Albums of the Week: Serani, Ya Boy & Big Rich, Los Campesinos! & E-40

I'm about a month behind on these posts (and I know our imaginary readers have been holding their breath in eager anticipation), so this will be a four-for-one.  About four weeks ago, I listened to Serani's debut album, No Games, for a week. Serani's biggest song, "No Games", is a personal favorite of mine, both for its undeniable infectiousness and also for sentimental reasons as it reminds me of a friend's bachelor party trip to Costa Rica. The rest of the album is more than merely listenable, and while I won't call it a great album, I will say that it decidedly made me long for more tropical environs. In his own genius words: "It's, it's, it's Serani, just in case you never know."

After a week of upbeat dancehall, I listened to Ya Boy and Big Rich's new EP, Guns & Roses. For better or worse, this was about what I expected it would be - some 2010 mob style music. Nothing groundbreaking here, but it's something to ride to. 

Following a week of Frisco rap, I decided to partake in some Welsh indie rock courtesy of Los Campesinos! and their third album, Romance Is Boring, which was released earlier this year. I had read about Los Campesinos! a couple of times in Spin over the last couple of years and their albums had always been on my lengthy list of shit to buy. I finally busted a huge CD-buying nut earlier this months, which included buying all three of their albums. For some reason, this was the first album I decided to listen to. At the time, it was enjoyable enough, but nothing stood out as terribly great and, two weeks later, I can't really remember much of the album, so I guess you can say it was forgettable.

Last week, I decided to listen to the first of E-40's latest double release: Revenue Retrievin': Day Shift. I used to be the biggest E-40 hater, pretty much throughout the whole 90s, but since then I've really come to appreciate his genius and Day Shift only served to reinforce that appreciation.  I'm too lazy to break down individual songs, but of the 19 tracks, the only one I really wasn't feeling was the obligatory sex track - "Fuck You Right". I also felt like 40 dumbed down his flow on "Whip It Up" to match the guest artist, Gucci Mane. Other than that, I genuinely liked the rest of the album and the majority of the beats knocked in my 1998 Volvo wagon. Since I gave my least favorite song some shine in this post, here are some of the standout tracks: "Bitch", "Duck", and "The Art of Storytellin'".

An Open Letter

Dear Asshole Dog Owners of South San Francisco,

Please clean up your dogs' fucking shit. I have a dog, and while cleaning up his shit isn't the most fun part of dog ownership, it isn't that fucking hard. There's a Pet Club at Westborough Plaza and poopie bags aren't that expensive. Or you can just use a plastic grocery bag, or your goddamned hands. I really don't give a fuck. There's just no excuse for the sidewalk to be littered with piles of dog shit, and I don't like having to go out of my way to avoid stepping on it, or risking my own dog stepping in your dog's shit. I wish I knew where you assholes lived so I could leave my dog's shit on your porch to return the favor. 

In the meantime, stay classy South City.

Sincerely, 

Billy Rubin

Album of the Week: Wild Young Hearts

Once again, I'm just a little late with this post. Last week I listened exclusively to the Noisettes' second album, Wild Young Hearts. I was put on to the Noisettes by known associate sometime last year, but I just threw the album in my itunes and only listened to it randomly on shuffle. Last week was the first time I really paid attention to any of the song, and, I must say, I was pretty impressed. The lead singer, Shingai Shoniwa, has a powerful and unique voice, although at times it can get a little too Ertha Kitt-ish. At time, the Noisettes are reminiscent of something Mark Ronson might have a hand in, but they also remind me of Josie and the Pussycats sometimes - the 2001 movie version - which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I think I had more to say about this album about four days ago, but I've since forgotten and become engrossed by the subtle innuendos of Serani. 

It's Always Funny...

This is good.

Album of the Week: The Stimulus Package

As you may have guessed from the above image, I spent last week listening to Freeway & Jake One's album, The Stimulus Package. If the internets are any indication, this album was one of the most highly anticipated hip hop albums in early 2010, and I am split on my feelings about it. Every song on the album was produced by The Emerald City's own Jake One and, by and large, the beats are top notch.  "Follow My Moves" is my favorite song on the album, which probably speaks more to my recent infatuation with ignant rap than to Jake One's beat making skills. Other stand out beats include: "She Makes Me Feel Alright" and "Microphone Killa".

