God, it has taken long enough.
Just months ago I watched
Kanye West jump and groove to
Graduation for the Glow In The Dark Tour. How appropriate that his first post-
Graduation album is his most mature LP.
Perhaps Mr. West has grown up?
808s & Heartbreak is a monumental work of, as West would put it,
pop art. It's instantly likable--give "RoboCop" thirty seconds and see if you aren't hooked--but is, above all, a culturally significant album. As a rapper, West has transformed from "that guy who rocked the VMA's" in 2004 with "Jesus Walks" to "that guy who sings like T-Pain." He has traveled a full arc of musical tone;
College Dropout was gritty and eager;
Late Registration was pompous and self-praising;
Graduation was elegant and frothy;
with Heartbreak, Kanye has given us everything. He wants freedom from controlling lovers (the relentless banger "Paranoid") but longs for a family ("Welcome to Heartbreak"). He is thrilled his fans adore him ("Amazing") but, really, just wants to be alone ("Street Lights"). Kanye is, and always will be, an enigma. Very few artists, however, can channel their personal struggles and mysterious personas into believable music.
Playing "RoboCop," easily the most accessible track on the album, to peers this morning, they all thought the same thing: This is a
pretty album. It's light and sparse, relying on more traditional instruments (including rap verses) only when Ye is aiming most to please. He plays like he's all
strong on his own--just listen to the entire
Late Registration album--but he lives for approval. Why else would he regularly update a style blog? Why else would he have exploded after
Entertainment Weekly gave him a B+ for his last tour? Why else did he swear off the VMAs forever? And, more telling, why did he return?
Point being, Kanye wants the American audience to like this album. At first listen, "Love Lockdown" sounds self-indulgent, but why can't music be elevated and different at the same time? Usher may have gotten a monster hit out of "Love in this Club," but will
Rolling Stone be chronicling that single's rise to fame in ten years?
Unless it's remixed by Cut Copy or something, no. Heartbreak is packed with hits. "Amazing," featuring a
Young Jeezy verse that balances Ye's muffled vocals, is perfectly suited for radio...in 2012. "Bad News," one of the few slow jams on the entire album, could fit a movie soundtrack-- about robots in love. So, as evidenced by the only moderate success of "Love Lockdown" (built mostly on buzz) and the likely-to-bomb "Heartless"--still one of the strongest tracks--Kanye's got a fantastic pop album with nowhere to go.
Honestly, though, in a radio environment where "Let It Rock" by some guy named Rudolf can
climb the charts, why would Kanye want to?
So, maybe Kanye's graduated. Or, at least graduated from his former self. He's recently admitted to an obsession with style and design, and when you combine an obsessive compulsive rapper-slash-vocoderalist (I love it!) with
good style...
well, you're just short of enlightenment. However, they say a child is the most honest of us all; that, as we age, we gain inhibitions and fears and become self-conscious.
Heartbreak is none of these things. It is an uninhibited as that meme with the boy dancing to "Single Ladies." It is as fearless as, well, Kanye West.
In "graduating," Kanye West didn't grow up. He's cut deep to the heart of what makes music good, and what makes an artist exactly that: simplicity.
Heartbreak is Kanye's
Like A Virgin, his
Hot Fuss, his
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. This is his post-
Graduation moment, but he's never seemed so young.
strong on his own--just listen to the entire Late Registration album--but he lives for approval. Why else would he regularly update a style blog? Why else would he have exploded after Entertainment Weekly gave him a B+ for his last tour? Why else did he swear off the VMAs forever? And, more telling, why did he return?
climb the charts, why would Kanye want to?
So Beyonce's new album dropped today. And it's not that great. There isn't a single song that even compares to "Upgrade U" or "Ring the Alarm," and forget about "Crazy In Love"--there's just no denying that I Am...Sasha Fierce is a major step down in musical quality from B'Day and Dangerously In Love.
tracks. In general I'm gathering a lukewarm reception among Britney fans--lots of "more of the same" comments--but I couldn't disagree more. I think the tracks are fantastically produced and Britney sounds wholly present in every song. I forgot what a non-drugged, non-drunk, non-digitized (LOLZ yeah right.) Britney sounded like, but listening to "If U Seek Amy," the last four years of bald, paparazzi-dating-Britney seem to just disappear. Aside from "Amy," truly her most lyrically clever song ever and one of her most fun, "Kill The Lights" and "Mannequin" are just killer. The chorus of "Kill The Lights" is particularly strong, with a sequence of heavy breathing reminiscent of "Break The Ice" off Blackout.
