Black Milk/Frank Ocean

I am 100% aware of the fact that the title of the post sounds like a porn movie and it's star but fortunately for you it's about two up and comers in hip hop and r&b. Plus I dont think anyone will ever top Peter North or Misty Rain so let's just move on. I never really planned on writing about these two because I just assumed that everyone already knew who they were but after talking to some friends this weekend who had never heard of Iggy and the Stooges; I have come to the conclusion that you can't assume anything. Also, in honor of The Mohawk seeking out the only two black people at the Bass Drum of Death show and taking a pic of us(which I am sure was instantly sent to the local authorities to make sure we weren't breaking zoning restrictions) I have decided to write about two black artists. It's never too late for a Juneteenth present.

Black Milk is a hip hop producer and MC from Detroit. He really just started out making beats, heavily influenced by Pete Rock and J-Dilla who he later worked with. But as he was getting more recognition in the game, he realized that most of the "artists" in hip hop at the time were really weak. So he decided the only way to change things and actually make money doing it, was to start rhyming himself. And unlike the mega popular and ego maniac mc/producer who gets most of the love (and honestly deservedly so) that's ruling the airwaves right now, he actually gets better with his rhyming skills on each album. But the cool thing about Milk is he doesnt stop there. In between his second (and best) album Tronic and Album of the Year, he took music theory classes to help him improve upon the music he composes and this in turn help support his improving  lyrics. So there is actual piano, drums, guitar, as well as the traditional 808's incorporated into his sound. The result is not a Roots knock off but a breath of fresh air in a stale and auto tuner saturated genre. He rhymes about his life, his influences, the social divide in Detroit, and even has guests like Pharoahe Monche drop clever lines about hipster pants.

The first time I saw him was at The Victory Grill in a set up that literally looked like someone's bedroom. It was about as close to a old school hip hop show as you could get. The bar was illegally selling alcohol, women were looking to get pregnant, and it felt like a break dancing battle could break out at any second. He brings all of the passion he puts into making his music on stage and every time I've seen him the crowd totally connects with that. Plus if right before their set Public Enemy gives you props, that says something. I rate Black Milk as FRESH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_1apOLypPI

"What is your woman, is she just a container for the child?" These are the type of open and honest lyrics you get from Frank Ocean. I wont get into his strange post about falling in love with another man, even though in the homophobic r&b and hip hop community that could do him in. But I think the fact that he doesnt hold anything back is what separates him from the other r&b artists that are out there. Don't get me wrong, he's not the only one singing about personal issues but most of what's coming out now is about why you punched your girlfriend in the mouth or how much it sucks to drown your life in VIP with strippers.

Basically go *&%^ yourselves, no one cares about how hard it is to have money and hot girlfriends. Sorry for the f bomb but try slanging computers for a living and then come holler at me. And this is assuming that their lyrics arent ghost written. That's actually how Ocean started out, as a ghost writer along with working with the underground hip hop skateboarding  terrorists Odd Future. He started blowing up with his EP Nostalgia which featured Novacane and Swim Good. And his new release channel Orange is building upon the promise he showed with last year's EP. His voice has the range to sound as sexy as Usher's and to get as high as Prince's. Ok, now it sounds like I am the one falling in love with a man but seriously his range is pretty impressive. I say check him out for yourself, although I am not sure how his show would come across live. So I will have to report back in that department. If you have seen him live, please post on here about your experience. Right now I will rate him as FRESH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CWk-nM1ubM

To Rome With Love

So if you're looking to avoid the opening weekend crowds for Dark Knight or your girlfriend just isnt that into Batman movies, you should probably drop that girlfriend and find someone else! But if you're dumb enough to think she's worth keeping around then you may want to get in her good graces by taking her to see the latest Woody Allen flick. I realize that only 1 out of every 5 Allen flicks are actually good but at the very least the dialogue is entertaining and he's good for at least a few funny jokes. And To Rome With Love is no different.

Once again we enter some weird dream world where we follow the lives of Jerry(Allen) who is a failed music producer that has finally retired. He and his wife are on their way to Rome to visit their daughter Hayley(Allison Pill) who just recently got engaged to Michelangelo. While getting to know their future in laws, Jerry discovers that Michelangelo's father has an undiscovered talent and he sees this as his last chance for success.

Meanwhile you are also introduced to Antonio and Milly who are newlyweds. They are nervous because this will be the first time that Milly meets Antonio's family who are a part of the high society in Rome and this will be their chance to perhaps become a part of that circle. But as Milly gets lost trying to get to a hair appointment at the last second, Anna (who is an unbelievably hot prostitute), mistakenly ends up in their hotel room as Antonio's family arrives. So now they must pretend that they are a couple otherwise this could ruin everything for Antonio.

