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.