So, a new music post has been forthcoming for about...two weeks. Yes, I posted on Beyonce and Fedde Le Grand, but that doesn't even scratch the surface of the best new music this fall.
I have been successful in resisting the appeal of Lady Gaga, a pop figure of far too much style (like, enough to gag anyone with a hint of sartorial instinct) and shockingly little substance, until now. Her debut The Fame is of no interest to me (see the HA comparison on the right); the track "Paparazzi," however, is fun enough to warrant the 3:28 seconds it takes to listen. Gaga has an annoying, shrill voice, but "Paparazzi" sounds like a decent remix of Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone." I use that comparison loosely--there are no lyrical similarities--but the urgent tone is there. I'll be honest, this track impresses me, so if Gaga can make an album of pop this accessible (and without references to anything dirty, rich or beautiful ever, ever again), perhaps I'm not taking her seriously enough.
In the case of Ciara's horrid new single, "Go Girl"--which, unfortunately for her, hasn't gained enough momentum for any airplay in the new era of Rihanna (and to a lesser extent, Beyonce)--music video and song are mutually exclusive in quality. "Go Girl" is boring a derivative, hardly a worthy follow-up to "Like A Boy," but the video is high impact, heavily stylized, and hard-edged. It's essentially everything Ciara is not, which works visually. But that's as far the compliments go.
The music market is great right now. Musical variety is here, the big names in L.A. are all releasing records this fall, and the club scene is finally warming up. (Ironically enough, as the actual clubs start losing their drunken patronage.) Beyonce's "If I Were A Boy" is decent enough emopop, but I doubt the release will be followed with serious airplay. It's too similar to what Rihanna has done with "Take A Bow," which was in turn a total ripoff of B's own "Irreplaceable." Then again, maybe the departure from traditional Beyonce R&B/Pop--you know, spasmic, over-the-top faux-female empowerment anthems with blaring horns and whistles--is just what she needs. Another problem going for her is a lack of media exposure; it's not that the paparazzi doesn't want her picture (she's looking great in a bikini again), it's that she and Jay-Z avoid them like the plague. Good for their sanity, but not for B's career. There's a price to pay for no longer being a prominent figure in pop culture. Britney Spears just demonstrated how buzz can lead to success with the so-so "Womanizer" which currently sits at the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100. The only way B can come back in full force is with another "Crazy In Love," not likely considering her first two singles.
In other music news, when I started creating my pre-Madonna "Sticky and Sweet Tour" playlist this morning I was led on an iTunes jungle discovery bonanza, where one song led to another and another and another. "Toop Toop" by Cassius is a fun, grungy electronic track similar in spirit to Kylie Minogue's "2 Hearts" (the best track off last years' X), with pegged-on, blippy effects that feel slapped together. The track has a garageband feel to it, which is simply a statement of opinion--not neccesarily good or bad.
vocal samples. The electronic elements are handled in a innovative way that hints at the curiosity of the DJ, with ups and downs and a fun little series of saxophone samples that are instantly recognizable (despite my never hearing them before). Le Grand copies his own brilliance--take that last word with a whole spoonfull of salt--in his follow-up, "Let Me Think About It." Once again channeling Moby, Le Grand tries his hand at funk-electro, to mixed results. Imagine the seuxality of SMD's "Hustler" mixed in with "Put Your Hands Up." It's great for the two minutes it plays, but beyond that I'll stick with the electronica champs, thank you.
matter. Whatever she went through, it isn't mentioned on Sol-Angel. Nor is her child. Normally one would expect these life-altering events--falling in love, getting knocked up (er, married), having a child and getting a divorce--would somehow show up in her album. I mean, Amy Winehouse can't stop talking about her one love Blake, not to mention her drug addiction and depression. Airing dirty laundry is just part of the package. Granted, sometimes an artist goes to far (suicide references in Keyshia Cole's "Guess What" from The Way It Is), but if my analytical powers are still strong, the only issues Solange is dealing with involve a bit of a Beyonce complex (see image) and an obligatory "for my people" (a.k.a. anti-prejudice) anthem smack dab in the middle of the album. So, when I talk about her weighty tracks, they are really just fatty--and should have been trimmed in post-production. (Or is post-op more appropriate??)
