Top 5 Music Projects of 2012...so far (#3)

3. Logic - Young Sinatra: Undeniable

&

fun. - Some Nights

Waht a tweest!  M. Night Shyamalan style, huh? A two-way tie for 3rd place in the countdown, and yes that is a very very mainstream album on the right, I enjoyed fun.'s album quite a bit. And Logic was one of my favorite artists of last year and his latest project gets love as well.

Logic 

 

First I'll start with Undeniable. As I previously stated, Logic was one of my favorite artists of 2011 he's shown versatlity to not only appeal to fans of lyrical gangsta rap, as well as fans of more modern sounds like Drake, Lupe Fiasco, etc. 

His mainstream appeal come from songs like Numbers and Tic Tac Toe where his flow is very Drakey...actually it pretty much is Drake's flow. His underground appeal is when he raps over classic instrumentals on the tracks No Biggie and the track that's a better Slim Shady track than anything Slim Shady has put out in about 10 years, Disgusting where he gets very lyrical dropping gems like "While you was learning about English, Big L was teaching Ebonics" and my favorite, "You can ask my ex, I bust quicker than two techs, caressed by a kid with category 5 tourettes".

fun. 

 

Now onto the more mainstream pick, surprised? Surprised fun. isn't the subject of one of my "THIS IS WHAT'S WRONG WITH MUSIC TODAY" rants? Yeah well no, I really do enjoy their music. The first thing that stuck to me about this album and about the band was how similar lead vocalist Nate Ruess sounds to Freddie Mercury and then the melodies and backing vocals on tracks like Some Nights  and Why Am I the One put a smile on my face as it also was very Queen inspired. This is how the power-pop/rock sound is supposed to be pulled off to me.

When I saw these guys were signed to the leader of the emo-teeny-punk label Fueled by Ramen, I was worried that it'd be just another band that I dislike but I was pleasantly surprised. The choruses and transition tempos into very powerful outros stand out to me so much that I really can't knock this album for having a few pretty horrible auto-tune sections. I'm all for auto-tune and they use it well at times but at others, it's unlistenable. But nonetheless I can't knock points off simply because I had so much fun (pun definitely not intended) giving this album listen after listen.

Top 5 Music Projects of 2012...so far (#4)

4. Big K.R.I.T. - Live from the Underground

A day late, oh well who cares. Two days ago I kicked off the list with Smashing Pumpkins coming in at #5. Now at #4 I got Big K.R.I.T.'s Live from the Underground. 

2012 is a huge year for K.R.I.T. he released his mixtape 4Eva N A Day earlier since his album got pushed back till the summer, and the project was nice but that's about it, aside from a few really really good tracks it didn't stick with me as much as his previous works. Live from the Underground (from now on referred to as simply Live by me) was considerably better in my opinion.

My Top 5 Music Projects of 2012...so far

Yeah! Music bloggin' time! I figured July is passing the halfway point for the year and now's a better time than any to come up with my top five projects for the 2012 year so far. I say projects because album implies I'm excluding mixtapes in hip-hop and that's not the case since mixtapes have recently been more populous than actual albums. This is gonna be divided into five parts, this one showing #5 on my list, counting down to #1 and then an honorable mentions list in the last entry.

And to anyone who may actually read this, all two of three of you that is...no I haven't heard every piece of musically listenable material for the 2012 nor did I intend to. This is my list of the projects I've heard and here it goooooeeeessss!

*The following list is very proudly void of any Tyga

Welcome to the Phoenix Suns, Kendall Marshall!

Well, the 2012 NBA Draft is over and surprisingly the Phoenix Suns didn't deal their pick for Marvin Williams or Matt Barnes. I think the biggest surprise from the draft is that of all the trades that were rumored to be on the table, the most underwhelming ones actually executed. I know one involved the amazing and game changing prospect Tyler Zeller (sarcasm for those who can't tell) and another involved the 76ers giving the Miami Heat a first round pick for some damn reason, other than that...eh.

