Ashanti - The Declaration

The Inc./Universal Motown

Ashanti has redefined "diva" for the twenty-first century. Being the first woman to have her first 3 singles in the Top 10 chart simultaneously, and second artist ever (right behind The Beatles, no less).
With that said, this album shouldn't surprise you in the least. 13 tracks of hyper-produced R&B, with top-of-the-line MTV beats and more soulful singing than a brain can really handle. Some of the beats are a bit too much for me (such as "In These Streets" with a bass line that is obnoxious low compared to the rest of the MIDI tracks), but is generally spot on. Cameos are only the best, including Nelly and Robin Thicke.

Filter - Anthems For The Damned

Pulse/Fontana

After five years out of the game, Filter are around again. Anthems For The Damned picks up where The Amalgamut left off: moments of semi-heavy hard-rock guitar lines mixed in with U2-esq choruses leaving a band that is much better than the actual components.
The newest album takes a strong interest in the war: the first single "Soldiers of Misfortune" is about, what else, than anti-war and pro-soldiers. Frontman Richard Patrick hasn't changed much. He uses the same dynamics he has always used, and seems to play similar melodies every song. While this isn't entirely my thing, Filter continues to play the genre better than anyone else around.

Dwight Yoakam - Dwight Sings Buck

New West/Via

Dwight Yoakam returns with an album of covers, all Buck Owens covers. Buck Owens is, obviously top notch, but everyone was wondering if Yoakam could pull it off? Of course he can! Dwight Sings Buck is a match made in heaven, compiling songs that even Thor would be proud of, if Thor liked country music. Which he probably wouldn't, but we can pretend. The album consists of Buck's best ("My Heart Skips A Beat", "Together Again" and "Act Natural" to name a few) and are all comparable to the original, with Yoakam's signature flair.

Dirtball - Crook County

Suburban Noize/SRH

Pissed off sing-along white-boy rap is what this is. It isn't as bad as the rest, and at moments I actually find myself enjoying portions of the sing-alongs. He has really great flow (really fast at times) and, if nothing else, interesting beats.
Lots of the southern rap influence, but not in the obnoxious ways that most use the embarrassing genre. And more songs about drugs. Seems to be the trend as of late.

Collin Herring - Past Life Crashing

Self-Released

Storytellers make great musicians, and it's usually better when the storyteller is talking about the destruction of their own lives. Collin Herring took two years to write Past Life Crashing, writing and rewriting, recording and re-recording the album until its sound matched where he was in life.
Since his last release, he got married and divorced and put into rehab twice. Not that I take enjoyment out of others misfortunes, but you can't fake real pain like this. Herring's modern singer/songwriter approach to classic 60's rock makes this original, yet still accessible.
For a moment I thought there was a Bono guest spot, but no, Herring's voice just has quite a dynamic style to it. His songwriting is all over the place, at points reminiscing of Costello and the next track going to "Pink Cadillac", while punching in a few moments of southern charm here and there just to balance it all out. Soul and heart mean a lot, and Herring has enough of both to go around.

The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing

Columbia/Sony BMG

UK hit pop sensation-group is blowing up the airwaves over there, and finally getting some respect on the other side of the world. The two piece, consisting Katie White (vocals, guitar and bass drum) and Jules De Martino (vocals, drums, and electronics), are basically what would happen if Le Tigre got back together without the politics and listened to way to much mainstream pop music.
The mix turned out good, arguably better, and consists almost entirely of catchy hooks while still remaining incredibly interesting musically. Cute, fun, and dance-able, The Ting Tings are for indie pop enthusiasts everywhere.

Various Artists - Warped Tour 2007 Compilation DOUBLE CD

SideOneDummy

This album should be no surprise to anyone: the millionth year of Warped Tour in affect, and a very obvious progression of the "hottest" bands in the "underground" scene. As always, we have the generic lists of over-the-hill greats (Alkaline Trio, Bad Religion, The Unseen, The Casualties) and up and coming soon-to-be celebrities (My American Heart, Only Crime), and a slew of bands who sounded like either of those two categories but not as good. My picks? Piebald, The Toasters, Haste The Day, and Alkaline Trio. Hell yeah.
************LATE BUT GREAT***********

Calico Horse - Mirror

Banter

Mirror is Calico Horse's first release under their new name, and it's working out splendidly. Eerie pop music drenched in reverb, Calico Horse is one of those bands that does not fit cleanly into the framework of any genre solidly.
Influenced highly by Black Heart Procession, probably a bit of Radiohead, and maybe even some Bjork at times, the band loosely takes elements of each of these along with odd pop music to make something remarkable. Beautiful artwork, beautiful music, and definitely one of the best things to come out of San Diego in the past years.

Shai Hulud - Misanthropy Pure

Metal Blade

Shai Hulud keep saying "this isn't a come-back album" and "we never broke up" about Misanthropy Pure, the bands first album in over 5 years. I honestly remember "Farewell Tour" or "Final Tour" plastered under their name at every southern California show in 2003. Or was it 2004? Either way, the band has returned, with some new members, and with by far their best album title to date, and still with one of the better geek-reference out there.
Misanthropy Pure isn't a different band than the old New York metal band we all knew, but rather just a jump forward in a logical continuation. The riffs are tighter, more distinct, and definitely flow better than any CD in the genre I've heard in months. Faster, harder, and more pissed: this is by far their best album to date. And with dissonant chords that don't just include the typical metalcore squeal, this is miles above everyone else trying to do the same thing mediocre-ly.

Calvin Newborn - New Born

Yellow Dog/Burnside

The man proclaimed to having "taught Elvis how to dance", Calvin Newborn, carries his music much like you would expect someone of that caliber: soulful, well thought-out, and drowning in talent.
Newborn's style of jazz and blues (actually, it's more like "bluesy jazz" on some songs and "jazzy blues" on others) is not only original, but refined to a T, especially on New Born. Guitar is the main focus of the ordeal, leaving the rest of the traditional accompaniment as background tones and colors.

Rob GEE - Says...

Rock Ridge/urSessions/ADAM/ADA/Sony

Rob GEE puts together the worst parts of gabber and hardcore and manages to make a concoction that is worse than the sum of its parts. Balancing itself with occasionally mediocre metal riffs and lyrics about drugs and not giving a fuck, Says... is the second in the three disc collection of the "Gabber Guru's" concept collection.
I don't know if the concept was to put out some awful music, but he is succeeding. Vocals that consist entirely of hardcore shout-outs, unappealing gabber, and 100% bro mentality. If these things interest you, this may be for you.

Rev Theory - Light It Up

Van Howez/Maloof/DGC/Interscope/Universal

Imagine the choruses of Linkin Park spread over the course of three minutes without the annoying DJ and you will have Rev Theory. Incredibly boring song structures and uninteresting progressions flow all the way through Light It Up, with just enough hooks to make that "fashionably edgy" crowd still comfortable listening to a hard rock band. They also sound way too much like Nickleback to have a song named "Favorite Disease", as the misogynist rock failures also do. This is so uninteresting.

Cesaria Evora - Sao Vicente

Windham Hill/Lusafrica/BMG

For this one I had to do a little research. Evora, who is a legend in her own right, plays a genre knows as Morna, which evolved in Cape Verde and Portugal. It's not anything you can really put your finger on, and not really easily comparable to much else.
Similarities to blues, tango, a little jazz, but that's it as far as American music. Evora's voice tops all of it: a deep feminine voice with intense confidence and not faltering for a second. Cameo's on here from Caetano Veloso, Pedro Guerra, Bonnie Raitt, Orquesta Aragon, and Chucho Valdes, which are all equally incredible.

From A Second Story Window - Conversations

Black Market Activities/RED

If nothing else, this album is heavy. Well, most of it is. Opening track "Most of Us Are Normal" is a fairly mediocre emo-rock track with the generic singing layering everything into a forgettable fuzz of distorted harmonies and unimpressive melodies.
Other parts, such as the second track "Self-Admitted" is a semi-doom ridden metalcore track with more of the cookie-monster vocals that haircuts go nuts for. A few blast beats here and there, some squeals at points, and you have yourself the face of modern metalcore.

Adele - 19

CD & DVD SET XL/Columbia/Sony BMG

So, when it comes down to it, I realize that I just love cockney accents. I don't think I could turn down even the worst of music, as long as they have the vocal inflections. And this has nothing to do with why I love Adele so much. I'm not going to deny that it helps. A lot. Okay, a real lot. But still, this is incredible in general.
Adele, age 19, has blown up, literally, over night. With a voice from the gods and soul from mortals, she manages to create a sound that is minimalist and consistently interesting. Her songs are based solely on her voice as an instrument, and so little music behind it that when the bass kicks in on "Best For Last" it hits hard. Or percussion on "Melt My Heart To Stone". Beautiful R&B with more emotion than everyone on the charts put together.

