The new Kanye album - TTLG Forums

henke on 26/2/2016 at 17:01

Quote Posted by demagogue

Jazz Against the Machine

WHAT

*spotifies*

omg

Hey have you listened to badbadnotgood btw? If not, check em out. Think you might like it.

henke on 26/2/2016 at 17:11

actually, scratch that

EVERYONE LISTEN TO BADBADNOTGOOD RIGHT NOW

[video=youtube;caY0MEok19I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caY0MEok19I[/video]

Maybe it's because I've had a few drinks, but this video is amazing.

bjack on 26/2/2016 at 17:40

I find fett's points pretty spot on, in most cases, as related to this topic. Here is my opinion, as someone who has never listen to Kanye West until last night, when I went to Kanye's web site and listened to the short clips of his latest work. It was enough for me to get a general opinion. OK, so the guy can assemble clips and samples in a creative way. He also loves autotune. To me, he sounds like he is trying to mix Revolution 9 with hip hop and a little soul. Fine and cool, especially if it sells. Many people like it. I'll give it a pass. I'd rather listen to Foo Fighters, XTC, Bowie, Beatles, Doors, old Devo, Chick Corea, Spiro Gira, Pink, Lady Gaga, Train, STP, etc. Most anything but opera and non-melodic rap/hop-hop type chanting. That's just me though. It's cool if others love that stuff. It's when it dominates the airwaves (what are those? Radio, what is that?) that I get a little depressed. Sort of like how my dad was pissed off in the 70s that Dean Martin and Perry Como were no longer on KBIG.

Kanye is an arranger/producer. There is an art to that. Hell, the Beatles would have sounded like a garage band without George Martin. But for Kanye to bluster that he is the greatest turns me off. He is a little punk ass dick weed that got lucky and let his luck go to his head. Those here who are musicians that play for money and record know what I am talking about. There are many 10s of thousands are great bands out there. Only a few "make it". Somehow, he rode the painted pony and grabbed the ring. Good for him. A bit of humble would be nice. Otherwise, Kanye is the Donald Trump of music. :cheeky:

But I am not someone he would market to anyway, so moot point.

Stitch on 26/2/2016 at 17:43

Alright, one more post and then I'm done replying to those who don't get it. There's an interesting conversation about Kanye that can be had, but fett is writing oh so many miserable words to make sure that doesn't happen, and I'm too old these days to spend hours of my day trying to explain to someone why they're wrong and being shitty.

The facts of Kanye are this: he's a raging egomaniac who has no filter and frequently says a lot of dumb things. He's also been incredibly influential in the pop hiphop sphere and has released a lot of critically beloved music (which may more may not mean anything to you, but that's probably the closest thing to an objective measure of quality that we have). He also lost interest in chasing nice singles four albums ago, and his career since has largely gone against the pop cycle grain.

All of the above is what makes Kanye interesting to me as a musical figure, although his albums are why I'm a fan. Each of his last four albums have resonated deeply with me, and there is no album I've found more exciting in the past five years than Yeezus, which I consider a front to back masterpiece on the same level as OK Computer, Elephant, and other recent-ish greats. This is unbelievably subjective, obviously, and discussing this sort of thing would be a Kanye conversation I'd be happy to have.

But instead we're focusing on stupid things Kanye said, like the books thing (why would I care what a musician has to say about books?) and the Beatles thing (of which I can find no record, but it also sounds like the sort of thing Kanye would say). Far more interesting would be discussing unforgivable lyrics Kanye has uttered (like the Taylor line on the recent album), but instead I'm repeatedly being asked to defend a couplet from "Bound 2" that I never said was great to begin with (I merely said it was part of a group of lyrics that were being taken out of context). And even if it were pure poetry, why would I engage in a debate that's framed from the start in such lopsided and reductive terms?

The most egregious offense, though, is this need to invalidate the joy that henke and I as fans derive from Kanye's music. It's fine to say that you don't like someone's music because of this, or you think the guy is overrated because of that, but don't insult the people who commit the only sin of loving something that you do not, and implying that the thing they love isn't even there to begin with.

