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Janelle Monae - The Archandroid

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S

Scribble

Member
This deserves a thread, to be quite honest.

nzki9g.jpg


Listen to it on Janelle Monae's Myspace.
 (And buy it!)

Release: May 18th (US) July 12th (UK)


Tracklist:

1. "Suite II Overture" – 2:31
2. "Dance or Die" featuring Saul Williams – 3:12
3. "Faster" – 3:19
4. "Locked Inside" – 4:16
5. "Sir Greendown" – 2:14
6. "Cold War" – 3:23
7. "Tightrope" featuring Big Boi – 4:22
8. "Neon Gumbo" – 1:37
9. "Oh, Maker" – 3:46
10. "Come Alive (The War of the Roses)" – 3:22
11. "Mushrooms & Roses" – 5:42
12. "Suite III Overture" – 1:41
13. "Neon Valley Street" – 4:11
14. "Make The Bus" featuring of Montreal – 3:19
15. "Wondaland" – 3:36
16. "57821" featuring Deep Cotton – 3:16
17. "Say You’ll Go" – 6:01
18. "BabopbyeYa" – 8:47
Click to expand...


And the press hyperbole (Wiki):

Pitchfork Media writer Matthew Perpetua praised The ArchAndroid's musical ambition and called it "about as bold as mainstream music gets, marrying the world-building possibilities of the concept album to the big tent genre-mutating pop of Michael Jackson and Prince in their prime". He commended the album for "style hopping" without "compromising quality or cohesion" and cited André 3000's The Love Below (2003) as "its most recent antecedent"
Click to expand...


Comparing it to singer Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989), Mock described The ArchAndroid as "a smothered funk, though perhaps at times too thick, too inaccessible, but not so much I didn't want to shake my ass" and viewed it as musically progressive, stating "Monáe has given pop music its first Toni Morrison moment, where fantasy, funk, and the ancestors come together for an experience that evolves one's soul... You really don't know whether you want to diagram it, dance to it, or just be dumbstruck. It owes as much to Parliament-Funkadelic as it does to Samuel Delaney and Octavia Butler. She is finally doing what a number of artists—particularly black artists—have not been able to do in years, and that's move pop music forward".
Click to expand...
 
K

Kyuuketsu_Night

Member
Bought it yesterday!

Still need to give it a couple more listens. Surprised to say that my dad likes her. He thinks she's unique but a bit weird. He def didn't like the second half of the album as it was too slow/weird haha. To some extent I agree but, as I said, I need to give it some more listens :D

Everyone needs to hear this album.
 
S

sefskillz

shitting in the alley outside your window
need to give it more listens, but cold war and tightrope are hot. make the bus too. still dunno how you grab saul williams for a track and barely use him though

does anyone else get a nellie mckay vibe off some of the early tracks? tracks 3 and 4 iirc
 
J

JCX

Member
I've listened to it twice through completely. Very good album. My favorite tracks are Cold War, Tightrope, Dance or Die/Faster/Locked Inside (feels more like one big song to me).

I still like the first Suite (Metropolis) more than 2 or 3.

Buy this album, people.
 
P

Pinko Marx

Banned
I don't use this term often, but Janelle Monae is mai waifu. Shes soooooooo fucking beautiful, it almost brings tears to my eyes. And the fact that shes so goddamn talented only adds to me adoration.
janelle-monae.jpg

It pains me that I'll probably never have a girl like her.
/sigh
 
S

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
1. "Suite II Overture" – 2:31
2. "Dance or Die" featuring Saul Williams – 3:12
3. "Faster" – 3:19
4. "Locked Inside" – 4:16
5. "Sir Greendown" – 2:14
6. "Cold War" – 3:23
7. "Tightrope" featuring Big Boi – 4:22
8. "Neon Gumbo" – 1:37
9. "Oh, Maker" – 3:46
10. "Come Alive (The War of the Roses)" – 3:22
11. "Mushrooms & Roses" – 5:42
12. "Suite III Overture" – 1:41
13. "Neon Valley Street" – 4:11
14. "Make The Bus" featuring of Montreal – 3:19
15. "Wondaland" – 3:36
16. "57821" featuring Deep Cotton – 3:16
17. "Say You’ll Go" – 6:01
18. "BabopbyeYa" – 8:47
Click to expand...
Those are my faves. The rest might grow on me but some of it was pretty far out there.
 
