J Dilla’s latest ethereally epic release may be one of my favorites that I’ve heard from his catalog. Jay Stay Paid is a hybrid if you will, the vast majority of it plays out like beat tape, but in between are tracks that feature blazingly blistering emcees. Ma Dukes & Pete Rock put a lot of tender love and care into this album, and it really shows through. They both did a great job of arranging the tracks on this album into a graceful and gorgeous mosaic. It sounds so authentic that you would think that Jay produced the album himself. Continue reading
Archive for the Music Reviews Category
Album Review: J Dilla, Jay Stay Paid
Posted in Music Reviews with tags Black Thought, Donuts, Havoc, J Dilla, Jay Stay Paid, Ma Dukes, Nature Sounds, Pete Rock, Raekwon, The Shining on Thursday, June 4, 2009 by Tim AlthausSaturday Single: Walter Jones – “I’ll Keep On Loving You”
Posted in Audio, Music News, Music Reviews, Saturday Single with tags Deep House, DFA, Disco, house, i'll keep on loving you, mp3, preview, Saturday Single, Walter Jones on Saturday, May 30, 2009 by Erik BurgSo for the past couple of months the team here at Mind Inversion have been brainstorming over different weekly columns that each of us will run. Ryan’s got his awesome ‘Sunday Metal Minute’ and Tim’s got his fantastic ‘Wildstyle Wednesday’. I’ve been hard-pressed to come up with anything decent for mine, so I had put it off for a while. But it dawned upon me tonight while I was listening to the new DFA single from Walter Jones that a weekly write up about the world of House and Electro music would be a great thing. I’ll dig into my back catalogue when I get a chance, but each week I’ll try and offer up some of the best new singles, remixes, and b-side releases. So here we go, week one… Thanks for reading this far, enjoy!
Walter Jones – “I’ll Keep On Love You”
DFA Records Supersoul Recordings BUY: iTunes/Vinyl
The newest edition to the DFA family, Walter Jones is a man of simplicity. In a world that’s been dominated by glitchy, chopped up electro music, house music has seen a strong revival within certain crowds. Artists and DJs like Walter Jones would be the reason for this strong movement, combining echoing feminine vocals reminiscent of recent Au Reviore Simone and Hercules & Love Affair releases along with poignant and perfect loops. The amazing bass kick in “I’ll Keep on Loving You” times out perfectly, not too fast, but not near deathly slow. Jones is able to reach a happy medium on all fronts of his music. It’s great for House enthusiasts who are particular about every little nuance on a track, but it’s able to satisfy the more relaxed listener who enjoys some vocal overlay instead of straight repetition. It’s a blend of genres that I have a fondness for, so it’s a great place to start ‘Saturday Single’. Those who know me well know that I’m a total DFA fanboy, but that aside, “I’ll Keep On Loving You” is a single slightly different from many of their larger full length releases, proving once again why Murphy, Goldsworthy, Sweeney and co. have some of the best ears for electro music of any styling. B-side “Living With Out Your Love” shouldn’t be forgotten about however. Again featuring the vocals that haunt even the biggest Silent Hill fans, this track feels exactly like what it is, a B-side. It’s unpolished, unfinished, and sadly forgotten. It’s house’s version of indie lo-fi, giving an old vinyl-like sound to a new mp3.
There you have it, the first in what will hopefully be many successful ‘Saturday Single’ columns. If you like what you read, please come back. If you don’t like electro music of any sorts, too bad I suppose, I’d say you’re missing out. At any rate though, thanks for sticking around!
