Concert Review: Intronaut-- Cambridge, MA-- March 30th, 2016

Lineup: Intronaut, Scale the Summit, North and Rozamov
Venue: The Middle East Downstairs Cambridge, MA

Rozamov: These guys are the go-to local opener for any sludge/doom metal show in the Boston-area. Last night marked the first time I'd actually seen them and I really hope I don't have to ever again. Every single song featured the same plodding sludge riff, lifeless drum fills and muddled harsh vocals for seven or eight minutes and the entire band displayed an energy level that was reminiscent of the titular character from Weekend at Bernie's. Unless you're looking to learn the basics of how to play the most mind-numbingly dull sludge metal humanly possible, I'd avoid voluntarily seeing Rozamov at all costs.

North: Just about anything would've sounded good after Rozamov had just lulled me to sleep for 30 minutes, but North was seriously great. Their sound was a perfect mix of punishing sludge and atmospheric post-metal and the amount of killer riffs they laid down in every song was flat-out absurd. I'm going to need to dig into their discography ASAP after witnessing this excellent performance.

Scale the Summit: For those don't know, Scale the Summit was added to this tour at the last minute after the original direct support act-Germany's The Ocean-was forced to drop off after not getting their work visas processed in time for the start of the tour. While I was incredibly disappointed that The Ocean wasn't able to do this tour, Scale the Summit was about as perfect of a replacement as Intronaut could've got for this tour. I could ramble on for an elongated period of time about how tight the band was or how warmly the crowd received them, but this set largely served as a gateway to help me rediscover the brilliance of Scale the Summit's music. With the exception of giving their latest album V a few spins at the end of the last year, I've largely ignored listening to them for the past couple of years and for the entire 45 minutes they were on stage, I became overwhelmed with self-hatred for making such a moronic decision. Between their top-notch technical chops and ability to create a consistently rich, dense atmosphere with their music, Scale the Summit is firmly embedded in the upper echelon of instrumental metal bands. Scale the Summit is an absolute joy to behold live and I will never make the mistake of sleeping on their music again as long as I live.

Intronaut: I'd seen Intronaut three times prior to this (opening for Mastodon in 2009, Meshuggah in 2013 and Between the Buried and Me in 2014), but I was extremely excited to finally get the chance to see them headline. As with the previous times I've seen them, Intronaut's performance was freaking outstanding. While their live show has been consistently excellent over the years, this show saw them raising their game to the next level due to their decision to play their brilliant new album The Direction of Last Things in its entirety. The intimacy and note-perfect acoustics of the Middle East Downstairs maximized the power of the record's striking blend of crushing riffs and jazz-inspired melodies and made all seven songs even more immense and striking than the studio versions.

As always, the biggest highlight of going to an Intronaut show is getting the pleasure of seeing bassist Joe Lester and drummer Danny Walker play in person. As far as I'm concerned, these guys are the best rhythm section in all of music at the moment and seeing them perform live showcases just how exceptionally gifted they are at their respective instruments. Lester and Walker are the backbone of Intronaut's tremendous success as a band and prove that more bands in the present day should put a bigger emphasis on having a strong rhythm section. This show once again reaffirmed my belief that Intronaut is one of the most criminally overlooked bands in modern metal and I urge anyone that can catch a show on the last two weeks of this tour to do so.

Scores:
Rozamov 2/10
North 8/10
Scale the Summit 8.5/10
Intronaut 9/10

Setlists:
Scale the Summit:
Blue Sun
Oort Cloud
Narrow Sailanet
Atlas Novus
Pontus Euxinus
Soria Moria
Kestral
Odyssey
Origin of Species

Intronaut:
Fast Worms
Digital Gerrymandering
The Pleasant Surprise
The Unlikely Event of a Water Landing
Sul Ponticello
The Direction of Last Things
City Hymnal

Encore:
Core Relations
Milk Leg
The Literal Black Cloud

The Best and Worst of Don Cheadle

The "Best and Worst" series profiles the best and worst work of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week I take a look at the filmography of "Miles Ahead" star Don Cheadle.

