The Roots/Action Bronson
Improvements on Hip-Hop Materialism
By Xgau Dec 6, 2011 4:50AM
The Roots: Undun (Def Jam)
It speaks well for their strength of mind that Jimmy Fallon hasn't just been good for their economic viability‑-he's been good for their music. But superb though their 2008 and 2010 records were, and admirable though their equipoise has been, concept albums are such sinkholes that the partial success of this reverse-chronological tale of a doomed small-time hood is more surprising than its partial failure. Maybe I could work out plausible meanings for every song like some exegete brushing the cobwebs off "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands." But all song cycles have holes in them, and really, just exactly what level of sagacity do we expect from Black Thought‑-or Bob Dylan, for that matter? What I get from Black Thought, as usual, is flashes of insight and articulated feeling. The sharpest verse here is Dice Raw's on "One Time," which along with "The Otherside" is the closest the song cycle comes to a stand-alone song. So what I get from the album as a whole isn't a feel for the fictional Redford Stephens. It's the pop refrains, Euro orchestrations, and simplified drumming absorbed by a sound that shows no sign of standing pat. B PLUS
Action Bronson: Dr. Lecter (Fine Fabric Delegates)
So much more consumable than Jacob or Hublot, the food Bronson fixates on never gets fancier than heirloom tomatoes or seared Ahi tuna‑-no cross-hatched merganser breast with lychee infusion and truffle garnis for this fat guy. With crucial propulsion and more crucial fun from no-name Tommy Mas's unfashionably sampled, unfashionably funky beats, his gluttony humanizes hip-hop materialism at an economically accessible level. If only he didn't treat women as meat like thousands of hip-hop hungries before him, I might even play it for my favorite cook at dinnertime. Instead, the follow-up Well Done trades in his homie Tommy on the more renowned and predictable Statik Selektah as it seeks revenge for the bad romance the fat guy had coming. B PLUS
62Comments
Dec 9, 2011 4:35AM
Dec 8, 2011 8:58PM
Xgau has three Consumer Guide collections, encompassing all (most?) of the capsule reviews from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, along with two published collections of longer journalism - Any Old Way You Choose It and the more recent Grown Up All Wrong. And, of course, his great website, organized by Tom Hull.
I know about his website but I didn't know about the Consumer's Guide. Thanks!
It's not for thumbs up and all, but I just keep following him since some years ago because I seriously cannot find any critic so deep like him. For example, I'm listening now "How I Got Over," reading some of the lyrics and realizing how there's so much truth on it. It really should be one of the best albums of 2010, as only him pointed out with emphasis and with a personal touch.
All this in a world where pop music generally is unvalued. And when I say generally, I really mean it. I always wonder why we do it with ourselves when we feel and retract to show. So I find a place where authenticity plays fairly.
Dec 8, 2011 8:35PM
Xgau: the original London cast will give you a good taste, but the latest Broadway recording is a much fuller experience, two full discs rather than one, interstitial dialogue and music, which really helps, and just sounds so rich. The ending dialogue and orchestral exclamation are magical and chilling on the new one, not found on London.
Dec 8, 2011 8:21PM
Xgau, I was wondering here if do you have a sort of book or something which comprise all the reviews you did over the years? Or if your intend to release something like this in the future?
Raul - Xgau has three Consumer Guide collections, encompassing all (most?) of the capsule reviews from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, along with two published collections of longer journalism - Any Old Way You Choose It and the more recent Grown Up All Wrong. And, of course, his great website, organized by Tom Hull.
Dec 8, 2011 7:54PM
Listening now ("Undun"). But I know Roots do no wrong, since "How I Got Over," the start for an ocasional getting frequently hip-hop listener like me. I remember a friend introduced me them and the first song I liked was "How I Got Over" (maybe the most accessible there?) and then the others came till the entire album. But looks they have a special inclination for experimental sounding, no? What sometimes is good and sometimes bad, although what looks great is the combination of it and pop music on their sound ("Make My" now, for example, has a beautiful and really detailed background). "Undun" looks shy in the first songs, for me so far.
Xgau, I was wondering here if do you have a sort of book or something which comprise all the reviews you did over the years? Or if your intend to release something like this in the future?
Also, do you have a biographical book? If not, would you like to do something like this someday?
Thanks!
Dec 8, 2011 4:59PM
"Here's an especially good piece."
Monica Herrera's year end summary from Billboard of 2010 Pop seems to be fact based, with interesting conclusions. I don't listen to enough of that kind of music to know if they (the conclusions) still hold true. To this amateur they seem slightly dated.
Vijay Iyer's piece on Monk is more than especially good. The four paragraphs that start with these lines, "These chord-jewels of his were palpable, physical objects. By this I mean that they took advantage of the physics of sound" are astounding. The paragraph that precedes that line is astute musical psychology.
15 down, 97 to go.
Dec 8, 2011 4:29PM
I've avoided Sondheim like he was, I don't know, Mahler (not the right analogy except that he's forbidding) for approximately 35 years. There are two Follies on Rhapsody, neither the one Rich fell for: 1971 American cast and 198X London cast. Which should I put on my Sansa player?
Let it be said, by the way, that I've never avoided Rodgers and Whoever or Frank Loesser or Cole Porter that way. There's an extra level of pretension in Sondheim, not to mention cultural resistance.