And this is what fett has done, and this is why I'm done with fett.

(at least in this thread :cool:)

Random_Taffer on 26/2/2016 at 17:53

Quote Posted by henke

actually, scratch that

EVERYONE LISTEN TO BADBADNOTGOOD RIGHT NOW

My drummer recently forced their III album on me a couple months ago and I'm glad he did. It was playing in my car until he asked for it back last week. Really dig that album and intend to pick up the rest of their stuff soon.
Really love the bass line on the opening track Triangle.

bjack on 26/2/2016 at 18:02

BADBADNOTGOOD - sort of reminds me of Porcupine Tree and other prog bands. Pretty cool. I will look these guys up. Thanks.
And I did - and just listened to "Lord Have Mercy". Wow, was I wrong about being like PT! A good band though. Timewave Zero seems cool and more to my taste.
They seem to be very eclectic. True?

froghawk on 26/2/2016 at 18:41

The album BADBADNOTGOOD did recently with Ghostface Killah was great. Highly recommended.

Renault on 26/2/2016 at 20:21

Btw, the Fett vs. Stich deathmatch notwishtanding, I thought the track "Facts" was pretty damn good. Catchy enough to be stuck in my head this afternoon. It's supposedly some type of anti-Nike rant, but who gives a crap about that.

I like 30 hours too.

fett on 26/2/2016 at 20:29

Quote Posted by Brethren

So bottom line - you may think the stuff Kanye comes up with is basic and easy to recreate, but could you have come up with it in the first place? Obviously not, or you would have done it and made millions.

Er... Brethren, I just said in my post above yours - that's part of my point. It's easy to recreate pretty much any music. The sticking point for me is that it's not too hard to come up with in the first place, when all but the arranging has been done for you when you turn the computer on. And many have made millions doing it. I'm going to count myself out of such comparisons because a) I never said I could come up with them in the first place, and b) it's way more relevant to judge Kanye against his peers, rather than a 45 year old white guy living in a hospital who has no interest in performing hip-hop. Yeah?

You know I love you, Stitch, and I do sincerely apologize if I've offended Kanye fans - I've said "present company excluded" so many times I could throw up, but if someone wants to take it personal, that's not on me. If someone takes my insulting Kanye as an insult to themselves, I submit that they're WAY too wrapped up in their fandom. The fact that Kanye fans ITT are willing to engage in such a conversation is proof alone that they don't identify or buy in with the dumb masses out there to whom I keep referring (and let's not insult one another by pretending they don't exist. Take a short trip through the forum linked above). I can't disagree with anything Stitch last said about Kanye himself. I just find it odd that when I point out these particular things that make him (in my mind) less than his fans have imagined him, they are dismissed instead of answered. The Bound 2 lyric was accused of being out of context. I asked for context. It's not a thesis paper for crying out loud, but if you claim there's a contextual misunderstanding, it shouldn't be that hard to clear up. I can cite three dozen more lyrics that are just as insipid almost off the top of my head. If someone likes that, I don't care. But I don't think he's going down in history as the next Robert Frost, as he, and many of his fans, seem to think he will.

AFAIK we ARE having an interesting conversation about Kanye - and about his music, and there was no mandate to separate the two to begin with. Sorry if the conversation isn't framed the way you'd like, but thems the breaks when it's a community conversation.

Stitch on 26/2/2016 at 21:56

Quote Posted by Brethren

Yeah, "Facts" is great, although I could do without the Bill Cosby line (as well as the associated twitter post, which starts to bring us into "troublesome Kanye" territory). Still, it combines nicely with the more melancholic, housey "Fade" to wrap up the album on a great note.

I could take a few more songs like "Facts" and "Fade" and a few less like "30 Hours" and "No More Parties In LA," personally (although my lukewarm take on "Parties" definitely puts me in the minority).