I have this image in my head of rubbing a flower on a showering woman's back like it's lotion or something. Petals all wet and mashed, falling apart, pollen stained skin, and the poor girl like "what the...hey, stop that!!!"

NDRU said:

JoeTyler said:

AOA

So what do you think about Artificial Age? We in the thread are a little fuzzy about how you feel about it? You're being so vague and not the least bit redundant.

MugginsXO said:

Won't write a review, but will say "Thank you, Prince!" I love this more than anything he's done in a long, long time. "Gold Standard" is so close to being "crazy amazing!" I love everything but the chorus, which feels a bit lacking. My true obsession is "Way Back Home/Affirmation III." Just so fascinating and beautiful to listen to. My two least favorite tracks are "Breakfast Can Wait" and "Breakdown," which I already heard so the new material did not disappoint. And, don't hate on me, but I love the "Funknroll" on AOA more than the "Funknroll" on PE. I just love it!! That's all.

jillybean said:

And, don't hate on me, but I love the "Funknroll" on AOA more than the "Funknroll" on PE. I just love it!! That's all.

Absolutely... im with you there.

omnithanos said:

dadeepop said:

Hells naw. I rank it in the TOP35 WORST Prince albums of all time.

It's always a contensious issue but I count 46 official Prince albums including compliations, live albums, soundtracks and newpowersoul but not the other associated artist albums.

I accept that. And while I'm posting, just a friendly reminder to everyone that there would be no Affirmation III without Way Back Home.

AOA is #1 PE is #14 on iTunes Worldwide Charts http://kworb.net/aww/

Tremendous accomplishment for Prince and 3rdeyegirl hopefully he knows that his fans support him and are still as active and eager for his music as ever.

Rebeljuice said:

I'm still busy "absorbing" this album a week later.

I'm not sure I can coherently provide my thoughts on each of it's 13 individual parts BUT... as a whole I find this album to be his most cohesive and enjoyable long-player since "Come" which has always occupied a special place in my music library as one of the few albums I enjoy listening to all the way through as opposed to picking out favorite tracks.

TGE and 3121 may have some stronger songs, and I like much of MPLSoUND too, but AOA seems to rise above just about everything else in the last 20 years.

So far I'm loving "AOC", Clouds, Breakdown, U Know, Way Back Home. Least favorites are The Gold Standard and Breakfast Can Wait (they just sound like more of the same old, same old to me...) and What It Feels Like.

It, also, sounds like a very "mature" album. Prince has finally managed to grow out of the rut I think he's been spinning in for a couple of decades. Major points for having the least number of embarrassing moments in a quite a long while, as well.

The "Vanilla Sky" style storyline and narrator work so much better than any other concept album style wankery he's released too. So surprised!

[Edited 10/3/14 21:22pm]

NDRU said:

I have this image in my head of rubbing a flower on a showering woman's back like it's lotion or something. Petals all wet and mashed, falling apart, pollen stained skin, and the poor girl like "what the...hey, stop that!!!"

It's true.

My mind also twists it into "go and get some flour" - which makes it sound like an idea for an annoying frat-boy prank.

JoeTyler said:

babynoz said:

Good 'cuz I got it the first hundred times you wrote it.

AOA is one of Prince's worst albums ever, it must be said several times...

hey Bart

I think we need to also give credit to the unsung hero of AOA: Mr. Joshua Welton. With Josh on board I predict Prince's next album is really going to blow our minds. (If The Excess Space and Revelation are any indication.)

[Edited 10/4/14 7:58am]

JoeTyler said:

therapyisback said:

Hi Joe Tyler, I think I'd like to hear your musical creations, I mean, what would you like to hear Prince make? Maybe your critique is useful, perhaps you've got a throbbing banging one up your sleeve that needs to burst out that the world would really love.

I just want him to release GOOD/EXCITING music again (well, at least since Lotus/20Tten, that is-more than good albums); the 3rd Eye Girl albums decent/enjoyable/interesting, but AOA is just crap, you need to finally face it, you need to accept it, deal with it...

pd: since you're asking, I don't create in the field of music, but I think that's totally irrelevant considering that this is a forum dedicated to the discussion of PRINCE'S music (nobody else's)

you fams NEED to LEARN how to properly bring down a naysayer; pathetic attempts so far...

Let me have a try.

You are not approaching this album correctly.