So the beats hold up; "What about the lyrics?", you ask. I've never been a Freeway fan, per se, but I kind of always thought that he had some value as a rapper. Prior to the release of The Stimulus Package, if you had asked me about Freeway, I probably would've said that I liked his delivery. Apparently, I would've been wrong. After listening to The Stimulus Package several times, I am about 95% certain that Freeway can't carry an album on his own. He wastes a lot of Jake One's beats on this album, and his cadence, more often that not, is annoying and juvenile to me. In addition, he drops some pretty retarded lyrics like: "I'm the MC with the hammer that is too legit to quit", and "Row, row, row your boat". Yes, he actually says that. I'm not a big fan of listening to strictly instrumentals, but The Stimulus Package is definitely a hip hop album that's better sans lyrics.

Album of the Week: Explainin'

This is going to hopefully be the first in a series of weekly music posts. I spend about 15 to 20 minutes a day driving to and from BART, which is just about enough time to listen to an album two or three times in a given week. Every Sunday I'm planning on posting a little review of the album I listened to during my daily commute in the preceding week. These won't necessarily be new albums, as evidenced by this week's selection; they'll just be whatever I'm listening to for whatever reason. What inspired this, you might ask. Well, I finally made the transition into the late 1990s in terms of car stereos with the death of my 1991 Volvo sedan and the subsequent acquisition of a "new" 1998 Volvo wagon - with a single-disc CD player, no less!

This particular post actually reflects what I was listening to two weeks ago because I didn't have time to post anything until now. About two weeks ago, known associated and I were chatting about how Bored Stiff pretty peaked with their debut EP, Explainin', which got me wanting to revisit the album. Needless to say, it's really stood up well and, unfortunately, kind of makes their more recent releases that much more disappointing. 

I think Explainin' was released in 1994, but I could be wrong about that. It wasn't until about '95 or '96 that I became aware of it and then I proceeded to jock Bored Stiff pretty hard for a bit. Prior to hearing Explainin', most of the "Frisco rap" I had heard trended toward gangsta' or mob-style music (RBL, JT, San Quinn, etc), whereas Bored Stiff, while not necessarily being "un-street", had a less typical sound and range of topics, without ever failing to rep the 'Sco. To sum it all up, Explainin' was a groundbreaking EP to me that foresaw the emergence of the non-gangsta' Bay Area underground that flourished in the late 90s, and still sounds fresh, in every sense of the word.  For anyone looking to cop the album these days, it's been re-released with a handful of bonus tracks, including "Therapy", which is easily my favorite track from the first Bomb Hip Hop Compilation.

Hello Everybody Got To Tell You...Wh...Wh...What You Want To Do

My vocabulary is not strong enough to add anything to the above video. Watch it. Then watch it again. Then keep watching it. Then change your pants because you peed in them a little, didn't you? Thank you again, internets, I love you.

You're Not So Stingaaaaaayyyyyy

McDonald's commercials generally tend to support my theory that we're witnessing the decline of Western Civilization and the end of the world is nigh. This particular commercial is no different, but for some reason I can stop listening to it...or singing in my head. We're doomed.

Joe Montana, G.O.A.T./Peyton Manning, Goat.

i try to avoid having hate in my heart but, last night, Peyton Manning's failure gave me great joy... and it probably had something to do with hate in my heart. all week, the media was proclaiming his greatness and setting the stage for Manning to lay claim as the greatest of all time. all this for a quarterback who entered this postseason with a sub .500 career postseason record. dont get me wrong, i think Peyton's a good one. a great one, even. at worst, he's one of the top 3 QBs of his generation. but the greatest of all time? please.

all-time greats do thangs like this:

Soup Or Sundae

Rumor has it there was a big football game today. My internet was down earlier so I didn't get to post this before kickoff, but here are our picks for the final game of the 2009-10 NFL season.

