BlaqueKnight said:

Okay. I've listened to it again. My thoughts:

In North Hollywood, Van goes from Parliament to Kravitz and back to Parliament - Van Hunt style. Its an interesting song but it seems a little lyrically lazy for Van.

I simply do not like Watching You Go Crazy. If the whole record was like this, I wouldn't even bother. If it were any other artist, I wouldn't have even bothered with this song.

I like the rhythm of Designer Jeans. Scratch that, I LOVE the rhythm. That's a cool ass beat. The lyrics are very good, too. I kinda laughed when I heard the guitars with that Pulp Fiction soundtrack feeling to them. Van Hunt does surf rock over a hot beat? The distortion on the drums as the beat rides out at the end was very cool. Very Reznor-esque in a Van Hunt way.

I ALMOST really like Plum. I think he overdid it with the high pass filter EQ settings on the guitar. Personally, I think it would have sounded better with the guitars dry or at least not suffocated. That is a killer unison lick in the middle of the song, too!
I say "hi booty" Cute, Van. Clever. There are a lot of country styled licks on guitar in this song. Not sure how well that will go over but expression is expression - if thats what he felt, so be it. The chorus progressions remind me of Jane Child. There are some really cool exchanges going on at the end of the song that will be overlooked because of the sonic placement. Bad EQ decision.

Falls is another one that would have gotten shut off immediately if it wasn't Van Hunt. I'm really not into folk songs no matter how you dress them up. While his lyrics are classic Van Hunt, the music is a big ass turn off for me.

I'm not gonna lie - listening to Moving Targets had me waiting for Phil Collins to start singing. Again, the EQ and the reverb were overused. The strings were very nice and its a shame to hear them washed out just for effect. I like this one more after another listen.

Eyes Like Pearls is Van Hunt in Sananda mode. Its a good track and definitely better vocally than some of the other songs. I think its probably the most easily relatable song on the record, although he will be alienating fans of his soul work with this whole record overall. This is probably his best "single" record.

A Time Machine Is My New Girlfriend...NEXT. While the progressions were outstanding in comparison to most modern rock songs, I thought some of the lyrics were so absurd they were borderline comical. It starts to shape up towards the end lyrically but its still pretty "out there" and again, this is a rock song and in no way R&B. I did like that line "I'm ageless as emotion". Pretty clever. Well, he usually is anyway. The overall lo-fi sound quality of the song hurts it as well, IMO. Its difficult to listen to unless you listen to songs of that sonic texture often.

What Were You Hoping For - a nice bouncy rock and roll song with a blanket thrown over it. Geez Van, WTF? DUDE, STOP IT WITH THE HIGH PASS FILTERS. That shit DOES NOT SOUND GOOD ON EVERY SONG. Its sooo overused at this point, its gimmicky. Its like listening to an album full of autotune.
This song could have been so much more interesting if he didn't push everything sonically into the upper mid register.

Cross Dresser is Van Hunt's "Dirty Mind" in a sense in that it has that same experimental quality mixed with driving beats and controversial-ish lyrics. Again, with the EQ? Somebody kick Van out of the mixing room.

Its a Mysterious Hustle has some very interesting progressions. As a matter of fact, Van's progressions are far more interesting than most artists. He is a progression master. Prince could learn a thing or two from him in this department. I think he went light on the vocals on this song. This is another song that would have been far more moving if the bass had been clearer. The potential was there but like with most of the other songs on this record, the bass is sucked out of it and everything except the drums is pushed sonically into the upper-mid register. Lyrically, it sounds like he was taking a few shots at the music business. I like that.

I'm not sure who the engineer is on this record but he/she/it needs to be fired. I think the mix detracted from the songs in a lot of instances and made what would have been great songs just good and what would have been okay songs intolerable. After this listen, I'm sure that a lot of R&B fans who are more traditional won't even listen to this record more than once. Its not really an R&B record. Its definitely not a funk record. I'll probably pick it up out of support but its a shame to have so many musical ideas smothered by the horrible sonic tonal choice. It would be like listening to Talking Book in lo-fi. Lo-fi is not your friend, Van. It worked on a couple of songs and in places on Popular but its so overused here that its disappointing. This is why some artists need labels. This is why Prince needed WB at times - to tell him when he was making bad choices. Perhaps when an artist is so engulfed in the making of the music, they don't have the objective perspective to stand back and recognize what does and doesn't work. I wish him the best and if and when he tours, I'm going to the show. I'm still not fully on board with this record like I wasn't on board with TTD's "Neither Fish Nor Flesh" - but I kept listening. I will keep listening to Van Hunt as well.

This is the type of intelligent and thoughtful post that this org needs.

