The V-“Meh”-A’s

Well…Well…Well.

M(ha!)TV’s annual VMA awards show is finally upon us this year and I can BARELY contain my excitement…

Yeah…my “excitement”.

This year’s line-up has SOME star-power but what does it all mean ? I mean : Green Day, Alicia Keys and  Pink. They are all great and all…but where are the current crop of Pop’s “Tops”? Plus, if you are going to pull some of the “new old-guard” out for this type of thing…can’t you do better MTV? Sorry, It had to be said. These artist are all very good but they are kinda irrelevant nowadays.

Yeah, I said it.

Maybe their new albums (the real reason they are even going to be performing in the first place) will justify this line-up? Maybe not.

Either way, It leads me to the same spot/thought that I find myself in every year the VMAs roll around : do I watch it and be disappointed again ? Or do I watch it and be bored (but expected to be bored in the first place)?

Decisions…Decisions.

It is no secret that the VMAs  have been regularly crappy (on and off)  for nearly the last 10 years . The last really good VMAs that I can remember was the 2006 VMAs . The one where Britney Spears choked and nearly ruined her career and Rihanna took the “Pop Princess” crown away from her. Britney has since bounced back in a VERY big way (even though some damage was done) but the VMAs themselves have been in a rut. Besides some great individual  moments scattered over the last few years (Lady Gaga’s superstar-making performance is the most obvious…along with Pink’s high-wire act when she was a little more “relevant”) the VMAs have been a SNOOZE-fest.

Am I getting too old? Is this why the VMAs don’t have the same magic anymore. I would like to think that this is not the case. I still LOVE and OBSESS over music (always will) so I seriously doubt that my passion for the IDEA of the VMAs is the cause of my lackluster reaction to the yearly event. I think the real culprit is MTV’s general lack of interest in music nowadays (and they focus on reality television which is SOOOOO profitable now). MTV isn’t invested in music anymore and it shows.

Where is Nicky Minaj? Lady Gaga? Adel? M.I.A (who is LONG overdue to be given her chance to ROCK the VMA stage)? Hell even Madonna and Kylie Minogue are more relevant that Pink and Keys (no disrespect to either one)…Where are the cool new rockers ? I know and listen to them .

Bring in some Brits dammit.

I know that I am going to watch the show tonight. Call me a hopeless devotee to the idea that music and MTV still matter.

I might be wrong .

It’s About to be a what? Girlfight!! (I finally gave the whole MDNA album an honest listen to criticize)

Well, Elton John’s mouth is finally good for something…errr, I mean something ELSE. Sorry David Furnish, I almost forgot :)!

Elton’s Recent comments about Madonna…

saying that she looks like a “fairground stripper” and that compared to his ‘baby’s (god) mama (the increasingly banal and irrelevant Lady Gaga), Madonna’s “career is over“.

…made me push all of the other albums that I have been listening to aside and slip back into bed with Madonna. Thank you Elton 🙂 !

Let me explain.

I have such a backed up  queue of albums, movies, books, television shows and artists etc.  that I’ve been meaning to give my full attention to. I pushed Madonna’s album back originally,  because I usually don’t like getting caught up in the moment and thinking better or worse of an album due to the hype.

Well, I finally Heard Madge’s MDNA album and it is veeeeery good! I mean veeeeery good!

If this album was the album made by Lady Gaga , instead of “Born this Way”,  she wouldn’t have been so disappointing ! And Gaga would have been GIVEN the whole “new queen of pop” crown that Madonna stubbornly refuses to give up (through hard work that’s still relevant and creative).

MDNA is sleek and modern (without being a lazy follower of trends. looking at you “Hard Candy”) with her most hook filled songs in at least a couple of albums (probably since “Ray of Light” …but “Confessions on a dancefloor” gives it a run for it’s money in that department).

On the MDNA album:  Madonna snaps,  she crackles and she pops again.

She incorporates the violent streak that she helped initiate in mainstream pop (waaaay back in the early 2000’s with “Die Another Day” , “What it feels like for a girl” and “American Life”) to a more direct and devastatingly tuneful effect on club-bangers like “Bang Bang” and “Beautiful Killer”.

Her dance music brings back the European influence that (let’s face it) all good dance music needs to be relevant and creative…They just do it better over there because they respect it more and their audiences know their stuff. “Girl Gone Wild”, “I’m addicted” and “Give Me all your love” are  party starters with clever hooks and cool driving sounds…perfect for Saturday night fun!! Thank You Benny Benassi for assisting Madge on this one  !! Madonna still knows how to get the best out of her (willing) collaborators and elevate herself and the “hired guns” who help produce.

