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#1 SONG OF THE DECADE|Kang. his trill ass...
Member Since: 12/14/2011
Posts: 21,274
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Member Since: 12/14/2011
Posts: 21,274
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10. Drake Take Care
/2011
Playing every angle fitting of the "bitch I made it" new order rap-game ascendant, but serving surprise double duty as our (then)-best + bluntest new order R&B crooner.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/2/2011
Posts: 21,728
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Great start
I got more out of Nothing Was The Same but Take Care is soooo good too.
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Member Since: 12/14/2011
Posts: 21,274
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9. Robyn Body Talk
/2010
There's some cuts she could afford to have made, in favor of superior tracks from her preceeding EPs, but taken as a whole probably the most effectively streamlined pop full-length I've had the pleasure of listening to.
POOR 1989 (not really)!
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Member Since: 12/14/2011
Posts: 21,274
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8. Kanye West Yeezus
/2013
Quote:
Originally posted by Kang.
It's all in the title. If My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was the intentional masterpiece, a pained retreat from and grand re-entrance into the eye of the public, then this is the soul-searcher — ~40 minutes of song pulled together by a team of 40+, and there's no topic on anyone's mind throughout that isn't KANYE. It's June of 2013 and our hero is soon to be married, with child #1(? hmmm) on the way. He's long past looking to conform for or reconcile with the world at large – the album's (deceptively catchy) hooks are buried far beneath a sea of exotic abrasion, and a Parkinson's joke 44 seconds into the opening track goes against a horrifyingly self-centered reappropriation of Nina Simone's lynching anthem "Strange Fruit" for the title of Least Culturally Sensitive Moment here. I could interpret Send It Up's "Tight dress dancing close to him/ Yeezus just rose again" as a sign that the name of the album comes in sole reference to Ye's penis, fueling the purely id-driven rage that's on full display here, but it doesn't really matter. There's a big "throw-everything-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks" mentality going on, and as Yeezus would have it, the end result comes out real sticky.
Because this is The Future, synths everywhere, and the lightning quick ones such as on I Am a God and On Sight combine with the murkier vibes of tracks like Guilt Trip and Hold My Liquor to make for a slightly impenetrable first listen. But there's warmth in places too; the vibey reggae toward the end of (****ing BANGER) Send It Up {"MemoRIES.../ they'll always 'memba you"} leading into back-to-basics Kardashian Prom Night bump Bound 2 is a prime example. Kanye has gotten criticism since the album's release regarding his repurposing of already existing underground-ish trends that make up a lot of Yeezus's core sound, but the way I see it, what he's doing here is more like rewarding his committed listeners. What became the fastest selling release mainstream hip hop had seen in 2 years was also by far its most experimental. Yeezus isn't simple, and it for sure isn't for everyone, but it's also nothing short of boundary pushing, and it came to us in era when hip hop was (still is) in need of such more than ever.
So is there a hidden message waiting in its shadows for only the most careful listeners to unravel? I would say the answer to that is a resounding #KANYESHRUG, but what we get in place is a lot of fun, surely more than on either of the two solo albums that came before it. New Slaves as a political discourse is a load of ********, but as a LITERAL audio realization of a classic live Kanye rant, it's a full-out masterpiece. For all the slimy ways that one Blood on the Leaves sample should make a truly good person feel, damn if those beat drops lifted from the other one doesn't get the floor jumping (dj was playing on the night-before-my-bday-night, WHILE the clock rolled over past 12, AND... ). Right around the halfway point, drunk super-sulking transitions into sex of the freakiest order — doing so totally devoid of ANY kind of winking self-awareness — in a way that should make you just take a step back and laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. It's a big ass contradiction, the most Kanye of Kanye albums — the man pushing himself maybe to his limit only to circle back into borderline mindlessness. If this world he's created for himself is a "hellish" one, as some have described it, then I'm really all the way down for a one-way to hell.
