Track Review: Beach House, 'Myth'

BEACH HOUSE "Myth" (4:18) Producers: Beach House, Chris Coady Writer: Beach House Publisher: Chrysalis Label: Sub Pop Records


It's been two long years since Beach House**, Baltimore's premier space-pop duo, blew our minds with its masterful third album, "Teen Dream." "Myth," the first single from the pair's upcoming "Bloom," is the sonic equivalent of comfort food -- a savory buffet spread of the musical trademarks the group has already perfected elsewhere. Victoria Legrand's scratchy, haunting voice saunters in expanses of reverb over pillowy programmed percussion and pawn-shop organ plinks. Guitarist Alex Scally chirps out pristine, slow-motion arpeggios, building to a climactic flourish of rapid-fire, high-octave notes, like storm clouds weeping profusely. "It's never as it seems," Legrand sings, her luxurious melodies climbing and falling in predictable rapture. In this case, "Myth" is exactly as it seems. Beach House's mind-blowing template isn't broke, and the band isn't in any rush to fix it.
-billboard.com

Great song should definitely check it out if you have not yet..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuvWc3ToDHg&sns=em

Lil B - God's Father

 

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Tracklist:

01. Lil B - The Basedgods Layer (4:02) 

02. Lil B - I Own Swag (3:28) 

03. Lil B - F*ck Ya Money (4:08) 

04. Lil B - Febuarys Confessions (4:30) 

05. Lil B - Buss Em 4 Points (3:00) 

06. Lil B - Tropics (4:00) 

07. Lil B - Real Hip Hop 2012 (4:04) 

08. Lil B - Keep It 100 (4:19) 

09. Lil B - Fonk Ain't Dead (2:49) 

10. Lil B - Feds At My Doh (4:07) 

11. Lil B - Remy (3:08) 

12. Lil B - Flowers Rise (2:21) 

13. Lil B - God Help Me (4:24) 

14. Lil B - Breath Slow (3:35) 

15. Lil B - I Ain't Neva Won (3:24) 

16. Lil B - Let It Drop (5:21) 

17. Lil B - Gods Father (2:18) 

18. Lil B - Be A Star (2:09) 

19. Lil B - Deep Ass Thoughts (3:50) 

20. Lil B - Go Dumb Tonight (2:13) 

21. Lil B - Bitch I'm Bussin' (2:53) 

22. Lil B - Glourious Basedgod (3:19) 

23. Lil B - See Ya (3:34) 

24. Lil B - Flash (3:07) 

25. Lil B - The Deal (3:20) 

26. Lil B - Pain (3:54) 

27. Lil B - Secrete Obsession (3:29) 

28. Lil B - Turned Me Cold (3:40) 

29. Lil B - Sf Mission Music (3:17) 

30. Lil B - I'm Just Livin' (3:21) 

31. Lil B - Words Not Spoken (3:51) 

32. Lil B - Wake Up Mr Flowers 3Mix (2:42) 

33. Lil B - Water Is Dmg (2:35) 

34. Lil B - I Love You (2:57)

Hodgy Beats - Untitled EP

Hodgy Beats - Untitled EP

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1. Bullshittin' Produced by Juicy J

2. Cookie Coma Produced by The Alchemist

3. Lately Produced by Flying Lotus

4. Samurai Produced by Jonti Danimals

5. In A Dream Produced by The Alchemist

6. Ave. Produced by Thelonious Martin

7. Lamented Produced by Flying Lotus

8. If Heaven Is A Ghetto Produced by Thelonious Martin

9. Higashi Loves You

(Pitchfork reviw)

 It was Domo Genesis that named his album Rolling Papers and had an ensuing mini-beef with Wiz Khalifa, but he's not the only member of Odd Future who likes to smoke weed by the acre. Despite his wild-eyed, aggressive stage presence, Hodgy Beats' worldview is as influenced by drugs as any member of the group, and it's evident on his recently released Untitled EP, which is the first major work to come out of the Odd Future camp to rely almost wholly on collaborations outside of its tight knit circle. The roster of producers (Juicy J,Flying Lotus, the Alchemist) is impressive, and it shows that Hodgy has a good idea of what he wants his solo music to sound like, and that ends up being the EP's greatest strength. What it lacks in originality it makes up for in cohesion and the result is a solid, sonically pleasing mixtape, if one that only stands out in the context of Odd Future itself.

Despite any reputation he might've picked up due to his affiliation with OF, Hodgy Beats is a pretty typical rapper. This has its disadvantages (it would be hard to imagine any person calling him their favorite artist), but it also has its advantages (MellowHype's BlackenedWhiteis much easier and fun to listen to than any of Tyler's albums). It's pretty easy to enjoyUntitled once you accept that it won't be the source of any thinkpieces or essays, but that said, it does lack the crackling energy and unpredictability of his work with MellowHype. Taken together, the two records paint a full picture of who Hodgy is-- with BlackenedWhite indebted to the hyper, moshing persona that we see on stage and Untitled representing the guy who hangs around smoking weed and reblogging photos of cars and cats on Tumblr-- but it's the former that grabs you and demands your attention.

That's only a minor issue though, as Untitled knows what it wants to say, how it wants to sound, and it accomplishes both of those things in a digestible nine tracks. The production comes straight from the Curren$y/Wiz Khalifa school of music for stoners, with some beats relying on soothing soul samples and others nodding towards jazz and easy listening. The production palette isn't a stark departure from what you hear on most OF albums, but someone like the Alchemist has been doing this for decades, and there's a welcome professionalism here that stands in contrast to the amateurism that can make even the best Odd Future albums jarring listens.

Hodgy spends most of Untitled talking generic shit, and on the one hand he's a perfectly competent rapper who can twist words well enough to make you perk up every once in a while, but he's still not an overwhelming personality on his own and his songwriting is still developing. On a track like "Cookie Coma", Hodgy asserts himself adequately, but despite his technical aptitude, it's hard not to wish that the beat had been saved for some forthcoming collaboration between the Alchemist and Curren$y. And then there's something like "Lately", which makes a feeble attempt at writing a hook and in the end comes off sounding like a nursery rhyme.

In the end, whether Hodgy's able to push past these sorts of generics is probably not that big of a deal. Untitled isn't blowing the doors off of anything, but plenty of rappers have trouble releasing records this tight and thematically consistent, and ultimately, Hodgy makes his name and money with MellowHype, and that group has shown no signs of slowing down.

Apple iPad 3, inside the new model.

Apple iPad (2012) The iPad's new screen is a stunner. That's really all you need to know about the new iPad (yes, that's the name). That, and a reminder that pricing still starts at $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi model, with 4G starting at $629.

Forget all of the minor tweaks and incremental updates Apple has made to its third-generation tablet. The faster processor, the upgrade to 4G data, the improved camera--it's all housekeeping. It's the stuff it had to do. It's the stuff any manufacturer could have done.

Now, increasing the iPad's screen resolution to 2,048x1,536 pixels that exceeds any current tablet or laptop--that's a move only Apple has the scale and industry muscle to pull off. At this point, if Apple decides that the next iPad will be made from unicorn tears, I wouldn't bet against it.

But in this pre-unicorn era, we're stuck with the new iPad and a design that is virtually indistinguishable from 2011's iPad 2. The tablet's glass and aluminum construction is still 9.5 inches tall and 7.31 inches wide. Thickness is now 0.37 inch, weighing in at 1.5 pounds. You get the same home button on the bottom of the screen, and a volume rocker on the right side along with the mute switch/rotation lock. Up top you have the sleep/wake button and headphone output, and the bottom edge retains the 30-pin port.

Related stories All of CNET's iPad coverage (roundup) New iPad: What we didn't get Apple iPad with Retina Display makes its debut What 4G LTE means for the iPad Apple iOS 5.1 hands on New Apple TV announced at iPad event Apple knocked the camera quality up to 5-megapixel with 1080p video recording and backside illumination. The front-facing camera remains the same.

The screen Remember the first time you saw an HD television? You were probably excited about the future but also a little sad that your current TV's days were numbered. For tablet fans, a glance at the iPad's new screen may offer this same emotional cocktail of envy and loss.

But what did you expect? You take a product that is 90 percent screen and a company hangs its reputation on making the prettiest products around, and you're bound to arrive at this: the point when Apple ruins other screens for you.

And let's be clear, here. Not only does the new iPad's QXGA screen wreck your expectations for tablet screens, but your laptop or desktop computer screen will also look shabby by comparison. If you think I'm making too much of it, you can see for yourself soon enough. But as you find yourself wandering the Apple Store aisles wringing your hands together, whispering, "My precious," don't say I didn't warn you.