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Billy Rubin:

Saints +5 and over 57

(Saints 31, Colts 17 W, L)

(week 1-1, playoffs 6-6, season 31-31-1)

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Known Associate:

Saints +5 and under 57
(Saints 31, Colts 17 W, W)

(week 2-0, playoffs 8-4, season 37-24-2)

My New Favorite Rapper

I don't know too much about OJ Da Juiceman, except that he's from Atlanta, has been featured on some Gucci Mane songs, I was able to get his debut album at Ameoba for about $5 and he may be the most ignant of the ignant rappers. His wikipedia page has a little more info, but that's not what's important. What's important is that he's allegedly released 32 mixtapes and, by his own admission, does not have the best vocabulary. He's not the best rapper around in terms of style or content, far from it in fact, but he's pretty damned entertaining to me. So much so that I downloaded a handful of his mixtapes and ordered a couple others from Amazon. His most recent mixtape is O.R.A.N.G.E. with DJ Drama. My favorite songs on it are "Penis" and "Not Tonite". You can download O.R.A.N.G.E. here. In addition, here are links I found to some of his older mixtapes from 2009: I Got the Juice, 6 Ringz and Alaska in Atlanta. 

Image via Urban Music Direct.

I Really Want to Eat This

I saw a commercial for this a couple days ago and immediately wanted to jump through the screen and eat it. I try to eat healthy and I rarely eat fast food, but I am definitely making an exception sometime in the very near future. There's actually a press release about this sandwich/burger.

Image via Carl's Jr.

Get Lost!

The premier episode of the final season of ABC's Lost is on tonight, giving my metaphorical TV watching penis the biggest boner ever! Click here to read some good Lost coverage and get ready for tonight's episode. I believe there's an hour long recap at 8pm on ABC, followed by the two-hour premier at 9pm.

Image via ABC.

Let's Work the Network

One of our collective best friends recently started a blog of his own.
Check it out here.

My Top 20 Albums of the Aughts

This post has been a long time coming. Sometime back in November or December I came to the conclusion that it would be a good idea to compile a list of the top 20 albums of the past decade - because that is a completely original idea that nobody else would duplicate as the first decade of the current millennium was coming to an end. Unfortunately, I have no real musical background that qualifies me to say what is or is not "good" music, but I do buy a shitload of music and, at the very least, that qualifies me to have some opinions. Instead of trying to come up with albums that had some significant cultural impact or any other such pretentious reasons, I just tried to figure out which albums I got the most enjoyment out of over the past 10 years and which ones still sound good today. Being a nerd, I tried to quantify each album's "goodness", but there's no need to go into that here.

In no particular order, here are my top 20 albums of the aughts:

The Darkness, Permission to Land (2003). This album was on heavy rotation in my old '87 Bronco...until that car prematurely died. Justin Hawkins' voice is easily my most favorite singing voice of the past decade. Permission to Land is generally regarded as The Darkness' best album, although they only released two before breaking up. Subsequent to the break-up and after emerging from rehab, Justin Hawkins formed a new band, Hot Leg, and their album is definitely worth seeking out.

Kanye West, College Dropout (2004). All four of Kanye's albums could easily be on this list, but I chose College Dropout because it was the first new hip hop album I bought after being turned off by most early 2000s hip hop (something I blame CVE and Ellay Khule for). Kanye's definitely continued to improve as a rapper and producer since College Dropout, but it still stands the test of time, just like Sammy Hagar's finest lyrics.

Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (2008). Similar to Kanye, just about any, or every, Lil Wayne album from the past decade could be on this list, but I warmed to Lil Wayne later than most people and The Carter III is his first album that I actually looked for to. Needless to say, I thought the wait was well worth it.

Outkast, Stankonia (2000). Outkast and CVE were just about the only hip hop groups I listened to in the early part of the past decade. I remember going to Tower Records at Stonestown the morning this album came out, either right before or right after class at SF State. That Tower Records no longer exists, but this album still sounds fresh. I really wanted to include "Humble Mumble" or "Red Velvet" on the playlist below, but they weren't available.

Plastic Little, She's Mature (2006). Plastic Little is a rap group from Philadelphia that I don't really know too much about, but I like their music, especially their humorous lyrics. My favorite song on the album is "Rap O'Clock".

Tegan and Sara, If It Was You (2002). Since I heard "Monday Monday Monday", the lead single off It It Was You, Tegan and Sara have been one of my favorite groups of all time. This is another album that was on heavy rotation in my Bronco. This list could very easily include Tegan and Sara's three subsequent albums, but this is the album that turned me on to them and it's their "hardest" album in my opinion, so it makes the list.

Weezer, Weezer, aka The Green Album (2001). I totally slept on Weezer in high school, when I was too busy listening to only hip hop, but since getting into them, not coincidentally around the time this album was released, they've become on my favorite bands. Rivers Cuomo is a great nerd songwriter and I'm a great song-listener, so it's a perfect match.

