Marley's music of 2011

A collection of songs and albums I found myself listening to this year. Some came out this year, some didn't. All are worth sharing. Here we go.

Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" (Eff you, Bon Iver). This one is first because I have no idea where else to put it and I just wanted to put it out there that this is a good song by a female artist and Bon Iver is boring. 

 

That one Adele song...tried the rest of the album...eh. She's got the
love Amy's got the squalor ...

Speaking of...I've been listening to a fuckton of Amy Winehouse for obvious reasons. RIP Amy, sniffle (unironic sniffle!!). 

None of the new tori cuz I'm a bad bad aging fangurl...and dont get me started on how Tori is aging. Her face does not look right.

 

Britney "I Wanna Go" is Femme Fatale's "Toxic"... actually the whole album is pretty good, even that song that sounds exactly like Supertramp's "Logical Song" is ok.

Robyn, obviously, but let's not forget this Robyn+ RyeRye remix because it's pretty amazing. (Nothing beats the "Call Your Girlfriend" dance but I fear this is being lost in the shuffle and it shouldn't be)

The Gaga record because it's perfect in how it is flawed (every song is 3 songs, it's all over the place, the lyrics are really ridiculous and contrived in some places, etc etc... but it's Gaga so it's all forgivable since you can listen to it while working out).

An illicit copy of the Sleep No More soundtrack including tracks I've named "creepy drone sounds," "entrance music for a film," and "creepy 30s speakeasy" (This version of Peggy Lee's "Why Dont You Do Right" with record crackles in the background=perfection) ...And because they operate in a similar vein, I'm lumping Esben and the Witch into this...at least "Marching Song." (Not so down with the video but just listen.)

The Throne, straight through twice and only twice, but "N*ggas in Paris" 3 times at the show in Atl
("Talk amongst your friends"). Also props to those dudes for slowing it down in the beginning Salem-style.

Oh Land before she got famous and went to the movies with Katy Perry... whatever I have a picture with her at SXSW 2011 before that happened

This JoJo Durk remix

SPF 5K especially this jammy...do not play it for your parents or even your open-minded aunt....but you should play it at your next dance party

Honorable mention for Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun's "We Were Wild" since I got to see it performed at Cameo in Brooklyn and Star Bar in Atlanta (the day before the video below was made, it's not great but you get the idea).

2nd honorable mention to Nicki Minaj because I can't put just her verse of "Monster" (again) and this video has her singing with Rihanna near an airplane wreck (weird "Fly"-association but ok) and then fighting ninjas. So, for general weirdness and wigs--kudos to Nicki. Also way to spread out 1 album in 2 years--this song is the 8th single (8th!?) and was released over a year after the first single. Dang.

And my bfs band, Silent Drape Runners, the most bloggable band ever.

Bawl So Hard

Kanye West and Jay-Z's WATCH THE THRONE tour. An amazing double bill for a record that, at absolute best, is pretty ok. At a time when America is floundering, begging and pleading for an easier, cheaper way, our two best rappers, musicians who have transcended genre and race, have released an album that is, at essence, about how much money they have. And, at times, it's very good. "N****s In Paris", "Otis" and "New Day", specifically, are pretty brilliant. Too much of the record, though, is pure bank account masturbation from rappers that are, and have always been, better. 

Live, though, it's a different story. The Throne, as they call themselves, are a force to be reckoned with. Hova and Yeezy know each other inside and out, backwards and forwards, and it shows. They move from joint songs to individual jams with a fluid motion (other than at the end, and we'll get to that), and they play to each other's strengths: Jay-Z is the stayed, stoic elder statesman, and Kanye is the potential loose cannon, emotional game of Jenga that he always is. While Hova worked through his ample back catalog of hits: "Hard Knock Life", "Big Pimpin", every other song you would know, Yeezy played it a bit rougher, only throwing down one song from his formative first record("Jesus Walks"),and choosing instead to focus on later songs. "Stronger" was powerful, as was "Flashing Lights", but it was the ...Twisted Fantasy tunes, like "Monster" and "Power" that came out the best, no doubt because that record was, ultimately, the most Yeezy record other than 808s, which was, probably by his standards, a commercial flop. By all accounts, though, two songs stood out: "Runaway", complete with a Kanye rant on love and loss, and "So Appalled", the accidental encore.  It's one of the things everyone's missing: there was another encore, one other than the three versions (THREE) of "N****s In Paris".  It was amazing and off-the-cuff, something not expected for a live show that's built on pre-decided intros and outros and transitions.  All of it was beautiful, but it was the punch of Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" followed by the aforementioned super-powerful "Runaway" that made me cry as though I'd never been touched. 

 Kanye, Runaway In Atl

Watch...the Throne?

From the ornate gold cover designed by Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci to the overblown, ear-punishing last half of the album, Watch the Throne is not what I expected from Jay-Z and Kayne West's colloboration. (I did indeed expect to be spending hours inscribing its lyrics onto pictures of cats, but well--everybody's life is weird in some ways.)

Yes, I have your cats. Fresh lulz, straight from Watch the Throne, on which Kanye was even kind enough to drop an "lololol" to make it easier.

I'm about to go H.A.M. (I mean, I really should get some ham, this is going to be a rough one.)

Click to read more ...

Borrowed nostalgia

Hey, remember when Jay-Z was like 10 and dreamed of becoming the world's biggest brand and one day getting a shitty coffee-infused soda named after one of his albums? Yeah I don't either, but if you want to stroll with Hova and Mr. Hudson (aka that white dude with the voice who isn't Chris Martin) down un-memory lane on one of the most oddly-touching moments on my 8th best album of 2009, there's now a video for The Blueprint 3's "Forever Young". Basically this is the same sentiment as the unfortunate "Beach Chair", only without the socks n sandals (and, again, without Chris fucking Martin).  For grown folks who like being grown folks: