Radio Rant: Baaeur – Harlem Shake

Posted on February 26, 2013 by bgibs122

Hello, and welcome to Radio Rants, bonus edition. So, “Harlem Shake”.

Do I really have to review “Harlem Shake”? I know I gave “Thrift Shop” backhanded comments up and down last week for sounding like a novelty hit, but this is a novelty hit. It’s currently at number one on the Hot 100, but that’s more to do with how Billboard quantifies songs than straight up popularity.

Last year, the big wigs at Billboard and Nielsen realized that plenty of people just use YouTube as a jukebox, and that counting “streaming activity” (read: pulling up the lyrics video of “Shirt and Tie” to play while skimming the internet, or at an incredibly low budget party without a DJ) was a good idea. This policy got enacted this past week, meaning that streaming a song online counts just as much as buying a single, or hearing it on the radio for the Billboard charts. Well, “current” songs–ones that were just released, or just getting attention (“Harlem Shake”, for example, was released in May of 2012). Make of it what you will; I think it’ll be interesting to see how the new policy plays out.

Anyway, getting back to “Harlem Shake”. I know I just called it a novelty hit, but really, it’s closer to a meme than anything. The videos featuring the song are usually 30 seconds, and are so user-dependent that just about anybody can do one. The sheer number of them, and the attention the high profile ones get is what kicked “Harlem Shake” to number one.

And that’s all I’ve got to say about “Harlem Shake” as a meme. So, how is it as a song?

Well…meh?

It’s a trap song. Like, the sub-genre it’s part of is called trap; an off-shoot of Southern rap (See: Three Six Mafia, TI, Rick Ross, Waka Flocka) that’s big on quick hi-hats, sharp snares, and deeper bass. It’s a sub-genre that was dormant for a few years before it started getting swept up into EDM by DJs like Baaeur, who have started including it with a little bit of dubstep and drops into their music.

As for “Harlem Shake” itself, the song gets off to a quick start: a sampled vocal kicks the song off before it launches into a synth and percussion build-up. The dueling synths hype each other up; one’s simply looped as the main hook while the other speeds up for the “DO THE HARLEM SHAKE” drop.

And the drop is pretty damn sweet. The main, hyperactive synth stays present, but the trap beat–deft hi-hat hits, skittering snare, and killer bass are awesome together, as is the motherfucking tiger roar sample. I don’t know where it ranks in the grand scheme of trap music, but at least to an outsider like me, it’s pretty enjoyable.

The only problem is that I just described the first thirty seconds of a three minute song that spends the next two and a half minutes doing jackshit. I get that the songs is at least part EDM, and that part of the point of dance music is the repetition, but “Harlem Shake” is a super front-loaded song. It seems to wear itself out a little over halfway through, and does another build/drop, but it’s not as fulfilling as the first. The only changes after that are a few beat shifts or occasional synth omissions. It’s alright as far as music goes, but genuinely underwhelming and kind of dissatisfying after a great opening half minute.

Even discounting the meme schtick, “Harlem Shake” still feels like a novelty. The initial idea’s there, but there’s no building or expanding on it like there is in other electronic music. Again, the idea itself is pretty awesome, but without any support, it only works once, and the next two and a half minutes are a fun, if pretty mindless loop. To its credit, the song does a fantastic job pulling you in right off the bat, and is able to keep a pretty good groove going over its 3:17 runtime (admittedly short for a dance track). I like it, I just wish it did more.

So, uh, that’s about it for the song. Oh, while I was looking up information related to the song, I found out that the Harlem shake–dating back to 1981–is not actually in the song or the meme”Harlem Shake”; Baaeur only picked the name as a shoutout. For the curious, there are a couple of YouTube tutorials, and you can see it in a music video here (the vid’s from 2001). Looks kinda fun.

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Radio Rant: will.i.am ft. Britney Speaks – Scream and Shout

Posted on February 26, 2013 by bgibs122

Hello, and welcome to Radio Rants. Club time, y’all!

The last time we checked in with will.i.am was all the way in late 2011, when he released his utter abomination (but still weirdly compelling) “T.H.E.” as a promo single for #willpower, and yes, it’s spelled with a hashtag. Here we are over a year later with “Scream & Shout”, another promo single for the oft-delayed #willpower (which apparently doesn’t have the willpower to get a timely release). “Scream & Shout” is meant to hold audiences over for the album’s tentative March release date.