Album Review: Pacewon & Mr. Green, The Only Color That Matters Is Green
Posted in Music Reviews with tags Cymarshall Law, Kosha Dillz, Mary Lou, Mr. Green, Pacewon, The Only Color That Matters Is Green on Saturday, May 30, 2009 by Tim Althaus
As I mentioned in the Cymarshall Law & Mr. Joeker review, I always seem to be sleeping on shit from the previous year and more often than not it catches up with me. Enter Pacewon & Mr. Green‘s The Only Color That Matters is Green. I remember hearing about this album more than once last year, and every time it was a positive note. This album is the definition of easy listening, because it takes little to no effort to enjoy. Mr. Green’s production is more than exemplary and Pacewon compliments just about every single beat on this album perfectly. Pacewon is a great emcee without spitting overly technical punchlines and metaphors, although he does have some catchy ass lines. These two compliment each other perfectly (Guru & Premier-esque?), and I hope to hear a lot more material from them. Continue reading
Album Review: Method Man & Redman, Blackout! 2
Posted in Music Reviews with tags Bink, Blackout 2, Bun B, Ghostface, Mathematics, Method Man, Pete Rock, Raekwon, Redman on Saturday, May 30, 2009 by Tim Althaus
The original Blackout! album came out 10 years ago, I picked that shit up when I was 12 years old, and I’ve been playing it ever since. To me Blackout! will always be a classic. Blackout! 2 has Method Man & Redman sticking to the same formula as an incredible two man duo with great production and witty ass rhymes. I am pretty surprised at how mediocre the reviews have been for this album because I personally think it’s an incredible album, and it should hold up as one of the contenders for album of the year. I could pretty much sum up this entire review with one mathematical equation: Method Man + Redman x DOPE beats = one hell of an album. Continue reading
Album Review: Finale, A Pipedream And A Promise
Posted in Music Reviews with tags Black Milk, Detroit Hip-Hop, Finale, Flying Lotus, J Dilla, Khrysis, Nottz on Monday, May 11, 2009 by Tim AlthausFinale is an emcee from the city of Detroit, Michigan who magnificently marvels me when he flows over the microphone. He has a
voice that’s like a cross between 50 Cent and Kanye West (if I had to say) except for he’s much mightier than the aforementioned names. If you don’t know who Finale is, you probably should get familiar. This is an outstanding opus and a great entrance into the world of Hip-Hop that should be heard by all.
People that know me well know that when it comes to albums, production (to me) is a big determining factor on how I feel. The production on this album is nothing short of incredible and sets the tone of the album. If this was an instrumental album of just beats, I can assure you that I would give it an 8 or 9 alone. I remember seeing the production list and being amazed (J Dilla, Black Milk, Nottz, Flying Lotus & Khrysis to name a few), but what really surprises me more is that the lesser known producers craft concoctions that are just as good as the rest. Continue reading
Album Review: Bassnectar, Art of Revolution EP
Posted in Music Reviews with tags 6 Blocc, Album, album review, Art of Revolution, bassnectar, Chislain Poirier, Diplo, Groove Armada, Product 01, Superstylin' Smashup, Tapper Zukie on Monday, May 11, 2009 by Nicholas Blexrud
Mesmerizing, transcendental, and hypnotic pulses of low frequencies and magnetic melodies ghostily grab my legs and make me move to the new single “Art of Revolution”; Bassnectar has done it once again.
Seated, I promptly pushed play on the single, “Art of Revolution”. My heart slowly morphs from a lazy, bradycardiac beat to a rapid, tachycardiac pounding, as I soon found myself no longer in a seated position, but as a terpsichorean of mythical multitudes.
“Art of Revolution”, introduced with stick-beaten African drums and de-tuned Indian sitars, combusts into a cacophony of wobbly, intoxicated, insect-like buzzing of breaks and “slippery when wet” bass lines. This, paired with the unmatched voice of Jamaican Tapper Zukie, makes for a single that will soon take over every stereo and club. In addition to ‘Necters version of “Art of Revolution” and an instrumental mix, we are blessed with 4 other marvelous mash-ups of monolithic proportions. Remixes from Diplo, Chislain Poirier, 6 Blocc, and Product 01 all comprise an assortment of ingenuity and individualistic interpretations of this single.
I have to say, the wait for ‘Nectar’s new single to drop has felt eternal; similar to waiting in the doctor’s office. There you sit (highly anxious fan) with symptoms of melancholy-melodies, no-dance-ititus, and the bassnectar-blues, waiting for the doctor’s prognosis. The doc (Dr. Bassnectar) shows up just in time to tell you that everything is going to be fine, and serves you up a dose of “Art of Revolution”. Ahhhh, you are better.
The Art of Revolution EP will be falling into digital music players through Beatport and everywhere else on May 12th (and turntables later on as a limited 12″ vinyl via Groove Distribution). However, if you cannot wait for this anthem to hit your eardrums, check it out a free download of Groove Armada’s Superstylin’ set to Bassnectar’s instrumental version of “Art of Revolution” in Superstylin’ Smashup, here!
