Tags: Picture of the day
I don’t know who this Kris Kasanova cat is, but he’s got mad lyrical skills. And Ibe, his producer, is pretty damn fly, too. The Long Way Home” sounds a little like Lupe with the flow, but he’s got streetwise smart lyrics that tell tales of grinding with hopeful distance, like Hova or Brother Ali, and his chosen beats have big dramatic swells like 9th Wonder. It’s the whole package.
It’s not like his verses are mindblowing:
“We been in Brooklyn too long/we call it home/but it’s time to move on.”
“Little liquor makes the pain disappear quicker.”
It’s that they’re simple truths. He doesn’t have to impress you by finding words that rhyme with orange–he’s too busy being honest. He’s too busy telling his truths to bother addressing yours. This is not prepackaged hip hop, it’s not a kid trying to get famous too quickly, it’s not a poet struggling for rhythm or a singer trying to sound like a poet.
This is fucking awesome. If you don’t go cop it, and dig it, you’re a stupid motherfucker. Truly.
All you cheap bastards can get his album for zero dollars at Bandcamp. I did.
This summer there are four—count ‘em: X-Men First Class, Thor, Green Lantern, and Captain America—major comic book movies coming out (not to mention the “minor” ones like Priest), and three of them involve characters created by Stan Lee. So, I say to you: Stan Lee is the most important author of the 20th Century. I mean, who had a greater impact on any written medium? (Other than Al Gore, who created the internet, naturally.) So before you hit the break to read about the upcoming(?) Dr. Strange movie, and how Pushing Daisies has returned as a comic book, take a moment of silence to give mad props to Stan the Man.
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Okay. Now hit the break!
Tags: Brian Michael Bendis, Comic books, Flash, Spider-Man, The Avengers, The Caped Crusader, Thor
A is for Another A to Z post. These used to be real popular, but I don’t seem to get as much hype from them anymore. So, if you want them to continue, please hype me, stumble me, digg me, whatever. A will then before Appreciate it.
No! Not THAT George Michael!
B is for Busker/Faith-Mara. It’s also for Be Patient. The zip file is below.
C is for Careless Whisper-The Gossip.
E is for Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey (beatles/george michael)-My Brightest Diamond. Brilliant.
F is for Faith by The Boy Least Likely To.
G is for Green Tag’s Grateful Dead influenced version of I Want Your Sex.
H is for Movin’ On Up (Jeffersons)/Faith-Ernie Halter. And you will be shocked at how well these two songs blend together.
I is for Canine’s pop-punk take on I Want Your Sex.
J is for Jim James. Careless Whisper-My Morning Jacket. How the hell does he sing this without a drop of irony?
Holy Crap! They're covering my songs!
M is for Wake Me Up Before You Go Go-Shawn Mullins. Probably my favorite cover here. It’s a totally different song, and yet it’s exactly the same. This is how covers should sound. Fanfreakingtastic.
N is for Faith-Natural Breakdown. Urgent, bluesy. Almost like if Xtina was a guy and backed by The Black Keys. Truly. You gotta hear this to believe it.
O is the shape of the holes you can drive through this A to Z. There just aren’t a lot of good George Michael covers out there…
R is for Rufus. Careless Whisper-Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright
W is for Careless Whisper-Welcome to Florida.
Z is for a Zip file of all the songs!
Tags: A to Z, Covers On Fridaze
Yeah, it’s power-pop. Smart summer music from Boston.
The Rationales are pretty cool.
Tags: Indie Pop
FEAR ITSELF #2. So we’re two issues in to Marvel’s latest event, and in this issue we see Odin imprison Thor (again). It’s a little hard to follow why Thor and Odin keep clashing, and honestly this latest one seems manufactured to match up with where Thor is at in his maturity in the movie—rather than to account for all the wisdom he really ought to have by now in the comic, from his commuppance long ago at the hands of Beta Ray Bill to the recent fall of Asgard and his voluntarily relinquishing the throne. Plus, there was a lot of set-up in this issue (setting up each villain, presumably so that they can go spin-off into other series). I was okay with this kind of exposition before, in the “prelude” and in issue #1, but it’s time to move the story forward. It’s starting to look more like a money grab—much like Shadowland—than a real event with something to say. Plus the story itself—global threat, heroes must go fight high-powered baddies-feels very “been there, done that.” There’s no mystery (like in Secret Invasion) or promise of major, important change (like House of M, Civil War).
If they don’t get rocking on this one soon, I’ll consider my lesson learned and never buy an event title again—at least not in loose issue form (I’ll wait for trades). I even bought the first issue of the Spider-Man spin off mini, because the creative team looked promising. Don’t let me down, Marvel. Not so soon after killing my wallet and faith with Shadowland.
BATMAN INC. #5. This is the first Grant Morrison story in Batman Inc.—and the first Morrison bat tale in years—that I’ve had a little trouble following, due in part to references to the Bat-past that I am not very familiar with. Nevertheless, it all made sense by the last page and continued my development from a Morrison hater to a Morrison fan. Yanick Paquette’s art won’t be for everyone—it feels very static and heavy—but I find that its uniqueness, its foreign flavor, adds to the “international” feel of this title. It’s also nice to see Morrison using Batwoman, who in my view is one of the best things to happen to the Bat-Universe in the past 10 years. It’s getting clearer (or cloudier) that all the “building a Bat-army” is actually leading to something. But I have no idea what. This title is a great ride—as great as Morrison’s New X-Men run.
NEW X-MEN BY GRANT MORRISON VOL. 1. Speaking of New X-Men, Marvel is reissuing the reprints of Morrison’s run, and volume one is brilliant. I confess, I’d never taken the time to get through this series before now, and I’m very happy I waited. Because reading it in a big chunk like this is great. Plus, so much meat! We meet the new insect-winged Angel (who is in the X-Men First Class movie) and Fantomex (now in X-Force); Magneto and 15,999,999 other mutants die; Professor X’s long lost sister comes back to literally haunt him; Emma Frost gets her diamond ability and begins seducing Scott; and we see the beginning of Phoenix bubbles. Truly amazing, must-read superhero stuff.
VENOM #2. So Kraven is in the savage land, and he’s huntin’ symbiotes. The art was great and story is good, but I can’t help feeling like there isn’t much to go with here. I feel like the pace is a little bit too slow in terms of the development of Flash Thompson as a character. I’m hoping we see a more personal issue soon, one that lets us into how Flash really feels about changing from being dependent on a wheelchair to being dependent on a psychotic alien being, and what the mental relationship is between him and his parasite. Lots and lots of action, though, and Moore’s art is just incredible. Can’t say enough about it.
Nothing to Lose But Change. Great album title. Jason Trefts’ latest politically agile rap album. Guest shots and production by lots of good names, like Canibus, Jean Grae, Kno of Cunnylinguists, Eligh, Jake One, Fashawn and more.
And if you dig that, the latest Cookin’ Soul mixtape is a runner-up for best Mash Up collection of the year . . .
Get the whole damn thing here.
Taste it here:
