Now he just has to admit it about the rest of his albums

Holy shit, that was straight from the heart, you really could feel the emotion in his voice. Powerful stuff. RIP Michael Brown.

yeah sure why the fuck not

This is brilliant for the following reasons:

1) The production suggests Frank has continued to experiment since Channel Orange with fantastic results. The distant backbeat, flanged vocals, and tremolo guitar create a woozy, love-drunk vibe which perfectly complements the lyrics.

2) Those lyrics…goddamn. “I could fuck you all night long from a memory alone,” “You can’t breathe if you’re dipped in gold,” “You are not on paper, you are not a copy, you’re so…thick.” This is just two stanzas, people. Somebody call the New Yorker.

3) The contrast between these stanzas demonstrates his Brian Wilson-like ability to match the melody and chord progression to the tone of the lyrics. As the narrator transitions from the insecurity and lust of the first stanza to the acceptance and admiration of the second, the melody changes from tough guy sing-speak to gentle falsetto…and at the SAME TIME, the guitar goes from diminished chords to sustained chords. Fuck.

Do we need any more reasons to be excited about this album?

No Foo Fighters??

This is actually a subject of etymological debate right now Sherri. In cases like bands with a singular name, or sports teams (think, the Miami Heat were/was in Boston this weekend to face the Celtics), it is not absolutely correct or incorrect either way…

Granduciel oozes class and genuineness. I’m happy for him that he has made something this year that is not only widely acclaimed, but is also resonating with so many people on a personal level. Lost in the Dream is one of the most perfect albums I’ve ever heard.

Also peculiar that ‘C’ is the 3rd letter of the alphabet, ‘I’ looks like a 1 and ‘A’ is the 1st letter of the alphabet.

I could stream Blink 182 and still feel like I paid too much for it

I don’t know, I kind of get the feeling he created his own prison.

I’m so unapologetically bored with Kanye. I just am.

Man, this year sucked.

Both Kozelek and The War On Drugs make music that is the aural equivalent of a silent but deadly fart.

Yeah because I am sure there is only one mother fucker on the whole planet by the name of Robert Pattinson

Creed was…..WAS, for God’s sake. I know people will blast me for correcting the grammar, but come on….the second word is incorrect. Creed is singular, were is plural. SIGH. Going back to my vacation now.

Well, ain’t that something. I’ve been an off-and-on ‘Gum commenter for years now, under a couple of different account names. In my non-internet life, I’m a lawyer working mostly in criminal appeals, and one of the cases that Mike references in the essay – wherein the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed a murder conviction and upheld the admission of violent rap lyrics – that was my case!

That being said, I really like what Mike’s written here. I more or less briefed and argued the same talking points. In my case, it was a tough argument to make, because the lyrics in question pretty closely mirrored exactly how the murder was said to have occurred, via eyewitness testimony and other evidence. Thus, prejudice was found to be outweighed by relevance. But even so, research does show that when art is offered as evidence, courts will typically treat non-rap formats with a greater deference to First Amendment protection (some of the cases that I cited involved visual art and works of written fiction, for example). And that’s not right.

Mostly, though, I just had to pop to say that my day has been made by Killer Mike giving a shout out to my case (even if not in a good way). Forgive me for bragging, but dammit, I’ve gotta do it just this once.