I played it through without skipping a song which today is a impressive. My hand twitched when the up tempo 'Wanderlust' came on but I resisted. It sounded like a hazy tribute to Michael Jackson which he has done before on 'D.D' Pharrell has even done a remix which pulls the track out of the smoke whilst retaining the emotion and turning into a slow burning dance floor number.
Regardless of the sampling incident regarding 'Machine Gun' from Bristol exports Portishead and his own 'Belong To The World' both the track and its video are epic. Whether it was sampled or recreated I'm not fussed; I'm just a firm believer in giving credit where it's due. The next track of interest was 'Live For' featuring the man of the hour Drake. Initially, I thought it was Big Sean rapping - Drake has borrowed his 'supa dupa flow' before - but on this their voices were extremely similar. His line 'things I shouldn't share for the sake of my career' struck me because that's part of the reason why him, The Dream and The Weeknd are so famous; but then again R&B at its best is confessional and emotional. Their willingness to share their supposed inner most feelings is what creates the emotional connection between them and the listener and this quality is now extremely prevalent in the new wave of R&B artists that follow in their wake. I'm not sure if the feature works as well as it did on 'The Zone' but it has the potential to grow on me like most Drake tracks tend to do these days.
When I saw 'Tears In The Rain' I was hoping secretly hoping for a sample of Rutger's famous lines from Blade Runner but in hindsight it could have been a bit too cheesy. As the last track on the album (bar the bonus tracks) the Blade Runner referencing track serves as the perfect final building block to the futuristic dystopia of 'Kiss Land'. He said 'Kiss Land is like a horror movie' and he has a track titled 'John Carpenter' (the second part of the track 'Kiss Land') but either I'm completely desensitised (most likely the case) or he needs to be introduced to The Gorgeous Children and Lil Ugly Mane. The closest he comes to capturing the fear he expressed in the interview on Complex is on 'The Town' - those paranoid chord stabs make it my favourite cut off the album.
He's by no means a one trick pony but you know what to expect from this misanthrope - guitar delay, haunting synths (plus a few screams) and moody bass lines. That's not intended to be derogatory but he has s found a formula and it works. On John Carpenter he states 'this ain't nothing to relate you even if you tried' and it's true unless you're a jet setting superstar you'll probably be listening to this with your girl or alone wishing you had one.
Stream the album below which is released September 10th.
No comments:
Post a Comment