And I cannot wait to listen to the whole thing.

I mean that without a shred of sarcasm; I will listen to #willpower the day it comes out. I find will.i.am to be–well, “fascinating” might be giving him too much credit, but entertaining. Here’s a guy who sees himself as a pop music auteur like Kanye West or Danger Mouse, someone whose work carries his own brand and signature; he’s not just making music, he’s making art. And he’s godawful at it. will.i.am can talk about the house music scene of Paris, reflect on what the big sound is going to be for pop in the next year, and then come out with something as dreadful as “Dirty Bit”. He dreams of being Tarantino, but can only manage M. Night Shyamalan.

Who else would release something like “Scream and Shout”?

It’d be one thing if “Scream and Shout” was just another mindless club jam that missed the mark, but there’s a lot of thought behind the song. No one feeling lazy makes a synth hook that sounds like a pitch altered sample of a busted refrigerator, or elongated bass, or that harsh, plucked loop that opens the song. After some four full minutes of gnawing beat, there’s a few extra flourishes and drums on the final chorus that are actually engaging, but the song as a whole misses the mark. I can imagine will.i.am spending time and attention to the details in the verses and chorus looking for a futuristic, sleek sound, but all he got out of “Scream and Shout” is a robotic, icy, and downright bad beat.

And speaking of “robotic”, welcome back to Radio Rants Britney Spears, how’ve you been? Because based on “Scream and Shout”, you’ve been in England. Or at least with Madonna. Britney’s first lines in the song come out processed beyond all recognition, and in an affected British accent that sounds like she wants to join Green Day. She ditches it for her backing vocals on the chorus, though. But even then, she sounds bored beyond recognition; I don’t mean bored in general–Spears tends to sound like she’s just reading whatever’s in front of her in her music lately–but bored by Britney measures bored. Then again, with “Scream and Shout”‘s lyrics, she didn’t exactly get a lot to work with.

“When you hear this in the club, you’re gonna turn this shit up” If it’s 4:00 AM, and they’re trying to send everyone home.

“When we up in the club, all eyes on us” “will.i.am and Britney Spears walk into a club”, and the punchline is this joke of a song.

“See the boys in the club, they watchin’ us” The line ends with “us”, this line ends with “us”, and the next line ends with “us”. I know it’s a nitpick, but at least have some variety to your filler lyrics.

At least Spears isn’t alone on the filler front. Will.i.am manages the almost impressive feat of having a chorus, a bridge, and two verses without saying a goddamn thing between any of them. The chorus, washed of repeats and loops is “I wanna scream and shout and let it all out/We sayin’ ‘Oh we oh we oh we oh'” And now, the verses!

I’m just kidding, why waste our time? The verses are all variations on “Rock and roll/lose control/Going faster, ain’t going slow/Rock it out/Burn down the house/Bring in the action/It goes on and on/I wish it’d last forever”. Yes, both verses. And the bridge. “Scream and Shout”‘s a party song that forgot that parties are supposed to sound fun. There is exactly one line in the entire song that’s noteworthy.

“You are now rocking with william and Britney, bitch!” 

That “Gimme More” sample is nowhere near enough to save the song, but it’s still a weirdly inspired, unpredictable, and human touch in a song that’s more mechanic than the device you’re using to read this sentence. It’s the one blip in the over four and a half minutes of “Scream and Shout” that actually sounds like fun. And that’s this song’s biggest failing; it might be as terrible as “T.H.E.”, but doesn’t have any of that song’s sheer insanity to compensate. “Scream and Shout” is an ugly, harsh, downright turgid club jam that makes partying sound like a prison sentence than any form of release.

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Radio Rant: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Wanz – Thrift Shop

Posted on February 18, 2013 by bgibs122

Hell, and welcome to Radio Rants. I know it’s been awhile, but I’m back! And what a song to come back to.

Macklemore is the first independent artist to get a Number 1 in 20 years or so, fun fact.

Macklemore’s an independently signed rapper whose debut album The Heist came out last October with “Thrift Shop” as a single, meaning that yes, “Artist known for fuckall releases an album/single with a killer video that goes big on YouTube months later” is now a reliable path to success. I’m not sure how I should feel about this.

