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thesinglesjukebox · 7 years

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KELLY CLARKSON - LOVE SO SOFT [6.33] Is this the song about Kels' duvet we've been waiting for?

Katie Gill: I'm so mad this isn't as good as it could be! The verses are amazing, letting Clarkson go full tilt diva over amazing harmonies. This is Clarkson doing her best Back to Basics, meshing a modern pop sound with soft big band era touches. But that chorus! It sucks! The chorus only briefly dips into that amazing brass sound and restrains Clarkson to around four or so notes instead of giving her the big sweeping chorus that she so rightfully deserves. [6]

Stephen Eisermann: In interview after interview, Kelly keeps harping on how the album "Love So Soft" comes from is filled with the songs she's wanted to sing her entire career. Based on how confidently and brilliantly she sings this track, I'm inclined to agree. No longer is her terrific voice stuck in the confines of pedestrian pop-rock tracks (even if some were, admittedly, fun); now, she is free to let her voice and soul out on this groovy, coyly provocative number. I'm here for the awakening of the real Kelly Clarkson and I cannot wait to see what her latest album has in store. [8]

Maxwell Cavaseno: On the one hand, time and time again Clarkson has wanted to go back to the soul-rock well in order to really express herself as a singer, and she isn't the worst at it by any stretch of the imagination. But the fact is, "Love So Soft" is an Aguilera-esque series of rampings up rather than any proper sense of dynamic, and just reminds you that all she wants to do is perpetually crank it up to hit that dramatic high note. [4]

Alfred Soto: The eagerness with which Clarkson slices verses with a vocal gulp recalls adult R&B stalwarts like Jennifer Hudson and K Michelle, but we know what top 40 radio thinks of both. The horns, wandering far afield from a Christina Aguilera record a decade ago, are misjudged. [6]

Scott Mildenhall: Title like a Lenor slogan, chorus like a Ted Rogers riddle. Something soft that you can't rub off -- is it oil? You can't really "break" it, but GCSE science confirms that it can be cracked, and then sold, and thus bought. So Kelly Clarkson's love is oil! And she is like oil to the water of that breakdown, which is something else she should sell and pretend never existed. It's a shame, because at other times she is giving the full Clarkson here in a context that she's very suited to, and hasn't revisited that much since "Miss Independent". [5]

Ramzi Awn: Listening to a Kelly Clarkson song is sometimes like following somebody's tangent to the point where you're not exactly sure what they're saying anymore but it doesn't really matter. Because what matters is that it's Kelly Clarkson, and her voice is strong as ever, and as always, she manages to "catch her breath" and deliver a solid late hook. Particularly at a time when catcalls seem to be the new norm, it's refreshing to hear a throwback single about the softness of love. [8]

Katherine St Asaph: Kelly Clarkson's sound has had enough pivots to rival your local music publication, and some of them, like that song, define their year. "Love So Soft" synthesizes her other two best, which never did: "Walk Away," which lends agitation and raspy high notes, and "Miss Independent," the Christina Aguilera co-write on paper that this is in spirit. Virtually every Aguilera album is underrated (free EMP paper: the predictably gendered gulf in goodwill between Britney and Christina's careers), so the one single a year where the industry emulates Back to Basics always sounds both welcome and quaint. The sole concessions to 2017 tastes are the half-time chorus and maybe the alleged guest spot by still-prolific Earth Wind & Fire. Even the conceit, no matter how well it suits the Kibbe-romantic video and no matter that it's a double entendre, is way off the zeitgeist -- which, quoth Ariana Grande, prefers love so hard. One of the least-questioned album-cycle cliches is artists "finally making the music they want to make," a revelation Clarkson (and everyone else) has had about four times over by now. But the least-questioned cliche of supposed pop journalism is writers deploying "her voice can become anything" -- something Idol nominally, if not actually, selects for, and something that's always "her" -- as a pejorative rather than a skill. Clarkson's career, now 15 years going, is an argument for the latter. [7]

Joshua Copperman: This is what I wanted the Adele/Max Martin collaboration to sound like! "Love So Soft" starts off with some Antonoffian ahhs, but soon becomes its own little fun thing - it's slight, but in a good way. There aren't high stakes, and there isn't any sort of subtext, but there is a totally OTT video and the whistle note towards the end. I do wish the bridge was longer, but there's no point complaining when Clarkson and co. clearly made this to have fun and not much else. [7]

Rebecca A. Gowns: Immediately, I'm caught off guard by the premise of this song. It flouts a lot of today's pop song conventions, which are all about being hard and tough and cool, and if you're hurt or emotional, it's always with a touch of bitterness. Here, she's really bragging about how soft she is, and adds, cheerily (!), "you break it, you buy it!" She's reclaiming the power in owning your vulnerability! And then, I'm struck by how old school it sounds, reminiscent of the height of Kelly Clarkson, not a 2017 revamp. The beat clangs, she hits the high notes right on cue, then swoops back down into the chanting chorus. Listening to this song is like watching someone walk down the street backwards -- impressive, and also vaguely worrying. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

#Kelly Clarkson

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whittlebaggett8 · 5 years

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Thailand’s Coup Leader Completes Engineered Ballot Box Win

With parliament’s unsurprising vote, Prayut Chan-o-cha has done an engineered energy to extend his rule as leading.

By Grant Peck for The Diplomat

June 06, 2019

When Prayut Chan-o-cha led a navy coup to acquire more than Thailand’s government five several years back, he wore a dowdy officer’s uniform. A 5-calendar year makeover remodeled him into a politician, now styled in a very well-tailor-made Western match or an tasteful silk “suea phraratchathan,” a Thai spin on the Nehru jacket.

The now-retired basic, who has run Thailand with complete ability considering that the 2014 coup, accomplished his changeover to a civilian leader Wednesday when Parliament selected him as primary minister of the new authorities.

As the leader of the junta and federal government for the previous five yrs, Prayut scrapped the structure and limited civil liberties with limitations on media, political gatherings, and general public dissent. What commenced as a system to suppress resistance to the coup developed into a suggests to weaken opponents in advance of considerably-delayed elections. Last but not least held in March, the voting was carried out under campaign and vote-counting regulations weighted to Prayut’s edge, like allowing for him to turn into primary minister with out right functioning for political place of work.

