The Life of Pablo
I think this review from The New Yorker provides a solid background and examination of Kanye West’s latest album, The Life of Pablo. I wouldn’t say I am the biggest fan of Kanye, but I typically like his music and I think his new album is a stark contrast from Yeezus in that it will be received in a positive light by the mainstream.
While Yeezus was clean and almost minimal with its limited number of elements at once, TLOP is messier and rougher around the edges (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I think). Pitchfork’s review describes the album’s presentation with pinpoint accuracy: “[It] feels like Kanye ran across town to deliver a half-wrapped gift to a group birthday party to which he was 10 minutes late.”
But _TLOP _also brings a loose, joyful energy that is unique to Kanye’s discography. In that same Pitchfork review, Jayson Greene describes the qualities of the new album’s production:
“After years of agonizing over how to follow up the conceptually triumphant 808s & Heartbreak, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Yeezus, he seems to have settled upon eternal flux as a resting place, and the album plays like Kanye might still be remixing it furiously in your headphones while you listen.”
“Ultralight Beam” is a clear highlight on this release for me. The empty spaces in the track are just as important as the musical notes because they emphasize and bring out the gorgeous sounds. There is a religious nature to the track, too, because of the actual gospel choir—which is pretty remarkable! To top it all off, Chance The Rapper brings an effortlessly amazing verse to the song.
I think a parallel can made about these empty spaces if you compare “Ultralight Beam” to another completely different, non-hip-hop artist, Rostam. Rostam’s “EOS” includes a choir, too, but the sounds are carved from the emptiness. Although “EOS” isn’t gospel or religious in nature, it’s very cool to see two very different artists using similar musical production.
The FADER’s review of The Life of Pablo includes another interesting point to end on:
“Maybe TLOP’s release was an epically disorganized failure, but maybe it was also, to borrow a phrase of Kanye’s, a paradigm shift. Maybe future overlaps between fashion and music will be more intentional. Maybe albums will be released in beta and then patched up, tweaked via software updates like our favorite apps are.”
Stream _The Life of Pablo _on TIDAL (sigh).