Kanye West - Dark Twisted Fantasy

wrt this (kanye west) album getting a perfect rating but being wrought with flaws and stupid shit, i think this is a case where an album is so creatively excessive that most of its missteps can be reconciled in the rush of the process of listening to something so wild. like its true the jay z verse is awful, but stressing out about it is like fretting about takeoff engines being dropped off a spacecraft when it's being launched into space. i can get that someone not sold on the album's big moments & excessive flourishes wouldn't think it was perfect, but i don't think the bad parts ppl have problems with (many of which i don't mind at all) drag it down so much as fit the absurdity & ambition of the whole thing that is part of its charm

If only the Young Marble Giants album had been a symphonic prog record.

nah, it's good enough to get by on having a clear vision & executing it flawlessly. lofty ambition can produce amazing results, but isn't required for greatness. sometimes the best art is quite modest.

― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Monday, November 22, 2010 2:49 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

of course but otoh 'skin' off the new sade >>> anything on the xx record
so there

* jay z verses are awful

what the xx did is way harder than it appears to be

oh?

yes, that kind of austerity and sense of space can fall down flat very easily but anyway let's have the same arguments from the xx thread all over again on this one

i'm starting to feel like hitler's mom

fuck outta here w this derail

jordan's feeling up hitler's mom

idk i think the dude who says "xx released a perfect album -- gas chamber w everything else" is more the hitler than the mother

srry that joke was in poor taste

mods can edit

it was in poor taste but it was still funny

btw what is this first track doing

― ali-baba-boob-job-bomb.jpg (DJP), Monday, November 22, 2010 2:11 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

okay this song ("Dark Fantasy") is an ongoing lol

― ali-baba-boob-job-bomb.jpg (DJP), Monday, November 22, 2010 2:13 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wait did this just stop and then restart

― ali-baba-boob-job-bomb.jpg (DJP), Monday, November 22, 2010 2:15 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

love the commentary on this one, especially confounds me when people single out the opening track as especially good. i heard it was supposedly another low key "Heard Em Say"/"Good Morning" type opener and was like wtf is this Polyphonic Spree shit?

it was in poor taste but it was still funny

kanye in a nutshell ^^

yeah that is not really putting the album out there as something that should be taken seriously

fortunately it gets much better on subsequent tracks but that first one is really some nonsense that maybe I will grow to cherish but currently am pointing at and laughing heartily

i also enjoyed your confusion about the 2nd track sounding so tinny and incomplete that you thought something was wrong with your stereo

ha, that has been my experience of listening to things through these headphones in the past but... yeah

kanye review FILED.

i'm not letting people get away with calling this good-but-flawed, this is a HORRIBLE album that i hated more with each listen

lex is gonna citizen's arrest ryan dombal

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/howardbealegj5-1.jpg

Ha. That's how I feel most of the time.

When and where is it appearing, lex?

grau, fri

(love that nicki got the lead rvw over kanye, too)

Ace. Look forward to it.

btw dorian, while you're here, and assuming that this mess of an album leaves you wanting decent hip-hop, i highly recommend yelawolf's debut, trunk muzik 0-60

(which was also released this month)

Will do. Not heard it yet.

See Lex, I liked the album but wasn't blind to its many faults. I gave it 3.5, and that's being generous.

thing is, it doesn't have all that many strengths to balance out the many (many many) faults - the nicki verse obviously, and like "hell of a life" is the only song i actively enjoy (no coincidence that that's where kanye talks about SOMEONE ELSE for once), and i like the idea of "runaway"s douchebags/assholes chorus if not the whiny, weak execution (and certainly not the NINE STUPID MINUTES it extends to here). a three-minute "runaway" performed as a kanye west/taylor swift duet might have been a great pop song though!

i like the idea of "runaway"s douchebags/assholes chorus if not the whiny, weak execution

wow, that's interesting. i can't imagine characterizing the chorus as "weak execution." if anything, it sounds to me like a full-throated, robust execution, like he's throwing daggers with the lyrics.

