Unfortunately duty calls and I've gotta jet, but I'll return to this later because I think a lot of people feel the way you do about hip-hop.

Honestly, I don't feel that way. I still get chills from Illmatic, Wu-Tang Forever, Ready to Die, Midnight Marauders, Dr. Octagon, The Cold Vein, pretty much everything involving MF DOOM or Madlib, and all early Wu solo projects. I listen to Kanye more than any other artist and that's been the case for years now so I don't lose my feeling for a song after 10-15 listens. But I can understand how someone might with Future or Thug, because even when they're making decent music, it's not super interesting.

And I love dance/IDM/techno/house, and I actually think it holds up better than most guitar based music (not that I don't love riffs) if only because there are usually so many layers to it and new things to hear and feel, a it's appropriate for so many different times and moods. Hip-hop (the kind you're talking about) really doesn't have much universality to it. It's very of the moment. It's party music, or driving music, and not much else. But a lot of hip hop is just as layered and textured and beautiful as he electronic music (speaking broadly here) that holds my interest so well.

More later. Good talking points, Rob!

[noisereductions]

Originally Posted by Severian

Oh, and also... uhh... fuck... well, I'll just say it:

Kanye West is STILL WORKING on TLOP mixes.

Here's an "article" from you-know-who

... Shrugs...

So maybe I was wrong to pressure NR to man up and listen to the goddamn album already, and maybe NR was right to stay away for fear that the "product" wasn't finished. Maybe.

it's silly, right?

Still no hope for a CD/vinyl release, as yet, which I can't say doesn't piss me off, but as I've said before, any new Kanye music is cause for celebration for me. I hope he comes around to at least putting the thing on iTunes and Spotify so people who are on the fence about the whole Tidal thing can, you know, hear the motherfucking album without breaking the motherfucking law.

this is my thing. Yeah.

I realized this whole TIDAL ONLY thing rubs me the same wrong way that Once Upon A Time In Shaolin did. It's artists who seem to think that buying their album is A PRIVILEGE and I should bend over backwards to give them MY money on THEIR terms. No. Dudes. Let's break it down: you are selling a product. I want to buy it. Let's make it happen.

Again, T-Swift not wanting to be on Spotify I can at least understand. You're boycotting one specific outlet for a specific reason. Even artists who make their shit exclusives to one retailer for a week or month or whatever - fine. But when you're saying "sorry, I know this is America but I'm stripping away your choice of where you want to do your business," that's when I think you just look like an asshole.

If it were a CD (or even mp3's) that I could only buy from kanyewest.com I'd even understand that. No middle man. But what this amounts to is I have to sign up for a gym membership to hear this album... and I don't have any desire to go to that gym. (BTW, am I right to assume that after the 30 dial trial... you can't have the album anymore right? Like, Kanye's asking you to pay AGAIN every month for as long as you want access to his album?)

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Electronic music is boring. There. I said it.

 

[Severian]

Not sure about the 30 day trial question because as I said, I'm keeping Tidal going for now because I don't like stealing from him, even if he's asking for it.

Tidal allows you to download songs onto your device (if you choose the $19.99/month super premium absurdly expensive option) but even if you do that, I think you need to at least maintain the $12 monthly subscription to be able to access the album. (!!!)

I mean, I guess it is a gesture against capitalism (kind of... unless you see it as a push toward an even more malevolent kind of capitalism) and the disposability of music. And to be fair, I'd gladly pay a couple bucks a month just to keep my Kanye cd's. At $2/each that's about the cost of a Tidal subscription. And Tidal has a pretty good library of music.

But I don't have to pay for my CDs ever month. I buy them and they're mine! So that's faulty logic. But if a dictator took office and made me pay a tax on my Kanye albums, I'd do it. That makes Tidal sound even worse, and makes me even more pissed off about the whole thing.

Why doesn't he just pull a Radiohead and release it for free?! Then he can count the downloads all he wants, and avoid the pressures of sales figures without alienating anyone.