This is nutty Prince, convinced he's twenty again, and that this is his first album. Not "in years", I mean it in a strict way. And with what play young musicians today? Minimalism ("Time"), wanna-be-universal mashups ("Art Official Cage", which is clearly a spit on Daft Punk's helmets), GarageBand for editing. All defaults to a Joni Mitchell listener, true.

The coda of Funknroll is either the most stupidest use of Eurodance synths and an insult to 1999, or the baddest live studio take he's done in years.
Which brings controversy, which is a sign of a good (or at least interesting) work.
I can see him slapping these chords, keyboard shaking on its stand.
But ultimately it's the scat that transcends it. The 20's scat of the chorus.
Yes, "Cab Calloway" Prince, not "James Brown" Prince. Voices swings over cold-to-death and apparently soulless programming.

This is a cartoon : in the final duel, starring multi-headed shreaking Camille turned Superhero vs. 64 tracks of saw waves pumped at eleven, guess who wins.
I can't remember Prince having so much humour and tongue-in-cheek self-deprecation layed on record since "Movie Star" and "All My Dreams".


But what makes it a masterpiece, in the vein of the greatest "fake" party albums such a Chic's "Risqué" and "There's a Riot Going On" : this albums creeps solitude, modern 2014 despair, disguised under Pharell's cool-groovy attitude, and à la mode effects. This is an album about technology holding man from his place in the world, distracting him from his childhood memories longing.

This is a Science-Fiction album. A Spiritual-Fiction album. Soul spread over dead beats.

[Edited 10/4/14 8:09am]

bonatoc said:

Art Official Cage:4/5

Social commetary. Love it .. Instrumentation is top notch with some serious rhythm guitar work thrown in for good measure. This song purveys a new energy for Prince without sound silly as he can sometimes get in songs like this.

Clouds: 5/5

LOVE THIS SONG!!! Cool the way Prince should be. Background vocals, bass, and drums well laid out. Lyrically perfect with perfect timing. This would be my first release from this LP hands down especially this time of the year. Thanks Prince for the end guitar run that harkens back to "My Love is Forever." That's from 1979 for the children. It just works

Breakdown: 3/5

I dunno if its the fact that I've been hearing it for 1/2 a year or the fact that it really is the "saddest story I've ever been told." This song is lyrically compelling and the music is top notch.. I'm just not into it.

Gold Standard: 2/5

Fun Song, but I heard this before from Prince in 2000 with Rave. It almost sounds like a combo of Rave, Pretty Man and Strange But True. THe fun is only reason I'd click on it but then I'd get bored and skip.

U Know: 5/5

Cool as $hit. This is absolutely slick. No pretense of trying to be a rapper, but absolute voice control. Sexy and this is a song for sex. The rhythm. The rhythm.The rhythm.. I'm ready to F***

Breakfast Can Wait: 4/5

Cool ass song and despite hearing it for quite a long time it holds up better than Breakdown, despite being almost a year older. The bass line is intoxicating, and the lyrics are 100%

This Could Be Us 4/5

Soulful and suprising. The hook is unbelievable. "bing bing bing." Beautiful opening. Down to Earth. He actually could have created a whole different song from the first 30 seconds. I mean it could have went a different direction and still been slick. It could actually be another situation where I wish Price would have contiued onward in that other direction Sorta like in 1992's Continental at the very end when he makes the call to Carmen. Either way I could see this as a new late nite classic. A Stand Out

What it Feels Like: 4/5

Another Soulful song. Its a Hidden Gem because U have to get bast the first minute to understand the complexity of the song. And Andy Allo comes off as so smooooooth and as sexy as she looks. Y'all kno that she is the reason why Prince went back to an Afro after 30+ years right?

Affirmation I, II, Way Back Home, and Affirmation III 6/5

As a collective, and how I REARRANGED them along with AOC starting it off. It just sounds like they should have been together. I really don;t have words for this very personal sounding and uplifting song(s) It truly is a journey of sorts that many of us can possibly relate. This might be the most genuine sounding spiratual and personal song Prince ever produced in his almost 4 decades in the business.

FunknRoll: 3/5

Music is effin SWWEET the entire song. Perfect in fact, and why I think Prince has completely solidified his place in music history. It's the vocals that screw me up, but only for the first 2 minutes. It's the voice from 1998's "Mad Sex" that I'm talking about. Then around minute 3:00 they come back and redeem the song when it sounds like he's underwater (Cindy C when he's asking does she wanna play). I could have listened in that fashion the entire song.

