Waiting for Tennis – Episode 1

Today, I am very proud to announce the launch of the first LCHC-Affiliated Podcast Series: Waiting for Tennis.

Hosted by my good friends Sal Patel and Kyle Fulton, Waiting for Tennis is a new bi-weekly music podcast focused on discussing new music releases and trends from all popular genres. Whether debating the latest news, arguing over past releases, or offering album reviews, Kyle and Sal always bring a deep love and knowledge of music to the forefront of their lively, inspired conversations.

As part of the independent Canadian music industry themselves, they are uniquely positioned to consider and examine Canadian artists and albums within the larger context of popular and indie music from around the world.

In the hosts’ own words, this is “A podcast recorded by two men waiting for their bi-weekly tennis match, on all things music in Canada and around the world”.

For the musicians, managers, critics, connoisseurs, taste makers, and general appreciators alike, the show serves is a shared love letter to music.

In today’s inaugural episode, the guys debate Kendrick Lamar and his already-infamous verse on “Control”, list their own Top 5 Albums of 2013 (So Far), and sit down for a feature interview with Toronto-based musician Taylor Knox, who has played with The Golden Dogs, Zeus, and Sloan, and whose first full length solo album will be released soon. Along the way Drake, Yeezy, Vampire Weekend, Youth Lagoon, Ben Allen, Washed Out, and many others are also discussed.

We invite you to stream via the SoundCloud embed after the jump, or click “Download” and take the show with you anywhere. 

Let us know what you think in the comments below or sound off on our Facebook Page. 

Watch: Justin Timberlake – “Tunnel Vision” (NSFW)

Because apparently it is JT Day here on the site, I thought that it only made sense to get around to sharing Timberlake’s very NSFW video for “Tunnel Vision”.

Two weeks ago when the video originally dropped, all anyone could focus on was that this seemed to be another trip to the well of topless women which was used most recently (and effectively) for the video to The Song of Summer 2013, “Blurred Lines”. “Tunnel Vision” does appear to be something of a (kissing?) cousin to Robin Thicke’s video – not only through the presence of nude model, but also via the feature of dancing in front of a minimal, white background while bold typography displays the name of the single in question.

Overly-sensitive Fun Police have criticized Thicke for having both a “rapey” video and lyrics, and even the reigning King of Pop Timberlake has also caught some flak for the video’s graphic nature. More details, as well as the full explicit video, are after the jump…

Listen: Justin Timberlake – “Take Back The Night”

After he briefly teased it early last week, Justin Timberlake went ahead and shared the entirety of his newest single, “Take Back The Night,” with the world last Friday.

It is now a week later, and I just realized that I had yet to actually post the song or my reaction to it on LCHC. On the ball, this Smith guy…

My own apparent tardiness notwithstanding, you can hit the jump below to listen to the first single from the second installment of Timberlake’s chart-dominating and critically well-received 20/20 Experience comeback album.

On Magna Carta…Holy Grail and Yeezus: The Smith/Patel Exchange

The following is my exchange with friend and noted music aficionado, Sal Patel, on the occassion of the release of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s new albums. Sal and I discuss the records’ artistic merits, their thematic relevance, and music criticism in general. A warning: we run long (5,333 words long, to be exact), though it is worth it. 

Trev: July 4th has come and gone. In this corner of the world, the holiday meant two things – 1) a good excuse to break out my pitiable impression of President Bill Pullman’s Dylan Thomas-aping ID4 speech, and 2) the release of Magna Carter Holy Grail. Hola’ Hovito.

Jay’s 12th solo studio represents many things: a new standard in digital distribution; a marketing masterstroke; a cooperative of the biggest producers in the industry; and a reminder that he is peerless in the genre where longevity and consistency are concerned. The fact that Hov unveiled the album’s cover art by placing it in Salisbury Cathedral next to one of four existing copies of the actual Magna Carta gives you a sense of the level of authority and influence he has achieved.

What about the music itself though? Is his flow still as special? Is he still hungry and engaged as a lyrist? Can, and should, hip hop’s most revered veteran still have a say in writing its #newrules?

To help me delve into these questions (and I suspect, a great deal more), I turn to my partner in crime, the Beanie Siegel to my Memphis Bleek, Mr. Sal Patel. Where music is concerned, Sal perhaps the best arbiter of taste and quality that I know; if a record or artist has Sal’s co-sign, I’m on it. In short, Sal is That Dude where new music is concerned. We missed having a proper back-and-forth upon the release of Yeezus two weeks ago, and I will be damned if I let that happen again here. So, SP, I am throwing the Diamond up at you as a kind of Critical-Analysis Bat Signal. Help me crack the code that is MCHG, as my cup runneth over. What’d you think?

Much more, after the jump…

Magna Carta, Meet Magna S.Carter

You crazy for this one, Jay.

A lecturn in England’s Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral – where one of four remaining copies of the (actual) Magna Carta is on display – debuted the new album’s cover art on Wednesday.

More photos of the display, after the jump…

“Magna Carta Holy Grail” Trailer

Camp Ye or Camp Jay – how do you prefer to watch The Throne?

Are you part of the Yeezus backlash? Or the backlash to the backlash? Do you speak “Swagheli”? Or are you sitting out Ye’s newest altogether, instead waiting on a new offering from his sometimes partner and The Original God MC, J-Hova?

This summer you won’t have to choose one or the other, because Jay will apparently be following Yeezy’s lead and dropping his own ambitious, sonically diverse, challenging, radio-unfriendly album.

In other words, if you are a rapper and planned on having any shot at owning this summer, time to rethink your release date and hope for the best in Q4.

Last night, following the end of the second quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals, Jay dropped an ad with Samsung announcing his new album Magna Carta Holy Grail is coming July 4^th, meaning a previously-unannounced LP will be out in just a few short weeks. The full video from last night’s ad is embedded below, after the jump…

Watch: Live from TIFF Bell Lightbox, Kanye West – “New Slaves”

Tonight, Kanye has proven why he remains the brilliant, beautiful, exciting, mad genius we know and love. Ever an innovator in the art of the album launch, Yeezy topped himself again tonight, unveiling the video for new song “New Slaves” via massive projections on 66 buildings across the world, including here in TO at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. I was lucky enough to capture the full video in HD, which I’ve embedded below after the jump.

Enough from me; here is Mr. West…

On “Modern Vampires of the City”

In advance of attending their show tonight at the Sony Centre, I felt compelled to reaffirm the greatness of Vampire Weekend, and specifically of their third album, Modern Vampires of the City.

The album has been met with what people who track this sort of thing call “universal acclaim”. It is full of heart and complex lyrical ideas; it is both bigger than anything they’ve made and also somehow more intimate, cheekier and more clever yet also more quiet reflective.

It may not radiate with the blind enthusiasm of their first disc, and Contra is likely to remain the most “Vampire Weekend-y” album they will ever make, Modern Vampires is a categorical success precisely because it stands on the shoulders of those two releases and then confidently expands to stake its own claim as the best work they have ever done. This is a truly wonderful record. Reviewers smarter than I seem to think so as well…