Yeah, he should just sell it exclusively through his website. Whatever. I think he may have succeeded in shutting down TPB... E least temporarily

[Severian]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

Electronic music is boring. There. I said it.

 

Wow, that's...an astonishingly broad generalization. Most music from any given genre is boring. But "electronic music" encompasses more variations and styles and subgenres than I'm even aware of. It's like saying "non-electronic music is boring."

Way to write off everything from Kraftwerk to Eno to half of David Bowie's output to Aphex Twin to Deadmau5 (3$9'dkrs indeed suck) to the fuckin' Whitey Album to ... you get the point I hope. And based on what?

What's boring about Aphex Twin exactly? Have you never heard DJ Koze? Ever heard "I don't give a fuck" by DJ Rashad?

And the Tool graphic makes the entire sentiment seem like an ironic joke.

*puts on "Parabola"; sleeps forever*

[Severian]

I listened to Yeezus follower immediately by untitled unmastered. on the road just now. They make for a really good one-two punch.

[Severian]

There's this remix of "I love Kanye" by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League and 8 Bars that actually turns it into a pretty decent little remix. The beat's boring as hell... not something Ye himself would ever touch, but it's interesting. Includes media snippets about Ye from Jimmy Kimmell and Barack Obama.... makes for a thoughtful little piece.

The beat is just corny though. Like, really corny. It sounds like a piece of a documentary your high school physics teacher showed you about space ... back in the early to mid '90s when you were actually in high school. Yeah, it's gross. But as a whole the track is cool.

JUSTICE League & 8 Bars - "Old Kanye" ("I Love Kanye" remix) YouTube

[Severian]

Kim did an interview today.

Was asked "why isn't Kanye's album on iTunes"

Answered: "because he's still mixing and mastering it... There may be some surprises. I can't give away too much. But it's coming very soon. It's coming very soon."



I also saw some "test pressing" shots of a vinyl edition. Probably fake but still worth mentioning.

Also, TIdal's subscribers shot up 150% in the two weeks following Pablo's Feb 14tth release date. So I heard some buzz from Tidal that the company is interested in seeing a possible physical edition of the album, since it had essentially saved Tidal for the time being.

I don't know WHAT'S going on, but people really really really love this album.

[Severian]

So I guess I'm alone in the café today (and last night). That's cool. I've got stuff going on anyway. So much stuff. Totally important stuff that adults do. So, yeah, whatever. That's cool. You do you and I'll do me. Gotta go now ... important stuff calls.

...

[Severian]

I lied! I'm bored out of my mind! I've got nothing going on! Sitting at work fucking around with my phone! Fridays are so goddamn slow.

...
Guys?

[Rob Instigator]

Fetty Wap did a surprise show in Houston on Wednesday with Post Malone opening, and the reviews were sad.

Post Malone actually played White Iverson TWICE in a 20 minutes set.

No one pays their dues anymore....

Fetty had his whole Remy Boys crew onstage and he basically "rapped" for 30 minutes of a 1 hour set.

fucking shit hip hop shows.

[Rob Instigator]

(BTW, I cannot stand that neo-soul-jazzy-R&B shit that esperanza spaulding plays. I hate that shit so bad.)

[Severian]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

Fetty Wap did a surprise show in Houston on Wednesday with Post Malone opening, and the reviews were sad.

Post Malone actually played White Iverson TWICE in a 20 minutes set.

No one pays their dues anymore....

Fetty had his whole Remy Boys crew onstage and he basically "rapped" for 30 minutes of a 1 hour set.

fucking shit hip hop shows.

Ew. Kind of a generic show though. I wouldn't go to that. No sir. I only go to hip-hop shows when it's a no bullshit powerhouse performer (Kendrick) or a sure fire nostalgic good ass time (De La Soul, Ghostface Killah). That's why I don't go to many hip hop shows anymore. Cause, come on, Fettt Wap? He's not the worst rapper in the world, but he's not interesting and I have no reason to believe he will be anything more than an already expired flavor of the month (that month being August of 2015).

[Rob Instigator]

I am glad I did not go