Album Review: Eardrum Talib Kweli

If you know good hip-hop then you know the name, Talib Kweli. Coined as a conscious rapper, his name means seeker of truth and knowledge.   Talib Kweli  is an educated rapper, raps with a purpose and has been described as the last of a dying a breed.

 

To provide you a bit of history, Talib Kweli started out in a group called Black star formed with another hip hop star Mos Def. Talib Kweli and Mos def spilt to pursue there solo careers both making a name for themselves in hip-hop.

 

Talib completed his latest album, Eardrum in 2007; this is his third solo album. Eardrum featured big name artists like Kanye West, UGK, Lyfe Jenning, Will.I.AM, Musiq Soulchild, and Justin Timberlake plus many more. The whole album flows together with Talib rapping over the melodic beats. His rhymes are thought provoking and delve you in issues like religion, world poverty, and of course hip-hop. The song they released as the single was ‘Hot Thing’ produced and featuring Will.I.AM. ‘Hot Thing’ was probably more on the commercial side compare to the rest of the album. Some songs you may find repeat worthy are; ‘In the Mood’ featuring Kanye West and Roy Ayers, ‘Soon the New Day’ featuring Norah Jones, ‘Oh my Stars’ featuring Musiq Soulchild.  Talib Kweli makes you remember what real hip-hop is.

 

Talib Kweli will be releasing a part two of reflection eternal with Hi-Tek Reflection eternal back again. The single for the album ‘Back Again’ is now on Itunes and the official video has already been released. There is no set release date for Reflection Eternal Back Again but will be coming out soon. Until then keep listening to Eardrum there’s plenty to enjoy!

 

I give 4 stars

 

For More Talib Kweli

Talib Kwelis Website

Talib Kweli’s  Myspace

Talib Kweli’s Last.fm

Album Review: V.I.C

Disappointing, Disgusted, and I Disapprove and a bunch of other “diss”es I have to discuss with this V.I.C Beast album.

 

What does V.I.C. even stand for you ask? It’s an acronym with a meaning no where to be found, except that it may be short for his name Victor Owusu. Born in New York and raised in Atlanta, this 22 year old says his music is a hybrid between witty battle rhymes and southern party music. V.I.C is signed with Warner Brother Records and has worked with big name artists Soulja Boy Tell ’Em, Hurricane Chris, E-40 and few others that jumped on the hit ‘Get Silly Remix’. ‘Beast’ is the first album for V.I.C. and Get Silly, his first single, was a dance craze hit. Many confused him with Soulja Boy Tell ’Em, a featured artist on the remix, as the main artist of ‘Get Silly’. With an album like ‘Beast’, V.I.C. sounds like a one hit wonder.

 

The album starts out with heavy breathing and then drops the beat hard with chants of “I’m a Beast”. He continues this animal theme in the next track, with a person trying and failing to impersonate an Australian accent talking about mating rituals. There are also two other skits that carry out this same theme. The skits were not entertaining or funny, and could have been left out. The songs that were put on the album just didn’t flow together. Songs “Get Silly, “We Ridin” a song sampling the batman theme song, “Wobble” and “Duck Off”. These were more dance party songs for teens.  Then there were songs on the album that were decidedly more adult, with lyrics like, “Beat that” with the hook that rings, “I don’t let the p***y beat me up I beat that p***y”, and “Blow my mind” all about sexually pleasing a woman. Dance songs for teens and overtly sexual songs just don’t seem to go together on one album.

 

Overall he had some really great beats on the album. Too bad his nasally rap tone and odd emphasis on words ruined the majority of the songs on the album. “Get Silly” was the only hit on the album and that’s because superstar Soulja boy hopped on the Remix. This is definitely not an album I would listen to twice. I give 1 star : ( 

Album Review: Sunny Day Sets Fire

By Tamara, www.FromTheCrowd.com Contributor

 

Hailing from Hong Kong, UK, Canada and Italy I introduce Sunny Day Sets Fire (http://www.sunnydaysetsfire.com ), the band that sounds like a neon bright sunset. Sunny Day sets Fire is an indie psychedelic pop group formed in London. What’s unique about the group is that they are from all different parts of the world; which probably gives them their wide arrange of taste in music. The release of Stranger Release EP has a blend of DJ’s and artist from different genres such as; The Cool Kids, CSS, and The Slip just to name a few.

