A few weeks ago, the Poptropica Twitter account posted this photo....
This seems like a fun challenge, but totally unrealistic. If we were to take a look into what is actually in stock, it looks more like this.
Saturday, March 19, 2022
You Have Twenty Dollars
Sunday, July 4, 2021
Top 10 Albums of 2020
2020 was a pretty good year for music, I'd say. The releases I heard were very diverse and the sound was very different from previous years. I would hate to say why I think that is. But you can probably figure it out. These are my top 10 albums of 2020, starting with some honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions
070 Shake - Modus Vivendi
I was excited for 070 Shake's debut, but skeptical as I was not a huge fan of the Glitter EP she released in 2018. This album exceeded my expectations. Morrow is perhaps the prettiest song I've ever listened to and The Pines blows me away for completely different reasons. I wish GOOD Music would put this on CD.
Playboi Carti - Whole Lotta Red
I was not sure what to expect from Whole Lotta Red, since I was not as big a fan of Playboi Carti's self-titled and Die Lit as I had hoped. But Whole Lotta Red turned out to be my favorite of the three, with more than a handful of addictive tracks that get stuck in my head. I wish AWGE would put this on CD.
Ty Dolla $ign - Featuring Ty Dolla $ign
Grimes - Miss Anthropocene
This is not too much of a left turn from Art Angels, but it can't live up to Art Angels. In fact, I'm not confident c will ever be able to live up to what she did on Art Angels. But songs such as My Name Is Dark and 4AEM are some of my favorite songs of hers. Delete Forever is such a pretty song, and it is the only cut from the record I admit completely threw me for a loop. Unfortunately, I really can't stand You'll Miss Me When I'm Not Around, and Idoru is simply not interesting.
Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats - UNLOCKED
I don't know much about Denzel Curry himself, but this album is really punchy and to the point. It's only 20 minutes long, maybe even a bit less, but there really isn't a dull moment. Kenny Beats seems to have improved from his Rico Nasty collab album Anger Management because UNLOCKED hits much harder and just generally sounds cooler. I don't follow NotRealMusic's complaint about Denzel using too many similes. Personally I just think he's having fun and that's a mindset to be in while listening to this album.
Anyways that's the honorable mentions, I just put them in whatever order I thought of them in. Now for the list proper.
#10 Adrianne Lenker - Songs
This was recommended to me by my cool bro Jacob. I thought he just meant to listen to some songs by Adrianne Lenker, but he meant this album. Despite the lame name and the criminal act of writing everything in all lowercase, Adrianne provides a very enriching experience with this album. It's maybe the most woodsy album on my list (and that's not a spoiler, by the way). I have yet to listen to Instrumentals (the companion piece to Songs) nor any Big Thief album, but I'll have to do that soon if they're as good as this.
#9 Logic - No Pressure
Logic was supposed to retire after this album. Just like Jay-Z was supposed to retire after The Black Album, or Lil Wayne was supposed to retire after Tha Carter V. So we knew that he wasn't actually going to, but if you suspend disbelief for a moment and pretend he was serious, this project is a pretty good one to go out on. The music produced by No ID sounds pretty cool, more like the hip hop of 20 years ago. (Or maybe not, I don't know anything about music history.) And I know that everyone gets a kick out of making fun of Logic for being corny, but there is very little corn here. When there is, it seems tongue-in-cheek. For example, the line about "I love my wife like I am Chance" is followed up with a compliment. It's all a very nice package. And such a massive improvement over Supermarket.
#8 Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters
This was a big event when it came out, but it almost feels like a distant memory now. If I had put this album at #8 exactly one year ago, I may have gotten some nasty emails about it. But now that the dust has settled, I am confident in saying that this album is really good but not amazing. Shameika and Under The Table get played on the radio a lot, and I like them, but I'm not a huge fan of the song Ladies. Other than that, I don't have much else to say. Good album. Go listen to it.
#7 Poppy - I Disagree
For context, Poppy's previous release the Choke EP really shocked me when it released in summer 2019. Voicemail completely blew me away with how different it is, not just from Am I A Girl tracks such as X and Play Destroy, but especially compared to all of Poppy.Computer. Then I Disagree came out. Now the Choke EP seems like a mere stepping stone. I Disagree is so full, so grand, and so self-confident that what were once some of my favorite songs seem to be missing a major element that I Disagree has in spades. I Disagree is not even very long, but it hits all the marks for me. BLOODMONEY may be my new favorite song of hers, although Sit/Stay comes close. Sorry Voicemail.
