So let’s listen to what the top producers of the year (non-classical) have been up to. I will try to limit my commentary to the production.
Calvin Harris
Don’t Quit DJ Khaled & Calvin Harris Featuring Travis Scott & Jeremih
Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1 Calvin Harris Featuring Various Artists
Calvin Harris is nominated for a single track, and then an album. Why? Who cares. Don’t Quit is a mid-tempo vaguely funky track with delightful dollops of auto-tune. It’s nothing spectacular, nor is it horrible. At least it’s not mopey. I’m not sure why someone at the beginning of the song says “no one saw this one coming.” I’m not sure anyone gives a hoot. It sounds like Mr. Harris has a nice computer set-up. He uses all the tricks in his pro-tools arsenal. The Calvin Harris album has oodles of guest vocalists, I gave 2 tunes a thumbs down and one tune, Feels, a thumbs up. Figures the one I liked has Pharrell. I always like his stuff. This stuff is all Mid-tempo and doesn’t make me cringe, it’s just not very memorable. Oh well.
Greg Kurstin
Concrete And Gold Foo Fighters
Dear Life Beck
Dusk Till Dawn ZAYN Featuring Sia
LOVE. Kendrick Lamar Featuring Zacari
Strangers Halsey Featuring Lauren Jauregui
Wall Of Glass Liam Gallagher
This fella sure has been busy. I was wondering if the Foo Fighters nomination is for the song or for the album. No idea. I like Dave Grohl. I have only ever liked the first Foo Fighters record, because I like one-man bands. But this is about the production, so let’s get to that. A lot of work went into this – multi-layered vocals, different drum sounds – it has that modern feel of lots of space, yet horribly compressed. Most everything is spit-shined and polished to the point of sounding inhuman, but that’s the style now. I still prefer a few mics in a room catching a blistering performance – letting the music breathe. No room for that today. The Beck record kind of came and went without many people noticing it. Again – I’m not clear if the nomination is for the song or the album. How did this same guy produce these six records in one year? Oh wait – the Beck album is called Colors, the song must be what’s nominated. This is a very Beatles-y track, the production has definite nods to early solo McCartney or Lady Madonna-era McCartney. How could I not like it? Again – so compressed. But well worth a listen. I guess. The ZAYN track is of the mope-school of 2017. Is this a result of the opioid epidemic? Booooooooorrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnggggggg. Music should move your feet, your heart, or your mind. This boring piece of pfffft moves my finger to the skip button. The Halsey track has a ‘Running Up That Hill‘ beat, a smooth pop sheen, and a vaguely haunting refrain about growing apart from someone you were close to. It’s one of the better tunes from this lot. It gives me a melody and sort of interesting lyrics, a little rhythm and some synth hooks. Not bad. Last up is one of those Oasis dudes. I’ve never been interested enough in Oasis to who is who. I know one was the singer and one was the songwriter and they bragged a lot. This sounds like the three Oasis songs I’ve heard – even down to the rainbow-shaped melody. This is about the production. Minus 5 points for having a pseudo gospel choir, +2 for great guitar tones and a phat bass sound. Not bad. The derivative melody brings it down, but the producer polishes the turd best he can.
