JAY Z and CLIPSE

After more listens, the final thought is Clipse has better beats but is too rough for TheTestPilot library and Jay Z has a few solid songs but if you have already heard Show Me What Ya Got, you have heard the best.

Clipse-Mr. Me Too ft Pharrell

Jay-Z-Beach Chair(feat chris martin).mp3

Apparently Pitchfork agrees, giving Jay'z Kingdom Come a 5.0 out of 10. Highlights of the review:
"...we didn't expect the young, brash Jigga ... would be dropping Gwyneth Paltrow's name in a rap song. Twice he addresses his recent heavily publicized boycott of Cristal champagne which even he acknowledges is unimportant. But that's Kingdom Come: Jay boringly rapping about boring stuff and being totally comfortable with it."

"Just Blaze's flip of the Allman Brothers' "Whipping Post" on "Oh My God" is a pretty good example of his new stadium rap sound, and his "Kingdom Come" take on Rick James is pretty clever. But the latter has been sitting on the internet for a long time which means Jay-Z now gets Just sorta Blaze instead full-on Blaze."

"It's never a good sign when Chris Martin of Coldplay makes the best track on your record, but that may be the case with Kingdom Come."

"It is the first album in Jay-Z's career that doesn't sound like he got first choice from his producers, and one has to wonder where the much-talked-about Timbaland songs went (FutureSex/LoveSound, perhaps?)."

UPDATE

Not a ton of new music to report. This week I started off in a MAD frenzy for the leaked Bloc Party album, A Weekend in the City. I finally found it and was honestly let down. Overall, completely laid back compared to Silent Alarm and not at all what Song for Clay promised. And speaking of Song for Clay, it has been tweaked severely and I don't like it. Instead of Kele saying, "these days I'm only bored" he now says "disappear here" and honestly, those few words destroy the song for me. Outside of that, the album has very few new Like Eating Glass or Banquets. The immediacy of Silent Alarm is gone, replaced by a reserved, lethargic BP. If you want a depressed and bored Bloc Party, this is the album. I understand the concept is about boring, drone-like city life but damn, these guys must be really fuggin bored for this result. As Darrell Hammond's Bill O'Reilly would say, Tell me where I'm wrong.

I then moved onto looking for the leaked Jay-Z album, Kingdom Come. Again, another wash out but I have spent less time with this so I may be jumping to a opinion too soon. Still, for a out-of-retirement CD, I thought there would be more bumpin' jams on there.

I wrapped up the week with the leaked Clipse album which sounds a bit better than Jay. Time will tell.

In THE MEANTIME, here are two singles I have been rocking. M.I.A.'s new jam, XR2 and Margot and the Nuclear So-and-So's Skeleton Key. With regards to MIA, I love the song. It's a bumping jam and definitely stays in your craw all day. I don't know if this is from a upcoming album release or not. With MatNSaS's, I decided to check them out since they were opening for the Elected back in October. I had listened to them before but didn't get far. I found that still holds true - this song I love but I can't get into anything else by them.

M.I.A. - XR 2
Margot and the Nuclear So-and-So's - Skeleton Key

NEWS: Bloc Party Drummer Suffers Collapsed Lung

Via Pitchfork. Hopefully all will be well.

Last night, Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong suffered a collapsed lung following his band's gig with Panic! at the Disco and Jack's Mannequin at Atlanta, Georgia's HiFi Buys Amphitheatre. He is currently being treated in one of the city's hospitals and, according to a statement on the band's website, is in stable, "comfortable condition" and "not in any danger."
Tong will remain at the hospital under observation for the next three days, and as it stands, it is unclear when he will be well enough to play again.

So far, four Bloc Party dates have been cancelled: Charlotte, NC, Fairfax, VA, and both New York City shows.

According to the BBC, a spokeswoman for the band said Tong may have been injured while drumming.

"Matt is known for his energetic drumming style," she said. "It's not clear at this stage when he will be fit to resume performing."

Our thoughts are with Matt, his friends, and his family.

The GOOD, the BAD and the QUEEN

Here is the new single from Damon Albarn's next supergroup, The Good The Bad And The Queen that was released Oct 30th. This band consists of Damon Albarn, (Blur), Tony Allen-beats, (Afrobeat), Paul Simonon-bass,(The Clash), and Simon Tong-guitar,(Verve/Gorillaz). The album is due out January 2007.

Sounds very Gorillaz-ish to me.

UPDATE: Here is a direct download link. The Good The Bad and The Queen - Herculean.mp3"

Herculean
This is uploaded using ZShare again. Still trying to figure out direct download hosting. A reader suggested SnapDrive but that didn't work very well this evening. So, follow the links.

The Good, The Bad and The Queen online.

NEW SPIDERMAN 3 TRAILER

Here at iFilm.

Some pretty juicy stuff in there - the symbiote taking over Spiderman, Sandman's origin, Spidey vs Sandman and Harry taking over as Green Goblin. I am still waiting for the 30 seconds of film that they shot here in Cleveland that I stood around for 3 hours to not see but hopefully something will make it into the movie.

COLOUR REVOLT

COLOUR REVOLT band comprises 5 rockers out of Jackson, Mississippi and starts last fall as Hurricane Katrina hit the weekend they were to record. With a lack of recording space and equipment, they threw together a recording booth of cardboard boxes and set up ProTools to get going.

Combine the three-guitars and their cascading notes that bounce across the atmosphere like a ping pong and Isaac Brock/Wolf Parade-ish quiet to raging lyrics, and I am sold. My favourite new band. (Did you see how I threw a 'u' into favorite, like they did with Colour? GENIUS!)

UPDATE: Here is a direct download link. Colour Revolt - Mattresses Underwater

Mattresses Underwater (follow link)

Head over to the Colour Revolt MySpace page to listen to another great track, New Family, as well as a remix of that song. You can also buy the Colour Revolt EP at iTunes.

FYI: This is my first attempt at using a different file sharing source, ZShare. You have to follow 2 or so links unfortunately but I bandwidth is free. If you hate following links, suggest something else.