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On the campaign trail, Prayut would split into music, wooing supporters with self-published saccharine ballads addressed to the country. “Uncle Tu” even sought the youth vote, which include all through an awkward photo shoot at Government Household with a well-liked all-lady pop band.

But his hallmark was not his trendiness, but rather his temper.

Thailand’s previous top navy officer was unused to currently being questioned and frequently threw tantrums when pressed by the media as key minister. He the moment threatened reporters with execution in a minute that shown his quixotic sense of humor somewhat than authentic intent.

An additional time, he made a lifestyle-measurement, cardboard cutout of himself and instructed the media, “If any individual would like to inquire any questions on politics or conflicts, check with this man. Bye, bye.” He then marched off, leaving the cardboard cutout in his put.

“He has a sturdy personality — vigorous and immediate. If he tries to come to be a politician, he could check out to alter but he would hardly ever genuinely be ready to adjust 100 %,” Supparuek Tongchairith, a veteran navy beat reporter for Thai Rath, the country’s largest-circulation newspaper, stated ahead of Prayut officially became a applicant. “Because his boiling place is very low, if any person pokes at him, he will explode. And for him to sit in Parliament, I guarantee, he will run into difficulties.”

Prayut’s to start with expression in office was mostly smoothed by his government’s crackdown on opponents and civic freedoms, the rubber-stamp legislature he hand-picked, a newly drafted constitution, and a regulation he enacted earning all of his steps authorized.

He can boast some achievements, most notably some cleanup of the aviation, fishing, and wildlife industries, and motion towards human trafficking.

He lent his bodyweight to the gravity of the royal changeover, marching in the procession behind the coffin of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2016, and attending the coronation of King Maha Vajiralongkorn in Could 2019.

But his file is not unblemished. Allegations of nepotism towards Prayut’s have relatives have led to awkward accusations of hypocrisy for a man who pledged to end corruption as justification for the coup.

He also took no motion when a near junta colleague, Prawit Wongsuwan, was embroiled in a luxury observe scandal.

Prayut, 65, was born and raised in an army relatives at a military camp in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima. He graduated from Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy and was presently a senior figure in the army when it staged a 2006 coup against popular elected Key Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

In 2010, Prayut aided direct the bloody suppression of pro-Thaksin demonstrators in central Bangkok. In October that yr, he became the army commander in chief.

Following seizing electricity on May well 22, 2014, Prayuth declared that political reform — cleaning up a system he blamed for Thailand’s instability — was the junta’s precedence.

But as his second time period as primary minister became more most likely, he produced allies of the incredibly politicians he had known as targets of the junta’s reforms and initiated federal government handouts that were when scorned as funds politics.

By Grant Peck for The Affiliated Press.

The post Thailand’s Coup Leader Completes Engineered Ballot Box Win appeared first on Defence Online.

from WordPress https://defenceonline.com/2019/06/07/thailands-coup-leader-completes-engineered-ballot-box-win/

#ASEAN Beat #Prawit Wongsuwan #Prayut #Prayut Chan-o-Cha #Thailand coup #Thailand democracy #Thailand

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deadcactuswalking · 6 years

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‘ZEZE’, The Perfect Trap-Rap Trainwreck. [REVIEW]

2018 has been a pretty odd year for popular music. I mean, it’s been pretty impressive too, tons of records are being broken right now, in fact, the song we’re going to talk about today has broken one of those records (although easily one of the least important ones). I’ll talk more about 2018 as a year overall when I make my best and worst lists (which, no, this song won’t be on either despite who made it), but let’s just focus on this one song, and how perfect it is – despite being freakin’ awful, generic and borderline unlistenable. Let me elaborate.

SONG REVIEW: “ZEZE” – Kodak Black, Travis Scott & Offset – Produced by D.A. Doman

What record did this break, do you ask? Well, with the advent of SoundCloud rap, mumble-rap and emo-rap becoming the new wave, some stranger music has crept onto the charts, whether it be because of its sound or background and/or origin story. Memes have gotten music popular for ages but a 90s Latin reggaeton/house track by the “Chacarron Macarron” guy which translates to “Give me your little thing” becoming a top 40 hit is relatively unheard of – this is especially weird because the remix with Pitbull was released way after the song blew up and then fizzled out. I know Pitbull was always on his way out and he’s basically now a living meme anyway but it’s still a shock to see stars I knew so well fade away like this – oh, yeah, and how does celebrity status and star-power matter even more than it ever has been and none at all at the same time? We’re about to get a Mia Khalifa diss track released in February by two teenagers after a fake tweet was posted by some Instagram page on the charts simply because of the power of some girl in cosplay lip-synching to the second (and more meme-able) verse on TikTok.

Hit or miss - I guess they never miss, huh? – Smoke Hijabi, iLOVEFRiDAY’s “Mia Khalifa Diss”

Yet we still can’t get rid of that pesky Drake rascal, hell, he nearly hit #1 again, this time entirely uncredited!

I did half a Xan, 13 hours ‘til I land / Had me out like a light, ayy, yeah – Drake, Travis Scott’s “SICKO MODE”

Last year we had the shortest song to reach the top 5 since the early 1960s, with “Gucci Gang” by Lil Pump, peaking at #3 despite a puny runtime of a mere 2 minutes and 4 seconds. Today, we’re talking about a song that peaked just one slot higher, and became the highest-charting song EVER on the Hot 100 that starts with the letter “z”. Yes, it’s an odd, unimportant and pointless milestone but it’s something nonetheless. Oh, but that’s far from the most interesting part of this song. Let’s talk about the production first, mostly because any time I can stall before talking about Kodak Black should be savoured greatly. It was produced by D.A. Doman, most known nowadays for that “Taste” song by Tyga, in fact, Tyga even remixed “ZEZE” because the beats were so similar, and there’s only one beat Tyga ever does all that well on – and it’s tropical synth-lead trap. The bass on “Taste” was mixed well, though. I feel like there’s too little here and it could do with some pumping up, although it does give the steel pans a very airy feel, to be fair, and those little tiny details like that funky synth that just kind of appears briefly as a speck in Kodak’s refrain are just really top-notch, and that catchy and clean vocal sample playing throughout the song pushes this beat into truly great territory. Hell, the beat was so good that it made the song a meme months before its release, where people added a caption to Kodak and Travis dancing very... interestingly to the song. There was also a teaser where it was just 40 seconds of the beat building up with people saying “f**k ‘em up, Kodak” in the background, and someone was dancing there too. I don’t know, all I know is that this beat is fantastic and... everyone’s gonna mess this up, aren’t they?

