Long Live A.W.K

Andrew W.K.

What do you think of when you hear that name? Well, in honor of New Years Eve and parties that will inevitably ensue upon the nights of this coming weekend--when I hear the oh-so-holy-rock name "Andrew W.K." I think of partying, head banging, jumping and flailing arms, and a lot of smiles. Alcohol need not apply.

I Get Wet, Andrew's first album was released my sophomore year of high school. I was introduced to it by my boyfriend at the time. This was also during my Slipknot and Static-X phase so the initial reaction to W.K.'s sound was not a good one. He was just too happy and bubbly in his rock ballads when I was all about utter agony and depression in my music.

However, it grew on me. Then my boyfriend made me a "She is Beautiful" mix CD with that W.K. track headlining the album. I was hooked. I decided that him wearing all white and not masques and face-distorting makeup was ok. He was somewhat wholesome for me at the time and I kind of liked that.

I Get Wet is still one of my favorite albums. It is full of super-pumped up tracks. The album, overall, is rock on steroids. I walked around my high school, talking about Andrew W. K., but no one liked him. Everyone made fun of me. "Isn't all he sings about, partying?" Um--yah and what exactly is your complaint, dip-shit? While most of the kids who mocked my music taste were more interested in getting stoned and emo music, I was somewhat alone in my love for W.K.

The Wolf came out the Fall before I graduated high school. This album was the soundtrack to my fall semester. I remember I was actually listening to the song, "I Love Music," when I got my acceptance letter to the university I wanted to attend. I was sitting in the back of my parents car and we were driving back from somewhere and pulled up to the mailbox to get the mail before heading inside. I had my headphones on and was blasting this song when my dad sorted through the assorted bills and letters and pulled out a larger envelope and handed it back to me. I great Andrew W.K. memory.

I tried to bring his music with me to college and share it's wisdom but to this day, I find very few "get it." His music is pure feel-goodness. My theory is that people feel his music is just too simple and they feel they should be listening to complex music, more deep and insightful. These would be music snobs--my arch nemesis. People who shut down when I mention Andrew W.K. Don't lie, I know you didn't start listening to Kings of Leon until they were on the cover of Rolling Stone--I see right through all of you.

Anyway, in 2010, I caught wind that W.K. had released another album in 2009 that was unlike his earlier stuff. I bought it immediately, not really caring what it sounded like but trusting that if it was W.K., it would be great. 55 Cadillac was an unlikely instrumental album. The album revolves around W.K. and his piano. Different but still good.

Even now, I am always looking for new W.K. news, wear my one "A.W.K" shirt with pride and ask many a first date, "Do you like Andrew W.K.?" to help determine if there will be a second date. Andrew W.K. is like the Disney movie of music--sometimes you need a little to lift your spirits. Keep it coming, Andrew!

For those unfamiliar, his prize tracks are:

Party Hard
I Love Music
Cadillac
She is Beautiful
Ready to Die
Make Sex
I Love NYC

Happy Listening

This is the ultimate holiday mix. Prepared by yours truly, and best listened to at highest volume bearable. Happy Listening.

5 Napkin Cookie Mix

My Body. Young the Giant

Don't Let Me Fall. B.o.B

Welcome to Heartbreak. Kayne West ft. Kid

Midnight City. M83

Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24). Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Ni Una Sola Palabra. Paulina Rubio

Hot Tottie. Usher ft. Jay-Z

Good Life. OneRepublic

Whatever You Like. T.I.

All I Want For Christmas Is You. Mariah Carey

Amazing. Kanye West ft. Young

Sleazy. Ke$ha

Sail. AWOLNATION

I Want To Hold Your Hand. T.V.

Alejandro. Lady Gaga

Fidelity. Regina Spektor

Naughty Naughty. Porcelain Black

Waka Waka. Shakira

Deck The Halls. Mannheim Steamroller

Tardy For the Party. Kim

We Found Love. Rihanna

Antidote. Swedish House Mafia and Knife Party

Strange Fruit. AaRON

Let Go. SafetySuit

Helter Skelter. Dana Fuchs

White Houses. Vanessa Carlton

Robocop. Kanye West

Burn It Down. AWOLNATION

Help I'm Alive. Metric

Rumor Has It. Adele

Immigrant Song. Karen O, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Damaged. Danity Kane

Best and Worst of 2011

So now what we have all been waiting for, 2011 in Review. So, we are listing here the best and worst of 2011. What excites me to think about is that before 2011, there was so much great music that had not been released. Now, we can still say that about 2012--there is so much more to come, including albums from No Doubt, Dev, Linkin Park, Soundgarden, Mumford and Sons, Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Sleigh Bells, Metallica, Queens of the Stone Age and Tool. That is something you can count on every year--a new batch of music to love.
So here it is--the best and worst of 2011:

