Album

Album Review: Watching Movies With The Sound Off by Mac Miller

Mac Miller

Some records have themes and concepts, others are built around the radio singles, the aliterate rely on production, but once in awhile, an album is based on the artist growing in life, and the music vicariously lives through those emotions and thoughts.

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Album Review: Self Made, Vol. 2 by Maybach Music Group

Released June 26, 2012 via Maybach Music Group

Rick Ross and his MMG affiliates got it right the second time around. Self Made, Vol. 1 is a mixture of unoriginal, repetitive beats and bland lyricism that leaves you feeling slightly abandon by the genre you look to for inspiration. Volume 2 however, is a completely different story.

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Album Review: Synthetica by Metric

Released June 12, 2012 via Mom + Pop Records.

“I’m just as fucked up as they say/I can’t fake the daytime/Found an entrance to escape into the dark,” an opening line to set the precedence for the record. According to a letter, not a blog, but a letter frontman Emily Haines wrote to her family, friends and fans, Synthetica is about identifying with your own reflection, deciphering real from artificial.

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Album Review: Careless World: Rise Of The Last King

22 year old Michael Ray Nguyen-Stevenson (Tyga) released his sophomore LP February 21, 2012.
2008, Decaydance Records released Tyga’s debut album No Introduction. Being the cousin of Travis McCoy, my best guess is the connection landed him the record deal. With an executive producer like Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy), how many of us remember his first record? “Coconut Juice” featuring the Gym Class Heroes’ frontman is memorable because of Madden ’09 and the remix featuring future bossman Tunechi. The record sold just under 7,000 copies.
2009 rolls around and the young rapper has a mixtape with Chris Brown, Fan of a Fan. “Deuces” was taking up space in everyone’s iPod, and “Holla At Me” was being queued in Serato’s everywhere.
2010/2011 the features started rolling in. Birdman, Lil Wayne, Sean Garrett, Nipsey Hussle, DJ Khaled & Drake all enlisted the 110 pound Compton rapper of Vietnamese/Jamaican descent. After two singles, one featuring Chris Richardson and the other, a hook from Drizzy Drake produced by 40 the snowball effect was beginning. Then came “Rack City,” a banger produced by relatively newcomer DJ Mustard that you couldn’t avoid like the plague. Every rapper was freestyling on the instrumental and eventually an official remix dropped. Wale, Fabolous, Young Jeezy, Meek Mill & T.I. all added some fire to the track. The hype for Careless World: Rise Of The Last King was at an all-time high.
Let’s Take A Look At The Album

Record (Adele) Sales: Week 7

 

Following the hype around the six Grammy awards Adele took home this week, a couple thousand people felt they should pick up a copy of the record, 241,956 to be exact. The phenomenon that is Adele, never ceases to halt or amaze me. Can you imagine a world with a third LP from the British singer?
21 has sold roughly 17 million copies worldwide
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy re-entered the Top 200 after winning Best Rap Album along with two other Grammys for “All Of The Lights.”

 

Top 20 Records In The Cut

Record Sales: Week 51  12/13/11 – 12/19/11

Drake’s sophomore LP Take Care goes platinum this week. Bublé still taking advantage of the season, as is the teenage heartthrob JB. Black Keys with a solid second week, and Adele’s 2008 release 19 re-enters the top 25 with an impressive 44k copies sold.

Can Common’s The Dreamer/The Believer out-sell the holiday spirit? Check back next week.

