In late 2008 Kanye West released his drastic side-step of an album, 808's & Heartbreak. He decision to sing instead of rap was a emotional necessity, following the disintegration of his engagement and the death of his mother, rather than an example of genre experimentation. The world-conquering hip-hop he had mastered on Graduation wasn't something he could harness to convey what he was feeling, it wasn't emotionally fragile enough.
British singer and producer James Blake has made a similar decision with his debut album, James Blake. Continuing his progression away from the more devoutly dubstep sounds of his earlier work, Blake uses more traditional and soulful vocals to express emotions that dubstep alone is not capable of evoking. 808's & Heartbreak and Blake's album also explore the idea of a simultaneously artificial sounding and spiritually damaged persona. This is particularly evident on album highlight "The Wilhelm Scream." As the track reaches it's climax, the pulsing layered waves of artificial noise that have been slowly building are pierced as Blake's very human voice echos through.
The record's flow also somewhat parallels Radiohead's most recent record, The King of Limbs. Both albums take a less mainstream genre (Blake's dubstep and Radiohead's electronic experimentations) and filter these sonic aesthetics through more conventional types of pop music (soul for Blake and a more traditionally alternative sound for Radiohead). The King of Limbs places it's most unconventional songs early in the tracklisting and using "Lotus Flower" as a transition point, after which the songs become less unusual. James Blake similarly begins with material that is more indebted to his electronic influences and his cover of Feist's "Limit to Your Love" (similarly halfway through the record) signals a transition to more piano-driven songs like the beautifully faltering "Give Me My Month" and "Why Don't You Call Me."
The progression from experimental to (comparatively) traditional on the record may be an indicator of who Blake is trying to appeal to. The indie-snobs and dubstep purists waiting to pounce on the record as being watered-down for more mainstream listeners are confronted immediately with evidence that Blake the producer has not entirely been replaced by Blake the songwriter. From this perspective, one could view MGMT as taking an almost entirely opposite approach on their debut, Oracular Spectacular which lured mainstream audiences in with flawless pop songs up front, only to unleash Brian Eno inspired experiments on them throughout the second half of that record.
(Radiohead theory provided by Marc Davignon)
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