313043115

WELCOME TO THE NEW COUNTIAN ON MYSPACE! We're going to begin focusing the MySpace site toward our younger readers: music reviews, upcoming Sussex concerts and more. We'll continue to update the Countian Blog with the week's editorials, letters to the editor and sports columns, but we're trying to direct most of our news traffic to the new Countian Web site . Check it out!
Above, U.S. Vice President-Elect Joe Biden speaks to the Return Day crowd on Nov. 6.
Above, the newly-launched, redesigned Countian Web site .
PLUS:
Get all your national and international news with the Countian RSS Feeds .
• REVIEW: 'Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams,' by Solange Knowles
The upside to being Beyonce Knowles’ sister is that it’s a lot easier to get a record deal. The downside? You’re Beyonce Knowles’ sister, so the bar has been set pretty high.
That may have contributed to the middle-of-the-road reviews for her debut, 2003’s Solo Star. But there’s no denying that Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams is a near-perfect blend of Motown soul pedigree and modern pop.
From the smooth beat and doo-wop vocal swoops that open the album’s first song, “God Given Name,” to the glossy lite-jazz guitar and piano that power “T.O.N.Y.,” it’s hard to keep from tapping your toes.
Where her older sister is clearly aiming for the top slot on the Billboard charts, Solange prefers the sounds that powered R&B in the first place. Several cuts have little modern instrumentation at all, showing just how much soul you can squeeze from a fuzzed-out guitar, a tumbling bass line and a solid backbeat.
“Dancing in the Dark” embodies everything that’s great about this album. Trumpets and flutes garnish an uptempo beat reminiscent of Christina Aguilera’s “Ain’t No Other Man” before a full horn section cuts loose on the bridge. And with its slinky guitar-bass interplay and organ vibrato, “6 O’Clock Blues” could just as easily be an Aretha Franklin song, with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section backing her.
Toward the end, the production takes a sharp turn toward the modern, particularly the filtered synthesizers and overprocessed beat of “Cosmic Journey,” which is just as weird as its name implies, morphing from 3/4-time future-soul to a mega-techno rave-up, but it’s not enough to offset what came before it.
Negative reviews of her debut tended to focus around her voice, but on Sol-Angel she comes off very much as Beyonce’s little sister, particularly in the layered vocals of several choruses.
But unlike Mrs. Jay-Z, Solange is a lot closer to the Motown queens that both the Knowles sisters surely idolized growing up.
Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams will be released on Aug. 26.
• REVIEW: 'First Love,' by Karina
The first song on 16-year-old Karina Pasian’s debut album for Def Jam Records, First Love, is called “90s Baby,” and the title is appropriate.
The trouble with modern R&B is that there’s so much of it, making a splash is difficult. Add to that a high-school junior making her major-label debut, and it’s not tough to see why much of the record sticks to relatively-formulaic melodies and familiar territory: growing pains, losing and gaining boyfriends and asking the all-important question, on “Can You Handle It,” “What if your friends started paying more attention to me?”
It’s too bad, though, because when her songwriters and producers push her out further toward the fringes of mainstream pop, Karina succeeds and comes off as Beyonce’s little sister.
“They Ain’t Gotta Love You” is propelled by a horn-and-rhythm that’s equal parts Jamaican dancehall and college drumline; “Can’t Find the Words” cops the beat from the Fugees’ “Ready or Not” and pairs it with a simple piano melody that works even without a bassline. And “16 @ War,” despite a comparison that’s a bit of a stretch (I get it, it’s about struggling in the city, but Karina is the god-daughter of superproducer Quincy Jones, and studied at New York’s High School for the Professional Performing Arts, so I’m not really buying “Sixteen on the the block/Sixteen at war”), bounces along atop a synth-heavy beat that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Rick Ross album.
Most of First Love’s 11 tracks, however, sound like generic ‘90s R&B, the work of a girl raised on Mary J. Blige, Destiny’s Child and maybe a little Christina Aguilera. Which is not to say it’s bad.
It’s just that Mary, Mariah and Christina did it already.
But Karina’s only 16. She’s got plenty of time – and more than enough talent – to grow into her craft.
