| From This Week In Texas Music
Kylie Minogue /
X Kylie Minogue’s
X is a little more than forty minutes of pure pop bliss. On her latest, Kylie has pulled off one of the greatest feats of her musical career thus far – she has recorded the great pop album many suspected she was always capable of giving birth to. Though she’s had major hits around the globe, many of Minogue’s previous albums have primarily been sugary, dance-driven affairs as light and airy as they come in the context of pop music. However
X is anything but.
X is a modern pop masterpiece. Working with the likes of the
Freemasons and
Bloodshy & Avant, the Swedish team behind
Britney’s "Toxic", Minogue has crafted a collection with the potential to not only be the petite Aussie superstar’s biggest selling U.S. album ever but also to garner the kind of attention that has been reserved as of late for domestic pop divas like
Gwen Stefani,
Fergie and
Nelly Furtado. In fact,
X is such a consistently satisfying album that it becomes difficult to rank the tracks contained on the collection. The first single “All I See”, which finds Minogue getting a lift from top-selling rapper
Mims on the U.S. radio version, is a breezy number poised to have a significant impact on U.S. radio. Reminiscent of a
Janet Jackson charttopper, “All I See” is by far Minogue’s most commercial radio-friendly single ever.
Similarly, the blippy “Heart Beat Rock” is as catchy a single as any Minogue has recorded heretofore. Meanwhile, the New Wave sound of “The One,” the kaleidoscope-like, trippy journey that is “No More Rain,” and the synth-driven '80s flavored “Wow” explore the many sides of the increasingly chameleon-like Miss Minogue. Elsewhere on the disc, “Stars” is one of the disc’s most luminous tracks while the track “Nu-di-ty”, with its bleeps, vocal manipulations and driving beats is a track worthy of modern hitmakers
Justin Timberlake and
Timbaland. “Cosmic,” the arresting ballad that closes X, is an infectious track on which Minogue’s pure unsullied vocals soar. It’s rare to hear a pop album these days that makes you want more, but Kylie Minogue does just that on her tenth studio album,
X, a recording that leaves listeners on a musical high from which it’s hard to come down.
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Erykah Badu /
New Amerykah Though Erykah Badu’s latest musical venture
New Amerykah must be given credit for aiming big, it must also be acknowledged that the album only achieves modest results. Part one in a series of two albums,
New Amerykah could be the soundtrack to a contemporary remake of a '70s blaxploitation film. Woven together with a series of fervent battle cries for change, the disc’s eleven tracks address some of the sweeping sociopolitical issues of the day like race, drug addiction and poverty. Badu imbues her first album since 2003 with a psychedelic combination of conscience and groove, using the unique socially conscious blend of retrosoul and hip-hop for which she has become famous. Tracks like the smooth, horn-driven “Me,” the sparse, trippy “My People,” the seductive “Honey” and the hip-hop gem “Soldier” are vintage Badu, celebrating what the R&B neosoul diva does best. The problem with
New Amerykah, however, is that at times it feels lost in its own sense of importance. Badu’s strength has always been her ability as a storyteller. One of the rare artists capable of meshing an unforgettable hook with an interesting tale told with sass and sung with passion, Badu’s biggest hits have been anthems with transcendental appeal. Too much of the second half of
New Amerykah lacks this appeal. Tracks like “Twinkle” and “Master Teacher” feel not fully realized and, as such, only provide the kind of background music to which you bob your head in pleasant agreement, although you may not be fully invested in its message. Erykah Badu has always been at the cutting edge of neosoul, and if New Amerykah proves anything, it’s that Badu is still capable of pushing boundaries and expanding the view of what we know as contemporary R&B. An introduction to Badu’s latest evolution,
New Amerykah Part 1 should make anticipation for Part 2 run even higher.
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Buy the CD Until next time… Cheers! |