San Quinn, The Rock: Pressure Makes Diamonds (2006). San Quinn carried the torch for Frisco rappers in the aughts and this was probably his best album from beginning to end.

Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend (2008). The blogerati's favorite album of 2008 was pretty damned good. Who knew a bunch of preppy whiteboys could incorporate African rhythms into catchy indie pop songs so easily?

XRabit + DMG$, Hello World (2009). A British producer hooked up with a Houston rap duo to make what is probably my favorite rap album of 2009. It also appears to be one of the more slept on albums of the year. "Damaged Goods" is my favorite track on the album, but I can't find a link to it so here are two of their songs: "Follow the Leader" and "Ferris Bueller".

B.O.B., Hi! My Name is B.O.B. (2008). This is technically a mixtape from Atlanta-based rapper B.O.B., aka Bobby Ray, but it's better than most rap albums that came out in the last few years. B.O.B.'s proper debut album is supposed to be released in May 2010, but a simple search can probably find all the songs he's released to date. As another option, 2dopeboyz.com put together a digital version of what they thought his first album should've been.

Mates of State, Team Boo (2003). I saw this husband and wife duo open for Santigold and immediately went to the merch table and bought three of their albums. This is my favorite album of theirs.

MURS, The End of the Beginning (2003). MURS isn't exactly the same rapper today that he was in the late 90s, but this album still holds up. Further, the cover art features a bunch of action figures - that's more than enough to win me over.

The Virgins, The Virgins (2008). I'm not sure when Dance Rock became an official genre of music, but this is my favorite Dance Rock album. This is my evidence: Exhibit A, Exhibit B and Exhibit C.

The-Dream, Love Hate (2007). Despite the fact that The Dream is probably plotting against humanity, he's helped make some of the most popular songs of the past few years and Love Hate is arguably the best R&B album of the aughts. The Dream's second album, Love vs. Money, was a borderline great album as well and his next album, Love King, should provide more of the same.

Afroman, The Good Times (2001). This is probably where I lose whatever credibility I had been building, but I think Afroman is probably the single most underrated rapper of all time. I would imagine everybody knows his biggest, and possibly only, commercial success, "Because I Got High", and I'm sure he's been written off as a one-hit wonder as a result. Afroman's flow isn't complex and his beats aren't exactly groundbreaking, but his songs sure are fun to listen to. He's got some pretty funny concepts and lyrics, and he's not afraid to do his best to write some more poignant songs. All things being equal, "Palmdale" is easily my favorite Afroman song.

Santigold, Santogold (2008). If memory serves, this was one of the most anticipated albums of 2008, and it actually stood up to the hype. Two years later it still sounds good, although maybe not as great as I thought it was when it first came out. "L.E.S. Artistes" is one of my favorite songs of the decade.

Chromeo, Fancy Footwork (2007). Chromeo is another group I initially slept on, but once I became aware of them I jocked them pretty hard for a minute. Their music kind of reminds me of what Hall & Oates might be doing if they were new artists in the 2000s, although Chromeo's vocals obviously pale in comparison to Darryl Hall.

Ghostface Killah, Fishscale (2006). Easily the most relevant Wu-Tang member in the 2000s, Ghostface had a strong run in the early to middle part of the decade, and Fishscale is his most complete album as far as I'm concerned.

Jules Santana, What the Game's Been Missing! (2005). I never fully jumped on the Dipset bandwagon, but I think this is easily the best Dipset album and one of the better hip hop albums of the decade. In addition to clever wordplay, this album boasts some of the most ridiculous beats from the past ten years.

There you have it, my top 20 favorite albums form the first decade of the 2000s. Below is a playlist with one song form each of the above albums. Hopefully now that football season is winding to a close, known associate will be able to post something similar.

Image via The GIBSON & Baldwin Player.

Championship Weekend

Known associate is in transit back from Reno, where he was sightseeing. Here are our picks for Championship Weekend:

billy rubin:

New Orleans -3.5 vs. Minnesota
(Saints 31, Vikings 28 L)

Indianapolis -8 vs. New York
(Colts 30, Jets 17 W)

(week 1-1, playoffs 5-5, season 30-30-1)

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known associate:

New Orleans -3.5 vs. Minnesota
(Saints 31, Vikings 28 L)

New York @ Indianapolis under 40
(Colts 30, Jets 17 L)

(week 0-2, playoffs 6-4, season 35-24-2)

bonus:
Reno sightseeing...

