MUSIC MONDAYS: FRANK OCEAN'S CHANNEL ORANGEBY ALEX BARNES // PUBLISHED ON 4.29.17
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Spring is in session, with all of its trademark traits in tow. With this welcome transition from biting cold to cool breeze, what better to pair this bubbly change in seasons than with an equally upbeat album? Merging Kid Cudi’s legendary flow with Ne-Yo’s bluesy influence, Frank Ocean’s debut studio album, “Channel Orange”, is a perfect fit.
Although Frank Ocean is a welcomed member of the California hip-hop collective known as Odd Future, he deviates from its characteristic, nauseating, grungy garage beats and replaces them with smooth, computerized blues. This techno-jazz of sorts is an appreciable feature on its own, yet Frank adds in his melodious, fluctuating-in-pitch voice to create a synthesis of rhythm and rhyme. Songs such as “Forrest Gump”, “Crack Rock”, “Lost” and “Sierra Leone” demonstrate this funky neo-jazz influence better than the more philosophical, lyrically dependent songs like “Bad Religion”, “Sweet Life”, and (a crowd favorite) “Super Rich Kids”. The lengthy jam “Pyramid” fits into neither of these categories, yet its commendable production and transient versatility are so impressive that it would be a crime to let it go unmentioned. Nearly every album in existence has a few songs that the listener finds themselves constantly skipping over, whether it is due to poor production value, subpar lyricism, or cacophonous beats. This is not one of them. Hold onto it. |