painting is a dinosaur: November 2006

Hank Tells You What to Think about 4 New Albums

JAY Z - Kingdom Come

Listening to tha Jigga Man is like listening to the future. This is what the Frat Boy's will jam to for the next two years. Now, I don't hate on Mr. HOVA. Far from. I think that the Unplugged album with the Roots is one of the best hip-hop albums of the new millenium. But this record falls a little flat. Maybe Jay's just taking a little time after retirement to get back into the game (you know, like Michael Jordan with the Wizards). Still, there's some great shit on here. It doesn't hurt that Young Ho has a monopoly on the best producers working today. (And you can't beat "OH MY GOD...HO!") But, Mr. Carter, you run this hip-hop game - as you assert countlessly on this album. So, why're you having Chris Martin produce and guest star on the final track?

SPARKLEHORSE - Dreamt For Light Years In the Belly of a Mountain

Not that long ago one hungover morning in Louisville, Mitch and King were singing a Sparklehorse song to me. It was "Little Fat Baby" off Sparklehorse's last record all the way back at the turn of the century. Well, I don't know what Mark Linkous & co. have been up to, but they sure put out one of the greatest albums of the year. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more precise, beautiful indie album. The melodies almost leak out of the speakers. Yet, we're never given a straight-up rendition of these tunes. From "Don't Take my Sunshine Away" with it's grungy breakdown to "It's Not So Hard" with distorted vocals and a guitar riff that you swear was stolen from Pavement in, like, '96 - Sparklehorse may have been underground for a long time, but they came back out with a real gem.

JOANNA NEWSOM - Ys

Do you like Joanna Newsom's voice? Few issues have been so divisive to hipsters since deciding whether or not to vote for Kucinich. For better or worse, I come down on the side that actually enjoyed Newsom's last offering. But, this album is a pretty vast departure from "The Milk-Eyed Mender." Newsom's voice is fuller, less abrasive. Little girls squeels? Out. Lofty, complex orchestrations? In. And the result is an operatic accomplishment, full of Newsom's unique song-stylings and an amazingly emotive underscorings. It's rare to hear someone attempt such a feat in an album. Newsom scores big time. It's definately one of the most unique and effective albums that we could hope for.

LUPE FIASCO - Food & Liquor

Every once and a while, an MC comes along that the stars seem to allign for. And maybe I'm being overly optimistic about this album, but I haven't heard anything so great since Black on Both Sides. Full of good old-fashioned grassroots activism and some banging beats, Lupe Fiasco has crafted one of the most intense hip-hop albums of the year. His pallate is so diverse that he's sampling the Beta Band while condeming the use of torture - "I couldn't see had the hood on me like Abu Ghraib." There's also a ton of guest spots including Jay-Z, Jill Scott and others. Lupe's asking the hard-hitting questions and making some great songs along the way. Pointing to the decades-old repression of the black community through subtle means, liquor stores, and drugs, Lupe Fiasco fights back: "I think the world...is made up of a mix of two things. You got your good and you got your bad. You got your food and you got your liquor." Well, this is a fuckin' feast. And it's good.