2.2.13

On February 2nd I listened to Nas Illmatic, Led Zeppelin II, and The Joy Formidable Wolf's Law.

If I was late to the Jay-Z party, I missed the Nas party. I knew of Nas, but never bothered to pay attention to anything he ever did until 2006! And then it was by the urging of a co-worker who said, “if you like Rap, at all, this is the best Rap album ever recorded.” So, I gave it a shot.

Illmatic is fucking dense. It takes like five listens before anything sinks in or sticks out… for me anyway. I remember instantly thinking that Nas sounds like A Tribe Called Quest, if A Tribe Called Quest didn’t have any fun. Illmatic is all business, nothing personal.

“N.Y. State Of Mind,” “Life’s A Bitch,” and “Halftime” are songs I gotta slip into my regular rotation and “Memory Lane” is the money jam. That’s the song that sounds great doing lazy shit. Taking a ride just to take a ride? Throw on “Memory Lane.” Sitting in the yard enjoying a libation? Throw on“Memory Lane.” Fucked up, feeling glad to be alive, and don’t want the night to end? Throw on “Memory Lane!"

Led Zeppelin are the original Lord Of The Rings dorks! “Ramble On” to Mordor!

This is probably the Led Zeppelin album that drove me to the Classic Rock cliff. “Whole Lotta Love,” “What Is And What Should Never Be,” and“Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid,” were probably the most over played Led Zeppelin tracks of all time! As much as I splooged all over Led Zeppelin I for sounding April fresh, I haven’t listened to much off of II in just as long and I feel like I gotta put it back on the shelf for another ten years. However, I did get a little caught up in the climax of “What Is And What Should Never Be.”

Speaking as I man whose best friends are his balls, how couldn’t I love “The Lemon Song.” To me, that song is about balls and the juice they make.

As an enormous fan of The Joy Formidable’s first album The Big Roar and their live shows, I had high hopes for this follow up! I should also say that I have an enormous crush on singer Ritzy Bryan. She’s adorable, but she’s also a bona fide Rock ‘N Roll force!

Wolf’s Law seems to be delivering on the band’s potential, the problem is I gotta hear it more. “This Ladder Is Our,”is a strong opener that leads into a couple more tracks that capture the bands huge sound, but it’s too much to take in in one listen. I’ll be going back for more and hopefully finding a new favorite song every time I do.