| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
$15.99 CD
|
|
KANYE WEST
Yeezus
(Def Jam)
 "On Sight"
"Bound 2"
Within this year of big releases and strong returns, one of the most complex and problematic personalities with a fresh album to dissect is the somewhat re-booted Kanye West. His sixth solo record is his darkest and weirdest production to date, and could be called West's minimalist, EDM, new wave, Chicago-inspired album; many creative artists, after making a "masterpiece," seem to feel the need to fuck things up and shift gears, for themselves and their public, and Yeezus fits that bill. He did it before after the success of Graduation, with 808s & Heartbreak, and here, once again, West makes the move from 'rapper' to 'artist.' On the one hand it's an amped-up electronic noise/drums and synth exercise in (or should I say exorcism of) restraint facing off against bloated self-importance and gratification. On the other hand it's a well-crafted mess of potent and fiery emotion, pungent language, cyber-immediacy, anger, pornography, noise, soul, and, umm... Kanye. Almost nowhere do you find the young producer turned MC who made The College Dropout. (A lot has happened in ten years).
Kanye, like Madonna, has a knack for pulling some of the best talent from the underground to help make his high profile albums, and persona, feel current and edgy (both freely use sexual and religious themes as well). Unlike Madonna, West started as an award winning, talented producer, but he's not afraid to face off with the best, and production assistance on Yeezus comes from a hand-picked crew of dark-minded beat makers, electronic masterminds, new-era Chicago talent, and I'm sure you've heard, Rick Rubin. Pushing the buttons, in various combinations, are Daft Punk (five songs), RZA (one), Hudson Mohawke/TNGHT (four/one), Arca (three), Young Chop (five), Evian Christ (one), Travi$ Scott (five), and mainstay Mike Dean (seven), all offering some dark, thick, rich, and abrasive source material to be sculpted. West himself is only credited on four of the ten songs, with Rubin's reductive hands helping to tie all the raw material into a cohesive whole. Still, things don't quite sound like they read.
West continues to experiment and expand the perception and expectation of himself and his art. It's a risky roll of the dice, for sure, yet he has a talent combining elements that feel radical and off-putting, and for the most part this has worked well for him. His last few albums have been bursting with sound and voices, like he was scoring an epic big budget film (one track famously included 42 people). To keep the record 'minimal,' Rick Rubin's input as executive producer feels like the blessing that Yeezus needed. Rubin apparently removed a lot of the original layers of sound, reframing elements and offering assistance in the final thick and heavy yet spacious feel of the album. Oddly enough, at times the production is not so removed from the frenetic NYC black-queer hip-hop scene -- artists like Le1f, Mykki Blanco, and Zebra Katz, all have used similar assaulting, druggy soundscapes and motifs on their indie-released mix-tapes; even Saul Williams' work with Trent Reznor, or Death Grips' overload, feels like it lives in a likeminded world of sound. Yet Kanye takes this trend of black goth, noise, cloud rap, drill, trap, ratchet, slowed-down house, electro-rock, acid, dancehall, and industrial, and turns it all up a notch. He crafts a personal story full of unfulfilled relationships, interracial politics, class frustration, misogyny and machismo, corporate player hating, club hopping, and dick swinging. This is bleak and deep mood music, and isn't bothered with an obvious or easy single this time around, however, it is still full of polarizing moments. Tribal drums, drum machine bass drops, video game bleeps, screechy high register sounds, choppy rhythms, spooky synth chords, and sonic drops and cut outs make up most of the music landscape. A slew of 'playful' samples come from Asha Bhosle, Wee, Gary Glitter, Omega, Brenda Lee, Ponderosa Twins Plus One, and Kenny Lattimore, with the more eerie moments coming from bits of Beenie Man, Capleton, C Murder, and Nina Simone.
On the vocal side it is relatively short on guests, yet strong on presence. Frank Ocean, Justin Vernon, Tony Williams, Kid Cudi, King Louie, Iamsu!, Charlie Wilson, and Chief Keef all get worked into the final mix, mostly during the second half. Together they construct a hip-hop version of The Hangover, with Kanye as ringleader -- all rowdy, vulgar, liquefied, spiteful and heated. The record does have an overall arc, loosely, from awkward frustrated player to awkward outsider. Since some of the vocals were recorded days before the album was due, at moments West's verses feel like rushing freestyles. Though musically it feels forward thinking, his subject matter still seems somewhat stagnant. Rapping was never his strongest talent, yet his message is heavy, and his rhymes are becoming more unhinged. Vocoder crooning, screaming, rapping, auto-tuning, testifying, boasting, chopped and screwed choruses, all often as brilliant as it is ridiculous.
Yeezus is Kanye's Kid A, or better yet, his Black Album (the Prince one, not Jay-Z), a fractured, personal tale of an artist who feels trapped, yet he's not scared; he's confrontational, creative, and screaming his head off. After a few listens I'm starting to hear a message, where at first it was just sort of a mess. Fans of any of the above (sans Bon Iver), or Kanye's work since 808s, this feels like that album's black eyeliner and leather kilt-wearing, not-so-distant older (male) cousin -- a purposeful side step in a still forward-moving career. Is it great? It has many moments, and the short running time definitely adds to its strength. Yeesuz is a perplexing listen, that's for sure, and perhaps one of West's creative best. [DG] |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
