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Pop Rock Nation

Author: Pop Rock Nation

  • New Music In Stores & Online: 6-10-08: Li’l Wayne, My Morning Jacket, Alanis Morissette and More!!


    A little something for everyone coming out today. No matter what you like, chances are you’ll find something interesting. Here are the highlights:

    Li’l Wayne “The Carter III”: THIS is the guy who’s supposed to save hip-hop? Although I don’t find him as annoying as someone who grew up listening to Rakim and Big Daddy Kane should, I also don’t get what the big to-do is about him. Sure, he has an interesting wheeze of a voice, but in terms of technical skill, nothing really sets him apart from everyone else out there. And I still raise an eyebrow whenever a rapper’s skill takes a fairly sudden drastic improvement. Makes me feel like there’s someone else pushing a pen behind the scenes. Anyhow, this guy has been anointed by tons of internet geeks and hipsters as the rapper-du-jour. Me? I’ll stick to Talib Kweli, thankyaverrmuch.

    http://www.myspace.com/lilwayne

    My Morning Jacket “Evil Urges”: Their live shows are the stuff of legend. They tore “Saturday Night Live” up a couple of weeks back. Now MMJ translates that stage presence onto wax (or plastic, or mp3 files) with their new album “Evil Urges”. Lead singer Jim James jumps from rootsy rock to almost-funk with the greatest of ease, and he’s got one of the niftiest white-boy falsettos I’ve heard in quite some time.

    http://www.mymorningjacket.com/

    Alanis Morissette “Flavors of Entanglement”: Yep, Alanis is still around, and she’s still unlucky in love-although she’s graduated from being an angry mess (and I hope she’s graduated from giving head in movie theaters). Nearly a decade and a half removed from the behemoth that was “Jagged Little Pill”, “Flavors” finds her collaborating with Guy Sigsworth (Madonna, Frou Frou) and adopting some more electronic-sounding elements. Plus, the object of her anger has changed from Dave Coulier to Ryan Reynolds, which is infinitely less creepy.

    http://www.alanismorissette.com/

    Adele “19”: Every week, it seems, there’s a new female Brit singer popping up who combines soul and jazz. Joining the likes of Amy Winehouse, Duffy and Estelle is Adele. Featuring similar personnel as the albums of the previously three mentioned albums, “19” (which has been available as an import and digitally for some time) is a solid listen, better than Duffy, possibly the equal of Estelle, but still nowhere near the perfection that was “Back To Black”.

    http://www.adele.tv

    N.E.R.D. “Seeing Sounds”: After being burned by the hot mess that was N.E.R.D’s second album, “Fly Or Die” and being REALLY burned by the even hotter mess that was Pharrell’s solo album, I’m prtty gun-shy about getting this. The Neptunes’ “rock star” side project has already spawned a semi-hit in “Everybody Nose”, but man, this is a wild card. I’m just not sure Pharrell Williams is meant to sing for an hour and be enjoyable.

    http://www.n-e-r-d.com/

    But wait, there’s more!!

    Jakob Dylan of The Wallflowers hits the solo trail for the first time with “Seeing Things”, while Sergio Mendes follows up his Black Eyed Peas-assisted “Timeless” with “Encanto”, which retains Fergie as a guest artist and also features Natalie Cole. Country legend Emmylou Harris is releasing “All I Intended To Be”, her first album in five years, Gym Class Heroes and Li’l Wayne-endorsed rapper Tyga hits stores with “No Introduction”, while Atlanta rapper Plies, currently enjoying a Top 10 hit with Ne-Yo, releases “The Definition of Real” (and as with every current rap album, Akon and T-Pain both make cameos).

    Happy shopping!!

    Ah…full list of releases here: http://www.pauseandplay.com/cdfront.htm

  • Janet Jackson’s "Discipline": FAIL!!!!

    http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003813980

    At the beginning of the year, Janet Jackson’s “Discipline” was touted as one of 2008’s most anticipated releases. It was her first album for Island Def Jam after two consecutive albums on Virgin had met with dwindling sales in light of the infamous Super Bowl incident with Justin Timberlake. First single “Feedback” was widely blogged about, MTV lifted it’s ridiculous four-year ban on Jackson, and it seemed like the album was capable of restoring Janet to the heights she enjoyed as one of the biggest selling female artists of the Eighties and Nineties.

    So, um…what happened?