10 Best Singles:

“Irresistable Force” Jane’s Addiction
“Sail” AWOLNATION
“Someone Like You” Adele
“Get Up!” Korn
“My Body” Young the Giant
“Midnight City” M83
“Give Me Everything” Pitbull
“Brighter than the Sun” Colbie Collait
“Man Down” Rihanna
“I Need A Doctor” Dr. Dre featuring Eminem


10 Worst Singles:

“Moves Like Jagger” Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera
“Domino” Jessie J
“Pumped Up Kicks” Foster the People
“Last Friday Night” Katy Perry
“Mr. Know It All” Kelly Clarckson
“You Make Me Feel . . .” Cobra Starship
“Look At Me Now” Chris Brown
“Don’t Want to Go Home” Jason Derulo
"Criminal” Britney Spears
“What You Want” Evanescence



5 Best Albums:

4 Beyonce
21 Adele
Born This Way Lady GaGa
Megalithic Symphony AWOLNATION
Pink Friday Nicki MInaj

Most Disappointing Album:

Gold Cobra Limp Bizkit

Best Guilty Pleasure Album:

Perfectionist Natalia Kills

5 Best Guilty Pleasure Singles:

“Party Rock Anthem” LMFAO
“Skyscrapper” Demi Lovato
“Lose Control (Let Me Down)” Keri Hilson featuring Nelly
“Don’t Hold Your Breath” Nicole Scherzinger
“I Wanna Go” Britney Spears

Best 2010 Single I Shamefully Did Not Get Into Until 2011:

“Waiting for the End” Linkin Park

Best Under-rated single:

“Run the World (Girls)” Beyonce

Best Soundtrack:

"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Worst Soundtrack:

Glee

Biggest Music Mistake:

Having Jessie J host the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards

Smartest Music Move:

Having Kanye West close out the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards

Best Cover:

"Gimme Shelter" Puddle of Mudd


Note: All photos are from the official artists' websites

Kanye West is an Asshole

Kanye West is an asshole. He has presented himself to the media as such, and has succeeded with a successful marketing strategy on the basis of there is no such thing as bad publicity. Even if it is just a gimmick--I believe he is in fact, an asshole.

Having said that, Kanye West is also a musical genius. His music is incredible and he is extremely innovative and unique.

I liked Kanye West since his first album, The College Dropout. This actually surprises me--I have never stuck with a rap artist as long as I have with Kanye. I heard "Jesus Walks" and I was like, "oh no he di-int!". It was ridiculous. No one in rap ever did something like this. And I knew I had found a friend.

I burned copies of singles off of Kanye's first album from a girl who lived in my freshman dorm. We were not really friends but after walking by her door so many times, hearing the music she was playing, I finally stopped in her doorway and asked if I could burn some of her stuff. I sat at her computer and created a mixed tape, so to speak. To this day, on my mp3 player, "The New Workout Plan" comes up under the album, Meg iTunes.

Then Late Registration came out in 2005 and that came with "Gold Digger." There was not a dance party, house party, bar, or club that did not play that song. This was a great example of sampling older songs and remixing it. Excellent choice. "We want prenup!"

Graduation came out in 2007. And then we were introduced to the amazing Kanye sunglasses. I wanted a pair so bad but thankfully, supportive friends and family talked me out of it. It was another great group of songs. It was only 4 years later that i finally bought myself a pair of those glasses.

The first full album of Kanye's actually got was 808s & Heartbreak. I have to say, I think this album is his best. All the tracks on the album are completely different.

I spoke with someone about that album when it first came out. This guy was also a strong Kanye fan. He explained that he did not like this album because it was too "rock;" too "hard." Well, that is exactly what I love about the album. It is hard and dark and spooky.

The singles from the album, "Heartless" and "Love Lockdown" are not even the best tracks on the album. "Say You Will," "Robocop" and "Amazing," are . . .well . . .amazing. The best track however goes to "See You in My Nightmare" featuring Lil Wayne. It is so creepy and dark. But awesome. The lyrics are about letting someone go and being SO over it. "Ok I'm back up on my grind/ you do you and I'm just going to do mine/you do you cause Im just going to be fine/OKay, I got you out my mind." An unexpectedly great break up song. TRUST Me!

Then Kanye closed out the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. Let me tell you, when that song started, I was already googling when the album was coming out. Are you serious? Wearing a sleazy red suit with gold chains, toasting douche bags and assholes. Are you serious? Can you be more brilliant? I'm sorry, that was brilliant and I don't care who disagrees. After the whole Taylor Swift debacle, he could not have made a smarter move, business-wise. There he is, completely dedicating a song to all the assholes, including himself in the mix, it was just so musically creative.

I pre-ordered My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy after that. Then "Power" came out as another single on the album. What a great song. It was an anthem. There is no one who can't get pumped with this song. "Screams from the haters/got a nice ring to it/I guess every super hero need his theme music."

