D'Angelo - Black Messiah (2014)

I will say the "Tutu" hate upthread is fucking bananas. That one's in my top 3 I think

yeah i've actually not been listening as much to this because it's so like serious, and i don't wanna make too much of my other music sound like some bullshit too often

― j., Saturday, March 21, 2015 10:37 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I first heard this when I was trying to play catch-up for my ILX albums ballot and by the time I got halfway thru the album I had my head in my hands thinking wtf was I trying to di, ranking albums

haha me too, totally gave up on my eoy list

Yow, Bonnaroo just added D'Angelo and the Vanguard -- so now I get to see him and Kendrick the same weekend. Wonder if they'll guest with each other?

D'Angelo billed for Outside Lands festival in SF too

New four-track live Spotify session: Betray My Heart / Really Love / The Door / She's Always in my Hair
http://open.spotify.com/album/33hbEGU8Dwlfek9aXrsO3D

if i was nitpicking, i'd like a version of really love for over and over replay use that has the first minute or so of the intro clipped.
― a stupid red mute juggalo (forksclovetofu), Monday, December 15, 2014

^

the eight minute version of really love on this live spotify track is Doooooooooope

the "betray" my heart" is fucking crazy too

omg, this version of 'always in my hair' goes bazonkers in the second half

wooooow this spotify sessions is great so far, what a band

Interview with Bobby Searle.

if anyone mp3 rips, a link would be super appreciated...spotify not available in my part of the world :(

SEALE Thank you, brother.

With “Black Messiah,” you exhibited a political side not previously seen in your music.

D’ANGELO I’ve always kind of tried to do something that was a little different than just simple “I love you, baby”-type songs. Like “Brown Sugar,” it was a metaphor, or a double entendre, if you will. A lot of people thought I was talking about a girl when I was actually talking about something else. I was trying to tackle some issues on “Devil’s Pie.” But on this album in particular, before the songs were even written, I knew that the name of it was going to be “Black Messiah.” There are also songs that didn’t make the record but that I’m getting ready to release in the fall. I got a song called “Go and Tell Bro.”

SEALE Not COINTELPRO — “Go and Tell Bro”?

D’ANGELO Right. The chorus goes — [sings] “Every time I turn my head, it’s the same old thing again, ain’t much different now than it was back then.”

heyyyyyyy new album follow up

There are also songs that didn’t make the record but that I’m getting ready to release in the fall.

*TUMESCES*

I'm usually leery when an artist reveals that the next album is just going to be leftovers from the last one (even though they always offer "but for real they're great songs they just didn't fit the previous album" assurances), but here it's like yes yes, more leftovers please. Just happy for new D'Angelo music in whatever form it takes.

Saw him last night in Queens. Great show, I don't think anyone sat down during the whole set, everyone danced, tons of folks new all the words to all the songs. Lots of couples. It should have felt like a glitzy stadium show, but it felt like a small, sweaty club where no one realized how hot and humid it was until they got on the subway to go back home.

yeah i thought it was an incredible show as well... i didn't even realize until the end that he didn't play some of my fav songs that he had been playing at other shows

Yeah, he was great at Bonnaroo the other week, too. He had a 1 a.m. slot, up against the superjam, and didn't actually go on til 1:30. But he had a big crowd, and everybody was dancing. His outfits and the band's gave a very Prince/Revolution vibe, which seemed fitting. Though -- no offense to the beloved Revolution -- D's band is better.

And after going on at 1:30, he played a full 90 minutes instead of the 60 he was slated for. Not many things I'll stay up til 3 for anymore, but that was worth it.

d is currently at parde-tour era prince level imo. d's band in 2015 >>> prince's band in 2015 but prince is still a better performer/singer/dancer. the full bonaroo set is on youtube. its amazing.

i love the parliament/funkin for fun riff in chicken grease omg

who's been the drummer lately, Chris Dave? sounds like him on the Spotify session, not John Blackwell.

yah chris dave is currently playing with the vanguard

"I’ve always kind of tried to do something that was a little different than just simple “I love you, baby”-type songs. Like “Brown Sugar,” it was a metaphor, or a double entendre, if you will. A lot of people thought I was talking about a girl when I was actually talking about something else"

it was about weed, yeah lol.

this lp is something else in the summer. I have just stared at some clouds for 20 minutes

Fun show last night near D.C. Tight musically and in presentation and choreographed (with some matching dance steps from he and the female vocalist) but still loose and funky (with traces of Prince and James Brown but still uniquely D'Angelo).

rtc otm, going through a real second wind with it right now. i think i might even prefer it to brown sugar...:-0

At the outset of the tour, legendary bassist Pino Palladino was announced as Dave's partner in holding it down, but Palladino's son, Rocco, has taken his place, and his playing and mannerisms closely mirror those of the father.

http://dcist.com/2015/06/click_click_dangelo_the_fillmore_si.php#photo-1

Oh, that's who that was on bass

rocco played in jessie ware's band

The band started with "Ain't That Easy," Black Messiah's title track.

whut? is Black Messiah had a title track it would have to be called Black Messiah.

this lp is something else in the summer. I have just stared at some clouds for 20 minutes

OTM, been making every walk to and from work a delight the last month, feels like the biggest thing right now

id be so bummed if i got to the show and pino wasnt playing bass

His son seemed ok to me

wow, i had no idea there was a pino jr. cool!

