The Download Festival was an awesome experience. Basically, I went on behalf of AFI and the Cure, but I was pleasantly surprised by She Wants Revenge. I had kind of written them off as "just a garage band with slightly gothic overtones." However, they were frickin' great. Totally danceable and bouncy. I LOVED it! I will definitely be checking out their music.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club was up next. They were really bluesy, but pretty boring. I didn't really pay attention to them. When I did, though, it definitely sounded like some good music. Just not my thing.
AFI is amazing. They have a lot of energy on stage. They are all constantly running around, jumping, and look like they have a good time up there. They had some weird technical difficulties at first, but once those were through, they sounded great. All of their songs translate really well from disc to the stage, which is really cool. The diversity of the crowd made for some interesting dancing/moshing. It was really funny. They only played for an hour, which was WAY too short, but their time on stage was incredible.
The Cure: amazing band on record, kind of boring live. At least, they are when they start by playing a bunch of material that thousands of people DON'T know. When they started to finally play some hits, the energy at Shoreline really kicked up. People were dancing and having a good time. I did enjoy them a lot. It was just a bit disconcerting that they started off with a bunch of material that no one knew, and then kept drawing on material that I certainly didn't know, without introducing it. I would love to see them again someday, but not at a festival show. They need to play to their own specific audience. I want to feel the good vibes from their fans when I see them again, not the weird, drunken confusing vibes everyone gave off on Saturday night.
All in all, it was a good show. I wish I hadn't been sick during it, but it certainly didn't take anything away from it for me. I wonder what show I'll see next?
Monday, October 8, 2007
I love Kanye West
May I just say that I absolutely love Kanye West's music? I had always tended to like his singles that he would release, but I didn't care enough (at the time) to go and get any of his CDs. During the summer, I fell in love with his hit single "Stronger" from his new record Graduation. I finally decided to give his records a chance.
First, since I knew my brother bought his first CD College Dropout years back, I stole it from him (more like permanently borrowed it, but whatever). I was instantly hooked. Every song made me smile, feel giddy, and actually made me want to get up and dance. I then found myself at a Rasputin's Music one day, and decided to see if they had his second CD, Late Registration, in the used section, which they did. I bought it, and fell in love with it. It made me anxiously start counting down the days until I could purchase Graduation. And then finally, I got Graduation in my hands. And I was not disappointed at all.
Here's the thing about Kanye's music: he uses samples. Most hip hop/rap artists have songs with samples in them. P Diddy, or Puff Daddy, or Diddy (whatever he's calling himself today), used to have a reputation as sampling entire compostions in his songs, most notably the Police's "Every Breath You Take" for his song about his friend Notorious B.I.G., "I'll Be Missing You." Kanye has tended to take samples of other artist's composition's as well. However, unlike Puff Daddy Diddy Farty Licky (to quote Lewis Black), Kanye takes a small, basic sample, uses it as a hook, and then builds and builds upon it. For example, in the song "Good Life," which features T-Pain, he samples Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," and I swear I can't even tell what part of the song he samples. He basically just takes a part of older soul and R&B compositions and then builds some amazing material on the top of it.
The man just has a great sense of musical style. I mean, he has sampled Otis Redding, Elton John, Chaka Khan, and others. It just makes for an interesting body of work. His production is flawless. Every song has been mixed to perfection, a result of his tireless work ethic. On Graduation, he has turned to more modern hip hop keyboard/synth sounds, and they all work wonderfully. It's like he took Lil Jon and made him more soulful. I guess it should be expected, since he was a producer first before he started rapping. His rhymes are super sarcastic and biting, and they are as good as ever on Graduation. There seriously isn't a bad song on Graduation, and there really isn't a bad song in his catalogue. Say what you will about the man's ego, but he has an unquestionable musical style that has allowed him to sell millions of records, and win a couple of Grammy's. He's a musical genius, hands down.
First, since I knew my brother bought his first CD College Dropout years back, I stole it from him (more like permanently borrowed it, but whatever). I was instantly hooked. Every song made me smile, feel giddy, and actually made me want to get up and dance. I then found myself at a Rasputin's Music one day, and decided to see if they had his second CD, Late Registration, in the used section, which they did. I bought it, and fell in love with it. It made me anxiously start counting down the days until I could purchase Graduation. And then finally, I got Graduation in my hands. And I was not disappointed at all.
Here's the thing about Kanye's music: he uses samples. Most hip hop/rap artists have songs with samples in them. P Diddy, or Puff Daddy, or Diddy (whatever he's calling himself today), used to have a reputation as sampling entire compostions in his songs, most notably the Police's "Every Breath You Take" for his song about his friend Notorious B.I.G., "I'll Be Missing You." Kanye has tended to take samples of other artist's composition's as well. However, unlike Puff Daddy Diddy Farty Licky (to quote Lewis Black), Kanye takes a small, basic sample, uses it as a hook, and then builds and builds upon it. For example, in the song "Good Life," which features T-Pain, he samples Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," and I swear I can't even tell what part of the song he samples. He basically just takes a part of older soul and R&B compositions and then builds some amazing material on the top of it.
The man just has a great sense of musical style. I mean, he has sampled Otis Redding, Elton John, Chaka Khan, and others. It just makes for an interesting body of work. His production is flawless. Every song has been mixed to perfection, a result of his tireless work ethic. On Graduation, he has turned to more modern hip hop keyboard/synth sounds, and they all work wonderfully. It's like he took Lil Jon and made him more soulful. I guess it should be expected, since he was a producer first before he started rapping. His rhymes are super sarcastic and biting, and they are as good as ever on Graduation. There seriously isn't a bad song on Graduation, and there really isn't a bad song in his catalogue. Say what you will about the man's ego, but he has an unquestionable musical style that has allowed him to sell millions of records, and win a couple of Grammy's. He's a musical genius, hands down.
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