Love is such a powerful thing. It has the ability to consume you, all of you, and never let go until everything that you are is consumed by it. I'm in love with love and the things that it does to me. There's no filter, there's no wall, it's just there and it's smacking you in the face telling you to do exactly what you've always dreamed of doing. Everything that we truly are and everything that we ever will be is already inside of us, and it's our own logic and reasoning that keeps us away from our burrowed aspirations. You're supposed to write that play, you're supposed to kiss that girl, you were supposed to follow your heart, and the only thing keeping you away from your happiness is you. Love is what opens us. Love is what shows us that there's so much more to life than what's directly in front of us. The abstract, the miniscule, the forgotten. These are the things that we really love. The way she laughs, the Songbird on the windowsill, the flowers that still seem to grow despite everything that gets in its way. It's fascinating. Everything's just so beautiful and fascinating. All tangents aside, I really hope you enjoy this mixtape, that is the reason you're here after all.
What would Valentine's Day be like without an official JustNorman young lover's playlist? On this very day just one year before, I released my very first public mixtape, and so in honor of this sweet sweet holiday (and my day of birth), I've decided to compile an audio list of 14 of some of my favorite tracks that fit perfectly into this special occasion.
As you may remember from last year's Valentine's Day, I was somewhat pessimistic about the day to come. Not only did I not have any plans considering it was my birthday (wait, have I told you that tomorrow's my birthday?), but I also didn't have anyone to spend it with, so needless to say I was pretty bummed out. Luckily, things seem to of taken a turn for the better, and for the first time in who knows how long, I'll actually have someone. A real someone. And for this, I'm forever thankful.
I know we've only been dating for like three weeks, but she deserves a mixtape crafted in her honor, so shoutouts to Rachelle for being the lovely face for this playlist, and for being the trillest girl I know.
On behalf of Justnorman.blogspot.com, and all of its affiliate tumblrs, twitterers, and inner city street teams, I'd like to personally welcome you to 2012 AD. *Cues Bone Thugs-N-Harmony 1st of tha Month*
In honor of this fresh start, I figured what better way to ring in the new year than with an album review? As you may have guessed at this point in your following, I prefer to only associate myself with the best of the best, especially when it comes to music. As a BIG fan of The Weeknd, I absolutely refuse to allow for another day to go by without reviewing at least one of his mixtapes. I mean, all he did was change my entire outlook on both life and R&B, no big deal. Since I couldn't do this one alone, I sought the assistance of two of my very few favorite bloggers, Trent (TrentTrizzy) and Havean (HolaHavito) so without further ado. . Legggo.
Ohh but wait a second. Before we begin, if you DON'T know who The Weekend is at this point, you should probably just quit at life, or just click HERE before you even begin reading. Things might make a little more sense if you've actually listened to the music of the man that we're referring to. Okay, let's try this again.
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Blogger: HolaHavito
D.D.
What a way to start the end of a mixtape trilogy. The Weeknd’s cover of Michael Jackson’s single, Dirty Diana, is better than the original. I said it; I am prepared for legions of people transfixed on the past to murder me and moonwalk away silently. I’m sacrificing my well-being in order to illustrate what The Weeknd is trying to prove by covering this song: He is here to stay and he’s damned talented.
Montreal
Montreal is a mid tempo song in which The Weeknd “borrows” lyrics from the French song “Laisse Tomber Les Filles” by France Gall. The lyrics essentially translate to a player’s warning, “stop being a playboy, one day you’ll be the one played and you’ll be hurt.” That is the gist of the track, the narrator is heartbroken, but he’s too prideful and hurt to admit it. The tempo and the background vocals are sensual and evanescent, and are a throwback to early 90’s R&B. Picture The Weeknd in ’93 and the music video for Montreal; a brick filled loft filled with artificial smoke, a sexy girl swirling provocatively in white linen, The Weeknd singing and dancing with a clean high top fade.
Outside
Sex: The Weeknd’s second favorite topic after drugs, of any kind. Though the song is good, lyrically it’s missing the originality and tongue in cheek lyrics that accompanied songs like “Loft Music, The Zone, and The Knowing.” However, as usual the beat itself helps carry The Weeknd when he falls short lyrically from time to time. The bells and dissonant snare drums are hypnotic and trance like, and aid the storytelling of sex that is so good it puts one under a spell.
The same way that rappers like Young Jeezy, Pusha T, and Rick Ross find new ways to talk about the same white powdery substance, Able Tesfaye, better known by his stage name The Weeknd, continues to seduce our earbuds with tales of marijuana days and cocaine nights. “XO/The Host” is a beautifully narrated tragedy that tells the story of a young girl addicted to the party life. With lines like “specially when your nose red from that K/ Special Diet Coke/ You need more bread/ Now you got no rent/ You blow that money.” The Weeknd does what he’s best at; Painting pictures of tragic lifestyles that make you want to live them out, even if the outcome isn’t a good one. “The Host” serves as a prelude to “Initiation,” in which Able tells our damsel that she must pass a “test” to get his love. This was a good smooth interlude to get us ready for the craziness that’s ahead.