I ****ing love Kanye, man
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/2/2011
Posts: 21,728
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Not really a fan of Robyn but I suppose she's worth another try!
Love your writeup for Yeezus Its a great album for sure.
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Member Since: 11/20/2010
Posts: 29,258
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Wow, really great review.
I love all of the Top 10 so far.
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Member Since: 12/14/2011
Posts: 21,274
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7. D'Angelo and the Vanguard Black Messiah
/2014
Quote:
Originally posted by Kang.
D'Angelo is the man responsible for what on some days is my favorite album of all time, Voodoo, but after that masterpiece's 2000 release, dude stayed real quiet punctuated only by some worrying legal troubles and changes in appearance. Although he took up the stage again back in 2012 or so, he had basically become an Azealia Banks situation for me where I was pretty set that I was never getting new D'Angelo music ever again. Maybe he was in the same camp too, but inspired by a tough year back home for race relations, he unleashed his long-in progress third album Black Messiah on the world mid-December, Beyoncé style, sending every R&B lover scrambling to rearrange their year-end lists. Black Messiah's timely subject matter definitely stands out, and tracks both confrontational ("1000 Deaths") and pensive ("The Charade"; "Till It's Done") packed enough power to really take me back and make me think about our world's issues in a slightly different way.
D'Angelo the Loverman though is still out in full force, and there are plenty of gorgeous moments as well as light-hearted ones on the album where we get to hear the MASTER doing what he does better than possibly anyone else alive today. Maybe the most impressive thing on display here is the sheer musicality; every single track is immediately enjoyable and easy to listen to (although for the first time I would recommend a read-along with a lyrics sheet), but also at times stunningly layered and complex -- I know I'm still finding new little kicks in each track that keep me coming back to the whole thing. The album came out of nowhere still less than a month ago, and it can be dangerous to jump to conclusions on short notice, but after letting it take over my life I'm more sure than ever that this is peak D'Angelo, and that beyond its timeliness, it's absolutely stacked with rock solid classic material. Maybe 5 years from now I'll be able to look back and acknowledge that Black Messiah was easily the best 2014 album release, but right now it's definitely earned its place fighting for top pick.
In "Another Life" things might be easier, but I'm still glad I live in this one where D'Angelo is releasing music again.
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Member Since: 12/14/2011
Posts: 21,274
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6. Lykke Li I Never Learn
/2014
Quote:
Originally posted by Kang.
Wasn't really sad a lot in 2014, but doesn't matter because there was no better form of escapism and catharsis all year for me than Lykke Li's devastating breakup suite. Every song on I Never Learn hits on a different (chronological) stage of the separation process, so by the time we come to the end of the ninth and final track "Sleeping Alone" and its kinda-maybe-a-chance-of-starting-to-heal-now phase initiation, there hasn't been any repetition or any filler. I love that this created a sense of momentum on the album, and let each song carve out its own unique identity on the track listing and in MY HEART. It is such a bleak listen — if you're looking for cheeriness, you should go to her first record! — but in the absence of any real optimism, in my opinion the back-and-forth between pained ballads and crushing midtempos proves for a very satisfying release of energy. Kind of like how 30 minutes into a bad situation things may not be any better than they were to start, but at least you've cried yourself out.
All the sadness though should be a turn off at all, not when the music is so pretty. So many of the melodies here are just perfect; the production work is gorgeously done as well and in my mind conjures some very appropriate imagery of empty, desolate landscapes to accompany the subject matter. The first single "No Rest for the Wicked" initially hit me as an alright middle of the road Lykke Li song, but as it's grown on me I've realized that Lykke is rocking a sound right now that no one else can really call their own. She's matured leaps and bounds with each consecutive release, and that's cool to me. I Never Learn was never the super tough listen for me that some people found it, but even so I promise there's so much comfort to be found in it beneath the exterior. And I can see that lasting in ME personally for the rest of my life.
