Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Henry Ford and Howard Hughes. AKA, Kanye West

The week in ADM

Andrew Nicholson tries to survive the madness that is Kanye West week

It's hard to tell if this week at ADM has been one of genius, madness, weirdness or self indulgence. Or all four. Yes indeed, it has been Kanye West week. Yeezus follows 2010's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, currently fourth on our all time top 10, which confirmed West's place as one of the more - ahem - "interesting" artists around.

So does Yeezus confirm West as a total genius or totally insane in the eyes of the critics? Pretty Much Amazing started their review by pointing out that West has recently compared himself to Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, Nicolas Ghesquière, Anna Wintour and David Stern. Crazy 1, Genius 0.

Slant homed in on the part of the record in which he goes beyond comparison and declares that he IS God. Another point for crazy. A lot of our sources pick up on West's repeated references to doing bad things to well-off white ladies. Obsessive psychopath or genius polemicist? We can't really tell any more.

Whichever side wins in the genius vs lunatic debate, there is agreement that the big thing about Yeezus is what it means for modern music as a whole. No Ripcord sincerely suggest that "when Yeezus is inevitably considered successful, radio could go on to sound a lot different than it does now". Entertainment.ie feel that West is "one of few remaining superstars".

In the end, Pretty Much Amazing were happy to award a 10/10 despite the Jobs/Disney/Ford business. They explain that Kanye might not be Steven Jobs reincarnate, but in his mind he's up there with (and above) Michael Jackson and the Beatles and the important point seems to be that he dares to believe these things and this is reflected in his music.

Elsewhere, anonymous UK producer Zomby has thrown a 33-track double CD at us. Just in case his anonymity is ever in doubt, Mr Z frequently appears sporting one of those V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes masks. According to Wikipedia, Time Warner own the rights to the image and receive a licensing fee for the sale of every mask. Cool way to stick it to the man, bro.

Nonetheless, the reviews suggest that the man is more than just a masked publicity stunt. The Skinny think that the one-time maverick is losing his edge, and the likes of Fact aren't too chuffed with the self-indulgent track count, but overall the record is sitting at a respectable 7.3.

Also attracting critical interest is oOoOO. Chris Dexter has no sympathy for those trying to Google-search his latest project, let alone those trying to pronounce it. (Is it, like, "ooooooooh"? Or just "oh!". Or "oo"?) Unlike his moniker, his music is to be taken seriously. The Skinny award a 10/10, citing the otherworldly "menacing atmospherics". The 405 award an 8.5/10 on the basis that the record is "bitter, twisted, and utterly brilliant".

One last bit of crazy that came to our attention this week concerned the debut LP from San Franciscan psych-rockers Lumerians, The High Frontier. The record has only had three reviews so far, but we should see some more when it gets released in the US in August.

Bowlegs feel that it's the sort of record that prevents the world from feeling two dimensional. The band suggest that their video for "The Bloom" is best viewed through 3D glasses. ADM tested this using an old computer monitor and a set of kids-sized 3D specs left over from the cinema. Results were underwhelming, but maybe that's due to a technical fault.

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