Sunday, July 25, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Kelis Is Finally Here
(released in the U.S. June 8, 2010)
Kelis' newest venture as a musical confidante with the backdrop of glamorous, demanding dance beats has made her album Flesh Tone the ultimate escape recording of the year. Though her most known hit remains the seductively smothering heat of the Neptunes produced "Milkshake", the fashionably erratic personality of Kelis shines within her new home of dance, maybe finally allowing her to be showcased as the original provocateur that made some really great songs that were otherwise ignored in the 2000s. Flesh Tone is chock full of production done by some of the biggest superstars right now of the dancefloor and European club kids including Jean Baptiste, David Guetta, Boyz Noise, Free School, and Benny Benassi. They've all taken a liking to Kelis' throaty yet nubile voice that gracefully counteracts the booming music, helping her succeed in a genre that appreciates her more than contemporary R&B.
As a co-writer of all nine tracks, Kelis barely lets listeners in on the disparaging details of her crumbled marriage to Nas that ended in divorce, but resulted in the birth of a son, Knight. The album occludes the unhappiness, and instead is a surprising optimistic outlook on love and life, as the girl who used to bring the boys to the yard prefers they now just follow her hopeful trail of living life to the fullest and counting the blessings that really matter. The first single "Acapella" was written with her newborn Knight as the muse. Knight inspired a uniquely constructed account of his arrival, as the chorus his mother sings is one of the most amorous of these conflicting times with a riveting shake : "Before you...my whole life was acapella. Now a symphony is the only song to sing. Before you...my whole life was acapella..."
With her previous albums behind her, be ready to really get to know who Kelis is, as the producers on Flesh Tone don't try to impose their characteristics on her, they embrace the woman of the show, unlike most past collaborators. She'll likely get no Grammy nominations for this electrifying album, because she's a bigger star overseas than she is in America, but let it be known: Flesh Tone is a contender for a spot in the top ten albums of 2010...not to mention let's all give a shout out to Knight.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Video Junkie: clip from 2002 MTV2 Special: 24 Hours of Love
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Fashion Insensitivity Rears Its Dubious Head
FASHION REVIEWby Shardae Jobson
Ciudad Juarez, in Mexico, is synonymous with the macabre words of murder, rape and torture due to the 400 (and possibly counting) violent incidents that have taken place, the victims all women in connection to the crestfallen factories they work and receive measly paychecks. On the basis of this grim information alone, not only is it simply odd that the Rodarte duo of (sisters) Kate and Laura Mulleavy cited the city as inspiration for their dreamily ghost-esque collection, matters became more noteworthy and provocative when it was announced the collection would be accompanied in partnership with M.A.C. Cosmetics with products named directly after the city and its features, which are not so subtle including nail polishes named "Juarez" and worse, "Factory". Rightfully so, Rodarte and M.A.C. were faced with impassioned criticism, as it was also unfortunate for M.A.C. as they've for years been proactive in supporting the fight against AIDS with their Viva Glam campaign, showing the high fashion, high gloss label has an altruistic side that's been applauded.
A majority of the cases in Juarez have gone unsolved and with little arrests. Rodarte's new collection was uncomfortable to witness through pictures when the background of their inspiration is really a landscape of nameless abused, dead women who will never know justice even if it came their way.
Comments flooded many fashion focused websites about the insensitivity of the (unintentional) situation, and came weeks after the visual crime that occurred at the high end UK department store Selfridges, where on display was a lone Alexander McQueen garment quite literally hanging from a gallows. McQueen had killed himself back in February of this year, found in the same position as the dress in his Mayfair apartment in England. Many promptly denounced the store for its disgraceful imagery, though Selfridges sheepishly denied they were trying to make any kind of connection or statement about McQueen in the display. This is similar to the Rodarte meets Juarez conundrum in that how is it possible that fashion forces can come to the conclusions they have in their projects that are so closely and recently tied to events that can only be described as tragic and evil? It is not that all responsibility should be placed upon these individuals to become sudden voices of reason and peace, but where is their worldly education? Where is their compassion?
