Welcome back!  Review #3 on the list of DIlly’s albums marks the first time that a hip-hop is reviewed.  I wish I could’ve started out with a better album to review, but hey that’s the luck of the draw.

Today’s review for Dilly’s Albums is…

Kanye West - Graduation

Review: #3

Released: 2007

Wikipedia Synopsis: (Full article)

Graduation is the third studio album by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released September 11, 2007 on Roc-A-Fella Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2005 to 2007 at Chung King Studios and Sony Music Studios in New York City and at Chalice Studios and The Record Plant in Los Angeles, California. It was primarily produced by West and DJ Toomp, and features guest contributions from artists including Mos Def, Dwele, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, and Chris Martin of Coldplay. The album’s cover artwork was designed by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.

Discovery:  I had both of Kanye’s first two albums in my collection.  Only natural to give this one a listen and add it.  There was also a lot of hype at the time as this album release coincided with 50 Cent’s Curtis (an album that was added and then quickly dropped from my collection).

Ranking:  Kanye’s first three albums are currently in rotation in my iTunes collection.  Out of those three, I would have to say this ranks last.

Rating: 2 stars

Favorites:  Can’t Tell Me Nothing, Everything I Am, Homecoming

I’m a big fan of Kanye’s first two albums, however I find that this album strays away from the higher standards that he had for his first two albums.

When Kanye West first hit the scene he really interested me.  Being a protege of Jay-Z instantly made me interested, and the fact that he was in a car crash and dropped some tracks with his mouth wired shut (that didn’t sound like crap) was impressive.  On his first two albums Kanye did a good job of mixing hip-hop and dance style tracks that flowed well together.

On Graduation, Kanye definitely moved towards the more dance-style tracks.  He drew a lot of inspiration from bands such as U2 to do more “anthemic, inspirational music”.  Kanye produced most of this album and included a lot of synth in many of the tracks which I’m really not a big fan of.  Also a gratuitous use of auto-tune on some of the tracks didn’t impress me.

All this said, Graduation did receive the Grammy for Best Rap Album.  But we all know that music awards in this day in age are stupid and pointless.

The albums first single, Stronger, is a remix/mashup/whatever of Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.  The song got massive airplay and was a staple in many bars and clubs.  Because of this, I grew tired of it quickly.  To be honest, I didn’t find it to be different enough from the Daft Punk track.  Mostly it just seems like he’s rapping over the same track.  Lame, in my opinion.

This album also contains probably the worst hip-hop song in my library, Drunk and Hot Girls.  The content of the song is exactly what the title says, Kanye rapping about Drunk and Hot Girls.  What’s worse is that this track features Mos Def.  Considering some of the awesome songs they’ve collaborated on in the past, this was a huge let down.

The album does have it’s bright spots.  Can’t Tell Me Nothing is an awesome track over a classic Kanye hip-hop beat.  In the retrospecitve track Everything I Am, Kanye raps:

Damn, here we go again / Everything I’m not made me everything I am

Kanye also collaborates with Chris Martin of Coldplay on the track Homecoming.  I’m not a fan of Coldplay at all but I am a big fan of this track.

In general, I just find this album boring.  Aside from a few tracks mentioned above it doesn’t really flow well.  Considering how well his first albums flowed (including skits, intros, etc. that you find in most rap albums), Graduation seemed like a thrown-together piece of work after Kanye spent a week in a studio with a synthesizer and a bunch of old records to mix up.

I’m looking forward to having either of his first two albums show up for review as I believe they are much, much better offerings than Graduation.  If you’re considering adding some Kanye West to your collection, try his rookie and sophomore albums before testing this one.

Dylan

Last week was a full week of extra-curricular events at the Atlassian office in San Francisco.  One of the great things about working for this company is that there always seems to be something fun that part of (or the entire team) is taking part in.

JP Morgan Corporate Challenge

About 20 members of the Atlassian team participated in the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge.  The event is a 5KM race in downtown San Francisco that is geared specifically to corporate teams in the Bay Area.  Check out the photo of our team below!

This isn’t the first time Atlassian has entered the race, as I believe we’ve participated a few years past.  Last year we actually one the Best T-Shirt Competition but unfortunately did not this year.  That being said I love our shirts!  Not only is it another great shirt to add to my growing Atlassian wardobe, but they’re also made from organic cotton and printed with earth-friendly ink.  Win!

It was a cloudy evening for the race but that didn’t stop nearly 6500+ people from participating.  Teams from larger companies like Genentech, VMware and SalesForce definitely dwarfed our small Atlassian team.  The race started and finished just south of the Embarcadero, completing a loop around AT&T Park.  I was excited to finally be able to check out McCovey Cove where the San Francisco Giants infamous Splash Hits into the water occur.

