Bilal - Airtight's Revenge

"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

anyone have credits for this? who's on drums?

Yeah the drums AND the bass O__o

guessing derrick hodge on bass

this could be a banner year for, uh, neo-neo-soul. this, jose james, and i guess it's maybe even possible that there's an outside chance that d'angelo and maxwell will drop their records.

that would be an incredible year.

Yeah, that's a trend piece I would love to read

definitely feeling the slower second half more

was quite excited about this based on the hosannahs but in what way is this not bilal making the same kind of album he always makes? that's nice to listen to with a few interesting details for a week or so and then you completely forget about it. case in point, his last album seems to have disappeared from my itunes and this is the first time i've noticed. "slipping away" is pretty great i guess but he never stops my attention wandering.

the robert glasper album last year was really great, much better and more varied imo

this is based on 2 listens, i guess i'm not done with it yet but it didn't blow me away

don't recall much inhomogeneous about the glasper rec, nice enough though it was

really? quite apart from the multiplicity of voices you've got breezy summer jams, heavy-lidded bedroom soul, dr dre interpolations, nirvana through a talkbox...it's one of the most varied (broadly) neo-soul albums i can think of

imo the "forgettable" feeling with bilal (which i also get) has a lot more to do with the internet crit community's tendency not to reward these types of records than with some fundamental replay value issue

In case this hadn't been posted:

http://m.soundcloud.com/eone-music/bilal-the-retrospection

DAMN.

I listened to the new album once and forgot about it :/

still hanging in there nicely for me

yeah, I need to go back

Buying today, will report back

"butterfly" is my favourite, that one is gorgeous

Not sure if this album can crack my top 10, but love the shit out of "west side girl"

What would Bilal's Purple Rain look like?

This is a GROWER

album of the year

One of em yeah

It will get a track on my singles list at the least

Weird this thread came back, been revisiting this album over the last few days

same

revisited it the other week, still slams

love "Climbing." the 'smoking some mary jane, with Marilyn, in Maryland' line just jumped out at me because i used to know a pothead girl in Baltimore County by that name.

Nice

That bass on Winning Hand.

I know, right?

10/10 aoty, rt

i'm still not over this album (love surreal) even a little bit... any ilx rnb-ists have any recommendations that might scratch the same itch?

i feel like i love a lot of records in this vein but none are coming to mind right now. first van hunt record?

Did you check the Jose James record from last year? No Beginning No End is the name.

xp ha, that's funny, my friend showed me some van hunt after i showed him this bilal, but it was a later record. i'll check out the first one.

haven't heard jose james either, will do. thanks guys!

Also Black Radio 1 (and 2) by Robert Glasper.