Well, Travis doesn’t, really, he’s just odd. After like 5 seconds of the beat without any percussion or bass, just the steel pans and basically no build-up excluding Doman’s producer tag, the catchy “D.A got that dope!” phrase, it goes straight into the beat, bass and all, as well as Travis’ vocals which have like twenty layers each of some gross autotune and reverb effects. Seriously, it’s slathered to hell and back with vocal manipulation and it’s really unpleasant, especially when it’s drowned in all these ad-libs. Let’s focus on the lyrics of Travis’ hook, though, because they’re really cute. It plays out as, to say it bluntly, “Baby’s First Rap Chorus”. All the clichés are there, but in their purest form.

Ice water, turned Atlantic (freeze!) / Nightcrawlin’ in the Phantom (skrrt, skrrt) / Told them hoes that don’t you panic

His wrist is froze because of his diamonds. He has a black luxury car, he’s lazily referencing his other, much better songs, and he has to add in those essential “skrrt, skrrt” ad-libs. Oh, well, at least there are attempts at being unique here, with the last line, especially since we can assume they’re in water here, so Travis desperately reassures the countless amount of women he is having sex with, “Don’t worry, it’s a Phantom! We’re not going to drown to our deaths!” And then he goes, “screw it”, and starts actually adjusting the Phantom so they have more space, thus his “hoes” do not die, depriving him of pleasure and satisfaction.

Dropped the roof, more expansion / Drive a coupe you can stand in (IT’S LIT!)

You know what, that’s a good idea, but, yeah, I’m kidding, it’s not that deep – it’s just that he’s driving fast. Of course it isn’t anything all too conceptual.

Took an island (yeah), flood the mansion (big water!)

Sorry, what was that last part?

(Big water!)

Big water? I mean, I know the line is about how he took a lot of producers and rappers to his ASTROWORLD sessions on a Hawaiian island or something, but is “big water” seriously something people say? It just seems so dumb and kind of childish. In fact, while we’re on the subject...

B****es undercover (in the sheets!) / I’m an a** and tiddy lover (big a**) / Guess we all made for each other

Rappers never really brag about taking time to appreciate the woman’s body whilst “in the sheets” but you know what, sure, I’ll take that, but the second line just potentially demonstrates the naivety of this chorus, like, it’s just pure rap cliché but in such a way that makes it seem like Travis is a robot that has been analysing rap lyrics and programming a very blunt and obvious bar that exemplifies that. Oh, and the last part is just a dumb filler rhyme, although it’s kind of funny to think about how it must be up to destiny that Travis’ girl has a big butt and he likes big butts.

Now that all the dawgs free (yeah, yeah) / And we out in these streets (alright) / Can you do it, can you pop it for me?

The robot theory is developed even further when we notice these two statements are entirely unrelated. My friends are free from prison, but we’re still in the streets, therefore, pop that kitty for me, girl. This is how the chorus ends too, it’s so anti-climactic, although I do want to point out that Offset more than makes up for Travis’ strange twisting of lyrical cliché, as his verse is pretty fantastic. The flow is great throughout, with some nice switches that keep the surprisingly long verse still feeling fresh and short by the end.

She an addict (addict)

Please don’t rhyme it with—

Addict for the lifestyle and the Patek (Patek), big daddy

Son of a—

Anyways, there are plenty of relatively memorable lines here that end up being pretty quotable, such as... UK football references?

In the middle of the field like David Beckham (field, bow-bow!!)

Oh, and they kind of explain what “ZEZE” means – it means “zombie”, a slang term for, of course, lean... because it’s 2018.

Pop pills, do what you feel, I’m on that zombie (hey, hoo!) / I’m more like Gaddafi, I’m not no Gandhi (Gaddafi, hey)

Oh, um, some of these lines come off as kind of rapey though, which is not the greatest tone to go for when you have a song with Kodak Black, to say the least.

I go in her mouth, she can’t tell me nothin’ (ugh, ugh, ugh)

Oh, and I guess it’s finally time to talk about the alleged rapist elephant in the room.

On my Kodak, woo, Black, ooh, know that – Childish Gambino, “This is America”

I’m not going to bring up his allegations anymore because frankly they’re completely irrelevant to his performance here, and all he actually adds to this review is proof for my conclusion: this song has so much good qualities, but they paint them in the grossest green colour possible. Each one of these guys just ruin the gifts they’re provided with. In fact, the beat changes for Kodak so he doesn’t sound as offbeat as usual, and, of course, it doesn’t work at all, he still sounds pretty terrible as always, but still, D.A. Doman switches up the beat slightly (which was near perfect as it was) to accommodate for the talentless and directionless ramblings of Mr. Kodak Black.

Pull up in a Demon, on God (on God) / Looking like I still do fraud (fraud) / Flyin’ private jet with the rod (rod) / This that Z-s**t, this that Z-s**t (this that Z-s**t)

Kodak is so unlikeable here. He sounds like he was on a news interview, with a noticeable Southern drawl, that went viral enough in 2011 to get an autotuned Songify This remix. Honestly, it sounds that painful of a vocal, and without the Gregory Brothers’ pretty great production and knack for melody, this is just a strain on both Kodak’s voice and my ear-drums.

I got the fire on me in BET Awards

I’m less surprised that you have a gun rather just that you’re allowed in the BET Awards.