 Also you are introduced to John (Baldwin) who is an architect who used to live in Rome and is strolling the streets reminiscing about his time there when he runs into the younger version of himself played by Jesse Eisenberg. You soon learn that the young John falls for his girlfriend's mysterious and sexy friend Monica.

And there's yet another storyline following the life of everyman Leopoldo (Benigni). After you're introduced to all of these characters you soon realize that the life they secretly want is being granted to them. But as things unfold, they find that the life they want may or may not be the best thing for them. You are taken through some pretty crazy scenarios, one of which includes the films funniest reoccurring joke of Michelangelo's father singing in a makeshift shower on stage because that's the only place he can really sing. But what's cool about this movie is that we always dream of another life for ourselves and this movie in at least one way shows you what it would be like for you if you actually did become famous or if you actually got to meet your favorite actor. The only problem with this is that the concept gets a little old after a while and you find yourself just waiting for the next scene where they give you a close up Penelope Cruz's um...assets!

It's decently acted by everyone who has a major role in it. And everyone seems to be having fun while getting a free vacation in Rome. After a while though, you can tell that Woody Allen made this just as an excuse to spend some time in Italy just as he did with Midnight in Paris. Except for with that movie he lucked upon a good script and he ended up with an Oscar nomination. Oh and his vacation was in Paris obviously but  he wont get an Oscar for this mainly because it's just not as good. And while Ellen Page is a good actress she's a total miscast as the sexy Monica. 25 year old's with the body of a 12 year old just isnt my thing. I will rate this as barely FRESH instead of kind of weak mainly because of Penelope Cruz's body. Check it out.

Dark Knight Rises

Waiting 4 years for a film is a long time! Especially after the last one was such a masterpiece as far as an action movie is concerned. It had excellent pacing, a storyline that kept you on your toes, and a phenomenal performance by an actor in his prime who was trying to top an already legendary performance of the same character. But I think that this is part of the reason why it took so long to make Dark Knight Rises. It's like the girl who makes you wait forever to sleep with her or the new BBQ joint in Texas that makes you wait 3 hours for food; by the time you finally get it you have convinced yourself that it's the best piece you've ever had in your life! So you instantly fall in love and run off and tell all of your friends about it. You feel like a kid in the Sudan who is about to eat his first ever happy meal. The anticipation of the event is actually much better than the event itself. And I am sad to say that the 3rd installment of the Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale version of Batman falls into this category.

Let me start off by saying that my rating for this movie is BARELY FRESH! So I did like it but I had some major problems with it. But first a quick breakdown of the story without giving anything away. It starts off with the introduction of our latest adversary in the form of Bane played by a buffed up Tom Hardy. He sneaks onto a plane for reasons that are fully explained later but you instantly see promise in him as a villain  and his ability to create havoc as he successfully destroys the plane and makes off with it's valuable contents in an opening action sequence that really kind of blows you away.

Nolan then takes you to a memorial for Harvey Dent at the Wayne estate, 8 years after his death. Gordon is still the commissioner, Batman hasnt appeared anywhere in public in that time period, and there has been peace in Gotham. You see a hobbling Bruce Wayne,  who has become a recluse and still hurt from the last time he suited up, as he meets Catwoman for the first time who breaks into his home to steal his finger prints. The two events seem unrelated but it's all a part of Bane's master plan to turn Gotham upside down again and restore what he considers natural order. I'll leave the rest for you to figure out as you watch it.

The problems I have with this movie really center around the action and actually some parts of the story itself. While I admit the opening scene was great, it's all been done before. And the same goes for every other action scene in the movie. Don't get me wrong, the first time you see the Bat plane it looks cool but he doesnt ever do anything cool with it. It flies around and shoots guns but honestly it felt like Nolan just watched a ton of Airwolf episodes and decided to rip some scenes from the TV show and claim them as his own. As far as Bane was concerned, forget the fact that you could really only understand about two thirds of what he said, you kind of had to expect that with a mask over his mouth. But my problem lies with the way Nolan shot his character and the way that everyone talked about him with such fear. This over powering figure was created and you kept waiting for his one bad ass moment. And it never came. When he broke Batman's back that was brutal but outside of that he kind of stood in the background and looked buff. Really just a waste of Hardy's talents. If you think back to Dark Knight, there were plenty of scenes and moments that instantly stick out in your head : the scene where the Joker escapes prison in the cop car and he's hanging out of the window basking in the chaotic world he's created or the car chase scene where he goes through every weapon possible to try and take out the armored car carrying Harvey Dent. There is no such moment in this movie.

