Thinkin Bout You

Fertilizer

Sierra Leone

Sweet Life

Songs of the Day

I listened to this whole album yesterday, and I must say, I'm pretty impressed.  The first five songs - "Start," "Thinkin Bout You," "Fertilizer," "Sierra Leone," and "Sweet Life" - give this album a really strong start.  I really like all of the songs, they bring a new taste that I'm enjoying.  You can definitely hear the Pharrell influence, and I'm a fan of that.  "Thinkin Bout You" is such a great love song, and I bet so many people can relate to that feeling of missing someone, especially someone you love.  The jazz vibe going on in "Sweet Life" is also really refreshing to hear in today's hip hop.  I especially love it's opening line, "the best song wasn't the single, but you weren't either" - pretty good lyricism right there.  Solid foundation.

Album Factoids

channel Orange

Released: July 10, 2012
Genre: Hip-Hop/Contemporary R&B (haven't heard that one before)
Label: Def Jam, The Island Def Jam Music Group
Producers: Frank Ocean, Pharrell Williams, Malay, Om'Mas Keith

Week 74: Frank Ocean

I'm not super familiar with Frank Ocean's music other than a few songs he's been featured on, so this is a gonna be a fairly fresh thing for me.  I was really moved by his story about his first love, who just happened to be a man, and I thought it was very courageous of him being a young, black man in the world of hip hop.  Buzz around Channel Orange has been pretty positive, so I'm looking forward to diving in.

Final Grade: A

Curtis, you are the man, although that is no news to me.  I'm glad that I watched this movie a few months back, before I reviewed it - it gave me a better perspective of the album.  Mayfield composes some really awesome pieces, incorporating multiple styles to create the story of Superfly seamlessly from start to finish.  I'm gonna have to watch the movie again, as I'm sure I'll love it that much more.

Eddie Should Know Better

No Thing On Me (Cocaine Song)

Think (Instrumental)

Superfly

Songs of the Day

This whole album has such a great use of orchestration, which I think is partially due to the album being a both soundtrack and score.  "Eddie You Should Know Better" is another great example of that.  I love the use horns "No Thing On Me (Cocaine Song)" - I'm always a sucker for a great horn line.  This album has a great mixture of instrumental numbers as well, which really help tell the story of Superfly - "Think" does the job to take you to the end of the story.  "Superfly" is such a funky classic, there's no way you could hate on it, and it makes for a perfect closing number.  Great tracks.

Little Child Runnin' Wild

Pusherman

what an odd performer, he was...

Freddie's Dead

Junkie Chase

Give Me Your Love

Songs of the Day

Today, I listened to the first 5 tracks off Superfly:  Little Child Runnin' Wild, Pusherman, Freddie's Dead, Junkie Chase, and Give Me Your Love (Love Song).  I love the composition of all these tracks - Mayfield really knew what he was doing.  There's a great complexity to the arrangements, that he counteracts with his smooth, relaxed voice - it's a great combination.  I also love the orchestration in everything, great use of string and wind instruments, especially in "Freddie's Dead," and "Give Me Your Love."  A good use of orchestra is definitely a missing piece in today's popular music (that, and real instruments in general).  My favorite track of these is "Pusherman," but that's been my jam for a minute, so I guess I'm slightly bias - it's just oh so funky!

The Blog is Back

So, it's been almost 3 months since my last post, but I'm back!  School got pretty crazy with finals and what not, and my band Cosmodrome was on tour for the whole month of June (for which I didn't have a computer), so I got super behind after already being behind.  That being said, so that I can catch myself up, the next month or so (maybe more) I will be doing 2-3 albums a week.  In order to do this, I will be abbreviating my posts, only highlighting key tracks.  This will also work better with my gigging schedule and what not.  I set out to do this goal, and I have every intent on finishing it!  So back to Curtis Mayfield...