Year End Lists: Lap Dances and Dick Rubs

Top three coming at you. Witty introductory remark.

Ben's pick:

3. Rhymefest - Mark Ronson presents Rhymefest in Man in the Mirror
Best hip-hop record of the year? You bet. And it never even came out in stores. Mark Ronson applies his pop scented hip-hop production to a concept mash up of a mixtape, employing nothing but Michael Jackson (and the Jackson 5, natch) samples spanning the King of Pop's career to craft the perfect sonic landscape for 'Fest and his cohorts to rhyme on. As an added bonus, we get remixes of classic Jackson-sampling hip-hop tracks like Ghostface's "All That I've Got is You" and De La Soul's "Breakadawn." The homage reaches a new level on "No Sunshine," which finds 'Fest riffing on Jackson riffing on Bill Withers. It's free, so if you don't have it already, there's really no excuse.

Isabelle's pick:

3. Estelle - Shine
I think Estelle is John Legend's way of making up for his shitty Liberace schtick these last few years. I believe that this is his way of saying I DO still have good taste and I AM a talented musician, see what I brought you? Pure British R&B/pop gold. Sassy, sexy, talent for days...Estelle is just amazing. She can rap, she can sing the shit out of anything, and she can write too. You already know how I feel about "American Boy." I feel just as good about the rest of this record. She and John Legend singing together is nothing short of beautiful, like Marvin and Tammi, except not in love and not as good, but you know what I mean. And this album has Cee-Lo!

Year End Lists: Punctuality is One of Our Resolutions

OK, OK. We know we promised one album per day. But just like you, we can be lazy, irresponsible and prone to lying. Don't despair though. The guilt was killing us, and we are atoning with two picks each right now.

Ben's Picks:

8. The Black Keys - Attack and Release
The blues rock two piece shows Jack White how it's meant to be done. 2004's Rubber Factory, the only other Black Keys record I'm very familiar with, was a great album of blues jams, but this album, produced by the brilliant Danger Mouse (and it sounds like he brought his keyboards with him!), truly takes the band a step further conceptually. Rather than just blasting you with gritty guitar and drums, this set of songs swirls around you, unraveling more with each listen.

7. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Sometimes divorcing yourself from the buzz works really, really well. This was one of those cases: when this band's name started whipping around the internet early in 2008 I didn't want to know anything about it. Eventually, I heard the record, and I was blown away. It's such a nice record, I can't believe there was all that buzz about these breezy melodies and vaguely African rhythms. This isn't a new trick (see: everything the Talking Heads recorded) but these kids are doing it well on this LP.

Isabelle's Picks:

8. Jazmine Sullivan - Fearless
Philly jawns stand up. This album would be higher up on my list, but there are like three tracks ("After the Hurricane," "Dream Big" and "Live a Lie" could all be better) that I feel hold this record back from flawless greatness. Otherwise, Missy Elliott's protege's album has been on repeat since dropping. "Call Me Guilty" is the best abused woman revenge tune around and of course the first singles "Need U Bad" and "Bust Your Windows" are stellar. My favorite one though, is "In Love with Another Man," which is all emotion, a bittersweet ballad about being unable to move on, even though it's in every one's best interest.

7. Rhymefest - Mark Ronson presents Rhymefest in The Man in the Mirror
Technically not an album per se, but nevertheless, a cohesive and amazing effort from one of my favorite rappers out there. First of all, the "conversations" between 'Fest and MJ are nothing short of perfection and secondly, this tided me over marvelously because Rhymefest's "sophomore" record El Che got pushed back to '09. This mix tape is the ultimate low key party or BBQ record--it revisits every fantastic Jackson tune from his childhood days on, with the added bonus of Rhymefest's straight up genius.

Scrub It Clean, Spit It Back Out

"I happen to know for a fact that she was an American version of me. She was signed by my label in America as, 'We need to find something controversial and kooky like Lily Allen.'" —Lily Allen on Katy Perry

This explains a lot. I don't see the similarity all that much, unless I put on my major label executive goggles, in which case it makes perfect sense. Those are also the goggles that make Duffy look like Amy Winehouse.

Incidentally, does anyone know why Lily Allen talks so much shit on her label? I love her first record, and her second one should be pretty good (I like the first video), but as far as I'm concerned she should be thanking her lucky stars (and MySpace, and Mark Ronson) that she got signed to a deal in the first place.

via [Vulture]

Allido Records CMJ Showcase: Rhymefest Steals Ronson's Show

I listened to Mark Ronson (pictured below, left) for a long time without ever knowing who he was, what he did, or why he deserved my undying adoration. It started with the music blogs I read posting "Devil's Pie" in the run-up to the release of Rhymefest's (pictured, right) 2006 debut, Blue Collar. This was something that didn't blow my mind, exactly, but came close: here we have 'Fest rhyming over a beat that's made of the Strokes' song "Someday," with very little in the way of editing the original down. It is sad that using some early 00's indie rock as the basis of a hip hop beat could even be considered "mind blowing," but such is the state of hip hop today.

Anyway, once the album dropped later that summer, I snatched it right up. It was worth every penny--the album drips with Rhymefest's exuberant and often funny verses, and it has not left my iPod since. The emcee has an energy like few others, good natured but still street. He also has songwriting and production skills, which doesn't hurt. He's not afraid of far-flung genres, sampling the aforementioned Strokes hit, collaborating with Citizen Cope on a reworking of his tune "Bullet and A Target," and even collaborating with the then-recently deceased Ol' Dirty Bastard on a cover of "Build Me Up Buttercup," simply titled "Build Me Up."