It's a decent story with good acting and it has an excellent pace to it so you dont really notice that you're in the theater for 3 hours. Anne Hathaway does a pretty good job as Catwoman, which is a pleasant surprise because she initially looked to be a miscast.  And the action scenes are done well and it looks great on screen. But again it's just an entertaining movie and when it's Batman, it's supposed to be more than that. You're supposed to walk away telling everyone about it.  Stop reading now if you havent seen it yet.

***spoiler alert****

Ok so why make Bane this bad ass and then have him die in the weakest way possible.He's about to kill Batman and then he just gets shot off screen. Um...ok, I guess that's it for him.And why allow the hack David Goyer input in the story? Once the plot is revealed you realize that it's basically the same plot from the first movie. Really??? That's the best you can do? And why give us 20 minutes of Bruce Wayne trying to escape this dumb prison when he couldve done so on the first try? A 12 year old kid did it but we are to believe a 30 something in top shape cant? And in Inception, Nolan makes fun of movies where people unrealistically show up out of nowhere to save the day. However in this movie it happens it almost every scene. The worst being that a broke Bruce Wayne somehow flies from overseas to a city thats under siege by a nuclear bomb and just casually rolls up on Catwoman. Like, hey whats up. And lastly who realistically would want Marion Cottliard over Anne Hathaway in a catsuit? Noone!

I did like the cameo of Scarecrow but they couldve done more with him. And Gordon-levitt did a good job as the young Robin in the making. Ugh, I just expected more.

Oh well I'll see you guys at the reboot starring Channing Tatum as Batman and Michael Cera as Robin.

Twin Shadow/Niki and the Dove

So I buy tickets to shows in bunches all of the time and sometimes I forget that I actually got a ticket for a certain band or hip hop artist and it ends up being a pleasant surprise for me for that weekend. Or  I forget to buy one for a particular show such as the Frank Ocean performance last night and I end up kicking myself. But never have I bought a ticket to the wrong show because the band name looked or sounded like another. That is until I realized that in August I am going to to see Aesop Rock instead of A$ap Rocky!!! Really??? I already got my white rapper fix for the decade with El-P earlier this month! Stupid hipster rappers. Oh well, because of my $25 mistake I will be seeing Aesop in a few weeks but I refuse to do a preview for it. This is all you get : white underground producer/rapper from San Fran who has been around for a while with average beats, below average rhymes, and sounds like Tim Duncan if he smoked weed. For the most part WEAK but it could be a fun show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEBGCOCxLgA
Moral of the story? I need a secretary.

Well this time I made sure that I bought tickets  to see Twin Shadow and not Shadowboxers, some Fiona Apple tribute band (I really hope that's not a real group btw). I missed Twin 2 years ago at ACL because he was playing the 1 or 2 pm slot that day and honestly, who really shows up in Texas heat that early except for single day pass holders? And they've been pounding tall boys since 10 in the morning while wearing Indian headdresses because it's their only day to rock it! Or you get the group of 12 year olds rolling up blunts the size of your head because well, they're 12 and inexperienced. But to see that is just depressing, plus any normal human is hung over at 2 in a festival weekend so no dice for me.

If you dont know Twin Shadow he is a Dominican who plays synth new wave 80's pop. It's not really dance music but you find yourself dancing to it anyway. Which would explain why white people looked like they didnt have any rhythm in the 80's, the music was just too fresh not to dance to. Or maybe they just didnt have any but at least they have an excuse now. The point is, his music is catchy and weird, and this in essence encapsulates everything great about the 80's. It was cool to look and act weird. And honestly if you looked normal you were considered a square (yes I just used that term) and were secretly made fun of while the cool kids drank their Tang and vodka! The only issue with this retro music is that typically artists of today know how to reminisce for an album but they dont know how to progress their sound after that. That's not the case with Twin as his new album seems louder and poppier. 5 Seconds, his first single off of his new album is actually a dance track and a bit heavier with the use of guitars than some of his past efforts. As a matter of fact, you can dance to the entire album, which is great because you're no longer forcing it and this should help make for a better live show. .A few additional highlights from his new album include Golden Light and his latest single Patient.

Also check out his video for Slow in which he rocks the weird 80's hair and just like most artists from that era you're not sure if he's gay or not from his mannerisms and his reaction to his director. The whole thing feels like a porn audition. "Do you like muscle cars?  I bet you do! "  I rate Twin as FRESH and recommend paying the $15 to see him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyO7P6LE7nA

Opening for him is Niki and the Dove.  I missed her during SXSW but they are straight 80's dance music but not like New Order or Bananorama. She has uncanny ability, just like Twin, to sound like a ton of 80's artists but not one in particular. So she brings her own sound to the game. Check her out but until I see her live I will just rate her as barely FRESH.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHuci2LUHPA&feature=relmfu