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assumerguide: Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (I of V) Twittering media mogul and fashion intern turned rapper Kanye West outdoes himself with this five-CD set, a hip-hopera with more rings (and more bling) than even O.G., Richard Wagner, could muster. For the first act, ‘Ye We’ goes for exposition: the king has been killed and there are now pundits in the kingdom watching the throne. Intrigue builds as a certain young prince from the ‘West’ returns. But is he only dreaming of turning his twisted his dark fantasies of “Power” into reality? Or a reality show? Megalomaniacal beats and studio sorcery abound. A- Andy Beta relaunched the Assumer Guide, in which he gives albums the Christgau treatment based on their covers! Yay!! This is brilliant! Click for high-res photo

assumerguide:

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (I of V)

Twittering media mogul and fashion intern turned rapper Kanye West outdoes himself with this five-CD set, a hip-hopera with more rings (and more bling) than even O.G., Richard Wagner, could muster. For the first act, ‘Ye We’ goes for exposition: the king has been killed and there are now pundits in the kingdom watching the throne. Intrigue builds as a certain young prince from the ‘West’ returns. But is he only dreaming of turning his twisted his dark fantasies of “Power” into reality? Or a reality show? Megalomaniacal beats and studio sorcery abound. A-

Andy Beta relaunched the Assumer Guide, in which he gives albums the Christgau treatment based on their covers! Yay!!

This is brilliant!

(via maura)

“
This is a failure. The tunes make (Lennon-McCartney’s) “Across the Universe” sound like a melodic highlight, and although the amalgam of English hard rock and Philly soul is so thin it’s interesting, it often overwhelms David’s voice, which is even thinner. But after the total alienation of Diamond Dogs and the total ripoff of David Live, I’m pleased with Bowie’s renewed generosity of spirit—he takes pains to simulate compassion and risks failure simply by moving on. His reward is two successes: the title tune, in which pain stimulates compassion, and (Bowie-Lennon-Alomar’s) “Fame,” which rhymes with pain and makes you believe it.
Robert Christgau on Bowie’s soul excursion Young Americans.
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In which a man who has always turned his genuine if unendearing talent for image manipulation to the service of his dubious literary and theatrical gifts evolves from harmless kitsch into pernicious sensationalism. Despite two good songs and some thoughtful (if unhummable) rock sonorities, this is doomsday purveyed from a pleasure dome. Message: eat, snort, and be pervy, for tomorrow we shall be peoploids—but tonight how about buying this piece of plastic? Say nay.
Robert Christgau on Bowie’s Diamond Dogs
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In its own way, this is audacious stuff right down to the stubborn wispiness of its sound, and Bowie’s actorly intonations add humor and shades of meaning to the words. Which are often witty and rarely precious, offering an unusually candid and detailed vantage on the rock star’s world. Admittedly, for a long time I wondered who cared, besides lost kids for whom such access feels like privilege. The answer is, someone like Bowie—a middlebrow fascinated by the power of a highbrow-lowbrow form.

Robert Christgau on Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders of Mars

(I think I’m going to keep posting all these Christgau reviews of Bowie - they’re all gold!)

My 125 Favourite ’90s Hip-Hop Albums

#125 Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of…

“Now I see the importance of history / Why people be in the mess that they be / Many journeys to freedom made in vain / By brothers on the corner playin’ ghetto games / I ask you Lord why you enlightened me / Without the enlightenment of all my folks / He said because I set myself on a quest for truth / And he was there to quench my thirst / But I am still thirsty…”

I’m beginning this sprawling list with an album most people have probably forgotten - somewhat unjustifiably. The main problem with this album (if you can put up with the smug didacticism that appears pretty frequently - check out the quote above to see what I mean - then again, I love Public Enemy enough to know that preachiness isn’t always a bad thing) is that two tracks, ‘Tennessee’ and ‘Mr. Wendal’ totally overshadow everything else on it. The album is an entirely pleasant one; unfortunately, pleasant isn’t always enough, sometimes a listener needs his or her attention grabbed.

Arrested Development appear to be completely humourless, which sets them apart (negatively) from the Native Tongues (Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, etc.) contemporaries whose style they bear the most resemblance to. Lighten up guys! Anyway, if you haven’t heard this album, it’s worth doing so, or at least listen to the singles. Just don’t let anyone tell you that this was where rap peaked - because they’re fucking tasteless idiots if that’s what they think - this is The Unforgettable Fire of hip-hop; two great singles, and a whole lot of ‘tasteful’, pleasant filler to help cure your insomnia.

White rock critic were all over this - it came first in the Pazz and Jop Poll for goodness’ sake! Although if I remember correctly Christgau was sensible to note how dull the album is in his editorial for that year. I guess it confirms once again that white rockists are always happy to enjoy a bit of politically-correct, non-threatening black nationalism.

Anyway, despite all of my snark, it’s actually a really good, severely underrated (these days anyway) album.

“
I find side one’s seven “fragments”—since the two that clock in at less than 2:45 are 1:42 and 2:20, the term must refer to structures rather than length—almost as powerful as the “overlong” tracks on Station to Station. “Such a wonderful person/But you got problems” is definitely a love lyric for our time. But most of the movie music on side two is so far from hypnotic that I figure Bowie, rather than Eno, must deserve credit for it. I mean, is Eno really completely fascinated by banality?
Robert Christgau reviews Bowie’s Low
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As experience dampens enthusiasm, they find fewer great choruses than great lines — “Every girl I ever kissed I was thinking of a pro footballer,” for instance
Robert Christgau on Los Campesinos!
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Remember the immortal words of Chuck Berry: beware of middlebrows bearing electric guitars.
Robert Christgau
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Their minimalism is so contained that as you warm against your better judgment to the well-spaced notes, subtle depth charges, and ostinato hooks with which they couch their gentle cool, you figure that the matched female-and-male drawls the music sets off will prove unworthy of further commitment. But soon you learn that these two Southwest London 20-year-olds — to leave out their ancillary and now departed guitarist and crucial but probably not generative young producer-drummer — aren’t being minimal to prove they’re any shade of cool. It’s more like they’re being minimal because they’re shy.
Robert Christgau reviews The xx