Kanye West feat. Paul McCartney – ‘Only One’

Chris Kelly: Kanye wasted no time in 2015, releasing this one with zero fanfare and starting the year with an Auto-Tuned ray of sunshine (I refuse to debate Auto-Tune in 2015). Kanye bends and breaks hearts here; his on-mic/off-mic “I just want you to do me a favor” slays me. Extra points awarded to the Kanye fans who trolled the Internet with bogus “who is Paul McCartney?” tweets. (8)

Son Raw: Kanye specializes in emotional extremes, and this is as saccharine and cloying as you’d expect from a Macca collaboration. Couldn’t they have gone to India and done a load of acid instead? Despite this, it’s a pretty tune that might work better in context, plus it’s nowhere near as annoying as the chorus of detractors tripping over themselves to slate Kanye for working with an old white guy. Allow it. (7)

Claire Lobenfeld: I haven’t touched this one since I came home mildly drunk and on New Year’s Eve expecting to have my world shattered the way ‘New Slaves’ hit in 2013. At the risk of sounding heartless (heh, heh), I don’t love this. I appreciate the way Ye uses the links between himself, his passed mother and his daughter to do some meditative healing and the ultimate flex of enlisting Macca on the keys in the wake of the Migos is Better Than the Beatles meme. But! But! Ugh, I don’t want this. I just don’t want it. Its only true saving grace for me is that I might actually be addicted to Ty Dolla $ign’s voice and his harmonic backup croons really kick me in the gut. I’m still interested in what these three have cooked up with Rihanna and I really hope that’s ‘Piss on Your Grave’. (3)

William Skar: Sleb schmaltz from two of Pop’s Great Objectionables – and, against all available odds, it’s gorgeous. ‘Only One’ offers throwback soul with added 808s frostiness, and, after the rancour of Yeezus, it’s a charming palate cleanser. Next week: West re-records Band Aid with Johnny Borrell, Katie Hopkins and Sid Owen – and, against all available odds, it’s gorgeous… (8)

Scott Wilson: On the opening verse of ‘Welcome To Heartbreak’ from 808s & Heartbreak, Kanye sings with regret that he doesn’t have anything to show anything apart from his wealth, when his friend proudly speaks of his daughter. Now Kanye is a proud father, it’s hard not to hear ‘Only One’ as a follow up to that track, both in the subject matter and simple warmth lent by McCartney’s piano line. Few artists have such consistent, compelling and honest narratives running throughout their work as Kanye West, and this piece of autobiographical storytelling is him at his absolute best. (10)

Brad Stabler: It’s raw, it’s upfront, it made me call my parents, and it’s exactly what Kanye needed to release after Yeezus. Further elaboration would require three paragraphs, but I just hope this finally shuts anyone asking for another College Dropout up. (8)

Mikey IQ Jones: While the sentiment of the song is touching on the surface – West performs ‘Only One’ from the perspective of his deceased mother, who seems to feel contented and pleased in the beyond viewing Kanye’s love for his wife and young daughter – the song itself is rather flimsy, filled with thin, overused clichés, a number of cluttered, awkward couplets, and an anemic chorus. What’s most troubling to me as a listener, though, is that West and his label want to charge listeners $1.29 for this; where his collaborator McCartney often had a knack for taking personal sentiments and framing them in universal language, West continues to create deeply internalized works that don’t really translate to objective consumption upon repeated listens, and that’s where the song fails. One gets the feeling that Kanye potentially views this as his ‘Yesterday’ (one of popular music’s most covered songs, written by Sir Paul with a similarly weepy yet optimistic sincerity), but the effect of the song to me is akin to having a complete stranger’s divorce papers, family photos, or the birth certificate of their child framed and hung above your own fireplace – it’s awkward and fucking creepy. The story regarding the song’s creation sounds lovely on paper, and it’s wonderful when any family welcomes a child into their lives and finds themselves revitalised, but the finished product here isn’t really much to revisit unless you’re perhaps Kanye himself or his family. (4)

Tayyab Amin: “Kanye West: Rapper, Singer-Songwriter, Record Producer, Director, Fashion Designer, Entrepreneur, World’s Greatest Dad” (10)

7.3

Dam-Funk & Snoop Dogg – ‘N My System’

Claire Lobenfeld Your hood pass is still intact, Dam, but god I wish this was so much cleaner. (2)

