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808's & Heartbreak - Kanye West.

Upon spinning Kanye West’s new (awesomely titled) album “808’s & Heartbreak” I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I’d heard the true rap fans slagging him off for his direction and the general public claim to “hate every song”. I’d also heard “Love Lockdown” myself the moment it leaked and had thought “wtf”. You see, as a compilation of tracks Kanye’s new album will take you somewhere you’ve never been ever before. And not in a pretentious-Radiohead way. This album lives up to the “genius” label Kanye himself has given it.

The album kicks off with giant synth pads and a simple metronome beat backed with tom rolls. The bass rumbles in the lowest possible end of the mix and Kanye opts not to rap but instead half-talk-half-warble under a mask of autotune. As his voice wobbles the autotune repitches and gives the effect that has been popular in house music and electro-pop for some time now. In fact it’s not even the first time this has been done in the rap genre (T-pain) but for some reason - coupled with the unusual beat and the uneasiness in Kanye’s voice this feels somewhat fresh. It’s just as you get comfortable with the direction that Kanye unleashes his first “wtf” moment. Like an old 70’s record that’s been concealed in the garage for the past 35 years Kanye opts to destroy his track by rhythmically scratching it. Not scratching in a DJ way - no I mean literally SCRATCHING it so it skips all over the place. You may think your CD is broken at first. It’s not. It’s probably the strangest effect I’ve ever known to be placed on track onef o such a commercial record. While the glitching does nothing for my feeling towards the song it does set you up for what the album is about to be.

“Welcome To Heartbreak” is one of the biggest songs on the album. A James Bond-orchestral score kicks the track off before huge compressed drum machines kick in and a sonic-gobbling synth occupying the high range of frequencies. Kanye’s lyrical intent hits hard from the first autotuned words of the track as he laments, “My friends showed me pictures of his kids // And all I could show him was pictures of my cribs”. 808’s & Heartbreak may not be packed with the rhymes and grooves that previous albums have made Kanye famous for but it’s no less powerful. This is probably Kanye’s most deeply honest record; realming into the space of a lament at times.

Kanye uses some strange sounds throughout this record. If the huge synths and orchestral patches weren’t enough to interest you perhaps the tonky-toy piano and sucking vocoded hits in “Heartless” will be enough to convince you that talent does actually go into making records like this. “Amazing” continues with the piano driven-feel but Kanye decides to mix his vocals a little lower in this track allowing more huge synth-pads and a Timbaland drum beat to keep the track flowing.

The first track to leak from the album “Love Lockdown” feels much less surprising in the context of it’s placement in the record. By the time you reach it you’re wondering where Kanye is going to take you next. It’s the first time Kanye decides to distort parts of his vocals which becomes a more regular occurrence further into the record. A Timbaland-esque beat gives the chorus massive energy which contrasts the basic sub-kick drum that occupies the verse.

“Paranoid” is probably my favourite track on the album. It’s produced like a radio-skit so it’s not only insanely catchy it’s also really clever. Kanye drops the autotuned vocals for this track and instead opts for a killer-synth riff and a raspy bass-line. It’s a fantastic pop-song and I’ve no doubt probably the most radio-friendly of the tunes on the album.

The distorted vocals return for “Robocop” and so does the radio-friendly pop. With an uplifting, almost Christmas-like chorus Kanye’s vocals are supported by a choir of male singers and juxta-posed by a subby kick drum and robotic hi-hat. As the Eleanor Rigby style string section groans Kanye laments, “Up late night like she on patrol // I told her it’s some things she don’t need to know”.

“Street Lights” is a slow ballad-type track with a huge harmonious backing from a female choir. The track acts as an excellent minimalistic break from the big pop songs “Paranoid” and “Robocop”. “Bad News” makes a return to the scratched record effect. By now you’ll know whether you hate it or not - needless to say it’s a brave man who effectively destroys his clean sounding track but it’s certainly attention grabbing.

“Coldest Winter” moves to close the album as Kanye shows that he can actually sing a decent melody when he’s not masking everything in autotune. The drums beat like a tribal march and the synths glitch across a sparse soundscape. By the time “See You In My Nightmares” kicks off with it’s raspy synth line you’ll probably be breathless. Kanye’s delivery is aggressive and you’ll probably struggling to decide what you make of all that you’ve just heard.

It’s certainly going to be like Marmite. The rap-fans will probably loathe the direction. The radio fans will unlikely understand exactly what has just happened. But the music lovers will probably appreciate the most unusual, original and downright inspiring album to come from a commercial artist this year.

Phenomonal. This is iconic at worst, genius at best.

• Kanye West Official Website
• Kanye West MySpace

9/10.