In a Hellcat cos I’m a hell-raiser

Man, this song is robotically programmed, I swear! There’s no attempt at portraying any unique lyrical characteristics, personality or even a single attempt at interesting wordplay, rather we get a catchier version of Kodak’s typical topics, just in an even more boring flow this time, and delivered like he’s on pain medication... which is probably what they’re going for here. What a waste of a fantastic, beautifully-produced instrumental, one of the most diverse and unique trap-rappers out there in the form of Travis Scott, who is relegated to his awfully-written hook duty, and what a waste of that amazing Offset verse. Seriously, Offset, kick Kodak off, switch him for another awful human being, Tyga, and save this song (including Travis’ admittedly fun, albeit silly, hook) for your upcoming solo album. I can’t let Kodak Black own this song, it’s too good for him in concept. What a perfect trainwreck. Everything is given to them completely prepared and in good condition, and then they just trash it. This song is when you get something valuable or useful for a damn good price and your dog eats it within five minutes of you opening it.

Hit that Z-walk, Dickies with my Reeboks

Oh, come on, Kodak, I know I don’t like your song but you didn’t have to give me Vietnam flashbacks of Lil Dicky. That’s just not cool. See ya on Thursday, everyone. Peace.

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recommendedlisten · 6 years

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The summer of 2018 left us with more than enough great music to absorb than any other quarter so far this year, and if you managed to get through everything Recommended Listen has been big upping in its formal reviews alongside that extra helping of seasonal offerings, congratulations: You must be a music consumption machine. Now that we’re heading into autumn, it’s not surprising to see a the usual calendar of big name releases from all levels of the music adding up be as much of a beast as last year's, and the past few months have been filled with some mighty listens as well. This site doesn’t always have an opportunity to appraise every album upon original release (especially in a banner year for rap, hip-hop and heavy music.) Here’s 15 albums to spice up your rotation if the season's other basic flavor options aren't cutting it...

BROCKHAMPTON - Iridescence [Question Everything / RCA Records]

BROCKHAMPTON straight up hustled their way to a record deal with RCA by releasing three albums in 2017 on their own with nothing but a master class in connecting with a wider audience through their social media platform. The Internet-born, self-professed American boy band has been one of hip-hop’s most exciting success stories probably since Odd Future broke, but what’s always been different about this collective of voices is that there isn’t just one or two who stand out. United they stand, even if Kevin Abstract is hailed as their de facto leader, and on Iridescence, BROCKHAMPTON make the most out of all of their moving parts for a spectacularly over-saturated major label debut where each of their visions shine. It’s a fete for the mere fact that they recorded the album in London on the quick after shelving a previous version featuring original member Ameer Vann, dismissed after allegations of sexual abuse surfaced, but brevity in ideas have never a problem for the crew. At any given moment, they can go hard on skittering noise-rap beats, neon bangers, and then turn the lights into soft introspective emo R&B reflection. Those are usually the moments where the tongue-in-cheek “boy label” sticks the most, but if anyhting, Iridescence is proof that BROCKHAMPTON is on the move up.

Doe - Grow Into It [Big Scary Monster / Topshelf Records]

Indie rock is in safe hands these days, as recent breakouts and career bests from rising stars Forth Wanderers, Lucy Dacus, Mitski, Sidney Gish, Snail Mail, and Soccer Mommy have all confirmed this year. Doe, a three-piece of London guitar rockers mastering the art of the crank and the hook with their sophomore effort Grow Into It, aren’t a band who’ve gained enough mention in that same conversation, but very well should be after this. Their latest album’s title can very well be taken quite literally, as it marks a spurt in creative refinement since the release of 2016′s debut Some Things Last Longer Than You, with the trio making a concentrated effort to take their chunky pop riffs to the next level of sing-a-long status while intertwining the occasional sea-sawing melody shift. Not to be lost in the rip-roaring is lead singer Nicola Leel’s songwriting, sung by the whip of her Scottish tongue. She embraces getting older, boring parts and all, instead of running away from it -- The wonder being that in their latest life stage, Doe sound more interesting than they let on.

Emma Ruth Rundle - On Dark Horses [Sargent House]

Every autumn equinox deserves a spellbinding soundtrack into the season, and Emma Ruth Rundle’s On Dark Horses, her fourth solo effort, rings in these dying days of daylight with a grandeur that makes the darkness altogether inviting. On this outing, the Louisville-based doom-folk songwriter has found a balance between controlling loud and soft dynamics that have ripped through her work in the past by gripping its catharsis despite an uncertain atmospheres. It’s without question her most carefully-constructed listen to date thanks to its sprawling guitars, morose pianos, and an intermittent crashing of cymbals through the air that mediate fear of the future with a blind courage to forget forward. The skies may continue to darken, yet Emma Ruth Rundle pulls as much light into her world to survive off of hope at least for another day.

Eric Church - Desperate Man [EMI Nashville]

Eric Church has endured a lot of heaviness in his heart over the course of the past year, metaphorically and quite literally. One year ago, just a day after performing at a country music festival in Las Vegas, a gunman open fire on the open air crowd, killing dozens in one of the worst shootings in U.S. history, There was also the revelation that during his two-sets-a-night Holding My Own tour, he found himself rushed off into emergency surgery after being diagnosed with a life-threatening blood clot in his chest, due in part to the wear and tear being a road reveler put on his body. The struggle to understand and survive in this life is old hat in the country rocker’s lyrics, but never have they hit so close to home. Desperate Man, his sixth studio effort, puts into perspective those experiences through the grit-covered filter of a broken American dream. Recorded alongside his perpetual right hand Jay Joyce, the LP is a return to the self-proclaimed Nashville outsider’s early roots in earnest songwriting (”Monsters”), the smoke-stained, blues halls of recent (”Heart Like a Wheel”), and his undying last-rock-star-standing status (”Drowning Man”.) For a Desperate Man, Church endures with tenacity.