I was probably kidding myself hoping the Rockets would throw the house at Dwight Howard only to be left in the dust next season, or waiting for the Cavaliers to trade up to #2 to take Bradley Beal and then the Wizards shatter Charlotte's dreams by taking Thomas Robinson with the rage of a middle school teenager.

But alas none of the goodness happened and we had a pretty underwhelming draft in terms of mixing it up. Although Cleveland did provide a good laugh by taking lottery prospect Dion Waiters at the #4 slot, and then Toronto was forced to take late first round prospect Terrence Ross at #8. But anyways, onto Phoenix...

Artist Spotlight: Joey Bada$$

Joey Bada$$ is a 17 year old rapper from Brooklyn New York who recently dropped his debut mixtape "1999". I decided to do an artist spotlight of Joey and 1999 as opposed to a review because I've already proclaimed the mix-tape as (in my beautiful opinion) the best of 2012 so far and I found it would be redundant to review it after such a statement. So I chose to dedicate my latest post to introducing this very talented young artist to new listeners

The most baffling and perhaps appealing aspect of Joey's talent, aside from the fact that he has shown the potential for greatness and the kid can't even buy scratch-off tickets is that his flow and style are about five years older than he is.

The boom-bap style of 90s East Coast hip-hop is pulled off excellently by Joey even though the gritty and raw sound was well out of the mainstream well before he could even coherently remember the right from left. I think that's the biggest reason I am attracted to his sound, he doesn't sound his age at all. Earl Sweatshirt, although very talented sounds his age, sounds under 20 years old using shock-rap content and other occasionally immature word plays. Not to hate on Earl because I am a fan, but just using him as an example

If the names of Big L, naS, and KRS One appeal to your liking, or if you're just a fan of the boom-bap sound of East Coast hip-hop, then certainly check out Joey Bada$$ and "1999". Destined for greatness after his first project, very impressed, keep the good material flowing.

Best Coast - The Only Place Review

Best Coast is a California surf-rock band consisting of Bethany Cosentino on lead guitar and vocals, and Bobb Bruno on varying instruments. Best Coast released their debut album Crazy for You in 2010 and I learned of them just last summer. Crazy for You and Best Coast's sound in general is a very simplistic distortion heavy, surf rock sound with the typical girl-band lyrics, which is certainly not a bad thing. The charm of Best Coast's sound is Bethany's lackadaisical vocals and the very lighthearted subjects of boys, laziness, and loving home highlighted in their single When I'm With You. If you're someone who only prefers the most complex of instrumentation and lyrical art you will not enjoy this, the reason people love the band is the simplicity and the catchy sound. With that background I move onto their latest release, The Only Place. 

The past few months I've really been into Best Coast, seeing at Urban Outfitters during SxSW, needless to say I was very excited to hear their latest work. I stayed away from song leaks to avoid any anticipation or dread that might've come along with it.

Wait, we didn't win the draft lottery!?

I sit here watching Mad Men on Netflix, after listening to Best Coast's latest album (review up later) something was on my mind, "oh right I had to do another sports blog entry...oh right the NBA draft lottery was today". I figured what better thing to talk about than the lottery and the upcoming NBA Draft? And yeah you may be wondering why I'm not discussing the playoffs well...in the words of the infamous Jim Mora tirade, "playoffs?!"

You thought I'd discuss the playoffs? No way, that's for fans of successful teams, and a group us Suns fans are traditionally apart of that. With the team in the lottery for the second straight year and about to enter the most crucial off-season in the past decade, I've come to terms with the harsh truth...the Suns are about to enter a rebuilding phase.

This isn't a familiar phase as Phoenix has been, historically one of the NBA's most successful franchises. The Steve Nash era has most likely come to an end in Phoenix, the front office now looks to the future and faces the most pivotal short period this summer. So this arises the great question, what happens with the draft?