• REVIEW: 'Madvillainy 2,' by Madlib & MF Doom
Most discerning hip-hop fans will tell you that the album by New York underground legend MF Doom and West Coast producer extraordinaire Madlib, 'Madvillainy,' is a hands-down classic. And we all know it’s not wise to mess with a classic.
And really, 'Madvillainy 2: the Madlib Remix' wasn’t meant to be an album at all. It was just a mix that Madlib made to pass the time on a flight to Tokyo. But more than likely, as it got passed around to friends, more and more got to nodding their heads, and now, it’s available as a $9.99 MP3 download on Stones Throw Records Web site, and also as a box set that comes with a t-shirt, comic book and more.
Back to the album. As a companion piece to the original disc, 'Madvillainy 2' succeeds, but on its own, it’s notable more for the scattered moments of excellence as Madlib sifts through records and makes a mixtape for himself.
The complex work that informs much of Madlib’s formal albums is absent here; instead, snatches of soul, funk and world music are blended together for a grainy, rough sound that suits Doom’s gruff flow.
The opener, “No Brain” recasts Madvillain’s “Figaro” by mashing up a few seconds of Brasilian tropicalia with a soul loop or two, and bounces along nicely. “Light of the Past” is the version of “Shadows of Tomorrow” that should have been on the regular album, propelled by a bass drum, wood blocks and a triangle. Elsewhere, a rough-and-tumble funk loop drives “3.214,” big, corny ‘80s synths power “Sermon,” and “Cold One” closes the album with keyboard echoes and jazz drums.
The disc also has a few songs that have appeared elsewhere, including the newest Madvillain song, “Monkey Suit,” and a great remix of “Space Ho’s,” from Doom’s Mouse and the Mask album, that sounds like a 1950s cleanser commercial.
If you don’t have the original Madvillain album, go out and get it first. But for a quick look at what can happen when hip-hop’s jazzy, abstract genius is just making music for himself, 'Madvillainy 2' is a nice appendix.
• REVIEW: 'Harps and Angels,' by Randy Newman
Anyone under the age of 30, myself included, only knows Randy Newman as a punchline from an old episode of “Family Guy.”
But the man is one of America’s greatest songwriters, even if most of his biggest hits have been sung by other people.
His conversational singing style (very reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s “If Dogs Run Free” from the 1970 'New Morning' album) is an acquired taste, to be sure, but his newest album, 'Harps and Angels,' is an excellent set of songs full of sharp observation and wry political humor, wrapped in the bouncy, jumpy instrumentation of a Dixieland cabaret (complete with a little bit of risque language, for purposes of full disclosure, ha ha).
The centerpiece of the set is “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country,” which throws daggers at American politics in one breath and in the next, reminds you cheekily that while you might not like “our leaders/They’re hardly the worst this poor world has seen,” going on to name-check the Caesars, King Leopold and Stalin.
The title track can be viewed metaphorically as God making a visit to America and reminding it that, while it may have made a few mistakes, there’s still time to straighten up and fly right:
“I come round to see you boys /'Cause you know we ain't living right /And while it was fresh /I wanted to tell you what he told me /He said, "When they lay you on the table /Better keep your business clean /When they lay you on the table /Better keep your business clean /Else there won't be no harps and angels coming for you /It'll be trombones, kettle drums, pitchforks, and tambourines.”
“A Piece of the Pie” sounds almost straight out of a Broadway musical, as dissonant brass and strings stomp and blare as Newman decries the widening economic gap between classes in America (“You say you're working harder than you ever have/You say you've got two jobs and so's your wife/Living in the richest country in the world/Wouldn't you think you'd have a better life?”), while playfully jabbing at rockers who have aligned themselves politically, like John Mellencamp, Bono and Jackson Browne.
But it’s not all heavy politics. Newman tries to figure out why a young, attractive woman would be so interested in an old man like him in "Only a Girl": turns out it’s the money. “Potholes” is a slow-swinging, meandering trip about his love for his family and their experiences over the years, even if it sometimes means having to hear you dad tell your second wife about how you once walked 14 kids in a row in little league and ran off the mound crying (“God bless the potholes/Down on memory lane”).
