You’re probably already well aware of this leak (a whole week before its full release), but following on from some blog hype after Jay-Z had the sheer audacity to say Grizzly Bear are quite good, the build up to the new record starts proper. He has essentially been attempting to make a record as strong as The Blueprint since its release (and has certainly milked its title enough) but has he actually managed it this time? Have a listen – see what you think.
Hear the previews below.
Or you can stream the album in full from the MTV website by clicking here. Enjoy!
FARMER OF THE YEAR. GLASTO DRUDGERY.
OMM managed to get its decade review out on the weekend with the usual album and singles of the decade lists, as well an article from Morley outlining the infantile nature of such exercises. But that wasn’t what caught my eye. Instead it was an interview with one of the ‘people of the decade’, Michael Eavis. When asked a question about Jay-Z’s ‘controversial’ headline slot giving Glastonbury a shot in the arm (alright, it wasn’t a question, but a sports journalist-esque statement with “didn’t it?” added at the end, thus allowing the interviewee to realise all he is required to do is agree), he said this . . .
“Oh yeah, and the whole culture of Glastonbury had a facelift. And it was the year before Obama was elected in America. God, it was so nicely timed, that.”
First things first, and those comments on Obama strike me as more than a little unsettling. Is he name dropping Obama on the basis that both he and Jay-Z are African-Amercian and therefore automatically linked? Is he comparing the now established conservatism at Glastonbury to America’s own neo-con vein and inability to integrate following years of de facto and de jure segregation? Is he deluded to the point of thinking that Glastonbury is influential enough to impress ideas upon the American people? It’s nicely timed that an artist who is black and American headlined Glastonbury because a black American became President as well?
Read the rest of this entry »