New Blue Sun ANDRE 3000 ALBUM (REVIEW!!!)
was he really gonna make us wait forever? Forever ever?
Well, here we are. Actual rap god1 Andre 3000 has finally released a new album. And it's not a rap album! Truth be told, I'm not really a big Andre 3000 stan. I respect his work and I am very much impressed by his clout and standing, but I don't go around digging up everything he's ever worked on or anything like that. Truth be told, I'm really only writing this review to cash in on the cultural relevance of the album while it's still hot. Maybe that's disrespectful, maybe it's not. I don't really care. It's what I'm doing, and if you don't like it, you can literally click away.
When I first heard about the album, I was told it was gonna be “free jazz”, which is a genre I am completely unfamiliar with. I was also told it was gonna be a “flute” album. The flute and the “jazz” aspects were honestly the least interesting parts for me. I just thought the album sounded pretty and contemplative. It's very much an “ambient” album. Again, another genre I don't know much about, and am not really that into. I usually find ambient music boring and uninteresting. I think I've just been listening to it wrong, tho.
I was once again at work, and I had just gotten off the phone with a very good friend of mine. He had mentioned really liking the “new Andre 3000 album.” Not because of the sound persay, but because of the attitude Andre 3000 seemed to have about it. Obviously, an ambient flute album is “out of left field” for Andre, but it also isn't really that out of left field for him if you are familiar with the guy. Andre has managed to capture the elusive reputation of “a real artist,” something I myself strive to emulate. It's something I've always been envious of and I don't totally understand. Normally, my intense jealousy of Tre-Stax would prevent me from enjoying his album, but for some reason, I felt very secure that day. The conversation helped. It was my 4th day straight of sobriety and I felt oddly productive. Engaged. Energized. Things didn't feel as meaningless as they normally do.
All this is to say, I was in a contemplative mood when I started listening to the record. I was thinking about a lot of things. I feel like this contemplative attitude I had going in really affected how I perceived the album. Had I not been in such a mental space, I don’t think I would have enjoyed the album nearly as much. I’m pretty sure I would have turned it off. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve turned off an ambient record halfway thru. I did that with Plantasia the first couple times I listened to it. I’m very ADHD and something about ambient music does a bad job of scratching my typical musical itch. I want something fast. I want something immediate. Edgy. Provocative. Ambient music is none of these things (usually intentionally so). Jazz can sometimes be these things, but most of the time it comes off as merely “cool” or “vibey.” I’m an awkward girl. I know very little about “vibes” or “feeling” or “groove.” Today was a little bit different. Today, the vibe was right.
There isn't just a flute.2 There is usually some flute-like melodic lead that is present, but it isn't always a flute. And the flute is less of a “main character” and more of a sidekick to the lush instrumental landscapes beneath it. It soars over guitars, synth pads, the occasional cymbal hit, and a plethora of other textures. At one point I was certain I could hear button-pressing on a video game controller of some kind. The textures are very pleasant. It sounds nothing like John Zorn or any other super out there free jazz. It's not really abrasive. There are moments of dissonance, but it's not really “challenging” music in the way you might imagine it to be. It's very whimsical and thoughtful. Light and atmospheric. Contemplative.
That said, that might be exactly what is challenging about it. It doesn't have “heavy drops” nor is it at least 180 bpm. No breaks on this record. No kicks. No pop structures. It's just sound. It’s improvised, but it doesn’t really sound improvised. I can’t hear any mistakes or moments where the structure collapses. Everything sits in a place. It really is like a landscape or a garden. The seeds are scattered over the earth, but where exactly the plants end up growing is kind of happenstance. Magical. I suppose in that sense it really is a truly impressive album, in that it doesn’t sound like totally unfocused bullshit. It hits that pretty perfect sweet spot between “too much” and “not enough.” If there was anything less, it would probably sound unfocused. If there was anything more, it would probably sound chaotic (and also unfocused). But because everything is just right and everything is just sort of happening the way that it did, it works. It is beautiful in that way.
I don’t know if I will ever listen to this album again. I suspect I might not ever be in this same headspace again, and I really don’t want to force it. This is something I’ve never understood about “real” music critics like Fantano3 or Christgau. How can you possibly make “objective”4 assertions about music when it’s so obvious that your subjective experience of music is so different moment to moment? The very fact that sometimes you “aren’t in the mood” to listen to a certain type of music proves that music is inherently a subjective experience. Therefore, to summarize your thoughts on a piece of music is to summarize your experience of that piece of music. It’s practically obvious that your experience of music must be influenced by the minutiae of your daily life and your emotional idiosyncrasies. I suppose every once in a while we come across a piece of music that truly distracts us from that malaise - something that takes us out of this world. I suppose that’s when music is “good” for the most part. I don’t think New Blue Sun really did that for me. It did, however, give me the space to reflect on who I am, who I used to be, and who I will become. It allowed me to have a moment of acceptance of those things. In that sense, I enjoyed listening to this record.
Pros: It’s pretty! And the titles are really funny
Cons: It’s long and kind of boring and you might be too jealous of Andre 3000 to appreciate the record
In the sex playlist: Probably not but I could see it being nice for cuddling or smoking a lot of weed.
As opposed to Eminem, who is a fake rap god xD
I was vindicated about this by Andre himself in that GQ interview he did. I got very upset after watching that GQ interview. Andre is such an infuriatingly nice guy, and I really wish he told the interviewer to fuck off. Basically he spends that whole interview insisting that he is a “normal guy” and the interview takes that and mystifies to make Andre seem even more “mythical.” I feel like if he had told the interviewer to go fuck himself that would have done a lot to make him seem normal.
I’m not linking Fantano because you know who he is but if you really don’t for some reason then click here.
Perhaps “objective” isn’t really the right word here. Maybe “coherent” is more what I mean. After all, a material description of the music (ie, what the tempo is, the key, how many instruments there are, when they start and stop, what frequencies they take up, etc etc) can certainly be objective, but very few music reviews consist of just listing off those qualities of the music. They contain opinions and projections. Given that your experience is inherently incoherent, how could you possibly believe you have a coherent opinion on a piece of music? One of these days, your mind is gonna change!