Nov 22, 2011
Nov 21, 2011
Yelawolf - Radioactive
Yelawolf's major label debut, Radioactive, is out today. FTM's a big fan of Yela's rural southern angle on hip-hop. His previous releases were full of classic rock and country influence with lyrics about the darker side of southern living. Think Drive-by Truckers for the rap set.
When he signed with Eminem's Shady Records in 2010, I was pretty excited for him. Of course I was a little apprehensive as well, concerned that his signature sound might get swallowed up by the corporate machine. I erred on the side of anxiousness though, knowing Yelawolf's talent and story (he's a half-white, half-Native American former professional skateboarder from the deep south) will make for a groundswell of support and bring true talent back to mainstream rap.
I'd be lying if I said Radioactive lived up to my expectations. I was naively hoping for something groundbreaking - a Nevermind of rap maybe - bringing his small town gutter sound to the mainstream. Unfortunately, it sounds more like the mainstream was brought to him.
Radioactive is still a very strong album with a few great and mostly good tunes. All the rap skills are there. The lyrics are generally excellent. The beats are solid and the production isn't overdone ….for the most part.
When the album sticks to Yelawolf's strengths it's at its best. "Grownin' up in the Gutter" is an angry rocked up rant which argues that hard times are everywhere, not just the ghetto. "Let's Roll," mines Yela's classic rock influences with an unabashedly catchy arena anthem, with a strong chorus from Kid Rock.
Where the record drops off is when Yela gets away from his meat and potatoes. The tracks that echo B.O.B. are definitely skippers. "Good Girl" is one "for the ladies," but I'm not sure even they will enjoy the annoying chorus and mixed messages. "Made in the USA" is a fairly well-written protest track completely torpedoed by a Debbie Boone meets Lee Greenwood hook. It's so sappy, it destroys whatever message Yelawolf wanted to impart.
Drop a little of this pop filler (which in fact isn't filler - I'm sure "Good Girl" will be released as a single to move a few units) and replace it with a couple more classic rock influenced bangers and Radioactive would be a little closer to that classic I wanted. Still, Yela's way above most of the rest of rap right now. He actually writes songs, not just barking out brags around a chorus. Let's hope his next album gives more of his unique southern perspective.
Nov 20, 2011
YouTube Junk: Brantley Gilbert
This song just hit #1 on the Mediabase charts. I usually try to keep the language in check around here, but fuck this motherfucker. Any song that has "country" in the title but begins with the words "Go ahead and crank this song up"... well, you know it sucks. Gilbert has now replaced his dad, Jason Aldean as FTM's #1 enemy.
Nov 19, 2011
Nov 18, 2011
YouTube Gems: Cary Ann Hearst
From Lions and Lambs, here is Cary Ann Hearst with "Hell's Bells." RIYL: Kathleen Edwards, Janis Joplin, Neko Case, Bonnie Raitt, Hayes Carll.
Nov 17, 2011
Top 10 (Non-Existent) Country Songs About Picnic Products
With the popularity of Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup" (which is either completely insipid or absolute genius), FTM considered which other picnic essentials might make for good (okay, terrible) song fodder.
Top 10 (Non-Existent) Country Songs About Picnic Products
10. Martina McBride - "Dasani Bottle (It's a Good Thing Gin is Clear)"
09. Garth Brooks - "Are You Gonna Finish That Pimento and Cheese?"
08. Bucky Covington - "Grilling for Dummies"
07. Little Jimmy Dickens - "Bury Me in a Coleman When I Die"
06. Brantley Gilbert - "Drinking the Koolaid"
05. Chris Knight - "Lawn Dart Through the Heart"
04. Loretta Lynn - "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Ham Sandwich"
03. Kid Rock - "Wet Ones Antibacterial"
02. Brad Paisley - "I'd Like to Spray You With Off"
01. Gary Levox - "Dixie Heavy Duty Plates"
Nov 16, 2011
Best of 2011 So Far...
Alright, this is the final "Best of 2011…" before the year end list. As you may notice, there's been a great deal of upheaval since the last update. New albums I can't get enough of have rocketed to the top (Quails, Hellbound) and some that were previously high in the rankings have grown tiresome (Blitzen Trapper, Ha Ha Tonka). See what you think and tell me what I've missed (and there are some I just haven't heard enough yet - Boland's new album for one).