Film starring Don Cheadle that I've seen:
Volcano
Boogie Nights
Mission to Mars
Swordfish
Ocean's Eleven
Ocean's Twelve
Hotel Rwanda
Crash
Reign Over Me
Ocean's Thirteen
Traitor
Brooklyn's Finest
Iron Man 2
The Guard
Flight
Iron Man 3 
Avengers: Age of Ultron 

Best Performance: Hotel Rwanda (2004) 
Hotel Rwanda is a film that I find to be grossly overrated among the unofficial "awards-friendly historical dramas that dominate cinemas for the last three or four months of every calendar year" genre. While the writing, directing and acting ensemble is strong on the whole, Hotel Rwanda's overall quality and emotional impact would've been far less if not for the incredible work of Cheadle. Portraying Paul Ruseabagina, a hotel manger who housed over 1,000 refugees during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, Cheadle captures the bravery and compassion that made Ruseabagina an unlikely hero during a period of perpetual unease and danger.

Worst Performance: Iron Man 2 (2010)
Cheadle isn't among my favorite actors working right now, but there's no denying that he's turned in consistently solid performances throughout his career. Of the 17 films I've seen of his over the years, Iron Man 2 is the only one where I felt he was phoning in his performance. For the duration of the film, Cheadle seemed reluctant to commit to the character of Col.James Rhodes/War Machine, Tony Stark's best friend and Iron Man's sidekick, and had a wooden presence that completely went against everything he's shown as an actor prior to this film. Iron Man 2 may have been a clear lowlight in Cheadle's career, but he can at least take solace in the fact that he still wasn't nearly as bad as Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell were in the film.

Best Film: Ocean's Eleven (2001) 
I'm generally not one of those people that excessively criticizes Hollywood for the types of movies they put out in the modern era, but I will say that they don't make lighthearted crime movies like they used to. Just about every heist movie that hits the marketplace has to be driven by grit and darkness or else it won't greenlit. This refusal to conform to the heist film genre standards of the past 40 years or so is what made Ocean's Eleven such a welcome retreat from the Dog Day Afternoon and Heat's of the world. The remake of the 1960 classic was a star-studded, flawless throwback to the breezy, good-natured capers that ruled multiplexes in the 50's and 60's and is without question one of the most purely entertaining films to be released in my lifetime to-date.   

Worst Film: Ocean's Twelve (2004)
Cheadle gets the prestigious honor of being the first actor in the history of this series to have their best and worst film be part of the same franchise. The wit, charm and high stakes of the central heist that made the first installment a massive success was swapped out for molasses-esque pacing, convoluted writing and a joyless climax in the second installment of Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's trilogy. While the filmmakers were able to get the series back to its infectiously fun roots with 2007's Ocean's Thirteen, it wasn't good enough to undo much of the damage this tedious, pointless film did to this franchise.

Thank you for reading this week's installment of "The Best and Worst of". Next week, I'll take a look at the best and worst work of "The Boss" star Melissa McCarthy.

2016 NFL Mock Draft 3.0 (Updated 3/28)

1.Tennessee Titans: Joey Bosa, outside linebacker/defensive end (Ohio State)
2.Cleveland Browns: Laremy Tunsil, tackle (Mississippi)
3.San Diego Chargers: Myles Jack, inside/outside linebacker (UCLA)
4.Dallas Cowboys: DeForest Buckner, defensive end (Oregon)
5.Jacksonville Jaguars: Jalen Ramsey, cornerback/safety (Florida State)
6.Baltimore Ravens: Vernon Hargreaves, cornerback (Florida)
7.San Fransisco 49ers: Carson Wentz, quarterback (North Dakota State)
8.Philadelphia Eagles: Ezekiel Elliot, running back (Ohio State)
9.Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Leonard Floyd, outside linebacker/defensive end (Georgia)
10.New York Giants: Darron Lee, inside/outside linebacker (Ohio State)
11.Chicago Bears: Ronnie Stanley, tackle (Notre Dame)
12.New Orleans Saints: Eli Apple, cornerback (Ohio State)
13.Miami Dolphins: Mackensie Alexander, cornerback (Clemson)
14.Oakland Raiders: Reggie Ragland, inside linebacker (Alabama)
15.Los Angeles Rams: Jared Goff, quarterback (California)
16.Detroit Lions: Jack Conklin, tackle (Michigan State)
17.Atlanta Falcons: Shaq Lawson, outside linebacker/defensive end (Clemson)
18.Indianapolis Colts: Kevin Dodd, outside linebacker/defensive end (Clemson)
19.Buffalo Bills: Jarran Reed, defensive tackle (Alabama)
20.New York Jets: Emmanuel Ogbah, outside linebacker/defensive end (Oklahoma State)
21.Washington Redskins: A'Shawn Robinson, defensive tackle (Alabama)
22.Houston Texans: Corey Coleman, wide receiver (Baylor)
23.Minnesota Vikings: Josh Doctson, wide receiver (TCU)
24.Cincinnati Bengals: Laquon Treadwell, wide receiver (Mississippi)
25.Pittsburgh Steelers: William Jackson, cornerback (Houston)
26.Seattle Seahawks: Taylor Decker, tackle (Ohio State)
27.Green Bay Packers: Andrew Billings, defensive tackle (Baylor)
28.Kansas City Chiefs: Will Fuller, wide receiver (Notre Dame)
29.Arizona Cardinals: Noah Spence, outside linebacker/defensive end (Eastern Kentucky)
30.Carolina Panthers: Karl Joseph, safety (West Virginia)
31.Denver Broncos: Paxton Lynch, quarterback (Memphis)