Now, this isn't the first time Apple has played the resolution card with its product announcements. With the advent of the iPhone 4, Apple introduced its Retina Display, boasting a 960x640-pixel resolution that was remarkable at the time. But for all its beauty, the experience of looking at a 3.5-inch screen compared with the new iPad's 9.7-inch screen is like comparing a keyhole with a window.

iPhoto comes to Apple's third-generation iPad.

(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET) As such, they lend themselves to different content. A Facebook update is no more convenient on an iPad 3 than on any smartphone, but the Maps app on the iPad confers a feeling of omnipotence no other mobile device can match. Games, movies, photos, and magazines all take on a realism that seems almost absurd on a handheld device. It's only a matter of time before someone gets motion sickness from this thing.

What else is new? OK, enough of my love poem for the iPad's new screen. Apple made a few other notable (if predictable) improvements to the iPad.

The iPad's processor has been upgraded to an A5X. While the CPU remains dual-core, the graphics processor has been beefed up to quad-core. This seems to be a necessary measure for juggling four times the pixels of the previous model.

I never thought the idea of Siri on the iPad was as natural a fit as it is for the iPhone. Luckily, Apple feels the same way. While Siri won't be coming to the iPad, voice dictation will. That said, voice dictation on a tablet still strikes me as weird. I'm assuming you won't jog with your iPad and want to transcribe your every brilliant utterance, the way you would with an iPhone. Also, if someone asks you where to find great Thai food nearby, your phone is likely to be your first point of reference. Still, voice dictation is a welcome addition, and I suspect it will come in handy for dictating e-mails and bypassing the touch-screen keyboard when searching for information online.

I still contend that it's a bit silly waving a tablet around to capture photos and video, but I understand the counterpoint and I'll admit that the iPad's screen makes a better display than any camera or smartphone.

Checking out CNET's site on the new iPad.

(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET) Bluetooth 4.0 is another feature that has trickled over from the iPhone 4S. With it comes the promise of one-touch pairing, and huge improvements in battery efficiency.

And finally, for all of you jet-setting, mobile-data-devouring types, the iPad is now available in a 4G LTE model. Prices for 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB come in at $629, $729, and $829, respectively.

What's missing? As far as disappointments go, Apple could have been more aggressive with its processor performance, or perhaps brought the iPad's cameras up to iPhone 4S specs. Perhaps it could have gone thinner or done more to extend its lead in battery life, which Apple claims is still 10 hours, or 9 hours on 4G.

Heck, let's also throw in the age-old complaints about Apple's reluctance to include microSD memory expansion, a dedicated port for video output, or a truly universal charging connection. Oh yeah, and Adobe Flash support while you're at it.

Personally, there's really nothing I can point to and say, "Apple has clearly doomed itself." The company took its already excellent product and updated it with a gorgeous screen.

I suppose the only missed opportunity I can point to is the lack of a Kindle-priced competitor. The rumor mill suggests that Apple may release a smaller tablet later this year, but until then, it seems that Apple's only answer to the budget tablet craze is its $199 Apple iPod Touch.

Buy it or skip it? If you have an original iPad, by all means upgrade to the iPad 3. The used market for first-generation iPads is still alive and well and will hopefully afford you at least $100 toward the new iPad that is nearly half the thickness and four times the pixels as the original iPad.

Curren$y - Muscle Car Chronicles

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 This is my overview of the album, I think he tried a little to hard to bring a little rock in the concept of the whole album meanwhile the same nice original jazz influenced beats are almost cut out in the background. It is different then all his albums no doubt and I like that. Here is a comparison.. it is not like Carter 2 or 3 then all of a sudden to Rebirth american star bullshit. I actually like the whole album in its entirety it comes together very nicely and hey can it be that bad? It is Curren$y.

-Tim Dickson

Muscle Car Chronicles is the seventh studio album by American rapper Curren$y. It is produced by Sean O'Connell and contains features of Mikey Rocksof The Cool Kids and Tabi Bonney. A movie for this album has been produced. It is going to be released along with the album. It is Curren$y's final album released through DD172 and Def Jam; he is now signed to Warner Bros. Muscle Car Chronicles was released on February 14, 2012.*

1. "Soundbombin'"   1:28 2. "N.O. Shit"   1:39 3. "Frosty"   2:01 4. "Razors & Chopsticks"   1:53 5. "Not So Much"   1:47 6. "Fly Out (Part Deux)"   3:10 7. "Bout It 2011"   2:56 8. "The Strangest Life"   1:25 9. "Fly Out (Part Tres)" (featuring Sir Michael Rocks and Tabi Bonney) 3:04