Bilal - Airtight's Revenge

ILM 2010 Albums Poll Ballot+Stats Fiesta

It's a lot closer to the ILX hivemind's than the previous year's list, where I was kind of carving my own little corner of the world for myself. I also listened to a lot more rap, less r&b and dance than the few years previous.

ya, i feel i hewed p close to it too, or at least to stuff the same stuff you were onto. will check out esperanza spalding & ramadanman tho -- bilal is dope

I love the reggae coda of "Who Are You"

Really like this lp, but it's mastered so horribly I can't usually make it all the way through. It's way too harsh.

Still have much love for Levels, Restart and All Matter. Three of 2010's best songs right there.

Really? I haven't noticed any problem with that.

Yah man, crank it and you'll have to turn down the highs in your e

*eq

Check the opening drums on Restart.

Compare it to the Aloe Blacc lp which was one of the best sounding albums from last year, any genre. That whole album is so warm and inviting, although not as adventurous on a song to song basis.

I don't really ever listen to music loud tbh.

It was one of the first things I noticed and I'm not a major geekaudiophile. My preferences with sound could differ greatly from yours so if you don't notice then cool. Still one of my favorite soul releases from '10 regardless.

This album still jams

Maybe somebody can help me out with this: Bilal teased Airtight's Revenge with a single-worthy track that ultimately didn't make the album, and I don't remember what it was called or know where I can hear it again. I vaguely remember the song being in the vein of "Cake & Eat It Too," kind of heaving and beat-heavy, but that memory could be way off. I was really bummed when it wasn't on the album, then the album grew on me so much I didn't care anymore, but I'd love to hear that track again if anybody remembers it.

no idea, dude

Spent way too much time searching, but I found it. It's "Free." Definitely too beaty to have fit on the album, but not a bad song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZHIENQ698w

Nottz production is always very buoyant.

Yeah, I could go for a whole Nottz-produced soul album. Maybe not a Bilal-Nottz album, because there are probably better uses for Bilal's unique talents, but I always dig Nottz.

They had another joint on Nottz solo album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aahQwBLM2Ns

New album is streaming at NPR and sounds nothing like how I expected it to sound

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/17/172110416/first-listen-bilal-a-love-surreal?sc=tw&cc=share

this is fantastic

Only listened to it once, but my jaw has dropped so many times already. It's no easy feat making an album this soft so daring

yeah I'm just listening now and there are so many odd little earworms but still this record already feels like an old friend. Highlight so far is "slipping away", which is just wow.

http://www.thenqm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/bilal-a-love-surreal-album-coverjpg.jpg

loving this so far

this is awesome

*throwing the gauntlet down*

― The Reverend, Wednesday, November 3, 2010 10:01 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the drums on "back to love" are killing me rn

okay so i'm only into the third song but so far this record is amazing at creating a sense of extreme space even when like a million things are happening at once

which is great bc correct me if i have a wrong impression of airtight's revenge but a lot of what kept me from really getting into that record was how busy it seemed

I loved airtight's revenge but yeah I see what you're saying, this feels less... dense?

Yeah, it definitely is. There's a lot more space on this one. Totally different vibe, too. (And as good as the first half of this one is, the second half is even more striking).

also i know everybody made last year about channel orange vs. kaleidoscope dream but this record (at least so far) actually registers to me as kind of a version of channel orange i find 100 percent compelling. a similar feeling of wandering strangeness but the songs are all incredibly present oh and the PLAYING is fantastic

Unfortunately, it's not as flashy or personality-driven as Channel Orange, and between that and its leisurely pacing and NPR jazziness I'm afraid that it's not gonna get a fraction of the press it deserves. I feel like this could be the album that turns me into Lex, the true believer crying out to every critic that they need to hear an album they have no intention of ever listening to

the second half is even more striking

the glasper track is incredible! does ilx like glasper? No thread, and I can't remember seeing any chatter anywhere. Too npr-y? I loved the last one with all the neo-soul artists on it (bilal, badu, ndegeocello!)

ha xp

answers my question I guess. I'm a brit so I have only a vague sense of what npr even is, except that a lot of my favourite albums seem to turn up as "first listens" there

That Glasper album was very good, but maybe a little "safe" to garner widespread interest. Glasper's contributions here, though, are head turning. Would love to maybe see these two make a full album together some day

