Cassidy's "I'm A Hustla" is decent. Although he comes out pretty fierce with his delivery and lyrics, on some songs, it just sounds too much of the same punch lines. Also, argh, too much Swizz Beatz.

Missy Elliot's "The Cookbook" is not bad. The first track "Joy" booms pretty hard on a good set of speakers. The basslines are crazy and the drums got a nice slap. Nice Timbo beat. I'm always a fan of his 2-part beat compositions. The opening single, "Lose Control" samples the old school Cybertron "Clear" track. It's another Ciara/Missy collabo. It's not a bad track. She seems to like paying homage to old school hip-hop in her past couple albums. If she only did it a few times in her last album, she sure did it a lot in this one.

Common's "Be" is always gonna be in my rotation. Sometimes I don't need some hard *** rap CD to knock in my car. My favorite tracks on this one was "Go" featuring John Mayer and "Faithful" with Bilal and John Legend. Kanye provides Common with a good number of great beats. The street anthem of the year, "The Corner" is hot as f*ck!

Memphis Bleek's "534" is an improvement from his previous albums, but that ain't saying much. Just Blaze gives him a couple good beats with the opening track, "534". The bright spots were "Alright", which was had a 9th Wonder beat with his distinct hard drums and clean samples. He shows some determination to keep the Roc on top of the game. That's about one of the only tracks I play regularly from this album though. The other one, I shouldn't even count as a Memphis Bleek song. It was just a random Jay-Z freestyle called "Dear Summer" that he did late last year and inserted in the CD as the 3rd track. *shrug* Hot song, but I think it shoulda stayed on the mixtapes. I never really thought much of Memphis Bleek, but this album was barely "okay" compared to most of the stuff he comes out with.

I like Coldplay's "X&Y". The headlining single, "Speed of Sound" was one of the better Coldplay songs I've heard in a while. The album's solid. I'm gonna include it in my regular rotation eventually. I listened to this on my car ride to Davis and as usual, it's a nice mellow CD to listen to and relax.

Am I the only one who's still not used to Fergie being part of BEP?

 

She's the reason I now consider them a pop band.

 

I'm sorta torn about BEP adding Fergie. I didn't like the concept of it as an avid hip-hop fan, but at the same time, as a fan of many kinds of music, it's kinda refreshing to bring other sounds to the table. So I'm not calling it blasphemy yet. I guess it'll take a while to grow on me. They sorta remind me of Japan's m-flo at times. Still hip-hop, but more universal to a wider audience.

 

(rock) Audioslave "Out of Exile" - horrible! they completely sold out, the album sounds nothing like their first, self titled, album

(experimental rock) Dredg "Catch Without Arms" - not as good as their first two albums, they also sold out, the album is more post punk, AFI type stuff

(rock) System of a Down "Mesmerize" great album, the songs are not just political bashes, but some of their wonderful random lyrics, cant wait for the second disc, "Hypnotize" to come out

 

The single, "BYOB" was pretty promising with the new System of a Down CD. When I first heard it, I was surprised with it, "Wow, it's more of a party track."

 

im waiting for august. new thrice album.

 

i'm not hating on fergie being part of the bep's. they were good then in the rawer (is that a word?) sense. now that she's added on they are a bit more popish-the new No Doubt.

as for the common album, i've heard mixed reviews. i'll have to suck it up and see for myself.

thanks for the thread

 

Me too. I love the last album...has not left the cd player since I bought it. Also can't wait for another Unjust and 36 Crazy Fists album to come out.

OneManArmy, thanks for starting this thread. I never know what new stuff is out or if it's gonna suck or not. That's sad cuz I work for a radio station!

Oh, I miss the old Common...back when he was Common Sense and was from Chicago.

 

^^ yea thats the same here. seen them in concert and fell in love. if you like them you'd like senses fail.

 

I hate to call anyone out....but are you ****ing kidding me? Post punk? AFI? WTF? have you ever listened to AFI? With the last record I can almost see where you'd draw a comparison....almost. There stuff is still much harder than Dredg. I don't think dredg sold out at all. You see them live lately? Incredible still. Maybe I don't watch enough mtv or listen to the radio enough but I don't recall hearing anything about them? This record is a bit more commercially exceptable and has a few hooks in it but it's far far from a sell out record. It's still very odd, very well composed and very not pop.

I don't get it...honestly. I do see them as experimental rock...but no way in hell would I consider them post punk...there's no punk anything in dredg.

Selling out is when you completely change your sound to sell records. I don't think they've done that. I loved the last record. My favorite of the bunch, but this is a very good offering from them. Just because a bands sound changes slightly or their song writing grows doesn't mean they are selling out. I ****ing hate that word. sellout. God forbid a local band get some recognition...some well deserved recognition.


Once again...sorry to be an ******* but I'm kind of a music snob to a point and seeing the words post and punk next to dredg set me off. No harm no foul though I suppose. Everyone entitled to an opinion.



As for common...didn't he get sued and have to change his name from common sense to common? I listed to the record again. I think I like it more every time I listen to it. That is the sign of a quality record. I still like some of his older stuff better and for some reason I know people will hate me for this, but there is something I can't get into with a lot of kanye's stuff. Not sure what yet. But there are some great tracks on the record.


oh and the thread. I'm glad it's going. I'm glad people are taking hold of it. Cause I have picked up some records I was stoked to get and just been totally let down. Still trying to pick my brain but a couple months ago I bought 5 cd's in 2 days and returned 3 of them. I NEVER return cd's.