I mean, on one hand, it’s the same strategy that’s been around since MTV started picking up steam: “catchy song+good video=$$”, but that model also carried a bit of insurance with it: the song had to be able to carry itself at least reasonably well on the radio, and the video was only there as a booster (it’s also worth nothing that this model assumed the company, not the consumer, had control over when the video was seen). And the internet videos have mostly been for decent songs–looking at you, “Video Games”, “Call Me Maybe”, and “Gangnam Style”.

Then you get “Thrift Shop”.

“Thrift Shop” is in that annoying category where it’s not strictly speaking bad, but it wore on me in record time. The song’s benefited greatly from the video, which is admittedly pretty awesome, but the song itself isn’t that great without it. As a song, “Thrift Shop” is a lot like a gaudy thrift shop purchase: it’s kinda of funny as a gimmick the first time, gets old fast after that, and I can’t help but want to like it, but just can’t.

So, first things first: that hook that Wanz does is, in his own words, “Fucking awesome”! Wanz has a big, bassy voice and effortlessly cool delivery that fits the song so damn well. Looking through a thrift shop for a great deal while on a shoestring budget isn’t as much fun as the hipsters make it out to be, but with Wanz, it sounds like a blast. That goes extra for the bridge; “I’ll wear your granddad’s clothes/I’ll look incredible” is damn near cringe-worthy on its own, but Wanz makes it sound like a boast on the level of comparing yourself to God. He owns it the way you have to own wearing a thrift shop purchase.

So yeah, the hook’s great. What about the other two names on the song, Mackerelmore and Ryan Lewis? Ryan Lewis is ‘more’s producer, making him responsible for that somewhat annoying horn line. Other than that, the production’s fairly standard; the beat’s alright, there’s some double-time clapping for the chorus, and a vintage sounding synth at the bridge. The beat has a sort of throwback feel to it, like it was produced by an obvious hip-hop fan, but it’s nothing special. It fits the somewhat grungy, second-hand feel of the song.

The beat’s fine, the hook is great…what’s so bad about this song? Unfortunately, “Thrift Shop”‘s biggest feature is also it’s weakest: Macklemore. I’ll get to the line-by-line in a moment, but the overriding problem with his verses here is that he…I don’t think he knows what he wanted with this song. With a concept like, “Fuck yeah, thrifting”, he could have taken it as a joke, a fashion boast, or pointed out how silly high fashion is. He tried to do all three, and it doesn’t take; no matter which way he went with it, he’d have had to really embrace it. Like, ok, if it was a joke, then playing it as big as possible ala The Lonely Island is the way to go. Or, if he’s serious, then talking about how awesome and great this stuff he found is. And, if he wanted to ridicule high fashion, play up the ridiculousness there.

Instead, Macklemore plays the whole thing off with this goofy “I’m just kidding” vibe that kills most of the fun. He doesn’t act like he’s invested in the song the way that Wanz embraces it, like “Hey, I’m joking around, so why try hard, right?”

And, beyond all of that, he is just so unfunny.

“Walk into the club like, ‘What up? I got a big cock!'” Aaand this is why it’s always good to remove the placeholder lyrics before recording.

“Ice on the fringe, it’s so damn frosty/That people like, ‘Damn, that’s a cold-ass honkey’/Rollin’ in hella deep, headin’ to the mezzanine/Dressed in all pink, ‘cept my Gator shoes, those are green” Actually, the reaction to those outfits tends to be “Look at that asshole”. And thank you, Macklemore, we really needed “honkey” back in our lexicon.

“Probably should have washed this, cuz it smells like R.Kelly’s sheets/Pissssssssssssssssssssssssssssss/But s–Nope, not having it. This is one of the worst jokes I’ve heard in awhile, and the song even takes a time out to point out how “funny” it is. Shit, even if it was funny, explaining the joke promptly killed it.

“They had a broken keyboard?/I bought a broken keyboard” …why buy it then?

“What do you know about rocking a wolf on your noggin?/What you know about wearing a fur fox skin?” That it’s tacky in a not particularly surprising way, and that “look at me be weird!” is not the same thing as being funny or cool.

“They be like, ‘That Gucci, man that’s hella tight’/I’m like, ‘Yo, that’s fifty dollars for a t-shirt/Limited edition, let’s do some simple addition/Fifty dollars for a t-shirt? That’s just some ignorant bitch shit” I hate to agree with the guy that mails in blatantly pandering jokes like wearing a onesie, but he’s got a good point.