On the surface, it’s easy to view 'Harps and Angels' as an anti-American album, with all of the political barbs thrown the White House’s way, but digging a little deeper, Newman’s criticisms are mainly reserved for the disconnect between politicians and the wealthy (“Easy Street”) and, well, most of the rest of America.
The tradeoff for intricate, witty lyrics, however, is that much of the album sounds a lot like songs that would play at the end of a Steve Martin comedy (Newman’s “I Love to See You Smile” fills that role at the end of Martin’s 1989 'Parenthood').
'Harps and Angels' exhibits quite a bit of orchestral instrumentation and unorthodox touches, however. String flourishes punctuate many of the album’s crescendo moments, and there’s even a little bit of Theremin in “Korean Parents.”
Is Randy Newman’s delivery just a tiny bit cornball? Yes. But when he’s got something interesting to say, it’s easy to look past the slight over-the-top-ness (is that a word? Probably not) and enjoy one of America’s most successful songwriters in top form.
• REVIEW: Coming to a club near you...
If you’re headed to the club anytime soon, don’t be surprised if you hear “Dat Baby,” by Shawty Putt, that sports the simple-but-direct hook, “That baby don’t look like me.”
This is where we’re at with mainstream rap music. Don’t misunderstand, I’m as big a fan of hip-hop and rap as anyone, but witness the message that Shawty is preaching: “I ain’t buyin’ no Huggies/Don’t dress him like me/That ain’t my little buddy/Them ain’t my lips and them ain’t my eyes/You can keep the big pictures and the wallet-size.”
In fairness, in the song, Shawty is indeed not a daddy (“Girl I ain’t mad/I’m sorry/‘You are not the father’/You heard Maury.”), but that’s not really the point; it’s hard to view the song, especially with a guest appearance by Too $hort, as much more than fodder for people who argue that rap objectifies women.
Additionally, the new Mariah Carey remix, with T.I., is titled “I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time.” Anyone seen 'Full Metal Jacket'? I rest my case.
A few highlights from songs making their way onto the radio in August:
• T-Pain’s “Can’t Believe It” basically sounds like it could break out into “Bartender” at any moment, but is still a pleasant R&B song with a decent guest spot by Lil’ Wayne.
• Speaking of Weezy, Jay-Z and Chris Brown guest on the “A Milli” remix, which is really not a remix at all, just the same maddeningly-repetitive beat with some new guest shots.
• Slim, a former member of Bad Boy R&B group 112, has a breathy tenor that keeps “So Fly” bouncing lightly along, and an appearance by Yung Joc works well with the beat. • Nelly, Ashanti and Akon crowd “Body on Me” with star power, but things aren’t too cluttered, even though Nelly’s sing-song rapping can get a little tiring.
• I was pretty sure Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em was annoying when his second single sounded exactly like the first single. But the new single drops the hammer. It consists mainly of Soulja Boy repeating “She got donk” over and over and over again, and repeating a few other things… over and over and over again.
• The best of the bunch is probably the new Snoop Dogg single, “Those Gurlz.” Anyone familiar with Snoop will know the subject matter doesn’t stray far from the title, but a piano-heavy soul beat pairs up well with his laid-back flow...
• ...although Nas’s “Hero” runs a close second. A tinkling synth line that I recognize from an old Company Flow song drives the lead single from the Queens’ rapper’s new and untitled album, which explores black America from all angles (see complete review below).
One thing is for sure: anyone trying hard to break a single this summer is lining up to piggyback off of Lil’ Wayne’s recent surge in popularity – the New-Orleans-based rapper makes an appearance on three songs slated for the radio in coming weeks.
Oh, and there’s also an LL Cool J single, but a new LL Cool J song is kind of like a new Ice Cube song. It’s probably just the lead single for his latest movie.
• REVIEW: 'Untitled,' by Nas
From the opening bars of “Queens Get the Money,” which is basically just a few piano loops and Nas, it’s pretty clear that this untitled album – which features the Queens MC with an ‘N’ whipped into his back and was supposed to be titled “N*****” (like, with an “er” at the end) – is not by the same kid that brought us “Illmatic.”
