Bears and Bullets Top 25 Songs of 2011: Part IV

We'll continue our countdown today with songs #10 - #6.

#10: Big K.R.I.T. - Country Shit (Remix ft. Ludacris and Bun B)
Return of 4Eva, while Big K.R.I.T.'s true breakout album, isn't totally single-minded. For Justin Scott, the 25-year-old breakout Mississippi rapper, every southern rap anthem is met with self-conscious ones. But forgive me for not ignoring "Country Shit (Remix ft. Ludacris and Bun B)," a heavy souvenir of modern southern rap; dirty, party-minded, and as unapologetic as it is enjoyable. Rap music needs real voices now and again, but no one will argue against this change of pace. 



#9: Black Lips - Family Tree
Arabia Mountain's defining moment, "Family Tree" is the product of a well-placed production snarled in between the Black Lips now effortless messy pragmatism. It's inherently sloppy, but consciously put together, combining what the band had already perfected, and what it desperately needed work on. There's something to love about the Black Lips and their renown stage persona, but it seems ill-needed for any band who doesn't sound like they're drunk seven days a week. And maybe now they're still drunk six of those days, but they figured out something right in between those chaotic moments.



#8: The Weeknd - The Morning
The world's true introduction to The Weeknd, "The Morning" is the expertly crafted new-wave hip-hop soul, in a drilling, real-world sense. The production, as I've repeated several times over, is something to be in awe of. But rather than staying stuck on the ethereal sounds spiraling through the background, Tesfaye's soft, but wrenching vocals of high-style dejection eventually stick out. Parties, women, sex, and nothing to show except the human that comes out of it. It's richer than it sounds, but not because of the subject matter, but the sly attempt of spilling his guts out enriched in a glorious "ambiance." 



#7: Battles - Ice Cream (ft. Matias Aguayo)
The long march of "Ice Cream's" sexually-addled introduction - brimmed with soaking, short-breath "oh" and "ahs" - is a eyebrow raising mark, not only for a song, but for a band like Battles that settles so often without any kind of vocals in their work. And while no member of the three-piece progressive group actually puts their time into the singing (that's what Aguayo is for), it speaks louder than most of their instrumental work on Gloss Drop. The group's tread the pop-prog territory before with 2007's "Atlas." And while "Ice Cream" isn't "Atlas," in terms of off-hand oddball structure and unpredictability, it comes through with that same level of insane enjoyment. Also, the best video of 2011 helps.



#6: Radiohead - Lotus Flower
When the video for "Lotus Flower" debuted on an early February morning, a calm sense of pre-hype hysteria rose. Fans had only heard of Radiohead's The King of Limbs roughly a week before the release, and almost knew nothing about it aside from a few sparse live performances from Thom Yorke's solo work. The video was instantly transfixed as internet-rattled gifs and t-shirts with Yorke's "choreographed" dance routine, but mostly in fun of what Radiohead has become to the internet community. But in honesty, "Lotus Flower" is a monumentally complex rendition for the veteran group, filled with dual percussion, Johnny Greenwood's quietly chaotic sound bites, and increasingly skillful sound arches that sound unfamiliar even to a band as accomplished as Radiohead. The King of Limbs may have not been the flaunting standout that many hope from the band, but "Lotus Flower" clears the temporary uneasiness.  



We'll continue our countdown tomorrow with the top five songs of 2011 ...

Thursday Bears: Rowan Rant

Generally, I keep my personal life separate from Bears and Bullets. I don't need to go into the finite details about my day, and I assume that no one cared about those details in the first place. But, this morning, I got word of something that has been daunting me for four straight years now, and I feel it may be in my best interests to rant about it (yes, it has to do with music).

I'm in my fourth year at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. Rowan's a small-ish Division III school with about 10,000 students located 15-20 minutes away from Philadelphia. Every year, Rowan, like most universities in the United States, brings artists and comedians for a big show. The comedians, generally, are usually surprisingly good, with acts like Lewis Black, Zach Galifianakis, and Daniel Tosh, amongst others, performing at the school in recent years.

Two years ago, one of my professors asked what, if anything, I would like to change or address about the University. Other student's complaints ranged from parking, to tuition, to food - you know, boring shit that can't really be changed. My sole problem with the school, however, was the consistently woeful music billing we were given year in and year out. Forgive me for sounding like a bitter 14-year-old girl, but that's how I felt this morning when I heard that in my last college semester, I would be treated with Ke$ha, Ludacris, and LMFAO.

Ludacris, I have no problem with. And while I don't like Ke$ha's music and know she's atrocious live, she doesn't bother me so much because I know she has fans. But LMFAO? Really? Has anyone ever heard anyone else said they actually like or would like to see LMFAO? The group whose claim to fame is the "shots" song that people stopped caring about half a year ago is the third billing? Really?

LMFAO, so you know.

Prior to the announcement, students were e-mailed a list of "potential" nominees that also included the Roots, Kid Cudi, Snoop Dogg, and MGMT, among others (bad and good). Obviously the excitement of seeing these kind of artists must of confused me, because if you look back at Rowan's music billing history, this wouldn't be too shocking.

Sean Kingston, Third Eye Blind, and Reel Big Fish were last year's billing. So, thats two artists that were lost in the 1990s and Kingston - who didn't even show up. It doesn't even matter if anyone liked Kingston or not, he just didn't show up.

The same face Kingston made when he decided to stay home.

The responsibility of generating the music billing is in the hands of the Student University Programmers, who do a decent job of handling duties for the rest of the school year. When it comes to the music though, they flat out miss. The cynical me wants to ask why people with almost no pulse on music are controlling what the rest of students get to see, but I'm not on the inside - I don't know.

I assume, hopefully, that they're getting artists that they hope the "majority" of students will like. And while that's probably true, it also shows that they'd much rather make safe picks than one that could push some boundaries and get out of the radio-friendly norm.

Of course, this is my opinion, and a blatantly expected one at that.