House of Feelings - New Lows [Joyful Noise Recordings]

It started as a radio show spinning some of the weirdest underground dance music in NYC and beyond from decades ago to today, led to a dance night, and now, is a living breathing music collective of friends from all corners of sound, merging their talents to build an unbreakable House of Feelings on their debut full-length New Lows. Spearheaded by multi-faceted songwriter Matty Fasano, YVETTE drummer and producer Dale Eisinger, writer Joe Fassler, and a cast of HoF collaborators familiar and new such as Perfect Pussy’s Meredith Graves, Shamir and Denitia, the group steps back into reality on this effort after tripping out in a post-apocalyptic world with last year’s club banger Last Chance EP. The mediums through which they navigate are more daring -- made equally from blood-soaked dance shoes, sweat-soaked bass lines and brass, as well as synthetic materials -- as they explore the nuances in modern human connection. With enough hands on deck, House of Feelings not only make sense of a world spinning out of control, but do so in chic motion.

Jesus Piece - Only Self [Southern Lord]

2018 has been a banner year for a new wave of metalcore. Pittsburg thrashers Code Orange were nominated for a Grammy, Bostonian heavy-hitters-on-the-rise Vein had a breakout debut this summer which caught the ear of the Deftones, and now, Philly chaos makers Jesus Piece punctuate it all with multiple exclamation points on their first effort, Only Self. For the Philly five-piece, the album is a culmination of a lot of sweat and blood left in the underground hardcore scene, having been workhorses for years performing no-holds-barred live shows and hitting the gas pedal to the floor on several promising EPs and 7″ singles. Only Self bottles up their rage in one fell swoop and obliterates the world around it in a half hour of powerviolence, doom and D-beat-driven chaos where . Aaron Heard, who currently doubles as the bassist for shoegazing punks Nothing, is the eye of their storm, tearing down pillars of normcore and bowing down to no gods or masters. For Jesus Piece, they’ve become their own saviors in a world on fire.

Joey Purp - QUARTERTHING [Self-released]

Joey Purp gave us just a taste of his potential on his promising 2016 mixtape iiiDrops. It was there where we were introduced to the new wage Chi-town rap scene’s smooth-flowing M.C. skills -- A charismatic swagger that could easily go toe to toe with his SaveMoney Crew brethren Chance the Rapper, minus the hokeyness and plus a puffed out chest. QUARTERTHING is truly Purp’s breakout, though, as he bolsters up his persona with excising studio production courtesy of Knox Fortune and Thelonious Martin as well as features by the RZA, the GZA, Ravyn Lenae, and Queen Key that create a non-stop collection of club bangers styled by Chicago house tradition and a future beyond. It’s vibe is free-wheeling and excitable, yet it doesn’t hold back on delivering more of Joey Purp, the person, in the art, chronicling his escape from a bad ways lifestyle into a path of success that lights a torch for all those who follow him. From here on out, QUARTERTHING has blazed its own open trail.

Joyce Manor - Million Dollars to Kill Me [Epitaph Records]

By now, we know what Joyce Manor are capable of. The Torrance quartet have been cramming succinct pop-punk edibles into our ears since the start of the decade, spanning over four full-proof albums that have matured ever so slightly along the way in cleaner production, tighter hooks, and carefully picked sighs and screams by frontman Barry Johnson’s navel gazings and romanticism. 2016′s Cody really poured the polish on heavier, giving Joyce Manor a proper alternative makeover, but with their fifth full-length Million Dollars to Kill Me, it’s really the best of all versions of the band. Converge’s Kurt Ballou helmed studio duties on this go, and though his background as the go-to producer for metal and hardcore doesn’t necessitate a return to full-on basement dives by the band, you can hear how it came in handy in pulling the grit once more out of Johnson’s voice, and ensured any rockisms weren’t lost in their steady spurt into the new power-pop princes. Joyce Manor are growing up, and it’s not only showing in their matter-of-fact ruminations about online friends or selling out, but in how well they seem to know their strengths this time around.

Low - Double Negative [Sub Pop]

Slowcore innovators Low have evolved far beyond the patient wonder of their music in several different styles over their storied 25-year career as a band, but nothing in their catalog is anything like their latest studio effort, Double Negative. The listen answers the question of what may exist of the Duluth trio if you were to destroy in their sound all the natural beauty that has endured gracefully these last three decades, and attempts to reconstruct it by fragment, particle by particle. That’s done intentionally, as the band holds a shattered mirror up to the world and reflects it onto themselves, as LP 12 embraces their most abrasive properties fearlessly through instruments deconstructed and corruptly digitized into the vacuous production of. B.J. Burton, go-to producer at Bon Iver’s April Base home studio. The uncertainty in Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker vocals, while remaining tender, also surface anxieties felt by many humans amid the disarray. We don’t know what tomorrow brings, though Double Negative captures the present in all its brokenness flawlessly.

Marissa Nadler - For My Crimes [Sacred Bones Records]

Perhaps the reasons behind Marissa Nadler’s prolific nature over the decade-plus she has been recording music is a perpetual strive toward improving on her own perfections, because on her 8th studio effort For My Crimes, she has written a collection of songs so meticulous in their intimate songwriting, careful arrangements, and mood-making equally shrouded by haunting, sorrowful, and quietly rebuking texture that it settles as her latest creative peak in a career that will in all likeliness continue to build off its high points. Remarkably, Nadler’s music has never been embellished with much beyond a bare bones structure of an acoustic guitar, piano and strings, though its details in its storytelling -- both personal and riveting in fiction -- and supporting cast of producer Lawrence Rothman as well as vocal features from Angel Olsen, Kristin Kontrol, Mary Lattimore, and Sharon Van Etten, are what give the listen its warm body to seek refuge in as dark blue vapors and cold air move in around you this time of year.

Noname - Room 25 [Self-released]

Fatima Warner, b.n.a. Noname, has seen her star rise up within the same Chicago neo-rap scene as the aforementioned Joey Purp, as she has been a collaborator among its hometown heroes. Room 25 is the poetic rhymer’s own story, though, and unlike her peers’ serving bars that make the room bump, her’s is a graceful flow through in an almost stream of conscious way, making her sophomore effort a spiritual, mend between her musings and her music. Aided by the cosmic free-jazz and soulful R&B glow rendered by fellow Chi-town producer and instrumentalist Phoelix, Room 25 engages the room Noname inhabits with soft caresses that invite your attention warmly as she wades through her own personal trials, tribulations, and celebrations, be it the rise and fall of her own love life or much graver matters in big picture existentialism, give or take a humblebrag in the bedroom or studio. If you want to fall through the passage of time with memories set to a timeline, Noname’s got you covered.