#6 Taylor Swift - Folklore & Evermore
Sure, these are technically 2 albums, but they're like the same thing. They are so similar they both get the same slot on the ranking. Anyway, listening to Folklore when it came out was enthralling. It was the first new album I had heard in a few weeks that really blew me away. It was so pretty. Taylor's voice was so smooth. The instrumentation felt so grand. The writing was so interesting. It was so fun. It felt as if Taylor had finally experienced some meaningful character growth and creative inspiration. Plus the Justin Vernon vocals are always pleasant. Pretty much the same things apply to Evermore, which is more of the same; but more of the same greatness isn't necessarily a bad thing. Evermore seems more like a Big Red Machine album than Folklore, which I hope hints at Taylor Swift featuring on the next Big Red Machine project if it ever comes out. I hear the lead singer of Fleet Foxes has been working with them so....
I think Folklore and Evermore will be highly regarded in about 10 years. It's really hard to imagine what direction Taylor will go once she's done redoing her back catalog, but it will be hard to top this. Personally I'm hoping for something in line with Black Country New Road. Until then, I am more than satisfied with these releases.
#5 The Flaming Lips - American Head
#4 Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon III: The Chosen
Do you guys remember when Man on the Moon III was supposed to come out after Satellite Flight? I'm glad it didn't. Not only because Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven took its place and is awesome, but because the Man on the Moon III we got simply could not exist in 2015 or even 2018. The album has a very modern sound to it with the drums and vocal effects especially. But it still keeps intact what makes Kid Cudi's music so interesting. There's great melodies, great vocal performances, great humming, and Solo Dolo. Not to mention what is hands down the best Kid Cudi album cover ever. There are tons of callbacks to older Kid Cudi songs including of course the Solo Dolos, Mr. Rager, Scott Mescudi vs. The World, Fire, Confused!, and Man In The Night just to name a few. It never feels like pandering, it feels like using these past tracks to show growth in musicianship over the decade. The audience waited 10 years for the third entry in the Man On The Moon series, and it was worth it. Phoebe Bridgers has a pretty voice.
#3 The Necks - Three
This was unintentional placement. This was my #2 album for a long time. There isn't much I have to say about Three, since it's just three instrumental tracks with no lyrics. It's good music to listen to while working on something by yourself, and if you want more The Necks albums like it I recommend Body and Silverwater. Those are my favorites anyway. It's not something to think about. It's just something to experience. And what an experience it is.
#2 An Unkindness - 10 Years
This is the most professional sounding indie record I've heard in probably my entire life, if you don't count Swans as indie. It amazes me just how intricate a lot of the songs are. There can be, like, 40 instruments playing at once it seems. I concede that some of the songs do sound like they were written by a teenager, but isn't that the idea? Adam learns to love himself over the course of 12 songs. It's such a grand experience. Spools of Thread, The Scab, Freedom P2, Stop The Hand, and The Prophet are all especially amazing. I remember walking around downtown on a lovely sunny autumn morning listening to The Scab. On top of that, The Prophet is exactly what I needed at the time with its different acts, all of them unique but still well-connected. The buildup in Acceptance is something to be marveled, and Anything sounds grand in the best way. I love this project so much. I'm glad I waited for it to come out.
#1 Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia
This album literally gave me a feeling I had never felt before. So for that, 10/10. What that feeling is, I could not tell you. But because I should probably include a bit more than that, I will. Our lovely Dula Pipa did a full 180 from her
Buy These Albums
Monday, September 28, 2020
Why A Piece of Strange is a Sequel to Songs About Jane
In 2002, Maroon 5 (formerly Kara's Flowers) released their breakthrough album Songs About Jane- a rock album themed around frontman Adam Levine's former girlfriend Jane. In 2006, CunninLynguists released their breakthrough album A Piece Of Strange- a hip hop album themed around the descent into sin and its consequences. I think. I haven't listened to it all that much yet. In fact, my first listen through was less than 4 days ago. But I have reason enough to believe that A Piece of Strange is a sequel to Songs About Jane.
So how is this even possible? How can we assume CunninLynguists have even heard Songs About Jane?
I can't assume they have. I don't know them. I am not super familiar with the group. So why do I think they've even heard Songs About Jane? Degrees of separation.
Maroon 5 and CunninLynguists both know one very important person in our culture- Kanye West.
Maroon 5 has worked with Kanye West on at least 2 occasions that I know of. First, Kanye West made a remix of the song This Love from Songs About Jane. Second, Adam Levine was featured on the Kanye West song Heard Em Say from Late Registration in 2005.
CunninLynguists have opened for Kanye West on certain concert dates, although I cannot find much information on these shows.
