Counterpoint: Tyler, the Creator's Goblin Isn't Bad, It's Actually Pretty Good

I mean, this track exists. How can it not be better than Bastard?

Tyler, The Creator - Goblin (2011)

Well I think Tyler sums this album up the best in his song Yonkers:

"I'm a fucking walking Paradox"

Which makes complete sense because he's the standout rapper of the California Hip-Hop collective OFWGKTA but then he puts out something like this, something so beneath his potential it almost made me question if it was one of those fake Goblin leaks that were floating around. Tyler on this album comes of as more confessional than I've seen on his previous songs but I really don't think Tyler is album to hold my interest over an entire album. Part of the reason why I liked EARL was because it was short enough that I could listen to it and move on cause it was about 30 minutes. Goblin however is about 1 and a quarter albums of Tyler bitching about him being "famous" and other stuff going wrong in his life.

The album opener is the self titled Goblin, and the song is 7 minutes of him going over his sudden rise to fame and how he seems to have all these expectations surrounding him and the rest of Odd Future to his therapist. The track itself is pretty good but this brings me into something I don't really like about Odd Future in general, and that's that a lot of the beats try to be minimal to the point where it just comes across as lazy. The beat sounds like a fucking metronome, and then it kind of breaks off into this synthy piano thing and almost immediately goes back into a metronome sound (which sounds really bland, like it's a 4/4 pattern throughout the entire song). The track transitions not-so-subtlely into Yonkers which is easily my favorite track off of the album, which is a shame that I heard the best song off of the album so many months in advance. The beat again is pretty basic but the rhymes keep me coming back because, well, he's clever. He's really clever and he knows how to put together a rap. It's as simple as that. Radicals, the next track begins with with a disclaimer that takes away from the shock that track has then he goes on to say "FUCK BILL O'REILLY", as if he's striving for that same attention he denounced 2 songs ago. But whatever, the track itself is another solid song, which while it's not as clever as Yonkers is, it's still pretty entertaining and it reminds me of why I like OFWGKTA in the first place. The thing I have against this track though is that the first part of it (Yes there are 2 parts) is kind of baseless, as if he's saying all this stuff to piss off America without going into it at all like he does on Yonkers or Sandwitches. Anyway the rest of the album goes into Tyler using filters to demonstrate his other personas, using Fruity Loops-esqe beats and Tyler complaining over different shit going on his life. All of this lead me to only really enjoy and revisit Tron Cat, Yonkers, Radicals, Sandwitches, Nightmare, and Golden. The rest don't really strike me as something someone could find entertaining, outside those tracks I just listed. Overall it's not really that bad, but some tracks like Bitch Suck Dick, Window and AU79 have potential to be great but for some reason or another they just fall flat. Window and Bitch Suck Dick remind me of why people only seem to focus on Frank Ocean, Hodgy, Tyler and Earl. The rest of the group frankly sucks. They're not clever original or someone I'd want to hear when popping in this album.

Good tracks: Golden, Sandwitches, Tron Cat, Nightmare, Yonkers, Radicals

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Also I'm icy bitch

Foo Fighters- Wasting Light (2011)

Wasting Light is the Foo's return to the music scene and it is a welcome return. Tracks such as Rope, Back & Forth, and Walk solidify this record as a possible candidate as my album of the year for 2011. Some may say Wasting Light is the best Foos album of all time but it's hard to beat The Colour and The Shape. Wasting Light was recorded in Dave Grohl's garage instead of the band's usual location Studio 606.

Wasting Light is a solid album from beginning to end from the heart pumping jam Bridge Burning to the almost anthem worthy closer Walk, Wasting Light is not a waste of light but more a beacon of rock delight.

Memotone ~ Friend (2010)

Memotones 2010 album “Friend” comes as a surprise to me. I am not one who usually partakes in this kind of ambient/glitch/idm, but the smooth tones and acoustic instruments have swayed me. The way William Yates blends the soft subtle ballads with high strings, piano, and glitches is mesmerizing. Leaving you with a calm but not boring (I’m looking at you Boards of Canada) sound. Its sound is comparable to a mixture of Autchre, Plaid and Infinite Scale, while adding in masses of strings and woodwinds. Tracks that stood out would have to be “Sleeping in Circles” which sets the stage for what is to come. “These are your things” a collaboration of cut up vocals and instruments. And “Replace” which ends the album in a jazzy, subtle manner.

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