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Member Since: 12/14/2011
Posts: 21,274
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Member Since: 12/14/2011
Posts: 21,274
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5. Run the Jewels Run the Jewels 2
/2014
Quote:
Originally posted by Kang.
Destroy me. Really. No other album this year made me feel like I was being pummeled with a bulldozer in quite the same way as RTJ2. Coming something like 15 months after RTJ1, an album that did everything it set out to do extremely well, this is one of those sequels that comes harder, aims darker, and just succeeds on a level significantly above that of its little brother. The synergy between El-P and OutKast affiliate Killer Mike is again just insane; they're playing off each other's strengths in ways that create a lot of entertaining parallels between their verses on any given song. It's hard to say they're still getting better at rappers 15-20 years into their respective careers, but they definitely sound sharper now than on the previous album, delivering longer verses that match more effectively to the now more DIVERSE yet PUMMELING beats that provide the foundation for the songs here. They carry 9 songs on the standard edition pretty much all by themselves, but I need to give credit to the featured rappers on the other 2; Zach De La Rocha's () frantic and paranoid 'let's stage a prison riot' act on "Close Your Eyes (and Count to ****)" and Gangsta Boo's INSTANTLY LEGENDARY, hook-twisting 'what did she just say??' FEMINIST TAKEOVER of the raw as **** "Love Again (Akinyele Back)" both do a lot to spice up and mix some color into the affair.
So the thing comes BOOMING out your speakers dripping with charisma; that's already all we could have asked for, but there are moments where it even rises above. "Early," a team effort with Beyoncé producer BOOTS, is totally chilling, Mike and El taking turns describing spontaneous acts of police violence gone tragically wrong. Like pretty much on Black Messiah it was supposedly recorded even before most of the big related U.S. news items this year reached their climaxes, which is sad on a couple levels, but just listen to the way Killer Mike describes his family members in the heat of the moment: " my beautiful son”; "my gorgeous queen." That's a sense of humanity often lacking from the most otherwise powerful political music. Then in the horrific ending to the fictional events of that verse comes up another emotion that wasn't present on Run the Jewels #1: RAGE. This album plays ****ing awesome, but in addition it was the the only release this year that made me as a human being feel like I could pick up a bulldozer and throw it at The Man, and for that it gets to sit at the top.
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Member Since: 11/20/2010
Posts: 29,258
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I Never Learn is my favorite album of last year.
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Member Since: 12/14/2011
Posts: 21,274
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Quote:
Originally posted by Allstar
I Never Learn is my favorite album of last year.
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Omg
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/2/2011
Posts: 21,728
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I feel like I really underrated I Never Learn, its definitely an amazing album.
I only heard D'angelo once but it was really really great, feels like such an important album, very happy to see him get such great recognition for it.
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Member Since: 12/14/2011
Posts: 21,274
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4. Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City
/2013
Their first 2 albums (though awesome) to some might have come off a little ~twee, so when changes had to be made, the band got tighter, weightier, and prettier.
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Member Since: 11/20/2010
Posts: 29,258
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Well you knowwwww..
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Member Since: 12/14/2011
Posts: 21,274
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3. St. Vincent Strange Mercy
/2011
Surprise, bitch! Annie Clark reached a peak of both welcoming and emotional aloofness at the same time, on an album packed with color, personality, mystery, and out of this world catchy guitar riffs. ~Art rock truthfully has never sounded better.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/2/2011
Posts: 21,728
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Strange Mercy is stunning, its like the best album of all time!
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Member Since: 12/14/2011
Posts: 21,274
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2. Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city
/2012
I'll say it -- no rapper has ever started out BETTER than this: encompassing technical skill, charisma, emotional pull, musical and stylistic breadth. A day[/couple years] in the life over the course of a little more than an hour, and we come out feeling smarter, stronger, and more accomplished for it.
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Member Since: 11/20/2010
Posts: 29,258
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omggg love this album so much
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