This wouldn't be the first time fashion has turned the other cheek to tragedy or sympathetic causes as we can even look back to the (thankfully) short-lived but impressionable era of the heroin chic look which no one in fashion cared if it affected the youth with its emaciated, apathy expressions until they lost one of their own that was a part of the youth. Rising photographer Davide Sorrenti, the younger brother of popular Mario Sorrenti, who was an avid heroin user himself, died in February 1997 at the age of 19, as more came out in light his death, including President Bill Clinton, in criticizing often less than penitent presentations.
The Lulleavy sisters submitted a press release when their M.A.C. collection was revealed, also explaining the motivation behind the clothes that will likely go down as one of the most infamous showings in fashion history this millennium: "Our makeup collaboration with M·A·C developed from inspirations on a road trip that we took in Texas last year, from El Paso to Marfa. The ethereal nature of this landscape influenced the creative development and desert palette of the collection. We are truly saddened about injustice in Juarez and it is a very important issue to us. The M·A·C collaboration was intended as a celebration of the beauty of the landscape and people in the areas that we traveled."
Rodarte did sound sincere in their wistful clarification and apology about their latest ventures in fashion and make-up, but what is puzzling about is how during their travels and exploration of Juarez, according to their story, had no kind of re-telling or introduction of what was going on in la ciudad? It's like visiting an impoverished town, only to proclaim, you loved the run-down articheture of the buildings so much, it inspired you to take arts and crafts, though Jessica Wakeman, blogger of The Frisky, made the best snarky comparison that hit the nail on the head: "I'm not going to go name my Sudan-inspired nail polish 'Darfur,’ which I think is a pretty apt comparison.”Fashion has never been a place of respected morals and humanity. It is the one industry where racism is borderline legal and accusing one of being "fat" is just a form of hazing, the fashion industry makes Hollywood look like an attempted penance island. Even Alexander McQueen was a target of occasional charges of insensitivity (such as his 1996 collection, un-obsequiously titled Highland Rape with models strutting in tattered outfits and dabs of blood about their bodies, and his ridiculous way too high heeled shimmery booties that Lady Gaga wore in the "Bad Romance" video), his rebuttals were among those that fought for art's position to be emotive to its audience, whether good or bad. Maybe Rodarte were aware of Juarez's overtly dark and current state. Maybe they really were touched by the quaintness of Mexico's simplicity of orangey-pink tones through-out the landscape. Maybe they just wanted to make come clothes and didn't care. The website and blog The Frisky was the first to point out the careless behavior of Rodarte and M.A.C., labeling the artistic efforts as "tasteless", and they certainly had a point. To name one item "Quinceanera" was cute and could be possible best-seller, but to call some of the nail polishes not only "Juarez", but also "Factory"? Seriously? It is funny how ghostly has been used to describe their collection, when that is precisely what the many women of Juarez had become: distant and disappearing.
By no means, with M.A.C. taking direct action in saving the upcoming collection, should the Rodarte sisters, who are also honored CFDA winners, be banned for life in their careers because of this unfortunate misstep, but it is a misstep that is grossly unbecoming and uncharacteristic of the fashion's label delicate, supremely confident nature (hell, they even collaborated with super chain store Target and the Gap). The duo's eerily pastel compilation, becoming exclusively one of the most buzzed about topics within Internet blogging circles, reminded us to not take fashion seriously (and figuratively) unless directly involved in the industry because they don't care for us that are a little wider in the hips, darker in the skin tone, and apparently mourning the death of truly innocent victims who barely made enough money in a day to buy two Starbucks ventis if they wanted to. Rodarte are not vicious, but please...wise up, ladies. It's not such a small world after all. M.A.C. has also written a press release of their own concerning the matter, reassuring their loyal consumers they are seeking to correct the situation: “We understand that product names in the MAC Rodarte collection have offended some of our consumers and fans. This was never our intent and we are very sorry. MAC will give a portion of the proceeds from the MAC Rodarte collection to help those in need in Juarez. We are diligently investigating the best way to do this. Please be assured that we will keep you posted on the details regarding our efforts.”