Just discovered Jordan's fave drummer for D'angelo, Chris Dave, went to Howard U

Anybody else see Mos Def creeping about at the Roundhouse on Monday?

no but i overheard different people saying they saw dizzee rascal and robert pattinson. meanwhile i was stood next to a drunken moron w no chill who ended up spilling a drink into some poor girl's eyes

phenomenal show though. fucking hell "the charade". i was incredibly tired and the nauseous kind of ill and he was two hours late and i wished i'd sold my ticket as i'd been debating w myself all afternoon and then when he came in i literally felt no pain, i was healed

Heard somebody talking about the drunken spillage on my way out, had to leave partway through the Untitled encore. Hoping he didn't do anything too good after that...

Finally got to experience "African food" at Shaka Zulu so wasn't too hung up about the wait. The Charade was definitely a highlight, wish the crowd was more into it but London is London

His show is out of my budget :(

wish i'd gone. the hammersmith apollo show this year is one of the greatest things I've ever seen - wish i could find a decent youtube of the 20 minute sugah daddy he played that night. there were cameras there! the show was filmed!!

had to leave partway through the Untitled encore. Hoping he didn't do anything too good after that...

nah it carried on in the same vein as the band left the stage one by one. i appreciate how the live "untitled" gets the drawn-out ending it doesn't get on record

is shaka zulu good? not really in that area for food much and not a fan of the stables vibe but if it is i'd certainly be tempted

not seen him since 2000 but cant really afford it at the moment, though am seeing bilal (who is cheaper) next week. perhaps just to commiserate myself, i dont really care that much for dangelos prince via jb funk workouts (which ive read are in the new show) though - something about them feels a bit pastichey/mannered/too self aware.

I feel like Mugatu in Zoolander with this record: It's like I'm taking crazy pills! To me it sounds clunky, shy, nervous, neurotic and not funky, soulful or fresh at all. I'm not very knowledgeable about neo-soul/soulquarians collective but I like Voodoo and Mama's Gun a lot, so I feel like I should like this too or that at least I'm not too far from the target audience. Since it's universally acclaimed I want to be inspired by it like everyone else but it does nothing for me.

On the contrary, I have a hard time getting all the way through the beautiful double LP version I bought at my local record store - I feel claustrophobic from what to me sounds like a very constrained band. I keep feeling like it should be turned up, but turning up the volume doesn't help. And most of the times, it doesn't really sound like a band to me - it sounds like a lot of sequenced tracks, I don't get a live vibe (I've looked up live recordings but have been dissapointed, especially since D'Angelo's band was compared to Prince's). The vocal production is of course a very deliberate choice, but I don't understand why so much of the time there's no clear lead - it weirds me out a bit the same way Animal Collective does and strikes me as a bit... inefficient. Not that I don't like understatement in itself, I just don't get it on this record.

Since I'm venting a bit here, I'll enquire about the perhaps most quoted lyric from the record: "All we wanted was a chance to talk/ 'stead we only got outlined in chalk". I can appreciate the rhyme and the social relevance, but - and this is perhaps because I'm not a native English speaker - the "only" seems weirdly placed to me. Why not just "'Stead we got outlined in chalk"? If it's a matter of syllables, why not "But instead we got outlined in chalk"? Is the "instead ... only" a common English construction that I'm unfamiliar with or is D'Angelo/Foster using a colloquial style here?

I realize that Mugatu by the end of Zoolander finally sees that Derek's looks are in fact both incredible and original and I hope this will happen for me with this record eventually, and this isn't meant as a challop post - it would cheer me up a bit though if others also found this a difficult record to enjoy/understand.

its not a perfect record by any means so no need to fall in love with it just cos its been reviewed so positively.

"very constrained band."

it is. but its not necessarily a bad feature of it. theyre playing with a lot of (post-hip hop) restraint.

"it sounds like a lot of sequenced tracks, I don't get a live vibe (I've looked up live recordings but have been dissapointed, especially since D'Angelo's band was compared to Prince's)."

dangelo has only rarely sounded 'live' on record (eg - spanish joint). most of his songs on the last two albums, are deeply produced, more so on this one than voodoo. there is a LOT of post production on BM.

i really don't have a problem with the "only" in that line, it doesn't feel weird to me, and it's IMO a fantastic lyric.

the sitar (?) (sounds like the stylistics/spinners' 'you make me feel brand new') on this album (in partic on Another Life) just destroys me every time

I admire and even really like quite a bit of the record, but yeah, I'm still not completely sold on it either. Timing may have been an issue: it came out at a time when I was too busy for such a dense and challenging new record, and by the time I was, I was being hit by a flurry of new releases that I found easier to get into (including the also dense and challenging To Pimp a Butterfly, which I still somehow find more accessible and enjoyable). Probably still need to spend some real time with this record, but I certainly don't think anyone who is resisting it is nuts.