another life might be the best thing hes ever done. not sure why it wasnt on the rip i downloaded....
― StillAdvance, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 12:22 (nine years ago) link
god, this album...
― Nixon head is essential. (stevie), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 12:53 (nine years ago) link
"1000 Deaths" is the one that's taken my breath away
― droit au butt (Euler), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 12:54 (nine years ago) link
heh
http://www.vulture.com/2014/12/everyone-freaked-out-about-dangelo-black-messiah.html
― RAP GAME SHANI DAVIS (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 13:21 (nine years ago) link
one thing voodoo has over this record is the slow inexorable build toward "untitled"
in this way black messiah does function more like a sly album, a bunch of exercises that together knit an unsettled atmosphere
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 15:10 (nine years ago) link
any reports on the how the vinyl pressing sounds?
― you say tomato/i say imago (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 15:18 (nine years ago) link
vinyl's not out till Feb, is it?
― Nixon head is essential. (stevie), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 15:24 (nine years ago) link
I want it though
ah ok, i thought i read someone say they'd saw vinyl up thread....
― you say tomato/i say imago (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 15:31 (nine years ago) link
the climax of "Another Life" is sorta "Untitled" like though
― droit au butt (Euler), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 15:34 (nine years ago) link
as i was writing that i thought to myself that "another life" is like a tiny album
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 15:36 (nine years ago) link
but my point is that the tension-and-release of voodoo is very specific and extreme and black messiah doesn't even go for it. to its credit i think
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 15:38 (nine years ago) link
So today from Ben Kane, ie the engineer -- turns out Humorist/Phil's Reality of My Surroundings take wasn't far off:
1k deaths: was once told D was inspired to write the music to this directly after being blown away by a joint at a Fishbone concert.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 15:40 (nine years ago) link
Voodoo had that perfectly-formed-in-the-heavens quality to it that I don't think this record has, but I don't think that is a bad thing. It feels like more of a Project, and I need more time to get my mind around it. I like everything I hear on it, nothing has quite earwormed me, and I will definitely keep listening to it.
― man alive, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:04 (nine years ago) link
I like that I've seen every track named by someone as the standout or the one that caught their ear first.
― festival culture (Jordan), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:04 (nine years ago) link
I think Sugah Daddy is my fav so far. I'm not crazy about the maxed-out sound of Charade but I haven't heard it on a good system/good headphones yet.
― man alive, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:16 (nine years ago) link
this feels shaggier and more improvisational to me than voodoo. "betray my heart" starts out sounding like it could be "spanish joint part ii" but it's got other ideas, loping along, finding other riffs.
can i just reiterate, i am so happy right now.
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:35 (nine years ago) link
i have got to listen to this on headphones - i am so enraptured by "sugah daddy" through to "betray my heart" but i swear my mp3s of the first two tracks must be fucked bc they still sound like total messes and i can't even seem to hear what's going on in them
i do wish his vocals were higher in the mix generally
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:39 (nine years ago) link
i have no sense of any of these as SONGS yet
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:40 (nine years ago) link
yeah I feel the same, they're more like really elaborate jams
― man alive, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:43 (nine years ago) link
i also need a lyric booklet so badly because i can make it approx five lines on the whole album and this is a BARRIER to me
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:48 (nine years ago) link
*make out
the official lyrics are up here fyi: http://www.metrolyrics.com/news-story-dangelo-black-messiah-lyrics-revealed.html
― cerebral caustic window (cajunsunday), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:50 (nine years ago) link
lex maybe you should just make out to this album instead
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:51 (nine years ago) link
apart from having a bf without the requisite taste, i don't feel like this is a partic sexy album anyway? like, not in the way voodoo or brown sugar were
i think my opinion on it would be so different if it actually just started at "sugah daddy"
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:53 (nine years ago) link
'Sugah Daddy' sounds like the blended style that Outkast were going for with the music in Idlewild
haha this kind of occurred to me too - this is an album Andre 3000 wishes he could make
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:55 (nine years ago) link
guitar playing and all
i thought caring abt lyrics was rockist? like they should just function as sonic elements of a song. i left my cheat sheet at home tho
― you say tomato/i say imago (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 16:55 (nine years ago) link
this is an album Andre 3000 wishes he could make
otm
― example (crüt), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 17:00 (nine years ago) link
'prayer' has really started to put in roots as something i don't want to be without in my life
― a stupid red mute juggalo (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 17:04 (nine years ago) link
Production more crowded than anything he's done (not in a bad way)whole thing sounds busier than usual. His vocals aren't controlling and dictating the tracks like they usual do. ButBetray My Heart has some gorgeous gospel, though sounds like a Voodoo pre-sessional jam that didn't quite progress onto the level of a fledged voodoo track. Never the less beautiful.Ooooh Check out those Delphonics late 60s soul licks on the last track Another Life!! Smooth azz track to end.His voice has suffered a little in the last 14 yearsDoesn't have the groove or the confidence of Voodoo, doesn't have the melodies of Brown SugarSugah daddy to Really Love is a powerful momentHe's channeling prince stronger than ever beforeSounds good after 1st listen though I'd put it has his 3rd best album
whole thing sounds busier than usual. His vocals aren't controlling and dictating the tracks like they usual do. But
Betray My Heart has some gorgeous gospel, though sounds like a Voodoo pre-sessional jam that didn't quite progress onto the level of a fledged voodoo track. Never the less beautiful.