Monday, July 19, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Do You Care What Courtney Wore Today?
FASHION REVIEWby Shardae Jobson
After the two-hour VH1 Behind the Music special on the perilous, expletive-ridden, yet still more glamorous life story (thus far!) than most of us of the very talented and trashy rock star hot shot that is Courtney Love, she now has a Tumblr blog that is a day-to-day recollection of her past and present fashion choices, humbly titled What Courtney Wore Today. Fashionista.com loathes it. Jezebel.com seems to get a kick out of it. Now, anything involving Miss World is nothing short of being simultaneously intelligent and uncouth. Having a fashion site dedicated to her external vices would have been especially entertaining in the '90s when she almost effortlessly morphed from a kinderwhore, slightly smeared red lipstick wearing front woman of Hole, to the soon to be Golden Globe nominated actress wearing Versace and Armani, the "Letterman years" of her dishelved ensembles, oversized collagen lips and raggedy hair, and back again to the aforementioned labels with her comeback album Nodody's Daughter like she's always had at her disposal her whole, turbulent, exciting life.
When you first take a look at What Courtney Wore Today, feeding your insatiable desire to know if this starry-eyed trainwreck from another planet was dressed in Givenchy or Stella McCartney, it is interesting to note that the Tumblr account was created during her current tour with the band Hole, though she remains the only original/known member. Her tour was relatively going along nary of any disasters until her show in Washington's D.C. 9:30 club where she was late, incessantly insulted or berated the crowd, forgot the lyrics...the list goes on. So with What Courtney Wore Today now on full stream, we can all be reminded (or at least D.C. residents) of a softer, or at least more accessibly personal side to Courtney that we witnessed in Behind the Music.
Nineteen pages are already contained on WCWT, with usually just one picture a day in either high definition or blurred showing what Courtney faced the world in, including (often) lower case captions of the big name designers she has an affinity for. While it is unclear whether Courtney herself takes charge of it all, she is referred to as "Clo" in third person: "Clo has truly outdone herself here". "Clo looks stunning in her high fashion/pre Barth's flight get up".
There is something narcissistic and light-hearted about WCWT. Despite her hyperbolic ramblings and behavior that comes and goes like her highlights, Love is malleable to the fashion industry and its many offerings, which once for whatever reasons they adore you, their massive closets are your oyster. Miss World is much more of fashion plate gambit than you'll realize, and even brought on a great stir a few years back when she unknowingly wore a fake Chanel dress during a public outing. Once photographed on the way to Paris Hilton's birthday party, it quite a few eyebrow furrows at the atelier of Chanel where the only existing copy of the real dress existed. According to reports, a rift emerged between Karl Lagerfeld and Love, but all was lovingly mended with a photo shoot and article mea culpa for the fashion faux pas of the year in Harper's Bazaar with the humorous headline of "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fake Chanel".
Among the many Fashion of Love moments such as the glossy, glittery, shredded Dior dress that was the only one remembered from the 2000 Golden Globes red carpet, the site offers updates of past photo shoots from Pop and Love Magazine, with photographers Bruce Weber and Avedon, and paparazzi shots from parties and award shows, but the photos most worthwhile glancing over are the candid ones with Courtney. Before and after shows and on movie sets, in her hotel rooms, anywhere that she is the only celebrity around and therefore she looks a bit more relaxed and penitent.
