Look West for Howard

MUSIC: THE GOOD AND INDIFFERENT IN THE NEWEST RELEASES

Genius or idiot? You pick Kanye West – Ye Hip Hop/Rap Released by: Good music Released:

01.06.2018 Tracks: 7

Critic: Kanye West is either a genius at manipulating mass media or an idiot who has no control over the words that come out of his mouth, depending on who you believe. He’s also a rapper and musician, a fact which may have been a bit overshadowed lately – and he’s back with Ye, an album featuring only seven tracks. Before hearing it I feared the worst – two free songs released by West lately did not set the bar high. The one,

Lift Yourself, was an elaborate poop joke in which he

refused to rap, the other a colab with TI called Ye vs the People, which was an unsuccessful attempt to explain the bizarre turn his politics has taken. Compared to those two tracks,

Ye is a relief. The music is incredible as always, the gospel-influenced beats of his earlier albums fusing with the theatrical grandeur of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (MBDTF) without veering into the harsh experimentation of Yeesuz. The lyrics – dealing mainly with his mental health and the monumental highs and crashing lows of being bipolar – are more substantial than on Life

of Pablo but nowhere near on a par with his best work. Bits like, “I don’t take advice from people less successful than me” and “I love your titties because they prove I can focus on two things at once” show he does still have punchlines. This is a solid album that I’ll be playing a lot, but it’s not the classic he needed. If he wanted to turn those doubters into believers he needed something to rival classics like

MBDTF and Late Registration.

What am I missing? AKA – Touch My Blood

Hip Hop/Rap Released by: Beam group Expected release:

15.06.2018 Tracks: 16

Critic: AKA is back, but you probably know that already. He has been telling the world about it, loudly. And Touch My Blood has already been declared a classic by his biggest fans, himself included. There’s so much hype that I find myself listening over and over again to try and work out what I’m missing. He delivers a slick product. His technical skill and showmanship are not up for debate. But even in a genre where flossing and projecting success is not only allowed but expected, Super Mega lays it on uncomfortably thick. Over 17 tracks, AKA tells us how well he’s doing, confronts issues with his exes (Bonang Matheba and DJ Zinhle) and tells the haters how little he cares about them. This is allegedly his last album and I’m ok with that. AKA has nothing to say but ‘I’m a success’ until I start questioning if he’s trying to convince not only the listener but himself. Which is strange, because he is a winner to die-hard fans who don’t expect anything more from him than he’s already delivering. This is someone who, as he says on Caiphus Song, ‘never gave a f**k about opinions’, and so I’m sure he won’t care about mine.

Get lost in the music Ben Howard – Noonday Dream

Alternative/Indie Released by: Universal-Island Records Ltd Expected release: 01.06.2018 Tracks: 8

Critic: I learned about Ben Howard at a good time. One of my favourite genres – chilled, hipster singer-songwriter stuff – was starting to wear thin. I needed a new soundtrack for when I’m feeling whistful and melancholic. Ben Howard fits the bill perfectly. His first album, Every Kingdom, was a masterful debut, winning him Mercury Prize nominations and Brit Awards, and his second album, I Forget Where We Were, was more sonically daring if not as solid. On Noonday Dream, his third album, he takes experimentation to a higher level and delivers a better finished product. This record does bask in a selfindulgence that would make Sufjan Stevens, with his 25 min-long songs, proud. There is a lot of musical meandering, the songs washing over you and taking their time to reach a peak. Except for in one or two cases, it works. This is an album I would describe as the opposite of focussed, but the blurred edges seem deliberate. Even though it’s a bit of a mess, it’s a beautiful one. Noonday Dream is an album you can get lost in and I don’t want to be found any time soon.

Solid album I’ll be playing, but not the classic he needed.