Frank Ocean : "Blonde"

So "Endless" was a false alarm as he continues to play games with the way albums are released. The Munchkin effects that shift the pitch of his vocals on "Nikes" ,  are a little weird , but compared to what he did on "Endless" this is an improvement. It's good to hear that Frank hasn't forgotten how to write a song on "Ivy", there is a more free floating style to the verses. His only accompaniment is a guitar on this creating a more organic feel. There is a more conventional r&b feel to " Pink + White". His melody wraps around this song in a much more comprehensive fashion that will please fans of his first album. There is less of a thump to the groove and retains the more organic direction he was headed on the previous song.

"Solo" is more minimalist when it comes to the backtracking, leaving the weight of the song to rest of on Ocean's voice. His verses begin to transform into more of a hip-hop flow. I think the melodies on this song would have benefited more from having more support from a beat. Things are almost more stripped down on "Skyline". It makes me think the remixes for this album will be better. I think the melodies are more interesting on the previous song . "Self Control" features help from Yung Lean. This is another balladic song, even with the experimentation that finds this perhaps overly reflective beginning to drag a little. The harmonies owe more to Brit-pop here than soul. "Nights"  is oddly over the beat. Andre 3000 takes over on the reprise of "Solo" it's not his best verse. Distortion and noise drowns the beginning of "Pretty Sweet" making the song a little obtuse.


There are many moments that are not the most original, though in hip-hop this is called sampling, so "Close to You" makes use of Stevie Wonder's cover of the Burt Bacharach song "Close to You", "White Ferrari" contains some of the Beatles' song "Here there and Everywhere" and an Elliot Smith song is sampled for Seigfried. "Close to You " is only a minute long, so there is not any time to develop from being much more than an idea for a song. With "White Ferrari" he doesn't sample it but put his lyrics over the Beatles vocal melodies. He only uses Elliot Smith's guitar when it comes to stealing from him. I guess the problem with this song and many other's is this is r&b, yet there is little rhythmic or bluesy to it, while the genre has become more urban pop, this album is very slim on the pop hooks.

There is a turn to a more gospel feel on "Godspeed" which finds Ocean on more sure footing."Futura Free", opens with a piano , where lyrically he takes a look at where he is as the music swells up behind him. There is more of a hip-hop feel to the evolving flow of the song which bears a similar arrangement to "Pyramids", but falls flat of capturing that song's mojo. I'll give this album a 6, because when you compare it to " Channel Orange" it proves his more minimalist experimental song writing syle is not as effective when it comes to making an enduring album. This offers a little redemption from "Endless" , but still was not worth the wait.




 

Frank Ocean : "Endless"

I need to pretend this first song didn't song happen. The guitarist for Radiohead is on the second song. Which is a cover of the Isley Brothers. He raps more on this one. There is plenty of false hetro swagger on this song. So we have waited four years for this? The album is littered with interludes there are 7 real songs. Very ballad heavy there is a strange stark feeling in the production. I was released as one track streaming on iTunes, so it is often hard to tell where the real songs begin and end. The question to ask when listening to this album is how does this stack up against "Channel Orange"? So far almost half way into this 44 minute disjointed work the answer is not at all.

"Slide On Me" is the first song that's good. I like the almost dance hall cadence to his vocals. But as a whole he already wasted half an album just fucking around. Ocean versus the Weeknd, finds Frank getting slaughtered when it comes to songwriting. He is not in a genre of music that allows for random bits of ambiance. It's fitting that Greenwood is on this album because it feels like the same way Radiohead gave their label the middle finger with "Kid A" , but there were actually good songs on that album, here it's pieces of ideas not fully fleshed out.  "Sideways" wants to be more of a rap song, but it's unfocused which is the plight of most of these songs. There is jabber that this is not the real album, but a preview of an album to come. If you commit 44 minutes of music then you made an album. It might be a hard pill to swallow that Ocean could be a flash in the pan.