Son Raw: These two becoming BFFs was the best thing that could happen to either of them. Snoop finally gets an excuse to stop pretending he’s a tough guy without Ja-fakin’ and Dam Funk finally got the vocalist his music deserves. 7 Days of Funk should have gotten way more attention than it did, but everyone involved seems to be having too much fun to care about that. (8)

Chris Kelly: Pleasant enough retro fare, but — as is usually the case — it was better the first time around. (5)

Mikey IQ Jones: I got really pumped for this, hoping that ‘N My System’ was going to be an interpolation or cover of one of the greatest soul songs ever, and one which shares numerous alleles with Dam-Funk’s musical DNA. There are hints of that to be sure, but the promise of a mutation of the duo’s silken squelch isn’t exactly fulfilled, and we’re essentially just getting a contact high leftover from the album’s hotbox. Dam and Snoop’s collabs are always fun, and as a freebie download it’s not bad, but the song could’ve used a rougher ride on that rhythm – there’s a brief glimpse of that at 3:48 until the hook comes back in, but it’s too fleeting. I’ll just keep pumping those Moon B records on PPU and Robert Palmer’s version of The System track (respect The Palm!) when I need a fix instead. (6)

Tayyab Amin: Despite all the straight-forward embellishments something in the groove still manages to creep up and coax the ears into it. I’ve got a lot of time for that throwback grandiosity in the last verse’s delivery – I just wish they wouldn’t shout so much! (5)

Scott Wilson: I didn’t hear any of Dam-Funk and Snoop’s original material, so I have no idea how this matches up, but it’s fun in all the right ways. Dam-Funk’s cartoonish production only adds to the aura of self-parody that Snoop surrounds himself with, and the rap towards the end is straight out of the ’90s. What’s not to like? (7)

Brad Stabler: Dam-Funk and Snoop aren’t likely to pull any surprises anymore but ‘System’ sports the potency this collaboration should’ve had to begin with. Just the right amount of groove, bite, and cheese. (7)

William Skar: In my cistern. (3)

5.3

Thom Yorke – ‘Youwouldn’tlikemewhenI’mangry’

Tayyab Amin: Woozy and dreary and wonderful for slow wakes, driftings off and delicate moments in between. Yorke often leaves me wanting something else though; every minute I’m dreaming of potential collaborations he could do. Ooh, I wonder what Laurel Halo could do with this aesthetic! Oh look, inflating synths, he should work with Colin Stetson! What if Kanye covered this?! (6)

Claire Lobenfeld: I am not terribly mad at this. When it first kicked off, it reminded me of something that might have been left on the recording studio floor while making a Gregg Araki film score. The discordance between the vocal melodies and the beat are somehow both totally jarring and super soothing. But in 2015, I really just want Yorke to kick my ass like he did so many years ago. (5)

William Skar: Vague dysphoria and dreary cant-song – yep, you know who it is. There’s a lightness of touch here that’s rather lovely, and there’s a real cockle-warmer in here somewhere, but, as with much of Yorke’s solo output, it’s a sketch rather than a song. He’s never sounded more phocine – someone fling the lad a sardine. (6)

Chris Kelly: We all know the feeling: you press play on a track, open a few other tabs and get lost in a Wiki k-hole before being shocked out of your stupor by the music ending — all without the track leaving any impression at all. (4)

Son Raw: You’re right Thom – I don’t like you when you’re angry. Or sad. Or happy. Or content – but it doesn’t matter because at this point nobody can tell the difference since your music sounds like it’s one diazepam away from falling into a coma. (3)

Scott Wilson: Like many others that grew up in the ’90s, Radiohead will always hold a special place in my heart, but I find it impossible to care about anything Thom Yorke does with his solo career, and this hasn’t done much to persuade me otherwise. The fact that this track was made by Thom Yorke elevates it slightly above the level of middle-aged man with too much time on his hands messing around with his laptop, but it’s still depressingly mired in his own stylistic clichés. (6)

Brad Stabler: I knew what I getting into before I even pressed play, because Yorke, without a creative foil, builds every solo outing with the same four steps. One, establish every musical component within the first minute, then do nothing with them until the timer runs out. Two, loop everything and make sure the drums skitter just right. Three, do not, under any circumstances, upgrade from the same electronics that have been lying out since Hail to the Thief. Four, make sure that vocal run is just sweet and melancholy enough that the listener won’t think they somehow konked out during the intro. This is all terribly inoffensive, well-trod territory, but after Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes and AMOK, there’s no reason for another solo release for a very long time. (5)

