The Best Producer Alive?

Alright. Alright.

No matter how hard it is for me to say this, Kanye did it again.

Wait, before you call me a jockrider and a flip-flopper by me saying he did it again, I mean that he was able to convey and achieve what he wanted to do with this album musically. I still dislike "Love Lockdown." I still think his lyrics (which are notoriously known for being simple and gimmicky) are sub-par. But let's get one thing straight.

THIS IS A POP ALBUM.

There is no hip hop. There is no rap. Yes, this might be a pop album written from the perspective of a hustler, but isn't that the point? This type of music has been done before by distorting voice, using synth and echo (Kate Havnevik, Imogen Heap etc). But never has it been so dramatic, infusing disco and African-rhythms. He has some of the best rappers on the Earth in Jeezy and Wayne come in and buy into it. But most of all, he is able to paint a picture with this album. His lyrics don't necessarily have to be that great, because it feels like he's just talking to us on this record and because singing is such an emotional mode of communication, he wanted us to hear every single word this time round. And we do...but more about pacing later.

We've all played pariah to the bevy of emotional altercations and situations Kanye has gone through this year. He lives his life in front of cameras and perhaps he knows thats why we could understand this record. In many Kanye tries to make this album sound as sparse and shallow as possible, but the sonic layerings end up pretty complex starting with the anthem-like "Say You Will." This song almost gives you feeling of a dirge-type setting with the choir singing over the simple drum pattern over the fx effects giving the resonance of rain falling in a pitter patter pattern.

This can act as a positive and then as a negative for the track, "Robocop." Robocop is bloated as fuck and it frustrates me. This could have been a great song, but what makes this album great is the suble balance between vocal track and instrumental track. His voice is already weak and during some of the softer moments, it plays to his advantage because the fragility works for him. Him trying to sing over Robotic sounds mixed with the robust synths and strings just doesn't work at all. The instrumental is interesting, but the vocal track is a waste. Plus it sounds like something out of Hans Christian Anderson's B-sides and Kanye rambles about nothing towards the end. "Stop, Drop, Roll, Pop/Bitch I'm cold/I, take that go/Throw that bow/Oh, that was slow, that can go/That you know, took em' to the back, you know/Back in the flo' and went back in the door/back in the door."

As odd as Robocop seems to be in the album, some of the pacing and order is a bit intriguing. One of the standout tracks, "Amazing" featuring Young Jeezy almost divides itself in half as Kanye sings one of the more celebratory, Kanye-ish tracks on the album. The second half features a lively, entertaining Jeezy and adds a decent sprinkle of swagger (over his trademark sample, "yeah" that was manipulated to make him sound more like the Cookie Monster than himself) to the track as a whole. It's "amazing" that these tracks can sound so good even though he sounds more like Kermit than Kanye at points. Also embedded in this track are these avian/animal cries that seems to be peppered through the album as a whole. Consciously this might not do anything, but subconsciously it definitely adds to this natural, organic theme of heartbreak steadily taking hold from begining to end. Heartbreak is so ethereal and penetrating that the wild screams of animals are the screams that is ringing in his head from his heart and soul. My theory on this album is that he is trying to create a soundscape for his soul and thoughts. And everything incorporated in these songs are the manifestation of everything he feels inside. His success in doing it are the reasons I think he is the best producer alive right now.

This urban, toe-tapping, thumper-of-a-track flows into the 80s, disco-y track "Paranoid" feat. Mr. Hudson. This is definitely the club banger of the album. It definitely harkens a weird mix between Michael Jackson's Thriller/ABBA's Dancing Queen/John Travolta's Saturday Night Fever/M83's Saturdays = Youth. Its melody is so infectious I had to play the track at least four times before I could move on.

Anyways, this album is nothing special lyrically, but the production value on over half the tracks are genius. "Welcome to Heartbreak" beautifully uses piano, cello, and synth drums to create this brooding, urban banger while the strings turn "See You In My Nightmares" into a lush, stylished arena-sized pop ballad. The secret factor to the success of this album will go to the drum effect he uses throughout this album. Partway through I was expecting to hear Nick Cannon yell "Drumline." Chalk it up to the Roland TR-808 Drum Machine. The shit is classic. This is used especially well in the album's last track, "Coldest Winter," as it turns this tribute to his mother into a forceful, pop hit that really ends the album in a bittersweet moment. Mr. West can do a lot, but it may be too much to convert hip-hop heads towards his corner on this one, but he converted me.