Time: 5/5

Another Prince Classic. Sly Stone/Chaka Khan-Rufus reimagined. Prince is in the background layer the entire time. Rhytm guitar is on point!!! Cool as ice water the way it fades out lathered in horns. Wow Andy. Beautiful vocals.

This is a song that makes me say again that some one else should be in charge of releases from his LPs. This song would blow up the airwaves. Truly hard to believe that the guy is a 56.

I gotta tell U that this LP might possibly be my favorite, and most consistent single LP in the last 10 years, with exception to LotusFlow3r. Better than Musicology, 3121, and Planet Earth.

I have taken the liberty of adding a few tracks on to my AOA Playlist, including Give 'Em What they Love, That Girl Thing, Groovy Potential, Fall in Love Tonight, and Ain't Gonna Miss U When U're Gone.

Give 'Em sits after U Kno and What it Feels Like

U couple this with the PLectrum Electrum experience and this is the restoration Age of Prince. Unfortunately the world does not revolve around artists.

[Edited 10/4/14 9:00am]

dadeepop said:

I think we need to also give credit to the unsung hero of AOA: Mr. Joshua Welton. With Josh on board I predict Prince's next album is really going to blow our minds. (If The Excess Space and Revelation are any indication.)

[Edited 10/4/14 7:58am]

I think Josh did a fine job and wouldn't mind hearing more from him before I decide if he's a keeper.

However I'm really glad that Prince chose him instead of the "flavor of the month producer" like everybody else in music is doing. That way he is able to do something fresh while still retaining his own distinct indentity.

deebee said:

NDRU said:

I have this image in my head of rubbing a flower on a showering woman's back like it's lotion or something. Petals all wet and mashed, falling apart, pollen stained skin, and the poor girl like "what the...hey, stop that!!!"

It's true.

My mind also twists it into "go and get some flour" - which makes it sound like an idea for an annoying frat-boy prank.

babynoz said:

dadeepop said:

I think we need to also give credit to the unsung hero of AOA: Mr. Joshua Welton. With Josh on board I predict Prince's next album is really going to blow our minds. (If The Excess Space and Revelation are any indication.)

[Edited 10/4/14 7:58am]

I think Josh did a fine job and wouldn't mind hearing more from him before I decide if he's a keeper.

However I'm really glad that Prince chose him instead of the "flavor of the month producer" like everybody else in music is doing. That way he is able to do something fresh while still retaining his own distinct indentity.

Josh is a pretty good introducing Prince to new styles. However no matter how much I like this album, I hear ALOT of presets and cheap over used "modern" drum samples. If he worked with Flying Lotus on the mix and sounds, then we'd probably see a modern classic. He'll probably do the opposite though. Ever since the late 80s, Prince has been in love with bad digital sounds and samples. Thankfully alot of the songs are so good, that it makes up for bad choice of sounds. In the early to mid 80s, Prince was teaching everyone how to make cool sounds.

Replica said:

babynoz said:

I think Josh did a fine job and wouldn't mind hearing more from him before I decide if he's a keeper.

However I'm really glad that Prince chose him instead of the "flavor of the month producer" like everybody else in music is doing. That way he is able to do something fresh while still retaining his own distinct indentity.

Josh is a pretty good introducing Prince to new styles. However no matter how much I like this album, I hear ALOT of presets and cheap over used "modern" drum samples. If he worked with Flying Lotus on the mix and sounds, then we'd probably see a modern classic. He'll probably do the opposite though. Ever since the late 80s, Prince has been in love with bad digital sounds and samples. Thankfully alot of the songs are so good, that it makes up for bad choice of sounds. In the early to mid 80s, Prince was teaching everyone how to make cool sounds.

Thanks for the input. I don't mind admitting that my knowledge of presets, drumsets and Flying Lotus is limited. Since I have no idea what you're referring to I'm off to wiki and youtube to educate myself.

My main concern however remains Prince having his own distinct identity. Maybe that means that I love bad digital sounds?

babynoz said:

Replica said:

Josh is a pretty good introducing Prince to new styles. However no matter how much I like this album, I hear ALOT of presets and cheap over used "modern" drum samples. If he worked with Flying Lotus on the mix and sounds, then we'd probably see a modern classic. He'll probably do the opposite though. Ever since the late 80s, Prince has been in love with bad digital sounds and samples. Thankfully alot of the songs are so good, that it makes up for bad choice of sounds. In the early to mid 80s, Prince was teaching everyone how to make cool sounds.

Thanks for the input. I don't mind admitting that my knowledge of presets, drumsets and Flying Lotus is limited. Since I have no idea what you're referring to I'm off to wiki and youtube to educate myself.

