This is me listening to the new Kanye West album, Late Registration, as it happens. Exciting, huh? Yeah, I didn't really think so either, but it's like five in the morning.
1. "Wake Up Mr. West" (f. Bernie Mac)
Bernie Mac? Does this mean he was on College Dropout too? That's supposed to be the same guy, right?
2. "Heard 'Em Say" (f. That Guy From Maroon 5)
Okay, I'm already full into this beat. And then these pianos come in and this is officially my favorite album ever. You can really hear the Jon Brion. Pianos over that fuzzed out Keyboard Bass, and then acoustic guitars? Yeah, absolutely Brion. And I hate Maroon 5 more than I love a whole lot of things but the guy sounds fucking great here. Aside from the samples and song construction, you can really hear Brion's influence in the chorus harmonies. This is just a fucking incredible song. YES! What's that xylophone thing that starts with "clavi" that Brion always uses? Anyway, I just heard one. And we finish with a nice instrumental flourish. This album has a lot to fucking live up to now.
3. "Touch The Sky" (f. Lupe Fiasco)
And it shows signs of delivering with the sample from, God I'm so ignorant. What the fuck sample is this? Anyway, it's instantly recognizable to anyone who knows anything about music, which I clearly don't. Anyway, he changes up the beat behind it in a really enjoyable way. Oh, it's a Curtis Mayfield sample. "Move On Up". Fucking, duh. That's liveblogging for you. I had to Google it. Anyway. The way he drops out the beat every now then is just as nice as the way he adds an extra fill every now and then. I love the way he writes beats, but I always think of that one part in his MTV Diary where he shows this painting he did of how he "sees" beats. That was hell of the lamest thing ever. Lupe's verse is okay, but realistically is anyone buying this album for lyrical prowess?
4. "Gold Digger" (f. Jamie Foxx)
YES. Give me "Gold Digger" right now and just make this officially the strongest opening sequence to an album ever. "Last Living Souls" into "Kids With Guns" MY ASS. First time I heard this song I just instantly loved it. And then I listened to it fifty more times. I still love it. You all know how fucking awesome this song is. What more can I say? I can say that if this was College Dropout, we would've had to sit through three skits by now. Good sign. I saw Ray a few weeks ago. It made me really want to listen to everything Ray Charles ever recorded and really want to never see the movie again. Success and failure at the same time. God damn I love the synth line in this song. And the Brion fade out. Fried gold.
5. "Skit #1"
Spoke too soon. Back to the college theme. Ha?
6. "Drive Slow" (f. Paul Wall & GLC)
Portisheadian sample and languid beat makes this the first song on the album that doesn't kick me in the nuts straight away, but I love the way the the horn sample harmonizes at the end. As usual, even in the more boring Kanye songs, there's something exceptional you can latch onto. Heh, the beat is getting all dissonant, Punch Drunk stizz. Kanye said somewhere that Brion was his secret weapon and he was not lying. At this point I'm editing the rest of this post, so take that as you will. At the end, Kanye does his Second Disc Of The Mike Jones Album thing, which I'm a big fan of anyway.
7. "My Way Home" (f. Common)
Is this a concept album? This sounds a lot like Be, and not just because Com Sense is rapping. When this beat comes in, it's most likely going to be sick. We get a sample...but no beat yet....come on...right, we get it, it's a sample...a few bars too many....oh, and then he just ends the song. Weaksauce.
8. "Crack Music" (f. The Game)
I'm not a fan of marching beats but the sample makes up for it in a big way. I hope reciting the chorus isn't all The Game is here to do. Because he sounds like every other guy doing the same thing on every other Dirty South song I see on Sucker Free Countdown every week. I like the way things spin out of control as the song progresses. It makes it less boring. Which the beginning of this song was, honestly. Man, you could put this on your Jon Brion mix tape between "Here We Go" and "Knock Yourself Out" and you wouldn't really be all too messed up.
9. "Roses"
Why would you call a song "Roses" this soon after Outkast released the same thing as a massive single like a year ago. I hope he releases this as a single just to confuse people. Wouldn't really work, as this is just Kanye rapping over a straight piece of Jon Brion Huckabees soundtrack until the beat comes in. Not that I'm complaining. Isn't that what everyone was hoping to hear the first time they heard he was co-producing? That or the bit in Magnolia when Donnie confesses his love to the bartender? You know you fucking did. Don't play. The choruses of this song actually do sound like the most indulgent and annoying parts of The Love Below, but thankfully less annoying and indulgent sounding. At this point I really just want to hear something as banging as the first three songs.
10. "Bring Me Down" (f. Brandy)
Well, I can't tell from this straight Jon Brion orchestral bit whether I'm in for something good or just the most cliched thing Kanye's produced since, I don't even know what. It's somewhere in between. But certainly not what I wanted to hear at this point. A fairly pedestrian song, but if I heard this music beatless on a Jon Brion score, I'd be into it, so I can't front on it too hard. It's just on a hip hop song it's pretty played at this point. And it's being played really straight, standard beat, barely any fuzz synth lines.
11. "Addiction"
Can't say I'm too broken up over that last song just ending abruptly. This one is a bit more interesting, but still not reaching those halcyon heights of twenty minutes ago. Conceptually, the musical progression is interesting, but I've always found Kanye's more restrained beats to be kind of boring, especially because his more ridiculously funked out stuff is SO fucking good. But this isn't bad to play behind your next discussion of the films of Inarritu. It won't get in the way too badly.