PICTUREPLANE - DEGENERATE [Alien Body Music]

Travis Egedy is done with trying to appease anyone’s level of comfort, but you wouldn’t really know it by the slick fluorescence transmitted from his alien body into yours through his ongoing music vehicle as PICTUREPLANE. DEGENERATE can be seen as the epitaph of a decade-plus in arriving at this full realization, as it cohesively digitizes varying facets of darkness tailored for the club through one door. It glistens with textures produced by cold wave synths, emo-rap-witch house smoke and mirrors, and boundless electronic and industrial currents made for the misfits, heathens, and freaks of the underworld, and spoken directly to them by coloring the scene with uninhibited erotic exploration. DEGENERATE’s pronounced kinks are secondary to its auditory pleasures, however, and for that, it transcends niche, and does what his music always has done best: Capturing feelings from the darker recesses of the human experience, and turning them into a regenerative source of light and energy.

Thou - Magus [Sacred Bones Records]

Thou have given of themselves a lot to the world this year already. Throughout this summer, they released a string of EPs on different independent labels, and each one reinforcing the Baton Rouge doom slayers ability to push themselves onto the experimental edge. The House Primordial kept characteristically in the sludge of the swamps that bred them, where as Inconsolable reigned in their heaviness for a stripped afterlife before diving into the abyss of hardcore influences for Deathwish Inc. on Rhea Sylvia. No surprise that those were just warm ups capping off with the prolific four-piece’s fifth proper full-length Magus. It’s hands down one of metal’s most colossal listens of the year with over an hours worth of sprawling requiems for the human condition, though it doesn’t deter away from their genre-crossing ways that have pushed the scene and their politics beyond the realm of heaviness with greater purpose. Transcendental is one way of putting it, through the fire and the fury they soar.

Uniform - The Long Walk [Sacred Bones Records]

Uniform’s debut album Wake in Fright came out only a year ago, and its arrival (and title) couldn’t be any more fitting considering the nightmare landscape that American politics and our culture as a whole had spun into. The Brooklyn industrial noise band, then only consisting of vocalist Michael Bergan and NYC underground rock producer and guitarist Ben Greenberg, pulled us right down into the belly of chaos with heavy slabs o static feedback and ear-busting drilling that captured the terror of the times. Uniform’s sophomore follow-up The Long Walk offers no further comfort, but it does ponder a way out of the dark, existential despair, and in bolder form now that Guardian Alien / Liturgy drummer Greg Fox has been added to the fray, giving their sound a more human feel in its limbs contorting their way through the void. With that, the trio have gotten a grip on the world’s chaos, taking the fright, and turning it into their own demented playground where feeling the anxiety is all part of the experience of being alive.

Wild Pink - Yolk In the Fur [Tiny Engines]

Despite having cut their teeth in the Brooklyn indie scene these last several years, Wild Pink don’t sound so much like your standard guitar-chugging city dwellers on their breakout sophomore effort Yolk In the Fur. The trio of John Ross, TC Brownell and Dan Keegan have grown beyond the concrete jungle and ventured into an equally captivating impression here of ‘80s synth-bleeding, Americana-influenced rock that has made storytelling sentiment glimmer like a borealis in the way it has for the album’s kindrid spirit Tom Petty and more recently, the modern day journeys of the War On Drugs. Yolk In the Fur has its own handwriting to share, however, with Ross emoting existential philosophies while gazing through the monotony of the every day and millennial melancholia. It’s there where Wild Pink transcend beyond subways and human-saturated streets and into the vast fields, rivers and star-lit skies, their own version of escapism becoming seasonably contagious.

#lists #emma ruth rundle #house of feelings #jesus piece #joey purp #joyce manor #low #noname #thou #uniform #wild pink #pictureplane #marissa nadler #brockhampton #doe #eric church #features

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kartiavelino · 6 years

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Cardi B, the Carters and Calvin Harris battle for song of the summer

