Erykah Badu's "New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)"

Rating: 4.5/5

Functioning as the ying to the spaced-out, spectacularly batshit, sonic feast of a yang that was New Amerykah Part One (4th World War), Badu’s latest complements its predecessor beautifully…

By being absolutely nothing like it, of course.

An album rife with potential standout track after potential standout track, the true gem on Erykah Badu’s brilliant New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) is the supremely laid-back “Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long.” Lyrically recalling a persistent theme present in much of Ms. Badu’s work (i.e. reckoning with steadfast love and support for a hustlin’ boyfriend), the song’s breezy, sparse musical backdrop conjures the feeling of a lazy, summer evening on a neighbor’s front porch; seemingly structure-less yet satisfyingly relaxed, almost intoxicating.

Where Part One’s focus was planetary and conceptual, Part Two’s is stubbornly personal and organic, recalling her earlier work in its treatment of love and its many nuances. Yet unlike her earlier work, Part Two is almost just as weird as Part One, complete with strange and seemingly random effects, funny/awesome-yet-over-too-soon skits, and a consistent mixture of warm, live instrumentation with a number of obvious samples, allusions and interpolations. These qualities give the album an analog-ish, yet very mixtape-like, pastiche quality; think The Miseducation of L-Boogie-meets-De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising. Return of the Ankh has a gloriously radiant, freewheeling vibe that is irresistible. From first listen, you will at least be intrigued, but by the 4th or 5th you’ll be hooked; I can guarantee it. “20 Feet Tall” and “Window Seat” start things off in gorgeous, meditative fashion, and “Fall In Love (Your Funeral)” makes perfect use of one of Biggie’s greatest lines (eat your heart out, Hov!).

And then there's the end of our journey, the 10-minute epic/psychedelic soul masterpiece “Out My Mind, Just In Time,” with its trippy, breathtaking climax at the 5-minute mark that is just pure, emotional catharsis, plain and simple.

Erykah Badu has just released another fantastic album. And taken together, New Amerykah (Parts One & Two) stands beside D’Angelo’s Voodoo and Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black as the collective gold standard for post-millennial Soul music.

BADU & WEEZY'S "Jump Up in the Air and Stay There"

Just sit back, relax, and let them blow your mind.

Erykah Badu just released the most unbelievable music video for her single with Lil' Wayne, entitled "Jump Up in the Air and Stay There." Oddly enough, the song won't even be appearing on her highly anticipated new album New Amerykah Pt. II: Return of the Ankh. But when an artist releases something this fascinating...this exhilirating...well, you just don't worry about a little formality like that. Check it out after the jump!

"Jump Up in the Air and Stay There," which premiered a few weeks ago, has a trippy, joyous, almost dreamlike quality to it, and the video matches the song perfectly; its just as psychadelic and far-out, clearly inspired by Funkadelic (particularly the cover of the legendary band's 1970 debut album) in terms of sound, visuals, and creative spirit, and I'm sure you're going to love it.

Especially if you're high. (Hey, just being honest)

ENJOY!

http://erykahbadu.com/





P.S.- FREE WEEZY!

Lil Wayne's Rebirth: Conceptually misguided like a motherfucker...

Rating: 1.5/5

It would be so much easier to write a review of Lil Wayne’s forever-delayed “rock album,” Rebirth, if it was possible to frame it as some sort of tangential, finished-in-a-couple-weeks side project. Unfortunately, that’s just not possible.

Like Kanye West’s brilliant 808’s & Heartbreak, Rebirth is supposed to be an artistic coup for Wayne, where he sheds any external limitations placed upon his work stylistically, and potentially shifts the landscape of popular music in the process (i.e. Hip Hop). Initially set for release almost a year ago, Rebirth has been pushed back over and over again, and like Tha Carter III, this has only served to raise the stakes on the importance of the project in relation to Lil Wayne’s body of work. In other words, Weezy really cares about how you’re going to respond to this album.

Well…I seriously doubt most people will respond well to Rebirth. But unlike 808’s & Heartbreak, that’s not because it’s a drastic change from his established sound, and perhaps a bit ahead of its time. The problem is that Rebirth is a drastic change from Wayne’s established sound, probably not ahead of its time, and conceptually misguided like a motherfucker.

I can kinda, sorta, almost halfway understand Wayne’s decision to make an album like Rebirth. In the wake of his rapid ascent to the top of the world of Hip Hop and Pop music, Wayne has been subjected to the kind of widespread idolatry usually reserved for rock stars; and thus many in the media have dubbed him Hip Hop’s first, true rock star. And I don’t argue with this assertion; his style of dress, the incessant presence of drugs in his music and public persona, his multiple run-ins with the law, and his brash, unpredictable, “badass” personality all lend themselves to the kind of outlaw status people like Axl Rose and David Lee Roth once enjoyed. Additionally (and allegedly), Wayne likes rock, so perhaps adding some live drumming, and maybe emphasizing some raw, crunching, rhythmic guitar work on the follow-up to The Carter III wouldn’t have been a bad idea. Incorporating elements of rock into your sound is one thing; making a ROCK ALBUM is quite another.

