Kayne West performed during the Samsung Galaxy Notes II launch on October 24, 2012 in New York City.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Kanye West held a listening party Monday night
- His new album is titled "Yeezus"
- Daft Punk are on "three or four" tracks, West revealed
So loud that New Jersey
heard it. So loud that my kidneys are still vibrating. So loud that even
the Spinal Tap dudes were like "Bro, maybe turn it down to eight and a
half?" It felt like something between lying directly beneath a jet path
and getting into a slap bet with Godzilla — and mostly, it was glorious.
It was also, for the most
part, very very dark. Or as a friend turned and said to me: " When did
Kanye discover Ministry?" At times, the whole night felt a little bit
like that opening scene in Blade (cue the blood sprinklers!). But it was
also just a party, with an open bar and dancing and a lot of
complicated handshakes between old friends and scenester acquaintances.
And 'Ye's full East Coast roster of famous fans came out: Jay-Z and
Beyonce were there, glowing with the light of a thousand suns; so were
lesser celestial bodies like Q-Tip, Busta Rhymes, and Timbaland, plus a
towering crew of flamingo-like models and professional athletes.
After an hour (only an
hour!) of milling around in Milk's dim, cavernous space, the crowd
turned to find 'Ye himself onstage, delivering an impassioned, rambling,
and sometimes impenetrable introduction — there was a lot of talk of
artistry and marketing ("I got a new strategy, it's called no strategy. I
have a plan to sell more music, it's called 'make better music.'") and
something about Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson's clothing lines —
before he wrapped with "I had to learn about giving, this whole album is
about giving... this whole process is about giving ... NO F--KS AT
ALL." Touché! Go home, kumbaya.
This blog post isn't an
album review; our writer Ray Rahman will be delivering that next
Tuesday, or sooner if the record officially leaks. But I will say that
from two listenings, this definitely feels like his Darker, Twistier,
Still Sometimes Beautiful Fantasy.
Some technical details:
West revealed that Daft Punk are on "three or four" tracks; Kid Cudi and
Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and Chief Keef also appear; it was hard to
catch titles beyond already-known ones like "I am a God," "Can't Handle
My Liquor," "Black Skinhead," and "New Slaves" (featuring Frank Ocean),
but one that appeared to borrow samples from both TNGHT's "Higher
Ground" and Billie Holiday's haunting lynching ballad "Strange Fruit"
will almost definitely be a talking point when it goes wider.
Is this record going to
be all over the radio? Are these let-the-alpine-blast summer jams? Not
in America in 2013, no. But it still sounds — if I could actually hear
anything this morning besides a faint post-show mosquito buzz — like a
pretty fascinating manifestation of what goes on inside the mind of one
of pop music's most confounding, singular, and totally gonzo talents.
Yeezus! He is risen.
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