Mikey IQ Jones: I wasn’t really feeling the Hyperdub Shopping Mall vibes of Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, and this track isn’t really much different on the surface; while the bleary-eyed fogginess is something I can dig, that twee, tinny beat really kills this for me. Again, this isn’t something that really grows roots even after a few listens, and for a guy who fronts one of the world’s biggest bands, that’s a bit problematic. It seems as though there’s just too much of this kind of stuff out there these days, and Yorke isn’t doing much to distinguish himself from the pack. (5)

5

N.E.R.D. – ‘Squeeze Me’

Claire Lobenfeld: Real question: Is Pharrell’s fountain of youth actually coming from caking off children’s movie soundtracks? There is no doubt that he is swimming in a room of money a la Scrooge McDuck off of the first two Despicable Me soundtracks, let alone the ‘Happy’ loot. No doubt that this is his main source of income, so I get, I guess, why the N.E.R.D. reunion would be for a new Spongebob movie. We can only hope that means the trio are back in the lab actually working on new stuff together, so I give this middling kiddie cut a pass because of the glimmer of hope it gives for the future. (4)

Son Raw: Pharrell and RZA are neck and neck in terms of who can torpedo their legacy the fastest through cheesy, Hollywood tie-ins and awful haircuts. I hope they drove a dump truck full of money up to his house for this dreck. (1)

Mikey IQ Jones: What’s most confounding about this track is that Nickelodeon basically approved a song about jerking off for the soundtrack of a film heavily marketed to children; that, combined with the idea of kids singing along to lyrics like “Tummy shine like a chain/Wipe it up like a stain… Double dutch with Lil Wayne/Do it till you vomit again,” is pretty fucked up. You’d think Pharrell would’ve learned his lesson by now; as much as I can enjoy subversion, context is key, folks. It doesn’t help matters that this sounds like a Caribbean pedo’s version of ‘Blurred Lines.’ (1)

William Skar: Full disclosure: I’m writing these with a headache. This is not headache music. (2)

Chris Kelly: I don’t care if it’s for a kids’ movie: Pharrell Must Be Stopped. (1)

Tayyab Amin: You can just hear the sleaze oozing from Pharrell’s breath. Obnoxious, boisterous and totally perfect for a Spongebob movie. Well, hopefully not the sleazy part but there’s even a cheeky glimpse of booty on the artwork. “This film is not yet rated.” (3)

Scott Wilson: Unlike ‘Only One’, this makes me glad I don’t have children. (2)

2

The Weeknd – ‘Earned It’

Mikey IQ Jones: Abel Tesfaye decides that he’s going to do a 180 for 50 Shades, delivering a song that attempts to depict the song’s protagonist as a caring, tender, loving soul as opposed to the power-hungry, manipulative, predatory type usually associated with The Weeknd. It still feels and sounds like sociopathic garbage. It’s entirely appropriate that a hollow song trading on so many “sexy” surface aesthetics – slow, lurching beat, tense, ‘ominous’ orchestral swells, over-emotive vocal runs – is soundtracking the film adaptation of a hollow, poorly written novel trying to wrap its head around sexual power dynamics, but this is all terribly fucking vanilla. (3)

William Skar: Doublethink (dʌb(ə)l| – θɪŋk), vb. – to be able to simultaneously hold the view that a) House of Balloons is impeccable and b) Tesfaye’s schtick has worn very, very thin. Usage, FACT Singles Club, Jan 2015: “Doublethink, I know, but the last thing I want to hear is more mump-mouthed meandering about the art of fucking in condos”. (3)

Chris Kelly: Apparently Abel took the title of Fifty Shades of Grey literally. We’ve been lobbying for him to drop the sex offender schtick for ages, and he’s gone and done it at the absolute wrong moment. Kudos…? (3)

Tayyab Amin: Lots of forced extravagance and elegance, though I can’t make out an ounce of passion on this. Is Tesfaye all out of stamina? He sounds way too burned out to even want romance anymore. Apparently not seedy enough for the Spongebob movie but if this gets played in the theaters it’s gonna blow some baby boomer minds. (4)

