Bilal - Airtight's Revenge

Basically, anyone who likes either New Amerykah and isn't fucking with this is stuck on stupid.

*throwing the gauntlet down*

<3 u rev

i got this today on some random download shit and it is bonkers good

op is a ringing endorsement, tbh though i didn't even know he was around still

"All Matter" is as tense as a coil.

he had her walkin the town
sellin her ass
he was makin money til she broke her back
one daaaay
how you do dat?
upside down on the poll when you're smokin crack
somebody yelled from the back
"get this ho up off the floor"

upside down on the poll when you're smokin crack

too much time on ilx

irl lol

that was an otm post

hook me up dude

just check the usual places

album is v. good.

Oh dang, I didn't realize it was done yet. Hooray!

just check the usual places

― The Reverend, Wednesday, November 3, 2010 10:58 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

cant find :( u have aim mofo

hey rev would you post one or two choice tracks?

i still need to check out the aloe blacc album

deej, i got it off slsk, i don't have a link to a rar/zip

j0, this is my immediate fave:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0apYId-zQQE

Basically, anyone who likes either New Amerykah and isn't fucking with this is stuck on stupid.

― The Reverend, Thursday, 4 November 2010 02:52 (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

was thinking of starting a thread about the last Mos Def album with p much the same line. Will download this, never knew Bilal was still kicking around.

yeah straight up i thought this dude was dead and shit

His unreleased album Love for Sale was good too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geIyb1pfk0s

i like this album a lot.

how does this compare to Love 4 Sale (which is a classic imo), from what I've read it's a lot "rockier"

Great album. Along with the Quadron album, Plug Research is A+ this year.

COOL ON THE OUTSIDE AND HOT IN THE MIDDLE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzKgNNpVtYk

It's good, but when I put this on it kind of just drifts over my head. I guess it's a bit like listening to an r'n'b Tame Impala - like, there's music there and it's ostensibly interesting,but it doesn't hold me by the lapels and shake me like New Amerykah does. Sorry, I will keep listening.

this is so great on headphones

like this a lot, though i think the songwriting could be a bit stronger at times. its mostly bilals voice/phrasing/tone etc that carry it for me. the last song is quite like cody chestnutt. overall though i think i like this album cos it has a kind of resigned tone that hangs over the whole thing.

I finally listened to this and... don't get it. It seems so aimless and confused. There are no hooks, none of the breaks were memorable - I just don't get it. It's like Voodoo if you take all that makes the D'Angelo great. The songwriting seems like he needs someone to tell him to sharpen it up. The New Amerykah comparison doesn't even really make sense considering how TIGHT that record is, even parts like Master Teacher are so focussed.

I'll give it another go but really this guy exists for me to occasionally pull out Fastlane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jkbDtFapyY

"Flying" works because Bilal sounds like the broken-down woman he's singing about.

rev did u make a best albums list last year? i remember finding some really cool shit i had missed off your 09 one (shafiq husayn, meshell ndegeocello)

ILM 2010 Albums Poll Ballot+Stats Fiesta

It's a lot closer to the ILX hivemind's than the previous year's list, where I was kind of carving my own little corner of the world for myself. I also listened to a lot more rap, less r&b and dance than the few years previous.

ya, i feel i hewed p close to it too, or at least to stuff the same stuff you were onto. will check out esperanza spalding & ramadanman tho -- bilal is dope

I love the reggae coda of "Who Are You"

Really like this lp, but it's mastered so horribly I can't usually make it all the way through. It's way too harsh.

Still have much love for Levels, Restart and All Matter. Three of 2010's best songs right there.

Really? I haven't noticed any problem with that.

Yah man, crank it and you'll have to turn down the highs in your e

*eq

Check the opening drums on Restart.

Compare it to the Aloe Blacc lp which was one of the best sounding albums from last year, any genre. That whole album is so warm and inviting, although not as adventurous on a song to song basis.

I don't really ever listen to music loud tbh.

It was one of the first things I noticed and I'm not a major geekaudiophile. My preferences with sound could differ greatly from yours so if you don't notice then cool. Still one of my favorite soul releases from '10 regardless.

This album still jams

Maybe somebody can help me out with this: Bilal teased Airtight's Revenge with a single-worthy track that ultimately didn't make the album, and I don't remember what it was called or know where I can hear it again. I vaguely remember the song being in the vein of "Cake & Eat It Too," kind of heaving and beat-heavy, but that memory could be way off. I was really bummed when it wasn't on the album, then the album grew on me so much I didn't care anymore, but I'd love to hear that track again if anybody remembers it.

no idea, dude

Spent way too much time searching, but I found it. It's "Free." Definitely too beaty to have fit on the album, but not a bad song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZHIENQ698w

Nottz production is always very buoyant.

Yeah, I could go for a whole Nottz-produced soul album. Maybe not a Bilal-Nottz album, because there are probably better uses for Bilal's unique talents, but I always dig Nottz.

