Eminem took to social media on Tuesday to reveal his much-anticipated tracklist for his newest album, "Revival." Wochit
Eminem is just a tantrum or two away from becoming that old guy in the neighborhood yelling at kids on his lawn.
Even in his youth, the now-45-year-old rapper was a curmudgeon, and for all his wondrous way with language, many of his best lines are essentially just “dad-joke” puns.
He continues to show signs of aging on “Revival,” overindulging in nostalgia – reliving the not-so-good ol’ days with his little girl Hailie (who is now 21) and rehashing 20-plus years of strife with his on-again, off-again wife, Kim – and repeating himself musically, as when he overuses his now-tired formula of employing women singers with dulcet voices to provide angelic contrast to his angry, joyless (and repetitive) rants.
Also, he’s not keeping up with the shifting sounds of rap, and his once-amazing flow is slower and more stilted.
Yet Eminem still finds ways to impress on “Revival,” and not just with lines like, “This middle finger is as free as a bird” (on “Believe”). Aging or not, his libido is active, popping up in the grin-worthy naughtiness of “Heat” (though the blatant misogyny is an uncomfortable twist in these days of sexual-assault awareness) and on a rocking “Remind Me” in which producer Rick Rubin flips Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll.” The Cranberries’ “Zombie” is likewise flipped on “In Your Head,” its searing guitars creating a solidly satisfying foundation for Eminem’s fury.
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However, his most effective use of rage comes in his Donald Trump takedown on “Like Home” (“This chump barely even sleeps/All he does is watch Fox News like a parrot and repeats/While he looks like a canary with a beak”) and his indictment of white privilege and racism on “Untouchable” – two cuts where the rapper steps out of his narcissism and goes in hard on the entitlement and intolerance of others.
But Eminem always returns to self-absorption – especially tiring, considering “Revival” is a bloated 19 tracks – whether it’s his cringeworthy cartoonish crime caper “Framed” or the fractured filler “Offended.” Plus, powerful guests vocalists like Beyonce and Pink overshadow him to the point he’s an unwelcome intrusion on his own songs.
No one can take Eminem’s legacy away from him, but the inconsistent, anachronistic “Revival” feels more like a footnote to his career than a new chapter.
Eminem
"Revival"
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
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Dan Reeder is blunt, absurd and catchy on 'Nobody'
Dan Reeder’s “Nobody Wants To Be You” is what happens when children’s music goes through a folk filter and takes an adult turn. It’s sing-songy, simple and subversive.
Reeder is a Louisiana-born, California-raised, Germany-based visual artist who didn’t really get his recorded-music career launched until he was 50, after John Prine signed him to Oh Boy Records and released Reeder’s self-titled debut in 2004.
Maturity informs the wry lyrical sensibility of the now-60-something Reeder, yet his gleeful spirit is infectiously childlike on “Nobody Wants To Be You” as he employs his raspy voice into laugh-out-loud observations (think of a more blunt Randy Newman).
The opening title track is arranged like a hymnal, though Reeder’s message is anything but as he takes down a loser who has made bad life choices and has to explain what happened to the money, what happened to the car and why there are men in the living room: “Did you just think you could move away/How dumb are you anyway?”
The humor on the EP’s other tracks isn’t so dark. Reeder puffs up on the romping piano and distorted electric guitar of “Kung Fu is My Fighting Style” (“Danger is my business, and business is good”), creates a recital-like teaching moment for “Bach” (noting about the composer, “We don’t even know if he could sing” because no one could record him “back in 17-something”) and muses about “a guy who bathes in the pond at the park … the guy who looks like Jesus.”
Then there’s this lyrical gem from “Born a Worm”: “Born a worm, spins a cocoon, goes to sleep, wakes a butterfly … what the (expletive) is that about?”
The only downfall of the EP is that it’s only five short ditties long. But the good news is that Reeder’s planning to release a full album in 2018.
Bring it on.
Dan Reeder
"Nobody Wants To Be You"
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
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Indie-pop's Stephanie K tries to up her game
Detroit-native singer-songwriter Stephanie K makes a blunt attempt at breaking into a higher level of popular music with her debut EP, “Troublemaker.”
She’s already made a name for herself in her hometown and has made headway in California in indie-pop circles (picking up awards and landing songs in a few TV shows), but “Troublemaker” is a blunt appeal to Mainstream U.S.A.
This is urban-jazz label Woodward Avenue Records’ first pop release, so she’s got believers out there.
Fittingly, the theme of this electronic-based pop confection is “go for it” as Stephanie K (aka Stephanie Krawiec) embraces a bold, sensual party girl dealing no-apologies lines about her hedonistic lifestyle.
There’s no creativity here – the lines are all clichés and the songs are all familiar – but it works for what it is.
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She channels Kesha (back when Kesha had a dollar sign in her name) on opening cut “Tonight,” an instantly rewarding, straightforward dance cut about going “so hard.” (The track is also offered in an uncensored version.)
“Troublemaker” also includes a faux Britney Spears song, “Trouble,” as Stephanie K issues wanton come-ons backed by electric jags and stirring percussion. Plus there’s a catchy-enough/playful “Breaking Up,” an empty-calories treat filled with infectious attitude.
The most daring cut would be “Hard For Me,” a not-quite-successful appropriation of the lusty/edgy electronica queen Peaches. The least daring is the ballad “Story of a Broken Heart,” a partially stripped-down quasi-ballad that exposes the singer’s vocal limitations as she sends off a lover she’s cheating on (“I can’t keep up the lie”).
“Troublemaker” brings to mind Paris Hilton’s 2006 one-and-only attempt at pop music, “Paris.” Hilton’s release was an artless dance album, but it wasn’t half bad as an in-the-moment celebration of hedonistic happiness.
And Stephanie K doesn’t even have to shake off Hilton’s infamy to manufacture a hit.
Stephanie K
"Troublemaker"
Rating: 3 (out of 5)