 

The Remix album starts out with the original version of ‘Strangers’ followed by 3 remixes. Each remix brings its own flavor to the song.  If you want the fast techno club version of ‘Stranger’ listen to the Remix with The Cool kids. My favorite version on ‘Strangers’ on the EP album is actually the radio edit Track 2. The radio version added different drums and the guitar giving it a reminiscent sound of The Monkees.  They also added remix versions of ‘Wilderness’, ‘Adrenaline’, and ‘Brainless’. Every Remix on the album gets your blood pumping your head banging and will get you ready to break out and dance. An 8 track album that has a lot to offer.

 

For the purpose of putting a remix album out Sunny Day Sets Fire manage to put out an adrenaline rushing album with a wild and strange twist. All while making it look Brainless! Looking forward to the next album Sunny Day Sets Fire puts out and the featuring artist they’ll be working with!

 

I give the album 3 ½ Stars

Album Review: Morcheeba “Dive Deep”

By Tamra, www.FromTheCrowd.com contributor

I’ve never heard anything like the Morcheeba album Dive Deep. Dive Deep is definitely an easy listen from beginning to end. This is the 6^th album completed by the band. With a fitting title and album cover of the ocean the album puts you into a calming deep trance like the ocean with the occasionally big waves to move you deeper. Morcheeba is a British band with an eclectic sound with many collaborating talents. The group members Paul and Ross Godfrey had a falling out with past lead singer and decided they no longer wanted to share decisions with a permanent singer; which lead them to the internet for the collaborations on Dive Deep. The album honestly sounds like a mix someone put together of there favorite songs with all of the different vocals. These collaborations gave the album sounds of many different genres of music such as; electro, blues, folk, country, and even trip-hop. 

 

I’ll give you a little taste of what this album offers. “Run Honey Run” a country folk song with an electro twist to the instrumental throughout the song. Run honey run and never stop to look inside your mind rings the chorus against the banjo the main instrumental in the song. Bradley’s twang flows well with the music creating a great melody.  A couple of tracks down you’ll find “One love Karma” telling you to keep it copasetic. “One love Karma” is featuring cool calm Pete a hip-hop track with the electro laid back beat. You’ll find a French track “Au De la” following “One Love Karma”.  Morcheeba also incorporated two tracks that are just instrumental no vocals. Now that’s just a taste of Dive Deep.

 

 For an album that is only 40 minutes Morcheeba gives a variety of different sounds to relax to. With out a lead vocalist to identify with on the album Morcheeba doesn’t sound like a band, it sounds like a CD of a variety of different artists. If you’re looking for a mix of relaxing music Morcheeba Dive Deep would be the album for you.

 

I Give 3 Stars.

Album Review: Bloodsimple “Red Harvest”

By Tamra, FromTheCrowd.com Contributor

Bloodsimple biography starts out by saying “Let’s face it, life isn’t pretty.” Bloodsimple an American Metal group formed in 2002 definitely lives by that through their music. Red harvest is their second album released under Warner Bros record that came out in 2007. Red harvest follows their album A Cruel World. The group consists of Tim Williams (vocals), Mike Kennedy (guitar) Nick Rowe (Guitar), and Kyle Sanders (Bass). The group has three songs that have charted in the top 40 off of their two albums. Red Harvest, their latest album, is full of harsh vocals, spoken words, and a lot of mediocre randomness.