Ooooh Check out those Delphonics late 60s soul licks on the last track Another Life!! Smooth azz track to end.
His voice has suffered a little in the last 14 years
Doesn't have the groove or the confidence of Voodoo, doesn't have the melodies of Brown Sugar
Sugah daddy to Really Love is a powerful moment
He's channeling prince stronger than ever before
Sounds good after 1st listen though I'd put it has his 3rd best album
Still agreeing with myself.
He's following a benchmark classic of the genre and then a bonafide classic in popular music in general so what he's come up with here, which is essentially a live jam session feel recording was actually a real smart move. With the 60s soul adorations, uptempo, gospel nods, and all sorts of musical homages I think is a cool move at this point. Moving away from the Rhodes sound of Brown Sugar almost completely now muddies his melodies to maybe where he's feeling more comfortable at this point after all his personal issues. He's not the same person as on Brown Sugar writing those smooth clear consistant earworm melodies on every track. He's always been most influenced by Prince but on some tracks on here like Sugah Daddy he's gone there stronger than ever before. S.D is almost a straight Prince homage.
Cool stuff. I'm not sure someone like D'Angelo is capable of making disappointing music.
― Raccoon Tanuki, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 17:06 (nine years ago) link
re: the hope upthread that this would be his new amerykah, it's more like his worldwide underground
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 17:08 (nine years ago) link
I don't know if I agree - Worldwide Underground doesn't really hang together as an album and, for all its qualities, is quite misshapen and feels like a grab-bag of unrelated tracks to me, whereas this has a really strong, coherent flow (albeit clearly being an album that reveals more with every play).
― Nixon head is essential. (stevie), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 17:27 (nine years ago) link
re: the hope upthread that this would be his new amerykah, it's more like his worldwide underground― lex pretend,
― lex pretend,
Not sure what the thing is here with the constant comparison linking with other "neo soul" artists (He's like Bilal!! x200, Come on really?) but I'm gonna have to engage in this scraziness after this absurd comment! This album is far, far far far more like New Amerykah Part 2 than anything on Worldwide Underground. New Amerykah pt2 has the live instrument lazy melodies session jam feel that W.U completely lacks (beat machines!)
― Raccoon Tanuki, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 17:30 (nine years ago) link
this album would be bewildering if you haven't already heard voodoo IMO (which is insane btw)
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 16 December 2014 17:32 (nine years ago) link
the drums on "Prayer" sound weird to me, like they skip backwards every now & then. it makes it hard for me to follow the beat because I'm dumb. I think it's supposed to be like that, right?
― droit au butt (Euler), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 17:33 (nine years ago) link
"ain't that easy" is the real single to my ears. it's in my head constantly when i'm not listening to something else.
day 2 impressions are that it's a very nice album and i'm glad it exists. but for something that, as others have said, sounds very jammy and more off-the-cuff than his previous work, i am kind of mystified that many (most?) of these songs have been around 8, 9 years now
― soyrev, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 17:34 (nine years ago) link
I think it's supposed to be like that, right?
― droit au butt (Euler), Tuesday, December 16, 2014 12:33 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark
everything on this album is supposed to sound how it sounds
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 16 December 2014 17:38 (nine years ago) link
i haven't heard voodoo tbh
― example (crüt), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 17:39 (nine years ago) link
"the charade" song of the year
― cheeseburger, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 17:46 (nine years ago) link
Nobody's yet pointed out that "Back to the Future" very nearly turns into The Charleston several times before the guitar drags it back into a funk groove. Love it for that.
― Jeff W, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 18:15 (nine years ago) link
i think it's striking how hard they push on that clompy-snappy-shuffle rhythm that you can hear on voodoo as well, i don't know at all but i very much associate it with dilla. there's something very tense about it, it tends to work against the other tendencies of the music and conceal the songs, kind of like a house beat can overwhelm before you learn how not to hear it while you're listening. i would expect a lot of the hidden pleasures of the songs to come from seeing where they work against that.
― j., Tuesday, 16 December 2014 18:27 (nine years ago) link
I have made out to this album and I can confirm yes, very good, A+.
― Dej & the Fommly Loaf (The Reverend), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 18:27 (nine years ago) link
hotsa hotsa
― you say tomato/i say imago (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 18:29 (nine years ago) link
Very early predictions have him doing 90-100k. Not to make this all about sales, I just think that's pretty impressive given the gap between albums and the state of R&B music sales climate.
― Greer, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 18:31 (nine years ago) link
CRUT! (xps)
― Dej & the Fommly Loaf (The Reverend), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 18:34 (nine years ago) link
Seriously. Crut, DJP: fix your lives right now.
― Dej & the Fommly Loaf (The Reverend), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 18:37 (nine years ago) link
(Wait I'd heard Voodoo before DJP? How in the world...you know what, never mind.)
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 18:55 (nine years ago) link
Does a guy called Steven Hyden from grantland post here because he stole my Another Life/Delphonics post from this thread
― Raccoon Tanuki, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 19:04 (nine years ago) link
what a disaster for grantland
― a stupid red mute juggalo (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 19:06 (nine years ago) link