From the LA Times review: When Justin Timberlake's sophomore disc debuts at No. 1 on the chart next week, the Beatles era will officially be over. It's been coming for a while, with the rise of hip-hop and the relegation of most rock to the sidelines in terms of innovation. But Timberlake, who started out as part of a prefab Fab Five during the last gasp of Beatle-esque teeny-bop, means to ring in a new paradigm.
In Timberlake's new age, the Fab Four are Kraftwerk, those synth-playing German humanoids who laid the groundwork for modern dance music. And instead of Elvis, there's the Midwestern, biracial multi-instrumentalist currently known as Prince.
Foregrounding those forebears changes the rules. Old ideas like authenticity and straightforward song craft go out the window in favor of the dense collage effect of "abstract" hip-hop and the hallucinatory groove of post-rave-era dance music.
Instead of a white guy "reinterpreting" black traditions, Timberlake and his artistic soul mate — zeitgeist-ruling producer Timbaland — stand as equals in creating a sound that's partly avant-rock and partly New Wave soul.
OK, I'm exaggerating the importance of "FutureSex/LoveSounds." But it's a heck of a potential hit machine. No performer in Timberlake's position — totally mainstream, movie-star girlfriend, endorsed by teens, moms and McDonald's — has released such a confidently experimental disc. (There's one cautious move — a Rick Rubin-produced ballad — but it ends the disc like an afterthought.)
From the introductory space jam to the Plasticine gospel of the anti-crack ballad "Losing My Way," through the syrupy Three Six Mafia cameo "Chop Me Up" and the guitars-on-Mars ballad "What Goes Around … ," the two Tims buzz through their futuristic soundscape like the Jetsons on holiday. Will.I.Am drops in for a surprisingly tasty track (though his rhyme's a bit tongue-tied), but even then, Timbaland's showily modern spirit steers the mood.
It's sometimes hard to know where Timbaland's vision begins and Timberlake's ends. The producer manipulates the singer's voice as if it's a universal screwdriver, loosening up every arrangement. And that voice, dwelling in falsetto or growing breathy with desire, often overcomes the mix's mechanistic tendencies.
"FutureSex/LoveSounds" isn't an easy listen at first. Its crazy layers meld together into a sticky bit of a mess, and the lyrics are mostly standard love stuff. But repeated listening helps the tunes unravel. The new dimension they herald may prove to be a side road or a yellow brick one, but either way, it's worth a walk.
No comments:
Post a Comment