Initiation
This track is hands down the best song on the album in my opinion. Everything about this song, from the eerie instrumental that lurks over the slurred and sporadic pitch of the verses, to lyrics such as, “Roll that weed, blow the fire out/ Taste that lean when you kiss my mouth/ Get so wet when I eat you out” is what attracts people to The Weeknd’s music. He possesses the unique ability to croon the phrases and brash descriptions commonly found in rap music without the slightest hesitation. Women feel sexy singing it, and men still feel at home while listening to it. Win Win.
Same Old Song
This song could’ve easily been titled “Shot for Me pt 2." Here we find Able reflecting with a woman about how she left him when he needed her most, and now that he’s big, she’s coming around again. We’ve heard this story again and a again, and as much as I appreciate the lyrics and the overall message of this song, the emphasized belting of the hook eventually gets to be a bit much for my ears. Not one of my favorites, but still a decent song.
As we head towards the end of the mixtape, we see that thing are beginning to slow down drastically as the story progresses. The track reveals itself to be extremely deep, dark, and ominous, which is a common theme for The Weeknd. When listened to on a pair of over-the-ear headphones, the song seems to give off a surround sound effect as if one were being whispered to by a swarm of meth heads at four in the morning. I thought it to be a pretty decent track, but to go along with what Havean has stated previously, it seems to fall short lyrical, but is carried along into the "ohh that's my jam" category due to the oustanding production.
Next
Next is quite possibly one of my least favorite tracks of the mixtape. I've never been a big fan of the whole gloomy, orchestral piano ballad thing, and despite the fact it's The Weeknd who's singing these lyrics, I still don't think I'll ever be able to appreciate it fully. As usual with this guy, I continue to listen to the entire six minutes due to that wonderfully uncanny voice of his, even after I reach the conclusion that I'm almost completely annoyed by the whole idea of the production. In the end, it was a song that I could probably due without, but he needed nine tracks so. . well, I guess that's that.
Echoes of Silence
While I wasn't much of a fan of this track either (sorry for bringing down the vibe), it seems to tie in well with the overarching theme of the entire mixtape. Drugs, parties, and the potential for greatness seems to draw the attention of a variety of curious women. While our main protagonist attempts to tell them (or her) that he is offering nothing more than the superficial, they have no choice but to either oblige, or to end up alone, but due to the nature of the situation at hand, they choose both.
Our top three per section:
Overall I thought this to be was a fairly decent mixtape, and while it wasn't my favorite (House of Ballons for the win), I feel as if it was a nice way to wrap up a series of releases that has recently propelled him to the very top of underground stardom. While The Weeknd still has much more maturing to do before he's able to fully compete with the higher ends of the music world, there is no doubt in my mind that Abel Tesfaye is soon to be in the very forefront of both our minds, and the R&B game as a whole.
Winter break is finally here, and what a better way to start it off than with Houston's 7th annual Punxmas Fest. I know it may not seem as such, but Norman and punk music have quite the history with one another. Way back when in my band geek days, I went through a fairly heavy ska-punk-psychobilly phase, which has consequently had a major effect upon the types of music that I listen to today. While I may not fancy listening to The Casualties or GBH as much as I used to, I still can't seem to escape from the thrills of a good show, reminding me of all those things I've been missing while I've been away at school.
The show kicked off around five or so featuring around eleven bands in total, but the ones in particular that more or less so caught my attention played much later on the set list, so on time was definitely not mandatory. Now I don't know if I've ever really mention them by name before, but Kelin and Garret, aka my white friends, aka white boy mob, were the two dudes that I went with, and just for future reference, if you ever hear me speaking about a show, these two guys are more than likely the individuals that I rode with. But they weren't the only ones who came with me, oh no, there were more. Not only did I get to see a few old band mates from high school, Rachelle and Raveen took a few hours out of their "busy" schedule to come chill with your boy, and for that they deserve both the blue link and the mention (V TEVM SVLUTE).
As usual with these types of functions, I had a trill ass time, despite the fact that Devin and I decided to part ways a few weeks back (slipped that in there real classy like didn't I?). I know it seems like we just got together, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be, so maybe it's best that we just leave it at that for today. On a lighter note, my afro and my mustache is lookin' mad thick these days, and I've even caught the attention of one of the baddest black hipster girls on campus, so hey, I'm doing all right. *proceeds to pop multiple collars*
||Bands seen here: Roots of Exile, Rats in the Attic, Fuska, Blackmarket Syndicate, The Ghost Storys, Molotov Compromise||
Oh, and I hope you enjoy the changes I've made to the site, things were getting a little too crowded for me, I needed to get my zen together and this was the outcome. If you have any suggestions or comments pertaining to the site, the photos, the post, anything, don't be afraid to shoot me a comment or an email. We're all in this together you know.