They had another joint on Nottz solo album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aahQwBLM2Ns

New album is streaming at NPR and sounds nothing like how I expected it to sound

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/17/172110416/first-listen-bilal-a-love-surreal?sc=tw&cc=share

this is fantastic

Only listened to it once, but my jaw has dropped so many times already. It's no easy feat making an album this soft so daring

yeah I'm just listening now and there are so many odd little earworms but still this record already feels like an old friend. Highlight so far is "slipping away", which is just wow.

http://www.thenqm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/bilal-a-love-surreal-album-coverjpg.jpg

loving this so far

this is awesome

*throwing the gauntlet down*

― The Reverend, Wednesday, November 3, 2010 10:01 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the drums on "back to love" are killing me rn

okay so i'm only into the third song but so far this record is amazing at creating a sense of extreme space even when like a million things are happening at once

which is great bc correct me if i have a wrong impression of airtight's revenge but a lot of what kept me from really getting into that record was how busy it seemed

I loved airtight's revenge but yeah I see what you're saying, this feels less... dense?

Yeah, it definitely is. There's a lot more space on this one. Totally different vibe, too. (And as good as the first half of this one is, the second half is even more striking).

also i know everybody made last year about channel orange vs. kaleidoscope dream but this record (at least so far) actually registers to me as kind of a version of channel orange i find 100 percent compelling. a similar feeling of wandering strangeness but the songs are all incredibly present oh and the PLAYING is fantastic

Unfortunately, it's not as flashy or personality-driven as Channel Orange, and between that and its leisurely pacing and NPR jazziness I'm afraid that it's not gonna get a fraction of the press it deserves. I feel like this could be the album that turns me into Lex, the true believer crying out to every critic that they need to hear an album they have no intention of ever listening to

the second half is even more striking

the glasper track is incredible! does ilx like glasper? No thread, and I can't remember seeing any chatter anywhere. Too npr-y? I loved the last one with all the neo-soul artists on it (bilal, badu, ndegeocello!)

ha xp

answers my question I guess. I'm a brit so I have only a vague sense of what npr even is, except that a lot of my favourite albums seem to turn up as "first listens" there

That Glasper album was very good, but maybe a little "safe" to garner widespread interest. Glasper's contributions here, though, are head turning. Would love to maybe see these two make a full album together some day

"back to love" is ruling my life today

channel orange invocation so very unnecessary

sorry rtc! was just a thought i had. forget i mentioned it

lol u dont have to actually apologise

it's just a smothering idea for first blushes is all

ooh i didn't know robert glasper was on this

it's just a smothering idea for first blushes is all

true

tbh i'd kinda always felt this guy flattered to deceive somewhat (not to say i ever thought he was fraudulent, just that idk he could have done more than settle for the cosily oblique) but the second half of this is sounding pretty wonderful and deeply satisfying

you could be onto something for all I know, I've always been glad to be a sucker tbh

yeah never mind whatever i said upthread about this record bc i honestly hadn't reached the second side yet

which goddamn

you could be onto something for all I know, I've always been glad to be a sucker tbh

― wins rules at negative self-demolition (wins), Monday, 18 February 2013 23:28 (Yesterday) Bookmark

winsomely put. the unspoken superficialities of bohemian appreciation is a topic of perpetual interest imo, like i know as i fall in love with this record that i'm certainly not really checking for the lyrics as a whole and indeed ever getting round to doing so would likely feel like an artificial labour; simultaneously however i wallow in the dusky signifiers of numinous soulful substance.

guess essentially it's a question of personal stock markets and why i sell on a supposedly thin and indulgent first half and buy on a supposedly rich and affecting second half; in reality i don't doubt they're cut from the same cloth

if there were an interesting comparison with channel orange it's might be one of image and presentation; how the cover art of each invite/preclude different stratas of suckerdom (a hunch can't be bovd to flesh out so good luck w/ that)

in any case, got this album helplessly on loop today

Here's my weird bias: I wish the second half came first, because it's the much more interesting sell (and I suppose because it has the killer vocal performances), even though the album is a much more logical listen as it is. I just don't want people dipping in for a few songs, assuming they've heard everything there is, then ducking out before they get to the revelations.

so far i like to hear it as two mini lps, small and perfectly formed like blacksummersnight; probably if i really studied the lyrics there'd be some greater intended arc this might disfigure but concision has its own logic (and often a better, more suggestive one at that)

doubtful in any case that anyone so minded to bother to check this album out at all is ever going to skip the second half

anyone have credits for this? who's on drums?

Yeah the drums AND the bass O__o

guessing derrick hodge on bass

this could be a banner year for, uh, neo-neo-soul. this, jose james, and i guess it's maybe even possible that there's an outside chance that d'angelo and maxwell will drop their records.

that would be an incredible year.