But do me a favor though, BlaqueKnight: go listen to the MC5's Kick Out the Jams with Sly Stone's Stand!. You'll hear exactly what Hunt was shooting for sonically. I'd even throw in some Electric Ladyland as well to temper the listening session. I ask this because I think the mix and the production is on point: garage R&B by a proto-punk band is not going to sound like it was lacquered with tons of sheen and compression and all the other shitty plugins we use today.

I think it appropriately sounds like an album cut by a 1969 inter-racial garage rock/R&B band doing punk music in an all Black neighborhood in Detroit.

Album of the year.

Tittypants said:

dancerella said:

I'm thinking the samething but Iwant to give it more timebefore Imakeit oficial. I'm surprised that many here aren't feeling this album. It's so good but it'strue that the songs aren't excatly catchy so they really require a few listens but I think it's great.Musically I think he has really steppeditup.

By the way, do you likeThe Knux? Thinking of getting that album next. It's similar in style but I think more pop sounding.

I agree with you, the year is not over yet. But so far, it's definitely a candidate. As far as the Knux, I've heard of them, but haven't yet gotten into them. I will soon though......

You might dig the Knux. I think they are a poppier/more accessible version of Van Hunt. I haven't got the album yet but plan to this weekend. Maybe we can compare notes.

Personally I think his earlier efforts has been predictable sweet guy modern rnb with some retro colors on top of it. The little I've heard from this release is far more interesting. I never bought any of his albums because I think he sounded talented.... but boring.

It might be a bit difficult for him to reach out to the masses with this as he might fall between more than two stools here. He doesnt have the punk and rock attitude and energy of the huge rock stars, and he abandoned the sweet smooth rnb of his earlier efforts, leaving the rnb fans behind.

duccichucka said:

This is the type of intelligent and thoughtful post that this org needs.

But do me a favor though, BlaqueKnight: go listen to the MC5's Kick Out the Jams with Sly Stone's Stand!. You'll hear exactly what Hunt was shooting for sonically. I'd even throw in some Electric Ladyland as well to temper the listening session. I ask this because I think the mix and the production is on point: garage R&B by a proto-punk band is not going to sound like it was lacquered with tons of sheen and compression and all the other shitty plugins we use today.

I think it appropriately sounds like an album cut by a 1969 inter-racial garage rock/R&B band doing punk music in an all Black neighborhood in Detroit.

Album of the year.

I'll check them out. Thanks for the heads-up.

Replica said:

Personally I think his earlier efforts has been predictable sweet guy modern rnb with some retro colors on top of it. The little I've heard from this release is far more interesting. I never bought any of his albums because I think he sounded talented.... but boring.

I could see that with the debut, but there is a great deal of diversity and creativity on On the Jungle Floor and Popular. How much of those albums have you heard? You might want to revisit them.

BlaqueKnight said:

Okay. I've listened to it again. My thoughts:

In North Hollywood, Van goes from Parliament to Kravitz and back to Parliament - Van Hunt style. Its an interesting song but it seems a little lyrically lazy for Van.

I simply do not like Watching You Go Crazy. If the whole record was like this, I wouldn't even bother. If it were any other artist, I wouldn't have even bothered with this song.

I like the rhythm of Designer Jeans. Scratch that, I LOVE the rhythm. That's a cool ass beat. The lyrics are very good, too. I kinda laughed when I heard the guitars with that Pulp Fiction soundtrack feeling to them. Van Hunt does surf rock over a hot beat? The distortion on the drums as the beat rides out at the end was very cool. Very Reznor-esque in a Van Hunt way.

I ALMOST really like Plum. I think he overdid it with the high pass filter EQ settings on the guitar. Personally, I think it would have sounded better with the guitars dry or at least not suffocated. That is a killer unison lick in the middle of the song, too!
I say "hi booty" Cute, Van. Clever. There are a lot of country styled licks on guitar in this song. Not sure how well that will go over but expression is expression - if thats what he felt, so be it. The chorus progressions remind me of Jane Child. There are some really cool exchanges going on at the end of the song that will be overlooked because of the sonic placement. Bad EQ decision.

Falls is another one that would have gotten shut off immediately if it wasn't Van Hunt. I'm really not into folk songs no matter how you dress them up. While his lyrics are classic Van Hunt, the music is a big ass turn off for me.

I'm not gonna lie - listening to Moving Targets had me waiting for Phil Collins to start singing. Again, the EQ and the reverb were overused. The strings were very nice and its a shame to hear them washed out just for effect. I like this one more after another listen.

Eyes Like Pearls is Van Hunt in Sananda mode. Its a good track and definitely better vocally than some of the other songs. I think its probably the most easily relatable song on the record, although he will be alienating fans of his soul work with this whole record overall. This is probably his best "single" record.