My main concern however remains Prince having his own distinct identity. Maybe that means that I love bad digital sounds?

I'll try to explain it as easy as possible...

Prince is nowadays and ever since the late 80s been using stock sounds without tweaking them much at all. He is using the sounds as they come. When I'm saying presets, I'm talking about digital pre programmed sounds. Most synths that are digital come with presets that makes it possible for you to play something instantly without spending time trying to "create" or "tweak" your own sound. Also drum sounds can sound more original than the standard linn or 808. Prince did alot of original stuff routing his drum sounds through guitar effects, pitching up and down the different sounds on the linn, and even reversing sounds here and there. He played alot around with reverb, echo/delay, chorus/flanger effects etc... That way he kinda created his own palette with sounds that gave each song(painting) its own sound(color). Either he's a bit lazy on that part of creating, or he just hates tweaking digitally on a computer, and would much rather do it the old way. Except doing it the old way is not new anymore, and Prince wants to be new. So he'll just hire someone to do it for him. That's why I would suggest other producers doing that job instead of Josh, no matter how good he is at what he does. Flying Lotus is a monster on both drum machines and samples, as well as being a pretty damn good musician. His ability to make a pretty normal drum sound like something fresh and new is something that would take Prince to new places.

Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes

this album is a huge show off when it comes to blending samples, synth, drum machine, creative engineering... it's also a freaking nice trip

I was listening to this thing again in the car the other day and wished it was spring/early summer. This feels like a "put the top down and blast that bitch" type of record.

Can some kind person who has access to the liner notes/credits for the album please type it up here? I am curious as to who is doing what, especially around backing vocals and such like.

Replica said:

babynoz said:

Thanks for the input. I don't mind admitting that my knowledge of presets, drumsets and Flying Lotus is limited. Since I have no idea what you're referring to I'm off to wiki and youtube to educate myself.

My main concern however remains Prince having his own distinct identity. Maybe that means that I love bad digital sounds?

I'll try to explain it as easy as possible...

Prince is nowadays and ever since the late 80s been using stock sounds without tweaking them much at all. He is using the sounds as they come. When I'm saying presets, I'm talking about digital pre programmed sounds. Most synths that are digital come with presets that makes it possible for you to play something instantly without spending time trying to "create" or "tweak" your own sound. Also drum sounds can sound more original than the standard linn or 808. Prince did alot of original stuff routing his drum sounds through guitar effects, pitching up and down the different sounds on the linn, and even reversing sounds here and there. He played alot around with reverb, echo/delay, chorus/flanger effects etc... That way he kinda created his own palette with sounds that gave each song(painting) its own sound(color). Either he's a bit lazy on that part of creating, or he just hates tweaking digitally on a computer, and would much rather do it the old way. Except doing it the old way is not new anymore, and Prince wants to be new. So he'll just hire someone to do it for him. That's why I would suggest other producers doing that job instead of Josh, no matter how good he is at what he does. Flying Lotus is a monster on both drum machines and samples, as well as being a pretty damn good musician. His ability to make a pretty normal drum sound like something fresh and new is something that would take Prince to new places.

Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes

this album is a huge show off when it comes to blending samples, synth, drum machine, creative engineering... it's also a freaking nice trip

I get what you're saying but what would happen if he did that is very predictable : any success with be attributed to the other big name. So many have said that his best years were due to Wendy and Lisa being around, he knows his worst critics would feel vindicated he did have a hit record with well-known programmer -producers.

Choosing someone like Josh ensure at least some insurance people won't conclude he needs the help that much. Having fooled around with drum machines for many years, I can see how someone like Prince would get bored with all the work it takes to do it well nowadays and indeed just let someone else do the tedious tweaking under his general direction.

The album is not sonically perfect from beginning to end but it holds firm to one unifying sonic vision, gehuine care seems to have been taken in creating a sonic journey. I hear songs like What It Feels Like and it's even better than I thought it would be from all the reviews I had read. And it's just that one song among many others on the album that seem to be a thoughtfully put together soundscape -- despite the things people complain about, you have to reckon the lasers and chipmunk voice make way more sense in the context of the album.

As it turns out, listening to AOA the first few times has turned out to be very much like putting the pieces of puzzle together. Suddenly the things I found odd sounded just right -- and it actually got better. It's fun to have this experience again about a whole album.

Aerogram said:

As it turns out, listening to AOA the first few times has turned out to be very much like putting the pieces of puzzle together. Suddenly the things I found odd sounded just right -- and it actually got better. It's fun to have this experience again about a whole album.

