Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
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CD Details
Artist: Janelle MonaeEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2010-05-18
Music Label: Atlantic Records
Product features:
- MONAE JANELLE THE ARCHANDROID
- Suite II Overture
- Dance Or Die (featuring Saul Williams)
- Faster
- Locked Inside
- Sir Greendown
- Cold War
- Tightrope (featuring Big Boi)
- Neon Gumbo
- Oh, Maker
- Come Alive (The War of The Roses)
- Mushrooms & Roses
- Suite III Overture
- Neon Valley Street
- Make The Bus (featuring Of Montreal)
- Wondaland
- 57821 (featuring Deep Cotton)
- Say You'll Go
- BabopbyeYa
Music reviews of The ArchAndroid
Music Review: she's waking them up
Rating: 5 Stars
This release is hot, pure and simple. It puts me in the mind of hearing Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" album the first time when I was a freshman in college. The songs truly felt like a suite and flowed smack into each other (Erykah Badu's "Mama's Gun" and Jill Scott's live album are the few in recent memory that hit me like this). The arrangements in Archandroid are like an audible collision between Stevie Wonder, James Bond, a tinge of Earth Wind and Fire and Quincy Jones circa Michael Jackson "Off the Wall," approaching Curtis Mayfield, and some Bjork (yes, you are America's answer to the majestic Bjork, Swing Out Sister and Janet Jackson). Add in a little otherworldly that puts you in the mood of a movie soundtrack and we're about there.Yes, I danced in the mirror of my apartment to "Tightrope," - they try to take your dreams/but you can't a allow it...whether you're high or low/you got to tip on the tightrope...this ain't no acrobatics/you either follow or you lead...you gotta keep your balance or you fall into the gap - her first release and hardly got the James Brown footwork Janelle and her crew does so wonderfully in her video. My cat was entertained at my even trying.
What you want to really listen to is Suite II Overture, cut 1, and cut 4, Locked Inside (which has the drumming transition you hear at the beginning of MJ's "Rock with You". There are few things being dropped these days that surprise. Archandroid is among them. After the Overture, dig into "Dance or Die," which again puts me in the mind of the Jackson family, namely Janet, as this song sounds eerily similar to "I Bet You Think This Song is About You." Janelle's power is in her daring to take risks. When I told my husband that Sean "Piddy" Combs was an executive producer on this CD, I heard, "I'm glad to see that he's trying something adventurous". That was the hubby being nice. Now I'm not mad at Combs, but I believe he did something grand in letting Janelle do her thing as she lets us know up front in her acknowledgements: "To my Bad Boy/Atlantic Family...Thank you Sean Combs. Thank you for helping us soar & letting me be the boss; It is because of your strong belief in our ideas as The Wondaland Arts Society we are able to fly higher.")
One confession: my interest in this release goes beyond the music. Janelle's concentration on aliens and sci-fi and most especially, the 1927 Frantz Lang film "Metropolis" (as seen in her debut CD two years ago) was enough to make me take note. I also like this film. And not that African Americans can't get down with all things German and fictitiously science, but it was cool seeing someone else seeing the splendor and magic in this Lang film. Beyond that, there are some moments on this CD that didn't entirely impress me and that would be the sing-song beginning to "Oh Maker". I could almost see Janelle dropping her pompadour and tuxedo or sci-fi fetish for a straw hat, a banjo and some overalls to sing this song that spins out into the funky, true. And not too soon for me, but that's allowed. Janelle, this is your work. I love it. And I hope others do, too. And that's because Janelle, you're all over the place and yet in one very steady place, which is you.
Commencing the final note: anyone reading this with the album in hand/ear, go straight to Suite III Overture, cut 12** (all of 1:41 seconds in length) and Neon Valley Street, cut 13 (3:58 if you're keeping count). Whatever you praying to, Neon Valley Street is the soundtrack. I couldn't tell if this was a gospel tune or if she was for a minute truly being Top 40 romantic (let's pretend I'm holding your hand) or whether this was an ode to the listener (...May the song reach your heart/May the song journey on...running fast in time like Tubman...it's just a pity the song is a danger zone...don't get caught).