LW
TW
Artist / Album
Label
Power Index
% Change
1
1
MICHAEL BUBLE – Christmas
REPRISE
444,036
-6%
3
2
ADELE – 21
XL/COLUMBIA
274,963
+48%
4
3
JUSTIN BIEBER – Under The Mistletoe
ISLAND/IDJMG
165,571
+5%
2
4
BLACK KEYS – El Camino
NONESUCH
85,380
-58%
18
5
LADY ANTEBELLUM –Own The Night
CAPITOL
80,737
+78%
6
6
ANDREA BOCELLI – Concerto: Live In CP
DECCA
79,494
+1%
8
7
NICKELBACK – Here And Now
ROADRUNNER
79,002
+22%
7
8
DRAKE – Take Care
YM/CM/
75,774
+5%
10
9
SCOTTY MCCREERY – Clear As Day
INTERSCOPE
66,846
+23%
13
10
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Now 40!
CAPITOL/EMI
66,043
+32%
—
11
ANTHONY HAMILTON – Back To Love
RCA
60,427
—
5
12
AMY WINEHOUSE – Lioness
UNIVERSAL
57,092
-48%
20
13
GLEE CAST – Glee Christmas, Vol. 2
COLUMBIA
56,432
+28%
21
14
SUSAN BOYLE – Someone To Watch Over Me
SYCO/COLUMBIA
52,731
+27%
12
15
RIHANNA – Talk That Talk
DEF JAM/IDJ
52,412
+3%
24
16
SHE & HIM – A Very She & Him Christmas
MERGE
49,726
+27%
11
17
JACKIE EVANCHO – Heavenly Christmas
COLUMBIA
48,833
-8%
29
18
JASON ALDEAN – My Kinda Party
BROKEN BOW
48,602
+42%
33
19
TAYLOR SWIFT – Speak Now World Tour
BIG MACHINE
47,145
+51%
14
20
ANDREA BOCELLI – My Christmas
DECCA
46,595
-5%
26
21
COLDPLAY – Mylo Xyloto
CAPITOL/EMI
45,653
+25%
34
22
ADELE – 19
XL/COLUMBIA
44,218
+43%
31
23
LMFAO – Sorry For Party Rocking
INTERSCOPE
42,246
+26%
36
24
TONY BENNETT – Duets II
COLUMBIA
41,645
+36%
27
25
DAUGHTRY – Break The Spell
19/RCA
38,922
+11%

Record Sales: Week 50   12/06/11 – 12/13/11

Even though Bublé Christmas record is still on the rise, it was nice to see the classic Charlie Brown Christmas come in at #25. The Black Keys came in strong at #2, and the phenomenal concept album from The Roots at #15 with nearly 50K.

1 1 MICHAEL BUBLE – Christmas REPRISE

473,517

+57%
— 2 BLACK KEYS – El Camino NONESUCH/WARNER BROS.

203,158

—
2 3 ADELE – 21 XL/COLUMBIA

186,229

+28%
3 4 JUSTIN BIEBER – Under The Mistletoe ISLAND/IDJMG

157,486

+13%
— 5 AMY WINEHOUSE – Lioness UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC

110,440

—
8 6 ANDREA BOCELLI – Concerto: Live DECCA

79,030

+29%
4 7 DRAKE – Take Care YM/CM/UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC

71,953

-20%
5 8 NICKELBACK – Here And Now ROADRUNNER

64,674

-22%
— 9 GLEE CAST – Glee: The Music Vol 7 COLUMBIA

58,708

—
15 10 SCOTTY MCCREERY – Clear As Day MERC NASH/19/INTERSCOPE

54,343

+52%
13 11 JACKIE EVANCHO – Heavenly Christmas COLUMBIA

53,108

+42%
7 12 RIHANNA – Talk That Talk DEF JAM/IDJ

50,752

-21%
9 13 VARIOUS ARTISTS – Now! 40 CAPITOL/EMI

50,183

+3%
18 14 ANDREA BOCELLI – My Christmas DECCA

49,031

+45%
— 15 ROOTS – Undun DEF JAM/IDJ

48,211

—
17 16 MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER – Christmas Symphony AMERICAN GRAMAPHONE

45,687

+32%
— 17 KORN – Path Of Totality ROADRUNNER

45,468

—
14 18 LADY ANTEBELLUM – Own The Night CAPITOL NASHVILLE/EMI

45,333

+24%
— 19 CHEVELLE – Hats Off To The Bull EPIC

44,520

—
11 20 GLEE CAST – Glee Christmas Vol. 2 COLUMBIA

44,177

+8%
16 21 SUSAN BOYLE – Someone To Watch Over Me SYCO/COLUMBIA

41,654

+18%
— 22 ROBIN THICKE – Love After War STAR TRAK/GEFFEN

41,161

—
6 23 MARY J. BLIGE – My Life II GEFFEN

39,789

-44%
20 24 SHE & HIM – Very She & Him Christmas MERGE

39,298

+28%
— 25 VINCE GUARALDI TRIO – Charlie Brown Christmas FANTASY

37,556

—

Can Take Care go platinum next week? How will Common and Young Jeezy’s new records fair?

