Kyle Kinane – Death of the Party

“Good news guys. I don’t have to go to bed anymore. Cause it looks like all my dreams are coming true in the daytime.”

~Kyle Kinane – Way of the World

The man is sad, the man likes booze, the man likes 80’s power ballads, and he’s funny as a motherfucker. This is Kyle Kinane’s first album and he…fucking…kills.

His stand up solely focuses on his personal experiences. It doesn’t go into political land or lofty high in the sky theories as so many comics do now. No, he sticks with what he knows, being a art school graduate with no job skills, a heavy drinking problem, and no real future ahead of him. And that sounds completely isolated.

But no, everything he says is totally relatable from having soul-sucking jobs, to yelling at the TV, to loneliness. All of it funny as shit. But, at the end of the album you’re sad that it’s over. Not that you just listened to a sad dude saying sad stuff for an hour and now you’re bummed.

There are a…fuckload…of funny ass bits, lines, concepts, etc etc on this fantastic, magic wonder, ride of an album. Talking about blaming your parents for a drunk driving accident, to laughing at yourself because you still believe in yourself, to fucking dinosaur shampoo. Dino-fucking-saur shampoo. Amazing. And they all require you to listen to them again because you don’t believe what you’re hearing at first.

This is without a doubt one of the best comedy albums this year, hell probably this decade, but then again we’re only a year into it. Get it and laugh at sadness. Right in its fucking emotional face.

~SR

5 out of 5 Shattered Dreams

Album Out Now

Listen

Bunnies

Race Car Bed

Sucky Jobs

The Cool Kids - Tacklebox

“Got $100. Knocked off the phone bill. Call Everybody. Everybody’s all in.”

~The Cool Kids – Parking Lot

It’s fucking all 2008 again. It seems everything out now either is shit or the group was awesome in back in those loverly ‘pre-economic raping of America’s bank account’ days.

These guys seemed to be everywhere. Then nowhere. Now they’re back to everywhere and back with a sweet mixtape that just begs to be paid for. This tape will be one of the best and probably be up there as one of the best hip-hop records this year.

Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks have grown up right. They’ve graduated from bikes to cars like real full-blown hip-hop artists. But, instead of talking about how sweet their ride is they’re bitching about how a mechanic is trying fuck them over. And for the rest they still talk all about clothes, your girlfriend, and McDonald’s breakfast. All while becoming damn good storytellers in there own right, even if it’s just about grilling at the beach.

Chuck has become a fucking great producer by the way. While his beats are still minimal as fuck they’re starting to get chopped up loops, 80’s synths, and bass lines with more that 2 notes. It’s a damn pleasure listening to them and they flow seamlessly into one another making it that much more impressive.

This is just a goddamn great mixtape and the fact that it’s free makes it all the more worthwhile. Even though you have to put up with a few DJ breaks. It’s still one of the better hip hop tapes out there.

~SR

4 out of 5 Black Mag Black Mag Black Mags

Download (free): http://www.coolxkids.com/

Listen

Fishing Lessons

Good Afternoon

Flying Kytes

Tame Impala – Innerspeaker

"Expectation is taking it's toll."

~ Tame Impala - Expectations

Ever looked at something and at its core everything is sweet all the basic ingredients work but together it falls flat? That’s how I feel about that show “Justified” and this album here. Both have the things I find super sweet, “Justified” has guns, violence and whiskey and Innerspeaker has loud ass guitars, drugged out lyrics, and a whole psychedelic feel. But, both fall flat and it sucks so much when that happens.

Now, Tame Impala are a damn competent band. They know how to play their instruments. Every part is pretty much flawless on it’s own. But, all together it makes a bland shit sandwich. Which is a shit sandwich but it doesn’t taste that terrible so you might forget it sucks while eating it and might even finish it.

I actually like Tame Impala too. I liked them when I first heard them a couple years ago. I thought what they were doing was a fucking joy because going back to the heyday of 60’s psych rock was so much better than everyone else ripping off 80’s tracks. Hell, they still are. See: Black Eye Peas. Fuck, aren’t they just awful?

I think, and here’s the problem, Tame Impala went into the studio for too long. Their music is so much better when it sounds like they just threw some shit together in a garage somewhere in Perth. But, after spending months and months in a studio it’s just too over-produced, over-thought, and over all a bland product.

Zeppelin kicked ass early because they got their albums done in the matter of hours like “Zeppelin 1”. But, when you get to “In Through the Out Door” they took too much time and it gets boring. Same thing happened here. The EP was done super quick and it was awesome. Then Tame spend too much time and over-thought the shit.

But, hey there’s a couple sweet songs on here “Expectations” and “Alter Ego” are just tits and I’ll be listening to them for a long, long time to come. But, the rest will just be filed in the ‘who the hell cares’ section of music.

