Lukas Graham
Lukas Graham
Feature Track: 7 Years
Keep Listening: Better Than Yourself

The wikipedia for this artist reads like a artist-centric fantasy novel. It's impossible to believe anything on the internet. So this guy ordered an MPC from amazon, threw a track up on youtube and then sold 20,000 concert tickets. Magic record deal descends from heaven. 5 years later almost 500M plays on a few spotify tracks.

The harmonies on Mama Said are religious and highly original. They sound as if they were truly sung and not queued in. I feel like Joe Satriani/Cold Play are going to crash down on Lukas Graham's Happy Home. The vocals on this one are definitely tweaked. The sting is lessened by the smooth horns on Drunk in the Morning.

My complaint with Bruno Mars has always been that his songs are brilliant, but essentially without substance. Graham sits in a much more authentic pocket. I would say that Funk making a comeback, but did it ever really leave? From Bad Brains to Pearl Jam's Dirty Frank and into Daft Punk, funk has maintained a steady place in the peripheral awareness of any music worth listening to. Strip No More. o__o

Better Than Yourself  opens up into Graham's self-confessional autobiography. This is an artist bringing everything he has, even though he doesn't understand what it is yet. He faces the fear of blossoming with a soliloquy of self-expression. Singing to a brother who is jail, literally, metaphorically opening up a bevy of avenues for the listener to reflect upon. Dude has a voice. It is easier to believe the Wikipedia history by the end of this album.