Thursday, December 19, 2002
more new records I'm spinning 'round these days:
+justin timberlake's "cry me a river" is, while not as immediate, even better than "like I love you." apparently, this is what timbaland did with the future shit he didn't use on missy's album. I'm nearly intimidated by all of the sounds on "river," from operatic crooning to j.t.'s beatboxing (mixed in so appallingly well, it takes a while to separate it from the rhythm track) to all sorts of odd synth tones (is that a crow noise in the chorus??). say what you might about justin relying on superproducers, but he knows exactly what he's doing. and what he's doing is breaking away from the pelloton, and showing the rest how it's done.
+"hit the freeway," I'd feared, was going to be toni braxton doing another ill-advised r-and-b-with-rap-interlude track. I needn't've worried. sly and slinky, this is one gorgeous mother of a kiss-off. "freeway," featuring loon and pharrell - who actually accent rather than detract (all pharrell has to do is sing "so hit the freeway!" in his nasty falsetto and play puffy here and there) - is a herky-jerky neptunes track (what isn't these days?), in which the rhythm is usurped by a cut-up string snatch. toni sounds as lovely as she looks, which is to say, halle watch your back. quite yummy.
+billy's back! zwan's "honestly" isn't earth-shattering - but it's quite good. it honestly (sorry) sounds kinda like prime pumpkins, circa melon collie and the infinite sadness, with a bit of gish thrown in on the triple-guitar threat. if that's not good enough for you, I'd suggest you look elsewhere for your guitar-bass-drums fix. zwan's album promises some surprises, and I look forward to unwrapping 'em.
+justin timberlake's "cry me a river" is, while not as immediate, even better than "like I love you." apparently, this is what timbaland did with the future shit he didn't use on missy's album. I'm nearly intimidated by all of the sounds on "river," from operatic crooning to j.t.'s beatboxing (mixed in so appallingly well, it takes a while to separate it from the rhythm track) to all sorts of odd synth tones (is that a crow noise in the chorus??). say what you might about justin relying on superproducers, but he knows exactly what he's doing. and what he's doing is breaking away from the pelloton, and showing the rest how it's done.
+"hit the freeway," I'd feared, was going to be toni braxton doing another ill-advised r-and-b-with-rap-interlude track. I needn't've worried. sly and slinky, this is one gorgeous mother of a kiss-off. "freeway," featuring loon and pharrell - who actually accent rather than detract (all pharrell has to do is sing "so hit the freeway!" in his nasty falsetto and play puffy here and there) - is a herky-jerky neptunes track (what isn't these days?), in which the rhythm is usurped by a cut-up string snatch. toni sounds as lovely as she looks, which is to say, halle watch your back. quite yummy.
+billy's back! zwan's "honestly" isn't earth-shattering - but it's quite good. it honestly (sorry) sounds kinda like prime pumpkins, circa melon collie and the infinite sadness, with a bit of gish thrown in on the triple-guitar threat. if that's not good enough for you, I'd suggest you look elsewhere for your guitar-bass-drums fix. zwan's album promises some surprises, and I look forward to unwrapping 'em.
# posted by Thomas : 6:31 PM