Despite that fact that its been nearly two months since my previous post, I am here to say that justnorman.blogspot.com is most definitely not gone for good. As if my readership wasn't already dwindling down to a halt due to my lack of posting, I'm sure a many of you have already given up on me, but if you're still here and you're actually reading this: thank you. I've been going through a lot lately and I know that that's not much of an excuse, but this is real life and sometimes we have to make sacrifices, and I guess the good ol' blogspot took the L on this one. I even let the tumblr start to fall a bit too, and once you start slackin' on tumblr, it's pretty much a downhill roller coaster from then on out.
Let us play catch up... I know it might not necessariy seem like it to the outside world, but I'd have to say that the sacrifice was slightly necessary. These last few months I've been interning for an organization on campus know as The Exceptional Men of the Talented Tenth. The process has been going on since September or so, but to make a long story short, I, Norman Clark, am officially a member (TENTH TENTH, HOORAY). Out of the original 16 members who began the process, only 7 of us made it, and honestly, it was worth it. Everything's starting to look up for me which is a nice change of pace. The girl that I've been "talking" to for a little over a year and half finally came around and made it Facebook official with a young pimp. I know I've never really spoken about her, but I usually prefer to keep things under wraps, especially on the internet, but fuck it, we're legit now (her name's Devin by the way). Also, I have friends. YES, REAL LIFE COLLEGE FRIENDS. Ever since Emilio and Christiana left me hangin' Freshman year, I've been on the hunt for some young souls to fill the spot that they left in my heart. Well guys, the wait is over and Δ TEΔM (A TEAM) is in full effect.
Now, I don't mean to be such a buzz kill, but I was to some degree slightly lonely before all of this happened. The way is see it is that there's a very thin line between solo dolo and lonely, and I was harking on the latter. Things are just changing so quickly and I'm just hoping that nothing goes wrong, God willing.
Me lately
Bass Drum of Death x Unknown Mortal Orchestra x Toro y Moi show
The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.
-Sigmund Freud
I sat there in astonishment not knowing exactly what I needed to do with myself. I was happy, I was depressed, I was indifferent... every emotion imaginable seemed to of hit me at the exact same time, and it was at this moment that I realized that it was a movie that was making me feel this way. Me, the original alpha male, sitting there alone on the verge of a legitimate breakdown, crying my metaphorical eyes out because of something I'm watching on the fifteen inch screen of my laptop? Yes bro, that just happened, and even though it stings the ego having to recount this story via symbols and keystrokes, I'd much rather it be told over the internet as opposed to someone watching me have an emotional collapse (as if I needed anymore of those).
The movie in question was in fact a foreign film released not too long ago, conveniently entitled the Science of Sleep (I'll explain the significance in just a second). The feature recounts the story of a man who lives vicariously through his dream state while occasionally combining the realms of sleep and reality, even going as far as to mistake one for the other and vice versa. Eventually a female enters the picture and things seem to take a turn for the better... and then the worst, and then better, and then, well you get what I'm getting at. Things become complicated, and as he traversed between worlds I realized something with the soundtrack: it was perfect. Each song played was directly congruent to the lead characters' emotional state, allowing for the film to be seen as that much more real, that much more honest, that much more satisfying, and I found this to be beautiful.
After I got done wiping away my tears (both literal and metaphorical), I decided to do a bit of research in order to determine whether or not music has the capability to dictate the scenarios of our unconscious mind, and lo and behold, there does seem to be some fact to this. After acknowledging this tid bit of information, I decided to embark upon my very own dream journey by compiling the perfect playlist for the unconscious mind, so I hope you've got your ipods ready.
The download is dissected into two different files: the standard itunes ready track by track mixtape, and for the die hard unconscious dreamers, an hour long, uninterrupted audio file, ready for repeated playback as you drift off into your dream state.
Oh, and if you still feel like reading stuff, a few bros and I got together for a Watch The Throne Album review. Peep it here.
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Prayers for the lives lost during the tragedy of 9/11. I understand that this may comes off as an after thought, but it's never too late to send love to those who no longer possess the ability to exist.
Sometimes it seems as if no matter what I'm doing, I always end of finding myself thinking about music. New music, old music, mainstream, completely unheard of...all of it. It's a mystery to me that I'm even able to concentrate on the simplest of task without having the urge to open up a new tab and listen to so and so's unofficial, unreleased greatest hits playlist. Speaking of tabs, I'm pretty sure I have at least 47 open right now, one of them being the almighty, untouchable, unconquerable itunes collection (yes all of that was necessary, and yes you can't compete).