So by this point, you’re probably all asking yourself ‘what the hell does Bassnectar even mean?’ Well, according to bassnectar.net, it is: “A freeform project that merges music, art, new media, social involvement, and community values; dedicated to a constantly-evolving ethos of collaborative creation, self-reinvention, and boundary-pushing experimentation.” This mission statement, however, does not do justice to the 150 + shows that Bassnectar perform on a yearly basis, and to truly understand this “project” you must be apart of it. You can catch Bassnectar at any one of these dates to experience and stitch yourself to the fabric of this majestic movement… Continue reading
Review: Carlos Nino & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Suite For Ma Dukes EP
Posted in Music Reviews with tags Carlos Nino, J Dilla, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Suite For Ma Dukes EP on Monday, April 27, 2009 by Tim Althaus
I have to admit that I’m sorry it has taken me so long to get a review up of this project. I remember hearing about this project a while back during the whole Ma Dukes controversy with the Dilla Estate. I felt so upset that I couldn’t go to LA and see the concert performed, but I knew that the EP that was going to come out would be just as good. The display that Carlos Nino & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson put on is amazing and truly beautiful. I can’t believe how well this whole project came out.
The EP is only 4 tracks long, but they accomplish in four tracks what most can’t do in an entire album. Hearing Dilla’s compositions with an orchestral twist is something that can truly not be explained by words. The tracks that we picked out for this showcase are so good that they seem as though they should be original orchestra pieces. “Fall In Love” is one of my favorite songs that Dilla produced (I would say easily top 10) and the interpretation is perfect. It starts off with some beautiful harp playing, and transitions smoothly into the rolling piano in the background with some violin. The most beautiful part of it all though, is the flute that plays in the orchestra. With every note the flute hits, you can almost feel shivers run down your spine. The trend continues through the other three tracks that are on this EP (“Antiquity”, “Nag Champa” & “Find A Way”). I’m pretty sure that Dilla is showing that signature Jay Dee smile when he looks down from up above and hears these tracks.
If you are a J Dilla fan or a fan of beautiful music in general, this one is truly for you. I’m really not a big fan of orchestral music (although I feel as though I should be) but this EP really turned me onto it. Like I said previously, there really aren’t many words that will do this album much justice. It’s something that you literally have to hear for yourself. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to see a 30 piece orchestra perform this set, if I would have seen it I probably would have cried.
10/10
Documentary Review: Miroir Noir
Posted in Movie Reviews, Music Reviews with tags Arcade Fire, bbc, concert, Documentary, DVD, live, regine butler, snl, vincent moon, vincent morisset, win butler on Monday, April 20, 2009 by Erik Burg
Day after day I checked my mailbox after class, and day after day I was disappointed. But alas, this past week finally brought great joy to my world, as my Miroir Noir special edition DVD finally arrived in the mail. It’s been a few months since the first announcements for this documentary, which features Arcade Fire and everything surrounding the release of Neon Bible in 2007, surfaced and I couldn’t try and count how many times I had watched the trailer. And when Pitchfork streamed it for a week I managed to only watch about 5 minutes, as to not ruin the arrival of my leather bound accordion styled DVD case.
So hype abound and anticipation boiling over, I watched Miroir Noir from start to finish and immediately followed it with the special features disc. I couldn’t get enough Neon Bible. Which is interesting to note because that album really put me off for about a year before I finally started enjoying it.
The way the Documentary is shot is amazing, first off. I’ve seen various live DVDs and documentaries by now, and I enjoy most of them merely for the fact that they offer a different view about said band without really doing anything too crazy or original. But the fascination I now have with Miroir Noir stems from the fact that it mixes behind the scenes bits with well shot and breathtaking live tracks. Most interestingly though, it integrates one of the best fan involved projects ever: the Neon Bible telephone hotline. Playing various clips from fans (and one guy they apparently lost and who would have been “the greatest fan ever”) overtop of some abstractly shot yet perfectly placed scenes makes the documentary sometimes feel more like a movie than a straight live compilation.
There’s one scene in particular, where Regine is just running down the beach as the camera follows. It’s incredibly shaky and half-hard to make out who it is at first, but then to see the members of Arcade Fire like Regine with their guard down and their smiles wide is an engrossing feeling (almost like when the percussion parts collide in “My Body is a Cage”). Another thing that astonished me was the way Win Butler was portrayed through all of it. I sort of always took him for a complete asshole, a man who seemed closed off and very bitter yet powerful. But in Miroir Noir there’s a scene of him and another band member just dancing around while he lip syncs and smiles; it’s revealing, and it’s something that a lot of other documentaries never really touch on: the human side of things.
