Pusha's never been better. Not quite a classic album, could use some better guests and a certain je ne sais quoi, but fire nonetheless.
Choice cuts: Suicide, Nosetlagia, Pain
Saturday, November 29, 2014
11.28
Pusha's never been better. Not quite a classic album, could use some better guests and a certain je ne sais quoi, but fire nonetheless.
Choice cuts: Suicide, Nosetlagia, Pain
11.27
Much cooler than Blue Train, and that drumming is off the chain, but I can't shake the sense that Coltrane just isn't gonna be where it's at for me and jazz. Still look forward to listening to it more.
At first I was thinking this was gonna be some all-time shit, but it loses a bit of potency to redundancy as it progresses. I think they should've at least switched the drums up a bit on the last track. Still fucking bomb, stoked to listen to more from Davis.
11.26
Damn, I didn't know Iñarritu had it in him.
11.23
It's always weird for me hearing new albums by non-OGs, it's just a different universe from Paid in Full or something. Hip-hop just isn't about the lyrics anymore. So it took me a few listens to evaluate but I think it's a pretty stellar album at this point. Schoolboy Q is a god with the flows, I've never heard someone push it this far in terms of variety. Good variety in the beat selection too but more importantly he just milks those suckers for all they're worth. Seems like this gets compared to Kendrick's album a lot but it's more similar to Gibbs': they both have basically the same story to tell (the same story most conceptish rap albums tell; I dig that both Q and Gibbs have the good grace to invite the formula's inventor on for a verse), but Oxymoron feels both more complete and concise. Lots of great guest verses but Kurupt's takes the cake.
Choice cuts: Los Awesome, Hoover Street, Prescription/Oxymoron
Just good chill shit. The Murder Mystery interrupts the flow a bit; I like the idea of one experimental song but this isn't the one.
Choice cuts: What Goes On, Jesus, Beginning to See the Light
This might be the first live album I've heard. There's something incredibly intimate about it, between the stripped-down take on the songs and Curtis' addresses to the audience. Feels more like a show in a living room than a club. None of the spine-chilling orchestration of the studio stuff but a lovely experience in its own right.
Choice cuts: Stare and Stare, The Makings of You, (Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go
Elsewhere I called it A Hard Day's Night where actions actually have consequences but as it progresses it really becomes much more hellish than that. Political firestorm in the backdrop with one of the best action finales I've seen. Mak directs the fuck out of it.
11.19
Never less than great but when Mingus is soldering together mad flavors and shit it's never less than masterful.
Choice cuts: Ysabel's Table Dance, Tijuana Gift Shop, Los Mariachis (The Street Musicians)
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
11.17
There's no way in hell the setting passes for the American South, but as it is it adds to the film's claustrophobic, nightmarish elements. Strange, intense little movie, some good stuff about race and coercion.
11.16
Way farther out of this world than Mothership Connection. Also maybe the best rock album I've heard.
Choice cuts: Maggot Brain, Can You Get to That, Back in Our Minds
Frampton always stokes me up at the beginning of his movies, then falls into loops that loose my interest quickly, then ends so as to pique my curiosity just enough to watch another of his films at some point.
11.14
Boots Riley is obviously an incredibly creative and clever MC, as seen when he shits all over Black Thought and Talib Kweli on My Favorite Mutiny. But boy that production really makes me reluctant to listen to any of their albums more than once. It's mostly the terrible drums I think. I think Boots also gets kind of stuck in ruts partway through albums: he still has new stuff to talk about but somehow it gets decreasingly interesting.
Choice cuts: Bullets and Love (Introduction), My Favorite Mutiny, Ass-Breath Killers
It's certainly got Burton's hand all over it. Fine I guess. It's wild to me that people think Nicholson is better than Ledger.
Monday, November 17, 2014
11.13
Haha, soul in the late 60s is a lot different than in the early 70s. I dunno, every song's the same and not that good.
Choice cuts: The Tracks of My Tears, So Long, Elusive Butterfly
It's a shame this short project is all we've gotten from him since Hittmanic Verses, but it's not bad at all. His perspective is more mature and way darker than his earlier work but that flow/lyric combination is still out of this world. What he's lost in rawness and energy he makes up for with that fresh take on his old subject matter. Heavens Hell is one of his best tracks.
Choice cuts: Scope, Who Got That (Ack 2), Heavens Hell (Righteous Path)
11.12
Super intense experience, definitely the best jazz album I've heard.
Choice cuts: Pharaoh's Dance, Bitches Brew, Sanctuary
Haha, Wong has a knack for making likeable actors into fucking creeps. The beginning and opening credits are so perfect it's a bit unfair to the rest of the movie, but it never slows down. I loved Andy Lau's storyline and wanted it to end after he became a sailor, but I was okay with the way it reintegrated into the main plot. I knew Tony Leung was in it and was bummed when he kept not appearing, so I adore the ending.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
11.10
I think a lot of Nolan's strength is in advertising: he teases the perfect amount and fulfills that promise as much as he can. And he's got ambition and a great sense of scope. I don't know though, I can't believe some of that stuff stayed in. I can see why some physicists would eat it up but it just seems beyond farfetched. Inception and the Batman movies toed the line between exciting and ridiculous pretty well, while this falls largely on the latter side. One of Hans' best scores for sure though, and I'm glad I got to see it on 35mm.
11.09
Mostly lower key and less unified than what I'm used to for him, but some gorgeous stuff.
Choice cuts: II BS, Theme for Lester Young, Freedom
11.05
This was not a wise rewatch. I get what Lucas and Spielberg are going for, and in some ways they're definitely successful, but they tried too literal a route or something. There's also no point at which you could freeze frame and have a particularly interesting shot. I bet it would work better in a theater.
11.04
When Hsiao catches the arrow in his cup and kills the guy who shot it by hitting it back with his hand I knew the shit was on. Pretty much pure badassery, especially the dinner scene. Another weird ending, I would never have guessed who'd have landed the killing blow. Five good guys against one bad guy hypes the villain but it doesn't say much for the heroes.
11.03
Hardly the action movie to end all action movies, in fact I found the hospital finale a bit anticlimactic, but a very well put together movie nonetheless. I haven't seen Tony Leung in anything in ages, what a talent.
One of the coolest album covers ever. The music's solid, I enjoyed the abundance of samples and presence of skits.
Choice cuts: KO Rock Stuff, Flirt, Guitar Playin'
Monday, November 3, 2014
11.01
I wasn't too hot on it the first time around. Now I think it's more uneven than the first one but might be better. The highs are hella high but other times it sounds phoned in. I'd still love to hear a more ambitious project from the two of them.
Choice cuts: Blockbuster Night Part I, Lie, Cheat, Steal, Love Again
Took me a long time to get into, and some of the writing leaves a lot to be desired. The early Chabrol country/city stuff might do it for you, or the commentary on violence, personally it just became a much more tense and interesting movie in the last third. Kind of a less explicit Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.
10.29
So glad I finally listened to this, it really bridges the gap between Graduation and Fantasy. Up there with his best work and certainly his rawest. I feel like if this had been released after Yeezus it would've been much more warmly received. Kanye eulogizing his mother in a stadium full of people screaming and shouting "I love you Kanye" is maybe his most defining moment.
Choice cuts: Heartless, Amazing, Paranoid
10.28
I dozed off a couple times and wasn't really sure what was happening plot-wise early on, but I dug the atmosphere and melancholy. As with A City of Sadness, I love the flow of time.
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