Martin Sloveig Brings his bouncy brand of clever pop-rock influenced techno/house to “Give me all your luvin”, “I don’t give A” and “Turn up the Radio” and Madonna and crew hit a couple of home runs (The LMFAO remix on “Give me all your luvin” makes me actually believe that they have a life outside “Party Rock” ! And Nicki Minaj delivers again in a guest-starring role).

Klas Ahlund brings some fire to his collaboration. The choice to pair him with William Orbit was a genius move by Madonna. His electro grooves and squelchy synths go great with Orbit’s ambient atmospheres and 60s-influenced melodies on “Some Girls”

AND WILLIAM ORBIT IS BACK ! The Excellent William Orbit is back to help his girl pull off another great album (and to show that sometimes the genius producer needs the genius artist just as badly). Orbit gives the album a unified and cohesive sound that most albums with this many creative influences lack…Which make them sound “all over the place” at worst and “like a compilation album” at best. But Orbit is having none of that on this album. His atmospheric flourishes and programming genius is still strong and really helps create a sound world for Madonna to live out her violent fantasies , her still kicking “party animal” Id and her slightly sad “divorcee” yearning.

And For good measure, she puts two excellent (and well sung) straight-ahead pop songs at the end of the album to show that she can still do THAT in her SLEEP (and she is still brilliant at it). Those songs are “Masterpiece” and “Falling Free” .

It makes me imagine Madonna saying: “Here, you want pop ballads? I am still THE BEST at that too…and don’t forget it!”

Even Elton had to admit that in the middle of his Madonna diss/defense of his little ingenue  Lady Gaga.  He said :

“If Madonna had any common sense she would have made a record like Ray Of Light and stayed away from the dance stuff and just been a great pop singer and make great pop records, which she does brilliantly.”

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/4472727/Elton-John-Madonna-looks-like-a-stripper-her-career-is-over.html#ixzz230NSQX4r

Even Her haters have to give it to her…

And “no, Elton” she will simply take it a step beyond “Ray of Light” and modernize the concept (using vocal collaborators (which everyone does nowadays) and dance music meant to move your feet sitting next to the sounds that move your mind)  without repeating herself .

If you want the album that Madonna should have made after “Confessions on a Dance floor” or the album that Lady Gaga is incapable of making at this point in her career…Check out MDNA!

I am sure Gaga did and became “inspired” to write her follow-up/apology for “Born this Way”.

P.E.R.I.L !!

I’ve heard verses from Peril P since he was a VERY young kid and it is a definite pleasure to see his progression into a very LEGIT rhyme-slinger and upcoming artist. The Florida-born Rapper (Orlando) has certainly been doing some serious growing and could easily break nationally with the right team…

He has always had raw talent (even at the pre-teen level) . Now he has definitely pulled it all together and matured into a full-fledged artist.

Recently on Soundcloud (an online Social/Artist’s network community ) I listened to a snippet of one of Peril P’s songs titled “I ain’t got the time” and a full-length song titled “Yeen know”.  Both of these songs flow with a down-south swagger and self-confidence that leaves most also-rans in the dust. Peril is on full-display here with clever punchlines and twisty metaphors that shows true promise on a larger scale (think early Lil-Wayne meets a bit of Big Boi from Outkast meets…Peril P). The backing tracks are solid (if standard) down south boom-bap…but with his clever rhymes and abundance of confidence, I personally feel that Peril can branch-out from this and tackle different topics and sounds. All in all, a good introduction to a very solid talent. I am absolutely sure this won’t be the last piece I write on this guy…

[Catch Peril P performing in Orlando, Florida  (@ the Central Florida Fairgrounds) at the 7th Annual Zoe Flag Day Bash on 5/19/2012]

Marvin

***A little slice of what goes on on my familyFB***

Marvin Gaye is the MAN! Major musical genius and not only his love songs! My favorite albums : “What’s going on?” his epic take on the world he saw aroud him…from politics, the environment and social problems….And I also LOVE “Here My Dear” a painfully confessional album about his rocky (major understatement) relationship…that album is the real “confessions” (sorry Usher)…and he spared no one , including himself….check these albums out fam!! Very cool upload, Auntie. #joeisawalkingalbumreview (lol)

Kraftwerk!!!!!

The MASTERS/Innovators of modern Electronic music as we know it….set to return with a new album soon (2003’s Tour de france was NICE!—Micro House was featured on that album ! electronic/dance music sub-genres suck sometimes but Kraftwerk always brings the goods). I’ll be getting the album! Here is a video showing off their new app!