I was not a fan of the majority of Red Harvest as it was subpar in my opinion. Red Harvest lyrically content is of killing, temptations, and the usually darkness of heavy metal. The first track on the album ‘Ride with Me’, reminds me of twisted version of Tenacious D song Tribute. Red Harvest begins with telling a story over the guitar chords setting the scene for the album. His screaming vocals seem forced, and the solo’s that should sound like an outrageous freestyle feel rehearsed. The album does not have a flow; where themes begin they are not finished throughout the album. In tracks 2 ‘Red Harvest’ and track 3 ‘Dark Helmet’ the songs end with random sound effects that are not heard in any other tracks again until track 8 ‘Whiskey and Hell Bound’. ‘Whiskey and Hell Bound’ begins with another random sound effect of an airplane following a bomb introducing the intense riffs. Some tracks implement spoken word well while others tracks like ‘Dead Man Walking’ and ‘Suck it up’ try to have catchy hooks.

Overall the album had potential but each song ended with a boring snore and a distant memory of what I was listening to. Not one of the ripping guitar strings complemented by the bass stuck with me. I give this album 2 and ½ stars

Album Review: Murs for President

By: Tamara, FromTheCrowd.com Contributor

Murs is far from being new to the rap game hence the title of his album that dropped in 2008 Murs for President. This is Murs 8th solo album and 1st album under Warner Bros Records. Murs is an acronym for Making Underground Raw Shit. As a record label artist Murs is now competing with the mainstream crowd with Murs for president. With releasing all of his previous solos albums as an underground artist it’s an interesting album for Murs. A lyrically talented individual with a different style then most rappers musically and his look it’s not the normal.

Murs for President has a great theme of running for president. Rapping about the important issues to him and who he is and where he comes from. All of these elements are essential when running for President. The album has a blues melody to it and his rap flow over the beat compliment each other, making songs that sound classic. Another attribute to the classic sound are the samples that are used throughout the album and the use of the instruments in the beats.

This album definitely has a positive message. I’m innocent lets you know that you don’t have to be helpless and then uses himself as an example of success. The science describes music as a science his rap sounds more like def jam poetry while the flute plays in the background. Everything track 6 Murs raps about not taking life for granted with lyrics like “I’m trying to make my tomorrows my yesterdays.” His last few tracks on the album are about loves ups and downs, a great way to end the album.

Murs for President, he has my vote! I don’t think that his album will compete with mainstream artists. I think that his unique style can either make him or break him. A great album when you need something mellow to relax to. I give it 4 stars.

Album Review: Death Magnetic - Metallica

I want to start off by saying that heavy metal is not normally on my playlist rotation. However, when I put Metallica’s Death Magnetic into my CD player I caught myself rocking out. By far Metallica has been renowned as one of the best Heavy Metal groups since the 1980’s.  Although they’ve had their rough patches with their fans, the last few albums pushed fans to believe they were selling out. Metallica proved them wrong with Death Magnetic, an album that definitely takes it back to that original Metallica sound. Death Magnetic is their 9^th album and with a new producer Rick Rubin, the album came out to be one that Metallica fans could appreciate. Death Magnetic is not their best album ever, but it is an attempt at redemption from St. Anger, their last album.

With ten songs on the album each song over 5 minutes long. It is a musical immersion and not just another hit for the radio. Ironically the title and the themed lyrics are about death. The album gives the feeling of being near death and not being afraid, something Metallica has experience with figuratively. The only problem I find is that if listened to straight through, the album tends to get a bit tired, but broken up it’s a great CD to pop in your car for a short ride. Outrageous jam sessions between verses and choruses makes the songs an entertaining 5 plus minutes of change up.  

A few of the songs I caught myself belting out were “The end of line” with lyrics screaming YOU’VE REACHED THE END OF LINE. “Cyanide” was another song that was catchy to me with lyrics Empty they say Death hear me call your name Suicide I’ve already died. Overall I think that the album is a music experience with simple lyrics that Metallica fans and new fans will enjoy rocking out to including me.  

I give 4 stars.