Back to the Future: Divisional Weekend

We were up in Reno last weekend without internet access, so we didn't post our picks for the divisional match-ups, but we did make picks and they were witnessed by the wet drycleaner. Here they are:

billy rubin:

Arizona @ New Orleans over 57 

(Arizona 14, New Orleans 45 W)

Baltimore +6.5 @ Indianapolis

(Baltimore 3, Indianaplolis 20 L)

Dallas +2.5 @ Minnesota

(Dallas 3, Minnesota 34 L)

New York @ San Diego under 42.5

(New York 17, San Diego 14  W)

(Week 2-2, Playoffs 4-4, Season 29-29-1)

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known associate:

Arizona @ New Orleans over 57

(Arizona 14, New Orleans 45 W)

Baltimore @ Indianapolis under 44

(Baltimore 3, Indianaplolis 20 W)

Dallas +2.5 @ Minnesota

(Dallas 3, Minnesota 34 L)

New York @ San Diego under 42.5

(New York 17, San Diego 14 W)

(Week 3-1, Playoffs 6-2, Season 35-22-2)

I Used to Sell Mixtapes...

Kinda, but not really. I did, however, make an "underground hip-hop" mixtape sometime around 1998. It features a lot of the groups I was listening to back then: Living Legends, Freestyle Fellowship, C.V.E, Goodie Mob, Outkast, Bored Stiff, Organized Konfusion and some other artists I've since forgotten and most people haven't even heard of. I made it on an old analog 4-track and then burned it to CD using what is now an obsolete CD-burner. I made a handful of actual cassette tape copies and made a half-assed attempt to sell them, but mostly the original CD copies just sat in a random binder for the last decade or so. Then sometime last year an old friend started a new website, mixcrate.com, where DJs can upload digital copies of their mixes and anyone can listen. If you want to download the mix you just need to sign up for a free membership. In addition to my mediocre mix, there a ton of really great mixes by some of the top mix DJs around. If anyone is reading this and likes music, you should go check out mixcrate.com right now.

And if anyone is interested, here are the links to my mixes (remember it was originally an actual mixTAPE, so it has two sides): Side A & Side B

Wildcard Saturday

The real NFL season begins today. Not surprisingly, known associate is in Reno stimulating the local economy. Since the games are fewer and infinitely more meaningful form here on out, we'll each make one play per game. Here are our picks:

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billy rubin:

Jets +2.5 @ Bengals

Two subpar offenses and one pretty damn good defense. My guess is the team with the good defense prevails.
(Jets 24, Bengals 14 W)

Eagles +4 @ Cowboys

I hate both these teams, but I think Philly is due to beat the Cowboys.
(Eagles 14, Cowboys 34 L)

Ravens +3.5 @ Patriots

Patriots are missing Welker and Brady's a bit banged up. Ravens are an underrated defense this year.
(Ravens 33, Patriots 14 W)

Packers -1 @ Cardinals

Holy shit, I'm taking all the away teams. That doesn't sound right... Go Pack!
(Packers 45, Cardinals 51 L)

(Week 2-2, Playoffs 2-2, Season 27-27-1)

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known associate:

Jets @ Bengals over 34
(nyj 24 - cin 14, W)

Dallas -4 vs. Eagles
(dal 34 - phi 14, W)

Ravens @ Patriots over 43.5
(bal 33 - ne 14, W)

Packers -1 @ Cardinals
(gb 45 - az 51, bullshit L)

(week 3-1, playoffs 3-1, season 32-21-2)

week 17

billy rubin
Packers +3.5 at Cardinals
(Packers 33, Cardinals 7 W)
Ravens -10 at Raiders
(Ravens 21, Raiders 13 L)
Titans -6 at Seahawks
(Titans 17, Seahawks 13 L)

(Week 1-2, Season 25-25-1)

known associate
Eagles +3 at Cowboys
(phi 0 - dal 24, L)
Titans @ Seahawks under 45
Titans -6 at Seahawks
(ten 17 - sea 13, W & L)

(week 1-2, season 29-20-2)