M

mambadragon

Banned
Pinko Marx said:
I don't use this term often, but Janelle Monae is mai waifu. Shes soooooooo fucking beautiful, it almost brings tears to my eyes. And the fact that shes so goddamn talented only adds to me adoration.
It pains me that I'll probably never have a girl like her.
/sigh
Click to expand...

I came to this thread to say how much I like the album, but after reading this post I'm going to back away slowly. Yikes.
 
S

soco

Member
Fladam said:
This is THE song of the summer.

I really hope it becomes a hit. I can't decide whether she's James Brown, 10-year-old Michael Jackson, or Sammy Davis Jr. reincarnated. She might be all three.
Click to expand...

it was the song of about two months ago, and it didn't seem to pick up, which is a shame.

i got the album on release, and there's some really good songs on it. Cold War, Tight Rope, and there's one or two others that immediately stuck with me.
 
S

soultron

Banned
Damned good artist. I owe Hip Hop GAF for first exposing me to her when her first album dropped. Look forward to giving this one a listen.
 
A

Aaronology

Member
Aw, no love for "Oh, Maker"? Easily my favorite of her's so far and what sold me on the album. Cold War is a close second.
 
A

akilshohen

Member
I can't get enough of the whole CD. Been listening to it non stop. Can you believe this girl signed with Bad Boy Records? I'm still in awe the CD came out, been listening to her since the first suite came out. I must say, the best songs are when she is totally speaking from the perspective of Cindy Mayweather
You MUST head Violet Happy Hunting Stars if you like this CD.

Oh, look for "The audition" on Youtube....it's considered her first album. Although you cant find it in iTunes.
 
J

JayPsych

Neo Member
Awsome album, have been playing it all week. I love the Oukast, Prince, James Brown vibe going on. Pretty surprising for a Bad Boy record.
 
B

Beezy

Member
Bad Boy has no involvement with her music, just distribution, advertising, etc. The music is all her and the Wondaland group. Diddy has said many times that he just wants them to do whatever they want. Best thing that he's done in a while.
 
Majmun

Majmun

Member
How can she not have any more fans?

This is one of the best pop cd's of the last few decades imo.

18 tracks, and only two or three tracks are decent. The rest is absolutely brilliant. More people need to discover real music like this.

She's so much better than GAGA.
 
J

JCX

Member
Second said:
How can she not have any more fans?

This is one of the best pop cd's of the last few decades imo.

18 tracks, and only two or three tracks are decent. The rest is absolutely brilliant. More people need to discover real music like this.

She's so much better than GAGA.
Click to expand...

If you made a thread with gaga in the title, it would probably be three pages easily.


Zzoram said:
She is so good, her marketing people need to push her harder.
Click to expand...

She's been on some talk shows and has been opening for Erykah Badu and MGMT. I think she'll catch more steam if she gets nominated for best new artist at the grammy's and performs there.

I also think "Cold War" is a better summer song that "Tightrope", so hopefully she releases that soon. She's shooting a video for CW and a Tightrope remix with Lupe Fiasco and B.o.B.
 
D

duderon

rollin' in the gutter
I love this album. I thought she would have trouble surpassing the EP, but she did it with ease.
 
D

Davidion

Member
I'm listening to this on Grooveshark and yes, there are a quite of strong tracks. The first couple of singles are actually kinda meddling compared to some of the other tracks. There's surprising amounts of diversity here as well.

A bit hooked on Wondaland right now; the whole album sounds pretty cohesive as far as I've heard.
 
