HIP HOP away into the New Year.....

I haven’t been writing for a while, I could say I’ve been busy but I think becoming laxed is the key reason. Now post ‘Umbrella’ RnB & Hip Hop has hit a post sludge of the same it has to be said, once producers and artists got the formula of using distorted guitars, wavy synths and eclectic samples, the sludge train docked its load of the door of mainstream radio outlets i.e. Radio 1 (but what else can you expect).

The last couple of years have been notorious for ‘BIG’ mainstream hip hop, we had the mainstream birth of Lil Wayne, T.I taking Grand Hustle to the UK in the form of Paper Trail and protégés galore with Cash Money using the aptly titled adjectives in its name to grind out Drake, but you cant help feel this momentum of mainstream success has blurred the vision of how ground breaking a genre could and ultimately should be.

As I lay on my bed freezing my ass off, I’ve been listening to some mainstream artists who could turn the tide for said genre’s in the new year with a sense of a ‘new’ formula, taking the style in a fundamentally new direction, being ground breaking without having to rely so heavily on the sludge train, some examples of this can be seen in artists such as Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, Shyne and even (yes its coming!) Dr Dre.

Now the latter I feel will bring about a positive shift in early 2011, with Dre releasing the highly anticipated Detox sometime in February and Shyne taking his release from prison as a step not only to realise a form of religion but to also unleash 10 years of angst of being locked away to snowball the airwaves with intelligent and hardcore raps that many labels including Cash Money and Def Jam are willing to pay BIG marketing dollars for.

Now the much hype that ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ has ensued is in my opinion deserved, Kanye, who spent two years making the record has broke the formula chains to great effect, the album which is his dark take on all things celebrity and his own demons is astonishing, highlighted tracks for me are Blame Game with John Legend which ultimately see Kanye using studio wizardry to seemingly show his many inner monologues, done to great effect and the fantastic Power with Kanye rapping, "My childlike creativity, purity, and honesty is honestly being crowded by these grown thoughts/ Reality is catching up with me, taking my inner child, a line which to me symbolises his genius of producing but also his ego nature to steal MTV awards and attack rednecks.

Nicki Minaj, fresh off much ado about nothing continued beef with Lil Kim finally released Pink Friday, and although it does sound fresh, it ties inbetween where I feel she wants to be and what’s commercially viable for mainstream radio play which we all know creates the big $$$, mixtapes before the big release were so promising edgy, off beat wordplay, shifting personalities but I feel the sludge has forced itself on her, with failing to chart Massive Attack (although great) being replaced with the use of Annie Lennox samples on Your Love, I feel if she had been allowed she could have changed the face of females in hip hop, hard hitting and ready to take on the norms and this is something she has ultimately failed to do.

So the end of year has been strong for hip hop, although it could be stronger, newly released single ‘Kush’ by Dr.Dre sees the doctor rapping about one pass time that hip hop generations young and old can understand ‘green’ but what can a 45 year old man rap about, when he spends most of his time in the studio looking after his artists, lets hope we some surprises on Detox. The one great hope I look forward to in 2011, will be Shyne, cooking up his come back LP, I really hope that the sludge will be partly shifted….

NOTE:

The reason I fail to mention the likes of Eminem, Rick Ross, Jay-Z, is because although at times great records it goes no where near the fundamentals, the commercial viability of such records makes it so it cant really be ground breaking.

An example of $ludge vs diversity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSFyrrhKj1Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZCUtnuAXg8

Guess which is which.........

(Ellen and the Escapades)
(JJ)

Ones to watch……

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been engrossed in the sounds of three bands in particular, they’ve given rise to the accolade of WATCH OUT! They are….

Warpaint –

Imagine if Kevin Shields had met these 4 young upstarts from the US had given them some tips, the best reverb pedal and an extended tremolo and told them to unleash something that The xx are trying to spark here in the UK. But with this quartet, I feel that they are about to embark on a contrasted journey, not just through music but through the pop mainstream that’ll make the lamest of radio DJ’s sit up and take notice.

Having only released Exquisite Corpse, a self-funded EP with 6 songs that sit on the verge of beautiful stillness, a vague dream that you try to remember but the voices transcend into nothing more than elegant murmurs that racks your brain for an extended period, that’s what Warpaint bring with such songs as Burgundy, Stars and the superb Billie Holiday, its simple well constructed art is much like The xx but lifts the mood more frequently.

Having only just been signed by Rough Trade here in the UK, a big thanks to Geoff Travis who has a uncanny ability to pluck these gems from thin air and much like the artists at Rough Trade will not be subjected to mainstream mediocrity that often dents the original ideas behind making such beautiful music, if you like Au Revoir Simone but with a bit more attached feeling then Warpaint need to be listened to.

If I had the funds then I would most certainly be checking them out when they hit the UK shores in the next couple of months at :-

12th May – London, Luminaire
13th May – Tunbridge Wells, Forum
14th May – Brighton, Great Escape Festival

JJ –

It appears that I’m on a reverb junkie fix, but honestly I’m not, its just the bands that are appealing to me at the moment, currently on tour in the US with surprise surprise The xx, the band currently signed to Secret Canadian caught my eye when they released ‘Ecstasy’ an ode to swallowing a little pill and your vision and train of thought being more blurred than the decision to axe 6 Music.

But look past the some would say cheap attempt to gain some notoriety but just slowing down a Lil Wayne record and you’ll see a band full of versatility that will shatter a Chupa Chup, listening to tracks from JJ n° 3 such as Let Go and My Life, you can feel a reverb renaissance coming to the forefront in 2010 to an audience that eat up The xx’ debut album and want to come back to the music dinner table to digest some more, with JJ you get that little extra that sits perfectly well, currently touring the US lets hope that they hit the UK shores in the very near future.



Ellen and the Escapades –

Sowing kits, hair bands, 5 members from Leeds and a folksy charm that will sing even to those who obtuse natures denies them ever getting behind bands that do not fit into idolised culture, Ellen and the Escapades are the latest of the folk stalwarts who are set to make a big impact in 2010 much like the way Laura Marling at present and the shit in the field band (meaning their everywhere to me and you) Mumford and Sons.

The sowing kit mentioning is in line with the way they packaged their debut single, independently released ‘Without You’ a beautiful melodic single about the usual ‘relationship complications’ but it strikes a chord with me unlike many songs that cast a stereotype about being fucked over in a relationship, on that basis you would probably be 50/50 on the listen front but if you give Run and Yours to Keep a chance, a more serious well brought together package of music, then you’ll understand why they’ve been chosen as one of the emerging acts to play this years Glastonbury festival.

Having already been hyped by such well known entities like BBC Introducing and having performed at Reading and Leeds last year as part of the BBC’s attempt to champion new artists, it appears 2010 may be the year that Ellen Smith and co make a strong impact on the alternative scene, with help from acts already breaking through the stench of debris that regularly graces us on a regular cycle, catch them as they tour around the country namely, Live at Leeds, The Bedford in London, Fuel Café Bar in Manchester and as aforementioned a main stage slot at Glastonbury.