Witness the beginning of the second verse of “You Can’t Stop Us Now,” which takes on the Michael Vick arrest, namechecks PETA and Dateline and asks a pointed historical question all in about 10 seconds: “Yo on Dateline the other night/they was showin’ hate crimes/Gave a blood time ‘cause he fought with his canine/Bestiality, humane society/Go to China, go out to dine/See what they eat/Better yet, go ask PETA/which animal died to make suede/Without suede, would you have survived the Dark Ages?”
Far be it from me to call Belly a landmark film, but ever since he played a character who longed to learn more about himself and his African roots, Nas seems to have taken on the role in real life. He brought more political weight to his rhymes, which were always sharply-detailed anyway, but there was an extra dimension to many of his best verses on songs like “One Mic” and “My Country.”
It’s hard to fault Columbia and Def Jam for not wanting a record by one of their premiere hip-hop artists to have a racial slur plastered all over it, but, I mean, that’s kind of the reason Nas wanted to call it that, I would guess.
Musically, the album has the most pop touches of any Nas record: lots of big synths, R&B hooks by Chris Brown and Keri Wilson. In some places, it works very well; the tinkling melody line and big beat in “Hero” has a very Kanye-West, hip-hop-in-space vibe. In other places (“Make the World Go Round”), it just kind of sounds plastic and glossed-over. For someone like me, who first nodded his head to Nas via the dirty, dusty sounds of his 1994 classic, “Illmatic,” it would be heaven to hear these rhymes over beats by DJ Premier and Pete Rock, but whatchagonnado?
Lyrically, Nas is on point throughout the entire disc, throwing barbs at hypocrisy in “America,” taking issue with Rupert Murdoch (“the sly fox/Cyclops/locked in the idiot box”) over rock guitars in “Sly Fox” and depicting the life of a creepy-crawly midnight snacker over the jazz-inflected “Project Roach.”
And while the record execs kept it off the cover, they couldn’t stop Nas from naming a song “N*****,” and it’s certainly the centerpiece of the album, a stark depiction of the perils and paradoxes of black America that touches on the past, present and future as he sees it (“They say we N-I, double G, E-R/We are much more/Still we choose to ignore the obvious/Man this history don’t acknowledge us/We were scholars way before colleges/We are the slave and the master/What you lookin’ for?/You are the question and the answer”). Even so, the album’s most creative and interesting move is definitely “Fried Chicken,” where Nas and Busta Rhymes use the metaphor of a love-hate relationship to explore the pros and cons of fried chicken and pork products.
The delicate art of the hip-hop message song is difficult enough by itself; putting together a whole message album is downright dangerous. With this many heavy songs, it’s hard to avoid the occasional image of Keenan Ivory Wayans yelling “MESSAGE!”
But by and large, Nas’s deft wordplay overcomes occasionally-weak production to craft a record that’s got enough pop moves to keep the mainstream listening – although it’s tough to figure what would make a good single… maybe “Make the World Go Round” or “Hero” – and enough political exploration to get the average pop-radio listener to think twice.
• REVIEW: 'Forgiven,' by Los Lonely Boys
It sounds like Los Lonely Boys have been listening to a lot of John Mayer and ZZ Top.
On Forgiven – a blues-based relationship record if ever there was one, with songs titled “Loving You Always,” “Love Don’t Care About Me,” “Another Broken Heart” and “The Way I Feel.” – find some love, lose some love and get a little emotional. Touches of Mayer’s blues-soul and ZZ Top’s bar-band atmospherics abound.
Problem is, there’s not a whole lot that distinguishes Los Lonely Boys from your above-average in-house bar band here. The Hendrix-like wah-wah guitar that stabs through the opener, “Heart Won’t Tell a Lie,” doesn’t make another appearance; the title track sounds like an Americanized version of a Tex-Mex tune, complete with an extra measure or two at the back end of each lyrical couplet.
Which is not to say it isn’t enjoyable. If you don’t mind the singular subject matter, it’s good music. But while it has elements of both, Forgiven lacks both the soloing acumen of Mayer’s music and the consistent boogie that propelled ZZ Top’s.
