| Friday, December 05, 2008 kanye west 808s and Heartbreak rating
...Kanye West doesn't care, or perhaps more accurately, he's not afraid to show us that he does. As an artist he's unique in that he's in the coveted position of being able to transcend the inherent limitations of his own genre. He's afforded the same rarity of free reign granted to Prince, Michael Jackson, the Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles, and Thom Yorke before him; the only difference is that Kanye does it while tight-rope walking through the faster than light blogosphere of the 2k generation; between Kanye West, the man, and Kanye West, the larger than life ethos. He's the only artist alive bigger than his own giant sound, bigger than his own art, and that's what makes his recent release of 808s and Heartbreak so damn fascinatingit's hip-hops biggest idol violating every cardinal rule that hip-hop has ever held sacred, and, above all else, doing it in style.
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| Tuesday, December 02, 2008 stars bad robots ep rating
Stars never seem to think twice about finding and flattening their listener's emotional core. I suppose that could explain why "Your Ex-Lover is Dead", the lead track from'05's Set Yourself On Fire, continues to follow me around to this very day. Creeping into randomly generated play lists (far too often!), blasting from crowded bar room speakers; Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell's tragically painted vocal interplay takes the most cosmically opportune times to slay me right then and there time and time again. Sadly, last year's follow-up, In Our Bedroom After the War, lacked the same kind of emotional punch. There's no time like the present, however, and the recently released Sad Robots EP (Arts and Crafts) offers plenty of reasons to stick with the band on in to After the War's full-length follow-up.
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| Wednesday, November 26, 2008 department of eagles in ear park rating
Happenstance is one spooky phenomenon. Think about it. Examine the place you call home, the people you share your life with, and that which keeps you busy from day to day. Chances are these are the random results of monumental kind of coincidences. Your entire life, in fact, is the grand result of some spectacular moment slowly unfurling itself over time. Of course, you already know this, so what's my point? Well, these strange sorts of synchronisms are important. Without them, music fans most assuredly would have missed out on two of the better bands going these days.
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 The Black Keys Attack and Release
 boo and boo too no tempo
 Shearwater Rook
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