Precisely.

I don't care about the overall sound so much. It's the usual hyper-realistic "Rave un2" pursuing. But this time it's getting closer to the bone, not despite, but in spite of the FX sounds.

This whole album is about aging, about time, about some personal turning of page.
The further you progress into the songs, the more modern they become in their structure, and bare in their feelings.

It's an album of Electronica-1979, it's Electronica-Funk, and eventually Electronica-Gospel.
He finally got the "Aura" concept right.
The segues don't preach anymore, they pray.

Much praise to Andy, who is the first to really walk into Wendy & Lisa footsteps, in terms of getting the relaxed Prince out. And we all know how he can be good when he simply forgets about his persona. Or when he fully embraces it. Who knows? Who cares?

This is an album I'm happy to simultaneously piss and question the neighbours with, who could ask for more in two-zero-one-four?

[Edited 10/4/14 13:49pm]

[Edited 10/4/14 13:57pm]

Aerogram said:

Replica said:

I'll try to explain it as easy as possible...

Prince is nowadays and ever since the late 80s been using stock sounds without tweaking them much at all. He is using the sounds as they come. When I'm saying presets, I'm talking about digital pre programmed sounds. Most synths that are digital come with presets that makes it possible for you to play something instantly without spending time trying to "create" or "tweak" your own sound. Also drum sounds can sound more original than the standard linn or 808. Prince did alot of original stuff routing his drum sounds through guitar effects, pitching up and down the different sounds on the linn, and even reversing sounds here and there. He played alot around with reverb, echo/delay, chorus/flanger effects etc... That way he kinda created his own palette with sounds that gave each song(painting) its own sound(color). Either he's a bit lazy on that part of creating, or he just hates tweaking digitally on a computer, and would much rather do it the old way. Except doing it the old way is not new anymore, and Prince wants to be new. So he'll just hire someone to do it for him. That's why I would suggest other producers doing that job instead of Josh, no matter how good he is at what he does. Flying Lotus is a monster on both drum machines and samples, as well as being a pretty damn good musician. His ability to make a pretty normal drum sound like something fresh and new is something that would take Prince to new places.

Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes

this album is a huge show off when it comes to blending samples, synth, drum machine, creative engineering... it's also a freaking nice trip

I get what you're saying but what would happen if he did that is very predictable : any success with be attributed to the other big name. So many have said that his best years were due to Wendy and Lisa being around, he knows his worst critics would feel vindicated he did have a hit record with well-known programmer -producers.

Choosing someone like Josh ensure at least some insurance people won't conclude he needs the help that much. Having fooled around with drum machines for many years, I can see how someone like Prince would get bored with all the work it takes to do it well nowadays and indeed just let someone else do the tedious tweaking under his general direction.

The album is not sonically perfect from beginning to end but it holds firm to one unifying sonic vision, gehuine care seems to have been taken in creating a sonic journey. I hear songs like What It Feels Like and it's even better than I thought it would be from all the reviews I had read. And it's just that one song among many others on the album that seem to be a thoughtfully put together soundscape -- despite the things people complain about, you have to reckon the lasers and chipmunk voice make way more sense in the context of the album.

As it turns out, listening to AOA the first few times has turned out to be very much like putting the pieces of puzzle together. Suddenly the things I found odd sounded just right -- and it actually got better. It's fun to have this experience again about a whole album.

True what you're saying. Actually I think he would be able to do it himself if he just wanted to spend some time on it. Actually I enjoy this album very much despite what I'm noticing. And that's saying something. I'm not a purist when it comes to tweaking your own sound at all. I'm just noticing that he doesn't care about it as much these days, probably because those parts of song writing is not what he is focusing on. I'm not hating, just observing. And yeat, you're probably right with Josh. He is not very known, and people won't say he is the reason why Prince is sounding so good now. When Prince is sounding good on top of hit and miss production, has written some pretty damn good songs.

Replica said:

babynoz said:

Thanks for the input. I don't mind admitting that my knowledge of presets, drumsets and Flying Lotus is limited. Since I have no idea what you're referring to I'm off to wiki and youtube to educate myself.

My main concern however remains Prince having his own distinct identity. Maybe that means that I love bad digital sounds?

I'll try to explain it as easy as possible...