Album Review: Killswitch Engage-Incarnate

Killswitch Engage got a much-needed jolt of creative life when original singer Jesse Leach rejoined the lineup in 2012. Leach's incendiary presence and spectacular vocal performance made their 2013 comeback album, Disarm the Descent, their most impressive release since 2004's The End of Heartache. KsE's reinvigoration continues with Incarnate, a predictable yet still highly enjoyable record from the Massachusetts-bred metalcore pioneers.

Per usual, KsE is at their undeniable best when they're in full-on metalcore anthem mode. "Strength of the Mind", "Embrace the Journey...Upraised", "Alone I Stand", "Hate by Design" and "The Great Deceit" feature a perfect balance of Leach's harsh and clean vocals and guitarists Adam Dutekwicz and Joel Strozel's trading off catchy chunk riffs and big, sweeping solos. While the entire band is in peak form on Incarnate, Leach ends up stealing the show with yet another outstanding vocal performance. On the back half of the record when the band abandons their heavy, uptempo niche and starts messing around with mid-paced songs ("Until the Day", "Just Let Go", "It Falls on Me") that largely lack their signature strong melodic riffing, Leach keeps the proceedings on track with his incredible range and flare for memorable, emotionally-charged choruses. Incarnate lacks the relentless energy and remarkable consistency of Disarm the Descent, but it's still a catchy, well-crafted metalcore record that once again proves why Killswitch Engage has enjoyed the longevity that has alluded many of their peers.
4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Strength of the Mind
2.Embrace the Journey...Upraised
3.Alone I Stand

The Best and Worst of Ben Affleck

The "Best and Worst" series profiles the best and worst work of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week I take a look at the filmography of "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" star Ben Affleck.

Films Starring Ben Affleck that I've seen:
Mallrats
Chasing Amy
Good Will Hunting 
Armageddon 
Dogma
Pearl Harbor
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 
Daredevil
Surviving Christmas
Smokin' Aces
State of Play
Extract 
The Town
Argo 
Runner Runner
Gone Girl

Best Performance: Gone Girl (2014)
Affleck has been on a roll on both sides of the camera since he rejuvenated his career with 2007's Gone Baby Gone. While Affleck has turned in a number of excellent performances of late, his work in Gone Girl is his clear defining moment as an actor. Affleck brings the perfect amount of smugness and emotional indifference to the role of Nick Dunne, a shady man who becomes the primary suspect for the murder of his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) following her mysterious disappearance on the date of their fifth wedding anniversary.    

Worst Performance: Armageddon (1998)
After his breakout performance in Good Will Hunting, Affleck's career hit a wall for nearly a decade. He starred almost exclusively in god awful movies and any bit of the acting talent he showed in Good Will Hunting appeared to be a fluke. His lowest moment came in Michael Bay's dim-witted sci-fi action blockbuster/high-budget soap opera Armageddon- his first major role following Good Will Hunting. Affleck has all of the charisma of a vacuum cleaner as he shoots off non-stop idiotic dialogue and shares no shortage of awkward, faux-sentimental scenes with his on-screen wife, played an equally wooden Liv Tyler.  

Best Film: Good Will Hunting (1997)
Being from the Boston-area and having a soft spot for coming-of-age stories, I'm pretty much obligated to love this movie. Between the strength of the acting, likability of the characters and poignancy of its central messages of dealing with grief and facing your fears, Good Will Hunting hits all the right notes for the genre. It may not be the most complex or thought-provoking film, but it's without question one of the most touching and endlessly rewatchable films I've ever seen.

Worst Film: Pearl Harbor (2001)
You won't find too many films from the past 15 years that are more widely panned than Pearl Harbor and in my eyes, every ounce of the public disdain for this film is justified. Michael Bay turned one of the most traumatic events in United States history into a ridiculous corny, overlong and poorly-acted melodrama that focuses more on a moronic love triangle between Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale's characters than the actual bombing of Pearl Harbor. To this day, I remain genuinely surprised that the people who weren't steady Hollywood fixtures when this was released (Bay, Beckinsale, Hartnett and Jennifer Garner) were able to find work again after starring in this grand-scale debacle.    