Claire Lobenfeld: This is just all so very confusing. You build a career on being a libidinous degenerate and when you finally get your biggest look, you go completely tepid and unsexed. In any other context, I would understand why Abel Tesfaye would shirk his usual smarmy, coked up depravity when making a song for what is going to be an enormous box office hit, but! But! BUT! IT’S FIFTY SHADES OF FUCKING GREY, YOU DUMMY. The book increased the sales of metal balls you shove up your cunt and just keep them there by 50 percent, for Pete’s sake! This was your time to shine, Abel, you kinda blew it. But you also haven’t made anything interesting since House of Balloons, so I wasn’t expecting anything that advanced his musical narrative. At least make me blush, though, dude. (2)

Scott Wilson: If I’d listened to this blind I probably could have been convinced this was the new Bond theme, but unfortunately it’s more along the lines of Sheryl Crow doing ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ than Nancy Sinatra’s ‘You Only Live Twice’. Not the worst thing he’s ever done but I’d be happy never to hear it again. (4)

Brad Stabler: There seems to be this invisible network of people who somehow still stumble on ‘What You Want,’ declare it as beautiful and alluring as it was almost four years ago (dear lord), and then throw money at this now go-nowhere project. This has been going on for a minute, even after Kiss Land creeped everyone out and cleared the party. So now we’ve arrived at the obvious conclusion: a bowdlerized over-produced number that’s tied to a bowdlerized, overproduced film of a book. Thank God for lifeless math. (3)

Son Raw: How appropriate – neither The Weeknd nor Fifty Shades of Grey are half as edgy as they’d have you believe and we were sick of both of them by 2012. The ’70s pop-rock vibe on this is pretty undeniable though – why does this sound more like a Wings track than Kanye’s go with Paul McCartney? (6)

3.5

Paula Temple – ‘Gegen’

Tayyab Amin: Temple deems this a ‘rave track’ but it’s more of a battle march to me. Techno game Grond The Battering Ram, here to bust your Minas Tirith wide open. Gwaarn, detonate the dance. (8)

Claire Lobenfeld: Taking this one with a grain of salt because I am listening to it on my couch with all the lights and I trust that if I was in some dank basement with the condensation dripping repulsively, but gloriously down the concrete walls this would make me lose my shit. However, living in New York City, I am here for almost all protest music. Snaps. (7)

William Skar: This nails the balance between British Murder Boys bosh and the sort of careful detailing you expect from the Hessle set. It might not do all that much, but it snarls a treat. (7)

Mikey IQ Jones: Temple’s Deathvox EP was a gripping collection of dark, pounding technoprimitive rituals that worked well both on and off of the dancefloor; ‘Gegen’ is a monolithic beast on the floor for certain, but it doesn’t command me in more domestic settings in the same way that Deathvox‘s material did. That being said, it’s still solid, if a bit simplistic compared to the EP’s more nuanced textural brutalism. I’m more curious to hear what she’s got up her sleeve next. (7)

Son Raw: This doesn’t quite “smash the idea of normal” since it’s got a 4×4 kick drum and comes out of a Berlin studio, but it would slay around 7AM after 3 bottles of Club Matte and a few party supplies, and frankly, that’s all I need my techno to do. Sometimes a banger’s just a banger. (8)

Scott Wilson: I’ve fallen out with techno recently because there’s so much dross floating around at the moment, but this is an example of how you do heavy, four-to-the-floor techno with a bit of panache. It also sounds like a massive techno pisstake of that dire ‘Walking With Elephants’ track by Ten Walls, the image of which is enough for me to award Temple an extra point. (8)

Brad Stabler: Temple continues to be the best thing R&S has going for it now that we’ve reached the middle of this decade. Like Tessela, her productions are relentlessly dense bits of drum pornography that double down by being ludicrously fun. She’s calling this one her secret weapon, but fuck it: as far as R&S goes, she is the secret weapon. (9)

7.7

Final scores:

Paula Temple – ‘Gegen’ (7.7)
Kanye West feat. Paul McCartney – ‘Only One’ (7.3)
Dam-Funk & Snoop Dogg – ‘N My System’ (5.3)
Thom Yorke – ‘Youwouldn’tlikemewhenI’mangry’ (5)
The Weeknd – ‘Earned It’ (3.5)
N.E.R.D. – ‘Squeeze Me’ (2)