Earl Klugh - The Spice Of Life

Koch

Earl Klugh has been a legend for years.The Spice Of Life is an acoustic guitar album with backing from an orchestra. Smooth Jazz, as iTunes is telling me. I'd call it more masturbatory soft jazz with moments. It picks up at times, and uses some odd instruments (harp? These still get used in contemporary music outside of Joanna Newsome?) which adds interesting dynamics.

Gaudi and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Dub Qawwali

Jellyjam/Six Degrees

Is this it? Truly? Has it finally happened? Readers, I give you: the first dub album I can handle. This is a milestone in history. My least liked genre has finally produced a record I can tolerate.
Dub Qawwali is producer Gaudi's attempt at a tribute to the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: possibly the most famous Qawwali singer in recent history. Dreamy beats with tons of traditional Pakistani instruments, with Nusrat's voice layed over. This is incredible.

Katy Perry - One Of The Boys

Capitol/EMI

I'm having a hard time trying to find a place to start with this one, so I'm just going to dive in and be as blunt as possible: this is simultaneously the best and worst things of mainstream pop music in one little bundle.
Incredibly over-produced and soul-less pop music with rock/new wave under-tones. Think the first Avril Lavigne album with more electronics and some No Doubt influence thrown in there to boot. Which is seemingly cool. Really over the top music, loved by everyone (Madonna can't stop raving about "I Kissed A Girl", the first single from Perry's EP), and enough sass that she can pull off most groups of people.
The lyrics...are a bit strange. First, "I Kissed A Girl" is about being a party queer (kissing someone of the same gender as a game, and liking it but it still "not being your thing"). Gross. Then "Ur So Gay", a giant slice to an ex who personifies gay male stereotypes, but doesn't "even like boy (penis)". I really don't have much to say.
***So Nice, Gotta Do It Up Twice (Created by the Original NYC DJ, Jocko, 1955)***

Various Artists - Mad Men: Music From The Series Vol. 1

Blue Note/Manhattan/Lionsgate/AMC/EMI

This is the soundtrack to the award winning T.V. Show Mad Men about the 1960's advertising boom. Interesting concept, and something I may check out.
More importantly is the soundtrack, which doesn't try to incorporate mediocre contemporary music. Instead, it keeps almost everything in the time period, opening the soundtrack with Vic Damone's "On The Street Where You Live".
Every song on here is great. One of the only contemporaries on here, and possibly my favorite track over all, is Aceyalone and RJD2's "A Beautiful Mine", which is exactly what you'd expect from these two on a 60's comp. Also on here are The McGuire Sisters, David Carbonara, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, and The Andrew Sisters.

Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree

Mute

While another in a long line of two piece pop acts, Goldfrapp are in a league of their own. Dreamy pop sound-scapes and beautiful uninterested new-wave vocals, Seventh Tree is their newest album and certainly the boiling point of their career.
The album is constructed with primarily electronic instruments, but overlayed with acoustic guitar and bass here and there, giving it a sound that most only dream of. Beautiful, catchy, and reminiscent of time of better music, this is for fans of anyone with good taste.

Walter Becker - Circus Money

5 Over 12/Mailboat

Circus Money is the second solo album from Walter Becker, one half of Steely Dan. Incorporating mostly reggae and r&b into the style of his previous works, Becker manages a blend that makes sense oh-so perfectly.
His voice sounds as you would expect, mirrored almost through and through with a female chorus of back-ups and accents. Circus Money is straight forward, and doesn't take time to jump right in. The style is constant throughout, and if you listen to one song, you know what the rest are going to be like. Obviously, if you liked Steely Dan, you'll love this. center>

***If You Like Music, You're Gonna' Love This!***

Here is my problem with the ten commandments- why exactly are there 10?

You simply do not need ten. The list of ten commandments was artificially and deliberately inflated to get it up to ten. Here's what happened:

About 5,000 years ago a bunch of religious and political hustlers got together to try to figure out how to control people and keep them in line. They knew people were basically stupid and would believe anything they were told, so they announced that God had given them some commandments, up on a mountain, when no one was around.

Well let me ask you this- when they were making this shit up, why did they pick 10? Why not 9 or 11? I'll tell you why- because 10 sound official. Ten sounds important! Ten is the basis for the decimal system, it's a decade, it's a psychologically satisfying number (the top ten, the ten most wanted, the ten best dressed). So having ten commandments was really a marketing decision! It is clearly a bullshit list. It's a political document artificially inflated to sell better. I will now show you how you can reduce the number of commandments and come up with a list that's a little more workable and logical. I am going to use the Roman Catholic version because those were the ones I was taught as a little boy.