Nigga’s At the ATM….(calm down)

Facebook got a little heated on one of my good controversy-baiting friend’s (that’s probably why we are friends btw. 🙂 ) page… The discussion started over his buddy’s offense to Jay-Z’s song Niggas In Paris. My friend and his buddy are white (or caucasian…whatever floats your particular boat). My buddy Austin asked me to weigh in on this comment from his buddy:

(from 1/1/2012)

“I never said to censor speech. I simply voiced my displeasure that the 7th most popular song in the world has the n word in it yet there are people like Kanye West and Jay z who would get offended and probably shoot someone should they use …it towards them. Also it’d kind of hypocritical to be making money off of a word that suppressed so many lives for so long and that insults your own race. I’m not asking free speech to be taken away. Read my entire post before you accuse something like that.”

That was copied directly from the  facebook page (with the quotation marks added…and the buddy’s name left out). Here was my response…

‎

“@[censored]   okay, really?…do you think for one minute that these millionaires are going to “shoot someone” for calling them a “nigger”? that’s funny and btw. a couple of descendants of slaves making “millions of dollars” on a word/concept that was/is used to keep them and their ancestors POOR and OPPRESSED isn’t hypocritical to me….I think them getting those millions on that word is the very definition of “payback” (get it, pay back… lol). and no not some payback to “all white people”  blah blah b.s. either.

It’s so funny that others can use and profit from the nigger concept for centuries…but when these guys start making money off of it, the word gets AUDITED to see how much revenue it’s bringing…BTW I HATE NEW YEARS HANGOVERS :)”

I stand by what I said :  I really hate New Years Hangovers! 🙂

Oh, and that other thing too . I’m with “Jigga” on that one.

♫ Her name is Dita…she’ll be your mistress tonight♫ (I saw the uncensored Madonna “Erotica” video)

I saw the uncensored version of Madonna’s “Erotica” video for the first time today…

OMG! I can’t believe this didn’t take her down forever back in 1992.

It has been 20 years since Madonna unleashed the “erotica” concept  on an unsuspecting public back in 1992. Following a socially/politically sanitized 1980’s (a period she fought against her whole career, up to that point) , Madonna unleashed a monster onto the world. That year (1992), Madonna simultaneously released a “coffee table book” titled “SEX” , The “Erotica” album, and a series of…I don’t even want to say “steamy” videos on the world…I will just call them SICK videos. They were the 90s definition of “sick“, in that they challenged the public’s “delicate” taste for open sexuality and upset many. While the videos are also 2011 “sick“, in that they are incredibly bold artistic declarations and an uncompromising dive into sexual fantasy and fetish. Her artistic output during this time was awesome. The incredible “Erotica” video being one of the fruits of her labor.

And by the way, the material still “holds up” and is still controversial. Ain’t no swiveling hips quaintness here, Elvis!

“What provoked her”?

It all started as a reaction to what was being thrown at this pop-music rebel at the time. Madonna had already made her name in the music biz and was (already) arguably the biggest star in the world. But, she wasn’t respected quite as much as she would have liked . She was being called a talentless “sexpot” by some short-sighted hack critics. So, what does Madonna do in response? What any talented rebel would do: She cranks her so-called “sex-pot” character from 10 to 1,000  and shows america what’s really going on in her mind (not her bedroom…mind you). Her point being : a.) “this stuff is real and okay”  and b.) “you hypocrites know that you think about this stuff too…so stop being so judgemental.”

Along the way,  she made incredible videos and great music…because let’s face it, as an entertainer,  you can’t bring the message to the party without the (performance) goods. No one eats a meal of condiments…catch my drift?

And in doing so, Madonna effectively and finally silenced the last of her lingering critics. Everything after the “erotica” trial-by-fire has been a “victory lap” and adds to her legend! Which is amzaing, considering her victory lap trumps most artists whole careers.

This is why all of the “imitators” and “influenced” pop-starlets can’t live up to Madonna. This is why everyone from teen-pop queens (who throw on leather to be “edgy”) to inde-credit card carrying members of the underground admire the hell out of her!  She lives and breathes her artistic statements. She doesn’t simply wear them because they are already “in fashion”…The “Erotica” period in her career could have (and nearly) ruined Madonna. True ARTISTS take risks! No disrespect to her acolytes…definite “diss” to her shameless copycats. This is why Madonna is and  always will be THE REAL DEAL.

