Editor’s Note: June’s installment from Jon.TheYellowDart. He gave this to me right after the album leaked 2 weeks ago so think about it in that time setting.
Kris.G and TheYellowDart at LMFAO
First thing’s first: I haven’t paid one ounce of attention to anything in the music world for a while now. I’ve just been busy not doing that. My place in Hell is already reserved, so cool it. I only hope nothing monumental has happened, like an LMFAO album being leaked or OHMYGODITTOTALLYHAS.
There are few famous people I think I would genuinely enjoy hanging out with. Ben Affleck, Dan Marino, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro of the Jersey Shore (I’ll hide you from the police), and the boys of LMFAO. Also Busta Rhymes. Turns out he’s on the album, so that’s pretty awesome.
LMFAO’s sophomore (please don’t be slump) album is aptly titled Sorry for Party Rocking. I feel that apology may be a bit tongue-in-cheek, if my psychoanalyst shoes are on properly. They certainly can’t be sorry for the success that Party Rock (the first) brought them. Will the second do the same? Let’s break it down.
First Listen
After one (digital) spin through Sorry for Party Rocking, I’m sorry for about 8.5 of the tracks and party rocking to 5.5.
The first three deliver the LMFAO I want, need, and dangerously love. Sexy and I Know It begins a downward spiral that is only relieved by the back half of Take It to the Hole, an otherwise abysmal offering salvaged by the always perfect Busta Rhymes.
Until the final track Hot Dog, the album disappoints. The caveat, however, is that this is a first listen. As long as Redfoo and SkyBlu can’t hear me, I’ll let you all know: when I first heard Party Rock, I didn’t like it all that much. Fuck me, right?! But it grew on me like the cocktail of STD’s I’m sure the duo have stewing in their bodies.
So, despite an unsure first impression, all is not lost. The second single Champagne Showers is one track that I almost gave the positive nod to, except the chorus bores me. The auto-tuned Natalia Kills is a little too abstract to really draw me in.
Best Night is possibly the most generic sounding song on the album or in the last decade. This can be explained. I noticed in the (feat.) area after the title that Will.I.Am of the perpetually pathetic Black Eyed Peas had a hand in it. That’s enough to ruin most things, if real life is to be believed. The song’s lyrics name some greats like T. Pain and Christopher “Ludacris, the greatest Atlantan ever” Bridges, but they don’t actually feature, which is a great let down. Instead we get the auto-tuned mess of Will.I.Am that reminds me so violently of the worst Superbowl halftime show I’ve ever seen that I want to delete the track from my memory like I’m in Eternal Sunshine.
Fortunately, that’s the only track polluted by any of Fergie’s cohorts. As I said, I was still unimpressed by the majority, but there’s always listens #2 – forever til I die.
Second Listen
It is, as expected, settling in a bit. Still, I have to say that my unbridled love for mah ninjas Red Foo and SkyBlu comes from one place: the magical place where I know that they know how stupid they are. They embrace their shenanigans, their silliness, and their capacity to party while doing nothing of any real significance. That’s their beauty.
It seems to me, at this point, that they’re trying to mature both musically and lyrically. For almost every band in existence, that’s what listeners, well, listen for. They want evolution, maturation, and improvement. This, however, is LMFAO. This is my LMFAO from a generally mediocre club in State College, Pennsylvania. I wore zebra pants to their show. Grown ass man in zebra pants. I don’t want the slightest hint of maturation. Keep singing stupid, loud, and childish. Don’t make my zebra pant purchase seem preemptive. I want to don them again. They hug my hips just oh so mmmmm.
The song Hot Dog is a perfect example of the LMFAO I want. It means nothing to anyone and that makes it ideal. Think of their hits. Shots? It’s about taking shots and Lil’ Jon yelling shit, as he is wont to do. I’m in Miami, Bitch? The title tells you every detail of that song. You can’t even pretend there’s depth there.
Some of the tracks on Sorry for Party Rocking start trying to get deep-ish. They try to tell stories, imbue feelings, and mention chess (twice). That’s not LMFAO’s strong suit. Certainly not chess, probably. Reading me a shot list is their thing and I want it to stay that way. Don’t tell me about your lost loves. Tell me about your glasses that are constantly without lenses. I don’t want to hear ‘what it means to be friends.’ I want to learn new shot types and alcohol brands. I WANT LIL’ JON MOLESTING MY EARS. I know he’s not busy.
Even the songs that hearken back to their perfected brand of stupidity (Sexy and I Know It, Put that A$$ to Work) don’t really coalesce the same way that the stupid tracks from Party Rock did. They have their innuendo and synths, as all LMFAO songs must, but they just don’t seem to come together as well in the end.
Don’t fret, though. I will listen to this until I either learn to like it or am forced to send a tearful video plea to LMFAO. Probably to Redfoo. I bet he checks his email more often.
Next Million Listens
I’m still convinced: some of these songs suck. I was deeply disturbed by that revelation until I remembered: some of the songs on Party Rock sucked, too. What Happens at the Party is an affront to God and I Am Not a Whore deserves a fate worse than the Biebs (drawn and quartered, at the least). I think in terms of raw percentages or something that sounds official, Sorry for Party Rocking has less potential for massive summer hits and tracks with real staying power. On one hand, Party Rock Anthem is already there and Champagne Showers will likely follow suit. Past that, however, unless they isolate Busta’s verse from Take It to the Hole, there’s little else that will have the monstrous impact of their previous work.
At least that’s what I’d say if their style of music wasn’t fucking Party Rock. The type of people (me, oddly enough) that eat up Party Rock are the type of people that, in the moment of dancing in a random club to jams pumped up to earsplitting volume, don’t care about the musicianship and lyricism of their stupid pointless dance-rape-fueling music. It’s why the Black Eyed Peas haven’t been excommunicated. By this same virtue, LMFAO’s Sorry for Party Rocking will do it’s job of filling clubs with bass pounding beats for another year. If we really examine it closely against their previous work, it’s a little worse: it’s not as whimsical; it’s more serious in an ineffective way; it’s not as, uh, inspiring, I guess. Can I say LMFAO is inspiring? Too late. The delete key’s the whole way over there.
In spite of all that, will Sorry for Party Rocking still make a splash and produce anthem upon anthem for the summer Jersey Shore watchers (me again, inexplicably) and Jersey Shore attendees (Ronnie, CALL ME)? To quote the maestros themselves: I’m like yes.
LMFAO – Hot Dog [YSI]
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“Music is my muse and my inspiration, what keeps me going and keeps me moving, on and off the dancefloor. So “Just Me And My Music” is a fitting intro to my SDHC series. Like the sample that inspired it says, “I don’t want to go alone without you”—in my case, that means music. I hope you’re Listening. ”
“A good love story is filled with pretty times and some that aren’t so, but in the end, love will be there pull you through–especially the Closer you are to one another. “Love Will Pull Us Through” is a dancefloor reminder that love is more resilient than hardship. Hang in there.”
“Now More Than Ever” takes your senses along a Dynamic journey through a message of hope and love. Now, more than ever, this might be just what we need.
It’s the first official day of summer in 2011, so Danny Dance brings you, “From Streets To Summer”. Crispy hats, get-up-and-dance claps, and a warm bottom end with some Cruel vocals to top things off. Happy summer!
A tribute to New York City, for everything it’s given to House Music, for inspiring the world to be better, and for respecting the rights of its people, no matter who they love.