Without the video to support it, the verses in “Thrift Shop” sound like Macklemore got the idea of doing a song about thrifting, but didn’t know how to make it happen. It’s kind of a shame that his big hit left a bad taste in my mouth, because he seems like an OK enough guy. He looks like he’s having fun in the video if nothing else, he’s got a creative flow, and he isn’t afraid of getting creative. I just wish that he’d had the guts to rock “Thrift Shop” like says he does.

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New Music: Arc & Stones – Arc & Stones (EP)

Posted on February 17, 2013 by bgibs122

ArcAndStonesisoutnow!One of the favorite topics of music journalists/bloggers is the tired “rock is dead” or “radio rock is dead” thinkpiece that bemoans a lack of fresh and exciting rock music. New alternative rock in particular comes under fire for, by their claim, all but disappearing over the past few years; the alt rock landscape is populated by arean-sellers like Foo Fighters and The Black Keys while fresher bands start heading for a more indie rock sound. These articles have become so overdone that the automatic response is that “You’re just not looking in the right place”.

Brooklyn based Arc & Stones spend their debut EP looking for that right place. Touting themselves as “old soul with a new sound”, Arc & Stones is five good doses of 00s alternative rock that keeps the young band’s central sound while varying the delivery enough that little feels repeated. The EP makes the split between 1990s alt and grunge and 00s alt apparent; there’s a bigness here that is distinctly post-Alternative Nation. Even for the 90s bands that went for a big, full sound (The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails), it was driven by emotion and catharsis that sound miles away from a 2000s single like “Learn to Fly”.

A&S‘s lead single and song “Silence” would sound comfortable on whatever local radio station still plays “Learn to Fly”. In under a minute, the song goes from a quiet reverb guitar and vocal opening to taut, stomping drums and distorted guitar before exploding into a huge chorus. The most immediate “old soul” on the chorus is the Foo Fighters, with whom Arc & Stones share a knack for cheating hooks and melodies into powerhouse choruses, although “Silence” throws in some “new sound” with a scrapping and squalling guitar that stays present through the whole chorus. The way the band is able to dissemble and rebuild the song at the bridge is slick to boot, and hints at an adventurous edge.

That adventurousness is explored more in “Say Goodbye”. A pleasant piano/acoustic guitar duo open the song while lyrics about a troubled relationship are laid bare. This keeps up until about a fourth of the way in, at which point the rest of the band kicks in, including an Incubus-influenced guitar lead. The full band stays for the next verse, but the most thrilling part of the song is tempo-changing, slash and burn rock out bridge. The thick, distorted, low-end guitar sounds like a rougher Black Keys riff.

And while almost every up and coming rock band with riffs cites The Black Keys as a reference, Arc & Stones is one of the few bands where the claim has validity. Fourth track “She’s Mine” is the EP’s big, dumb rock song, but the band plays the ever living hell out of it, and the song’s closer to a blue rock freak-out than a bar band jam. The vocals do some favors for the song and the Black Keys comparison; all throughout Arc & Stones, they’re a mix of Dan Auerbach rasp and the full voice of Caleb Followill from Kings of Leon, but on “She’s Mine”, they’re especially gritty. The band’s less successful on “Let Me Down”, the designated ballad of the EP. It’s a worthy attempt at an acoustic ballad, but can’t quite support itself at four and a half minutes long; it’s the longest song on Arc & Stones, and it certainly feels like it.

After detouring with “Let Me Down” and “She’s Mine”, Arc & Stones come back to their signature sound for closer “Rise”. The most striking thing about “Rise” is how triumphant it is; the solo is searing, the drums never let up, and the entire song has a naturally dynamic feel to it; it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be a jam or a single. And, the EP’s five songs, it’s the hardest one with which to play Spot The Influence. It’s an exciting way to close a promising EP.

Arc & Stones is a solid and energetic EP that brings a sound you didn’t know you missed. The band’s influences are, at this point, still a little transparent, but there’s no blatant lifts, and they put a new spin on any of the old souls that they use. The only time it stumbles is in the middle, but the EP runs so brief that it’s hard to notice. Arc & Stones are a young band, but they aren’t afraid to be big, or be loud, and you shouldn’t be afraid of giving them a try.

Keep up with the band on their Facebook page, and given “Silence” a listen below.

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