Although,  as someone who was a pre-teen during this period,  I can say that she probably owes me therapy sessions. 🙂

To see what I mean (click the link below for “Erotica Uncensored”)

http://youtu.be/W1Tkllyuf3E   

It’s Polly Jean Harvey, Dammit!

Can I just say , I LOVE PJ Harvey!! Since her debut with the album “Dry”, she has constantly brought the world amazing blues-steeped alternative-rock from England . A musical kindred spirit to Nick Cave (and one-time duet partner), Harvey has never shied away from innovative ways to “bring her love” of exploring the human psyche (both personal and more recently political (with the”Let England Shake” album)).

With her amazing (clear and distinct) voice and equally amazing guitar-work, music critics and fans alike  had no choice but to make her an almost INSTANT underground legend in the music scene (in the early 90s) .

Back in the day, notoriously competitive American rock star/beautiful train wreck/unofficial (great) music critic Courtney Love proclaimed : “She is the only female out there who makes me know I am shit”. Courtney Love knows she is a great rock star (and she won’t hesitate to let anyone know). That is just how good Polly Jean Harvey is !

Bellow, is link to a stripped down performance on “Leno” back in the early 90s.

The song performed is called “Rid of me”. It is an obsessive sort of anti-love song (and more than a little bit stalker-ish), in that she speaks of her needs and desires only.  Sort of like an even more demented version of the Police’s “Every Breath You take”. No one will be singing this at their wedding though…although, I would love to see someone try. I think the other person would run screaming out of the venue and into protective hiding.

If a man sang this song (which is my secret desire to see done), it would be VERY unnerving for everyone and would probably be banned.

       She was only 23.

http://youtu.be/4Gvpvh4WYoA

“Hard” (to listen to)! The new will.i.am track review

 Really will.i.am? This song is pure shit. Of course I am talking about Will.i.am’s latest single “Hard” (minus his Black-Eyed Peas band mates). The more I listen to it the worse it gets. At the risk of sounding like the “dreaded” hip-hop “hater”; I am not ashamed to say it SUCKS. You want proof? Okay, here is my 4-part breakdown:

1.) That “go hard” or “go home” hook. WTF. Not only is it terribly inane, but it is so transparent in its attempt to be a commercial for the NBA or some sports drink (in the future), that I can almost hear will.i.am and Nike climaxing in the background. Disgusting.

2.) That lazy ass club beat. When Timbaland started bringing hip-hop to the “club” back in the mid-late 1990s it was a revelation…well all good things must come to an end. And all of these lazy producers, hijacking club sounds and energy for weak songs,  have made sure of that recently (sadly, even Timbaland has done this to some extent)…Here, william throws a little distortion on a “fat” bass line and a minor-key beat and instantly it is supposed to be “hot” (foregoing momentum, creativity, or even dynamics)! What!?

3.)The lyrics and rapping. “This beat is so hard” is the first thing out of his mouth. He’s actually trying to convince us that this song and “the beat” are worth the next 4 minutes that it is about to steal  from our lives. I won’t even get into the “this song is the shit…feces” lyric. He even said “you go get a demon , imma get jesus”. For real, Will? Where did that left-field shit come from. Someone’s having a breakdown.

And Finally…

4.) His collaborators…Oh his collaborators! He actually got J-lo to sing that boring-ass hook. You get the feeling that he wanted Fergie to do it but she said “Hell No, get J-lo to do it“. The fact that J-lo did it shows that she still isn’t confident in her new (and i say better) singing voice. If she was, she would NEVER do this crap. His other collaborator was Mick Jagger…yeah, Mick has finally lost his damn mind. Or maybe he is just trying to get some “brown sugar” from J-lo.

All in all a very weak effort from Will.i.am.

I really wanted to like this song. Will is usually good for a mindless (but not dumb) club tune that gets your body moving. Plus, any song with any iteration of my last name, I automatically want to like. That way I can sing the motherf*%#^r when I’m in club or in conceited mode. I was thoroughly annoyed with this piece-of-crap song. It’s like he is insulting the listener’s (or his own)  intelligence here.

If you are thinking about buying this single, I will tell you what  they told MC Hammer back in the day:                           “Save your money, Man. Save your money.”

Girls Behaving “Badly”? An American Obsession.

