Latest Posts

Just Announced: Kanye West

June 14, 2016

People who read on the internet super early were delighted this morning to discover that Kanye West announced he will be touring in support of his latest album The Life of Pablo. Dubbed the Saint Pablo tour, Yeezy will be making his second stop on the tour at Buffalo’s First NIagara center on Saturday, August 27th.Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10am, with prices ranging from $29.50 to $129.50, so make sure you don’t get too lost in Herd Fest activities that you forget to set your alarm for Saturday. I have a feeling this one might sell out.

Column 36: The Performance of Pablo

February 18, 2016

In Screened Plays I normally write about the relationship of film/television and music, that’s exactly what today’s article was originally intended to be, before this all got a bit bigger. Last week I had the pleasure of being part of the Yeezy Season 3 theater experience which was beamed into theaters in eighty cities across the world (including our very own Regal Elmwood) which would debut Kanye West’s new album and fashion line. While the show itself was rather unspectacular, essentially a glorified listening party with Kanye passing the aux cable around like a 2am Curb ride. The album itself and it’s rollout however, have been far more fascinating. To the point where this week’s Screened Play will be looking at a far different performance, the one of Kanye’s release. Which is to say, do we now think there’s a chance this entire release has been performance art? Kanye has[...]

Happy Kanye Disappoints, So Far

February 20, 2015

It’s 2015, and Kanye is happy and making an album. He was hungry making College Dropout, inspired for Late Registration and Graduation, depressed for 808s, desperate for MBDTF, and angry for Yeezus. Every one of his solos was reflected of Kanye’s state of mind during their time period, and now Kanye is probably in the most simple emotional state he’s been in since he’s entered the celebrity arena. He’s got a wife and daughter he loves, and his fashion career that has often been a point of frustration in his life, appears to be turning a new corner. Simply put, Kanye is in a good place. Is that good for us as listeners though? “Only One” is probably the best song Kanye has let out in the new year, but right now I can’t say that that’s even a top 20 Ye track. “FourFiveSeconds” is one of the more disappointing tracks in memory, as accurately described by Justin on here[...]

Is “FourFiveSeconds” Even A Song?

January 26, 2015

On paper, the Kanye West-Paul McCartney-Rihanna collaboration “FourFiveSeconds” looks huge, a swing-for-the-fences song that could actually change things. It features two of the world’s greatest pop stars, plus a Beatle, and other wild card talent, but virtually none of their presence is felt. The legendary Paul McCartney is reduced to tapping on a few keyboards—maybe guitar. Kanye deploys a brief, auto-tuneless vocal performance that is totally mailed in, and I have no idea what David Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors is doing here. For all we know, he was just hanging out in the same room while the song was recorded and got some props. A total of 10 people are credited here – a spare acoustic guitar song – that sounds like it was mixed down from just four tracks. The song’s uplifting, face-the-day tone feels like it could be sung at AA meetings or in one of those[...]