Let's start with the first three:

I AM THE LORD THY GOD THOU SHALT NOT HAVE STRANGE GODS BEFORE ME

THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN

THOU SHALT KEEP HOLY THE SABBATH

Right off the bat the first three are pure bullshit. Sabbath day? Lord's name? strange gods? Spooky language! Designed to scare and control primitive people. In no way does superstitious nonsense like this apply to the lives of intelligent civilized humans in the 21st century. So now we're down to 7. Next:

HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER

Obedience, respect for authority. Just another name for controlling people. The truth is that obedience and respect shouldn't be automatic. They should be earned and based on the parent's performance. Some parents deserve respect, but most of them don't, period. You're down to six.

Now in the interest of logic, something religion is very uncomfortable with, we're going to jump around the list a little bit.

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL

THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS

Stealing and lying. Well actually, these two both prohibit the same kind of behavior- dishonesty. So you don't really need two you combine them and call the commandment "thou shalt not be dishonest". And suddenly you're down to 5.

And as long as we're combining I have two others that belong together:

THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTRY

THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR'S WIFE

Once again, these two prohibit the same type of behavior. In this case it is marital infidelity. The difference is- coveting takes place in the mind. But I don't think you should outlaw fantasizing about someone else's wife because what is a guy gonna think about when he's waxing his carrot? But, marital infidelity is a good idea so we're gonna keep this one and call it "thou shalt not be unfaithful". And suddenly we're down to four. But when you think about it, honesty and infidelity are really part of the same overall value so, in truth, you could combine the two honesty commandments with the two fidelity commandments and give them simpler language, positive language instead of negative language and call the whole thing "thou shalt always be honest and faithful" and we're down to 3.

THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR"S GOODS

This one is just plain fuckin' stupid. Coveting your neighbor's goods is what keeps the economy going! Your neighbor gets a vibrator that plays "o come o ye faithful", and you want one too! Coveting creates jobs, so leave it alone. You throw out coveting and you're down to 2 now- the big honesty and fidelity commandment and the one we haven't talked about yet:

THOU SHALT NOT KILL

Murder. But when you think about it, religion has never really had a big problem with murder. More people have been killed in the name of god than for any other reason. All you have to do is look at Northern Ireland, Cashmire, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the World Trade Center to see how seriously the religious folks take thou shalt not kill. The more devout they are, the more they see murder as being negotiable. It depends on who's doin the killin' and who's gettin' killed. So, with all of this in mind, I give you my revised list of the two commandments:

Thou shalt always be honest and faithful to the provider of thy nookie.

&

Thou shalt try real hard not to kill anyone, unless of course they pray to a different invisible man than you.

Two is all you need; Moses could have carried them down the hill in his fuckin' pocket. I wouldn't mind those folks in Alabama posting them on the courthouse wall, as long as they provided one additional commandment:

Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself

EDITOR'S NOTE: George Carlin's death was truely tragic. Right there with Utah Phillips. He was born on 122nd Street in Manhattan, only 50 blocks from my house. He spent 40 years doing stand-up comedy, which is truely unique. The man had no fear of taking on the corporate establishment, the racists pigs, the war profiteers, the ruling class, etc. His sense of humor was totally original. Many stations will pander and tell us that he became famous and stayed famous because of the seven word syndrome. They won't tell us what a spectacular and original thinker George Carlin was.

