Day 0966 - Food & Liquor

Lupe Fiasco "Food & Liquor" (2006)

Lupe had grown up with parents who exposed him to a range of experiences and knowledge.   This, juxtaposed with the experience of growing up in a dangerous neighbourhood helped shape his music and world-view.

After a deal with Arista records fell through, Jay Z helped Lupe land a contract with Atlantic and get started on his debut album.   Lupe explained that the title was in reference to the 'food and liquor' stores that could be found all around his neighbourhood and other similar hoods.   He stated that it represented the balance of the two sides of people.   Food was the good, but liquor (with Lupe being a Muslim) represented the evil.

While the album starts and ends in meandering fashion ("Intro" and the 12-minute long "Outro") the rest of it is interesting stuff.

"Kick Push" almost has a Dan the Automator feel with its retro cinematic swells of strings and horns, but actually backing quite a sweet story about skating romance.   It's cleverly juxtaposed later on by "Kick Push II" which focuses on the street drug trade.

"The Instrumental" starts off almost sounding like the quiet part of a nu-metal track... which is not surprising when I then see it's produced by Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park.  It does have a good groove to it though with interesting production sound, little swells of strings popping up among guitar loop and keyboard parts.

"Pressure" (feat. Jay Z) has a 70s funk and rock backing. "He Say, She Say" is glorious strings.  "I Gotcha" has a jazzy keyboard part to it.

Another of those hip-hop albums that (at 72+ minutes) could possibly have stood to lose a track or two, but other than that, I dug this.

Day 0783 - The Downward Spiral

Nine Inch Nails "The Downward Spiral" (1994) - got it

 

This was the first of these albums for a while that I've listened to on headphones (aside the ones I listen to while walking).  Most of them I just have going through my laptop speakers.   Trent Reznor knows his way around a studio and it seemed only right to get the full experience of his production.  He was also well ahead of the curve as far as working electronic elements into rock music.  
 

I've always thought it's a shame that more bands didn't explore that combination of hard rock and electronica.   The Spawn Soundtrack in 1997 had one or two great tracks in that vein.

Anyway, back to NIN.  This album was famously recorded in the house where Charles Manson's followers had killed Sharon Tate.   Messages in Tate's blood were still present in the house, so kind of a grim vibe to record in... this probably worked in the album's favour though as its' a confronting, angsty and grim collection of tracks.  The album was supposed to be a concept of sorts, centring around a character who has been destroyed physically and emotionally and is busy self-medicating with various substances.

The slow grooves of "Closer" and "Piggy (Nothing can stop me now)"  contrast sharply from the frantic and overwhelming full throttle of "Mr Self Destruct" and "March of the Pigs".   The whole thing wraps up with a penultimate track that slowly dissolves into the almost delicate "Hurt", later famously covered by Johnny Cash.