Let it be said, by the way, that I've never avoided Rodgers and Whoever or Frank Loesser or Cole Porter that way. There's an extra level of pretension in Sondheim, not to mention cultural resistance.
Dec 8, 2011 3:50PM
what on earth is "bosh" and how do I know I am hearing it?
Bosh (as a noun) is music that goes "BOSH BOSH BOSH BOSH" (except when it goes "bosh BOSH bosh BOSH") that would sound pretty much like ordinary pop if it weren't for all the boshing. Example: dance mixes of "Someone Like You".I'm sure that clears things up.
Dec 8, 2011 2:25PM
Dec 8, 2011 12:45PM
Greg, that is just what I was hoping someone would do - say "Here's an especially good piece."
I've only read a couple, and they have just been ordinarily good.
Update: OK, the Frank Kogan piece on Ke$ha - what on earth is "bosh" and how do I know I am hearing it? Commenters suggest that Scooter is a good example of bosh. Who or what is Scooter?
I am learning a lot from Kogan's piece, that's what I am trying to say.
Dec 8, 2011 11:33AM
Dec 8, 2011 11:24AM
Michelangelo Matos has tracked down 112 of the 127 runner-up entries from Best Music Writing 2011. In case you wanted more music writing.
Thanks Tom. It will take a while to get through them all of course, but so far the Aquemeni, Dessa and Beefheart features are more than worth the effort. Can't say that I agree with Lenny Kaye on Pacific Ocean Blue, but if you click backwards through his 191 other reviews you can learn what he thinks about every Beach Boys album, every Who album, every Led Zeppelin album, much of the Stones catalogue, Hendrix, Janis, Waylon Jennings, The Fugs, Roy Orbison, The Seeds (this from the original Nuggets curator), Mel Torme, Bing Crosby, Les Paul and Mary Ford and tons of other stuff. He always was kind of a bland critic, and many of these suffer from overly poetic writing. Interesting nonetheless given the source.Dec 8, 2011 10:57AM
Dec 8, 2011 10:43AM
Off topic, but I have fallen unexpectedly hard for the new Broadway cast recording of Sondheim's "Follies", released a few weeks ago(Not seen by me). I almost never listen to soundtracks or cast recordings. As Xgau alluded to recently, this kind of music is meant to be heard while SEEING a movie or play, and its judgement in isolation is not quite valid. But he did give an A minus to a revival of "Guys and Dolls" in the 90's, and it made his year-end Dean's List. But why not, when this Follies package gives you all the lyrics and plenty of dialogue, and the sound is so vivid that it's like you're watching it as you listen. And the plot behind the music is not frivolous: 2 middle-age couples return to a theater(now being torn down) where they danced 30 years ago, and compare their lives then(all the possibilities of youth and new love) to now(bad marriages, roads not taken). A strong sense of melancholy pervades the music . But it also has that joyous Broadway punch,too. The melodies, orchestration, words, and singing give a lot of pleasure if you let it
Dec 8, 2011 10:01AM
Too many Chris Brown features? That would imply that anyone, anywhere threw him on a verse
When musicians think about featuring Chris Brown, I just wish that maybe they'd think about what they're saying by actually putting him on record.
Joey -- i agree 100%. neither of those 2 tracks he's on are any good, imo. because of his history, his contributions actually degrades them, i think. now, make an "Ignition -- Remix" and i might be inclined to want to listen.
Dec 8, 2011 9:39AM
Too many Chris Brown features? That would imply that anyone, anywhere threw him on a verse. That's not to say his music is rotten so much as allowing him back into the artistic community is a bad move. Mother****ers act like they forgot about Dre, now it's looking like that'll happen with Brown. I'm glad that Rihanna is using her music to remind us of that, because it seems like no one else is making any efforts. People make mistakes, and such grand mistakes can definitely be forgiven, but we're not dealing with a must-feature artist, here. When musicians think about featuring Chris Brown, I just wish that maybe they'd think about what they're saying by actually putting him on record.
Dec 8, 2011 9:05AM
so T-Pain's new album is disappointing. for starters, there's too many Chris Brown features, not enough Chopped N Skrewed. some highpoints though:
- Turn All the Lights On -- "fukc that place, fukc my boss." Dr. Luke co-produced, and boy it shows. sounds like some sort of Till the World Ends/Blow/Hold it Against Me cross-breeding
- 5 O'Clock -- T-Pizzle clubs, then does Lily Allen
- Default Picture -- craving real connections
Dec 8, 2011 6:06AM
Dec 8, 2011 5:50AM
Dec 8, 2011 12:08AM
Data that may only interest me: the Roots' Metacritic scores and P&J placings:
Illadelph Halflife (1996) -/33rd
Things Fall Apart (1999) -/12th
Phrenology (2002) 87/7th
The Tipping Point (2004) 72/84th
Game Theory (2006) 83/25th
Rising Down (2008) 80/39th
How I Got Over (2010) 86/18th
Undun (2011) 88/-
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about the blogger
Starting in 1967, Robert Christgau has covered popular music for The Village Voice, Esquire, Blender, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He teaches in New York University's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, maintains a comprehensive website at robertchristgau.com, and has published five books based on his journalism. He has written for MSN Music since 2006.
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