Seeing the glee in Regine’s eyes and voice when she finally gets to record “No Cars Go” with a full orchestra is beautiful. The examples
go on and on, and sometimes out-do the brilliant filming done during the live shows. Close up, perfect audio, and great crowd clips all coupled with a few times when the camera work is so great you forget about the music itself make the DVD a worthy purchase for any and all Arcade Fire fans.
I own the special edition, which features some great clips if you can afford the $25 price point instead of $15. A couple of SNL clips, including the hard to find parts when their sound gets cut out and they perform in the crowd. An extensive and awesome BBC session (worth the ten dollars alone) and then some other late night takes as well. Coupled with the better packaging and you’re looking at a great collector’s item if you’re a big fan of their work.
As far as documentaries go… 9.5/10
Directed by: Vincent Morisset
Shot by: Vincent Moon
Review: Battlefields, Thresholds of Imbalance
Posted in Music Reviews with tags album reviews, battlefields, doom metal, fargo, minneapolis, minnesota, New Album, north dakota, sludge, translation loss on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 by Ryan BuegeBattlefields is band from Fargo, ND, and I don’t know if it was just coincidence for them 
to release an album with the word “flood” in the title of one of the songs on the same week that their city was bracing against this very same natural disaster, but something tells me that this album would have made the perfect soundtrack to ride out the storm. For someone fighting against the slow push of a rising flood, the visuals inspired by an experimental doomcore sound like this are only too familiar; waves of noise, unforgiving brutality, building rhythms, reflective anticipation, and the sobering aftermath – it’s all there (and I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic). On their Translation Loss debut, Thresholds of Imbalance, these nearly-local purveyors of experimental doom, sludge, and gloom, take the listener on a cinematic journey that places heavy emphasis on ambiance and emotion as it does on crushing riffage.
“Disacknowledge” is a familiar start for anyone who has witnessed a Battlefields live show before. Seamlessly, the song moves through several movements of ever-building sludge thunder and comes to an unexpected eastern cadence at the midway point before segueing back into an epic, torturous jam to close off the band’s introduction. I really can’t accurately express how much I enjoy the dual vocal approach of this band; while Rusty’s higher-pitched vocals possess an emotional intensity I haven’t heard much outside of the hardcore and screamo scenes, the deep, guttural backing vox add unspeakable power. Likewise, the aural extremes the band band has stitched together into a free-flowing soundtrack have me impressed quite a bit as well; from shimmering electronics to mammoth, gnashing, progressive doom. Admittedly, doom that is this outwardly experimental is unfortunately hard to come by this is why Battlefields is currently supporting an album of doom that defiantly stands out amongst a see a lesser Neurosis, Isis, and classic doom rehashes.
As a band who clearly takes great pleasure in sustaining atmosphere over immediate gratification, Battlefields seems to often wander off on to some truly
obtuse electronic and atmospheric jams before allowing the epic doom to take hold. However, like a steamroller, when Battlefields start the headbanging, they are thankfully a band that’s hard to stop. In addition to mind-bending headbangers like “Disacknowledge”, songs such as “Blueprint”, “The Thresholds”, “Of Balance”, “Quake and Flood”, and “Majestic” are all essentially some beastly, rhymthic doom; slow to build but ultimately satisfying by way of depth and expansiveness and the cerebral thrashing they sustain. At times, the band is happy to pick the tempo up considerably, unexpectedly injecting bits of death-trash into their doom in “The Treshholds” and some old-school prog into “Majestic”.
It is a release that will surely satisfy many longtime fans who are have waiting to digest all the nuances of a superb release like this, and it should draw the attention of underground doom metal fans who are still looking for the perfect combination of doom, hardcore, and electronic experimentation that Isis never found and seemed to stray from. My one possible complaint is that I think the producer could have turned the “heavy” levels up a notch, but this is coming from a person who is used to hearing their tone straight from the amp when they come through the city. Really, this is one of the premiere metal bands from this region; if you are a metal fan and live within 20 miles of Fargo or Minneapolis, consider yourself ashamed to not know this band after Thresholds. And truthfully, any doom metal fan in the nation should definitely check out this album this year if you consider yourself a fan of the genre. With Thresholds of Imbalance, Battlefields hit all their marks, from the sick riffage and devastating vocal combination to the brilliantly colored soundscapes.