It’s summertime, and the grooving is straightforward. However which songs are going to rule from the barbecue to the seashore? We assembled a panel of music consultants: Lori Majewski, co-host of SiriusXM Quantity’s “Suggestions;” Nessa, MTV persona and nationally syndicated Scorching 97 DJ; and Travis Mills, on-air host on Beats 1 on Apple Music — to assist us decide summer’s hottest tunes. And whereas there could also be a smash coming that we haven’t heard but, listed below are our high 10 contenders thus far. 1. Cardi B, feat. Unhealthy Bunny & J Balvin, “I Like It” [embedded content] Final summer, Cardi B was being profitable strikes along with her breakout No. 1 hit “Bodak Yellow.” This season, the Bronx rapper is poised to maintain her summer streak going with “I Like It,” the newest single off her debut album “Invasion of Privateness,” which samples Pete Rodriguez’s 1967 boogaloo basic “I Like It Like That.” “That song has it locked up proper now,” says Majewski, who likens the observe, which options some rapping in Spanish, to “Despacito” in 2017. “I believe we’re going to have two summers in a row the place the song of the summer is a Latin-flavored dance hit.” Mills additionally expects Cardi B — who’s of Dominican and Trinidadian descent — to unite occasion individuals on the block and at the membership. “The best way that she’s merging all of her influences,” he says, “she’s simply tying the world collectively.” 2. The Carters, “Apes - - t” [embedded content] When Beyoncé and Jay-Z dropped their shock joint album “All the pieces Is Love” two weeks in the past, “Apes – – t” was the banger that had everybody going loopy. And with the Carters bringing their On the Run II tour to stadiums throughout the nation (they play MetLife on Aug. 2 and 3), they’re positive to see “the crowd goin’ apes - - t” when these eerie beats kick in. “It’s the good song for the summertime. It will get you overestimated,” says Nessa. “You are feeling highly effective. You are feeling like you would be Beyoncé, however then you definitely notice you’re not Beyoncé.” 3. Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa, “One Kiss” [embedded content] With songs resembling 2016’s “This Is What You Got here For” (that includes Rihanna) and 2014’s aptly titled “Summer,” Scottish DJ/producer Harris is used to being in the combine for the season, and this summer isn’t any exception with the dance-floor bliss of “One Kiss.” “Calvin Harris has this confirmed observe file in the 2010s of making incredible summer songs,” says Majewski. “And Dua Lipa is internationally the It woman of the second.” In the meantime, Nessa calls this collaboration “the good boozy brunch song.” 4. Juice WRLD, “Lucid Desires” [embedded content] Not all summer songs should be occasion songs, as this observe from the rapper-singer born Jared Higgins demonstrates with its melancholy dreaminess (together with guitar sampled from Sting’s “Form of My Coronary heart”). In actual fact, the observe is already No. 4 and climbing on the Billboard Scorching 100. “It’s been superb to observe his takeover, the notoriety that this child has gained,” says Mills. “His debut album [‘Goodbye & Good Riddance’] is unimaginable.” 5. XXXTentacion, “Unhappy!” [embedded content] The controversial rapper’s alleged homicide has given some unlucky irony to the title of this song, which leaped to No. 1 after his taking pictures dying on June 18 at age 20. Now the observe, with its brokenhearted lyrics, might hang-out us all through the summer. “There’s all the time a lone wolf that will get in there and is a bit darkish,” says Majewski of the tune’s counterprogramming prospects. For Nessa, it doesn’t matter that “Unhappy!” could also be a buzzkill: “Whereas it’s unhappy, particularly along with his passing, I really feel prefer it’s essential that we do play it in order that we are able to preserve him in our reminiscences.” 6. Ella Mai, “Boo’d Up” [embedded content] This British singer has give you an ode to being “head over heels in love” for all these having enjoyable in the solar with their boos. Already a High 10 hit, it’s the good cuddle jam. “I’m obsessive about it,” says Nessa. “I really feel like this song goes to remain by means of summer as a result of everybody desires to be boo’d up, everybody desires to be in love. In actual fact, I really feel like extra guys like this song than women.” 7. Dan + Shay, “Tequila” [embedded content] On this wistful single from their new self-titled album, the country-pop duo have give you the good tonic for these lacking the summer love who acquired away. “Proper now, crossover nation is having such a giant second,” says Majewski, additionally noting the hit “Meant To Be,” by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line. “And name-checking all these liquors in the first verse and then the refrain just about ensures an enormous mainstream summer hit.” 8. Maroon 5, feat. Cardi B, “Women Like You” [embedded content] Maroon 5 attached with the hottest feminine rapper in the sport for their newest single, and the result’s a summer slam-dunk. The simple-breezy groove and mild reggae vibes — together with Cardi B’s sassy supply — make this an irresistible charmer. And the girl-powered video, that includes everybody from Camila Cabello and Gal Gadot to Tiffany Haddish and Jennifer Lopez, doesn’t damage. Says Nessa: “It’s undoubtedly a song you’ll be able to play along with your women and you are feeling like a gazillion bucks.” 9. Nicki Minaj, feat. Ariana Grande, “Mattress” [embedded content] These labelmates have mixed their femme forces earlier than on tracks resembling “Bang Bang” and “Facet to Facet,” and right here they make a divalicious duo on this single from Minaj’s upcoming album “Queen,” due Aug. 10. The sultry island taste makes this go down as easily as a frozen daiquiri. “That song’s superior,” says Mills. “Look, Nicki’s unimaginable, and Ariana’s superb. I believe they’re each on this roll proper now.” 10. Troye Sivan, feat. Ariana Grande, “Dance to This” [embedded content] Grande has her personal new album, “Sweetener,” popping out Aug. 17, however she additionally lends her voice to a different summer contender with the rising younger South African-born singer. The insinuating “Dance to This” will make you just do what its title instructions. Majewski says that this pulsating observe “is sort of in the lane of the Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa song [‘One Kiss’]. I completely suppose that it may very well be an even bigger hit than something on [Grande’s] personal.” Share this: https://nypost.com/2018/06/28/cardi-b-the-carters-and-calvin-harris-battle-for-song-of-the-summer/ The post Cardi B, the Carters and Calvin Harris battle for song of the summer appeared first on My style by Kartia. https://www.kartiavelino.com/2018/06/cardi-b-the-carters-and-calvin-harris-battle-for-song-of-the-summer.html

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gossipnetwork-blog · 7 years

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'Meth Storm': HBO Doc Directors Talk Drugs in the South

New Post has been published on http://gossip.network/meth-storm-hbo-doc-directors-talk-drugs-in-the-south/

'Meth Storm': HBO Doc Directors Talk Drugs in the South

In the opening scene of the new documentary Meth Storm, DEA agents and Arkansas State Troopers pursue an alleged associate of Mexican cartels down a rural stretch of road. A trooper drives his cruiser into the left tail of the fleeing Toyota Coppola and forces the suspect to swerve left, veer right, and roll three times into a ditch. “Get on the ground,” the trooper yells outside his vehicle, his firearm drawn and aimed at an unseen man. “Show me your fucking hands.”

Bold white letters fill the screen for background. “Over the last decade law enforcement has virtually shut down American meth production…Into the void have rushed Mexican cartels flooding the US with a cheaper more pure super meth called ‘ICE’.”

The dramatic chase is a taste of the gritty documentary, directed by Brent and Craig Renaud, which premieres on HBO on November 27th. The 96-minute film follows DEA agents and police fighting against cartels, local dealers and users and their families in central Arkansas. There are no jobs here, especially since Walmart moved on, and residents seem chained to a life of poverty, addiction, and dealing to support their habits.

Chad, Daniel and Veronica Converse. 501 Film LLC/Brent Renaud/ Courtesy of HBO

For the film, the Peabody Award-winning Renaud brothers (behind HBO’s Dope Sick Love and VICE’s Last Chance High) returned to their home state of Arkansas to spend over two years documenting the life of Veronica Converse, a longtime meth user whose dealing sons Teddy and ‘Little’ Daniel find themselves in-and-out of jail. “There’s really no need to cooking meth no more,” Teddy says during one scene when injecting meth into his arm in front of his mother. “If you know the Mexicans, you can get it by the pound. They’re bringing it over by the fucking truckloads.” In the following shot, Veronica drives down a trailer-lined back road and adds, “Nine out of 10 people out here are meth heads.”