WCWT also features Courtney as a underrated fashion icon, with one photo posted on July 17 of her at an event (while not captioned, in Roberto Cavalli), along with her crystallized body art, displays a bob cut that's become increasingly popular with Kelis and Rihanna who made it staples of the new millennium hair-dos that rock, written below "Clo's" blonde bob: "oh yeah! Remember Posh’s Asymetric Bob craze? i do believe this was first…" Apparently, Posh Spice was inspired by Clo as well.
Courtney is a real celebrity in that she's been walked all over, routinely praised for her impressionable skills as a guitarist, rock singer, lyricist and really great actress, she's also exhaustively loquacious, which added all together is a recipe for someone who wanted to be famous and, to the chagrin of some, became so. Fashionista.com's dislike for WCWT are purely based on the fact that she is looking, or desperate, for attention, which at this point is not as radical of a statement as a billow of water taking over the edge of a beach. They made a five reasons why they "can't stand" the site ("Rant #2: The Bizarre Action Shots"). Everyone knows Courtney reeks of an attention-getter--which is why every single time we're all ears and all eyes.
Jezebel.com liked the site because its deference for look at me, look at me Hollywood and high fashion infested photographs are alarmingly beguiling. Jezebel.com actually considered the site to be "already the best, craziest, most amazing thing you have ever seen in your life", which we'll take with a side of sarcasm, because they recognized the vain intentions of the WCWT--but again that is the appeal of it. Courtney Love and her people could really give a you know what. Besides, the sporadic illustrations based upon the fashion fast life of Miss World are also pretty cool, but not as merely amusing as the easy to spot careless misspellings ("Laboutins"), and the repeated appearances un-proofread sentences and paragraphs.
So with What Courtney Wore Today up and running, take it for what it is. A flighty, aloof, but fun insider's look into the unexpectedly glamorous outside life of Courtney Love that as she continues to scream and shout and explain herself in an undying tone of self-approved relevance and wit, at least she still knows how to work Alexander Wang with a dash of Viktor and Rolf. In the world of fashion blogging, that's become the latest and most watched of all fashion reporting in years by professionals and enthusiastic amateurs, this my fellow "Clo" lovers is quite the necessary advantage.
VISIT & CLICK ON THE LINK: What Courtney Wore Today
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
So Who U Is Ms. Third World Democracy?
(released in the U.S. on July 13, 2010)
Production wise, Maya is stellar. Even when interestingly devoid of lyrics for a time, everything else that surrounds this empty space is vibrantly robust. When she does sing or rap, her words are so muffled, whatever new pirated anarchy inflicted theories she's once again trying to prescribe to us, go right over our heads, like on "Story to be Told", which we hope is just her paranoia talking out loud (as usual).
M.I.A. since her 2005 debut Arular, thought has yet to actually go platinum in sales (at least in the U.S.), has summoned herself, with enough support from cult fans and eager to please critics, as the kind of artist in when she drops a record, it becomes one of few sonically approved models to follow for its globalized tunes and refugee inspired lyrics and style (which became more solidified with the groundbreaking Kala). In the media, she's been praised and recently ridiculed for her sometimes obdurate or dubious persona ("Truffle fries" incident via The New York Times anyone? And especially towards another artists. Of course M.I.A. can't stand Lady Gaga apparently); yet Maya secures a common place in her career because it shows the softer side of Maya Arulpragasam despite the influx of noise pop on her latest venture. So, it is not because Maya pushes forth her more coquettish or delicate qualities that make the record more musically controversial than Arular and Kala. Maya is simply somewhat of a trite, messy record that in upcoming hindsight contains some future noteworthy tracks, there is something overall uncouth about it in comparison to her other releases .
What Maya lacks in developing stronger arguments about life and the struggle to survive is its oscillating and uproarious use of music from other genres and countries to a very likable effect. You hear M.I.A. (for the first time) lazily whine and confirm against beats that are straight out of a tender hearted Bollywood drama, or the scrappy electronic leftovers of a hazy Sunday morning. The Bollywood effect is particularly and politely grand and flowing on "Iz What It Iz" that also continues M.I.A.'s new use of a slightly syrupy singing voice, first heard on "XXXO".