The best songs on Rebirth do exactly what I’ve just described; the Eminem-assisted “Drop The World,” is a monster, and the trippy, hard-edged “Ground Zero” perfectly captures what an ideal Lil Wayne-helmed rock album would sound like, by integrating heavy guitars and live percussion into a firmly hip hop-based form. Even the criminally-overlooked first single “On Fire” basically does it right with a great sample, searing electric guitars and catchy, clever lyrics; basically, it’s a beefed-up version of “Lollipop.” Everything else on Rebirth oscillates from the misguided and strange to the misguided and annoyingly bland and pop-oriented. “Get A Life” sounds like a failed attempt at channeling Fishbone, “The Price is Wrong” sounds like an underdeveloped and lyrically-inept attempt at Nirvana-styled, pop-oriented hardcore punk, and “Paradice” and “Runnin’” even tread power ballad territory. Lyrically, the album largely offers absolutely nothing even worth mentioning, likely because Wayne is completely out of his element throughout, like a great white attempting to walk, or a tiger trying to fly. Needless to say, there are many cringe-worthy moments throughout Rebirth.

Maybe Wayne should have considered working with producers that have experience working with both hip hop artists and rock bands, like Rick Rubin for example. Or maybe he should have just shelved the whole project, since he clearly has no idea what he’s doing. Or perhaps, years from now, Rebirth will be seen as a misunderstood classic, like The Stone’s Exile on Main Street, or The Stooges’ entire body of work (yeah I know…probably not).

In the meantime, let’s just hope the No Ceilings mixtape is enough to tide us over till Tha Carter IV drops.

ATTIC MUSIC'S TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2009!

So I wasn't so sure if I was going to do this or not.

Every year all the magazines and blogs bombard you with their lists of the top releases, and it's usually bullshit. Some blogs will tell you that only indie bands released anything good this year, while magazines like Rolling Stone will probably say Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, U2 or Bruce Springsteen (or some other old guy/old guy band that you didn't even know put an album out this year) edged out the competition once again.

Well, in regards to my pathetic attempt at furthering this very same tradition that I just got done talking shit about, do the both of us a favor and just see the following as a list of recommendations. No need to become upset. These are my picks for the 10 Albums of 2009, the ones I find to be essential in summing up the year in music. It's not just about which albums were the most popular, and its certainly not about which albums took 25 listens to get into either(we're looking at you, Pitchfork).

Regardless of whether or not you agree, please check the albums you're unfamiliar with out! Take my word for it; over the course of 2009, these are the albums I was most impressed with. Be sure to click on the album covers to check out a review and explanation for each choice.

Read. Comment. Listen. ENJOY!

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

Best Albums of 2009: 10. The Horrors' "Primary Colours"

10. The Horrors “Primary Colors”

So The Horrors really like Jesus and the Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and The Shangri-Las. But get past their fairly obvious influences (and get off your high horse while you're at it) and you'll have a hell of an album in front of you. After their campy, garage punk debut album came off as a little too heavy on gimmicky madness, the band closed ranks, enlisted Portishead’s Geoff Barrow as the project’s producer, and came back with a brand new sound, and the most effortlessly creepy indie release of the year.

There’s some post-punk, a nice handful of shoegaze, and a whole lot of goth as well, and the results are quite stunning. “I Can’t Control Myself” has a subtle relentlessness that is positively hypnotic, and the epic “Sea Within A Sea,” clocking in at nearly eight minutes, is a murky, chorus-less, jaw-droppingly brave first single, complete with busy synths and vocalist Faris Badwan’s ghostlike incantations.

In 2009, all anyone could talk about was Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective, but if you ask me, but they should have been talking about The Horrors.

Best Albums of 2009: 9. Drake's "So Far Gone"

9. Drake “So Far Gone”

Hey, remember when I told you guys Kanye’s “808s and Heartbreak” would end up being crazy important and potentially set the course for hip hop’s future? Well judging by the success of Drake, as well as Kid Cudi, this past year, I’m thinking I was absolutely right.

Don’t kid yourselves, Drake isn’t going anywhere any time soon, and he can thank the brilliant “So Far Gone” for that. “Best I Ever Had” and “Successful” tore up the airwaves this summer, and rightfully so. The genius of Drake is the middle ground he’s found between pop and hip hop, which is exactly what Kanye attempted on 808s. You can hear that album’s influence all over So Far Gone; and by adding in elements of contemporary R&B, Lil Wayne’s slurred delivery, Jay-Z’s self-assured mic presence, and Kanye’s emphasis on introspection, Drake crafted a sound and style that is all his own, and it made him a superstar.

And get this; he never once had to mention shooting anyone.

Best Albums of 2009: 8. Lady Gaga's "The Fame Monster"

8. Lady Gaga “The Fame Monster”

The best things about The Fame Monster are its length and its rejection of an overreliance on variety. It doesn’t overstay its welcome and it doesn’t come off like your average cookie-cutter, “throw a bunch of singles at the public and see what sticks” pop release. This is an album; an album so good that even Gaga’s biggest detractors may have to back down from their blind, misinformed “she all style, no substance” claims. Unlike The Fame, which was exhilarating but messy, The Fame Monster is tight, tuneful and sharp as a tack conceptually.

“Alejandro” and “Bad Romance” make it clear that Gaga is the dance-pop gold standard of the moment, with “So Happy I Could Die” not too far behind, but it’s with the epic “Speechless” and the evil “Teeth” that Lady Gaga makes her definitive statement; this woman is capable of anything.