Just an annoucement to whoever passes by.

I've decided to use this blog as a sort of portfolio for my University Of Delaware application. So if you're reviewing my essay for UD, be sure to read my other stuff before hitting accept. Or, gasp, denied.

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantast

Ambition, thy name is Kanye. This album has been called everything under the sun, "a landmark", "bloated", "a disappointment", "a triumph" and some even go as far to name it a magnum opus, both for him and modern rap. It is hard to put my feelings toward this album into words, because it's really a difficult album to digest, from first listen to what has to be my 50th by now. Although, every listen I've given this album has pointed toward this being absolutely tremendous.

This album bares its heart on its sleeve at all times, in particular its pain. There are few moments in music as stark and crushing as the lonely piano that echoes throughout the entirety of Runaway, few moments as triumphant as the Lost In The World's built into the album's closer, "Who Will Survive In America?". "You weren't perfect but you made life worth it...stick around, some real feelings might surface", this almost shows the listener that they've seen nothing yet. This album makes you really feel for Kanye and the issues he has, as corny as that may sound. The way he bends and twists samples to his liking is uncanny, and it sets the stage for some of the most intimate moments to come from a 2010. Let's face it, the production is incredible, I'm not even going to beat around the bush about it. Every sound there serves some purpose to, nothing sounds like it's there to make the track sound bigger than it actually is. It really is THAT big. The way the instrumentation swells on Dark Fantasy is an example of this.

Now for all that is great on this I had to name 1 thing that I didn't like about this. Gorgeous. The track while featuring one of my favorite rappers, Raekwons, doesn't seem to go anywhere. The track falls flat of what the rest of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy shows what Kanye is capable of. Definitely one of the more forgettable songs on the album for me. A song that really stood out to me as groundbreaking was Runaway. I've mentioned earlier about that sole piano that starts off the track, and just like that, the sounds are so desolate and empty that you are taken into the same state of mind Kanye was in as he wrote and created this song, and even so much later it still manages to be haunting.

Honestly, what can you possibly say about Kanye? Prior to this release I've felt everything there is to think about Kanye West, from his being an idiot to him being brave enough to speak his mind. I still don't know what to say about Kanye other than that he's human. And this album is humanity personified.

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)

I thought I'd kick this blog off with an album that inspired me to make this blog in the first place. To this day I don't even know what to say when I hear Teenage Riot. It's upbeat, clean guitar playing coupled with almost stream of consciousness lyrics about a perfect world where the frontman for Dinosaur Jr., J Mascis, is president. And right there you can tell where Sonic Youth's influences are, the gritty sounds of noise rock which you can hear on the rest of the album.

Daydream Nation is an album full of energy, and that transfers over to the listener as you hear it, almost as if they're playing for you specifically. I can't even tell you how much I get into the instrumental that opens up up 'Cross The Breeze, I start head banging (Corny I know) in tune with the drumming and start singing the chorus when it kicks in. "I wanna know, should I stay or go" sounds so heart wrenching and passionate, the song almost bleeds red with the emotion entailed. Honestly if I had 1 complaint about the album it would lie solely with Lee Ranaldo's vocals. He falls a little short of Moore's and Gordon's singing but it's definitely not offensive to me, don't get me wrong. In fact Eric's Trip is probably one of the most energetic and visceral tracks here.

Sonic Youth is creative and they're ever experimenting, looking for a new sound to latch onto and perfect and this is as close to perfect as they ever were. Daydream Nation is what rock music sounds like without its Ritalin, spontaneous, energetic and noisy. It's staple of music and one of, if not the greatest rock album of all time.

10/10