 Thank you for reading this week's installment of "The Best and Worst of". Next week, I'll take a look at the best and worst work of "Miles Ahead" star Don Cheadle.

As We Proceed Podcast

Hello all,
I am proud to announce my involvement in a new hip-hop podcast entitled "As We Proceed" with my friend Feliciano Segundo. I'd like to publicly thank Feliciano for asking me to join him in this venture. The first recording session was a blast and I look forward to having many more spirited conversations and debates with him in the future. The debut episode can be found be here(http://soundcloud.com/feliciano-segundo/as-we-proceed-episode-1-this-unruly-mess-of-pablo) and I would highly appreciate if all y'all fine people took the time to check it out. Hope you enjoy!

Chris Maitland

Track-By-Track Album Review: Kanye West-The Life of Pablo

(Editor's Note: This is a review for the initial Tidal release of the album)
The release of Kanye West's latest project, The Life of Pablo, last month was nontraditional to say the least. After nearly a year of delays and a seemingly endless amount of title changes, West announced the album had dropped on Jay-Z's subscription-based streaming service Tidal during a performance on the February 13th episode of Saturday Night Live. Less than 48 hours after releasing The Life of Pablo, West took to Twitter and went on a long-winded rant confirming that the album would only be available on Tidal- bypassing a release on all other digital and physical formats- and that the project was "open-ended" and would be tweaked several times over the coming months. The album itself is every bit as messy as its ill-conceived rollout and because of this, I've decided to take a track-by-track look at this chaotic, roller coaster of an album. 

1.Ultralight Beam: As much as I admire West as an artist, there are times where his ego gets the best of him. "Ultralight Beam" is a prime example of this phenomenon. What was clearly intended to be this sweeping, emotional track comes off as an absurd, self-indulgent affair thanks to West's pathetic attempt to sing like an R&B crooner and the ridiculously over-the-top use of a gospel choir. West's masturbatory egotrip is single-handily salvaged by a spotlight-stealing verse from fellow Chicago-bred MC and music critic darling Chance the Rapper. With his consistently clever lines and perfect flow for the moody, gospel-influenced beat, Chance injects this stale track with a much-needed burst of life. Between this and his similarly spectacular guest spot on Action Bronson's "Baby Blue" last year, it's become increasingly clear that Chance needs to drop his long-awaited follow-up to 2013's Acid Rap as soon as possible.

2/3: Father Stretch My Hands Pt.1/2: No song on here illustrates the cohesion issues that exist on The Life of Pablo better than this two-part "epic" track. The "Father Stretch My Hands" saga is essentially just West trying to cram as many clashing musical ideas as he can possibly can into less than four and a half of minutes. The highlights of this musical clusterfluck include some reliably mediocre clean singing from Kid Cudi, a disco beat that sounds like it was record at Studio 54 in 1973, a random trap hook from some 18-year old kid named Desiigner that just got signed to West's GOOD Music label, and to top it all off, West rapping about the hazards of screwing a model that just bleached her asshole. I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a few enjoyable moments amidst all the drastic, rapid tempo shifts, there's just way too much going on here for the track to amount to anything that's truly enjoyable.

4.Famous: Magic tends to happen when West collaborates with Rihanna and "Famous" is no exception to that rule. West actually raps a proper verse for the first time on the album and it results in a beautiful, punchline-filled verse that serves as a reminder of just how clever and infectious West can be when he puts forth a legitimate effort on the mic. Pair West's strong, bravado-filled verses with a memorable hook from Rihanna and you have one of the clear standout tracks on this record. 

5.Feedback: Don't look now, but The Life of Pablo appears to be gaining some traction! Behind a grimy beat that sounds like an outtake from Yeezus, West drops two quick, aggressive verses explaining how misunderstood he is as a person and artist and seemingly apologizing for some of the insane public comments he's made over the years. It's far from a classic, but it's definitely an enjoyable track that showcases West at his hungriest. 

6.Low Lights: This is basically just an extended intro to the next track "Highlights". It serves no real purpose other than to fill time.

7.Highlights: Of the songs on The Life of Pablo that actually sound polished, this is easily the worst. The combination of over-the-top autotune, piss-poor rapping from West and a guest spot from the always obnoxious Young Thug make this track completely insufferable.

