It's not quite Pornography, but it's pretty bleak. What I like most about Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak is how honest and musically consistent it is.
I was expecting a softer sound, a more melancholy perspective on the tragic death of his mother. There is some of that in there, but it's also angry, with lots of self-reflection and frustrations over a lover or girlfriend. He's the boy done wrong.
It gets musically lighthearted 3/4's into the album ("Paranoid," "RoboCop"), but the subject matter remains dark throughout and the majority of the album is under-produced and bare bones.
My favorite track by far is the last one, "Coldest Winter." Notice the rhythmically strange synth melody that doesn't quite sync up with the drums. It's these touches that give the album its shivering effect. Speaking of The Cure, "Coldest Winter" could be a Japanese Whispers b-side. I love the album's art direction as well. Say what you will about his arrogance and attitude, Kanye's creativity certainly delivers the goods.
I got the recession special two weeks ago when I joined my new gym in NYC. They not only honored my SF rate, but they gave me loads of benefits. Perfect!
The past few months had me losing lots of weight, much to my horror. The skinny jeans Williamsburg hipster thing is not my aesthetic at all. So I'm trying more weight training.
I'm sharing a mix I've been listening to on my iPod using 8tracks, this new 8-song online mix maker. It's definitely in its prototype stages, as I found a whole handful of frustrations just by trying to make a simple mix. But the builders have been very proactive about addressing my issues.
I had a fun Saturday, which started at 3 p.m. with me and my friend Brian running around art galleries in Long Island City (Deitch Studios, P.S.1, etc) and ended at at 3 a.m. Sunday with me stumbling home from the East Village.
I was pretty surprised to hear new Britney Spears tracks at the bars we hit. High-res versions of "Kill The Lights" were playing everywhere. The album was leaked this weekend, which now explains it.
Except for listening to some of the tracks on YouTube, I'm just going to wait and get the deluxe version of Circus, as I'm anxious to hear what this girl can do next.
This Miami Horror video for "Don't Be On With Her" has been posted on a handful of bogs lately and it gave me a good laugh. Thankfully, it's not all about the video -- the song is really fun as well. The high pitched overdubs mid-song are pretty weird (in a good way). Miami Horror (like best-album-of-2008-candidate Cut Copy) are from Melbourne, Australia.
It's not quite Pornography, but it's pretty bleak. What I like most about Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak is how honest and musically consistent it is.
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