    Despite “Discipline”‘s #1 debut on the album charts, it quickly sank. Scanning close to 200,000 units in its first frame, it’s barely doubled that in the 3 1/2 months since. “Feedback” didn’t catch on at radio, despite a radio-baiting Timbaland remix featuring Ciara. None of the follow-up singles caught fire, either, as “Luv” met with a middling response at urban radio and its pop counterpart, “Rock With U” bombed. To add insult to injury, Janet’s found herself outsold by contemporaries like Madonna (ironically teaming up with Timberlake) and Mariah Carey, not to mention the reissue of the 25 year old “Thriller” album, which has scanned nearly 200,000 more copies than “Discipline” in roughly the same amount of time, with significantly less promotion.

    Janet has resorted to the age-old artist trick of taking her label to task for what she calls inadequate promotion of the album, and has indicated that Island Def Jam is more or less pulling the plug on “Discipline”. Hell, if I was L.A. Reid, I’d probably do the same thing. I honestly don’t think the album’s relative lack of success has anything to do with the label’s efforts. They shot two videos, put Janet on just about every TV show they could think of, made nice with MTV and basically gave “Discipline” every chance to succeed.

    At least some of the blame has to go with Janet herself. “Discipline”, while not an awful album by any means, isn’t the stylistic equal of Janet’s most successful work. “Control”, “Rhythm Nation”, “janet.” And “The Velvet Rope” were fairly ballsy works, even if they trafficked in the mainstream pop/R&B realm. Janet had her finger on the pulse of what worked at radio while still maintaining some semblance of artistic credibility. Her last two albums have reeked of flop sweat, from the duets with Nelly to the alignment with producers-of-the-moment on “Discipline”. It sounds like Janet chasing trends as opposed to setting them, something that is quite disappointing in light of these comments Janet made shortly before the release of “The Velvet Rope” in 1997.

    “The applause will die. It happens to every single person in this business…It’s okay. I’d rather for people not know what I am, what I have, or who I am and to accept me for me”.

    So, the question then becomes, can Janet get her groove back? While the days of Janet Jackson, world-class megastar are probably over, I don’t see why Janet can’t continue to put out Gold, if not Platinum albums (and “Discipline”should have no problem crossing the half-million mark once Janet goes on tour). Step one would probably be to go back to Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. The former Time members may not be the producers of the moment anymore, but they know Janet best. They bring out the artist in her. Think of the abomination that was “20 Y.O.” and remember that the album’s two best tracks, “Daybreak” and “Enjoy”, were Jam/Lewis tracks (with no Jermaine Dupri input). Next? How about dropping the nymphomaniac image? A sexual Janet was a breath of fresh air in 1993, interesting in 1997, boring in 2001, desperate in 2004, and in 2008, everyone is over that shit. Don’t be a one-trick pony. Madonna didn’t make “Erotica” for ten years, you don’t need to sing about your titties and vajayjay on every damn record. The reason folks liked those early Janet records so much is because they were relatable and autobiographical. A concept album about being a 42-year old woman in a contented relationship, dealing with career issues and wanting to start a family (while also contending with a pre-existing family of nuts?), now that’s the kind of album I wouldn’t mind hearing from Janet. As Prince once said “act your age, not your shoe size”. Not to say she should button herself up to the neck, but give the coochie a break, girl. Damn.

    The final thing to do would be to accept the fact that your star has dimmed somewhat and stop blaming people for things. Yeah, what MTV did to you was fucked up (and racist), but it was your idea to expose your breast in the first place. If she’d just fessed up initially and said “Hey, this was a publicity stunt that went awry”, people would have forgiven you a lot more quickly. It was your decision, you suffer the consequences. Same goes here. She strayed away from her artistic template and sold out with “Discipline”. Unfortunately, as she’s learned, selling out doesn’t always equal cashing in, and this is why the former Princess of Pop finds herself in the situation she’s in now.

    Hmmm…she also might wanna think about putting out a no-holds-barred autobiography. Now that’s some shit I would read cover-to-cover!!

  • Chart Chat 6/8/2008: Usher, Al Green, Coldplay and More!!!


    So, I had two choices this afternoon: go to Best Buy, pick up an air conditioner (and the new Weezer CD), lug it home on the T, or sit here in the sweltering heat (fully dressed) and finish this column. Guess which one I picked?

