Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

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Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

Song of Myself, Walt Whitman

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Damn represented a tonal shift for Kendrick Lamar. Released in 2017, a year after Untitled Unmastered and two years after To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick had, up until that time, garnered as much critical goodwill as any hip hop artist could ever hope to attain. The only thing he had left to prove was that he could assemble an album that could stand, not in juxtaposition to modern hip hop, but alongside it; radio hip-hop for the thinking man. In that light, Damn was a triumph. Featuring simple, big production sounds, trap beats and Kendrick’s most simplified version of himself, Damn was received well by both mainstream audiences and critics. It won Kendrick a Grammy and a Pulitzer Prize!

The Mound (2/18/2022)

A Weekly Culture Dump

This, the first edition of The Mound in 2022, comes to you less than 48 hours after returning to the United States after a week-long vacation in Costa Rica. My first time visiting a Latin American country, I was pleasantly surprised throughout my stay at the kindness of everyone I met, as well as how much Spanish I actually retained from those two years in High School 20 years ago. Now that I’m back stateside, I’ll miss the cool ocean breezes and the sense of bliss that comes with having nothing of importance to do. Anyway, back to work.

Brian Wilson Presents Smile

In Which I Review an 18-Year-Old Album

I’ve told this story countless times across the internet, but it’s worth telling it one last time here. For nearly 18 years, my favorite album has been constant.

The year was 2004 and I was back home from college for a week-long break. Early in the week, a friend and I were driving around town when he put on a CD that changed my life. The songs were poppy and intricate, with lyrics that spoke to me in a way that I’ve rarely experienced. That day, I was planning on going to Best Buy to purchase Linkin Park’s Meteora. But instead, after only hearing a few songs, I was convinced to buy this instead.

Top 5 Songs of 2021

In March of 2020, as the population of the western world stocked up on toilet paper, went into their homes, locked the doors, and settled in for the Long Spring; many a keen cultural observer wondered openly about that art that would be created during the COVID age. Forced indoors and often physically separated from their collaborators, musicians were presented the opportunity to cast aside their everyday distractions – like touring and…income – to focus on writing, composing, and refining their work.

Top 5 Harry Nilsson Songs

I can still remember when I fell in love with the music of Harry Nilsson. A friend of mine had accidentally purchased a second copy of Nilsson Schmilsson on vinyl, so I got the rougher of the two copies for free. Moving into a new apartment in late 2013, the record player was one of the first things to get set up, and I put on Nilsson Schmilsson to accompany my unpacking. I don’t think I had ever really heard Nilsson before – not even the hits. But from the opening piano chords of this record, I was hooked.

The Rundown: Ranking of Montreal’s Albums

For the better part of two decades (yes, it’s been that long), Kevin Barnes has been writing and recording music as of Montreal.  Whether he’s playing with his bandmates or going at it alone, the band has become one of the most influential and entertaining indie pop groups of the last decade.  With 13 LPs under their collective belt, let’s take a look back and rank ’em in an entirely unnecessary series that will henceforth be known as The Rundown.

Review: Daft Punk – Random Access Memories

Be weary of hype.  At its best, it creates the right amount of excitement for an album, but at its worst, it will leave you feeling bewildered and confused.  Has there been a more hyped album in the last half decade than Random Access Memories?  Probably not.  Is it justifiable?  Somewhat.  Anytime an artist as influential as Daft Punk releases new music, there’s going to be some hype.  But having now reached critical mass as a group, it seems like the hype associated with Random Access Memories has taken on a life of its own.  And that can lead to some mixed reactions from fans and newcomers alike.  With Random Access Memories, the French duo has created an album that most people would not have expected.

Review: Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City

In the age of instant information, a band can rise and fall in no time at all.  Yesterday’s hype can and does turn into today’s afterthought more often than not.  Vampire Weekend is one of those bands who many had heard of before actually hearing, due to the plethora of acclaim and excitement that they generated before ever releasing their debut album.  But unlike most blog bands, Vampire Weekend actually made something to stay excited about.  Their self-titled debut and follow-up, Contra, are two incredibly solid albums that have helped to define the last 5 years of indie rock.  Their latest, Modern Vampires of the City, makes its mark by re-energizing the band’s sound and imbuing it with a new sense of depth that may have been missing in the past.

Review: Justice – Access All Arenas

I had the pleasure to see Justice in 2012 on part of their world tour in support of their amazing 2011 album, Audio, Video, Disco.  Over the years, I’ve only been to a handful of electronic music shows (Crystal Castles, Girl Talk, Skrillex), and they all had one thing in common; their inability to deviate from the original songs in a substantial way.  That’s not to say that these shows were terrible (some were), but they lacked the raw intrigue that happens in most live performances.  Justice is different.  From the opening minutes of their performance, one gets the feeling that really anything goes.  Songs that were originally 3 minutes get transformed into massive 8 minute experiments, and almost every track gets deconstructed down to its most basic elements. Access All Arenas is a live recording from a show on Justice’s 2012 tour, and it manages to capture most of the chaotic nature of their performances, while missing a few key elements.

Review: Phoenix – Bankrupt!

Phoenix has long held the banner for accessible indie rock.  With tight instrumentation and ungodly pop hooks, the band has grown from indie obscurity to mainstream popularity in the last few years.  Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is still regularly being featured on movie soundtracks and commercials, primarily because its songs are so solid and seemingly free from any 2009 musical fads that have long been tossed aside.  With Bankrupt!, the band has managed to push the boundaries of what constitutes a “Phoenix album.”  Adding heavy layers of synths and electronic drums, Bankrupt! will be challenging and jarring to longtime Phoenix fans.  But underneath all those new dressings remains the core of what makes Phoenix such a popular and entertaining band.