Record Sales: Week 49   11/29/11 – 12/05/11

Tuesday: Perhaps you look forward to getting over the Monday Blues, or maybe you’re juiced for New Release Day, for myself, the aforementioned are on my mind, not to mention last week’s record sales.

Adele’s 21 has been virtually unstoppable, seems like there’s 150,000 stocking stuffers on their way. The Young Money Toronto boy is nearing Platinum, Coldplay is showing an impressive 50k and Trey Songz’s EP comes in at #24. Tis the season full of Christmas records, pretty boy Buble’s incredibly successful original title, Bieber’s Mistletoe, Glee’s compilation, and approaching Gold status, She & Him’s indie Christmas music.

Stay tuned for next weeks numbers to see if The Black Keys can follow up the success of Brothers, or will T-Pain’s comeback album steal the show. Perhaps Robin Thicke’s Love After War will serenade it’s way to the top, and The Root’s concept album hopes not to be Undun.

LW  TW    ARTIST/ALBUM        LABEL                             SALES      +/-

2 1 MICHAEL BUBLE REPRISE 301,303 +38%
CHRISTMAS
7 2 ADELE XL/COLUMBIA 145,215 +5%
21
6 3 JUSTIN BIEBER ISLAND/IDJMG 139,861 0%
UNDER THE MISTLETOE
4 4 DRAKE YM/CM/UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC 89,469 -48%
TAKE CARE
1 5 NICKELBACK ROADRUNNER 83,222 -63%
HERE AND NOW
5 6 MARY J. BLIGE GEFFEN 71,530 -57%
MY LIFE II-THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
3 7 RIHANNA DEF JAM/IDJ 64,286 -67%
TALK THAT TALK
17 8 ANDREA BOCELLI DECCA 61,343 +13%
CONCERTO: LIVE IN CENTRAL PARK
13 9 VARIOUS ARTISTS CAPITOL/EMI 48,644 -28%
NOW! 40
10 10 COLDPLAY CAPITOL/EMI 47,695 -42%
MYLO XYLOTO
26 11 GLEE CAST COLUMBIA 40,910 +9%
GLEE CHRISTMAS, VOL. 2
8 12 DAUGHTRY 19/RCA 40,400 -69%
BREAK THE SPELL
31 13 JACKIE EVANCHO COLUMBIA 37,442 +14%
HEAVENLY CHRISTMAS
22 14 LADY ANTEBELLUM CAPITOL NASHVILLE/EMI 36,462 -20%
OWN THE NIGHT
9 15 SCOTTY MCCREERY MERC NASH/19/INTERSCOPE 35,644 -60%
CLEAR AS DAY
29 16 SUSAN BOYLE SYCO/COLUMBIA 35,237 +1%
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME
— 17 MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER AMERICAN GRAMAPHONE 34,668 —
CHRISTMAS SYMPHONY
45 18 ANDREA BOCELLI DECCA 33,818 +46%
MY CHRISTMAS
11 19 TAYLOR SWIFT BIG MACHINE 31,204 -60%
SPEAK NOW WORLD TOUR LIVE
— 20 SHE & HIM MERGE 30,742 —
VERY SHE & HIM CHRISTMAS
47 21 CASTING CROWNS PROVIDENT 30,639 +40%
COME TO THE WELL
19 22 VARIOUS ARTISTS CHOP SHOP/ATLANTIC 30,580 -41%
TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN
41 23 SUSAN BOYLE SYCO/COLUMBIA 27,787 +9%
THE GIFT
— 24 TREY SONGZ ATLANTIC 27,229 —
INEVITABLE
44 25 TONY BENNETT COLUMBIA 26,735 +15%
DUETS II