Green Day
21st Century Breakdown
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After Green Day’s monumental rock opera, American Idiot — an album that brought both esteem and potential to the pop/punk genre like never before — the trio decided to up the pageantry in their latest rock opera. The story of 21st Century Breakdown revolves around a boy and a girl (Christian and Gloria) growing up in the wreckage George W. Bush and Company have left behind. To piece together this hazy plotline, Green Day expects more from the average listener, which begs the question whether or not rock operas are even relevant in the age of blogs and iTunes’ individual song distribution.
Like American Idiot, Green Day romanticizes the sad state of affairs for the punk rock teens. On the title track, vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong sings, “I never made it as a working class hero,” acknowledging his generation’s disconnect with the baby boomers. “Know Your Enemy” is a call to Christian and Gloria to be aware and fight the power — by now a cliché yet endearing motif. Better are the characterization songs: for Christian, “Christian’s Inferno” — a song about his anger and frustration. For Gloria, “Last Of The American Girls” — making her the strong-willed, optimistic one. It makes for a cute “us against the world” scenario.
What distinguishes 21st Century Breakdown from American Idiot is that it is more of a rock opera in a Queen context, rather than a The Who context. It embraces the grandiose presence of an orchestra, and focuses primarily on grace as opposed to the allure of aggression and pace. The major issue with 21st Century Breakdown is the same with American Idiot: it’s Green Day’s exploitation of the state of liberalism within the context of pop culture. American Idiot came at the height of Bush-bashing popularity, and 21st Century Breakdown now comes in the wake of Obama hysteria. On top of that, calling Green Day records “political” is like looking for Fruity Pebbles in the produce section of the grocery store. (If, in fact, you do draw your political inspiration from a Green Day record, you had better be eleven years old or Canadian). Still, whether or not you decide to suss out the story and politics of 21st Century Breakdown, Green Day is able to keep it fun. At least their pushing of punk rock pubescence will always sound awesome in a bounce house.
Eminem
Relapse
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It’s been five years since Eminem released his last full-length album — a long time considering it’s only been ten years since he burst onto the scene with his free-for-all diatribe “My Name Is,” followed by some of the most controversial pop albums of the decade. Nonetheless, even five years isn’t long enough for one to forget the infamous white boy from Detroit who redefined the strictly black genre of hip-hop and didn’t mind trampling egos along the way. In delivering his trademark shock-rap, nothing was sacred to Slim Shady, not even his personal life.
That is why it’s no surprise to hear songs on Relapse like “3 AM” — a brutal narrative of a tormented serial killer’s late night activities — or the celebrity-bashing “We Made You” — a tirade continuing Eminem’s habitual knack for bursting back onto the scene with a few crude jokes thrown at indefensible pop personalities. By naming his album Relapse, Eminem would like to suggest that he is trying to change his approach to music. But how does one who has invested so much of his career on being an emotionally unstable caricature with drug problems and aggressively homophobic tendencies change up the style? Relapse is a perfect example of why reformatting a musical style is probably like going through rehab — especially in an egocentric genre such as hip-hop.
What makes Relapse a success is Em’s violent (in the most literal sense possible) resistance from hiring hitmakers to lead him back into the rap game — instead sticking by the sharp and sometimes tacky production of Dr. Dre, his longtime co-conspirator. But what makes it a failure is … well … is there really anything else this angry guy has to offer? His perceptive craft of lyrics and delivery is still there, and arguably even fiercer than before. Yet, on Relapse, Eminem would rather choose shock value over his artistic skills.
This time around, even though he’s got the media’s attention again, upsetting parents, politicians, and Fox News doesn’t seem like all that big of an accomplishment on Eminem’s colorful resume.
Download These Songs:
Mos Def — “Casa Bey”
RCRDLBL.com (FREE)
culturebully.com / photo
Anyone still doubting this veteran Brooklyn MC’s ability as an entertainer will be floored by this funky medley of mic skillz. Mos raps, sings, and plays chicken with circa-70s instrumentals. Think The Meters jamming with De La Soul.
Grizzly Bear — Two Weeks (Fred Falke Mixes) EP
iTunes
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The indie rock quartet’s already-sensational first single off their third album gets some dance floor touch-ups by French DJ Fred Falke. Singer Ed Droste’s ascending voice is cushioned by the triumphant, Falke-constructed, digital orchestra, sounding like the turn signal on the Millennium Falcon.
Passion Pit — “The Reeling”
iTunes
elbo.ws / photo
The much-blogged-about Cambridge keyboard geeks kick the 80s kitschyness, stock-drum samples, and sappy self-loathing into overdrive. If you want George Michael and the rest of Wham! to show up to your dance party, make sure the person DJing your MacBook Pro plays this one.
