808s & Heartbreak

I bought this hoping for a bit of a move on from the patchy Graduation. Well this is totally different. There is absolutely no doubt that Kanye West is a man of extraordinary talent. Whilst I thought he was an excellent producer he had slipped into a bit of a rut, tied to using the same (speeded up) samples and beats. He even did this when he produced other people's albums (Talib Kweli's Quality, Common's Be, etc). This was fine but I thought he might have shot his bolt, got pigeon-holed, good as he undoubtedly was. He tried to do something a bit different with Graduation, using more electronica and dance rather than jazz and funk samples. However, I felt he missed somewhat. There was also the problem that he was no more than a competent rapper, not bad (like say 50 Cent) but hardly Nas or Guru.

Anyway then I got hold of this excellent album. It was very different from the previous albums and proved me totally wrong. He is more than capable of reinventing his sound and also a strong singer in a more traiditional sense. This might be termed as more R&B in the modern sense of the word, a sort of soul-hip-hop fusion. Kanye seems to have written genuine music rather than constructing from samples and whilst it still has much of his trademark style it is an exciting new direction. It kicks off with a dramatic swirl of synthesisers and grows as it goes.

The subject matter is clearly his recent unfortunate past. Bereavement is there but the absolutely dominating factor is break-up. The title somewhat gives this away, but the sense of despondency and gloom hangs over the whole thing. This is absolutely a break-up album in the old-fashioned sense. He is not vulgar enough to give specifics of his own life but every song is about cruel women, cheating women, a life bereft of relationship and meaning (Welcome to Heartbreak talks graphically about how his friend discusses his kids and he is left only with the empty trappings of wealth). The whole album is shot through with a streak of bitterness a mile wide! Mind you that's no bad thing as it lends it an almost ethereal air of melancholy, which is cleverly built up with very spare music, produced on a synthesiser, not the samples and layered beats he is known for.

The only criticism I would level at this album is that the musical simplicity is too much, in that the whole album has a sameness of sound that emerges as it goes on. At first it seems different in style, but a listen to the whole thing brings the inevitable feeling of monotony. This is as much a product of the negative and miserable tone coupled with the simple instrumentation as it is of anything else. This is, however, a minor concern, since this feeling doesn't come til near the end. Listening from the start is a pretty bleak but moving and strangely entertaining proposition.

Let's hope he experiments and shoots ahead of the competition next time too!

Kanye's fourth studio album is one that will certaintly spilt opinion. Coming on the back of an impressive back catelogue (including the College Dropout and Graduation) and ego to match, we couldn't expect anything less from Mr West

The first single (Love lockdown) will lead to some fans thinking kanye has fallen off. Indeed, I was dubious of purchasing this album myself. However, Lovelockdown, in the context of the album, sits perfectly.

Some would say that the fact that each track on the album had to feature 808 drum patterns and the 'autotune' feature could lead to a 'car crash' of an album. Having listened to the album for a day straight... I disagree with this statement.

My standout tracks are: Welcome to heartbreak, Heartless, Amazing, Love lockdown and paranoid.

Essentially, this album is still great for me because Kanye has the ability to drop lines like "....my friend showed me pictures of his kids, and all i could show him were pictures of my cribs..."

this is 'hip hop' but not in the way we know it.. kanye has done pushed the boundries of hip hop...

well done kanye.

I am a huge Kanye West fan. Seen him twice in concert and love all his albums and regard him as a shining example of all that is right with hip hop. But is this a hip hop album? Hard to say, he claims it is pop so maybe by his own admission this is no longer in the genre. Here are some comments from someone who heard the whole album first:

SAY YOU WILL - 4/5 - lyrically focused and shows that this auto-tune will work well. It is about an ex girlfriend some the sounds of it claiming "I still fantasize about you". There is a long outro to the song but it remains very listenable. There is a choir sound to it with minimal production and a great opener for the album

WELCOME TO HEARTBREAK - 4/5 - long cello to sopen the song followed by drumming and piano. The song reminds me of a soundtrack to something which I can't recall. The song considers Kanye's life versus his friends with lines like "friend showed me a picture of his kids, i showed him pictures of my cribs, showed me his daughter's report card, I showed him some sport cars" - Rather introspective song with Kanye asking where he went wrong.

HEARTLESS - 5/5 - This is a great song with an amazing video concept. The pace picks the album up. Definite chest popper. It is one of two songs on the album which sound closest to Kanye rapping again. It is a very addictive song. One of my favourites on the album.

AMAZING - 4/5 - lots of drums and 'clicking' - you'll have to listen to know what i mean - the autotune here is a little deeper than on previous tracks like Welcome to Heartbreak. there is this 'woo' which sounds very black rob or timbaland. A great long pause before introducing young JEezy whose gravely voice suits the song well. You would have thought he was in autotune as well!

LOVE LOCKDOWN - 5/5 - What can I say that you don't already know? Great video. The way the song paces in and out between choruses keeps you interested. The distortion for system overload. Piano, heartbeat of the 808. The tribal drums throughout the song that take over at the end with howling. This song still sounds rather gospel to me in its roots and exemplifies Kanye's ability as a producer. A+.

PARANOID - 3/5 - I am not a big fan of the 80s which is why I may not like this song as much as others but it is an accomplished track with synthesiers and again rather conventional rap like in some places. You would have thought this was genuine 80s pop otherwise.

ROBOCOP - 4/5 - There is this crashing sound and cocophany of noise at the beginning which leads into strings. It talks about a smothering, domineering partner. Transitions between jumpiness and smoothes out in the tempo. Great production by Kanye.

STREET LIGHTS - 4/5 - A lot of distortion in places. Towards the end there are new background vocals. It does sound a little bit like it is a on a loop.

BAD NEWS - 5/5 - Kanye sounds like Nina Simone here which is really interesting. Again tribal drums similar to Love Lockdown. Very strings rich and the 808 sound of the heartbeat. I have heard this is about his mother's death, which would not surprise me.

SEE YOU IN MY KNIGHTMARES - 4/5 - Lil Wayne and Kanye weave in and out of each other with Wayne also on autotune. Very synth sound throughout with strings only appearing towards the end. There is a lot of echo as well and just a few things going on but controlled well enough to make it sound very minimal. Before I think Kanye used to layer sounds where as here they are more lateral if that makes sense. You hear things one after the other instead of one on top of the other.

COLDEST WINTER - 5/5 - This is about the news of his mother's death. A lot of distortion in places and 808 pulses. It is a close, intimate song with the repeated line 'memories made in the coldest winter, goodbye my friend, will i ever love again?'. One of the best songs on the album.

PINNOCHIO SONG - I dont really rate this and I think it is of general interest. I think that the album could have easily ended with Coldest Winter.

This is a spectacular album and you should believe the hype about this. I will be disappointed if Kanye does not return to his usual hip hop music but if this is what is to come from him I cannot be disappointed. This is a necessary addition to your Kanye collection. Once again it sets him out as a daring artist in hip hop where things are becoming mundane. One of the best albums of the year, easy.