I have been known to get really into one song and when I do, I listen to that one song an obscene amount, just on repeat. Well, I can still go hours on the treadmill with "Power" on repeat.

Twisted Fantasy is another amazing album. Came out only 3 days after Pink Friday (that was a good November). "Dark Fantasy" and "All of the Lights" are the gems on the album. The album also has "Runaway," a version a little better than the single version that came out before the album. The album version sounds more like the performance on the VMAs. Also, don't listen to the version of "All of the Lights" on the radio, they cut out a great part of the song that is worth hearing. You should also listen to the "All of the Lights (interlude)" that is purely instrumental. It is quite beautiful.

Kanye's most recent project was Watch The Throne with Jay-Z. Long before the release of the album, they released "H.A.M" together. For those who don't know, H.A.M stands for Hard As a Motherfucker. Now, I saw this single on the new singles list in January and I just bought it without listening to it. I had learned by January of 2011 that anything with Kanye is going to be awesome and Jay-Z too!?!? It's going to be gold.

I was right. It is an awesome single and I feel it was overlooked. People heard "Otis" before they heard "H.A.M" even though "Otis" came out after. Might be time to revisit.

So Watch The Throne is unique but still has the classic flavor of Jay-Z. Jay keeps it steady and less off-color than Kanye's solo projects. "New Day" is the best track. It is so smooth and easy. It's butter, baby.

Any songs that have Kanye West as a featured artist, I would call Kirs, like the cocktail. This would stand for Kanye Infused Rhythms. The songs are fine on their own, but you add a twist of Kanye and it is just that much more luscious. Exhibit A: Katie Perry's "E.T." I bought that single, sans Kanye, in August of 2010. No one cared about it then. No one had heard it when I mentioned it. The single featuring Kanye came out all the way in February 2011 and blew up. She could have saved 6 months by just adding Kanye to begin with.

So, as much as Kanye is a total douche bag (even Obama called him an idiot), we should always give credit where credit is due. So . . .

Let's have a toast for the douche bags.






10 Best Kanye Songs:

1. See You In My Nightmare ft. Lil Wayne
2. Runaway ft. Pusha T
3. H.A.M with Jay-Z
4. Made in America with Jay-Z ft. Frank Ocean
5. Power
6. Robocop
7. New Day with Jay-Z
8. Jesus Walks
9. Say You Will
10. Dark Fantasy

The Path to Awesomeness

Korn’s new album, The Path of Totality, came out this week. Now, the last album I bought this year from a 90s metal band was Limp Bizkit’s Gold Cobra which was a MASSIVE disappointment. Luckily, this album was much the opposite.

The Path of Totality is a great album. It takes Korn to a whole other level. I read a review (link below) that I really thought got the album pretty spot on. They compared this album to Linkin Park’s A Thousand Suns in the sense that both albums were the band we all know and love, but doing something different with their overall sound. The essentials were still the same but they had evolved into a slightly different species and that is what Korn has done here.

Korn is also supporting other bands by having so many other artists featured on the album. The album features Skrillex, Excision, Noisia, Downlink, Feed Me and others. There is not one of the 13 songs that does not have a featured artist on it. This is great for people like me who have not listened to most of the other artists. I have a whole new batch of bands to try out!

“Burn the Obedient” and “Chaos Lives in Everything” are probably my two favorite songs from the album right now. “Burn The Obedient” gets old school starting off with a sound clip which is reminiscent of Wumpscut or Rob Zombie, with a man asking “Are you Scared?”

Of course I am scared, scared of how good this song is?!?!?

Through all the differences in the album and with all the featured artists and electronic sounds, there is still the same hardcore bass and drums and Davis still is one of the best metal screamers in the business. So for those fans that were with Korn from the start, they have only changed for the better.

All in all, if you like Korn’s more recent stuff (“Twisted Transistor” or “Get Up!”) then you will like this album. It is truly the perfect holiday album.

Check out this review from Consequence of Sound!

A Little Update

Some random updates on the music front:

The Girl With The Dagon Tattoo soundtrack is available for pre-order. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are doing the entire album. The Album is expected to be released December 9th.

One song from the album is available for purchase now. "Immigrant Song" with Trent Reznor, Karen O, and Atticus Ross. For those who don't know, Reznor is the lead singer of Nine Inch Nails, Karen O is the singer in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Atticus Ross is a composer who worked with Reznor previously on The Social Network soundtrack. For Reznor fans or fans of The Social Network soundtrack, this whole album is bound to be pretty impressive. And as for me, a Led Zeppelin and Nine Inch Nails fan, the "Immigrant Song" cover is pretty awesome.

Nicki Minaj has a new single out, "Roman in Moscow." Always love anything from Minaj.

Michael Buble's Christmas album, Christmas, is nice, but not overly impressive.