If Death Grips tried to make a r&b album the results could be very similar. There are little blips of falsetto crooning that don't fall anywhere near a beat or melody. When the beat does come in on "Death Wish" it's pretty week. Before releasing this Ocean said he had been influenced by the Beatles and Beach Boys, by Beach Boys it's obvious he meant the more experimental "Pet Sounds".  "Rushes" really fails to deliver in it's initial moments. His vocals have plenty of re-verb on them to keep things more disconnected. Finally a beat shows up, by Ocean is obviously too high to do more than watch it pass him by. This is a horrid disappointment. I'll give it a 5. If this is really not an album and just a taste of what is come then I don't want it.



5.2/9

Grammys Your Anti-Metal

I originally wrote this blog for Hiplanta, a blog you can check out as I a, one of the staff writers and cover more than the darker fare I devote my attention to here, for Abysmal Hymns I can elaborate on a few things mainly the Lamentations of metal head who cry that metal doesn't get a fare shake at the Grammys for this I say ... Who cares

Being embraced by mainstream media is false. If you are concerned with how the public precieves metal...you are false , you are a poseur. Metal is about telegraphing your middle finger to the rest of the world because it's us against them. Does that mean we can't listen to other forms of music...of course not look at what I cover here, but it means you like metal no matter if it's in fashion or not and could care less about getting the approval of any one even your family. My family knows I love metal, it's just a fact like I have black hair and I'm six feet tall, just like my tattoos it's not going anywhere. So with that in mind proceed.

The Grammys' first rock category was in 1979 and Paul McCartney won, so it's a celebration of all the music I skip past on the radio. So it happened to be playing at a friend of mines house last night and I gave it a eye with the attitude of I'm watching all the people whose faces I see on the cover of the magazines while I'm in line at the grocery store. I had seen a memo went out to attendees that this years' dress code was no nip slips , side boobs or plumbers crack, though this left many with the hopes for a camel toe, which was sadly absent. So with that in mind the big winner of the evening for "Best pop duo " went to Katy Perry, if Kat Dennings hadn't been wrapped up like a Christmas present things might have been different.

The new trend on the red carpet was the Ms. Piggy , popularized by Adelle, Kelly Clarkston and half the blond female Country singers, So I was disappointed none of the acceptance speech did not start with a surprised, " Who muuuuaahhhh?" Though the purse did fall from from the mouth of Fun's singer and former Format vocalist upon the omens of their big win. The gay Freemasonry was in full effect, with most of the gangster rappers who took the stage looking to be the most criminally on the down, though I'm sure thre were aplenty of secret hand shakes administered to one another back stage. Before you get your drag pantis bunched up, I'm not a homophobe, I would be gay myself but every time I submit my application it gets rejected for having a long history of fisticuffs, dressing like a high school stoner at gym class and having sex with with women, but I feel every one should be true to themselves even if it means not selling albums to teenage girls in Iowa Becuase they are out.

Oh there was "music" being preformed, Justin Timberlake was the highlight which should tell you something asI prefer his work with Lonely Island to his own homo-erotic solo pop. Everything else was boring at best, Rhianna has a great weave but a little sparse in the diary section for me to be entertained . The only artists I give any credit who won or preformed are Gotye and Frank Ocean, the latter I hope gets more attention as he's the only person doing anything creative with R&B these days...see you thought I only knew about metal. Speaking of which Halestrom won best metal and they are basically a Flyleaf tribute band. Do I give a shit that they won, no Becuase the whole thing I a corporate joke that I wouldn't want bands I like to be affiliated with in the first place, though the ones who have seen fit to play this game to record label pressure I understand they have to pay the rent somehow.

I looked up a list of past rock winners and the only past winner I have like are Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Judas Preist,Ozzy/Sabbath and Slayer. I didn't see Iron Maiden's name on their though it looks like Zappa did winsomething for Studio Tan. So a note for next year throw away the dress code and replace e podium with a stripper pole. Also Neil Patrick Harris was the best singer in the building give him a song ...see told you next years application to the gay committee will be strong , now go down load that Frank Ocean, if you are into pop music and I won't begrudge you for it, in fact I plan on doing it , the fact he's a gay man who came out and was like its a lie to keep singing about women is cool to me Becuase , I think everyone must fearlessly follow their own path.