    Here’s this week’s charts, y’all (courtesy of Billboard):

    Top 20 Albums:

    1) “Here I Stand” Usher
    2) “Sex & The City Soundtrack” Various Artists
    3) “3 Doors Down” 3 Doors Down
    4) “II Trill” Bun B
    5) “Spirit” Leona Lewis
    6) “Nothing But the Best” Frank Sinatra
    7) “Rockferry” Duffy
    8) “E=MC2” Mariah Carey
    9) “Lay it Down” Al Green
    10) “Narrow Stairs” Death Cab for Cutie
    11) “Hard Candy” Madonna
    12) “Taylor Swift” Taylor Swift
    13) “We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things” Jason Mraz
    14) “35 Biggest Hits” Toby Keith
    15) “Home Before Dark” Neil Diamond
    16) “Julianne Hough” Julianne Hough
    17) “Now That’s What I Call Music 27” Various Artists
    18) “Fight With Tools” Flobots
    19) “Carnival Ride” Carrie Underwood
    20) “Rock & Roll Jesus” Kid Rock

    Top 20 Singles:

    1) “Lollipop” Lil’ Wayne feat. Static Major
    2) “Bleeding Love” Leona Lewis
    3) “Viva La Vida” Coldplay
    4) “Take a Bow” Rihanna
    5) “I Kissed a Girl” Katy Perry
    6) “Love in This Club” Usher feat. Young Jeezy
    7) “No Air” Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown
    8) “Sexy Can I” Ray J. & Yung Berg
    9) “Time of My Life” David Cook
    10) “4 Minutes” Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake
    11) “Pocketful of Sunshine” Natasha Bedingfield
    12) “Damaged” Danity Kane
    13) “Got Money” Lil’ Wayne feat. T-Pain
    14) “Bust it Baby Pt. 2” Plies feat. Ne-Yo
    15) “Leavin’” Jesse McCartney
    16) “Forever” Chris Brown
    17) “What You Got” Colby O’ Donis feat. Akon
    18) “Touch My Body” Mariah Carey
    19) “It’s Not My Time” 3 Doors Down
    20) “Love Song” Sara Bareilles

    *So…when can an album sell nearly a half-million copies in it’s first week and be considered a flop? When you’re Usher and your last album sold over 1 million copies in it’s first frame. “Here I Stand” scans enough to become the second highest debut of the year so far (after Mariah Carey), but one can’t help think that it’s kind of a disappointment. Let’s see how truclulent the already abrasive Usher becomes in the coming weeks and months. Let’s also see how the next two “big” event albums-Li’l Wayne and Coldplay-fare in it’s wake.

    *I tolerate Lil’ Wayne. As something of a hip-hop purist, the easy way out would be just to hate the guy, which I don’t. Not that you’ll ever see me running to the store to buy a Lil’ Wayne album (unless there’s money enclosed). However, the man has a record in the Top 20 with T-Pain. Put those two together and someone’s gotta die.

    *Reverend Al “The Ladies’ Pal” Green has his first top ten album in nearly 35 years with the solid “Lay it Down”. For those who haven’t heard it yet, this is definitely a worthwhile pickup if you’re an Al fan. The man has not lost a step since his glory days. Could he be the best soul singer of all time? Hmmm…I’d resisted that concept for a while, but I might be coming around…however, he better not bring this look back EVER…

    *”Viva La Vida” is now the biggest hit of Coldplay’s career. As someone who feels Chris Martin and the boys take a lot of unnecessary shit, this makes me happy. I’m very interested to see what Brian Eno does with them on this new album, pretentious title be damned.

    *”I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry? Hey folks, welcome to the first official novelty song of 2008. It wasn’t particularly good 15 years ago when Jill Sobule hit with a song by the same title (‘memba her?) and it’s not particularly good now. Aw, look at the video. She’s petting a PUSSYcat. Haha! It’s supposed to be ironic!! Katy, Pink called…she wants her sound back. And she probably HAS kissed…well, a LOT of girls. So there!!

    *Serious staying power for Kid Rock, as “Rock & Roll Jesus” closes in on the million scanned mark and jumps back into the Top 20 something like eight months after it’s release. Out of the whole “rap/rock” scene that he kinda got lumped in with a decade or so ago, who’d have thought that he’d pretty much be the last man standing?

    *That Flobots song still makes my ears bleed. Sorry guys.