~SR

3 out of 5 ‘Lame’ Impala jokes avoided, oh wait, fuck.

Album Out Now

Listen

Alter Ego:

Solitude Is Bliss:

Half Glass Full of Wine (Tame’s Awesome Shit):

In Short Reviews

I’m busy, sidebar no I’m not. These will come out for albums I don’t give a shit enough to write something for.

Black Keys - Brothers - Awesome if you cut five songs. 3 out of 5

Listen: Next Girl


LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening - Meh, but I never got the appeal. 2 out of 5

Listen: Drunk Girls


The Dead Weather - Sea Of Cowards - Hah, it’s so awesome. 4 out of 5

Listen: Die By The Drop


Japandriods - No Singles - Lose the wind machine and write some new shit. 2 out 5

Listen: Art Czars

Guilty Simpson - OJ Simpson

“Coroner Music”

~Guilty Simpson - Coroner Music

Fuck yeah, Guilty Simpson is back and he’s still as awesome as ever. He’s been fucking great since “Jungle Love” off of J Dilla’s ‘The Shining.’ Yes, he was previously on Jaylib’s ‘Strapped’ and J Dilla’s ‘Baby.’ But, he was so fucking raw on ‘Jungle Love’ it was ridiculous. Not, to mention rapping over the best damn beat on 'The Shining’ this guy was fucking gold to start.

How can one describe Guilty. Easy, he’s as smooth and deep as Barry White but he raps about guns, drugs, murder, and sex. Now that sounds like it wouldn’t work. But, it fucking does and it’s brilliant. He rhymes like he just came off a drug deal that went bad and saw 12 people get hacked up with a chainsaw but since he’s such badass he talks about it like he was at his cousin’s birthday party.

This album’s has to be the spiritual successor to ‘Madvillian’ it has to be. It’s the same style, giving equal time to both Madlib (the producer) and Guilty. And Madlib is in top form. Mixing his style of chopped up beats and Richard Pryor comedy routines with Guilt’s rhymes about drug kingpins and sending people to their grave. It works so well and it’s such an improvement from Guilty’s last album. Guilty sounds as focused as he’s ever been, rarely misstepping, and doing he’s best rhyming over songs like ‘Coroner Music’ and ‘Trendsetters.’

This is the album Guilty was supposed to make and, to be honest it, revitalizes my faith in one of the hardest rappers out now.

~SR

4 out of 5 Sold Crack Viles

Album Out Now

Listen:

Coroner Music:


Trendsetters:


Jungle Love:

The Standards - The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street

The Standards is a feature setting the bar on the music level. And it’s pretty fucking high, dude.

“Got to scrap that shit right off your shoe.”

~ The Rolling Stones - Sweet Virginia

This is is what doing a shit ton of drugs in the south of France will get you. And by a shit ton I mean a shit ton, like UN drop loads of drugs. How the Rolling Stones pulled this off is beyond me and to be honest I’ll never understand. But, if anything this shows you what you can do with heroin kids. Just shoot speedballs from noon to midnight, forget to eat, and have a guitar next to and you too can write the next ‘Exile on Main Street.”

So, this is the best Rolling Stones album, period and it doesn’t have a huge single on it at all. Yes, ‘Tumbling Dice’ and ‘Loving Cup’ are recognizable but you’re not going to hear them at the next Superbowl Halftime show that’s for sure. And I think the main reason is they’re all about fucking over ladies, get fucked out by ladies, rocking out, and doing drugs. Basically this is a concept album about being a rock star and it’s the shit.

I’m the only one I know and probably on the planet earth who finds “Sweet Virginia” to be the best song on the thing but fuck it. It’s a country song about doing hard drugs so it’s cool. Every song kicks ass. ‘Rip This Joint’, ‘Torn And Frayed’, and ‘Tumbling Dice’ are proof.

In one of the better icebreakers, ‘Beatles or Stones’ I used to be Beatles all the way. But, this album changed that and that still knocks my dick into the dirt thinking about that.

~SR

5 out of 5 Reds, Greens, and Blues

Album Just Re-released

Listen:

Sweet Virginia:


Tumbling Dice:


Loving Cup:

In Short Reviews

I’m busy, sidebar no I’m not. These will come out for albums I don’t give a shit enough to write something for.

Band Of Horses - Infinite Arms - Meh. 2.5 out of 5
Listen: Factory

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma - Crazy. 4 out of 5
Listen: Do The Astral Plane


Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles - Boo (again). 1 out of 5
Listen: Celestica


Avi Buffalo - Avi Buffalo - Sweet. 4 out of 5
Listen: Where’s Your Dirty Mind

Memoryhouse - The Years E.P. - Softcore Porn Sounding Boring.

1.5 out 5
Listen: Lately Troisieme


Woods - At Echo Lake - Folk-meh. 3 out of 5
Listen: Suffering Season