Boogie 2Nite
So I'm watching So You Think You Can Dance right now and there has been a fun, dorky swing routine to Fatboy Slim's "The Rockafeller Skank." I'll give props to the choreographer for alluding to the classic routine from She's All That (that a bunch of my friends and I shamelessly copied in high school for the Puttin' On The Hits lip synch competition) while bringing in some other cool swing and hip-hop moves. Outrageous!
Anyhow, here are my notable album purchases for the summer so far, not counting the many stand-up albums I've picked up because that just gets me through work....
Feist - The Reminder: You know, I heard "My Moon My Man", saw the video for "1234", and caught Chromeo's remix of "Sealion" and expected a rock album that grooved and bounced to the ouce. How wrong I was. This album is a reminder of why I tend to be more of a singles guy. Granted, Ms. Feist is one of my favorite female vocalists today, but the first half of the record put me to sleep. Yes, "Let It Die" is fucking tragic and beautiful in its minimal accompaniment, but it's a breakup song. Over half of an album it gets frustrating. I wish she would extend on the ideas in Open Season, take more of an Erlend Oye route, and be a full-blown dance diva. She already hangs out with Gonzalez and Mocky, so why shouldn't she team up with Jamie Lidell?
The Game - Doctor's Advocate: The only songs on The Documentary I deemed unworthy of the iPod were the G-Unit collaborations (other than Hate It Or Love It). Since disassociating himself from those guys, this dude has put out some incredibly heavy, bouncin', fierce material. When I hear "It's Okay (One Blood)" I want to just leave my apartment, slam the door, flex, and strut down the streets of Lafayette. The little touches of classic gangsta samples, such as the Schooly D bit on "Compton" just enhance the aura, the mood, the atmosphere, and the role that Game sells. Hell, "The Shit" samples Tales From The Hood! But I credit The Game and his producers for having a sense of humor. The chorus on "One Night" plays like some mutant Andre 3000/Rod Stewart tune, and we have all heard Kanye's playful vocal sampling on "Wouldn't Get Far." Honestly, The Game's lyrical content, mainly his obsession with credibly repping the West Coast and his drive to get back in with Dr. Dre (going so far as to bring Busta Rhymes in as a character reference on the title track) isn't jiving with me as much as his earlier cuts like "The Documentary" or the infamous "300 Bars," but it still colors the tunes and sells the product. Basically, the beat's alright, so I'll bump all night.
Justice - t: I held out on those Ed Banger assholes for a long time. I finally caved and downloaded Waters of Nazareth on Emusic. That damn EP reminded me of old roller coaster rides, particularly the old "Adventure Express" at King's Island in Ohio. It took me about 5 minutes to realize this was prime mash ammo (though I'll concede first blood to Go Home Productions on the Justice boot battle). I haven't listened to the whole album yet (it came out Stateside yesterday) so to the 2 guys in the band: Don't you disappoint me, dudes. The light finally clicked for me that you were bringing the rock to Homework, probably the classic French house album most deserving of the rock (except maybe Alex Gopher's funky You, My Baby, and I). I want to thow up the horns while doing the Roxbury nod from the DJ booth. I want mullet-wearing cock-rock afficionados and Chuck Klosterman doing the robot. I want you guys to team up with Simian Mobile Disco again to beat the snot out of those Klaxon punks. Most of all I want you to bootleg remix Kanye for acting like a pampered, egotistical dick when your video beat his video at the Europe VMAs. (sigh) It's all good. It's something different. It's dance music.
Exactly 4 more weeks until I'm done with the internship!