Political Article: Obama Tilts Towards Center, Irking Some Activists By:Susan Davis Back To Top Barack Obama's support of an overhaul of domestic-spying laws last week was the latest in a string of statements suggesting the Democratic presidential candidate is tacking toward the center to compete with John McCain. On foreign policy, national security, tax issues and even local politics, Sen. Obama has made some decisions lately that belie his ranking by the nonpartisan National Journal as the U.S.'s "most liberal" senator. During the primaries, he ran to the left of Sen. Hillary Clinton, securing the nomination in part by shoring up a base that included self-identified liberals and Internet activists who helped fill his campaign war chest. Some of those supporters are irked by Sen. Obama's latest moves, but the general-election season will put increased pressure on both candidates to attract moderate and independent voters. The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, conducted in early June, showed that 58% of voters perceive Sen. Obama as a liberal and 24% view him as a moderate. In contrast, 34% view Sen. McCain as a moderate and 48% see him as a conservative. To be sure, the predominant view among party leaders is that a turn toward the center is smart politics, and that Sen. Obama's willingness to buck the left wing on issues such as the spy bill signals he is maneuvering to fight Sen. McCain directly for voters in the middle of the political spectrum. "I applaud it," a senior Democratic lawmaker said. "By standing up to MoveOn.org and the ACLU, he's showing, I think, maybe the first example of demonstrating his ability to move to the center. He's got to make the center comfortable with him. He can't win if the center isn't comfortable." Sen. Obama's press office didn't respond to requests for comment. The shift has met with some protest from the activist left. The liberal MoveOn.org, which endorsed Sen. Obama, is petitioning its members to call his campaign to object to his support of the spy bill. The group notes that he previously vowed to support a filibuster of the legislation because of immunity provisions for telephone companies that helped the government carry out its surveillance program. Popular liberal blogs criticized the senator after he announced his support of the bill Friday. "There's an element of distrust now," Matt Stoller, a liberal activist and co-founder of the blog OpenLeft.com, said Monday at an Internet politics conference in New York. Mr. Stoller said that Sen. Obama's position on the spy bill may not alienate the majority of his supporters, but the issue gives activists "a strong reason not to trust him or give him the benefit of the doubt." Similarly, Sen. Obama's decision to opt out of the public-financing system for the general election was a blow to leading liberal Democrats who have championed campaign-finance reform and public financing. "This is not a good decision," Sen. Russ Feingold (D., Wis.), said in a statement Thursday. On taxes, Sen. Obama told The Wall Street Journal in a recent interview that he would consider cuts to the corporate tax rate as part of an effort to simplify the tax system, a position also advocated by Sen. McCain. [Graph] Sen. Obama's shift toward the center is particularly apparent in foreign policy. In a recent speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, he offered such ardent support for Israel that he had to backtrack just a few days later. Sen. Obama, working to woo Jewish voters, told the lobbying group that he supported Israel retaining control of an "undivided" Jerusalem. The comment so infuriated many Arab leaders that he was forced to issue a clarification that he didn't oppose Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over the future of the city. He also used the AIPAC speech to tweak one of his most controversial positions - a stated willingness to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - and outline a hard-line position on Iran that is basically interchangeable with Sen. McCain's. In his remarks, Sen. Obama said a possible meeting with Mr. Ahmadinejad would take place "at a time and place of my choosing, if and only if it can advance the interests of the United States" - and only after earlier talks between lower-ranking American and Iranian officials. He also vowed to "do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon - everything." On Iraq, meanwhile, Sen. Obama has been making clear that he favors shrinking the U.S. military presence there, as opposed to trying to quickly eliminate it through an immediate withdrawal. He favors withdrawing one or two "combat" brigades a month, but the designation is vague enough that it could allow a President Obama to leave potentially significant numbers of U.S. troops in Iraq. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said he had been prepared to lobby Sen. Obama against withdrawing forces too precipitously, only to find that the senator's thinking was not that far from his own. Mr. Zebari said that he had a lengthy telephone call last week with Sen. Obama and that he came away "reassured" that Sen. Obama wouldn't take steps to jeopardize Iraq's recent security gains. He said Sen. Obama told him he would "consult very closely with the Iraqi government and with the military commanders in the field" before ordering any withdrawals. "He will not take any drastic decisions, or reckless actions," Mr. Zebari said. Sen. Obama's center tilt comes as Republicans have increased their efforts to paint him as a liberal - a word that has been demagogued to where Democrats now mostly prefer the term progressive to describe their views. In recent interviews and speeches, Sen. McCain has drawn parallels between his rival's energy policies and those of former President Jimmy Carter, who conservatives criticize for tax increases and heavy regulation. Politically, Sen. Obama also endorsed Georgia's Rep. John Barrow, a conservative white Southern Democrat, against a liberal African-American woman, state Sen. Regina Thomas, in the July 15 primary. The move raised eyebrows, because party leaders generally don't get involved in intraparty skirmishes. While Ms. Thomas may have more appeal among Democratic primary voters, Mr. Barrow is widely viewed as in a better position to win in this swing district. The endorsement also stoked anger on the left. "It is up to us to create a progressive check on Obama, and we might just have our first opportunity," OpenLeft.com wrote regarding Sen. Obama's nod, agitating for Ms. Thomas to score a primary upset. EDITOR'S NOTE: Let's face it: Senator Barak Obama and Senator John McCain are both owned by corporate America and their military industrial complex. Neither will do anything that looks bad on television that huge corporations own. Racism, imperialism, sexism, ageism, etc. will be just as strong as ever. As liberal as Obama seems, and the fact that he is more liberal than McCain, means basically the same thing: the U.S.A. empire will continue to own poor countries, and sell out every time you blink your eye.

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