If they both know Kanye West, is it safe to assume that they may know each other? They very well could. Especially when taking into consideration the fact that touring musicians often travel the world and collaborate with each other, Maroon 5 and CunninLynguists may very well know each other. Even if they don't, CunninLynguists can still be inspired by Songs About Jane just as I am.
The time frame is perfect. Songs About Jane was released in 2002, but it didn't start getting popular until late 2003, 2004. This was right after A Piece of Strange's predecessor SouthernUnderground released in April 2003. Songs About Jane was growing in popularity, Maroon 5 was touring, Maroon 5 was working with Kanye West, and a true followup to Songs About Jane had not been created yet. Wouldn't it make sense for CunninLynguists to take inspiration from this new album that's super good and super popular? NOT TO SAY THAT THEY ARE TREND CHASERS, but I would take inspiration from Songs About Jane had I been in their shoes. It makes sense to me.
"Okay you dumb fool, knowing Kanye in some way and releasing an album in 2006 doesn't automatically mean that your record is automatically a sequel to Songs About Jane. They aren't even the same genre of music. You dumb fool. You rat bazlor. Use common sense," you may be saying to yourself. If that were true, Hip Hop is Dead would be a sequel to Songs About Jane. Food and Liquor would be a sequel to Songs About Jane. Kingdom Come would be a sequel to Songs About Jane. A Girl Like Me would be a sequel to Songs About Jane. Everything would be a sequel to Songs About Jane. And that's just absurd. But so far, we have only discussed the context surrounding the record. Now I will dive into the context of the record itself. First of all, look at the cover art for both of these releases.
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| Songs About Jane (2002) |
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| A Piece of Strange (2006) |
They look mighty similar, innit? Both feature a naked young woman on the left, both covering up the dirty bits discretely, both with red hair adorned with flowers, both of them holding something red. To the right, the title of the artist and album at the top with an intricate background. That's a lot of similarities, right? I think the red apple was inside the box. But maybe the cover itself is just a reference. The music itself doesn't really talk about Jane in any way.... Except it does.
The album's most popular song, Beautiful Girl, is often regarded as one of the best uses of sampling of the 2000s. The bars throughout the song use a lot of double entendres, taken literally as a woman in one context, or in another taken figuratively as marijuana. What name is used for this?
Jane
Checkmate, liberals. This is 100% undeniable proof that CunninLynguists were inspired by Songs About Jane while working on A Piece of Strange. Between the cover art, the lyrics, the era, and their contacts, it is all too much to be a coincidence. Even if Kno comes out and says "I have never heard of Songs About Jane in my entire life and you guys are delusional," I won't believe him. Somebody knew what was up. Somebody knew what they were doing. Somebody was making a sequel to Songs About Jane. Knowing how It Won't Be Soon Before Long ended up for Maroon 5 and company, the true sequel to Songs About Jane is a fantastic album by CunninLynguists titled A Piece of Strange. I highly recommend both records to anyone who likes music. They are different, but in some ways the exact same. And I love them both.
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Review: Timbaland - Shock Value
Shock Value as an album hits both the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Some songs on the album are great and some are poor; It’s a mix. It starts off with some good cuts. Songs like Oh Timbaland, while not lyrically great, have very lush instrumentals. One of Timbaland’s defining qualities is the ability to make a unique sound for each song while still sounding consistent. When this album is good, it does just that. Some of the best beats on this album, like Give It To Me, Kill Yourself, and Time all sound very clean and often are earworms of mine. Often these tracks are good enough to listen to without the vocals, especially Kill Yourself. On the other hand, there are some songs that just sound bad with no excuses. Bounce is the worst song on the album with a poor dirty instrumental and laughable lyrics. Some songs have a mix of good and bad. Songs like Release and One And Only start off with a promising opening, but then they go sour in one way or another. With the case of Release, it’s the repetitiveness, and with One And Only, it’s Fall Out Boy’s hook. The instrumental for Miscommunication sounds good for maybe 2 seconds, and Scream just sounds like a weaker version of what Fire by Kids See Ghosts was trying to do. But I can’t help but praise the effort put into many of these beats. There is a good amount of material on here that I would consider good. It’s just a shame the quality is so inconsistent.
Saturday, April 4, 2020
Great Scott! Speedin' Bullet
Today is April 4th. If it weren't for the coronavirus pandemic, today would have been the last day of speech. In honor of that, I will now publish the speech I wrote for this year's season- Great Scott! Speedin' Bullet, also known as Speedin' Bullet 2 Nothin. This speech is an apology of the widely panned 2015 Kid Cudi album, Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven. It's not perfect, but I like it well enough.
Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven may have just been a big therapy session for Kid Cudi to sing about how he’s feeling. Maybe it was made for a niche crowd of people that felt there was no other music they could truly appreciate. Maybe it was made for the sad kids that would end up liking XXXTentacion, Juice WRLD, and others later on. But regardless of why it was created, it shouldn’t be hard to see now that Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is one of the most infamous, influential, and important albums ever made. In May 2016, Kid Cudi tweeted that 5 years after release, people will finally understand the impact of Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven. Now that time has passed, we can see how correct he really was. Whether you’ll find it good or bad, it truly is something to experience for yourself.
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| Not the actual album cover. Created by u/LivingComfy on Reddit. |
For many, the Kid Cudi story is simple. The platinum-selling hip hop singer Kid Cudi, who blew up in popularity in the late 2000s with hits including Day N’ Nite and Erase Me, made two of the greatest albums ever, Man On The Moon I and II. Then Cudi decided to take a little break in 2011, and he returned the following year with some of the worst music imaginable. Then after another hiatus in 2017, he made one of the greatest albums ever, Kids See Ghosts. In reality, it’s not that simple. What the average listener forgets is that many albums of different, unique sounds were released in that middle period from 2012 to 2016- WZRD, Indicud, Satellite Flight, Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’.... Of all of these albums, the 2015 release of Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is by far the most controversial of these albums. However, I am going to argue that it’s also the most important of the bunch as well. It’s the most important album for Kid Cudi, it’s the most important album for those that relate to its ideas, and it’s the most important album for the music landscape of the years to come.
So what is Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven? For those unaware, Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven was released in place of the highly anticipated Man On The Moon III, which, as Cudi stated in an interview at Billboard Winterfest earlier that year, had supposedly been in the works for a long time. This album is very different from previous Kid Cudi albums. Where most previous releases feature very atmospheric and melodic hip hop production underneath soft, sweet vocals, Cudi scraps everything and builds nearly every track with heavy guitars and near-shouting of the lyrics. Every single aspect feels much more blunt and heavy. The album is over 91 minutes in length too. Even if you aren’t that familiar with Kid Cudi, it’s not hard to see how Speedin Bullet is truly the black sheep of the collection because of this new sound.
The album was met with near universal backlash from critics and even from Kid Cudi fans. It wasn’t just because it wasn’t Man On The Moon III, either. Instead of releasing another great hip hop album, Kid Cudi had sold his fans a messy grunge rock project. Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is loud, messy, and full of crazy ideas that don’t sit right with the average listener. The guitars are obnoxious, sometimes seeming as if they were done in a single take. Cudi’s wailing voice is nearly intolerable on most songs. The drowning vocal effects on many tracks only make for a more difficult listen, since Cudi sounds like he’s in the other room while singing. The lyrics themselves are at times either much too personal or just regrettable, both of which are the case for Adventures. And why are Beavis and Butthead here between the songs? These skits are dumb, and they go on for too long. All that can be said before getting into the messy demos found on the second disc. Most people can’t even stomach this album in one session. My English teacher went so far as to comment that it made her want to kill herself. The popular music website Pitchfork gave Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven a 4/10, and Anthony Fantano of Theneedledrop gave it a rare score of 0/10. It’s something you truly have to hear yourself to understand just how flawed it is.
So if Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is so terrible, why is it so important to the Kid Cudi discography? What is there that I see in this album that nobody else sees? Who even cares about Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven?
Well, first thing’s first. Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is highly important to Kid Cudi. This project is a very personal, inward looking album. The lyrics often touch on ideas of suicide, loneliness, and misery. Cudi screams on the song CONFUSED!, “I might go losing it and drive off a cliff, fall into the void.” Kid Cudi was very unstable in 2015. Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven must be very important to Kid Cudi if he’s willing to cancel Man On The Moon III, the conclusion of a popular trilogy, in favor of it. On Twitter on November 7th of last year, Kid Cudi said that Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is his darkest album yet, even more so than Man On The Moon II, with its utter despair. Cudi howls many times on Fade 2 Red, “We are born in the dark, born into pain.” All the while you can hear the exhaustion in his voice. Kid Cudi is not only miserable, but he’s just tired from all he has to do. The sense of hopelessness he feels is very well-conveyed.
