Calliope Music Review of the Week
Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign - Vultures 1
The Ultimate Rave of Self-Indulgence: Dancing Mental Destruction For All to See
A variety of digital bass, industrial and synth-work drums, abrasive samples, and grand mixes of piano, synth, and vocal leads make up the majority of instrumentals. Brisk tempos and cavernous reverb place the instruments into a futuristic atmosphere, luxurious, but largely empty and spacious. The production shows flashes of many eras throughout Kanye's career, making for a luring combination of largescale Pop Rap and Experimental Hip-Hop. However, there is little cohesiveness to such manufacturing, as concepts fail to intermingle within tracks, often opting for drastic shifts between songs. Overall, the construction of the record is impressive and quite dance-worthy at times, whilst remaining sporadic or even desolate in its vain environment.
Many fleet-footed progressions are enhanced by the spacious melodies of Ty Dolla $ign and other vocal collaborators. While these refrains reinforce a catchy darkness to opulent instrumentals, the words behind them have little to offer. This is ultimately, the largest theme within the 50 minute album. Where most artists, lyrically, can be given some benefit of the doubt due to adhering to genre tropes, non-malicious irony, or an overall lack of context or intent, that is impossible for the notorious figure of Kanye West. To list all the wrongdoings, controversies, and ignorance shown by Kanye is beyond the scope of this review. In the end, Vultures 1 reflects a truly sad embracement of such messages, poorly masked by rich production and hedonistic indulgence. Almost every verse on the album, aside from Freddie Gibbs' on 'Back to Me,' is flaccid and void of depth and creativity, less the affirmations of controversial statements and confused beliefs. This is all wrapped in the comfort of a venereal motif, easily interpreted as misogyny and prejudice within its context.
However common such themes may be in popular music, they are reinforced through a callous false-virtue, making any honest attempt at listening to the record quite frustrating. Although there are many engrossing and well executed assemblies of striking instrumentation, the record comes off as a profligate party, posed in a disoriented and empty mock-reality.
Best Tracks: Stars -- Paperwork -- Burn -- Fuk Sumn
The Ultimate Rave of Self-Indulgence: Dancing Mental Destruction For All to See
A variety of digital bass, industrial and synth-work drums, abrasive samples, and grand mixes of piano, synth, and vocal leads make up the majority of instrumentals. Brisk tempos and cavernous reverb place the instruments into a futuristic atmosphere, luxurious, but largely empty and spacious. The production shows flashes of many eras throughout Kanye's career, making for a luring combination of largescale Pop Rap and Experimental Hip-Hop. However, there is little cohesiveness to such manufacturing, as concepts fail to intermingle within tracks, often opting for drastic shifts between songs. Overall, the construction of the record is impressive and quite dance-worthy at times, whilst remaining sporadic or even desolate in its vain environment.
Many fleet-footed progressions are enhanced by the spacious melodies of Ty Dolla $ign and other vocal collaborators. While these refrains reinforce a catchy darkness to opulent instrumentals, the words behind them have little to offer. This is ultimately, the largest theme within the 50 minute album. Where most artists, lyrically, can be given some benefit of the doubt due to adhering to genre tropes, non-malicious irony, or an overall lack of context or intent, that is impossible for the notorious figure of Kanye West. To list all the wrongdoings, controversies, and ignorance shown by Kanye is beyond the scope of this review. In the end, Vultures 1 reflects a truly sad embracement of such messages, poorly masked by rich production and hedonistic indulgence. Almost every verse on the album, aside from Freddie Gibbs' on 'Back to Me,' is flaccid and void of depth and creativity, less the affirmations of controversial statements and confused beliefs. This is all wrapped in the comfort of a venereal motif, easily interpreted as misogyny and prejudice within its context.
However common such themes may be in popular music, they are reinforced through a callous false-virtue, making any honest attempt at listening to the record quite frustrating. Although there are many engrossing and well executed assemblies of striking instrumentation, the record comes off as a profligate party, posed in a disoriented and empty mock-reality.
Best Tracks: Stars -- Paperwork -- Burn -- Fuk Sumn
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