1. The Damn Quails - Down the Hatch
2. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Here We Rest
3. Hellbound Glory - Damaged Goods
4. Hayes Carll - KMAG YOYO
5. Jimbo Mathus - Confederate Buddha
6. Cary Anne Hearst - Lions and Lambs
7. Butch Walker and the Black Widows - The Spade
8. Austin Lucas - A New Home, In the Old World
9. Kasey Anderson and the Honkies - Heart of a Dog
10. Ponderosa - Moonlight Revival
11. Adele - 21
12. Stoney Larue - Velvet
13. Drew Kennedy - Fresh Water in the Salton Sea
14. Ryan Adams - Ashes and Fire
15. Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels
16. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Scandalous
17. Mastodon - The Hunter
18. Will Hoge - Number Seven
19. Miranda Lambert - Four the Record
20. Bad Meets Evil - Hell (The Sequel)
21. Scott H. Biram - Bad Ingredients
22. Larry Hooper - Between Here and the Stars
23. Left Lane Cruiser - Junkyard Speed Ball
24. Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
25. Centro-matic - Candidate Waltz
26. Eli Young Band - Life at Best
27. Adam Hood - The Shape of Things
28. Glossary - Long Live All of Us
29. Mike Ethan Messick - The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday
30. Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing
31. Cody Canada and The Departed - This is Indian Land
32. George Strait - Here for a Good Time
33. Robyn Ludwick - Out of These Blues
34. Ha Ha Tonka - Death of a Decade
35. Childish Gambino - Camp
Nov 15, 2011
Hellbound Glory - Damaged Goods
Hellbound Glory's new album, Damaged Goods, is out today and you better buy it (here!). The boys have retained all the swagger and grit of their previous release, Old Highs and New Lows, but shock of shocks.... they've matured.Oh, they haven't wiped their repertoire of drug references, attitude and guilty pleasure hooks, but they've grown as a band. Their already solid songwriting has gotten tighter. Their musical chops have gotten stronger... and their passion for the music only seems to be burning hotter.
Thankfully, the band has also held onto their dark (but somehow not particularly depressing) worldview. Junkies chase their habit into the sunset because that's what they're hellbent on doing. Women leave because that's what they do. We're just left to drink about it, and though there may be some self-pity mixed in, it's always a fully enjoyed self-pity.
The highlights of the album for me are lead single "Better Hope You Die Young," a warning that hard living isn't conducive to long life, and "Gonna Be a Goner," a catchy woe-is-me toe tapper with an earworm chorus.
"Knocked Off the Horse" is the track that sticks with you, though. It presents the case in matter-of-fact storytelling, that some drug addicts are just destined to let their dependence kill them and there's nothing you can do about it. It's an uncomfortably edgy take on the subject that paints the druggie as almost a heroic figure. It's a breath-taking tune.
Grab this album now if you like stone country with a modern bent and an unfiltered look at the seedier side of life. <---cliche but true
Damaged Goods is a gem.
Nov 14, 2011
Sackpunch #15: Chris Brown Apologists
Every Chris Brown Apologist Deserves a Sackpunch
CHRIS BROWN IS A LEGEND This nonsensical phrase was trending on Twitter for most of the day yesterday. While the merits of the statement can't even be argued rationally (can anyone who isn't a rabid fan even name more than 3 of his songs?), the reasons anyone would harbor such a thought can. However, I'm not here to discuss the psychoses of these mind-addled folks. I'm here to deal out hard facts, namely….
Every Chris Brown apologist deserves a sackpunch. All of you.
The man doesn't sing live very often in concert. Oh yeah, that's because he's dancing so much, you'll say. Yep, that's because he's ripping off Michael Jackson moves so much. And according to reports, he's playing to a lot of empty seats lately. Legend?
Musically, he's not exactly breaking any new ground. He's R&B lite-pop. He's had a total of two (2) #1 Billboard hits and those were in his first two years on the charts. None since. Legend?
Does anything in the last two paragraphs seem like enough to elicit the sort of passionate defense Chris Brown receives from his supporters? See examples:
@MissIgho
Chris Brown = The best there is + Can do no wrong. Please deposit ur opinions in ur bumbums. Thank u.
