arriving tuesday from hypersleep sessions, vylter and broccoli spheres’ no kings makes fantastic use of JESUS IS KING’s low-effort compositions. gone are kanye’s odes to chick-fil-a and $220 yeezys, but here to stay are “closed on sunday”’s gentle acoustic guitar and “every hour”’s choirs, as well as “follow god” and “selah” in their entirety. however, no kings pitches everything down; while “every hour” now sounds truly heavenly, kanye on “follow god,” “selah,” and “use this gospel” sounds almost demonic. strangely enough, the altered no kings versions sound far more human and real than the original JESUS IS KING tracks. is no kings supposed to be showing how religious devotion cripples one’s self? or how there’s elegant beauty in mindlessly thrown-together messes? both? vylter and broccoli spheres are onto something: i can’t place what it is, but it’s certainly fascinating. – @MalachiLui, analogplanet contributor
Making art is a form of madness — we slip deep within our own singular vision and become lost to it. There is no musician on Earth that is as committed to their own derangement as Kanye, and in this respect, at this point in time, he is our greatest artist. – Nick Cave, get off his lawn
track by track
with the artists
Broccoli Spheres
Opens with a storm
Vocalize like the ocean
Sudden low ending
Make the sounds accessible
A deep pleading, slow and low
Repetitive prayers
Seeking out meaning
Predictable beat
Emphasizes want
Trying to believe
Dirtier, more suitable
For a sinner trying hard
To escape a history
Empathetic pleas
Spread about like clouds
Hiding in the mist
Bouncing off the air
Layered ideas
Line up for takeoff.
Wondering aloud
Proclaiming the name
Orchestral meanderings
Add to the soul’s mystery
Slow down the survivor’s story
Emphasize deep grief
Isolate wonder
Military dirge effect
Praise with fuzz and confusion
Justify the devil’s voice
Simplified
Amplified
Emphasis on pleas
Emphasis on please
The muddled voice of heaven
Vylter
never close: a callback to a song I worked on in 2000 with golobulus (collaboration soon!) and a tribute to Kanye’s vocal solo on the last third of Runaway, ten years after. Sets the table well.
we have, we need: just a warmup take after nearly four years off the drums with a choir and band.
no additional text: write what you know, stadium pop chords and awkwardness on top of an a capella. Broccoli Spheres really brought me to a new appreciation for how they hear music through producing this as well as writing this together.
felt g.o.o.d.: I like the dizziness that comes from Tricky’s work behind a mic and a board and sampler, so much so that I went into this fully wishing for it to be a lost track from Pre-Millenium Tension, ultimately willing it to a meld of the Vylter scream (every track I do lately ends as a nightmarish break or at least a cathartic howl) and Kanye’s literal shrieks and cries. My heart knew it to be right.
si dog: Dio es? Alive and well on this album, I’m very happy about it.
fred: sadboi Toronto 2010 style, because Fred Hammond is now the new Bon Iver in Kanye’s mix, and that’s a top tier sadboi move.
golgothan: when I watch Dogma, I hear this in my head, plus a loving ode to Richard Wright I can only hope he would have liked.
colourblind: an aborted song appears in the middle of this track just to rile up Congress.
hales corner: Selah really didnt need me to do anything, do I just brought it down from its author’s pedestal so I could play some drums and then gave it Right back.
gaither triage: in park, keys still in the ignition and, because it’s 1982, the car is playing a distress signal you might want to raise a family of song with.
we need, we have: listen to the number of syllables, the time signature, the mantra consumes critical thinking, the mantra consumes critical thinking…….the gift shop is sufficient for all your needs, maybe even buy a church of your very own instead of starting one for free by yourself? INRI
No Kings is out now on Hypersleep Sessions
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