New Kanye West Record, A Perfect “10” From Pitchfork
Wow. The world of indie rockers has been turned upside down today. The 5th Kanye West record entitled ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ is released. Pitchfork, the barometer and flag bearer for all that is underground and ‘cool’, has given it a score of a perfect 10.
Forget the fact that they’ve done this for a mainstream hip-hop record, condsider instead that this is the first album (that isn’t a reissue of a classic) to be ordained as such since the 2002 Wilco release ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’, and only the 12th new release to receive the 10.0 in all.
Mr. West wanted to make a landmark record, and I don’t know if you’ll be able to find anyone who doesn’t think that he has. And I’m saying this as someone who really doesn’t enjoy hip-hop music. Anyone who loves music has to be impressed with the manner in which West has tossed pieces of nearly every type of sound in music into the mix and seamlessly integrates it into hip-hop.
Chicago’s own ‘Sound Opinions’ this week called it a “beautiful masterpiece”.
Various tracks feature contributions and/or samples from the likes of Elton John, Rihanna, King Crimson, Jay-Z, Smokey Robinson, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Fergie, and indie rock darling Bon Iver among others. On the track “Hell Of A Life” he sings in the same melody as “Iron Man” from Black Sabbath.
Personally, I rarely have time to get through an entire long-winded Pitchfork album review, so here’s some links to reviews that are more easily digested:
Chicago Tribune
Rolling Stone
The Guardian UK
Spin
Pop Matters
And for some extra fun, check out some of the comment wars between people for and against the 10.0 rating. The Pitchfork Facebook page is a good start.