"back to love" is ruling my life today

channel orange invocation so very unnecessary

sorry rtc! was just a thought i had. forget i mentioned it

lol u dont have to actually apologise

it's just a smothering idea for first blushes is all

ooh i didn't know robert glasper was on this

it's just a smothering idea for first blushes is all

true

tbh i'd kinda always felt this guy flattered to deceive somewhat (not to say i ever thought he was fraudulent, just that idk he could have done more than settle for the cosily oblique) but the second half of this is sounding pretty wonderful and deeply satisfying

you could be onto something for all I know, I've always been glad to be a sucker tbh

yeah never mind whatever i said upthread about this record bc i honestly hadn't reached the second side yet

which goddamn

you could be onto something for all I know, I've always been glad to be a sucker tbh

― wins rules at negative self-demolition (wins), Monday, 18 February 2013 23:28 (Yesterday) Bookmark

winsomely put. the unspoken superficialities of bohemian appreciation is a topic of perpetual interest imo, like i know as i fall in love with this record that i'm certainly not really checking for the lyrics as a whole and indeed ever getting round to doing so would likely feel like an artificial labour; simultaneously however i wallow in the dusky signifiers of numinous soulful substance.

guess essentially it's a question of personal stock markets and why i sell on a supposedly thin and indulgent first half and buy on a supposedly rich and affecting second half; in reality i don't doubt they're cut from the same cloth

if there were an interesting comparison with channel orange it's might be one of image and presentation; how the cover art of each invite/preclude different stratas of suckerdom (a hunch can't be bovd to flesh out so good luck w/ that)

in any case, got this album helplessly on loop today

Here's my weird bias: I wish the second half came first, because it's the much more interesting sell (and I suppose because it has the killer vocal performances), even though the album is a much more logical listen as it is. I just don't want people dipping in for a few songs, assuming they've heard everything there is, then ducking out before they get to the revelations.

so far i like to hear it as two mini lps, small and perfectly formed like blacksummersnight; probably if i really studied the lyrics there'd be some greater intended arc this might disfigure but concision has its own logic (and often a better, more suggestive one at that)

doubtful in any case that anyone so minded to bother to check this album out at all is ever going to skip the second half

only heard this once, on the train, so not ideal conditions, but the album seems underwritten. i wish he would get someone to write for/with him. nice to hear him screaming a bit though, i miss that side of him.

and the drums - though a bit shoehorned in - are better than some of the drums on his other productions. at least these have some thwack to them, most of the time they sound flattened, or like theyre stuck on a certain preset.

First half is pretty good but I think it gets a little aimless near the end. The song I keep coming back to is "Star Now"

album gets better the more i hear it, though it does still seem a bit underdeveloped in places, like they could have done more with the songs. the repetitiousness of the drum sound is dissappointing after a while but the last song kind of slays me. and sirens is still amazing. i love bilal to death, but while i like that he just keeps making albums, unlike dangelo, i still think he has yet to make an album deserving of his talent. having one producer is one good idea, but a strong writer would help loads i think.

saw him live this evening in london. the relentlessness of younges non-grooves becomes more apparent live, where you just want the drummer to STFU with the breakbeats after a while. i didnt realise how sparse the new album actually is, and not always for the better. his current band are good, though it got samey quite fast to hear virtually every song end in a big rock blow out, like a rock shortcut. i wish bilal took rock's propulsion, speed, and catchiness, rather than just grand 70s heaviosity. airtights revenge worked rock/pop influences in much more subtly. hes still a brilliant performer, and singer, though oddly, he doesnt really give himself much time to relax or stretch out vocally these days, which is a shame.

Lemme tell ya that starting the year hearing Bilal do an extended live jam on "Sometimes" is as good a way to get going as you're likely to get.

what a record

so fucked up on prescription pills
she'll never trust a man again

my ears weren't ready for this album when it came out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epfE8rjLeTs

^^^ really wonderful song

seeing him with Kassa Overall on Sunday; bilal is always great in concert

i love this. low key

Did anyone spring for this Bandcamp-only, all-star, no preview tracks release?

https://bilalxhighbreedmusic.bandcamp.com/

Btw ulysses idk if that was the last concert you saw, but I hope it was a good one.

it was a good one (he did sometimes!) but not QUITE the last show I saw. god i miss live music.

not heard that EP but i love the new song on spotify, in the rain.