A Time Machine Is My New Girlfriend...NEXT. While the progressions were outstanding in comparison to most modern rock songs, I thought some of the lyrics were so absurd they were borderline comical. It starts to shape up towards the end lyrically but its still pretty "out there" and again, this is a rock song and in no way R&B. I did like that line "I'm ageless as emotion". Pretty clever. Well, he usually is anyway. The overall lo-fi sound quality of the song hurts it as well, IMO. Its difficult to listen to unless you listen to songs of that sonic texture often.

What Were You Hoping For - a nice bouncy rock and roll song with a blanket thrown over it. Geez Van, WTF? DUDE, STOP IT WITH THE HIGH PASS FILTERS. That shit DOES NOT SOUND GOOD ON EVERY SONG. Its sooo overused at this point, its gimmicky. Its like listening to an album full of autotune.
This song could have been so much more interesting if he didn't push everything sonically into the upper mid register.

Cross Dresser is Van Hunt's "Dirty Mind" in a sense in that it has that same experimental quality mixed with driving beats and controversial-ish lyrics. Again, with the EQ? Somebody kick Van out of the mixing room.

Its a Mysterious Hustle has some very interesting progressions. As a matter of fact, Van's progressions are far more interesting than most artists. He is a progression master. Prince could learn a thing or two from him in this department. I think he went light on the vocals on this song. This is another song that would have been far more moving if the bass had been clearer. The potential was there but like with most of the other songs on this record, the bass is sucked out of it and everything except the drums is pushed sonically into the upper-mid register. Lyrically, it sounds like he was taking a few shots at the music business. I like that.

I'm not sure who the engineer is on this record but he/she/it needs to be fired. I think the mix detracted from the songs in a lot of instances and made what would have been great songs just good and what would have been okay songs intolerable. After this listen, I'm sure that a lot of R&B fans who are more traditional won't even listen to this record more than once. Its not really an R&B record. Its definitely not a funk record. I'll probably pick it up out of support but its a shame to have so many musical ideas smothered by the horrible sonic tonal choice. It would be like listening to Talking Book in lo-fi. Lo-fi is not your friend, Van. It worked on a couple of songs and in places on Popular but its so overused here that its disappointing. This is why some artists need labels. This is why Prince needed WB at times - to tell him when he was making bad choices. Perhaps when an artist is so engulfed in the making of the music, they don't have the objective perspective to stand back and recognize what does and doesn't work. I wish him the best and if and when he tours, I'm going to the show. I'm still not fully on board with this record like I wasn't on board with TTD's "Neither Fish Nor Flesh" - but I kept listening. I will keep listening to Van Hunt as well.

This is the precise sound Van was looking for, read the interview... http://clatl.com/cribnotes/archives/2011/09/27/van-hunt-gets-post-apocalyptic-what-were-you-hoping-for

Oh and Excellent Album, Future Classic!!!

kamsin88 said:

Oh and Excellent Album, Future Classic!!!

I listened to it again last night and goddamn it is actually getting better than the

awesomeness I heard on the initial listen.

Kid A and What Were You Hoping For?-------------> that's all you need since 2000.

I like others were completely thrown off at first listen. But I know that VH is a very talented craftsman so I spone it several more times over a couple of days and then BAM it clicked, first musically and then I started to pay more attention to the lyrics. VH has grown tremendously as a writer imo. Their is social commentary veiled metaphors on almost every track. His guitar playing has improved also, I was getting Muddy and Bo. Something I thought about,how environment can influence music. Case in point, Popular reflected Van when he was living in ATL slightly before the res session, Popular being a experimental punk-funk-country album ( n the southern shade ) being a good example of setting. Now with Van living in NHW and witnessing first hand the effects of the ressession his music has now taken on in his words a post apocalyptic bent and sounding like nothing that came before it. "Concrete,Grime,Grindcore" This is the first truly VH outing and I think it's a few years ahead of it's time. If things keep going the way they are, those that don't get it will get it in 2015. This is A Future Classic. Just MO.

this album focking rocks

just wanted to say that

I've only listened to the record once so far, but I feel like this is something of a "best of" of his previoius sounds with nods to something else. When I listened, I got a vibe that in a way, he was putting away the sounds from the earlier records, like this is the bridge between the past and the future of VH.

I feel like I'd like to hear more melody out of him, but his lyrics are way above par as usual. I'll write something more detailed when I've listened to it a few more times, but as of right now I'm digging the record!

Popular = Dirty Mind/WWYHF?= Controversy. Album actually gets better with each listen!!!

bump