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Forum nameThe Lesson Archives
Topic subjectresponse.
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=17&topic_id=174397&mesg_id=174504
174504, response.
Posted by thebigfunk, Wed May-21-14 12:01 PM

>As The Roots have amazingly become the world's greatest house
>band sharing stages with the president & Paul McCartney on
>national TV, it's pretty clear they're not even really trying
>that hard anymore on these LPs.

Problem #1 is here for me: I can completely understand not liking this record, or their last few, and that's fine. But how one can honestly listen to either undun or ATYSYC and think they're "not even really trying that hard anymore" is baffling to me... this screams trying. If anything they might be trying too hard.

More accurate, maybe: they're certainly not trying to record anything approaching either a classic (read: boom bap?) or current popular hip hop sound or aesthetic. They're not interested in it. But the attention to arrangements + production + execution + experimentation exudes hard work. Thought's verses exude hard work. Nothing about this sounds lazy to me.

>Yet Questo, the hardest-working-man-in-show-business, is a
>student of the game and knows what affectations/associations
>will serve to maintain his Metacritic score each time out.
>
>But like an old friend who has to keep it true, it's time to
>admit that we've now been hearing some variation of this same
>blueprint for ten years

>And I won't even get into the records growing increasingly
>darker in content & aggressively more 'difficult' as some sort
>of subconscious antithesis to the crowd-pleasing band you see
>on TV.
>
>What you end up with is skillfully played but somewhat
>ponderous music cloaked in all the accoutrements and murky
>meaningfulness that the critics/certain fans will proudly
>proclaim they like but long-term very few truly love.

Problem #2 is in here somewhere. I really don't hear this stuff as a play for critical attention. For one thing, they're at a point in their career where they'll get critical attention no matter what they drop. They could *actually* "not try" right now and they'd probably get critical love. (With the caveat being that they do, of course, run the risk of being accused of dropping off post-Fallon.) I have no doubt that the guys are aware of their critical status, and that's a factor in their work. But I don't think these records are a chase for praise. They feel far too honest for that, flaws and all.

I always think it's funny when folks project a short-term/long-term delay/denial upon listeners: "you *think* you like it now, but you'll forget it soon." This is always a possibility, but I'm not sure it's one that anyone can predict. It also dismisses the possibility that projects will *grow* over time and take root in a person's life, like the best one's do.

>A month or two after this album when they do a show in New
>York/Philly/LA, the band will be back to playing Next
>Movement, Proceed, backing other artists and closing with You
>Got Me/Seed 2.0.
>
>Short story now 'get a damn blog, Bomb!' long......none of
>this new shit sticks to the ribs.

I sort of agree with this. Might this be more about band/audience relationship than the music itself, though? I think there are more memorable tracks than folks let on (from this, undun, higo). That they don't fit with the old stuff - at least not easily - is probably true, but I'm not sure that this has anything to do with its merit.

>This new album is hopefully the nadir of albums made in this
>style, the sonic/thematic mood is like some sort of dystopian
>Gorillaz record where the rap verses are ancillary, minor keys
>are unrelenting, a few string breaks are interjected, the
>tempos rarely change and the hooks feel like elongated funeral
>dirges that you instantly forget when they mercifully end.
>
>After their umpteenth 'challenging' indie-rock/art-hop album
>in a row, the challenge The Legendary seem least up for taking
>on is attempting to make entertaining music with any degree of
>rap energy or rock danger.

Blah. Which of their records qualify as "indie-rock/art-hop albums"? I might concede that for undun and this one (though with much hesitation, as that phrase is completely non-descript and means pretty much nothing, but I think I catch the drift of it). And I don't hear the verses on either of those records as ancillary at all. In fact, the reduction of verses on this one makes them stand out all the more, which I think is quite smart. I've probably paid more attention to the lyrics on this album than any of their stuff in a while.

As for the monotony of the arrangements, I think it's overstated, but whatever.

>>Hate to be the 'you grandiose motherfuckas don't play the shit
>that they like' type but fuck it, after 20 years of countless
>shows, embarrassing numbers of posts & double-digit automatic
>album purchases I guess I feel like I've earned the right to
>gripe.

After listening to this record a few more times, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say it's their best since Rising Down (which I think is excellent); that's a tentative thought, though, it will probably change over time. Most of the complaints I hear about it seem juvenile to me, and are far more concerned with The Roots not sounding like they did during X period or X album, than any real (substantial) complaint about the quality of the music itself. Little willingness to suspend disbelief and try and absorb it; ample knee-jerk "there are no singles" "not enough Thought" "it's too moody" reactions.

So basically: here we are now, entertain us! Which is pretty depressing, imo. The monologue from TFA is actually quite apt: convincing folks that it might take a different posture, a different approach to engage something as art is a lost cause.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~