(Jive)
RECOMMENDED
Good thing I don't impose a minimum word count on these reviews, because I've got no idea how to expound about Idlewild. During the new release drought of December and January, I try to tackle the last albums some of my favorite acts issued prior to my starting this blog, and for whatever reason when I think of "the last OutKast album" I invariably think of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below and this novel semi-soundtrack thing completely slips my mind, until a hunt through my playlists and folders alerts me to its existence and I remember the two and a half times I listened to it many years ago.
It's a good enough record, but there's a reason it doesn't seem like a proper OutKast LP even though it is: the whole thing just sounds too damn easy for them. It's slightly off-kilter funk-hop with tinges of genre melt from all over the place, tackling the Depression, showtunes, jazz, hard rock sheer surrealism, etc. The songs are lovably weird, some of them irritatingly so with their repetitive sledghammer hooks, and Big Boi and Dre are as charming and funny as ever, but nothing really sticks, as much fun as the sprawling seventy-minute (too damn long, admittedly) disc is to listen to. In the end its primary contribution to the world may be its introduction of Janelle Monae, who sizzles on her pair of appearances, and while it's easily outlasted the film of the same name in the cultural memory, it smacks of side project pretension. But if you're tuned in to OutKast's general aesthetic, you'll undoubtedly find this a delightful if extremely slight romp, its backward-looking stylistic exercises not nearly as fascinating as their less guarded material but expert and easy to like all the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment