GAMPO

Walking into a mill creek bar with a thrown together show I did not know what to expect, Then Prof hit the stage,  I'm not sure why a picture of someone sitting in a bathtub full of dirty water, eating a sloppy plate of over sauced spaghetti, while drinking milk out of a McDonald's glass would make someone want to buy a rap album. In fact I'm inclined to believe it would have almost the exact OPPOSITE effect. Without knowing Prof you'd think he's some indie rapper trying to get over by being hip-hop's new Bizarre. That tells me one thing about Prof even before listening - he has balls. If you're going to appreciate what he has to offer, you won't be tricked into it. You are going to enjoy his beats or rhymes for what they are, since he's going to sell you on the contents and contents only. That makes his cover art a form of reverse psychology that may ultimately prove highly effective - it's so bad that he MUST be good.

Understanding the album's name is much easier. "Gampo" is the word Prof and his friends use to describe something really crazy or really wild, inspired by a childhood friend of the same name. The more gampo it is, the more off the chain or the more off the hook it is. Therefore Prof is declaring himself "King Gampo," the baddest and wildest mo'fo' going. Given the rap scene he runs in, that's quite the claim, since he rolls with Minneapolis mo'fos like Brother Ali and Doomtree and has even had a cameo on the Atmosphere song "Minnesota Nice." He was originally known as one half of the duo Prof and Rahzwell, until he broke out solo in 2008. When writer Jordan Selbo reviewed that release, he took issue with the idea "Minneapolis = Rhymesayers" and vice versa, but whether he likes it or not Prof's duet with Brother Ali on the song "Daughters" is one of the album's highlights:

After this song I have the opposite problem - HIGH expectations. Absolute's beats and this tandem's rhymes make me want more at the same level or greater for the rest of "King Gampo." Happily for the most part Prof is able to deliver those expectations. The Noearth production on the title track is the kind of bouncy, whimsical and minimalistic song you'd expect from a left coast emcee like Declaime or Myka 9 - a little odd in a good way. C. Grindberg's beat on "Anomaly" is almost the exact opposite, which makes it more impressive that Prof put these songs back to back on the album. It's bass heavy, electronic, and features Prof's hilarious braggadocious assertion that "I'm about as fly as it gets/so fly that I'm +literally+ on top of shit" - which he nearly one-ups just seconds later by declaring himself "so Rick Ross."

What the early tracks of "King Gampo" successfully establish is that Prof is a versatile lyricist who can be serious or silly as the mood fits him, that he can flow to any kind of beat thrown at him, and that he's not afraid to show a little ass to entertain the audience (perhaps harkening back to that bathtub on the cover again). That's reflected by songs like "Whiskey" which suddenly pop up in the middle of the album, produced by Ant of Atmosphere fame, where Prof croons about his love of single malt and how he's going to "keep on drinking until the cows come home." I've gone on the record many times as saying rappers by and large shouldn't sing, but Prof does it quite well. He's a cocky bastard, as proven by his rap on the Willie Wonka produced "President," but judging by the talent he displays there's no reason not to be. You could interpret it as a parody of Southern style Gucci Mane swagger if you wanted, but it works even if you don't, much like his duet with Riff Raff on "James Bond Blimp." From the start to the end of "King Gampo" Prof proves himself a seriously skilled rapper, who allows himself to have a good time and spit some fun rhymes in the process.

Charlotte Gainsbourg - Stage Whisper

When you’ve seen someone drill a grindstone into Willem Defoe’s leg, smash his testicles then give herself an autoclitoridectomy it can be a little strange when you encounter them again.  But enough about my trip to California last year, this is about Charlotte Gainsbourg and her new studio/live double disk album release Stage Whisper.  I’m going to put my cards on the table here, I really liked this.  Insofar as genre goes, Gainsbourg bounces effortlessly back and forth from strange and discordant tracks like “Paradisco” to intimate, melodic acoustic ballads like “Memoir.”  Overall, this is not music to relax to like Bon Iver, nor can you expect to be challenged by the ideas and instrumentation as consistently as Pink Floyd.  Stage Whisper’s new music is the kind of music that would be played in a hip indie movie about sad people living in, let’s say, Brooklyn.  And in the same way, the music is interesting and delightfully strange.

As with most studio/live albums, the most famous tracks tend to be in the live albums, as the live sections of these albums tend to be a “Best of” collection.  However the studio albums section of the album would seem to be a better bet.  From her film work (mostly with Lars Von Trier, Antichrist and Melencholia), I assumed she had all but lost her native French accent.  Now, I see that she must have been working with vocal coaches during the recording of those films as well as the studio portion of Stage Whisper, because her French accent really comes out in a live setting.  They’re most severe in the first two songs and they’re mostly gone by “Heaven Can Wait” but they make those songs seem pretty stilted as Gainsbourg struggles to put the appropriate emPHAsis on the correct syllABle.  Overall, excepting those first songs, it’s a solid live effort, and worth your time.

Recommended tracks (studio): Memoir (highly), All the Rain, Anna

Recommended tracks (live): Heaven Can Wait, Just Like a Woman, The Songs That We Sings


- Peter Guilherme

Lana Del Ray - Born to Die

Lana Del Ray’s success among people who should know better baffles me.  Unquestionably, the best song on this album is her single Video Games, and that’s only because it has some pretty instrumentation.  Let me just say it.  Lana Del Ray isn’t bad because she’s a particularly bad singer, or because she’s offensive, it’s because she’s lazy.  Her songs are so lazy, that they seem to circle all the way around to actively lazy.  Let’s take a look at some choice examples from Video Games.

I'm in his favorite sun dress
Watching me get undressed
Take that body downtown

I say you the bestest
Lean in for a big kiss
Put his favorite perfume on

Now let’s ignore the fact that the song presents itself with no reason to listen any further musically.  The chords fully resolve themselves at the end of each triplet which gives us a perfect time to listen to something else.  Insofar as the lyrical content goes, not only do the songs suffer from a complete lack of cohesion, they are also written using painfully workman like diction.  Normally, I consider it the height of songwriting laziness to rhyme a word with itself, but the most egregious offender in this is her use of the word “bestest.”  I’ll just say this, I liked it better when Nicki Manaj used it in “Bedrock,” and keep in mind that in that song, she rhymed it with “asbestos” and that I consider “Bedrock” to be one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard on the radio.  For Lana Del Ray to attempt to rhyme it with “big kiss” is just lazy.  Lana Del Ray’s painfully repetitious word choice and dreary song structure make this one a definite pass. 

Recommended tracks: Literally anything else


- Peter Guilherme

KSUB Presents: Feet

February 3rd, KSUB hosted its weekly concert series, "KSUB Presents" with a band called feet.

Photos property of Bridget Elizabeth.

A Lull @ the Comet Tavern, January 20th

From the outside snowpocalypse that overtook Seattle for a while to the inner sticky floors of the Comet Tavern, sticky warm bodies huddled together to listen to the boom of A Lull’s beats. The large crowd that gathered this past Friday on January 20th gleaned an understanding of what A Lull stands for; heavy drum beats and harmonious vocals and Bruce Springsteen covers, (it was only fitting that the show be loud and filled and fueled by percussion since each member of the band had been a drummer at some point in his career.) Tying the end of the show together, the primal group of  three played their most well known tune, ‘Weapons for War.’ Of course the crowd began to nod head even faster as Nigel Evan Dennis began “la do da do da do da...”


Peace,
Bridget Elizabeth


Ps. For a quick video of A Lull's performance 
www.tunebridge.tumblr.com