12. "Skit #2"
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I really wasn't this bored by the skits on Dropout.
13. "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" (f. Jay Z)
I still can't tell whether or not I like this song. The most melodramatic video ever made by someone who isn't/wasn't in Guns N' Roses doesn't really help. Not the kids in mines, really, more the two pianos being played at the same time. As much as I'm sort of bored by the sample and melody, that keyboard line is so good that it causes most of my trepidation to just call this a straight up bad song. After listening to WMAs of this and "Gold Digger" for weeks, I'm really appreciating all the texture on this album. It's certainly bolstering my appreciation of this song. I wonder if Jay-Z and Jon Brion were ever in the same room together. Do I dare to dream?
14. "We Major" (f. Nas & Really Doe)
MAN, I would really like to hear something as good as the first three songs at this point. Like, I'm sure after a few hundred listens to this album (which I already know are in the pipeline) I'll grow to appreciate this song more, but at this point I just really want to be floored again. Was this beat really built to support everything that's going on in this song? Hey, is Nas allowed to be on a Roc-A-Fella CD? It strikes me at this point that this is what I really would have liked from The Love Below. A lot of bizarre musicality, but more focused, which Love rarely was. The second half of this song illustrates exactly what I mean. Okay, I meant the middle. Because we go back to the standard song for, oh there's still like a minute and a half left. At this point I'm actually really enjoying this song because it's just so strangely constructed. "And Jon Brion on the keys right now." Shit, yes.
15. "Skit #3"
ZzzzzzzzZzzzZZZZZZZzzzzzz.
16. "Hey Mama"
This is SO more like it. "Family Business II" in pretty much every way, from subject matter to beat, which I have no problem with. I wouldn't mind it popping out just a slight bit more. That fucked up keyboard part buzzing around in my left headphone does the trick nicely. Ah! And that xylophone in my right that just showed up does too. Certainly quickly erases the Forrest Gump reset he just dropped. As opposed to "We Major" which got more interesting as it progressed, this is sort of becoming more boring as it goes on, even though Brion is trying his hardest to make it interesting. Which he does. Ah, it's almost over anyway.
17. "Celebration"
I can't say I hate that synth melody, but you know the second you read that title he'd start off with a Chappelle reset. But that's quickly forgotten as this song gives off the same vibe that the other "Celebration" has without sounding like it in any way. Does that make any sense? I remember hearing some band play "Celebration" at one of those upstate resorts when I was like seven. Maybe even younger. Anyway, it makes me think of that. This horn part sounds like a song I "wrote" on Garage Band. Alex, you know the one I mean. Keep it mind when you hear this song and you will laugh and laugh. Not that that's a bad thing. I'm an exceptional songwriter.
18. "Skit #4"
ZzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzz. Oh, okay, I'm getting it. Basically Kanye's calling out the people who've been calling him out on not being broke. I suppose. I like that at the end of this skit even Kanye's bored with them.
19. "Gone" (f. Consequence & Cam'ron)
"School Spirit II" and you don't hear me complaining. With the most Jon Briony orchestra piece under it. That is just so bizarre and awesome. As much as this song doesn't rock me the way "Spirit" did I just have stand back and look at what Kanye's done with this collaboration. Because Brion has always been a pop musician. Even his scores have just been really beautifully made standard-type scores. And Kanye's beats have always been really well made standard beats. Not like a Neptunes beat, trying to stretch things too much, or an Andre melody that might hit so well once ("Hey Ya") and then completely falter a hundred more times (everything else). Just really well done convention. So this team up is really the Superman/Batman of pop music and this song is the best example of that so far.
Oh, shit. That's a hell of a way to end an album. That's some fucking Monsters, Inc, just drop the movie out from under you kind of finish.
20. "Diamonds Of Sierra Leone" (Bonus Track)
I guess this is like the video version of the song? I don't think that having Hov in it or out of it makes it that much more enjoyable. I mean, obviously he's a great rapper and all, but I don't think it makes "Diamonds" any more or less of a good song. It's still just an okay song with really fantastic stuff going on along the fringes. Which, I suppose I could say at this point is a pretty fair way to describe the album as a whole. An okay album with some really fantastic stuff going on along the fringes. The best songs ("Gold Digger" "Gold Digger" and "Gold Digger") are better than the best songs on Dropout, but there are less of them. The less then great songs are probably not as bad as the less than great ones on Dropout, by default. Because Jon Brion's doing something on them. Duh.
21. "Late" (Hidden Track)
To continue, I guess this makes it just as good as Dropout technically but less enjoyable. This song, by the way, isn't bad. Better than "Diamonds" I guess. Kind of hypnotic. I can see myself listening to this album more and more and a few months down the line thinking it's the best thing ever. I suppose I just wanted that feeling right out the gate. Much like Missy's The Cookbook which hasn't gotten enough straight through listens to really appreaciate it because I'm always going straight to "Can't Stop", I'll be doing the same thing to "Gold Digger" for a good few weeks at least.
So, that was Late Registration. I'm going to sleep now. Wait, I'm listening to "Gold Digger" again. Then I'm going to sleep. No, wait. I'm listening to the first three songs again. Then I'm going to sleep.
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