I told my husband that according to the notes on this album, Janelle is from the year 2719. She's from another time, I said. The hub replied, "Yeah, like Sun Ra." I said, "Yes, but she's more accessible." (Google NPR interview).
And now for the Archandroid Awards:
1) Most Appreciated Arrangements:
About 1:59 into cut 15, "Wondaland" (another nod to love)
2) Lyrics, Most Surprising:
Early in the morning he searched for her/until his feet grew bloody and tired
3) Should Get Regular Airplay for the Masses Award:
"Say You'll Go," cut 17 (one lyric: Write our name on each other's heart/Love is not a fantasy.) These lyrics and the doo-doo-do, which again, put me in the mind of Stevie and war-time radio. This tune is also for anyone thinking of the DOW, Greece, the BP spill in the Gulf, December 21, 2012, and all things scary and redundant (The world could end outside our window, she sings). The choral arrangement and piano and strings at the end are not to be forgotten.
The truly final note: Cut 18, "Babopbyeya" is it. Eight minutes and forty six seconds long. The title is an inspired scat a la Ella. The lyrics are amazing. (Where are you, my darling?/ Babopyeyah /can you hear me calling/give us the eyes to guide us the most when have no light to see through our darkest days and troubled ways...Meet me at the door by the garden...I hear echoes of your laughter in the corners of my mind...I must go.) And Miss Janelle, is that Spanish or Portuguese you poured up in here? Girl, you are damaging for the ordinary. You are waking them up.
Description of The ArchAndroid
Wondaland Arts Society/Bad Boy recording artist Janelle Monáe has announced the release of her eagerly awaited debut album.'The ArchAndroid' is an 'EMOTION PICTURE' brought to you by Janelle Monáe and the Mad Minds of the
Wondaland Arts Society. The star-studded featured cast includes the legendary Big Boi of OutKast, renowned poet Saul Williams, psychedelic dance-punk troupe Of Montreal, punk prophets Deep Cotton, and the Wondaland Arch Orchestra.
The album was recorded at Wondaland Studios in Atlanta, but written all over the world, including but not limited to Moscow, Prague, Istanbul, Berlin, Amsterdam, New York, and the Palace of the Dogs. 'The ArchAndroid' was inspired not only by the energy of these places, but by such revolutionary musicians and artistic visionaries as Salvador DalÃ, Walt Disney, OutKast, Stevie Wonder, Octavia Butler, David Bowie, Andy Warhol, and John Williams. The album was Executive
Produced by Nate Wonder, Chuck Lightning, Janelle Monáe, and Sean 'Diddy' Combs, with
Co-Executive Production from
Big Boi of OutKast.
-Whether or not the following information came from Ryan Wakeman, WARPA, the Gaiming community or Janelle Monáe's journals, Max Stellings and the Palace of the Dogs Archives is inconclusive at this time...What is known or agreed upon is that this information stems from an official entry on The ArchAndroid Crown in the Living Cyktionary, a 28th Century encyclopedia...
The ArchAndroid Crown: Designed by Zoman Ignatius, the half-elf, half-human mystic, reportedly 500 years ago. According to legend, the crown has several magic properties, as well as innovative technologies that can be employed only by The ArchAndroid. Zoman was a consummate inventor, artist and sculptor, a cross between Tesla and Da Vinci, and as such, he designed the crown to be a work of beauty that would embody the very spirit of Metropolis. According to legend, the crown features prominent Metropolis buildings and towers that will light up radiantly when the one and only true ArchAndroid wears the crown. According to the Daily Horos, this opulent headdress was stolen from the vaults in the Black House, reportedly by 1954, in October of 2715. Several members of 1954 were hunted down and executed for this crime. But the crown was never found. Many claim it has been secreted away to the Wonderground. There is also word that in the year 2010, several 1954 operatives have crafted a replica of this historic headdress to be worn by Janelle Monáe in anticipation for her album The ArchAndroid�no word on whether or not this replica has magic properties� The Living Cyktionary, 9th Edition, 2719
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