DIG DEEPER: Buy Thresholds of Imbalance – Official Site – Translation Loss
Keep reading for all the band’s tour dates announced so far! Continue reading
Album Review: The Juan MacLean – “The Future Will Come”
Posted in Audio, Music Reviews, News with tags album review, DFA, happy house, Nancy Whang, New Release, the future will come, the juan maclean on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 by Erik Burg
DFA record’s heavy hitters have been on a role for the past couple of years. 2007 brought Sound of Silver, 2008 had Hercules and Love Affair, and this year the Juan MacLean return with their first full length album since under-rated 2005 sensation Less Than Human.
This time around though, the amazing Nancy Whang has been platooned to help transform The Juan’s sound into the more vocally driven and pop (ish) sounding realm. It’s an addition that was welcome by fans salivating at the chance to hear anything new from a guy that released one of the most stearling singles of last year, “Happy House.” That track ended up being the closer to The Future Will Come, making the euphoria at the end of this album more amazing than any other record I’ve heard this year.
But let’s jump back to the beginning. “The Simple Life” sets the pace for the album, at an almost exhausting eight minute length, Nancy’s presence on the album is made clear from the first verse. She’s been featured on tracks throughout the DFa catalogue, but here she is finally the center of attention, and like I said, it’s a welcome addition as her voice complements the relaxed minimal house that The Juan is so famous for producing.
But the most interesting aspect of the new album might be Juan MacLean himself actually getting some good time on the mic. On past albums he was simply an afterthought, focussing the music much more on the music. Even when vocals were used in the past, like on the single “Give Me Every Little Thing” they were from outside personas, not himself. So jump to track two, the title track, and thirty seconds in “The Future Will Come” gets a nice break down, filled in by Juan getting nasty on the vocals. I have to say, he’s probably a terrible singer, but his half spoken and omnipotent voice jumps off the record, “The future will come I’ve had a vision, your popularity is a deep revision.”
It was like hearing Antony Hegarty or Kim Ann overtop of Andy Butler’s production last year. The vocals slapped me in the face, and the music itself didn’t lose a beat. When it’s all boiled down, the album will be praised for its production and not he lyrics or the vocalization, despite that being the biggest change on the the album. The notable singles off the album, the previously mentioned “Happy House” and Simple Life” along with the ten minute long “Tonight” which falls right in the middle of The Future Will Come, reminding fans of older Juan MacLean material that he can still put together sprawling and layered house music that makes tap your toe and drop your jaw with the same dub pattern.
The Future Will Come will undoubtedly be remembered for its slight revision in the formula that made the man a legend. Whether it’s for better or worse is yet to be decided, I personally love it though. Die hards might point to songs like “No Time” that last a mere three and a half minutes, pulsating with dancy synths and littered with both Whang and Juan’s vocals. “Just because you body’s human, you don’t have that much to offer. When I’m deep inside of you I feel like there’s not much to do to satisfy your petty yearning” Mr. MacLean opens the track stating. Nancy counters with “tomorrow when then morning comes, I’ll be ready to get home. Thank you for the lovely
evening, everybody needs some loving.” So the two partners play off each other very well, both in character and in the production.
Ultimately it all comes back to “Happy House.” The epic, yes epic, twelve and a half minute ramp through classic disco production mixed perfectly with the new vocal contribution is set to get more playing time than it already got last year. The track never loses touch with what it is, maintaining a steady bpm and a perfect rhythm throughout. Nancy jumps in at the three minute mark, with beautiful keyboard rotating in the foreground she captures the listener, “You came to me from my history.” Skip to the eight minute mark, highlighted by an amazing break down that features an awesome bass hook revolving Nancy yelling “Launch me into space!” And the last few minutes do that too, adding much more heavy synth layers to the already funky beat that is carried throughout the entire song. It builds and builds to a euphoric ending, capping what is not only the best track of 2009 next to “My Girls” but what is one of the top albums of ’09 as well.
If you haven’t heard the Juan MacLean before now might be your chance. The vocals add a fun perspective to the music, now a lot more than just house production and airy synths the Juan offers some of the greatest minimal electro has to offer. Another notch in the belt for DFA The Future Will Come simply can’t be over looked, if not just for “Happy House.”
The Juan Maclean – The Future Will Come 9 out of 10
MIND INVERSION 