8.Freestyle 4: With a title like "Freestyle 4" you'd expect Kanye to drop some serious bars here right? WRONG!! This is essentially a two-minute spoken word piece dedicated to Kanye's love of having wild sex while under the influence of various drugs with another attempt to push his label's recent signer Desiigner-who sounds exactly like the poor man's Future- at the end of the song. God damn you Kanye for getting my hopes up for some hot fire spitting and giving me this dull malarkey instead.

9.I Love Kanye: This hilarious interlude sees West skewering his arrogance by simply stating how much he loves himself for 52 seconds. West's self-awareness is a large part of why his public antics have never bothered me and this track only further confirms that.

10.Waves: This is the song that West attributed the delay of The Life of Pablo to. After hearing the album, I completely believe that claim as the final product sounds clearly rushed and uneven. It's a shame West felt the need to slap this track together at the last minute because there are flashes of potential greatness (the stunning intro, the hook from Chris Brown) scattered throughout the duration of the song. Given the "open-ended" nature of this project, it would've been a better idea to not release it until it was actually finished.

11.FML: Just when it seemed like The Life of Pablo was a total lost cause, "FML" puts a stop to lengthy mid-album skid. The rapping from West is merely average and you once again can't help but feel that this song wasn't fully developed, but the eerie beat and haunting chorus from The Weeknd is enough to make this track a winner.

12.Real Friends: While "FML" was a step in the right direction, "Real Friends" marks the point where The Life of Pablo starts to really pick up in quality. "Real Friends" sees West addressing how focusing on his career, marriage and fatherhood has effected his other relationships in a very thoughtful, articulate manner. It's a fantastic antithesis to the mindless boasting that makes up most of this album and proves that West is still capable of creating poignant, introspective material when he wants to.  

13.Wolves: Is the version with Frank Ocean, Vic Mensa and Sia that was performed at the Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary special in February 2015 and leaked onto the internet a few weeks ago better than this one? Absolutely. Is the version featuring Caroline Shaw that appears on this record a huge step-down from the original? Absolutely not. This is an immense and thoroughly chilling track that makes better use of Kanye's dark pop aesthetic than anything on 2008's 808's and Heartbreak did. Of course I'd like to hear a properly mastered rendition of the original version at some point in time, but this current version is still mightily impressive. 

14. Silver Surfer Intermission: YAY ANOTHER POINTLESS INTERLUDE!!!! THANK YOU BASED YEEZUS!!!!!

15.30 Hours: This is EXACTLY what I wanted "Freestyle 4" to be. This is a great throwback to the fun, bullshit ad-lib tracks you would find on a number of classic hip-hop records in the late 80's and early 90's. It would've been better suited as the closing track, but it's still a solid, throwaway track that makes great use of West's charisma and knack for hilarious wordplay.

16.No More Parties in LA: The internet exploded when Kanye dropped this collab track with Kendrick Lamar back in January and for good reason; it's one hell of a song. This is an ambitious, jazzy and lyrically-dense track that would've fit in beautifully on either of West's early classics (2004's The College Dropout and 2005's Late Registration). This is the best song on The Life of Pablo by a considerable margin and I firmly believe that it ranks among the finest songs West has released over the course of his storied career.

17.Facts (Charlie Heat Version): "Facts" is everything you'd expect out of a Kanye West Nike diss song. The entire track is build around a highly-energized West taking pointed shots at the shoe giant and incessantly bragging about his massive success with rival Adidas behind a stellar, abrasive beat. It's a moronic and extremely petty song and I loved every minute of it. Bonus points for boldly citing Los Angeles Lakers forward Nick "Swaggy P" Young as one of the reasons Adidas is doing better than Nike right now (any NBA fans out there knows that this is easily the most insane and false thing West says on the entire record).

18.Fade: The success of "Fade" is a testament to how brilliant of a producer West is. The sample work and beat are so god damn impressive that it all but completely glosses over the half-assed, incomplete verses that West, Ty Dolla $ign and Post Malone deliver on this track. It's definitely a fitting ending to the wild, disjointed ride that is The Life of Pablo.

The Life of Pablo serves as a perfect metaphor for Kanye West as a person and artist. It's a ridiculously polarizing piece of art that's frequently jumps between being brilliant, incoherent, bizarre, obnoxious, fascinating and flat-out insane. West is a musical mad scientist with a frequently changing sound and while this isn't even close to being his finest experiment, you have to commend him for making such an unpolished work on any sort of level. 

3.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.No More Parties in LA
2.Famous
3.Wolves