Belle and Sebastian - Belle and Sebastian Write about Love

Paul's Choice:

Belle and Sebastian - Belle and Sebastian Write about Love

Friend Review:

When I was originally listening to this album, I was trying to think of adjectives that I could use to describe it in the review. So here they are: cute and pleasant. And if you don’t think that describes this album you don’t know shit about music. But anyways, Belle and Sebastian Write about Love is about as accurate of an album title as you could ask for. When you’re sleeping next to your girlfriend and you’re alarm goes off, but you don’t want to get out of bed, this is the album that you put on. There’s nothing too daring or drastic about this album, it’s simple pop songs. BUT, that doesn’t mean this album isn’t enjoyable, especially if you’re a previous B&S fan. I personally am not a fan of Norah Jones’ inclusion on the album, but aside from that I really can’t think of anything to complain about. It’s cute, it’s simple, and it’s fun. From the jumpy twangy sound of “I’m Not Living In The Real World” to the badassness of “I Want The World To Stop” (DAT BASS), this album can keep any indie pop fan entertained.

Friend Rating:

7.8

Hipster Review:

After hearing If You're Feeling Sinister for the first time two years ago, I have had a special place in my heart for the Scottish indie band Belle & Sebastian. Their talent of stringing melodies together to create a brilliantly simple pop song is nothing short of genius, and they have plenty of classic albums under their belt (ignoring the dull Fold Your Hands Child You Look Like a Peasant) to ensure their placement in the canon of history's greatest pop groups.
After their last proper LP The Life Pursuit saw the group experimenting with and expanding their sound (with excellent results), the band took a bit of a detour with the side project God Help The Girl, a girl group-esque album that retained the band's signature pop sound while exploring new dynamics. It was a decent album, though definitely not up to par with what they had done before (it was, however, a lot better than Fold your Hands).
Write About Love explores the ground that was paved by The Life Pursuit, but also partially carries the girl group-dynamic present in God Help The Girl. It's a slightly disappointing record, but only slightly. There are a lot of good songs; in fact, pretty much every song here is good. The only problem is that none are great. There were a lot of times while listening where I felt like the songs either did too much or too little; there wasn't that structural balance that's present on pretty much every other album they've done. Though to be fair, one can't knock them for not making another Sinister (that's only slightly more likely than Weezer making another Blue Album... but I won't get into that now). And like I said, it's not a bad album by any means. It's a worthy entry into their discography, and definitely one of the year's most pleasant pop albums. Overall, Write About Love presents a more accessible, streamlined Belle & Sebastian. And that's better than none at all.

Hipster Rating:

7.9

Coming up next, Apollo Kids by Ghostface Killah!

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Taylor's Choice:

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Hipster Review:

To this day, I still don't get it.
Everything about Kanye West should make me hate him. He's an arrogant, self-idolizing asshole. He knows it too, and seems not the least bit ashamed. And he constantly keeps us this image of douchery as if his life and career depended upon it.

And yet...
Kanye is unlike any rapper in recent memory. He doesn't have a pseudonym or rap name, unlike essentially EVERY other artist in the genre's history. He creates music with the highest ambition in mind, not settling for anything less than his artistic vision, which distinguishes him from most other mainstream rappers: he views his music as art rather than commodity. He is, above all else, for better and for worse, true to himself. And despite his less than savory image, he's made some pretty damn good music.
His first two albums (especially his sophomore release Late Registration) are among the best albums of the 2000's; their sprawling yet focused scope provided the decade with some of it's most captivating music, and to this day sound unlike anything else in the genre. And while his recent electro-pop detours were less thrilling, people who worked with West on his latest album began to talk excitedly, including DJ Premier who stated that West was "totally done with electro. You're gonna be surprised by what you hear."
Then "Power" leaked.
Built on a beautifully-used sample of "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson, the song was a surprising sudden comeback; it managed to be both self-aggrandizing and self-effacing, showing off both West's strengths and shortcomings. And that is essentially what the entirety of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is like; it's Kanye's love letter and roast to himself. He's been known in the past to write a few humble songs as a contradiction to his image, but never as much as he does here. He identifies himself as a "Monster," and still finds himself "addicted to the hood rats," even when he can find himself a "good girl." Kanye knows he's a fuck up, and he either doesn't know how to change or doesn't want to. In any case, Kanye has never been this open in his music before, and that's saying a lot about a guy who's constantly talking about... well, himself. Just look at that album cover; it says more than words ever could.
The production on these songs is brilliant; not a single one chooses to feed into the notion that the mainstream is stuck in a musical stasis, and each has it's own distinct feel and vibe that makes it stand out on it's own. All the subtleties and pokes at minimalism are completely shattered; Kanye goes after the biggest, grandest sounds on here. The guests pairings are pretty head-spinning, too: Raekwon and Kid Cudi? Jay-Z and RZA? Somehow even the craziest moments on this album come together as a whole and seem to make sense, which speaks to Kanye's talent as, if I may be so bold, an artist.
Alright, this is officially the longest review I've ever written, so I'm going to wrap this up: In essence, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the most grandiose, most flawed, most perfect album of Kanye West's career. It's not his best album, but it is his most defining and thematically consistent. It opens up Kanye for the world to see, and how much you care affects how you enjoy the album. But you and I both know that you do want to look, if even just a little bit.

Hipster Rating:

9.0

Friend Review:

Happy New Year! I hope you are doing well.

Hip-hop has always been more of Taylor’s thing than mine. However I was excited to listen to this album after seeing all the hype it got on /mu/. This decade’s ITAOTS, whodathunkit? Then I saw Kanye West perform on Saturday Night Live. HOLY FUDGE. That was seriously one of the greatest SNL performances I’ve ever seen them. If you didn’t catch it, YouTube it right now. No seriously, open up a new tab and watch it right now, he performed “Power” and “Runaway”.

The only real contact I have with hip-hop is the shit that gets played on the radio, usually heard when I’m bumming a ride off a friend. The biggest fact I know about hip-hop is that I hate that crap. There are moments in this album that very much resemble the hits that all the kids are singing out there today. Rihanna’s part in “All of the Lights” is straight up painful to listen to. The greatest moments on MBDTF are when West is aggressive and has his own distinctive sound. Listen to “Dark Fantasy”, “Power”, “Monster”, “So Appalled”, and “Runaway”. These pieces are straight-up MOVING. I know this is probably the most hyped album of the year, and when I listen to these tracks I completely understand and at some points agree, but seeing as it only comprises about half of the album, I don’t think it makes up for the slower parts of the album which just feel like filler to me.

Friend Rating:

7.4

Coming up next, Belle & Sebastian Write About Love by Belle & Sebastian!