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14232949 · 08-09-2013, 05:23 PM

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Moderator cut: image removed

I can remember the very details of the first time I listened to this album. It was the summer of 2011, a sunday. During that time period every sunday I'd get on a bus and travel to professional wrestling training. The walk from the bus station to the building on the out-of-town industrial estate was a good hour or so and since I had started journeying that route a couple months earlier, about the time I signed up for Music Banter I'd take the time to listen to an album or so.

Music Banter was my first music website, it for me was an introduction to a whole new world of music. I had never been one to read online reviews of music, nor was I one of those unbearable scenester fuckers with their critically acclaimed albums lists, I was for lack of a better word a music noob. I didn't know such a world existed.
I wasn't acquainted with sub genres of sub genres and I didn't have a wide spectrum of tracks on my mobile phone out of whatever was in the Top 40 or ChartShowTV.
At that time, believe it or not just over two years ago, I lacked any great basis of musical knowledge or depth. I couldn't have told you the difference between My Bloody Valentine and Bullet for My Valentine, between My Chemical Romance and The Chemical Brothers. Two of the four bands, I listened to regularly on my CD player as a younger teen, I'll let you guess which two.
(If that makes you take my opinions/views on music less seriously, whatever I'm not trying to put on the music veteran front.)

However, after being on Music Banter for a couple months and being broken in a little to the vast array of wonderful music I had yet discovered out there, I started to expand both as an active member here and a music lover. This brings me to that long trek to wrestling training on that sunny sunday.

Everytime I hit play, the album immediately commands my attention. I feel as if Kanye West is questioning himself, perhaps an unstable and insecure individual who desperately seeks the gratitude and praise his soul seems to deeply crave. Does this make him egomaniacal? That is for ones interpretation. I don't think Kanye is all that he portrays. I think in the wake of the larger than life character, is a man deprived of true self worth. A man whose antics and outlandish musical style speak more for a want of trying to convince others he is as good as his actions would imply. I believe deep down, he's trying to live up to his own expectations. The ludicrously high standards he sets for himself.

The powerful vocals asking whether or not 'we can get much higher' in my mind is Kanye asking himself if he is truly capable of building on his past efforts and creating work of an even higher quality. Whether he is capable of truly making a "classic" album (I fucking hate that term)
His albums introduction sets the tone for what's to come; grand sweeping music full of life and layered with flawless production, the ultimate utilization of guest spots and an undeniably unique charm. Not once does it let up throughout the rest of the record.

Track after track manages to seamlessly craft memorable and catchy hooks with instrumentals that compliment the vocals both in verses and in choruses. The production is able to be flexible and bend itself to playing to both Kanye's strengths as a performing artist, emphasizing on key lines and words as well as every artist who features in some capacity on MBDTF. From echoing Kid Cudi's laid back vocals to make them more emphatic in 'Gorgeous' to making Nicki Minaj sound less like a Weird Al Yankovic side-project and more like a legitimate hip-hop artist.

The thing that is perhaps most apparent about this album is each tracks individual importance. Each song exudes an emotion and revels in it from the defiant blood pumping 'Power' to the defeated and passive aggressive nature of 'Blame Game'
Each track is unmistakeably unique and has enough pull to bring it to the forefront of your attention. An album so incredibly diverse with a wall of sound so audibly pleasing that you can't help but he brought into its world. Everything has its place and its purpose with Kanye the conductor swaying his stick (or whatever a conductor has in his hand) to and fro. I don't think this is evident more so than in the perfectly orchestrated intro to 'All of The Lights'. Kanye manages to fit every little aspect into his tracks perfectly, one can only imagine the amount of hours/days/months he spent mastering producing and mastering this record. The structure is undeniably genius in its execution.

When I read through the track list before I hit play on my Ipod that sunday, I was apprehensive, there were frequent features from artists I just don't like, and still don't. Nicki Minaj, Bon Iver and Rick Ross (ok, maybe I like him a little for novelty value) and I felt that their influence would make the album suck. However Kanye has an uncanny ability to bring the best out of those who he collaborates with, with each one of those artists I mentioned in fact not detracting to the product but adding their own styles to enhance it. Kanye is able to take the usually disgustingly irritating Minaj and squeeze what potential artist integrity she has deep down out of her and add that to the album, that takes something special to do.

Kanye may get a lot of flak from the music elitists regarding his lyrics. He rarely touches upon important issues nor uses pretentious multi-syllable and rhetoric language. In fact, Kanye more often than not keeps things so basic that at times they don't even make much sense due to their simplicity, but that's his style. His trademark. Whether or not you consider him to be a philanthropic words smith his lyrics are commonly quoted for their memorability and character. His lyrics are very much like the image West portrays for himself; outspoken, provocative and colourful. In this album, which appeals to no niche and rather a large spectrum of potential music lovers he manages to channel enough style, personality and substance lyrically, instrumentally and artistically to break down the walls modern music society has built between those who enjoy mainstream chart singles and those who enjoy obscure post-rock wankfests. Perhaps the albums broad horizons and appeal were the reason it resonated so much with me when I first heard it.

So, I've made the walk through both industry and nature to the Urban Disturbance Gym, where wrestling training was held. The guy who ran classes there had an issue with timekeeping, the issue being frequent lateness. It appears on that day that the other guys did to. I sat on an old tyre in the front yard of the mechanics the next unit over and thought to myself, "this is really good" with the sun beating down on my face. It didn't matter how long I was left locked out of the building waiting on someone arriving with a key because I found myself so engrossed in My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy that it didn't bother me. I was actually disappointed when they did eventually turn up because I was enjoying listening to the record that much.

Something about this record just speaks to me. The individuality and nature of this album which rolls around majestically in its own glory just makes me feel surreal. To many others it may not be as articulate as some other record they heard, but to me even though it isn't presented always in the most intelligent nor pretentious manner I fall for every track and what it is trying to convey. Blame Game is one of the few songs that sometimes brings a tear to my eye because I get so emotionally invested in it. However if one were to analyse Kanye's lyrics in it they could make a mockery of the tracks ridiculousness. I just get so involved with this album that I shut off those filters that care about lyrical depth and get transported into West's Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and like him or not any artist who is capable to create such a vision through their music is entitled to the ego they may well possess. Not to mention Lost In The World is like one of the greatest tracks of all time. OF ALL TIME.

Sorry if this was an incoherent rambling mess that didn't explain anything, I worked from 8.30 to 7.30 with a 10 minute break today. I'm pretty tired. Peace.