Second to my education and my unborn child (chill, no one's pregnant) my choice in music and private assembly of entire albums and accompanying artwork, is something that I'm seemingly proud of, regardless of whether everyone else chooses to agree or not. For me, music is one of those things where everyone gets free rain. No one should be able to make you feel bad for listening to this or nodding your head that. You choose what you want to hear, you can't help what you like right?
In layman's term, I like to diversify and listen to a lot of different stuff, and as you might of guessed, my metaphorical plate is filled to the max with loads of varying metaphorical foods. As of right now there are about a dozen plus albums that I have yet to give a full listen to, so I figured, "hey, sharing is caring, put it on da blog."
SBTRKT - SBBTRKT
Pollyn - This Little Night
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Breakbot - Happy Rabbit
Theophilus London - Timez Are Weird These Days
Tennis - Cape Dory
Jesse Boykins III - Way Of A Wayfarer
The Samps - Mexican Summer
Lil B - I'm Gay (I'm Happy)
Little Dragon - Ritual Union
Oh, also if you're interested (of course you are) I crafted a quick dubstep mix for a close relative of mine. She asked me to do it ages ago, but the important thing is is that the deed is done, so no fuss. I didn't have the time to do it all special like I do my other mixes, but the music is great so why not cop it anyway.
It was all just a week ago... I, Justnorman, after years and years of admiration and the occasional laps of momentary astonishment, was finally given the opportunity to bask in the greatness of what is know as The Kid Cudi Experience. Now if anyone is familiar with me, and my taste in music (as by now I'm sure you are), you'll understand that my ears, along with the rest of my auditory system, have very quaint and particular desires in what they like to hear on a regular basis. At times I can come off as a bit pretentious and overly high brow, but if I may say, my itunes collection does however possess the occasional left fielder (Waka Flocka, Gucci Mane, Based God, need I go on?). While what I just stated has almost nothing to do with the topic at hand, my point is that I love music, and if I was unfortunately chosen to choose one man as the #1 rager of all time, Mr. Rager himself would without a doubt be the only man on that list.
The event took place on July 19th, Houston Texas, Reliant Arena. The previous 24 hours were fairly intense for me considering my inability to sleep, eat and control my sweat glands. Luckily enough I was able to arrive at the venue in one piece, "solo dolo" as usual. I was incredibly excited, and as if things couldn't get any better, I was graced with the presence of a lady friend I knew from way back, and as it turns out she was alone as well (swag). We waited in line in anticipation of what was to come, and soon enough there we were, moments away from witnessing one of the greatest shows I was ever to see in my twenty years of existence.
The experience opens up with a Chip tha Ripper set, who I am unfortunately somewhat unfamiliar with, but just enough so that I was able to swag out like it was nobody's business. After an hour or so it was time, time for him, time for him to grace us with his presence, grace us with his greatness. Is it...is that...yes inner female teenager, that, is Kid Cudi. For the next hour and a half or so, the crowd and I raged like there was no such thing as tomorrow. I mean how could you not? Chip was there, Cudi was there and even Cage made an appearance (epic). I don't mean to come off as cliche and star struck, but there were a few moments where I actually thought I was about to cry, it got that real. It's weird how you can feel so connected with someone you've never met before, but I guess that was the whole point right?
The girl I was with actually ended up blacking out for just a second, so I might of missed a song or two taking care of the lady, but that's neither here nor there. Despite the three previous paragraphs crafted before this, words can't explain how great of a time I had that night, and even though I have absolutely no high def photographs to show for it (box office LIED and told me cameras weren't allowed) I had an insane time, and if luck strikes me right, I'll never be able to forget it. Rage on Mr. Rager... Rage on.
If my review wasn't able to satisfy your cravings, make sure to peep the homie TRENTTRIZZY's Cud Life tour review over at theINlink.
If it weren't for music, I don't think I'd be able to make it through the rest of this summer. To continue on with the previous post, it's still hot in Houston and I still don't feel like going outside while the sun's out, but what can I say, gotta live it up while we can right? This previous weekend I attended The Blow x Love Inks show, and in case you're wondering, yes it was worth the money. Now to most, twelve bucks may seem like chump change, worthless, insignificant, but to me, twelve dollars seems like so much more than that. Now I don't mean to sound like such a bum or a penny pincher (which I am), but when you don't have a job and paying for school requires you to sign your life away on a government endorsed payment plan, you start to realize that money actually matters, regardless of how often you tell yourself that it doesn't.
OBVIOUSLY, I get off task way too easily, but I think you get what I was attempting to get at. Long story short, I had a great time at the show, and both artist did a bang up job. As usual, all photographs were taken by yours truly, and if after listening to a few songs you find yourself sincerely interested, go a step further visit both groups HERE and HERE.
Side note: Kid Cudi Show tomorrow. Yes I'm going.
Hopefully I'll be able to bring the camera. *fingers crossed*
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