Mariah Carey and Justin Bieber did a version of "All I Want For Christmas Is You" that is just outrageously awful. Music video is a Macy's add.

Lady Gaga released her music video for "Marry the Night" which is about 15 minutes long.

August Burns Red released a cover of "God Rest You Marry Gentleman" that's pretty cool.

Korn's new album comes out this coming week!

For New Yorkers, Pitbull is coming in late December to the Roseland Ballroom.

And The Nominees Are . . .

The 2012 Grammy Award Nominations were announced yesterday. So there is some good news but mostly, a lot of bad news. Let’s start with album of the year; the nominees are:
21 Adele
Wasting Light Foo Fighters
Born This Way Lady Gaga
Doo-Wops and Hooligans Bruno Mars
Loud Rihanna

I love Rihanna. I have most of her albums, including Loud. However, Grammy Award-Winning? I am not so sure. It is a fun and sexy album but I am not sure it is worthy of album of the year. Sadly, I feel like Adele will take this no matter what which takes the excitement out of guessing who will win. So, as great as it would be for Foo Fighter or my top choice, Gaga, to take this one, they don’t have a chance.

Best Record of the Year; the nominees are:

“Rolling In The Deep” Adele
“Holocene” Bon Iver
“Grenade” Bruno Mars
“The Cave” Mumford and Sons
“Firework” Katy Perry

“Firework?” Really? Has music come to this? Out of all 5 songs nominated, I believe this one is the one that does not belong. Oh, and didn’t “Grenade” come out 3 years ago? Or, do I just feel like I have been hearing it for that long? I feel Mumford and Sons should really take this one but sadly, I feel none of these nominees have a chance against Adele.

One treat out of this whole hot mess: Skrillex is nominated! In a few categories, actually. Their single, “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” is nominated for Best Dance Recording and the album is nominated for Best Dance/Electronica album. They are also nominated in the Best Remixed Recording (Non Classical) category for their “Cinema” remix. And, biggest news of all, they are nominated for Best New Artist! Now, even though I feel their album is over rated, I do like them as a movement; as an idea so if they could win Best New Artist, I would be ecstatic.

Especially because their opponents in that category are as follows: The Band Perry, J. Cole, Bon Iver and Nicki Minaj. So, The Band Perry is first of all, country, and second of all, they sing that song “If I Die Young.” You know that song that sounds like Taylor Swift and gets in your head and annoys you for the entire day? Yah, they are nominated. Then we have J. Cole who seems to have a background as a quality “featured” artist, and therefore, I am skeptical on how successful he can be as a solo artist.

Then we have Bon Iver. I actually have been hearing about Bon Iver for a while. Then I listened to a few songs and I realized . . . . oh, they are boring! So people must like Bon Iver to fall asleep to or maybe play before bedtime for their kids. I am not sure I get it. And then there is Nicki Minaj who I happen to adore and still love Pink Friday and cannot wait for her to drop another album in February of 2012. So, really, in my mind, there is competition between Skrillex and Nicki Minaj—collaboration idea, perhaps?!?!?!?

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance is a REAL disappointment. Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse “Body and Soul” is nominated, however, this is probably the 4th or 5th best song on that whole Duets album. There are a lot of better duets on that album that should have earned this spot, however, Winehouse passed away recently so I feel, no matter what, this song had to be nominated. “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People is also nominated which I am sure if radio and television had not completely smothered this song with relentless overplay, I would be fine with. But they did so I am not. And then there is “Moves Like Jagger” which is an abomination to music in general, but to be nominated, blasphemy! Coldplay and The Black Keys are also nominated in this category and I hope the Black Keys take it.

Best Rap Album is probably the only category that actually has a legitimate representation of the quality music in their genre. The nominees are:

Watch The Throne Kanye West and Jay-Z (or Jay-Z and Kanye West, whichever is your preference)
The Carter IV Lil Wayne
Lasers Lupe Fiasco
Pink Friday Nicki Minaj
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Kanye West

Watch The Throne was an under-rated album that got a lot of negative criticism so I am glad it up for nomination. Pink Friday I am obviously ecstatic about—Nicki is my girl! Kanye’s “Twisted Fantasy” was also a stellar album so really, any of those 3 albums winning is fine by me.

For the entire list of nominees, go to www.grammy.com/nominees.

Now, on a personal note . . .

In honor of the holiday season, I am hosting a virtual food drive for the Food Bank of New York City. I have set a goal for $400 by December 25th. I, like many people, often intend to do charitable things such as volunteer, or give money, but then life gets in the way and I do nothing. I thought this would be an easy and convenient way for people to give to those in need. The “Now Bring Us Some Figgy Pudding” Food Drive has officially begun. Please donate and help us reach our goal and be a part of something bigger than yourself. Thanks and happy holidays.

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