REVIEW: JAPANESE BREAKFAST - SABLE

 

4/5

Gaming In H Mart.

Breakfast is the most important artist of the year. How could Michelle Zauner not be? We've spent hours like her, 'Crying In H Mart'. Pouring over the details of the Korean-America's personal and profound autobiography that is just different for the American K-mart and Japanese 'Convenience Store Woman' line. Finish your breakfast. Like proclaiming 'Black Lives Matter', in a year were we will do anything to Stop Asian Hate like 'The Chair' of 'Killing Eve' and 'Greys Anatomy' star Sandra Oh with a bullhorn, or the Linsanity of global basketball superstar Jeremy Lin writing in TIME, Zuaner has given us a memoir that humanizes those who some still discriminate against, even after all these years of trying to peace, love and understanding (what's so bad about it?) make love take over hate. Dealing with the loss of her mother and the embrace of her culture, anyone going through ANYTHING ought to pick up this book as solidarity and solace in a world constantly trying to put us down like it is turning and scrolling. After a year in social isolated lockdown quarantine it came out of the gates of 2021, but it's still easily the memoir of the year...and we're about to see Will Smith's 'Will'. Or the 'Tales Of Life and Music' from 'The Storyteller', Dave Grohl. Not to mention fellow multi-talented celebrity Jamie Foxx's fatherly advice. 'Act Like You Got Some Sense' behind that coffee shop prison like plexiglass for the year of Barnes and Noble. If that wasn't enough, Zauner weeks later 'Posing In Bondage' with 'Parprika' released an orange 'Jubilee' for her front and center Bon Iver similair, Japanese Breakfast band. Following grief with joy for her third-album and 'Soft Sounds From Another Planet' follow-up. Cleaning up with a Spring in her step and also one of the albums of the calendar that was as sought after as hanami in the morning at that time of year in her bands first namesake country. It was clear there was nothing Zauner could not do. She could probably release another album this year if she wanted to. The director could probably even score with her own soundtrack. Oh wait, she actually has! 

Curation's for your selection process, this is not. Michelle has actually crafted this compelling conceptual set herself like Hans Zimmer or Max Richter. Self-proclaimed as "different from anything (she's) done before", nothing sounds like this. This video game soundtrack from the console that will have you double-tapping, even in the times joysticks have been replaced with keyboard warriors. The soundscape of this score is just so other-world building and encompassing. Just like the digitally atmospheric massive multilayer world of EVE Online that kept us in community with a brave new world during corona's dark and as empty as space isolation. Beyond the days of "not actual in-game footage" video games these days make more money than movies and feel even more like an expansion pack of storytelling. You only have to look at how everything's connected in the 'Visions' of the 'Star Wars' world-even down to the trading cards-to see how much this all has an effect. And on the stable cover of 'Sable' by breakfast, the pop art indigo sky and Salt Lake like desert below is laser pen trail pierced by something that looks like a Rey of light, pod racing through the sand. They say video games are a new art form and just like this album artwork they really are and as a matter of fact the soundtrack of this piece serving as modern classical music for your space odyssey like 2001 is too. Get lost in it. Sprawling for all our able time masked from the outside world until we're vaxxed, 'Sable' is a game that features a young protagonist crossing the sand to try and get home to their family. If that's something we all can't relate to right now (like this Englishman in Japan a far cry from his own), then what can we, or do we have, as we all feel like these nomad characters?

Multihyphenated talents from indie rock to the cult gamer world, Zauner is on one for the big-three of her best year. This is her jubilee, gaming and crying. H Mart should sponsor her, or at least give her her own stand off the shelf. Here she excels in encompassing a world, legions away from ours. Giving personal and profound sonic touches and even out of this world vocals to a nomads life in need of a voice like us all right now. Right from the 'Main Menu' opening that sounds so relaxing in healing that you will pause with it on repeat until the demo starts playing. Press start, or should we say play however on the 'Glider' theme and we're really off to the races for an album whose themes and tones even hint at world advice in the here and now ('Better The Mask'). The 'Day' and 'Night' alternative takes of tracks like 'The Ewer', 'Eccria', 'Hakoa' and 'Sansee' really stir, but it's when Zauner sets up an 'Inbexxi Camp' over those two periods, that we really feel it like lit 'Campfires'. Taking us into the 'Badlands' like Springsteen or the 'Thunderheart' of a Val Kilmer movie, this 'Burnt Oak Station' of 'Abandoned Grounds' in closing really paints a digital picture that could be seen in real life, even if we haven't stayed home and logged into its safe solidarity yet. We live in a new world and the 'Machinists Theme' plays it as we live our lives through someone else in avatar. All like 'Mischevious Children' wanting another five minutes with their game that we all know will really be five hours! The age of addiction in digital fields may be killing our creativity, but not Breakfast's. Japanese from the 'Mask Caster' to the 'Cartographer's' theme really plays with all these elements and stories to still tell hers. Whether it's the 'Ships', 'Ruins', or 'Nature' 'Exploration', or a 'Beetles Nest' of a 'Glow Worm Cave' this lights the way like neon from Shinjuku to Shibuya, Tokyo in crossing. This 'Beetle Detour' is a 'Wash' of 'Redsee' in this 'Chum Lair'. All the way to a 'Pyraustas Ruin'. And yes, we had to acknowledge and name every one of these 30 plus tracks, because they all play their part in over an hour and a half of a soundscape that is as vividly long as most movies are. This really feels like one too in the third act of a year scripted by Japanese Breakfast's Michelle Zauner by her own book. Playing to the tune of her own game. And it's not over. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Glider', 'Badlands (Night)', 'Ibexxi Camp (Night)'. 

REVIEW: SUFJAN STEVENS & ANGELO DE AUGUSTINE - A BEGINNER'S MIND

4/5

We Are Augustines. 

Beginner's luck is on mind for Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine as they begin again with their first collaborative album 'A Beginner's Mind', coming in a crowded week were we get new albums from modern soul legend Anthony Hamilton ('Love Is The New Black') and Japanese Breakfast's second of the year (the video game 'Sable' soundtrack). Paired together in painted album artwork along with a curious cover of rainbow and waterfalls and a half naked woman coming out the depths with angel wings and a butterfly below her Medusa head, that's now set in stone like the pregnant emojis of Drake's 'Certified Lover Boy'. That would be the kind of thing that would scare me to death as a kid. I was so afraid of the Goddess of Greek Mythology with serpents as strands of hair that I would look away everytime she was on TV (which was apparently a lot...we were a Titan of a household), like I would actually be left for granite if I gazed upon what I didn't see as a snake seductress (you've swiped right for worse). The only things scarier right now is what could have happened to Timothee Chalamet if we was left too long with 'Call Me By Your Name' co-star Armie Hammer. Now we will never listen to Steven's simple beauty of majesty, 'Mystery Of Love' the same way ever again, like there probably won't be a 'Call Me By Your Name' (again) sequel anymore. Either way Andre Aciman's book is a classic you can't top like Michael Stuhlbarg's sage fatherly speech of advice. Don't fight it. It's a good job Sufjan can find solace in an Augustine like a Brooklyn band. The Thousand Oaks, California singer Angelo De who used to open for Stevens on gigs and now joins him in collaboration concert. The 'Spirals Of Silence' singer and the 'Carrie and Lowell' one sounding as sweet as Simon and Garfunkel for all your Mrs Robinson's.

So here's to them. Jesus will love this indie darling from the Asthmatic Kitty label that will take your breath away now the cats out the bag. Created in a cabin in the woods of upstate New York whilst watching movies for inspiration, this feels like the ideal setting and the perfect muse. On the opening acoustic that reaches out the pair lament, "home is where you've called me/I've gone as far as the eye can blame/You say love may have lost its way." But it's 'Lady Macbeth In Chains' that unlocks more for some lyrical Shakespeare in all its toil and trouble. Fear and foreboding comes like the black and white of a fall forthcoming Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand 'Macbeth' movie. "Open on Broadway, you're a star/Just an opportunist at heart/Evil hid in glitz and glamour/Drunk like a potion harvester/All About Eve, cat up a tree/Margo Channing, listen to me/Don't believe what she says/When she sleeps in your head/Now the two allegories of pity and terror/One for the money, for trial and error/Telling the story anointing its pleasure/Lady Macbeth in chains." Before heading down the yellow brick road 'Back To Oz' like Dorothy, singing, "All my life was calling/All my dreams were buried away/You love me, but you don't know me/In due time you'll throw it away" and clicking their heels together in harmony.  It's enough to pain take us to an ivory 'Pillar Of Souls' that stands proud for the 'Olympus' singers together on the podium in the corona delayed Summer of Tokyo 2020. Forget Bon Jovi, 'You Give Death A Bad Name'. But these shots will heal your heart during this hurt time. Like the atmospheric album self-titled song that's definitely for beginners. Keep it in mind for this 45 over 45. 

'Murder and Crime' plauge this world on fire as we try and put out this apocalypse. But the sweet sound can soothe, even quarantined in crushing loneliness. Juxtaposing lyrics like "My boy, I don't know why this life/Is so cruel and unkind, but it weighs on my heart/All joys were taken from your eyes/As the law would abide in murder and crime/Hard lines as the fossil defines/It's own shadow in lime and reveals how it dies." In this conflicted world of confusion, '(This Is) The Thing' is the thing we want to (and need to) hear. Whilst 'It's Your Own Body and Mind' genuinely embraces equality in this age of the social. "Shall we all talk paternal?/Shall we all talk of the sun?/Everything runs in circles/Everything comes undone/One hand holds the mantel/The other one holds the key/Your body is a sanctuary/And your body is about to be free," the pair emote as they move in melody. Finding a new way that may co-exist together in a studio social distanced future, coming together. 'Lost In The World' but found with a new way to carry on. "A voice of air's mellifluence/Draconian will, superstition/Now go arise, awake your dead/An angel fell, one heaven sent/The Beaufort scale measured the gales/I saw the world between two sails/The water climbed over the sky/As miracles demystify." Couplets from this collaboratory couple of pure poetry. It's enough to write a "Now, Whittier arrived in fictional California/We're gonna bring it on again/Bring it on to you hard/Our school spirit was defined by dance and drama/The lord above will be my guide/The light into my heart," script for 'Fictional California'. Whilst the cool 'Cimmerian Shade' will keep us warm during the last days of this falling Summer that leaves the earth like fallen foliage come Winter. All before the 'Lacrimae' closer ties a bow taking bow round everything perfectly to close. On Daniel Anum Jasper's amazing album artwork, everything is painted from 'The Wizard Of OZ' to Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter, but when it comes to the beginning of something new like lambs, you'll love this sound of silence. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Lady Macbeth In Chains', 'Back To OZ', 'Olympus'. 

REVIEW: ANTHONY HAMILTON - LOVE IS THE NEW BLACK

 

4/5

Hamilton. 

Comin' from where he was from, way back in 2003 (although it all seems like yesterday when superproducer Jermaine Dupri was doing the radio rounds, bringing that old So So Def thing back like Scarface remixes), with 'Cornbread, Fish and Collarad Greens' for quite a meal, modern day soul legend Anthony Hamilton told his muse, "I'm a pimp girl". And right now the man who scored on 'Django Unchained' (for 'Freedom' with Elayna Boynton) and 'American Gangster' soundtracks for Denzel Washington like Jay-Z ('Do You Feel Me') as well as cutting vinyl with David Banner ('Cool') really is like one. Check the checkered green suited with a hat to match like Bishop Don 'Magic' Juan. Aviating with a gold grill and a ring that looked like the one the old lady dropped in the ocean in 'Titanic' (one that could sink a ship itself), this Boss Playa looks the part too. Word to Uncle Charlie Wilson for the family. And why shouldn't he? In the Nelly vein of a "Positive, Motivated, Intellectual Person," (the pair suited up back in the day for Mo's 'Nobody Knows'). The reformed dealer turned signature soul supplier has been doing it for decades. Whether it's his steady stream of acclaimed albums like the classic 'Where I'm From' ('Ain't Nobody Worryin'', 'The Point Of It All', 'Back To Love' and 2016's last look at 'What I'm Feelin''), or lost one's brought back like Lauryn Hill and the Fugees in reunion (the sensational double of 'Soulife' and 'Southern Comfort' for the wonderful 'White Hennessy' singer). Hamilton even decorated a Christmas tree like a P.I.M.P. 'Home For The Holidays' in 2014. Now fedora and fur draped in a charcoal and velvet cover that typography takes it back to the days people like Curtis were getting ready to move on up, the artwork of this throwback is as amazing as the art itself on track to match. All for the deceleration that 'Love Is The New Black' and more than in fashion, as the everlasting raised power of both matters. 

Back in black for love, the album-titled lead track and lead single is the new hit for the man who has classics like Cooke and took it further back than Motown for the old soul day. Decades before the modern great Leon Bridges did that, 'Coming Home' and bringing the 'Good Thing' back for his 'Gold-Diggers Sound'. We've said before that if this was fifty years ago, Leon Bridges would be the biggest soul star in the world. Well, if this was the case Hamilton would be the legend like Lin-Manuel Miranda. Still, holding their stage with a significant spotlight, these two are still modern greats in their own right. But oh how they remind us of a time when music was made for the soul with all their heart. "I know where I'm goin'/You know where it's at/One thing that's for sure/Love is the new Black/I know where I'm goin'/You know where it's at (Yeah, yeah)/One thing that's for sure/Love is the new Black," Anthony sings for the new subtle anthem for the stirring souls in single. The southern soul comfort for a man who is more than neo in this music matrix continues with the sampling like Mos Def for 'The Panties' on 'Threw It All Away', that reminds us of the days Seal swam with old soul two times like when 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore'. "No more games you're out the door/I don't have time for your games no more/What a shame you carried out/But you're no more, you're no more, you're no more", he sings to a lost lover standing in solidarity of self, despite the hurt. Licking his wounds and the shots he sings. Fired up like ones of vodka for love on the rocks with a twist. 

Rick Ross assists, trading furs and pimped out Maybach's for the music of 'Real Love'. Whilst Lil Jon offers the trademark "yeah's" and even raps for the crunk of 'I'm Ready' for this fellow ATLien outcast like big boys and records piled three stacks high. But it's the Dupri reunion 'Coming Home' to where Hamilton is from over electric that is really so, so, "you know what it is". Not to be confused with his Christmas song like Nat King Cole of the same name for the holidays, but one that is still set to illuminate the fall like tree lights. However, if you want to talk about big collaborations, then how about the 'Dreamgirls', 'Superstar' one covered with the modern Aretha herself, Jennifer Hudson? Respect! "You made a fool of me/I gave you all I had/You made a fool of me/I'll never take you back" he says on the following song ('You Made A Fool Of Me') that lacking that deserves its R.E.S.P.E.C.T. too. Find out what it means. It's the kind of break-up ballad that says 'I Thought We Were In Love' like the atmospheric follow that "takes me back" like this Ant man says. Now a Goliath giant of a G.O.A.T. in this game like King James ("two peas in the pod" as green as this soul anchorman's new suit). The bedroom music for your late night sessions is bound and back for cuffing season like the 'Pillow' talk comforts from the soul of the South. "It will make you hurt somebody/It will make you walk the line" he warns like the Man in Black, Johnny Cash. Talking about the new black. "I had a habit of running you off" he admits too on the confessional like a Catholic Church booth 'I'm Sorry' (the most used words in my vocabulary) behind the grill for the sins. For better or worse, either way it all hurts in all its worth. "Until you've felt the pain of a broken man/You can never start to understand". So have 'Mercy' for Anthony like when Marvin sang about it twice. Because Lord have it, this God has got good songbooks worth of testament for this soul scripture. It ain't 'Safe', but with the soul sample of said song, "neighbourhoods we gon' get 'em back/love in the schools we gon' get it back/Justice we gon' get it back/Families we gon' get 'em back", Hamilton promises all this and a better future on the real declaration of this 'Love Is The New Black' album. And 'Mama Don't Cry' in classic closing, because we believe him like the 'Comin'' opening of 'Mama Knew Love' that channeled the Carter's 'Momma Loves Me' Blueprint. Even if it takes so long like seeing our relatives during these quarantined times, we'll find a vaccine for this pain and you don't have to take it in your veins like the wrong sort of drug (but get vaxxed like you should still wear a mask). This is one that touches the skin with love. Hand-in-hand we will reach the mountaintop Martin told us about once again thanks to Kings like this. Love never went out of fashion like the fact that black lives ALWAYS mattered. But oh how sweet it sounds that like Anthony, it's back. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Love Is The New Black', 'Threw It All Away', 'Coming Home (Feat. Jermaine Dupri'). 

REVIEW: BOB DYLAN - SPRINGTIME IN NEW YORK: THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 16 (1980-1985)

4/5

Springtime For Dylan.

Before we get into this we cannot ignore the recent sexual abuse allegations made against Bob Dylan going back to 1965. Despite vehement denials and biographers claiming the timeline is "impossible", we can't not acknowledge this. Innocent like we believe he is until proven guilty of course. But if he is the latter, then that's another thing altogether and this may be the last time we write about the greatest American singer/songwriter of all-time. Until then to be fair and impartial we must reserve judgement and not give in to pitch-fork cancel culture before we know the whole truth and nothing but it. Before we find out what really happened with respect to the man and the accuser, we have a job to do. To judge the music alone for what it is and all it's worth. All as Dylan adds to his stellar songbook that is the most epic encyclopedia of chorus and verse, taking us across the bridge of rhyme and reason as he hooks us again. 'Springtime In New York: The Booteleg Series Vol. 16 (1980-1985)' takes us back to 80's Dylan and his New York City home like Greenwich Village all in a half decade ending the very year this writer was born into this world (feel old yet? I sure do). Curly blown out iconic hair still there (jealous), but behind the symbolic shades that are now cut like the fingernails we see the weathered and worn, soulful eyes of a man in the Autumn of his life with Winter coming. They call this different decade controversial for the chapter of this book of rhymes, but biblical in its church choir and organ music sound we give all praise like we do to the 1978 proceeding 9-track 'Street Legal' in the same vein. Although this album focuses on the big-three sessions of 'Infidels', 'Shot Of Love' and 'Empire Burlesque' during the decade that followed. Like 80's Springsteen there's a 'Human Touch' to all this, even if it is a few miles from lucky town.

MTV video and it's eighties era weren't made for Bob, but Dylan is more than just here today and fast forwarded tomorrow. On another rewind for the bootleg tape volumes the icon shows why he cantankerously outlasted even the videotape in this streaming age that even makes the DVD look like a cassette (and so much for the CD). In 'Chronicles', Volume 2 of his memoirs he calls this Spring period "whitewashed and wasted out professionally", but this sweet sixteenth volume from 1980 to 85 gives us a new take on all that, and actually feels like an individual album in its own right. Two hours and four minutes of 25 songs (54 in deluxe full for the purists) for the man 20 years off a century celebrating his 80th this calendar. Born again like his gospel sound of the Christian time this set begins with the offering of 'Angelina' for the man who 'Need(s) A Woman' and it all sounds like something big coming out of a Springsteen 'Tunnel Of Love' like a 'Brilliant Disguise'. All in a time the 'Sob Rock' of John Mayer this summer brought the 80's back on a 'Last Train Home' in all its sports car rolled-back tops and rolled-up sleeves. "Well, it’s always been my nature to take chances/My right hand drawing back while my left hand advances/Where the current is strong and the monkey dances/To the tune of a concertina", he opens up on something that sounds as 80's fresh as the 'Shot Of Love' album it should have began in the first place. The songwriter is still so stellar, even in the reflection of his B-side. 'Let's Keep It Between Us' he says as these records finally see the light of day like realizing the 'Price Of Love'. We've grown up and come so far with this man, but he's still go so much more to tell in his stories. We even have time to lie back and relax before the fireplace 'Fur Slippers' with the mango and pineapple Belafonte beach like 'Don't Ever Take Yourself Away', like we can't. Mayer should have covered this one like the time he battle studied when Bruce Springsteen was on fire. Hey, hey, hey. 

'Cry Macho' like a new Clint Eastwood movie also out this Friday, this weekend it's time for the old guard to take over again. 'Yes Sir, No Sir' does anything but fall in line, brought today to the world that has a voice that sounds a lot different to subservience. Whilst 'Jokerman' plays its cards right like Jack or Joaquin for your ledgers. "So swiftly the sun sets in the sky/You rise up and say goodbye to no one/Fools rush in where angels fear to tread/Both of their futures, so full of dread, you don't show one/Shedding off one more layer of skin/Keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within", dancing to this nightingale tune in the pale moonlight. Times may have a-changed but this is still a classic from the legends hand. Just like the spiritual of the religious offering, 'Lord Protect My Child' and the storytelling of 'Blind Willie McTell' that could find a home on the ranch with the range of the 'Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid' soundtrack. The same can be said for the eleven minute 'Tempest' tempting penultimate track 'New Danville Girl' trying to remember a Gregory Peck movie, before the harmonica classic closer of the 'Empire Burlesque' 'Dark Eyes' as this bootleg and strapped album closes its lids. 'Don't Fall Apart On Me Tonight' is a beautiful yearn that back to the future sounds as 80's as being Rick rolled. Whilst you Biff ain't ready for the 'Neighbourhood Bully', but your kids are gonna love the Band version of 'Too Late'. This 'Infidel' 'Foot Of Pride' stands in line with a lasting Lou Reed cover for the late legend. But it's a 'Sweetheart Like You' that really moves hearts as Bob asks, "what's a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this" (ahh I was just passing through mate). 'Someone's Got a Hold Of My Heart' and 'I and I' offers more self assurance in a time were many doubted the icon still had it in an age were the symbolic was replaced with a Music Television logo. 'Tell Me', what's it like now? 'Enough is Enough' like the man always sang as he still gives us a 'Tight Connection To My Heart' back then singing, "never could learn to drink that blood/And call it wine/Never could learn to hold you, love/And call you mine". Its lyrics like this that make him the greatest. As Dylan delves into more deluxe numbers like 'Seeing The Real You At Last' or the beautiful devotion, 'Emotionally Yours'."They said, “Listen boy, you’re just a pup”/They sent him to a napalm health spa to shape up/They gave him dope to smoke, drinks and pills/A jeep to drive, blood to spill/They said “Congratulations, you got what it takes”/They sent him back into the rat race without any brakes," the 'Clean Cut Kid' says on a slice of real life amongst all these love songs that still shows the war raging on inside him and others still reeling in that Reaganomics time of Gekko lizards and 'Wall Street' cinder block, cord pulled phones. The napalm of 'nam still fresh like the wounds that never heal. This is why more than a cultural commentator, Bob Dylan is a man of the people. A priest. A prophet a leader when we can't get one present in President (although all that may have changed now for the better after all that worse). Spring may be gone, but in this New York minute Bob bootleg brings us the good times back. Especially in hindsight, now that we see them as such in retrospect respect. Here's another shot at love from the empire for all the infidels. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Angelina', 'Jokerman', 'New Danville Girl'. 

REVIEW: COMMON - A BEAUTIFUL REVOLUTION (PT. 2)

 

4/5

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

Aubrey and 'Ye have been going at each other this last week and change with their eagerly anticipated, dropped unexpectedly, game changing albums, 'Certified Lover Boy' and 'Donda' respectively. But it's Mr. West's former G.O.O.D. Music partner that told Drizzy Drake he was 'Sweet', Common who has the sense to change the world this week with the sequel to last Summers smash 'A Beautiful Revolution (PT. 2)' like the 'Ghetto Dreams' of Nas' 'Kings Disease' too. Its been a great season in hip-hop. Bringing the pink and yellow colourful guitars in like the oil painted red and blue trumpets for the light of this rapper that helps us find forever and just be. Just like water for chocolate. Like hoops-were Common started out, wiping the sweat off the Chicago Bulls' United Centre floor as MJ moonwalked back down the hardwood after another fade away-this man makes hip-hop even more akin to its jazz influences. Just call Common Coltrane, because this is his love supreme in all its parts. Whilst his beau, actress Tiffany Haddish counts cards this week with the Pacino like Oscar Isaac and Robert De Niro's 'Taxi Driver' Paul Schrader (just like Oscar's forthcoming Marvel 'Moon Knight' villain Ethan Hawke 'First Reformed'), the man who over the last few has 'Let Love Have The Last Word' with the heart of his latest memoir and even wrote a 'Let Love' letter of an album to that devotion is giving us more of the beautiful struggle like Talib. Not to be televised like Gill Scott-Heron. It's time for the revolution...again. As to end the same week that Keanu Reeves takes us back to 'The Matrix' in trailer, the only man to go toe-to-toe with John Wick in 'Chapter 2' (we think he's still riding on that subway somewhere like Tom Cruise in 'Collateral' or a professional courtesy) is back with a real resurrection in his second chapter.

Lenny Kravitz (who appeared on 'A Beautiful Revolution (PT. 1)' with Chuck D of Public Enemy for 'A Riot In My Mind') once told us with a whole album, 'It's Time For A Love Revolution'. Now like that classic here's another revolutionary warfare almost a year (like Nas' 'Disease' give or take a few) after the original one, on the eve of the 20th year anniversary of when the towers fell in New York. The world needs this now after another year of corona. Common's compelling positivity practice and preach is like no one else's in this industry in need of some inspiration like all of us right now. Beauty begins again with Com's fourteenth album and his ninth since the 'Be' rap renaissance (although we thought the experimental 'Electric Circus' was epic) with this sequel. And it's another album of artistic arrangements when it comes to the instrumental influences. This could be his 'Sketches Of Spain', or diagrams drawn in the Chicago wind for the fingertips of a man who holds a legendary legacy in this game that still doesn't give enough praise to its players. And after October's very own 'Revolution' this is another album that showcases the skills of the prolific PJ like Nas' 'Streets Disciple' Quan. So much so on every track this is like Ghostface Killah being 'Only Built For Cuban Linx' on Raekwon's album and The Chef affording to return the favour on Iron Man's 'Bulletproof Wallets'. Or Jay-Z penning his own testaments to Jay Electronica's 'Written Testimony'. These are collaboration albums, no matter the credit and we can't wait for the next PJ solo for this amazing artist. Intro and outro book ended by prolific poetry from Jessica Care Moore ('Push Out The Noise') and Morgan Parker ('Exclamation Point'), this prose punctuated album is as inspired as Amanda Gorman at Biden's inauguration. 

Chapter and verse as pretty as a picture, this 'Beautiful Chicago Kid' gives us another classic. As just over a half hour these two LP's masquerading as extended plays give us a double disc deluxe offering of outstandingly good...no great music. "When the revolution comes it'll be beautiful/I serenade like a renegade, never been afraid/Of Virginia Wolf I'm the black sheep/Known on black streets, no dig/A beautiful Chicago kid that won't renge", he raps on his devotion to Chi-city for a beautiful day in the neighbourhood. Won't you be his neighbour? Because he's bringing 'The People' back after all this social distance for the all encompassing and embracing influence of 'Imagine' for raps Lennon, even missing his McCartney in Kanye. But it's 'Get It Right' (with an uncredited like the 'Sob Rock' of John Mayer on 'Be's' 'Go', neo-soul legend Raphael Saadiq) that really does that, serving as a standout and a sought after collaboration for the couplets. Common even gets to The Roots of 'When We Move' with Black Thought and Seun Kuti that will sound formidable on Fallon with Questlove backing (just thinking). Still it's on 'Set It Free' with PJ were Common gets to the mountaintop like MLK. Empowering with lyrics like, "precious is your presence/You can feel the essence/The iridescence of your light, no question/Destined to be/A blessing to somebody/Even if they can't see/The lock, key for you to set it free/No man can take from you what's heavenly/Just be you and you'll forever be/Your beauty tells stories like Ebony." All before crowning his queen with 'Majesty' (of that previous deceleration to independent women wasn't already beautiful enough). 'Where We Gonna Take It?' Even higher for the power! It's 'Poetry' like Marcus King and Isaiah Sharkey in music motion. Prolific verses at that for this 'Star Of The Gang' like another PJ powered number. Just see the 'Saving Grave' with Brittany Howard for this nine track with two poems to follow-up last year's nine. One classic deserves another and as Lynn gives us lasting lyrical exercise we can all breathe a little easier. Everyone should be rapping like Common since The Carter gave us that 'Moment Of Clarity'. All before we fade to black. "Behind my eyes, I reach for the skies that tell no lies/The earth it cries for a revolution that can't be televised." Tune into this revolution, because without people like Common, this world is a little less beautiful. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'A Beautiful Chicago Kid (Feat. PJ) ', 'Imagine (Feat. PJ)', 'Get It Right (Feat. Raphael Saadiq).' 

REVIEW: IMAGINE DRAGONS - MERCURY - ACT 1

3.5/5

Mercury Rising.

Imagine this. Sin City, Las Vegas. When it comes to this Nevada town The Killers have been the high-rollers in this neon strip for almost as long as Sinatra. Making a killing like burying the competition in the desert. But from 2012 to 2018, no one had quite a run like Vegas pop rock outfit Imagine Dragons. Breathing fire with an onslaught of four massive albums across six years ('Night Visions', 'Smoke + Mirrors', 'Evolve' plus 'Origins') with huge hits off each ('It's Time', 'Radioactive', 'Demons'). The Billboard Breakthrough Band of 2013 and Biggest Band of 2017 held record weeks on the Hot 100 and appeared on soundtracks, even to video games from the NBA. From the electropop to the arena rock these aces took over stadiums like a LeBron James slam dunk, crowning themselves the new Kings of LV. American Music Awards, MTV ones, a Grammy. 77.5 million singles sold. They seemed Smaug unstoppable as Lord of the Rings like Shang-Chi, but what's happened since 2018 when this band kept as quiet as arenas in quarantine right now? Depression, desperation, divorce (almost), the death of a friend to drug addiction. It's a lot for anyone to take and lead singer Dan Reynolds had to face it all. And this is before we even talk about corona and all the other horrible things that happened in the worst calendar of our lives last year. But rising again like mercury or a Phoenix, Reynolds gets reflective on the latest album from the dragons den, 'Mercury - Act 1' with the promise of a second part. Juxtaposing the blinding neon light 'Evolve' rapture with a brown paper artwork of the same solitary, surrendering figure plummeting back down to earth.

Stripped down like the latest offering from The Killers last month ('Pressure Machine') about Brandon Flowers growing up in Utah, this Rick Rubin executive produced album is described by Reynolds as split in two halves. One "organic and inward" and the other "aggressive and outward" and you can definitely feel the shift. The second half is more Imagine's inspirational selves, but you have to earn it through some introspective introduction. Even the mercurial title relates to Reynolds mental health issues and the Dragons shifting genre identity in a world where anyone can be what they want to be yet we are still lost in a war of the mind. The opening 'My Life' gets right to it. "I could run from it all but I'd only get lost/Oh, I've walked down the bridge that I shouldn't have crossed/And I find myself, a user/Oh, I wake every day with addictions to feed/They all call me a friend, but I'll never be freed/From the face of a faithless future." Bet your life on this one like a Dane DeHaan music video. On 'Lonely' one of the worst feelings in this isolated world is explored in all its hurt by all Dan's heart. "Some nights I get a little lonely/It's even when there's people all around me/Sometimes I get a little anxious/'Cause these pills don't work the way the doctor played it," he sings as this medicinal music won't prescribe you pain. The single 'Wrecked' takes us further into this abyss with lines like, "These days I’m becoming everything that I hate/Wishing you were around, but now it’s too late/My mind is a place that can’t escape/Your ghost/Sometimes I wish that i could wish it all away-ay-ay/One more rainy day without you/Sometimes I wish that I could see you one more day/One more rainy day." But hope will come in the end for and from a man who saved his marriage along with his wife.

It all feels like a 'Monday' sometimes with these electro blues, but this album still looks after and teaches you to do the same for '#1' as these chart toppers sing, "when it's all said and done/I'm still my number one," for your new hash-tag trend. Right now the industry and socials is dominated by the rap battle between Kanye West's 'Donda' and 'Certified Lover Boy' Drake like a 'Life Of The Party' Kanye track dissing Drizzy and leaked by Aubrey himself. One featuring an incredible, real and heartfelt Andre 3000 verse and a DMX sample reassuring his daughter for her first time on a rollercoaster that will move you to tears. If not that then Lady Gaga's remix record breaking 'Dawn Of Chromatica' reinvention. But even with all this for your streams, you have to shine light on this neon and noir crossover from the Imagine Dragons that breaths new life into the measures of these desperate times with 'Mercury'. Act like you know as 'Easy Come and Easy Go' like life's ebb and flow. These 'Giants' will take you back to that stadium sound once they've hit the ground. Because the only way is up like Drake starting from the bottom. Now this collective is here and nothing is or was the same. But 'It's Ok' like this campfire sing along delight to ignite. The 'Dull Knives' may be out and this band may now show they can be as blunt as a blade, but once we get to the big, soaring single of 'Follow You', you really will them like the music videos private concert for your headphones. Singing, "I will follow you way down wherever you may go/I'll follow you way down to your deepest low/I'll always be around wherever life takes you/You know I'll follow you." We told you, anthemic hope for all this hurt we've been through and them too. It's 'Cutthroat' sharp with the knives out like a Chris Evans cable knit. Don't sweat it. But before 'One Day' takes you away to peace amongst the pain in closing this band have one more anthem in what we should all be singing in this social media led and ruined day and age. 'No Time For Toxic People' and its opposite of that notion beat drills into us the fact that, "What they talk about/When I'm not around/Got no time for that/As a matter fact/Every day's my birthday/Oh, I hope you heard me." "Do-do-do-do" sing along now and unfollow the troll that stalks you. The Dragons came from arrow almost being pierced through the heart to set fire to music once again. Imagine like Lennon. Now we can't wait for the next act. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Follow You', 'Wrecked', 'No Time For Toxic People'. 

REVIEW: LADY GAGA - DAWN OF CHROMATICA

4/5

Back To Chromatica.

This is the remix. And with her third album reimagining the sounds of her classics for their reinvention, Lady Gaga may aswell have invented the remix like P. Diddy and The Family. So just dance like the shiny suit man for this movie music like icon who has more in her costume department than even the Love (have heart for his new name) of Sean John's closet. Just when you thought the Oscar winning Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta star was reborn as a Hollywood starlet in a Bradley Cooper remake, the amazing Academy actress followed her most personal album to date (the motherly 'Joanne' dedication wrote from her inked wrist) with a return to the dancefloor she cut her career on when she revealed her 'Poker Face' in all this 'Bad Romance'. Taking us back to the future and the planet of 'Chromatica' for one of 2020's corona quarantined and her personal own best. Now just months before she's set to duet in legendary crooner Tony Bennett's swan song retirement with their 'Cheek To Cheek' follow-up, 'Love For Sale', Gaga's off planet again and out of this world with the 'Dawn Of Chromatica' remix album. Let's dance again like Bowie's Ziggy for the stardust of this born in another world talent. Because we need to press play for the all work Lady, who no one in the industry right now can out-hustle.

Not even the flow of 'Certified Lover Boy' Drake and Kanye West and 'Donda' vying for the rap throne over this last week. Not with this made-up artist back in the Haus like her forthcoming 'House Of Gucci' movie, transforming yet again like the prosthetic suit of chameleon rocker/actor Jared Leto, 30 seconds from his own planet. Just when you thought 2018 was her year when she played Ally, look at what Gaga has found now. Another album, duet with Tony and a movie?! Everything else may have just been treading shallow water. Far from it now. 'Alice' remixed by LSDXOXO like a drug starts this wonderland with hugs and kisses. Beating the ground all the way to planet earth for this rock star. The Berlin based artist from Philly who made a name in New York really brings that bass. Slowing it all the way down to a fabulous fade out. All before the the Coucou Chloe remix of the signature single 'Stupid Love' could make any club bounce, even in this social distanced quarantine. Locking it down in great hallmarks to the hallowed genre that just makes you dance, dance, dance like a Murakami novel. "Freak out" and "get down". After a year in standstill, its time to get to stepping. Movement is life. Let it rain as the monster collaboration with the pop star of pop stars now graduating from the tiara and taking the crown, Ariana Grande 'Rain On Me' is back with new production precipitation from Venezuelan, Barcelona based DJ, Arca. All for this 'Free Woman' in all her epic euphoria underneath neon strobes for your streams with Rina Sawayama and Clarence Clarity for this crystal clear sound. "Let's go Gaga!" 

Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar really let's us have 'Fun Tonight' on the remix with beautiful beats of the city streets as Gaga continues to go all around the world to hone her sound. In one love celebration of cultures and all the global genres that make music sound so much sweeter. All with that substance like the 'Sour Candy' of a South Korean Goliath group like BTS in BLACKPINK (you always have to shout it) for a huge it remixed to sweep the floor once again with Shygirl and Mura Masa who has already done mesmerizing music for the 'Women In Music' sisterhood of Haim. Who with 'Part III' really had the best album of last year, even in the 'Chromatica' Summer. But beep me '911', because I need a doctor for the Charli XCX and A.G. Cool remix. XCX sings, "Keep my dolls inside diamond boxes/Save 'em 'til I know I'm gon' drop this/Front I've built around my oasis/Paradise is in my hands/Holdin' on so tight to this status/It's not real, but I'll try to grab it/Keep myself in beautiful places." And with another assist, this feels like a brand new track. Just like the Ashnikko and Oscar Scheller remade 'Plastic Doll'. Saying even more as the rapper Nikko drops ashes and dust barbs to this track that takes shots at those who objectify women like they were Barbies. "I come with dresses like I'm somebody's possession/Dolled up in diamonds, princess-a, my dolly parts on a stretcher/All perfect measures like I was made for your pleasure/I'm infected, I fester, make you drink bleach, call me Heather," she spits as Gaga sings, "'Cause I've spent too long/Dancing all alone/Dancing to thе same song/I'm no toy for a real boy." Showing this LP set for your request lists is anything but a cashing in off 'Chromatica' deluxe edition afterthought. But instead the dawn of its own album. An 'Enigma' like the all-encompassing and compelling Doss remix. No filter like Gaga's fun 'Frozen' like animated social media selfies to promote this piece this weekend. Rocking out like the Dorian Electra, Chris Greatti and Count Baldor 'Replay' for the portrait of the track of the same name. Before we sine again with the Elton John huge duet (look for more soon from the spectacles sessions) 'Sine From Above', reworked by Chester Lockhart, Lil' Texas and Mood Killer for a remix that is anything but the name of the latter collaborator. Especially as Elton epically comes into play like his piano. Flying like the Planningtorock planet rock of '1000 Doves' and the two closing remixes of 'Baylon' in this zoo. One from Bree Runway and Jimmy Edgar. The other for the foundation of the Haus Lab. Tchmai and Bloodpop underscoring this like eyeliner. The next generation big-three of pops Billie Eilish, Lorde and Halsey may have it, dominating things right now with their latest releases, but even they have to make their way for the innovator who influenced them all and her new inspirations in 're:' reply. One of the only bright spots of 2020 just got a booster like a vaccine. Take it like Puff Daddy said "take that, take that, take that." Yeah...that's right. Like a Shygirl 'Sour Candy' remix, "Yeah, I could be sweet, but I'm sour for you/Taste the poison, make your dreams come true/It's not right to like, but you know you do," it still feels just as sweet for your buds. All with a sharp aftertaste for these licks. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Alice (LSDXOXO Remix)', '911 (Charli XCX & A.G. Cook Remix)', 'Sour Candy Feat BLACKPINK (Shygirl and Mura Masa Remix)'. 

REVIEW: DRAKE - CERTIFIED LOVER BOY

 

4/5

Hey Lover Boy.

Nas once rapped, "I take Summers off, because I love Winter beef". All whilst going at 50 Cent. A man who once vowed to retire if Kanye West outsold him with his 'Graduation'. Well these days about a dollar, 50 Cent is still here, Nas has held the last two Summer seasons down with dual 'King Diseases' and rappers readily avoid each others release dates like masks and vaccines do COVID-19 in this new age. All whilst dropping with more surprises than when you come home to a dark apartment on the day of your birth and all you friends pop up from behind the couch as you hit the light and playfully punch your spouse in the arm, before grabbing them in a warm embrace like you never knew all along. Well now the John Mayer Summer season of 80's 'Sob Rock' has taken its 'Last Train Home' for your Walkmans. So expect plenty of tears for your fall beef served as cold as the coming Winter in this game of thrones, watching and going for the head. Mayer's 'Bittersweet' companion Kanye West finally launched his tenth album for his dear Mama, 'Donda' to start the week, after almost a month of listening parties rocking stadiums like concerts. And in our review we challenged the 'Certified Lover Boy' of Drake to counter with his chess move for these two rap rivals. But what's beef? As Aubrey is now answering and giving us his own long awaited album to end the week and start the month, closing out the competition and critics. Forget waking me up when September ends like Green Day for October's Very Own. This one will have everyone singing along like Earth Wind and Fire. Posting those lyrics to their social media's like the billboards in Toronto's own Times Square or Shibuya Scramble in Tokyo of Yonge and Dundas. Just like they already are meme mocking up the pregnant emojis of this album artwork that's leaving everyone 🤷.

Hoot like an owl for the Canadian champ. We thanked him later and he took care. Then 'Nothing Was The Same' for the 'So Far Gone' man who mixtape mesmerised us with stories about wanting to be 'Successful', 'Forever' like LeBron in his salad days. Tossing it up like 'Pac for his Future like 'What A Time To Be Alive' with even 'More Life'. Now when it comes to this '6 God' like 'If You're Reading This It's Too Late', you can't jump over this "Jumpman, Jumpman, Jumpman." Rubbing courtside shoulders with the the superstars, blowing up like the Toronto Raptors this hunt for October co-owns with the chip. So close he could pick lint out of Steph Curry's hair, even if he wasn't really like him with the shot (see Kentucky). More than game though, hold on. We've never really gone home for the man who started from the bottom. Now he's here with 'CLB' after the 'Views' of the city he owns from a CN Tower throne, a 'Scorpion' sting and last years stripped down in quarantine, 'Dark Lane Demo Tapes.' An album all the LeBron James and Kevin Durant superteam leaders have been tweeting and waiting for. But tell me why these lover boys can't be in the video like Kawhi? What it do babee? All as we say 'Hey Lover' to the rapper all the ladies love like they did Cool J, dominating the radio. So if you need love in this age of ghosting, the man of the text message generation is back for more quotable soundbites for your replies. You know the hotline to call on your cellphone. Now if you used to love H.E.R. You will again. It all begins with the "I love you, I love you, I love you" soul sample even 'Ye would be jealous of for 'Champagne Poetry' from Champagne Papi, as Drizzy Drake drizzled us with lasting lyrics again for his legacy. "Champagne poetry/These are the effortless flows supposedly/Something else is controlling me/Under the pictures live some of the greatest quotes from me/Under me I see all the people that claim they're over me/Above me I see nobody." Damn! You haven't seen him flame everyone so "effortlessly" since he had beef with everyone on SNL. Don't take his champagne, lady. He still has three sips left. You'll love this, you'll love this, you'll love this. Not "effortless" like 'Shang-Chi and the Legend Of The Ten Rings' is no "experiment". C/C new superhero Simu Liu tweeting that this is "the moment you've all been eagerly anticipating for years...the culmination of SO much hard work. Today, this September 3rd, history is finally made." He's hilariously talking about this album. One of Drake's best yet. 'Papi's Home'. Slap your cheeks like Culkin, because Aubrey is taking everybody out like Shang-Chi those two goons on the bus. Snap your jacket with swagger. 

Movie music like Kanye, 'Donda' clocked in at just under two hours. This 'Lover' just under an hour and a half like a romantic comedy as Drake keeps Lil Baby on 'Girls Want Girls' on an album from the man that has a heart shaved into his head. Exploring toxic masculinity like the time he called up a friend with regret after they objectified women on the phone and expressed how he was going to make an EP about how 'So Far Gone' all that is. Getting 'In The Bible' with Lil' Durk and Giveon on another smooth slow flow before reuniting with Jay-Z after 'Lights Up' ('Thank Me Later') and 'Pound Cake' ('N.W.T.S.') for their big-three in 'Love All'. "Previously on 'Ready To Die'" this song begins interlude inspired like a B.I.G. collaboration as this one as is, as Drake tells us he "never had a lot, this is all I need." As Jay coming out of 'Jail' with Kanye saying "this might be the return of the throne" raps, "Shout out to the family/I don't want no friends no more, not many understand me/Everybody want something/You know the price of everything but the value of nothing." All before rapping with Travis Scott too for a 'Fair Trade' that affords even more. It all gets 'Way Too Sexy' with Young Thug and a back to Future reunion on this time to be alive that even samples Right Said Fred without losing its shirt. 'TSU' is a storm of atmospheric, traditional Drake as the man from cold Canada says he'll make it "snow in this (watch your mouth)". And 'N 2 Deep' Drake also gets his guitar on like when his mentor Lil' Wayne (more on that Young Money later) had a rock out 'Rebirth' after he made it rain with the likes of Fat Joe. Riffing on his signature style, no 'Pipe Down' dropping bombs, "all the things I've down until right now/I need about 1000 pages to write it down." Nothing is bigger right now, this weekend for the man who gave us Abel. Not even the 'Dawn Of Chromatica' from Lady Gaga in a week that's even seen an ABBA reunion, 40 years in the making. But it's 'Yebba's' Heartbreak' that really strikes a chord on the strings. Ladies and gentlemen this is like when The Weeknd told you to get your nose of his keyboard (what were you bothering him for?). Right before 'No Friends In This Industry' (is that were you will hear about Kanye?) gets us back to the regular scheduled programming like a 'PSA' off 'The Black Album' to 'Justify My Thug' for this 'Madonna' singer and kisser. Spitting serious flows on his cut 'Knife Talk' with 21 Savage and Project Pat. But like a '9AM In Dallas' it's the '7AM On Briddle Path' freestyle that raps rings 'round everybody like roses, referencing Greek Freaks for the Bucks. "Lettin' me take the rap for that Casper the Ghost s###/While you findin' all of the loopholes/You n####s move too cold/See the watch collection and assume I got time/'Cause of the ruby rose two-tone/Or switch it to the one I call "R.I.P. Nipsey"/'Cause I swear to God the bezel got sixty of them blue stones/Maybe I'm gettin' too stoned/Calacatta marble for my tombstone/Here lies a n#### that never lied in his new song/Or any of his old songs/They sing them s###s like folk songs/Kumbaya, boom-ba-ye," the champ is here like Ali rumbling on jungle drums. Fast and furious flowing on 'Race My Mind'. Spitting 'Fountains' with Tems and cashing in with Ty Dolla $ign like KATIE ('Remember'?) as we 'Get Along Better'. But with no time to die like a pushed back 007, it's the bond with Tha Carter and Rick Ross-who Drake has just called the best rapper alive (did Thanos click his fingers again?)-that proves 'You Only Live Twice'. Even against the man who told us 'Diamonds' are forever in 'Late Registration'. 'F#####g Fans' will love this, no matter if he loves them or not. Because in Drake's mind he even gives us a sequel to a Kid Cudi classic with the Scott Mescudi featured 'IMY2' like the time they popped bottles on a Will Smith like 'Pursuit Of Happyness'. Check the spelling and read the credits like the lyrics. Because 'The Remorse' here has no mercy for the enemy. Is it Kanye? Or just those who doubted this rapper in Common like 'Sweet'? Hate him now, but be thankful for all this later. Even if of course, by then, it'll all be too late. Take it as read. It won't be long before 'Lover Boy' is certified platinum. Take care all the same as Drake-still with a sting in his tail-enjoys the views from way up there in The 6. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Champagne Poetry', 'Love All (Feat Jay-Z)', 'Yebba's Heartbreak'.