Contemporary Review: Malibu - Anderson .Paak
8.2/10, Worth Checking Out
Background: I actually enjoy the music of My Chemical Romance. Now, while I am admitting embarrassing truths about myself, I really do not know much about Anderson .Paak's background. The singer/songwriter/rapper/multi-instrumentalist burst onto the scene a while back on Dr. Dre's excellent Compton, taking six features during the album's sixteen song, sixty one minute run time. Luckily/unfortunately for an idiot like me, Google does not know much about the man either, so I cannot be faulted. According to Wikipedia, .Paak (pronounced Pack, not Pock) has been making music since 2011, after he was laid off from his job at a marijuana farm (do pot farms have official layoffs or is it more casual?), leaving him, his wife, and his child homeless. After that, he entered the music industry, releasing a few small projects and drumming for an American Idol contestant. He then released his debut album, Venice, which I admittedly have not heard. The guy just drifted onto the scene, don't blame me. From that album .Paak picked up enough steam to get some features on hip hop's first billionaire's album, which gave him the juice to land a few features on The Documentary 2. Cleverly, .Paak has capitalized on his recent publicity and released his second album, Malibu, earlier in January, striking while the proverbial iron is still hot.
Review: All in all, Anderson .Paak has released an excellent album, although one with a few mistakes. For starters, this album did not need to be sixteen songs and over an hour long. There are very few artists who can pull of an album of that length, and Anderson .Paak is not yet of that echelon. There are a few tracks that could have been pulled or released as bonus material, such as "Your Prime" and "Put Me Thru," to name a couple. They are not bad tracks by any means, but definitely could have been removed in an attempt to streamline the album. Another gripe I have with the record is .Paak's lyrics, which can get a little dicey at times. "Silicon Valley" is a prime example of a fantastic song that suffers from poor lyrics. On this track, .Paak sings an ode to breasts and the organ underneath, but delivers quite a few cringeworthy lyrics while getting there. I absolutely adore the instrumental here, especially the way it builds into that explosive chorus, where .Paak really lets his voice (and the bass) shine. The vocal melody of both the verses and the chorus here is catchy, memorable, and emotional as well. Unfortunately, the lyrical content just is not there. I get what Anderson .Paak is trying to do here, and I am certainly one to believe that there can be no excess of songs written about this particular subject matter, but it just does not work as well as he wants it to work. Perhaps I am just upset that such a brilliant instrumental and excellent song structure can be marred by a few bad lines.
On to the positives of Malibu, and there are many. Perhaps the most commendable is the ease with which .Paak blends influences from other genres. .Paak takes influences from hip hop, classic soul, R&B, funk, pop, and even some classic rock. It is made readily apparent through the mix of genres here, as well as .Paak's superb choice in t-shirts, that .Paak is knowledgeable across an array of genres. .Paak swings from classic soul sounds, such as in "Waterfall" and "Silicon Valley," to the hip hop of "Without You" and "Room In Here" quite deftly. This album is highly reverential of the past, as evidenced by the use of a dozen or so classic soul cliches, but still keeps it modern. I hate to keep coming back to this track, but "Silicon Valley" illustrates this perfectly. The four step build up that leads into the chorus of the song is textbook vintage soul, yet the huge wave of sub-bass that follows it is distinctly modern hip hop flavored. Another interesting old/new dichotomy that appears consistently though the album is between the old-school, live instrumentation and the modern lyrics and delivery. Anderson .Paak's lyrical content and method of vocal expression is distinctly influenced by modern rapping and indie music, which contrasts nicely with the homage-heavy beats. .Paak sings in a high, nasal register, a more modern quality, yet has more than enough smooth undertones and raspy beauty to rank his voice up there with the classics.
.Paak's strengths include his sense of melody (see "Celebrate" and "The Bird") and his ability to create a blend of genres that flows together to create a unique yet familiar hybrid. This album has been receiving a pretty large amount of critical acclaim, and for good reason. .Paak is quite skilled at what he does, and that is undeniable. There are a few flaws in his method, but they are more irritants and trivialities than major, glaring flaws. With a little work, more focus, and a few more interesting features (I love Schoolboy Q, but man he dropped the ball here), .Paak might some day be worthy of the ridiculous To Pimp A Butterfly comparison Pitchfork dropped in their glowing review of this album.
HIGHPOINTS: "Silicon Valley" "Celebrate" "The Bird" "Room In Here"
LOWPOINTS: "Put Me Thru" "Your Prime"
RECOMMENDED ALBUMS: Voodoo - D'Angelo, Donuts - J. Dilla, Wildheart - Miguel, Channel Orange - Frank Ocean
No comments:
Post a Comment