Kid Cudi needed to make Speedin Bullet 2 Heaven. Often, one’s emotions are so powerful that he can’t focus on anything until he overcomes them. This album was his attempt to do just that. On November 7th, 2019, Kid Cudi tweeted that releasing such a project was the only way he could express how he was feeling at the time. Creating Speedin Bullet 2 Heaven was his escape. This was his self-expression. This was therapy for Kid Cudi in a time when he needed it most. According to a CNN article, Kid Cudi had checked himself into rehab for his depression and suicidal urges the following year, in 2016. While Cudi may be in a better state of mind today, Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is a remnant of a darker time in his life. Kid Cudi isn’t ashamed of the album to this day. He has gone on record multiple times defending its sound and its ideas. So while the album itself is far from good, I can still respect it for what it has done for Cudi.
Kid Cudi sees Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven as a heavily respectable musical work in its own right. But so what if Kid Cudi needed to make bad music? Couldn’t he just keep it to himself? I would argue that it wouldn't be a good idea. Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is very important to those that find comfort in its sound. Like I said earlier, Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is a very sad album. The 26 songs on this project are full of different emotions that people with depression or anxiety can relate to personally. That seems to be the trend among Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven apologists. Lonely people can relate to the Adventures lyric, “Inadequate, feeling so unwanted; make him want to disappear.” Those in failing relationships might feel close to the Wedding Tux lyrics, “She push & pulls, uses me for what she needs.” These lines from the album’s tenth track, “Everywhere he goes, loser little kid…. Look at you, dumb punk loser kid” might strike a nerve with those who feel like outcasts from our society and make them feel as if they aren’t alone. If you’re tired of existing, the song Embers has the lyric, “Drown in a sea of emotions taken over by fatigue.” If you just feel hopeless, the same song just may get you with its message of mortality when Kid Cudi croons, “I really don’t want to leave, I realize there’s no answers to rid me of this cancer. Still, I really gotta leave.”
That’s just some of the different emotions on display throughout Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven. These lyrics may be clumsy to you or me.. However, those that relate really found a hidden gem. From start to finish, there’s a lot of material for those that feel they aren’t valued. My point is, the biggest fans of Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven are miserable. This album was with them during a low point in their life, and now those people feel a strong affinity for it. On Metacritic’s user review board for the album, user Maul_Waul points out, “The singing that Cudi does really sends a message of pain and fear, which is what I believe Cudi wanted to show. It's easy to tell that at the moment he's at a low point and doesn't know where to go.”
Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is truly something of its own. For many fans and apologists, there’s nothing out there as relatable and comforting as the sound it brings. These people need this album. Everyone deserves something they can truly feel in touch with. For a select few, this is it. This album is very important to those who can find the diamonds in the rough of the project and see it as a one of a kind gem.
Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is important to Kid Cudi. Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is important to those who need its message. But even if you’ve never heard of Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven before today, this album still affects you. Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is important to the musical landscape of the future. See, this album was part of a large movement in the musical landscape back when it was released. The whole world was seemingly sick of the happy songs that dominated in 2015- Trap Queen, Cheerleader, and Hotline Bling were all on the tail end of a dying sound. That year, the new sound was somber and slow. This movement was seemingly headed by The Weeknd, who grew rapidly in popularity that year with hits such as Worth It and The Hills. But it’s hard to deny that Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven certainly helped with the push forward. While it didn’t initially sell very well, the album’s infamy helped it find a fanbase which propelled it further into the music scene. Endorsements from industry giants like Andre 3000 and Erykah Badu certainly helped as well. Just a few years later, XXXTentacion surged in popularity with his sad songs of loneliness, making it big in the mainstream with his albums 17 and ?. While XXXTentacion’s music is certainly different from Kid Cudi’s music, X’s music is seemingly inspired by Kid Cudi with its lonely wailing vocals and its clearly unpolished guitars. Juice WRLD strays further from this sound, but still featured ideas of it on projects such as Goodbye & Good Riddance. All while this is happening, Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is slowly but surely gaining fans. In recent years, reception to this album has been slowly growing more and more positive in the mainstream. Even with its harsh initial reaction, Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven has inspired some of the biggest and most important musicians of recent years.
Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven may have just been a big therapy session for Kid Cudi to sing about how he’s feeling. Maybe it was made for a niche crowd of people that felt there was no other music they could truly appreciate. Maybe it was made for the sad kids that would end up liking XXXTentacion, Juice WRLD, and others later on. But regardless of why it was created, it shouldn’t be hard to see now that Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven is one of the most infamous, influential, and important albums ever made. In May 2016, Kid Cudi tweeted that 5 years after release, people will finally understand the impact of Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven. Now that time has passed, we can see how correct he really was. Whether you’ll find it good or bad, it truly is something to experience for yourself.
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