While this album's week-early release may be an accident, Kendrick Lamar's rise to fame certainly isn't. The release of his 2012 sophomore album Good Kid, M.a.a.d City launched Kendrick from the streets of Compton straight into the limelight. Many fans, myself included, would even consider it an instant classic. Let's not forget about his debut, Section.80, another album that could be considered a classic in due time.
The October 2014 breakup of Oasis' Liam Gallagher's band Beady Eye made me realize something: it's certainly no coincidence that the guy who wrote all of Oasis' songs has the better solo career after his main band broke up. Indeed, six years after Oasis' breakup, Noel Gallagher continues to have a successful solo career, while Liam Gallagher's Beady Eye broke up suddenly and quietly late last year. On another, somewhat-related note, I love the Beatles, but let's be real--John, Paul, and George had successful solo careers because they were great songwriters, and poor Ringo was just kinda left in the dust, although he did have a few hits. But I digress. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' self-titled 2011 release remains a testament to the fact that you should probably have good songwriting skills to make it as a solo artist. I certainly never enjoyed Beady Eye's songs quite as much as Noel Gallagher's. So in this review, whenever I use "Gallagher", it's always referring to Noel.
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Review ScheduleApril 15: Deftones, Tim Hecker, the Lumineers, M83, Parquet Courts Archives
April 2016
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