Listen: ANTHM – “Late Night Tithes”
Posted in Hip Hop
Stream: Why? – Sod In The Seed
Why? will be preforming their new EP on their 2012 tour. You can stream the entire release below. Tour dates can be found further down the page.
Sod in the Seed EP Tracklist:
01. Sod in the Seed
02. For Someone
03. The Plan
04. Probably Cause
05. Twenty Seven
06. Shag Carpet
WHY? 2012 Tour Dates:
08/24 – Columbia, MO @ The Blue Note
08/25 – Norman, OK @ Opolis
08/26 – Santa Fe, NM @ SOL @ Santa Fe Brewing
08/27 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
08/28 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
08/30 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
08/31 – Arcata, CA @ Arcata Playhouse
09/01 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
09/02 – Seattle, WA @ Bumbershoot Festival
09/03 – Boise, ID @ Reef
09/04 – Salt Lake City, UT @ In the Venue
09/05 – Englewood, CO @ The Gothic
09/06 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
09/07 – Lawrence, KS @ The Granada
09/08 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
09/09 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
09/10 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
09/11 – Ithaca, NY @ The Haunt
09/12 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
09/13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
09/14 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
09/15 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall
09/16 – Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
09/17 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
09/18 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
10/05 – Düsseldorf, DE @ New Fall Festival
10/06 – Evreux, FR @ L’Abordage
10/07 – Paris, FR @ Maroquinerie
10/08 – Brighton, UK @ Old Market
10/09 – London, UK @ Electric Ballroom
10/10 – Manchester, UK @ Central Methodist Church
10/11 – Bristol, UK @ Fleece
10/12 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3
10/13 – Oxford, UK @ The Bullingdon
10/15 – Berlin, DE @ Volksbühne
Listen: Cam Meekins – “Sharks”
Review: Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
Released: July 10, 2012
Label: Def Jam
Purchase: iTunes | Insound | Amazon
Frank Ocean‘s Channel Orange is a nightmare of an album to review, not because it’s a bad piece of work or even because of the circumstances that surrounded its release (read: Frank Ocean broke the ice about his still unclear sexuality just days before the album’s release with a painful recounting of his failed relationship with a man — a huge no-no in the heteronormative R&B world). Instead, the difficulty of reviewing Channel Orange lies in the fact that its such an intimate experience that it probably shouldn’t be dissected out of respect for Ocean. That emotional purity and the special way that Ocean seems to deliver it make Channel Orange an engaging and heartwarming listen from start to finish. He may be bisexual, but his pains and murmurs of unrequited love ring true to a much wider audience (it’s no wonder that he found success early on in his career writing songs for Beyoncé).
Interestingly enough, what makes Frank Ocean so particularly endearing may or may not even be the music he manages to make; his wit, charisma, and uncharacteristic nonchalance for someone with so much pain inside him carry him more than far enough. Perhaps even more interesting though, is that this doesn’t even matter in the grander scheme that is Channel Orange. From the bittersweet reminiscing of “Thinkin Bout You” to the outpour of regret and contemplation on “Bad Religion” to the ten-minute magnum opus that is “Pyramids”, Ocean spins a tale of desperation and heartbreak so real and so personal that we can discover exactly who Frank Ocean is, regardless of what we may or may not have heard about him. “This unrequited love, to me it’s nothing but a one-man cult and cyanide in my styrofoam cup. I could never make him love me,” he explains to a non-suspecting taxi-driver on “Bad Religion” — and suddenly, we know he has some secrets about his sexuality. On “Pink Matter”, he questions, “What do you think my brain is made for? Is it just a container for the mind?” — and we feel both his mind and brain at work. When Ocean’s flawless falsetto accentuates the hook on “Thinkin Bout You” and he croons, “Or do you not think so far ahead? Cause I’ve been thinking ’bout forever,” we feel Ocean’s nostalgia for the past he loved and the future that never was, all in the present tense. Over the course of the album’s intentionally sparse 17 songs, we discover much about Ocean while at the same time, he encourages us to discover more about ourselves as he carefully pieces each vignette together and invites us to reflect alongside him.
Ocean is far from what you would normally expect from an R&B star, but he does represent everything that you’d hope to find in one. That, perhaps, is much more important.
9.5
Standout Tracks: “Bad Religion”, “Pyramids”, “Pink Matter (feat. André 3000)”, “Super Rich Kids (feat. Earl Sweatshirt)”
Download: Cazzie Jetson – theMighty