It wasn't until a year or more later that I realized another name in the Blue Collar production credits: Executive Producer Mark Ronson. This was after I'd spent the better part of 2007 reading articles about this wunderkind producer, Ronson, producing the Lily Allen debut Alright, Still and putting the Dap Kings in the same studio as Amy Winehouse and having the masterpiece that is Back to Black emerge (say what you will about Winehouse's trials and tribulations--the fact is that album holds up). Not to denigrate Rhymefest in any way--he's a production powerhouse in his own right and has a Grammy to prove it--but it looked like there may have been more at work on Blue Collar than I thought. Ronson's got the eclectic taste that hip hop, and for that matter soul, R&B, rock, and pop needs these days.

It was with all this in mind that I frantically bought tickets to see the Allido Records CMJ showcase at S.O.B.'s this week (Allido is Mark Ronson's boutique record label). The show was on Tuesday night, and the bill was too good to be true, if a bit misleading: Rhymefest, Wale (another Allido emcee), new signing the Rumble Strips (UK chamber rock, but it was hard to tell), Daniel Merriweather, the Dap Kings, and a DJ set by Ronson himself.

We got to the club and waited for about an hour through a DJ set by... not Mark Ronson. Whoever was spinning, he was pretty good, mostly older hip hop stuff with some newer cuts as well. Then Mr. Allido himself took the stage, introducing "the first act we ever signed," Rhymefest. Fest took us through an exciting but all too short set, playing for no more than twenty minutes. The set included a stripped down version of "More," with Fest regaling us with an a cappella, almost stand-up version of that song's best verse ("This mano a mano, how you gonna catch mono from a girl that work at McDonald's?"). He also brought living legend Rahzel on stage for some impressive beatboxing, teasing us that the two of them want to go on tour together. Before the set was over, Fest performed "Ain't No Sunshine," the song from Man in the Mirror that, like every song on that album, samples Michael Jackson, but in a nod to the family affair vibe of the showcase, remixed the cover version of that song by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, adding another layer of homage to a song that was already Rhymefest riffing on Michael Jackson riffing on Bill Withers. All in all, a fantastic set. I only wish it were longer, to say nothing of the fact that Rhymefest was the first opener. But it was hard to complain after seeing such a strong performance from one of my favorite artists working today. Oh, and there was an Obama rap. Total package, as far as I'm concerned.

Next up was the Rumble Strips, a new band from some crazy land called "England" that have just signed to Allido. They seem to take a page from the Arcade Fire book of swapping instruments, or dropping them altogether from time to time. The songs, however, had a much more straightforward tilt to them. The highlight of this set was a cover of Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black," a somber march of a tune in the hands of the Rumble Strips. I'll be watching this band to see what comes from them, because their set was quite enjoyable.

Next up was Daniel Merriweather and the Dap Kings. What to say about Mr. Merriweather? He's a perfectly competent British soul singer, known mostly (to me, anyway) from appearances on various Mark Ronson projects, such as "Stop Me," the Smiths cover on last year's Version album (a record of covers where Ronson had the Dap Kings play on almost every track to great effect), or spots on Fest's Man in the Mirror mixtape, also produced by Ronson. What made the set for me was the Dap Kings, who can take any artist and move them from the "just okay" into the "fucking marvelous" just by playing behind them. Bugs Bunny could win a Grammy if he sang in front of the Dap Kings (in fact, this is exactly what Ronson's plan for Winehouse was, and now she's got a... oh, nevermind). So the set was great, though it never reached the transcendent levels that the Dap Kings tap into with their permanent lead singer/powerhouse, Sharon Jones.

Here I must admit that after the Dap Kings played, I bailed. From most accounts (though not all), Wale played a pretty good set with DC go-go band UCB backing him up. Ronson never played his DJ set, from what I heard from my friends who stayed, and whispers in the crowd of "Amy Winehouse is the special guest" were, unfortunately, never confirmed. This show was far from perfect, but its family vibe and strong lineup made it one of the most memorable I've seen in a long time. Hit up the links below for more on the Allido Family.

Allido Records [MySpace...official site currently under construction]
Mark Ronson Presents Rhymefest in The Man in the Mirror [Legal Download, click to start]
Rhymefest [MySpace]
The Rumble Strips [MySpace]
The Dap Kings [Daptone Records]
Daniel Merriweather [MySpace]

I Decided.

I decided that despite some serious mark missing (like the album's entire last half), I can't truly dislike Solange's new album. I really only like three songs (the Motown steeped first single "I Decided," the clever Cee-Lo co-penned "TONY" and the bittersweet and gorgeous "I Would've Been the 1"), but I still can't dismiss the effort. At it's best, this album is glossy, fresh and snappy, and at it's worst, it needs better arrangement and production.

She's the slightly left of center younger sister of a bonafied pop queen, and that's evident. But she is also her own artist, and that's evident on this album as well. And although she is only 22, the girl knows a thing or two about the ins and outs of relationships, and that comes across lyrically. She got pregnant, married and divorced all before she was old enough to drink, and this album is not just typical post-teenage warbling. It's all her. And I commend that. Not to mention she's somewhat of an underdog: she had a dream team of producers and collaborators (Pharell, Raphael Saadiq, Cee-Lo, Bilal and Mark Ronson to name a few) but she had to basically beg most of them to work with her. That sounds sad, but in a way, it's actually great. I guess being Beyonce's baby sister does not guarantee much in the way of star treatment.

Ultimately, Solange herself puts it best: "I was a little different/I didn't do what the fast girls do/Study my rhythm, you can speed me up when you want to." She's trying, she's branching out, and hopefully, her next release will perfectly execute this album's ambitious vision of a "'60s/70s vintage soul record with hints of electronica." I look forward to it.