Prince is nowadays and ever since the late 80s been using stock sounds without tweaking them much at all. He is using the sounds as they come. When I'm saying presets, I'm talking about digital pre programmed sounds. Most synths that are digital come with presets that makes it possible for you to play something instantly without spending time trying to "create" or "tweak" your own sound. Also drum sounds can sound more original than the standard linn or 808. Prince did alot of original stuff routing his drum sounds through guitar effects, pitching up and down the different sounds on the linn, and even reversing sounds here and there. He played alot around with reverb, echo/delay, chorus/flanger effects etc... That way he kinda created his own palette with sounds that gave each song(painting) its own sound(color). Either he's a bit lazy on that part of creating, or he just hates tweaking digitally on a computer, and would much rather do it the old way. Except doing it the old way is not new anymore, and Prince wants to be new. So he'll just hire someone to do it for him. That's why I would suggest other producers doing that job instead of Josh, no matter how good he is at what he does. Flying Lotus is a monster on both drum machines and samples, as well as being a pretty damn good musician. His ability to make a pretty normal drum sound like something fresh and new is something that would take Prince to new places.

Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes

this album is a huge show off when it comes to blending samples, synth, drum machine, creative engineering... it's also a freaking nice trip

Thanks again, My son has a home studio with a bunch of very expensive equipment so I've seen the apparatus and know what presets and drum programming is. I should have been clearer...what I was meaning to say is that I'm not that familiar with stock vs tweaked sounds, but you answered my question by explaining the different tecniques used.

So I investigated Mr. Flying Lotus to see if I can acertain the difference in usage of Josh's less tweaked stock sounds and Lotus more updated and tweaked offerings. I listened to both Until The Quiet Comes and You're Dead in their entirety and I gotta say that I found You're Dead to be the more interesting of the two albums.

Something else I noticed was that on You're Dead, Lotus uses many elements of some of the more experimental jazz artists such as Pharaoh Sanders and Sun RA. I even heard some late Coltrane and Miles in there.

Here's the thing...the kid is a studio wizard for sure, I'll give him that, but it brings me back to what my initial observation was about this or that "hot" producer's sound overshadowing Prince's distinctive vision. Lotus is probably way more than Prince would want.

Aerogram said:

Replica said:

I'll try to explain it as easy as possible...

Prince is nowadays and ever since the late 80s been using stock sounds without tweaking them much at all. He is using the sounds as they come. When I'm saying presets, I'm talking about digital pre programmed sounds. Most synths that are digital come with presets that makes it possible for you to play something instantly without spending time trying to "create" or "tweak" your own sound. Also drum sounds can sound more original than the standard linn or 808. Prince did alot of original stuff routing his drum sounds through guitar effects, pitching up and down the different sounds on the linn, and even reversing sounds here and there. He played alot around with reverb, echo/delay, chorus/flanger effects etc... That way he kinda created his own palette with sounds that gave each song(painting) its own sound(color). Either he's a bit lazy on that part of creating, or he just hates tweaking digitally on a computer, and would much rather do it the old way. Except doing it the old way is not new anymore, and Prince wants to be new. So he'll just hire someone to do it for him. That's why I would suggest other producers doing that job instead of Josh, no matter how good he is at what he does. Flying Lotus is a monster on both drum machines and samples, as well as being a pretty damn good musician. His ability to make a pretty normal drum sound like something fresh and new is something that would take Prince to new places.

Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes

this album is a huge show off when it comes to blending samples, synth, drum machine, creative engineering... it's also a freaking nice trip

I get what you're saying but what would happen if he did that is very predictable : any success with be attributed to the other big name. So many have said that his best years were due to Wendy and Lisa being around, he knows his worst critics would feel vindicated he did have a hit record with well-known programmer -producers.

Choosing someone like Josh ensure at least some insurance people won't conclude he needs the help that much. Having fooled around with drum machines for many years, I can see how someone like Prince would get bored with all the work it takes to do it well nowadays and indeed just let someone else do the tedious tweaking under his general direction.

The album is not sonically perfect from beginning to end but it holds firm to one unifying sonic vision, gehuine care seems to have been taken in creating a sonic journey. I hear songs like What It Feels Like and it's even better than I thought it would be from all the reviews I had read. And it's just that one song among many others on the album that seem to be a thoughtfully put together soundscape -- despite the things people complain about, you have to reckon the lasers and chipmunk voice make way more sense in the context of the album.

As it turns out, listening to AOA the first few times has turned out to be very much like putting the pieces of puzzle together. Suddenly the things I found odd sounded just right -- and it actually got better. It's fun to have this experience again about a whole album.

I think you expressed it better than I did,