S

Suairyu

Banned
Huh. Just listened to the thing on myspace and decide to buy, but I can't tell if it had an actual UK release. HMV (where it is a high £16) and Amazon (where it is second hand only) have listings for it, but no album artwork.

EDIT - Gah, just read the OP over again. Quite how I missed the July 12th release I don't know. Too transfixed by her aural brilliance.
 
D

Davidion

Member
Been going through the album a few more times, and the overall cohesion of her ideas are becoming easier and easier to make sense of.

A really, really strong album, this is. While I thought all the images she tried to push made some of her straight up funk songs suffer a little, it works wonders if you're looking at her songs together as a body more diverse.

I don't think I've heard something that covers all bases from vocal talent to genre diversity to cohesion so well come out of pop music in years.
 
C

Clevinger

Member
Pinko Marx said:
Shes soooooooo fucking beautiful, it almost brings tears to my eyes. And the fact that shes so goddamn talented only adds to me adoration.
Click to expand...

She's really pretty, but god damn that hair style is atrocious.
 
S

Scribble

Member
I think with that hairstyle she's trying to push that she's a different kind of black woman.
If she had her hair natural and 'nappy' she'd be seen as a 'soul sista' type and if she had straight hair she might be seen as another 'commercial pop-RnB girl' type. This is what I'm assuming, anyway.

Admittedly, I haven't listened to the album much recently. I'm like this, though. Still, I maintain that Faster is the best song on the album. And then Tightrope.

Apparently, I missed out on her London show. Small venue, so sold out in a matter of hours. Found out a day after they went on sale. D'oh!
 
B

Beezy

Member
Locked Inside > Faster > Dance or Die

Each builds up into a better song. I can play those three over and over all day.
 
S

Scribble

Member
Beezy said:
Locked Inside > Faster > Dance or Die

Each builds up into a better song. I can play those three over and over all day.
Click to expand...

Mm yeah. Yeah yeah. Yeah yeah yeah.

I'm running. I'm runnin I'm runnin runnin runniiiing
I'm shakin' like. Shakin' like a schizo!
Electric sheep, mm, all over my feet.
They dancin dancin dancin in the window
My heart beats, and it beats for only you
And it's kickin like a kick kick drum
Am I a freak? Huh, am I a freak?
Or just another little weeeeirdo? yeah.
Call me weak, or better yet you can call me (You can call me weak)
You can call me your heeeroo, baby.
 
B

Beezy

Member
I'm locked inside
A land called foolish pride
Where the man is always right
He hates to talk but loves to fight
Is that all right?

On real cold days
He loans us lots of hate
But he says that we must pay
To take it all away
Is that okay?

But I'm asking you will you stay with me
In this land where we are free
And I know it's rough
And you've had enough
But one day we'll be happy
 
Majmun

Majmun

Member
Wu-Gambino said:
Best album I heard this year
Click to expand...

It's my favorite pop album of the century, so far. "pop" isn't even the right term for this awesome music.

My favorite tracks are the ballads. "57821", "Oh maker", "Say you'll Go" and "Sir Greendown" all give me chills. The girl can write such beautiful poetry. The faster tracks are also very inspiring and uplifting.

And is there a more epic ending track than "BaBopByeYa"?
Nope.
The song sounds like 5 genres put into one song. So amazing.

This whole Cindy Mayweather and Anthony Greendown lovestory should be made into a musical. :lol
The forbidden android-human love is a great metaphor for our current struggles in love . (gay love- interracial love etc.)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfwNy12Znp4

Dat lyrics. The song somehow reminds me of a Stevie Wonder track. And Debussy's Claire de Lune playing during the ending. Plus the vintage vocals. <3 <3
 
M

mrmyth

Member
I can't get "Faster" out of my head. It might finally knock down "Empire Ants" for supremacy in my most played list. Shit, "Dance or Die", "Faster", "Locked Inside" are almost too much awesome at once. You usually find the hot shit spread out across the album.

For some reason her music reminds me of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, only sped up.
 
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