kanye's singing voice is pretty much the defn of "weak execution", it's like his horrible new whiny rapping but even more nasal and insufferable

i like the song but his singing is terrible obv

With all my reservations, I find it hard to fuck with Power and Lost in the World - not coincidentally, two of the only tracks under 5 minutes long.

idk. his singing here isn't good, but it's a whole lot better than what i remember of his voice from the last album. and it's not his voice -- but rather his inflections, the way he bites down at the end of words, and the agression behind his voice -- that make his delivery compelling to me. his voice sucks.

the inflections RUIN this album - as someone said way upthread, it's the way he leans into all his awful laboured jokes and puns that really highlights how bad his lyrics are.

i like the idea of "runaway"s douchebags/assholes chorus if not the whiny, weak execution

wow, that's interesting. i can't imagine characterizing the chorus as "weak execution." if anything, it sounds to me like a full-throated, robust execution, like he's throwing daggers with the lyrics.

― Daniel, Esq., Monday, November 22, 2010 5:59 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"the jerkoffs, the ones who never take work off" is like the definition of a half-assed first draft chorus

- not coincidentally, two of the only tracks under 5 minutes long.

this terrifies me

As well it should.

This making-of oral history is interesting, if sycophantic. Big Sean's description of the catering reflects how I feel listening to the album: "There's great stuff for breakfast, whatever you wanted: smoothies, omelettes, chicken sausages, pork sausages, bacon, grapefruit, fresh fruit, waffles, pancakes, toast, muffins." Like, enough already, I'm full.

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/11/behind_the_scenes_of_kanye_wes.html#photo=7x70227

"the jerkoffs, the ones who never take work off" is like the definition of a half-assed first draft chorus

that's true, but the lead portion of the verse -- right up to the part you quote -- is the opposite.

sorry, i meant the chorus!

i'm going to pretend that kanye set up an elaborate breakfast buffet so that big sean was in the bathroom whenever they were recording rap verse

it's the way he leans into all his awful laboured jokes and puns that really highlights how bad his lyrics are.

Yeah but Kanye's not the only one doing this lately. Not that I'm excusing it.

feel like "Breakfasts with Kanye" could really be expanded out into a book

with Sandra Lee preparing her cottage cheese blintzes.

okay, so i'm not done listening, and this is therefore more liveblog shit, but i am loving this album to death. and sweet jesus it is appalling! and brilliant, and hilarious, and very clearly from another planet. the appalling part is never far off the radar, but neither is the damn near genius, and it's like this magnificent, hypnotic, kick-ass car that never stops crashing. a giant red fireball with "malcolm west" spelled out in diamond-encrusted block letters forevermore. and this makes me love it so damn much. i like every sound, every line, every awkward line delivery, every overloaded second of every overloaded track (so far). got to the bit about "the same people that try to blackball me" and realized that i would never not be loving this album. gah, and the "21st century schizoid man" bite is so awesome.

"tell em yeezy said they could kiss my whole ass, more specifically they can kiss my asshole, i'm an asshole? you n_____s got drugs!" dying @ this.

a giant red fireball with "malcolm west" spelled out in diamond-encrusted block letters forevermore.

http://i40.tinypic.com/29lxrva.jpg

okay, so i'm not done listening, and this is therefore more liveblog shit, but i am loving this album to death. and sweet jesus it is appalling! and brilliant, and hilarious, and very clearly from another planet. the appalling part is never far off the radar, but neither is the damn near genius, and it's like this magnificent, hypnotic, kick-ass car that never stops crashing. a giant red fireball with "malcolm west" spelled out in diamond-encrusted block letters forevermore. and this makes me love it so damn much. i like every sound, every line, every awkward line delivery, every overloaded second of every overloaded track (so far). got to the bit about "the same people that try to blackball me" and realized that i would never not be loving this album. gah, and the "21st century schizoid man" bite is so awesome.

"tell em yeezy said they could kiss my whole ass, more specifically they can kiss my asshole, i'm an asshole? you n_____s got drugs!" dying @ this.

^^^ 7.8