Jam of the Day: Little Dragon - "Strobe Light"

I am loving the sensual textures in this sleek dance track from Little Dragon. You can listen to the track here on Spotify.

Album Review: Big Boi - Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors

Big Boi
Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors
Rating: Grrrr

While we continue to await any new material from Outkast, which seems to be a more diminishing position with each new year, we are at least still able to enjoy the output from Big Boi. My appreciation for Big Boi came to the forefront with the release of Speakboxxx/The Love Below, which essentially was two solo albums thrown together as a double album. While I thought I would be more drawn to Andre 3000's half of the record, I was blown away by how fun and inventive Big Boi's was. My respect for Big Boi was further cemented with his first official solo record, 2010's Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, which was one of my top albums of that year. A stunning collection of Southern leaning hip-hop, there was a restless inventiveness and experimentation to the tracks that kept you on your toes. There isn't a huge leap forward in style or form on the follow up Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors, however, it does appear that Big Boi is leaning away from more traditional sounds and embracing his indie/electronic side, aligning himself with collaborations on multiple tracks with Little Dragon and Phantogram.

In fact, it is these oddball collaborations that really standout and take the record to another level. On paper, they sound like a mess, and in many cases are a mess, but are so different and interesting they keep you wanting more. My favorite tracks on the record are the collaborations with Phantogram. Their quirky electro-pop complements Big Boi perfectly, even though in theory it feels like it would be a mess. "Objectum Sexuality" has a fun bounce and playfulness to it, Big Boi spitting out his raps with humor and sass, while Sarah Barthel's gorgeous, bored-with-it-all chorus refrains adds needed contrast and texture.



"CPU" buzzes and growls with deep bass synths and keyboards over a chugging beat, with a gorgeous coda. Again, Barthel's voice adds needed counterpoint to Big Boi's flow.



And their additional collaboration with A$AP Rocky on "Lines" is another album standout, featuring a laid back beat amid whirring sythns, picking up on the chorus with bold piano chords. The mix of vocal styles between Rocky, Big Boi, and Barthel is surprisingly fluid.



Everyones' go-to collaborator these days, Little Dragon, offers up two unique tracks with Big Boi. The deep rumble of "Thom Pettie,"



and the delicate closing ballad of "Descending."



There is a very low-key somberness to a lot of the record that I wasn't expecting, and a greater willingness to open himself up to more personal subjects. "Tremendous Damage" is a lovely piano ballad about the death of his father,



and "She Hates Me" which details the ending of a relationship due to his personal faults.



Of course, there are still a lot of fun tracks on the record that keep the right amount of levity to the proceedings. The bouncy and light "Apple of My Eye,"



"Shoes For Running" adds an indie guitar vibe with a cool chorus from Wavves,



and his pop collaboration with Kelly Rowland, "Mama Told Me," steals from Prince's "When Doves Cry" and adds more sass and glitter to things.



Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors can appear scattershot at times and lacking the cohesiveness of Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, but over many listens its charm and quirkiness take root and overwhelm any minor criticisms. I for one hope that Big Boi continues doing exactly what he is doing, taking whatever music is making him happy at the moment and merging it with his unique personal style.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.

New: Big Boi ft. Little Dragon - "Mama Told Me"

Big Boi joined Little Dragon on stage to perform their collaboration off his upcoming record Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors.

DJ Shadow: The Less You Know, The Better

DJ Shadow
The Less You Know, The Better
Rating: Meh

When you leap out of the gate with an album that is as seminal as Entroducing..., it is going to be almost impossible to ever follow it up with something better or even as good. Expectations are going to be too high, and you are almost destined to fail. DJ Shadow almost came close with the follow up, The Private Press, which retained the feel of the debut without sounding like a facsimile. His third release, the polarising The Outsider, was just a throw everything to the wall and see what sticks mess, that despite such inconsistency, actually had some of Shadow's best work. It just took a lot of time and effort to filter it out. Five years have now passed, and we haven't heard much from Shadow other than a consistent touring presence. I was fortunate enough to catch his set on the Identity Festival, and it proved he still has the DJ chops and can marry it well with some stunning visuals. But it was telling that the material that got the best response from the crowd was the older stuff. It's very hard to classify DJ Shadow's latest album, The Less You Know, The Better, other than it plays like an overview of Shadow's entire career. As such, it has several very high points and then varying degrees of success for the rest. The ramshackle flow of the record is initially charming, like a set of DJ Shadow songs set on shuffle, but then gets wearying over multiple listens, as there is no thematic touchstone to get your bearings.

Ultimately, this record becomes an interesting curiosity in DJ Shadow's discography, as it is the first one that treads water more than setting out in new directions, and also, it doesn't really point a clear direction as to what he will do in the future. With that said, there are quite a few really great tracks on the album. I loved the addition of Tom Vek on the driving rock track "Warning Call," though sadly it is more because of Vek's delivery and not necessarily Shadow's production.



