Album name: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Artist name: Kanye West Genre: Rap Released: November 22, 2010 Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def-Jam ZME Rating: 9.5/10 Website: kanyewest.com I remember when OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below came out. It was the album that convinced me OutKast could fucking do anything. They were incapable of committing mistakes. OK, the album was too long (mainly The Love Below, of course), but “Hey Ya!” is, like, the greatest thing ever. Then something happened:…
The “Big Four” of of the ’80s thrash metal movement – ya know: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax – is finally touring together in America…at some point. This, of course, comes after they toured Europe last year and put out a concert DVD from the Bulgaria show. All we know so far is that it’s happening. Apparently, tour dates are to be announced sometime…later. Anyhow, I bring this up because I have wonder why this…
To be exact, it was two days ago (Tuesday, January 11) and it’s called “H.A.M.” The single is taken from the forthcoming album he made with Jay-Z called Watch The Throne, due out sometime in March. Oh, and he (originally) released it on the official Facebook page for the album. I kid you not. In order to hear it (or, rather, have heard it), you have to like the page. It’s worth your time, of…
Album name: Recovery Artist name: Eminem Genre: Rap Released: June 18, 2010 Label: Shady/Aftermath/Interscope ZME Rating: 6/10 Website: eminem.com ——————— Generally speaking, Eminem doesn’t play well with others. Aside from the crew he runs with (or, used to…) – Dre, the Bass Brothers, D12 et al – he just doesn’t jive with too many other artists. If you discount the fact that Dre is the one that discovered him, and has basically served as…
So that supergroup I raved about a while back has their entire album, Ironiclast, available for streaming over at Ultimate Guitar’s website. Upon first listen, it’s a lot of fun. It’s (really) old school metallic hard rock. Nothing too complex: great riffs, anthemic choruses, wily solos – you get the idea. There really aren’t any surprises here, which is actually a good thing. You know exactly what the entire album is no matter which single…
The guy behind American Hardcore: A Tribal History, a book detailing the history of hardcore punk that later spawned a film, has uploaded 24 hours of hardcore punk (911 songs). The set contains all the logical inclusions: D.R.I., Black Flag, Bad Religion, NOFX, and Scream (the band Dave Grohl was in before Nirvana). You can stream any of the 911 songs or download them if you like. Which is what makes this compilation slightly dubious….
The long-fueled rumors are true: SOAD are back as of next year. An official-official statement from the band’s website reads: Hello All, We are excited to announce that System will be playing some dates together in 2011. We also want to thank you for your loyalty and support, not only to System Of A Down, but to all of our solo efforts as well. We have no master plan of sorts – we are playing…
Apparently, SOAD will be co-headlining next year’s Rock am Ring and Rock im Ring. Supposedly. Same goes for the Download Festival next year. Official reports have yet to prove a full-blown reunion tour (or, for that matter, even the RaR/RiR and Download gigs), but the rumors are expected to be either confirmed or denied this coming Monday (Nov. 29). Along with the one “for-sure” performance, it has been reported that they will play in France…
Does anyone still read the Village Voice? Well, they decided to publish a Top Ten of the best rap songs about Four Loko. ‘Cause, apparently, there are ten songs about it. Who knew? I’ve been sitting here going through the list – it has embeds for every song on the list, as well as short blurbs arguing for a given song’s spot on the list – and I can’t decide which part of this is…
Holy shit. Swift’s latest offering, Speak Now, has done what only two albums in the last five years have done and only a dozen previously in history have achieved: gone platinum in one week’s time. She just beat out Tha Carter III with 1.047M for best first-week since 50 Cent’s The Massacre moved 1.141M back in 2005. Considering the era in which Speak is being released, it’s an impressive number – to say nothing, of…
Steve Lampiris