The Renauds also embed with Johnny Sowell, a compassionate Arkansas DEA agent who takes them on raids for Operation ICE STORM, an investigation resulting in dozens of arrests and large-scale seizures of meth and firearms in Clinton and Van Buren counties. “This central Arkansas area is where the cartel mainly focuses and brings in the large amounts of methamphetamine,” Johnny says in the film. “When it was backyard labs, it was just local people making small amounts. Now we’re seeing 20 to 30 to 40 pound shipments on a weekly basis.” At the Van Buren County Detention Center, Johnny says that he’s worked long enough with Sheriff Scott Bradley (since resigned) that “we’ve arrested people’s parents and now we’re arresting their kids and sometimes even their grandkids.”

“Dope is just a common everyday part of life,” he adds. “And in the environment that these kids were raised in I don’t know if they had an opportunity not to be involved.”

Here, Rolling Stone talks with Brent and Craig Renaud about filming the Converse family and DEA agents, and what they’ve learned about meth dealers and users in the South.

Why did you decide to make this documentary? Brent: Several years ago, we were working on a story in a burn unit in Memphis, Tennessee, where most of the patients were kids with burns on their hands and faces. Many of the parents had the same stories of burning trash in their yards and then their kids coming up and throwing gasoline on the fire. Growing up in Arkansas, that seemed plausible to me. I’ve spent time throwing gas on fires. But the doctors said, “No, most of these kids are victims of meth lab explosions.”

Craig: In 2010, states started banning over the counter pseudoephedrine – a key ingredient in making meth. The American meth industry collapsed almost overnight. But then around 2013 or 2014, a friend of ours – a cop in Arkansas – said he was busting former meth cooks selling ICE for the Mexican cartels. Our friend recommended we talk with the Converses. The sons were selling.

Brent: Around that time, we went back to the burn unit in Memphis and there were very few kids with burns from meth labs. It was all coming from the cartels.

How familiar were you with the meth before making the film and what was your initial plans for shooting? Craig: We knew the characters here, the people, the landscape very well. That allowed us to jump in and immerse ourselves in a way we were comfortable. We knew the kinds of people using drugs and we knew the cops, too.

Daniel Converse. 501 Film LLC/Brent Renaud/Courtesy of HBO

Brent: There’s so much judgement and analysis on people who use drugs in our culture and on social media and cable news. Our work was the reaction to that notion. We were trying to embed ourselves in places where most people couldn’t go and allow those characters to reveal themselves to us and show context and empathy for their stories.

In the 2005 documentary Dope Sick Love, you followed New York City couples struggling with drug use. Were you covering similar territory in Arkansas? Brent: We didn’t want to make Dope Sick Love in the woods. We asked ourselves, “How do we do something more substantial?” We set up a dual-narrative, where both sides show what it’s like from their perspective and challenge stereotypes. The cops in our film are not the cops that are shooting and beating people up. And the users are not blood-thirsty criminals.

Dope Sick Love had no music. But Meth Storm both adds music from composer Amman Abbasi as well as capturing the George Strait, Jason Aldean and Meghan Trainor songs that fill the Converse’s everyday life.

Brent: We thought the music gave life to the dueling narratives. We’re from Arkansas and we’re into country music. Southern music. We added some music to move the story along, but a lot of the music was already present there.

Craig: I remember, we were struggling to edit one scene about how Veronica suffered as a young girl. Then I heard an interview of Loretta Lynn about her and Willie Nelson sing “Lay Me Down” and it was dead on. It felt like it worked so well. We tried to include music to show the toughness of growing up in the South.

Describe the experience of immersing yourselves with the Converse family and DEA agents. Brent: We probably went along with Johnny for a month before filming, and one year while we were filming. What you see in the film we’ve seen transpire 100 times. We know that is how he acts and how he sees people. The cops don’t go into raids like an invading army. The attitude really is a community policing model: the law is the law and we have to uphold it, but people deserve their dignity.

Teddy and Veronica Converse. 501 Film LLC/Brent Renaud/Courtesy of HBO

Craig: When we were with the Converses family, it’s not so much like you feel like you keep your distance. We have done drug films. We are used to seeing very intense scenes and our roles were to show an emphatic side of their lives. It’s an HBO documentary, so we’re not going to soften too much. Doing it in a balanced way makes sense.

In the film, Johnny says that he feels frustrated after working 25 years. “Even with what we do it affects my family, my family members, and my friends’ family,” he says. Is this a never-ending cycle?

Craig: Veronica talks about the limited choices they have here. People turning to the opportunities in front of them, which is most often dealing drugs. And Johnny admits that if they bust 50 dealers, the cartels send 50 more to take their place. I talked to Johnny recently and he said that the DEA was pushing to make arrests in Mexico. But, even when they take down El Chapo, there’s always someone else to take their place in the cartels and then at the local levels. It’s a never-ending cycle.

Do you have hope for these Arkansas communities plagued with meth? Brent: It’s face-to-face with the forgotten American, and this is a growing America. They are abandoned. People’s opportunities for education, jobs, and healthcare are terrible. Kids have records at 18 or 19 years old. We’re putting them in almost impossible situations. You almost have to be that superhero kid that wins the debate and gets a scholarship to Harvard. But that’s not the reality. We’re asking too much of these kids and requiring them to have a basic level of success.

Craig: A lot of times I walk away with a pit in my stomach. But I’m hopeful. These people are the salt of the earth in Veronica and Johnny. In terms of policing, I think this film shows a very good example of community policing. Johnny’s sensitive approach and Veronica’s resiliency to keep going make me hopeful.

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thesinglesjukebox · 7 years

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KELLY CLARKSON - LOVE SO SOFT [6.33] Is this the song about Kels' duvet we've been waiting for?

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#Kelly Clarkson

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