Blake Mills
Darkness And Light John Legend
Eternally Even Jim James
God Only Knows John Legend & Cynthia Erivo Featuring yMusic
Memories Are Now Jesca Hoop
No Shape Perfume Genius
Semper Femina Laura Marling
When I was young I imagined all of the fabulous stars were all friends and couldn’t wait to sing on each other’s records. Now I realise when they show up with each other they probably have the same accountant or lawyer or something and someone wrote on a whiteboard somewhere how advantageous it would be to ‘collaborate.’ I say all of this because the first track of the lot is John Legend WITH SPECIAL GUEST ALABAMA SHAKES LADY. Why? John Legend can sing and doesn’t need auto-tune. Same for the Alabama Shakes lady. She even brought the same reverb unit she has on her own records. The production on this is uncluttered and fine enough – some sparse distorted guitar and synth stabs, but overall the song is weak. Sounds like one of those latter-day Prince ballads that hits all the marks but whose passion is totally forced. I don’t like all this compression. Stop it. The track is the title track of the LP. I did listen to as much of the whole record as I could stand, but for the sake of brevity in this post I’ll just focus on the track, because I don’t know if the nomination is for the album or track, and I don’t care enough to find out. As far as Jim James is concerned, all I can really say is WHAT IS THIS CRAP? Do people like this? Is there a song here? This is terrible. The production is limp, the song is non-existent, and make it go away. Horrible. The Beach Boys cover I had to suffer through next begs the question. WHY DOES THIS EXIST? These vocalists have nothing to add to this conversation. The orchestration is ponderous, the tempo drags, to hell with these people. This is terrible. STOP IT. The next pile of crap I had to suffer through was Jesca Hoop. The production is minimal and bearable, but this artist and song are the worst. Imagine the most pretentious coffee-shop open mic nut you’ve ever seen, and here she is. LOOK MA, I’M ON THE GRAMMYS! Ok, to be fair, this is better than that lady with the harp that sings way high up, and her background vocals are interesting. I’m just grumpy at this point – maybe if this had made an appearance earlier in the rotation it wouldn’t be so obnoxious. But maybe it is horrible. I can’t tell any more. But I’ll be damned if I listen to an entire CD of this tripe. But wait – there’s more pretentious crap to come. Perfume Genius. Is he related to Chocolate Genius? I’m dismayed to find this is the name of the album. Great. Track one sounds like the ‘Genius’ recorded it in his bathroom. Oh no now there’s a big burst of synths and overdubbed harmonies. If I wanted to invent an album that would annoy the hell out of me, this would be it. I couldn’t come up with a more annoying piece of garbage if I tried. Does anyone like this more than Mr. Perfume Genius? He’s very impressed with himself and how creative he is! I wish he had taken up knitting or something else to express his ‘genius.’ Then I would never have to have interacted with him. This is awful. I guess Blake Mills is attracted to the opposite of what I enjoy in music. And all of the compression. The worst! Don’t listen to this. Here comes Laura Marling. The producer seems to favor overdubbed basses noddling around with synthy-orchestral bursts. The songs are meandering and awful, the production pretentious. I hate all of this. He’ll probably win.
No I.D.
America Logic Featuring Black Thought, Chuck D & Big Lenbo & No ID
The Autobiography Vic Mensa
4:44 JAY-Z
I don’t know why No I.D. gets songs nominated while the other folks got entire albums, and again, I don’t care. I like the Logic track. He has a potty mouth, but he’s engaged with the political world and I want to listen to this again. Kind of an update of on the classic P.E. sound. Nice. Vic Mensa is meh. Mid-tempo sludge rap. Not into it. The Jay-Z record is only on Tidal. My 3rd grade son is in the room and I am not going to listen on YouTube. I probably wouldn’t like it.
The Stereotypes
Before I Do Sevyn Streeter
Better Lil Yachty Featuring Stefflon Don
Deliver Fifth Harmony
Finesse Bruno Mars Mo Bounce Iggy Azalea Sunshine Kyle Featuring Miguel
That’s What I Like Bruno Mars
The Sevyn Streeter song is a slow jam. You know what slow jams sound like. Is her man cheating and on the low? Listen and find out. She wants to take it to the next level. Now, is Lil Yachty a modern Yacht-rock artist? I hear steel drums. I hear auto-tune. This is a positive reinforcement tune. It has the sprinkler hi-hat. Nothing to write home about. If you like crappy reggae with auto-tune you might enjoy this. Fifth Harmony – another SLOW SONG. Why is the tempo of 2017 80 BPM? Doesn’t anyone want to dance? Her baby knows that she delivers. Who cares. The Bruno Mars track here channels Dangerous-era Michael Jackson. I’ve heard other things by him I like better. meh. Iggy Azalea is quite a potty mouth. I linked to the clean version. Isn’t she Australian? I don’t know. I like this despite my valiant efforts to not. There’s so much wrong about this. But whatevs. I need MO BOUNCE! It does bother me she’s Australian. I would imagine this is a big hit at strip clubs. Sunshine is a bright sunshiny song – has a nice little groove and I don’t hate it. A victory in today’s world for me. I would dance to this in a nightclub establishment. The second Bruno Mars isn’t bad. I always wish he was better than he is, but he’s the best we’ve got at the moment in pop-biz.
Looks like out of all of these, I like The Stereotypes the best. hey probably won’t win.
the lee show 