"XXXO" is the one track on Maya that we can clearly hear Maya, and is certainly obtrusive to her entire catalog of songs because it's the most pop sounding clip she's ever done. It's quick and sparkly, as every other song on her third release is either monstrous (the overbearingly quixotic "Teqkilla") or charitable (the devoted "It Takes A Muscle"). As a single, it was off-putting at first to hear M.I.A. not only sound kinda pop on "XXXO", but also singing about some form of affection, as we all figured that Ms. Leader of Third World Democracy is too relaxed in admitting she too has feelings that aren't always looking for a fight. Just maybe little Ikhad (her baby boy) has something to do with this softer side of M.I.A.--at least on her album. "It Takes a Muscle" and "Lovalot" are the most honest, expressing the stress and allure of the vulnerability of love and triumph. The two songs, with great, smooth reggae throbs (the former innocuous--check out Diplo again doing the Jamaican pulsation, now with M.I.A.--and the latter macabre) were given the most personal lyrics of of all three of M.I.A's albums thus far as she proclaims "It takes a muscle to fall in love", and sharply declares in a warning voice, "I really love a lot. I really love a lot. I really love a lot--but I fight the ones that fight me".
There are also some classic M.I.A. rambunctious troublemaker music, along "Teqkilla" that includes the punk rock "Born Free" and the bombastic, guitar island of "Meds and Feds", produced by Derek Miller of (noise extraordinaire duo) Sleigh Bells that is anything but diffident.The word "trite" was appropriate to describe the album because along with the pop sounds, M.I.A. hasn't been so simple in what she is discussing: love & life. Is this a Mary J. Blige CD with a decisive music persuasion?
What makes Maya sometimes an unusually concocted LP for M.I.A. is that none of the songs seem to be cohesive either. The LP comes across like a fan mixtape of some of their favorite tracks. As mentioned earlier, there are suddenly two facets of Maya we have to deal with: is she hard ("Born Free") or is she soft ("Tell Me Why")? It's not to say that she can't be ever-changing and should be chastised for making an album that steers slightly away from what she's known for, but the calm deviance in her voice and the more mainstream pop beats of a majority of the songs is completely unexpected and will likely jolt a avid fan of M.I.A. The effort is similar to that of MGMT's Congraluations, which was pointed out for purposely being divergent to their new millennium classic Oracular Spectacular. MGMT cajoled critics and fans to give their dissimilar sophomore LP a chance and even bemoaned the notion they should've stuck to some kind of formula to re-create Oracular Spectacular Part 2. M.I.A. doesn't seem to have any kind of hope that everyone will allow her to just make the kind of music she wants to make, but she also may have assumed she was in the process of another party album of transatlantic quality--but she didn't exactly make it to home plate.
It is the amazing swagger of the beats that steal the spotlight, as her work with Derek Miller, Blaqstarr, and rising DJ from England Rusko are highlights. The music on Maya has more range than Arular and Kala which is applaudable. Still, all twelve tracks do feel rushed and are a opened view into M.I.A.'s heart and soul, but leaves us wanting more on an annoyed note because there is no clear direction on Maya, making the LP strangely isolating. It is seems that Arulpragasam and her cabal of alternative pop provacatuers were definitely trying...the result is just rather underwhelming for an artist that wanted and became the poster child for all things multi-culturally boundary pushing. It looks as if M.I.A. may have to take a rest from that colorfully pious pedestal of hers for awhile--but is it possible that M.I.A. has also grown up a bit (musically) with all these love talk? It would make sense as to why she dedicated the album to herself.
THE BEST: "XXXO", "Teqkilla", "Iz What It Iz", "Meds and Feds", "It Takes a Muscle", "Lovalot", and off the deluxe edition, "Caps Lock"