D'Angelo - Black Messiah (2014)

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.

its also an album thats much more about vibe and production and sonic touches or just perfect little details and moments than perhaps the bigger picture (barring a few songs), which i dont really mind, though at times it does feel like there is perhaps not that much actually in there. the kendrick album has more going on content wise, if thats your thing.

dangelo has only rarely sounded 'live' on record

while i appreciate the on-record delicacy to the on-stage muscle, i wish more of that energy was present in the albums sometimes

"restraint" is probably a more correct description of the band's playing since I'm sure it's on purpose.

I do find To Pimp a Butterfly more accessible - actually even more than mAAd city which was a bit tricky for me, too. When I saw Kendrick live a couple of weeks ago the set was mainly mAAd city and it actually made a bigger impression on me live than it ever did on record - so maybe I'll just have to see D'Angelo live to "get" it.

I should maybe add that I am very intrigued by this record, I just also find it very frustrating to listen to

I was impressed by this record when it first came out, but I kind of agree with a lot of niels' points. It has some extremely lush moments and I love the arrangements, but I totally get the 'wish I could turn it up a bit' feeling. i find myself listening to maybe 1-2 songs at a time but the whole thing through is a bit too much for me to take.

yeah the album is sort of a hermetic listening experience, like it sucks you in, its introverted... theres just something heavy about the whole thing, even as you can hear all the work thats gone into it (or maybe cos of it), to make it tighter and more concise than his previous albums

people compared this to riot, but that is a record that has a sense or irony, humour, or just light footedness about it, even when its bitter and sour and down. BM does not have any of those things.

obv i dont mean irony in the regrettable modern sense

the sitar (?)

iirc it's an electric sitar, played by Pino

thx jordan

yeah the album is sort of a hermetic listening experience, like it sucks you in, its introverted

I agree with this but it feels more extroverted than Voodoo. It almost feels weird or intrusive to listen to Voodoo with other people, but I can listen to BM while making dinner with my girlfriend and she's singing all the hooks.

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
The combination of barely any Zulu cuisine (mostly Afrikaner fusion if anything), the garish tacky tribal motifs and "elephants and jungle = African decor" grated badly and the food wasn't really good enough to distract from that.

Wouldn't recommend it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3-8Nyn4SNU

Black Messiah to me is way more accessible and enveloping than TPAB -- it's an album I can put on in the background and just enjoy the grooves. TPAB would require a lot of editing and resequencing to serve as background grooves. Not that "background music" is something to aspire to per se, but I think this album works both in the foreground and the background, where Kendrick pretty much needs to be something you're paying attention to.

Also, having seen both of them on consecutive nights, D wins going away as a live experience.

niels: yeah, it's american colloquial. d'angelo's way of putting it feels more natural and less forced than your rephrase to my american ear.

Cool thx, makes sense

i think hip hop in general is harder to use as background music. but yeah, TPAB is just more propulsive and generally pushes itself into you, while BM kinda invites you in. but theyre not really great comparisons, other than albums with political themes (less so in BMs case) made by black artists in the last year. erykahs nu amerykah is closer.

i will be seeing him at First Ave :)))))

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/singersongwriter-dangelo-part-1/

i recorded it, looking forward to watching!

he's not a very good interview, sadly.

:(

listening to this right now.
really love going back to albums like this after the hype has subsided and I can just really vibe out to this really cool, loose funky oddball R&B album without worrying about if it's a major "statement" or milestone or w/e

so many cool little details all over this

still listen to this all the time

Yeah it hasn't faded for me at all.

also, this is more urgent for me because of what's going on in Minneapolis right now but....

"All we wanted was a chance to talk
'stead we only got outlined in chalk"

from The Charade is like an all-time lyric, such economy, like on par with any Dylan or Woody Guthrie protest lyric ever.

otm

all things considered this is probly my favourite album of the last 12 months

same here, and it's had some very strong competition

I'm not sure anything else even comes close

some of the songs dont really work for me but yeah an incredible record

while there are definitely some songs that are standouts i guess i tend to just vibe out to the whole thing, it's a very cool sound world to be in

this and the Kendrick album been in p much constant rotation for me all year, a very complimentary pair

yah also has made me go back to both the New Amerykah albums by Badu which seem a piece with both those as well

So who of the professionals or p&j voters among us is including this in their best of 2015 albums?

I've been posting stupid shit about Neil Young and gangster rap on this site for years but I still don't get to vote in Pazz & Jop

this and the Kendrick album been in p much constant rotation for me all year, a very complimentary pair

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, November 24, 2015 1:13 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yah also has made me go back to both the New Amerykah albums by Badu which seem a piece with both those as well

― Amira, Queen of Creativity (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, November 24, 2015 1:25 PM (33 minutes ago)

ditto to both of these. partly i know i'm just waiting for badu to release another album already but it meshes well w/ black messiah and tupab.

i listen to this all the time still but i hate The Door lol

who of the professionals or p&j voters among us is including this in their best of 2015 albums?

I can't bring myself to do it; too OCD about the "2015 albums have to have been released in 2015" thing. I feel like it'd also seem like a slight to everything that came out this year if my 2015 list were topped by a 2014 album

it won last year right?

I love this album so much, ums otm I play this all the time (voodoo too tbh)

I really dug this on first listen but honestly the more I've lived with it the better its gotten.

and yah, UMS told me I needed to go back to those Badu records and I'm glad I did.