Even better is the delightful soul/pop song with Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon (seriously does she even have a band anymore), "Scale It Back," which could easily be heard on Top 40 radio if it were marketed correctly.



The murky, drum heavy "Come On Riding (Through The Cosmos)" appears to sample Laurie Anderson and adds a very alt-rock vocal to the track which builds into a gorgeous bed of strings.



And first single, the stuttering 80s metal cutup "I Gotta Rokk," is mesmerizing in its aggro silliness.



Strangely, I found myself drawn more to his pop experiments on the album, and can only hope he might put out a pure pop record at some point. The gorgeous "Redeemed" is a particular highlight, featuring a breathy soul vocal over delicate guitars and sampled drums.



And there are, of course, several impeccably produced sample-based instrumentals that recall his work on Entroducing..., for example, the chilly, aquatic "Tedium," lonely, skeletal "Enemy Lines," and the pair "Back to Front (Circular Logic)" and "Circular Logic (Front to Back)."



But too often, the tracks sounds like sketches or rehashes of tracks from other albums. The same 1940's vocal sample is used in two tracks, "Sad and Lonely" and "(Not So) Sad and Lonely," but neither of the tracks really make much of a statement, other than recalling the much better "Six Days."



The chicken -scratch guitar funk of "Run For Your Life" and metal excursion "Border Crossing" also feel slightly dated, but nothing comes close to matching the full stop horror of "Give Me Back The Nights," with the world's most annoying beat-poetry screaming. It is truly the most wtf? moment in Shadow's career.

The Less You Know, The Better, is ultimately frustrating because it has no forward momentum and doesn't push any envelopes whatsoever. I kept waiting for an "A-ha!" moment that sadly never came. As he moves into this stage of his career, it appears DJ Shadow is struggling to figure out his next steps. The album is impeccably produced, as always, and there are some really killer tracks, but a merely good record from Shadow is always a bit of a disappointment.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.

Little Dragon: Ritual Union

Little Dragon
Ritual Union
Rating: Meh

Swedish electro-pop act have slowly been building buzz over the past few years, releasing two albums of jazz and R&B tinged electronic pop, and lead singer Yukimi Nagano has seemingly popped up everywhere as a guest vocalist on a slew of high-profile albums from Gorillaz, SBTRKT, Koop, and Maximum Balloon. So the release of Ritual Union should be the album that propels them to worldwide success, right? Their first self-titled album leaned heavily towards R&B and jazz, which was then honed to a more electronic edge on the follow up Machine Dreams, which appeared to indicate that they would move to a more electronic pop sound going forward. Instead, Ritual Union is a strange addition to their catalog. While it leans to a more electronic base, it focuses more on minimalism and textures rather than hooks. Previously, Little Dragon would abandon sounds that didn't seem to work, always moving forward. Here, it almost appears that they are focusing solely on sounds that don't work, leaving Ritual Union as a well-produced album that doesn't feed the soul.

And the album is very well produced; clear and clean, with all the elements working well together. The focus unfortunately is on the sound of the record and not the heart of the songs. What should have some emotion heft is clearly lacking, and the cold sterility of the songs becomes oppressive. Title track and lead song "Ritual Union" is the perfect example. It is a lush, poppy electro song, that should pulse and throb, but instead just languishes under bloopy/whooshing synths. Nagano's jazzy vocals merely hover over the beats but don't provide any meat.



"Little Man" sounds like it was cobbled together using keyboards bought at a neighborhood Target.

Little Dragon - Little Man by twelvemajorchords

"Brush The Heat" is all texture and no melody.



When Little Dragon finally kicks in and plays to their strengths they put together some fantastic pop music. "Shuffle A Dream" is all bouncy/sparkly synths and sassy vocals.



"Nightlight" works a funky, quirky synth vibe.



Not that some of the more moodier tracks are not as good. The end of the album features a couple of standout electronic/ambient tracks. "When I Go Out" uses almost typewriter-like percussion skittering over an auto-tuned vocal from Nagano.



And "Seconds" features one of Nagano's most delicate vocals, smoothly filtering through an electronic lullaby. It's just that the rest of the album floats along under half-baked musical ideas that don't really work. "Please Turn" is all synth drones and narcotic vocals. "Summertearz" overworks a squonky bed of keyboards and another inscrutably obtuse vocal. Even a mid-album song like "Precious" can't save things; its dubstep-influenced bass, skittering percussion, and wonky synths work for awhile, before become just another mess of overproduced synth noodling.

I had very high hopes for Ritual Union, thinking it would be the album that would break the band big. Unfortunately, it is like they got cold feet and decided to retreat more into an "experimental" state. While I appreciate their willingness to stretch their sounds in new directions, by focusing on their weaknesses they have almost ruined their forward momentum. While Ritual Union certainly is not an embarrassment, it is definitely not going to be the blockbuster most people have expected from them.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.