After everything you've no doubt heard about this record, the first piece of advice I can give you is to approach it with an open mind. No, Kanye is not rapping all over this shit. He only really raps twice by my count. This is also not even close to party music. It's not a very fun album. Kanye etches morbid on several tracks on this album, and even the positive tracks are slower, sappier, and more emotionally revealing than any of his other work.
Kanye used the vocoder on every track on here. It sounds good at first, but after so many minutes of listening to it, it quickly becomes a hinderance and makes this much less enjoyable than it could have been.
But is it bad? No. Once again, as long as you keep an open mind, you'll be sure to find something to enjoy... just don't expect rapping. This cd has subdued beats and moody strings and keys. Not something to get down to at the clubs.
Approach this CD ready for anything and you will be ready to enjoy strange, but finely crafted songs like "Say You Will", the downbeat, depressing opener or the lastest single "Heartless". "Love Lockdown" is ultra-hypnotic and its vocal line stays inside you long after you listen to it. "Paranoid" features the kicking rhythm section and peppy synths that made "American Boy" a hit and it's the only song where Vokanye does not grate on my eardrums.
But the greatest song on here is track 2, "Welcome To Heartbreak" which features Kid Cudi singing, as opposed to Vokanye (what I will now call Kanye on this album since all he does is sing through the vocoder) The chorus is an infectious cry for help ("and my head keeps spinning/I can't stop having these visions/I gotta get wid' it") that meshes perfectly with the verses, which have Kanye spewing out regret after regret over a driving beat. It's during this kind of experimentation that the album thrives.
But all the experimentation in the world can't save the filler that plagues this disk. "Robocop" is shmaltzy, silly, and embarassing. "Amazing" is anything but what the title implies. "See You in my Knightmares" has potential, but is ruined by a terrible guest rap by Lil Wayne.
This whole album was pretty much a hastily put together experiment. Sure there are moments of brilliance, but they are cancelled out by the fillerish tracks and some of the annoying vocals. I would reccomend downloading "Say You Will", "Paranoid", "Welcome To Heartbreak", "Love Lockdown" and "Bad News" which closes the album as effectively as "Say You Will" opens it.
C+
shmaltzy? where'd you get that word, Wisconsin? haha
the only altered vocals i like are on No Quarter by Led Zeppelin and Cedric from the Mars Volta, but maybe TMV uses it a little excessively for my tastes. but what's worst is the synth vox on KDWB and B96 that remind me of stephen hawking lolol
You're probably thinking of auto-tune.
Don't diss shmaltzy. It's legit.