The ArchAndroid

This whole album is the equivalent of a vast and sprawling musical jukebox. Newcomer Atlanta based Janelle Monae is the antidote to those of you who are thinking of giving up on Prince. True the squiggly purple one may have a great album left in him but how long must we wait for him to release it? Archandroid displays the sort of ambition which was once common place from truly BIG STARS. You know the type, those whose ambition created ego's which barely fitted in a small stadium but whose talent was equally humongous and left you standing gawping like the wide mouth frog at the sheer audacity of it all. "Archandroid" is an album packed chock full of songs all of which could be Number 1 over seven continents and has so much verve Richard Ashcroft should hand his band name back and be thankful that he was able to borrow it for a while. We even have an alter ego at play in this album namely Cindi Mayweather who is "an alien/messiah from outerspace in year 2719 and on the run from cyborgs after falling for a mere human". Yes of of course its utter silliness and completely preposterous but who gives a damn when the music is this good. Thus the album starts off with a sci fi orchestrated piece entitled Suite 11 Overture as you do in any good concept album and then explodes into the huge Grace Jones style dance workout "Dance or die feat Saul Williams.

"Violent stars happy hunting" from Monae's previous EP "Metropolis" is the best song Outkast never recorded and here again Big Boi from the Atlanta funsters is all over this album like a rash. Check out for example "Tightrope" which might just stir the hardest working man in show business from his grave, and you can almost hear a groan of self satisfaction from James Brown as the horns come in and this retro funk monster rolls out. I readily admit as a poor white boy I did awful impression of Robin Williams dancing to "I got you" in Good Morning Vietnam to this. Check it out on Letterman and watch a new star explode in front of your eyes with her trademark Mary Jane shoes, black and white uniform, and bouffant hairdo.

This album is huge and across its 18 songs pristine songs you get a pot pourri of brilliance. The highlights are the aforementioned Tightrope, the poptastic "Cold War", the lovely acoustic hymnal ballad "57821" featuring Deep Cotton that sounds like Espers plus the intriguing "Make the bus" featuring Georgian Baroque pop wonders "Of Montreal". Finally check out the heavy funk metal of "Come alive" using the same riff from the Arctic Monkeys "Brianstorm" while "Oh Maker" sounds like Karen Carpenter sings the Smiths. The whole thing ends with the multi-sectioned eight minute plus anthem "Bebopbyeya" and frankly by concluding here I have barely touched the sides in describing the scale of originality and ambition on this album. It has so much variety it demands a separate Royal Command performance with the Queen and that notorious funk lover Prince Charles would undoubtedly get down with the kids on this!

As you can guess it is easy to get lost for words in the wonders of this stunning debut. This is without doubt, no contest, no compromise, no debate, the greatest soul, funk, pop album since Outkast's "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below", do I need to say more?

I only approached this album after reading the very positive reviews on Any Decent Music? & I'm not someone who would usually like an artist with roots in R&B/Hip-hop, (I like classic rock albums) but Janelle Monae's stunning voice combined with her musical creativity and quirkiness all add up to a totally refreshing pop album which puts the likes of Lady Gaga and similar 'style over substance' poseurs to shame.

Admittedly for the un-initiated, the unusual move of classical leading into rap on "Dance or Die" might make you wondering what you've got yourself into. By the time you get to "Locked Inside", which smacks of MJ's Off The Wall, you'll be totally sucked into the rhythm. It's not all catchy beats though, there's sixties style ballads (Sir Greenhorn) Folk (57821) Funk (Tightrope) Rock (Come Alive) and just plain weirdness, (Neon Gumbo, Make The Bus). Each new track takes you in an unexpected direction, keeping even the lengthy 18 track disc feeling fresh all the way through. Repeated listens just add to the enjoyment, and you'll find yourself appreciating the uniqueness of each track.

Keeping this all together is the richly textured and varied voice of Monae, sometimes soulful, sometimes powerful, sometimes screeching like a rock chick, and at one point hilariously parodying her squeaky voiced pop contemporaries in the song "Wondaland"

If I was to garner one criticism it's that Monae is sometimes too eager to take a backseat for her support acts. No more obvious is this than on "Make The Bus," a song which has all the correct musical elements to work, but you keep waiting for Janelle to snatch the microphone out of Of Montreal's hands and take control, but it never comes.

Truly refreshing from start to finish, The Archandroid is the perfect antidote for those music lovers disillusioned with the modern pop charts. For those who aren't, it's time to find out what you've been missing.

Urggh.

You know when you've experienced something so good, nothing in that category seems to matter anymore? Well this album just outright kills the competition. My god, I don't understand how an album can tempt me back for another listen from beginning to end like this one can. This album has had glittering praise from countless websites, bloggers and publications, so I don't really know how to say what hasn't already been said.

For me, this album takes you on a musical trip... Forgive the throw-away drug reference, but it really does. Ms Monae manages to conduct a colourful cacophony of everything that is right with music, but at the same time doesn't just try and opt for the 'now' sound. You can tell that she is a musical scholar and that she has studied the teachings of Bowie, Jackson, J. Brown, Carpenter and countless others and made this beautiful intrepetation of the their sounds and aesthetics. Another thing, in this day, it's so hard to find a solid-complete album, not just an artist releasing a collection of singles and fillers that don't really have any correlation with one another (Gaga, I'm looking at you). This is how a pop album, concept or otherwise, should be made.

I was thinking of breaking down each song and stating which were my favourites but that is pointless as it's THAT hard to chose, with the exception of 'Start the Bus' featuring Of Montreal, which is only really let down because Janelle seems to be slightly held back by her collaborators, but that does by no means equate to it being a bad song, just inferior to the ludicrous heights set buy the ones that surround it.

I'm caught it two minds, I like the fact that I'm one of only a handful of people that know of this album and that makes it feel all-the-more personal to me, but this girl deserves every dollar and accolade that comes her way, because afterall, this album is sickeningly good and I would even go as far as to say it's a classic.

Buy now.