08-09-2013, 05:23 PM	#9 (permalink)
14232949 The Big Dog Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Scotland Posts: 1,989	Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Moderator cut: image removed I can remember the very details of the first time I listened to this album. It was the summer of 2011, a sunday. During that time period every sunday I'd get on a bus and travel to professional wrestling training. The walk from the bus station to the building on the out-of-town industrial estate was a good hour or so and since I had started journeying that route a couple months earlier, about the time I signed up for Music Banter I'd take the time to listen to an album or so. Music Banter was my first music website, it for me was an introduction to a whole new world of music. I had never been one to read online reviews of music, nor was I one of those unbearable scenester fuckers with their critically acclaimed albums lists, I was for lack of a better word a music noob. I didn't know such a world existed. I wasn't acquainted with sub genres of sub genres and I didn't have a wide spectrum of tracks on my mobile phone out of whatever was in the Top 40 or ChartShowTV. At that time, believe it or not just over two years ago, I lacked any great basis of musical knowledge or depth. I couldn't have told you the difference between My Bloody Valentine and Bullet for My Valentine, between My Chemical Romance and The Chemical Brothers. Two of the four bands, I listened to regularly on my CD player as a younger teen, I'll let you guess which two. (If that makes you take my opinions/views on music less seriously, whatever I'm not trying to put on the music veteran front.) However, after being on Music Banter for a couple months and being broken in a little to the vast array of wonderful music I had yet discovered out there, I started to expand both as an active member here and a music lover. This brings me to that long trek to wrestling training on that sunny sunday. Everytime I hit play, the album immediately commands my attention. I feel as if Kanye West is questioning himself, perhaps an unstable and insecure individual who desperately seeks the gratitude and praise his soul seems to deeply crave. Does this make him egomaniacal? That is for ones interpretation. I don't think Kanye is all that he portrays. I think in the wake of the larger than life character, is a man deprived of true self worth. A man whose antics and outlandish musical style speak more for a want of trying to convince others he is as good as his actions would imply. I believe deep down, he's trying to live up to his own expectations. The ludicrously high standards he sets for himself. The powerful vocals asking whether or not 'we can get much higher' in my mind is Kanye asking himself if he is truly capable of building on his past efforts and creating work of an even higher quality. Whether he is capable of truly making a "classic" album (I fucking hate that term) His albums introduction sets the tone for what's to come; grand sweeping music full of life and layered with flawless production, the ultimate utilization of guest spots and an undeniably unique charm. Not once does it let up throughout the rest of the record. Track after track manages to seamlessly craft memorable and catchy hooks with instrumentals that compliment the vocals both in verses and in choruses. The production is able to be flexible and bend itself to playing to both Kanye's strengths as a performing artist, emphasizing on key lines and words as well as every artist who features in some capacity on MBDTF. From echoing Kid Cudi's laid back vocals to make them more emphatic in 'Gorgeous' to making Nicki Minaj sound less like a Weird Al Yankovic side-project and more like a legitimate hip-hop artist. The thing that is perhaps most apparent about this album is each tracks individual importance. Each song exudes an emotion and revels in it from the defiant blood pumping 'Power' to the defeated and passive aggressive nature of 'Blame Game' Each track is unmistakeably unique and has enough pull to bring it to the forefront of your attention. An album so incredibly diverse with a wall of sound so audibly pleasing that you can't help but he brought into its world. Everything has its place and its purpose with Kanye the conductor swaying his stick (or whatever a conductor has in his hand) to and fro. I don't think this is evident more so than in the perfectly orchestrated intro to 'All of The Lights'. Kanye manages to fit every little aspect into his tracks perfectly, one can only imagine the amount of hours/days/months he spent mastering producing and mastering this record. The structure is undeniably genius in its execution. When I read through the track list before I hit play on my Ipod that sunday, I was apprehensive, there were frequent features from artists I just don't like, and still don't. Nicki Minaj, Bon Iver and Rick Ross (ok, maybe I like him a little for novelty value) and I felt that their influence would make the album suck. However Kanye has an uncanny ability to bring the best out of those who he collaborates with, with each one of those artists I mentioned in fact not detracting to the product but adding their own styles to enhance it. Kanye is able to take the usually disgustingly irritating Minaj and squeeze what potential artist integrity she has deep down out of her and add that to the album, that takes something special to do. Kanye may get a lot of flak from the music elitists regarding his lyrics. He rarely touches upon important issues nor uses pretentious multi-syllable and rhetoric language. In fact, Kanye more often than not keeps things so basic that at times they don't even make much sense due to their simplicity, but that's his style. His trademark. Whether or not you consider him to be a philanthropic words smith his lyrics are commonly quoted for their memorability and character. His lyrics are very much like the image West portrays for himself; outspoken, provocative and colourful. In this album, which appeals to no niche and rather a large spectrum of potential music lovers he manages to channel enough style, personality and substance lyrically, instrumentally and artistically to break down the walls modern music society has built between those who enjoy mainstream chart singles and those who enjoy obscure post-rock wankfests. Perhaps the albums broad horizons and appeal were the reason it resonated so much with me when I first heard it. So, I've made the walk through both industry and nature to the Urban Disturbance Gym, where wrestling training was held. The guy who ran classes there had an issue with timekeeping, the issue being frequent lateness. It appears on that day that the other guys did to. I sat on an old tyre in the front yard of the mechanics the next unit over and thought to myself, "this is really good" with the sun beating down on my face. It didn't matter how long I was left locked out of the building waiting on someone arriving with a key because I found myself so engrossed in My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy that it didn't bother me. I was actually disappointed when they did eventually turn up because I was enjoying listening to the record that much. Something about this record just speaks to me. The individuality and nature of this album which rolls around majestically in its own glory just makes me feel surreal. To many others it may not be as articulate as some other record they heard, but to me even though it isn't presented always in the most intelligent nor pretentious manner I fall for every track and what it is trying to convey. Blame Game is one of the few songs that sometimes brings a tear to my eye because I get so emotionally invested in it. However if one were to analyse Kanye's lyrics in it they could make a mockery of the tracks ridiculousness. I just get so involved with this album that I shut off those filters that care about lyrical depth and get transported into West's Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and like him or not any artist who is capable to create such a vision through their music is entitled to the ego they may well possess. Not to mention Lost In The World is like one of the greatest tracks of all time. OF ALL TIME. Sorry if this was an incoherent rambling mess that didn't explain anything, I worked from 8.30 to 7.30 with a 10 minute break today. I'm pretty tired. Peace.