• STEVE EARLY TO PLAY THE GRAND SEPT. 6
Steve Earle, rock's "Hardcore Troubadour," will bring his politically-charged brand of music to The Grand this fall, with a Sept. 6 performance accompanied by his wife, fellow musician Allison Moorer.
Tickets range from $28-$35, and can be purchased by calling 800-37-GRAND or 652-5577, or at The Grand’s Box Office located at 818 N. Market Street, Wilmington (19801).
Earle has released several albums over the years, most with a heavily-political bent, and has also played a supporting role in the critically-acclaimed HBO series "The Wire."
• REVIEW: 'Seun Kuti & Fela's Egpyt 80' (self-titled)
For fans of Nigerian legend Fela Kuti’s epic African funk, listen and rejoice to the new album from his son, Seun.
In fact, even when Seun Kuti’s voice finally begins to sing, around the three-and-a-half-minute mark of the opener, “Many Things,” you might still think it’s his father. Leading the members of Fela’s former band, the Egypt 80 (and make no mistake, between intrumentalists, dancers and other assorted riffraff, there are actually 80 of them), Seun hits on many of the same political points as Dad.
Actually, the record’s strongest point may be its weakest. While it’s great to hear the rock-solid syncopated grooves of Fela’s old bandmates, there is not much to distinguish Seun from his pops. It really sounds, at times, like a Fela tribute album.
But no matter. It’s still all one heck of a good time. When the horn section kicks in on “Think Africa,” just see if you’re not bouncing in your chair, if not up and dancing. “Mosquito Song” begins with the whiny buzzing sound of its namesake, before dropping into double-time funk and settling in for a meaty trombone solo before more mosquito buzzing brings in a raving wave of pure polyrhythm and voice.
Much of the vocals, particularly the chorus of women’s voices that join Seun during the more-energetic sections of songs, are in a Nigerian dialect, but for English-speaking listeners, it’s all about the feeling.
And the feeling, just like with Seun’s dad, is nothing but funky.
• REVIEW: 'Rockferry,' by Duffy
Anyone over the age of 40 will automatically think one thing when they hear the opening bars of Duffy's "Rockferry."
"Sounds like Dusty Springfield!"
And kind of, yes, in both voice and sound. Where recent critics' darling Amy Winehouse incorporates a lot of '60s sounds into her more-modern songs, Duffy wouldn't sound out of place opening for Springfield on the Dick Cavett Show.
And that's meant as a compliment.
"Warwick Avenue" builds a low-key groove up with a little string action before busting out into the chorus, and while the lyrics can sometimes skew generic ("I'm leaving you for the last time, baby/You think you're loving but you don't love me/I think of you stayin' on my mind lately/You think you're loving but I want to be free"... eh), but she has an excellent delivery and presence that makes up for it.
"Serious" could easily be an Aretha Franklin song, but there's an extra bit of sass in the lyrics - "I'm a trophy on your arm/You wear me like a charm/An accessory that suits/Your new suede boots" - that gives it an up-to-date twist to keep everything from sounding too nostalgic.
There are a few straight-up throwbacks that do sound a little dated: "Sleeping Stone" is very Diana Ross, and "Mercy" kind of sounds like someone remixing Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang" before ratcheting things up into a generic soul rave-up.
Most of the album, however, rides pleasant soul grooves, and Duffy's upper-register alto, while it can be a little nasal at times, works well with the strings that flesh out much of the vintage-style production.
Recommended for fans of Amy Winehouse and Dusty Springfield.
Read the full stories and more at the Countian's Web site .
Contact us:
Sussex Countian
13 S. Front Street
Georgetown, Del. 19947
(302) 856-0026
Letters to the editor are encouraged, both written and in email form. Letters must be signed and include phone number for verification; letters must be 500 words or less, and are subject to editing for length, content and accuracy. Email letters to [email protected]
Got a news tip?
Ask for Adam, Heather or Patrick
DISCLAIMER:
Please respect the fact that the Countian is a community publication. We welcome any and all feedback, but please refrain from coarse language, libel and slander. It will be reported to MySpace. Thank you.