Over the past few decades and especially in the last few years, it seems as though America’s new “favorite pastime” is the watching of “girls behaving badly”. This trend has taken shape in stripper-pop music , barely there clothing, television shows like “bad girls club”, and our collective obsession with the celebutantes (Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, and Lindsay Lohan). Girls behaving badly is now a cottage industry and I had to stop and wonder : Is the fact that we delight and  revel in female debauchery a case of  America celebrating female empowerment? Or is our fascination a passive aggressive desire to watch women be demeaned and degraded under  altruistic armor? We shake our heads at other societies that have women cover their bodies a little more , but at the same time we create an environment where women are primed (time?) for exploitation. Are we really any better than those countries we look down on? Are we actually worse?

Over the past few years,  “party girls” and  “women on the edge” have become “the” popular representation  of  women in America. Of course , “sex sells” (it always has and it always will) but things seem to be going beyond sex and into humiliation/degradation territory  these days.  Look no further than your  own television and you see what I mean.  Shows like “Desperate Housewives, “The Real World”, “The Bad Girls Club”, “The Real Housewives of ____”, all delight in women behaving in “trashy” ways. Women on the edge of sanity and decency seems to be a very appealing image to the general public . Just ask Joe Francis, the owner of the famed “Girls Gone Wild” home video franchise. He has made millions on the backs and “boobs” of scores of young women. Speaking of home video success, even Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian can be celebrities BUT they have to do a sexy video for us first . In other words , they have to take a ride on AMERICA’s  casting-couch. While the older women of “Housewives” and the less monied women of  “Bad Girls” and “The Shore” can be successful AFTER we see them embarrass themselves with drunken exploits on basic cable. It all definitely seems suspiciously like exploitation.

When it comes to popular music it has almost become a REQUIREMENT to be a “bad girl”. “Bad Girl” in a safe, made-for-men sort of way that is. “Bad Girls” that disrupt this boys-club fantasy are still shunned in America: Courtney Love, Sinead O’ Connor, (and more recently) P!nk,  M.I.A  (who should be more popular in this country than she is) and  Peaches (who most pop stars these days have ripped off either knowingly or unknowingly…minus the gender-fuck , folkways and mores shattering philosophy). Hell, even Lady Gaga…the most thoughtful and artistic pop princess to come along in a while had to PRETEND to be a drunken mess to get her first taste of mainstream success and a foothold in our cultural landscape (“love game” , “just dance” & to a lesser extent “poker face”).

Thankfully, Gaga was  a trojan horse of sorts. She flew into the mainstream under the acceptable  cover of yet another “girl gone wild” and out marched the gay-rights advocating, anti-bullying, “let your freak flag fly”- gal. Now it  seems that a handful of the girls (Beyoncé, Rihanna, the aforementioned Gaga) have started using  the sexy trojan horse method. Those examples are TRULY revolutionary. Madonna pioneered the modern way  that this is done….but her sexuality was ALWAYS her own. She has presented it in ways that were/are uncomfortable to the “status quo” and the “powers that be”. That is the real  difference between the exploited and the truly liberated.

But that is where I encounter the problem that led me to write this blog in the first place.

As much as we pretend that  women (in particular) are “liberated” and “free” in  this country, we secretly know that this is not true. What America really does is allow women to behave in ways that excite heterosexual men at the expense of their own dignity (casting couch). We tell them through overt and subliminal social conditioning  to “act like men” to assert their own autonomy (in a move that cleverly/disgustingly  subverts 60s style “free love”). Then at the same time: women still make less money than men, hold fewer positions of real power than men, and they are still judged more harshly for these “manly” actions (heavy drinking, proud sexuality and freedom of expression in all forms). Until women have these  positions of power and these freedoms in a TRUE sense, these things work to undermine all of their hard work and is mere exploitation in most cases.

Throughout this particular blog entry, I’ve simply wanted to pose the question of :”Does America enjoy setting women up to exploit themselves…under the illusion of empowerment.” The fact that I either watched or continue to watch the shows (and listen to the music) I referenced, made me stop and think about what was going on beneath the surface of  this entertainment.  Do we simply enjoy the drama of conflict and the forbidden…or is there something deeper going on in this country’s delight in “female crudeness”?

Now I DON’T want to give the impression that I’m not in favor of a woman’s freedom to do whatever she pleases. I have many female friends who are fabulous and free… And I do believe that women should have the freedom to do ANYTHING they want to do (just like any adult)…..persecution be damned!!!!  As long as any adult is prepared to accept the consequences of  their actions (and it doesn’t hurt anyone else); I say do what makes you feel good (or better yet, do what makes ME feel good). Ladies (and Gentlemen) just make sure that it is genuinely your choice and that you are not a cultural sacrificial lamb.