The Greatest Live Albums

Granted they are all within the same genre, I believe these three electro giants produced live albums that definitely deserve more acclaim. Because of the shows these guys have put on, I believe the bar was largely raised for the rest of the entertainment world to which spilt into other genres especially hip hop most notably with Kanye West. We see this in his 2008 Grammy performance with Daft Punk themselves even with the pyramid making an appearance. I will begin with the albums in chronological order to which I've listened to them.


Daft Punk's Alive.
This was a tour not to have been missed. Daft Punk's spectacular set and light show was 1/2 the show with the rest being the banging set Daft Punk did remixing songs once known as mediocre. The entire show seemed to be a remix best of set that put Daft Punk back on the map. After putting out an album that hit only par, their tour put their career back into light speed and it is to many people's anticipation to see what they do on their next tour.


Soulwax's Part of the Weekend Never Dies
Soulwax to me are one of the most known unknowns. It seems to me they have yet to create a name for themselves here in the United States but have dominated the European scene. Many of the so called electro-heads here in the Northwest region of the United States have yet to discover who Soulwax is and the almighty power they hold. I would have to say, of the three live albums I am reviewing this would be the most organic of all with the band covering the remixes to which they do. Definitely a must see if Soulwax comes to a town near you.


Justice's A Cross the Universe
Justice was one of the three shows where I was fortunate enough to catch. Daft Punk did a show in Seattle I believe during the Alive tour but Soulwax has come as close as Northern California for this Oregonian. Back to the lecture at hand, Justice utilized a similar formula as Daft Punk as to do a continuous set remixing the songs they produced. Their light show slightly accentuated the music with their illuminating crucifix and light up marshall amps. However it is to say that Justice's live album is much more gritty and grungy in contrast to Daft Punk's robotic sounds.

In conclusion, these three albums are a must have for those who question the liveliness of electronic shows. They are all packed with so much energy and to witness a sea of people jumping and chanting all at the same time to Justice's "We Are Your Friends" made me a firm believer in how bad ass these shows can really be.

Top 10 Albums and Music Labels of All Time

Top 10 Albums (in no particular order)


Californication by Red Hot Chili Peppers
A classic summer album. The album holds a strong nostalgic value amongst some of my best friends and I. Aside from having this being one of their most commercially successful albums, this is easily one of the few albums I can listen to enjoyably from start to finish.


Evil Empire by Rage Against the Machine
Easily one of the greatest rock albums of all time due to its innovative rock/rap genre. Politically fused, RATM can be credited for popularizing those Che Guevara shirts you are wearing right now. I might receive some flack for this but Tom Morello is one of the greatest guitarists of all time making the signature sound with the effects pedal.


All Hallow's EP by AFI
Granted this isn't a full length album, one of AFI's career milestones was the new era of AFI during the release of this and Black Sails in the Sunset. AFI's cover of the Misfits "Halloween" is a great rendition and "TotalImmortal" is one of my all time favorite AFI tracks.


† by Justice
Easily one of the greatest electronic albums of all time start to finish. Covers many aspects of electronic music from the poppy "D.A.N.C.E." to the grunginess of "Stress." However, I can say with the utmost confidence that one of the greatest club bangers ever produced lies within the song "D.V.N.O." which pays homage to club culture and the many clubs dubbed El Divino all over the world.


Fat of the Land by The Prodigy
This album is fueled by the now crowned classics of the Prodigy. Granted, some of the songs on there are deemed mediocre, songs like "Smack My Bitch Up", "Breathe", "Mindfields", and "Firestarter" carry the weight. It wasn't until the Justice concert where M.I.A.'s DJ Diplo played "Smack My Bitch Up" in his set was I reminded of how effing bad ass this song is. And for those who haven't seen the video head on over to dailymotion and check it out.


Death Row's Greatest Hits by Various Artists
This awesome showcase of the West Coast powerhouse in its prime can be heard through this double disc album. I remember sitting in my room during my middle school days just listening to this on repeat memorizing the words. Definitely one of those if-I-were-stranded-on-a-deserted-island albums I would take with me.


The Art of War - Bone Thugs-n-Harmony
Again, another middle school banger. This is just it, that classic DJ U-Neek sound behind the production of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and nearly every song had that militant Art of War feeling behind it. It was so dark and held that mysticism which absolutely captivated my thuggish ruggish bones.


Late Registration by Kanye West
The reason why I like this album better than The College Dropout is because Kanye was given time to mature and to explore different sounds on this album. Kanye had one sound on College Dropout whereas this album he had many different sounds from "Roses" to "Drive Slow" two VERY different songs that were so good.


World Premiere by The Team
Bay Area slaps, slumpers, etc. "Tell Me When to Go" popularized hyphy music but I believe one of the most slept on dudes of the Bay are the Team. All of them have that smooth cool calm and collected voices rapping over crazy bass tracks with those classic hyphy synths. Definitely that album to rattle the trunk.


Love/Hate by The Dream
I have to give some props to one of the most known unknown figures in pop music. This guy wrote "Umbrella" which as much as I hate to say it, catchy as hell. His album sounds like a homage to Prince which isn't a bad thing. The album tracks have solid production and as expected catchy song lyrics that get stuck in your head easy as ever.


A Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi Trio
You are probably wondering why I put this on here as it seems like it doesn't relate to the other albums I chose. Well it doesn't. Actually, Christmas is definitely a joyous holiday where people seem a little bit more cheerful than the rest of the year. The Vince Guaraldi Trio captures Christmas music (without it being overtly annoying) in that classy and timeless jazziness. If you don't like it get the hell out of my face (it's January).


Top 10 Music Labels

Death Row Records
Undoubtedly the West Coast powerhouse of the mid 90's was Death Row Records. They had the Midas touch. It was a shame to see an All-Star label like Death Row Records implode due to its mafia-like business conduct. You can't talk about West Coast gangster rap without mentioning the glory days of Death Row.

Aftermath Entertainment
The next label I bring up is like the rebellious son who went off and made his own fortune. Dr. Dre saw the violence and the drama of Death Row Records and left the label to start his own, Aftermath. He came out with that song everyone forgot "Been There Done That" and so the dragon went to sleep. Wasn't until Aftermath signed Slim Shady and Fifty did it gain notoriety. Because of these smart business decisions by Dr. Dre, it was then Aftermath rose to fame.

Ed Banger Records
The only non-hip hop label on my list is Ed Banger Records. Pedro Winter heads this and thanks to his keen sense of hearing, he picked up two losers from a remix competition to be signed to Ed Banger Records. These two losers would be the two gentlemen comprising Justice. Other label mates such as Uffie, DJ Mehdi, Mr Oizo would also produce some underhyped hits overshadowed by Justice's limelight.

No Limit Records
1/2 of the reason why the South was making so much noise during the 90's. No Limit Records headed by Master P himself flexed its muscle with the first hit "Make 'Em Say Ughh!" This showcased the power of No Limit Records and if everyone can recall, started the trend of crazy blinged out and exaggerated album covers.

Cash Money Records
The second half of why the south was making so much noise during the 90's. Thanks to Cash Money millionaires for coining the term "Bling Bling" so that we have an eloquent term to refer to our luxuries by. Cash Money was definitely revived with the return of Weezy. Sometimes though, I believe people think Weezy is the best simply because Weezy proclaimed it himself.

Def Jam Records
One of the older hip hop record companies around. Classic artists such as RUN DMC and LL Cool J to today's Nas, Ludacris, Ne-Yo and Rihanna proves that Def Jam is still a force to be reckoned with.

Ruff Ryders Entertainment
The short lived life of Ruff Ryders brought to a new dawn a new aspect of hip hop culture involving motorcycle and atv stunting along with the dog fight image. Ruff Ryders starring DMX co starring the Lox, Eve and Swizz Beatz gave some more shine to New York. Ruff Ryders saw a handful of hits and even the signing of the first full blooded, Mandarin speaking Chinese kid signed to a major label, Jin.

Loud Records
Another record company housing some East Coast heavy hitters was Loud Records. Housing the Wu-Tang Clan, Big Pun and Xzibit (who's actually from Detroit but frequently mistaken as an "LA rapper"), Loud Records saw to their fruition some artists on the verge of super stardom. Loud Records is like Rick Adelman's career, always making it to the NBA finals but never clinching the title.

Ruthless Records
No one can forget Eazy E and NWA. Ruthless Records was also home to my favorite rap group growing up as a youth, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Some of the best glory days of hip hop can be accredited to Ruthless Records.

Koch Records
Koch Records today is the largest indie label in the US. Housing some of the big dogs of hip hop such as Snoop Dogg, Jim Jones, Xzibit, and Fat Joe we can see a vast number of artists past and present being distributed by these guys.

I know I left out the big 4, and 6 but those huge companies made less of an impact on the music I listened to growing up. However, it is to credit some of the biggest names in music history to these labels.

been waiting to drop this gem

haha yeah ive seen jizz in my pants. it was definitely hilarious and spread virally. here's a great scene, i wonder what the rest of the movie is like.

My new Anthem

If you have not seen this yet, the first time watching it is the best.

GO DUCKS

68-35

Sonic Sez

Life is Precious

On Saturday on a whim, my girlfriend and I took a trip up to Seattle just to shop around at the H&M. I did a little research and found that the largest H&M was located at Southcenter mall in Tukwila, WA. We took a day trip up there and had trouble finding it so we shopped a bit at the Nordstrom Rack. After realizing it was in the mall, we headed on over and wasted no time to get to the H&M. We went upstairs and tried to figure out whether or not to split up. After some thought we agreed to meet up with each other in an hour and call. We split up to our respective departments and shopped for maybe 5 minutes when I heard what had sounded like a large wooden plank falling from the ceiling to the floor. Then another. Then a woman shrieked. I looked out the store window and saw many people running across the mall and some into the store. People kept their eyes on the doorway and ran to the back of the store. After about a minute of silence I called my girlfriend and stayed on the phone with her trying to figure to out where she was at. The employees evacuated the store out the emergency exit which is where I found her. It had occurred to me when the panic of the people that it was a shooting. The chills didn't hit me until we left the mall and this reminded me of how fragile our lives are and anything can happen at any moment so it is important to live life to the fullest and try not to be negative. Be happy and thankful you are alive and hold the ones dear to you close.

Link to news story of shooting