POP ROCKS' TAKE ON TEGAN AND SARA'S "HEARTTHROB"

Tegan & Sara's seventh album Heartthrob opens with "Closer" a hook-laden pop song for the lovelorn and it's go time from there. The hooks never cease. It's a pop album for people who shamelessly love pop music. There's no ironic wink, it's unabashedly pop. Yes it may be quirky here and there because it's coming from indie rock darlings Tegan & Sara but it is full throttle pop. It's meant for mass consumption, appreciation and communal enjoyment. This isn't a let me listen on my headphones album this is let's dance pop tuneage. Featuring production by Greg Kurstin of the bird and the bee, the Canadian twin sister duo explore new territory. It's everything you want in a record and for a band, a step forward. After working with pop artists and dance artists the time spent away from the insular world of indie has helped in their evolution. Writing for Carly Rae Jepsen and contributing vocals to songs by Tiesto, Morgan Page and David Guetta has contributed to their overall sonic template. The lyrics are relatable even if they veer towards the cliche as if they were ripped out of a teenage diary.

On opening song and first single "Closer" the song comes on like a rush of euphoria. The sheer bliss of pop makes adrenaline and endorphins rush through your veins and wonder what life was like before you heard the song like the start of a new relationship or meeting a new friend. The girls have dialed down the guitars and have turned the keyboards and drum machines to eleven and it makes up for an adventurous ride through their neuroses and relationships.

 "Drove Me Wild" is a burst of teenage hormones featuring drum programming and a chorus which wouldn't sound out of place on a Katy Perry or Kelly Clarkson album. Never ones to shy away or veer away from sounding tender and vulnerable the duo wear their hearts on their sleeves on album cuts "Love They Say" and "Now I'm All Messed Up" with lyrics and hooks ripped out of the Go-Go's and Bangles playbook at turns bittersweet or anthemic.

"How Come You Don't Want Me" production is molded from great 80's prom songs like Alphaville's "Forever Young" and When In Rome's "The Promise." It's a roller rink anthem about unrequited love and the end of a relationship.

The album is an irresistible batch of ten new songs from the Canadian twin sister duo. It is Tegan and Sara at their best and most sublime, lush and forward thinking. The album bleeds pop. The album is the duo's stab at tearjerkers, ballads and crushed out anthems. The songwriting is solid and expands on the melodicism, harmonies and ear worm quality previous hits like "Walking With a Ghost" and "Back In Your Head" displayed. "Heartthrob" is a breakthrough and watershed moment for the duo. They've made the leap from Big Star to Cheap Trick size choruses without sacrificing what sets them apart from the pack.

Pop Rocks Reviews A$AP Rocky's "LONG.LIVE. A$AP."

A$AP Rocky unleashes a tempest of swagger, flamboyance, bravado and confidence on debut album "LONG.LIVE. A$AP." Alternating between spitfire and languid delivery the album teems with aestheticism, dark, brooding posturing and the commonplace boasting required in hip hop. It's a study in gender politics, masculinity, class and race.
A$AP Rocky, real name Rakim Meyers, has arrived and is ready to take his place as the crown prince of hip hop, a role he was born to play. Named after hip hop legend Rakim of Eric B. & Rakim, he had no choice but to live up to the name and pay his debt to Rakim in full. Rocky makes like a young Basquiat capturing the zeitgeist by mining the past with a forward thinking aesthetic. He's the new wunderkind on the block embraced by the hip hop and fashion elite.
Poised for mainstream success like 50 Cent and Eminem before him he has mainstream crossover appeal and raw charisma. His music provides a much needed kick in the ass to hip hop and the mainstream much like when Dr. Dre unleashed his West Coast-tinged vision of the world on debut album "The Chronic." The album provided a platform for a new honest and raw voice that was both dangerous and intriguing that spoke of street culture and lived up to Chuck D's vision of rap being the CNN for the black community.
The production is a carefully orchestrated affair, a tastemaker eschewing current New York/ East Coast hip hop trends to create a new aesthetic all his own. Rocky has looked towards the south namely the Southern hip hop scene popularized by Mike Jones and Three 6 Mafia. He borrows heavily from Mike Jones' brand of Houston cough syrup-laced hip hop to create a debut album that is a tapestry weaved with threads from across the United States of hip hop.
The dark and menacing "F**ckin' Problems," the second single off the album is the most immediate song on the album and the most playful, in-your-face and dangerous. It's just the kind of song teenagers and rabble rousers like to embrace and play loudly to make their cars go boom with its dirty gritty beat.  His attitude is uncompromising and electric like a young Ice Cube pissed off, angry yet cool. It’s a take-no-prisoners misogynistic homage to his love of the ladies. It features fellow up-and-comer Kendrick Lamar, 2Chainz and Drake over a hook that is both rude and irreverent.
"Wild for the Night" collaboration with Skrillex that shouldn't work but does. A party anthem in the grand tradition of hip hop celebrations of hedonism and debauchery is unapologetically decadent. His staccato delivery rides Skrillex's manic production effortlessly with nods to Tupac, the patron saint of every of young hip hop aficionado.
"Fashion Killa" features a laundry list of preeminent fashion designers including but not limited to Alexander Wang, Ann Demeulemeester, Helmut Lang, Rick Owens, and Raf Simons. It's a breakdown/ tutorial for the uninitiated in the church of cult fashion over a sexy beat and ambient soundscape. This song, as it should be, will be embraced by the fashion community for years to come.
Deluxe edition bonus track "I Come Apart" is a collaboration featuring Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine which pairs the British chanteuse with Rocky to great results. His brutish swagger juxtaposed with her witchy soul vocals is a neo-noir hip hop symphony about love, loneliness and need in the vein of the Roots' collaboration with Erykah Badu "You Got Me," Eminem and Rihanna's collaboration on "Love The Way You Lie" and 50 Cent's "21 Questions." Like LL Cool J before him Rocky just needs love. He lets down his guard and lays bare his vulnerability, probably the most masculine thing he could do more so than bragging about the notches on his belt.

Teeming with street smarts and fashion nods it is a stylish set of songs that are both captivating and "trill," to use Rocky's parlance.  An impressive debut from the crown prince of hip hop that builds on the template set on his mixtape. The male counterpart to Azealia Banks, the female MC who has garned as much press and hype anticipating her debut has lived up to the hype, in this case believe the hype! A strong debut ready to join the annals of hip hop alongside "Ready to Die," "The Chronic" and "Get Rich Or Die Tryin.'"