It was an awesome race and I’m looking forward to next years event!

Atlassian EOFY Event - The Go Game

The following day was our EOFY (End of Financial Year) event which was kept a secret to the entire staff.  The only things we received were some really cool Atlassian windbreakers and instructions to meet up at Washington Square Park by 1:00 PM.

What ensued was an epic Amazing Race style competition between the entire staff!  We were split into 8 different colored teams and proceeded to explore North Beach for clues, challenges and contests to try to come out on top of the competition.  And guess what, our team did!  See a picture of team yellow (cleverly named The Golden Showers) below:

The event was put on by The Go Game, a company that specializes in team building events such as the one we had that day.  It was organized really well, with each team needing to take photos/videos and complete challenges via mobile phones.  At the end of the event all teams met up at the Bocce Cafe and photos and videos were voted on to determine the winner.

Personally it was a great way for me to explore a part of the city that I have yet to see.  I would recommend this activity to any company that’s looking to have a great team building exercise that’s also super fun at the same time!

Shameless Plug

I’ve mentioned this in a few other posts as well, but Atlassian is hiring!  We’re trying to ramp up our San Francisco team as we’ve got lots of work ahead of us in the next few years, and lots of capital to back our awesome plan!  If these events seem like something you’d like to do as part of your work then why not submit your resume!?

Dylan

It’s a tad overdue but I’m back with another album review!  And this album is the first in my series in reviews that comes from a “supergroup”.  We’ll head to Wikipedia for a definition:

In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe “a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups.”

(Side note: I never knew Journey was considered a supergroup!  I guess you learn something new every day.)

Anyways, onto the review!  The next review in Dilly’s Albums is…

Them Crooked Vultures (self-titled)

Review: #2

Wikipedia Synopsis: (Full article)

Them Crooked Vultures is the debut studio album by rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures that was released on November 16, 2009. The first single from the album, “New Fang”, was released on October 26, 2009, followed by “Mind Eraser, No Chaser” on November 3. The album debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200, selling 70,000 units in the US in its first week.

Discovery:  I was really excited to hear this album as I’ve listened to the Foo Fighters (Dave Grohl) for most of my music-listening life and I’ve also enjoyed Queens of the Stone Age (Josh Homme).  Adding this album to my collection seemed natural.

Ranking:  This is the one and only Them Crooked Vultures album at time of writing, so it ranks at the top!  And at the bottom.

Rating: 4 Stars

Favorites: No One Loves Me (& Neither Do I), Elephants, Scumbag Blues, Gunman

Them Crooked Vultures is a supergroup made up of Dave Grohl (of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin).  When this group was first announced I was pretty stoked.  I’ve never been a huge Led Zeppelin fan, but to have Grohl and Homme team up again would be awesome (Dave Grohl laid down the drum tracks for Queens of the Stone Age’s album Songs for the Deaf).

One reason why this album rocks is Dave Grohl’s drumming.  The guy can lay down some seriously complex beats and it’s clear that his time as the front-man for the Foo Fighters hasn’t caused him to lose his skills on the skins.  Also nice to hear him on the backing vocals as well.

On the album’s second track Josh Homme states:

Give me a reason why the mind’s a terrible thing to waste / … / Ignorance is bliss until they take your bliss away

I think the track is a stab at those people who question the bands serious party hard attitude.  I had the pleasure of seeing QotSA a few years back and Homme was seriously intoxicated by the end of the night.  Still, it was a kickass show!

The one thing that I’m curious about is the dynamic of the band.  John Paul Jones is at least 20+ years older than his counterparts in the band.  Clearly he hasn’t lost a step since rocking with Led Zeppelin as Them Crooked Vultures have toured extensively through Europe and have played several shows in the US and Canada.

The first half of the album strings together really well, in my opinion.  Considering the caliber of the members of the band and the albums they have put out in the past, I wouldn’t expect anything less.

On the downside though, I find this album to sound much like a Queens of the Stone Age album.  With Homme’s haunting voice over the signature heavy, distorted guitar riffs, my guess is that the average listener would have a tough time distinguishing between the two bands.  And because of this, I find that I get bored of the album by the 7th or 8th track of 13.  With such a dynamic group of talented musicians I was really hoping for something that would be a bit more groundbreaking.

As an aside, during the recording process of this album Dave Grohl clearly had a caffeine addiction.  Seriously one of the most hilarious guys in rock and roll today, in my opinion.  Take a look at the video below entitled “FRESH POTS!” (link here):

Them Crooked Vultures is an album that will fit into your iTunes library if you’re a fan of any of the bands the members have previously been enlisted in.  However, I’m really looking forward to their sophomore album (if they decide to make one) to hopefully find a sound of their own.  These guys are also on my list to see live at some point.

Dylan