"I'm a monster
I'm a maven
I know this world a changin'
Never gave in
Never gave up
I'm the only thing I'm afraid of." - Kanye in Amazing...

8.0/10

Best Tracks - Say You Will, Amazing, Paranoid, Coldest Winter


This. Is. Truth.

FUCK CD's

I've decided that I prepare too damn much for each of these blogs and I need to just spit some stuff out. Random thoughts. Current thought? I need to go to bed. As I lie awake, I can't help but notice that Charlize Theron (my number two celeb crush behind Anne Hathaway) singing, rather destroying, "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the Jay Leno Show. She is sooo incredibly hot though. I'm pretty sure even the most level-headed Freddie Mercury might think twice for her.

Second, I'm wondering what Terrence Howard and Wayne Brady are doing putting out CD's. I know Wayne gained popularity through song on "Who's Line Is It Anyway?", but both offerings are so bland. R&B/Soul comes from a gritty place. I hate that it is now being associated with this glossy, falsetto soundscape. I want to hear the sweat. I want to hear the passion. Those two have no idea what either is.

Is Kanye West becoming so self-absorbed that he has no idea who he is talking to or what part of reality he is functioning in? Apparently, the self-proclaimed "Louis Vuitton Don" approached Jenny Lewis (featured in picture above), lead singer of Rilo Kiley and child actor featured in Roseanne and Growing Pains, asking her what she thought of some new tracks off of his upcoming album, "808's and Heartbreak." Not knowing who she was, apparently Kanye is trying to get some street approval for the album. Oddly enough, he didn't get any for "Love Lockdown," because it is his worst lead single for an album yet. Releasing it to iTunes this past week, adding some bango drums isn't enough to mask the flailing West. It's uncomfortably shallow and disproportionately thin. West may be painting himself into a corner. Always known to do things his way, he is moving farther and farther away from his fan base. He has taken the auto-tuner to heart and reports of him working with T-Pain a lot for the upcoming album may hurt more than help.

I'm in the process of sifting through the new music for the week. I'm excited to examine Cold War Kid's new offering of "Loyalty to Loyalty." I will also be reviewing TV on the Radio's "Dear Science," as well as Kings of Leon's "Only By the Night." I've demo'ed some good stuff by bands, Blitzen Trapper, J Boogie's Dubtronic Science, and Mogwai. Also RZA just dropped a compilation album that will undoubtedly project the wacky, unpredictable being that happens to be RZA. Damn, that's a lot of music. I'll probably have it up by next week seeing that I have a knack for on-time reviews. Hopefully, this will be a better week for new music than last.

Ok, as I'm waiting for my Jay-Z discography to finish downloading (thanks Jessica), I am left with this sentiment: FUCK CD's. As I was casually perusing the latest GQ, it was once again echoed that CDs and digital downloads are horrible for any music lover. The compressed quality practically distorts and destroys true music. I am moving on to vinyl. Err, I'm moving back to vinyl. Yeah. The one problem? Unless I want to listen to The Who or Jefferson Airplane, I'm kind of out of luck for new artists. Right? Well...kinda. It seems that certain artists are beginning to release their stuff on vinyl with digital downloads as free companions! Think about it. Pay for the quality and then toss in something portable for free. Awesome! This will save the music industry because people will surely purchase quality? Ehhh...maybe not, but Radiohead did it with "In Rainbows," and Cold War Kids join in with their latest offering. No one wants to shell out too much money for music, but you grab your favorite whiskey sniffer and let the crackle subside before Britney Spear's "Blackout" comes through in all its glory, and YOU TELL ME IT ISN'T WORTH IT!

I mention that album wayyy too much to dismiss it.

SHIT TO SWEAT:

Lastly, I want to start adding old music gems to this thing. It isn't all about new music because, frankly, a lot of new music is horrible sequels to music much better. Without going fullboard, as far as mashup DJs go, Girl Talk, a.k.a. Greg Gillis, is one of the best. From Oasis, The Verve, Pharell, Ludacris, Kanye, to Phantom Planet, the crossovers don't stop. "Night Ripper" his third offering features my favorite mashup of all time. There's something about "Tiny Dancer" fused with the throaty rap of "Juicy" that will forever excite me. The music once hailed as, "a lawsuit waiting to happen" by The New York Times Magazine, Gillis uses a dozen or more unauthorized samples to create a new song. It's amazing what a white guy with a Biomedical Engineering degree can do with a bit of time and passion for music.

Check out Night Ripper or Feed the Animals
"Smash Your Head" from Night Ripper features the Tiny Dancer/Juicy mashup


This. Is. Truth.