Comments on: Kanye

By: byron

byron — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:36:00 +0000

IAN,

Jay-Z singing Wonderwall WAS A BIG JOKE. Jay-Z isn’t a singer and doesn’t pretend to be. For some reason you think that’s worse that someone who can’t sing pretending that they can.

By: ian

ian — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:41:00 +0000

Or maybe, just maybe, Kanye is simply over-rated and we’re finally starting to see him out of his depth. Terrifying? I haven’t heard the album, but “Love Lockdown” just seems like a self-indulgent disaster to me. You have to be a great singer indeed to take risks like John Lennon did in songs like “Mother” and not make it come off as ludicrous. I’ll give Kanye this, though: at least he’s heart-on-his-sleeve sincere. He doesn’t act like singing’s a big joke like the more macho hip-hoppers do (think of Jay-Z butchering “Wonderwall” at Glastonbury). Hmm, come to think of it, maybe Kanye should take some songwriting tips from Noel Gallagher for his next project…

By: Culprititus

Culprititus — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:57:00 +0000

Kayne is a strange thing. The comparison to Warhol seems moderately applicable with one caveat. He is more Warhol using Photoshop filters. A sort of Warhol-fan trying to act is a similar style without much awareness to the meaning of the context. Maybe his future work will actually become experimentally aware instead of merely accident-inspired.

By: Bryan-Mitchell

Bryan-Mitchell — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:09:00 +0000

I think Kanye is well on his way to Michael Jackson and Howard Hughes-style weirdness (except for maybe the stuff about little boys). He’s just getting weirder and weirder and it is kind of fascinating to watch the car crash as it happens.

By: marathonpacks

marathonpacks — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:25:00 +0000

No, not at all. I think his selective use of Auto-Tune, instead of a blanket use like T-Pain (which is just like Zapp & Roger), or a subtle one-off use like, I dunno Cher, is what makes Kanye's version so compelling. It's sort of the vocal equivalent of including studio chatter or tape-hiss or bum notes or stuff, but b/c it's the voice, and b/c it's in a context where we're otherwise conditioned to expect perfection, it’s weird enough to draw attention to itself, and our perceptions.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:06:00 +0000

Isn’t it ironic to call out “indie types” on irony?

I’m willing to buy the argument that he’s deliberately trying to fuck with people’s preconceived ideas of what key a voice should be in, but my question then is: why use the auto-tune on record, the purpose of which is to “correct” off-key singing? Doesn’t that defeat the point of the artistic statement?

By: marathonpacks

marathonpacks — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 03:06:00 +0000

related: am i wrong in thinking that it's way, way ironic for indier-than-thou types to get all high and mighty about kanye's vocal chops?

Well, he's no Panda Bear, Maura.

By: maura

maura — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:57:00 +0000

yes, yes, a million times yes. this is why i find him so captivating right now. (although i will say that his performance worked better in the context of friday night’s jingle ball in nyc — at the world’s most famous arena, in hyperlarge — than it did on tv. the small screen and poor mixing (again!) did him few favors, while the blown-out volume of the arena show both negated his imperfections and amplified them to something superhuman.)

related: am i wrong in thinking that it’s way, way ironic for indier-than-thou types to get all high and mighty about kanye’s vocal chops?

By: pete

pete — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:39:00 +0000

kanye’s singing is obviously painful live. you’re right. but i’m loving the record.

all i kept thinking throughout his performance was “turn the autotune to ELEVEN!”