@BozanneNev
CHRIS BROWN IS A LEGEND end of. #teambreezy, die haters.
@BlazingxStar
People are still not over the fact that Chris Brown hit a woman. Omg he made a mistake. It was YEARS ago. Grow up people -_-
Is there this much passion for other artists with similar followings/styles/success? Besides maybe Usher, who has three #1 albums and nine #1 singles, no. So what is it? Hmmm.
Could it be? Noooo. But maybe… just maybe… this passion could be due to the elephant in the room that I haven't mentioned?
February 8, 2009, Chris Brown assaulted then-girlfriend, R&B megastar Rihanna. From then on, the opinion on Brown has been divided as far as east from west. Former fans without daddy and trust issues and people with IQ's above 95 have given him the finger. The remaining fans have gone all in. And off the deep end.
It's a love-fest and a blind one at that. It's a peculiar addiction. Mostly though, it's constant defense of an indefensible action.
"Eminem hit his wife. Charlie Sheen is an abuser. That was years ago. He made a mistake." Excuses excuses.
I won't defend Eminem. Anyone who lays hands on a woman to hurt them is a sick person, period. So why has society in general pretty much overlooked Eminem's abuse? He's white. I'll admit that's a factor. He's sold millions of albums. Money talks. It's been a much longer period of years since Eminem's crimes. Time heals wounds. Also, culture is more likely to overlook someone's flaws when they are innovative, iconic artists.
That's why Charlie Sheen hasn't been forgiven.
"Years ago" Yeah, three. And since then, Brown has only continued to exhibit a pattern of behavior that leads one to believe he's capable of repeating his actions. He broke mirrors and windows at Good Morning America when asked about the Rihanna incident. He threw a temper tantrum outside a Vegas bar, breaking a bottle and calling a bouncer a fa**ot. He insinuated that another singer was a homosexual when that singer called him out for the Rihanna incident. YESTERDAY, he said critics were just trying to get in Rihanna's pants. At a recent place of residence, he allegedly defaced property, parked exclusively in handicapped spots and played music at high decibels all times of the night.
Intelligent people won't ever forget, but some might be more likely to forgive if Chris would behave like someone who regrets his past.
"HE MADE A MISTAKE!" Wrong, a mistake is backing into somebody at Target. Chris Brown punched, pushed, threatened to kill, choked and bit a woman. By mistake?
Look, I can see maybe, maybe, maybe grasping a woman a bit roughly at the shoulders during a heated argument. I've never done it, but I can see where that might be an expected response for someone more highly strung that myself. Not that it's the best way to handle the situation.
But punching… pushing her head into glass and biting? Biting? How does it come to that? It doesn't for normal human males. Period. All the anger management in the world doesn't remove that from someone prone to doing it. Chris needs some respect-of-females-management. Some home training...
I get it, apologists, you dig the bad boy. You've latched onto Chris and unless he's caught on camera urinating on an underage female, you've got his back forever (R Kelly fans will overlook it though). You'll fight, curse and maybe more for your obsession. The more we hate on him, the more you love him.
Brown is living off you right now. If it weren't for you loonies, he'd be another has-been by now. Deservedly so.
Have some respect for yourself and women. I don't care if you keep listening to him. I listen to music from some real shitheads. You won't catch me defending their actions though. So stop it. Just enjoy his tunes and go to his concerts and buy his t-shirts and shut up. The haters aren't going to, but as soon as you (and your hero) stop reacting to it, the past will have a chance to become just that.
Until then, brace yourself. This is going to hurt you a lot more than it does me.
Here's your SACKPUNCH!
(not literally, I wouldn't hit a woman or a mentally-challenged person)
Nov 13, 2011
Nov 11, 2011
YouTube Gems: Glossary
From their excellent 2011 album Long Live All of Us, here's Glossary with "Trouble Won't Last Always." RIYL: Ryan Adams, Wilco, Lucero, The Civil Wars.
Nov 10, 2011
Feel Bad For You Mixtape: November
This month's edition of the Feel Bad For You Mixtape features some, uh, interesting cover art from Shooter Jennings and songs from The Eagles, Tom Waits, Alabama Shakes, The Damn Quails and more. Visit the site to discuss or download. Stream below!
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