Yeah, that's a trend piece I would love to read

definitely feeling the slower second half more

was quite excited about this based on the hosannahs but in what way is this not bilal making the same kind of album he always makes? that's nice to listen to with a few interesting details for a week or so and then you completely forget about it. case in point, his last album seems to have disappeared from my itunes and this is the first time i've noticed. "slipping away" is pretty great i guess but he never stops my attention wandering.

the robert glasper album last year was really great, much better and more varied imo

this is based on 2 listens, i guess i'm not done with it yet but it didn't blow me away

don't recall much inhomogeneous about the glasper rec, nice enough though it was

really? quite apart from the multiplicity of voices you've got breezy summer jams, heavy-lidded bedroom soul, dr dre interpolations, nirvana through a talkbox...it's one of the most varied (broadly) neo-soul albums i can think of

imo the "forgettable" feeling with bilal (which i also get) has a lot more to do with the internet crit community's tendency not to reward these types of records than with some fundamental replay value issue

In case this hadn't been posted:

http://m.soundcloud.com/eone-music/bilal-the-retrospection

DAMN.

I listened to the new album once and forgot about it :/

still hanging in there nicely for me

yeah, I need to go back

Buying today, will report back

"butterfly" is my favourite, that one is gorgeous

Not sure if this album can crack my top 10, but love the shit out of "west side girl"

What would Bilal's Purple Rain look like?

This is a GROWER

album of the year

One of em yeah

It will get a track on my singles list at the least

Weird this thread came back, been revisiting this album over the last few days

same

revisited it the other week, still slams

love "Climbing." the 'smoking some mary jane, with Marilyn, in Maryland' line just jumped out at me because i used to know a pothead girl in Baltimore County by that name.

Nice

That bass on Winning Hand.

I know, right?

10/10 aoty, rt

i'm still not over this album (love surreal) even a little bit... any ilx rnb-ists have any recommendations that might scratch the same itch?

i feel like i love a lot of records in this vein but none are coming to mind right now. first van hunt record?

Did you check the Jose James record from last year? No Beginning No End is the name.

xp ha, that's funny, my friend showed me some van hunt after i showed him this bilal, but it was a later record. i'll check out the first one.

haven't heard jose james either, will do. thanks guys!

Also Black Radio 1 (and 2) by Robert Glasper.

Anthony Hamilton with Robert Glasper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq1Nti0LuEM

check out some Anthony Hamilton too

ALSO the latest albums from Amel Larrieux (Ice Cream Everyday) and Goapele (Break of Dawn).

Pretty much EVERYTHING Glasper is gold

you guyyyyyyyys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGKs6U8xdWM

new album with adrian younge apparently, which could be good, or could be too period-focused...

yeah that's a crap shoot, but there's high upside there

airtights revenge is really underrated - ive been listening to it a lot lately. its much better than a love surreal which seemed like him doing whats expected, more or less (though maybe its time for a revisit).

love airtights revenge
hate adrian younge

i listened to airtights and a love surreal today and they both fuckin rule

Couldn't get into Love Surreal apart from West Side Girl. Agree that Airtight's Revenge is really underrated.

the like 2 second sample of "when the levee breaks" in "move on" is hilarious

I just out Airtight on at an afterparty the other night! I never really did get into A Love Surreal tho. Hate Adrian Younge too.

just put on

just started playing this and it's definitely a bilal record

it's also really good? obv

Both of the above posts OTM.

new one sounded great while making dinner last night . i want to dig in more but it sounds like his most reined in, concise album yet?

Definitely

A Love Surreal already felt fairly concise to me (if not "reined in" per se). I feel like this album applies that album's discipline to Airtight Revenge's sonic template, though I haven't yet gone back to AR to confirm whether this is even remotely close to correct.

this tweet made me download this album lol

https://twitter.com/alshipley/status/617116418518028288

:)

Finally cracked into this yesterday. Exciting record. First half sounded great to me; second half was a little harsh but I was listening on bad speakers. I run hot and cold on Adrian Younge (sometimes his retro-ness scans as schticky to me) but his work here sound good

Yeah, this is the first Adrian Younge production I've really had any use for because he's finally working with an artist who pushes against his staid-ness.

who's Adrian Younge

the live drumming on this record is pretty appallingly bad, like the worst drumming i've heard on a 'name' record that wasn't shambolic indie rock shit

did you not like the Ghostface album xp?

the live drumming on this record is pretty appallingly bad, like the worst drumming i've heard on a 'name' record that wasn't shambolic indie rock shit

lol yeah this is such a weird choice

I thought the Ghostface record was a blast, but campiness flatters Ghostface. Haven't gotten around to the sequel yet though

who's Adrian Younge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Younge

And yeah, some of his fake-vintage stuff comes across as plastic to me, esp the drums

the live drumming on this record is pretty appallingly bad, like the worst drumming i've heard on a 'name' record that wasn't shambolic indie rock shit

track examples? i still haven't gotten a chance to listen to the first half, but there were parts in the first half that just seemed like intentionally janky loops.

if this album is as good as sirens (Which was amazing, if a bit short and bitty), i think it might be bilals best album in a while. i think airtights might be his best, followed by the first one, and then love for sale.

many songs on the record are as good as "sirens" which yeah is incredddible

Been listening to a lot of Adrian Younge's productions lately and was looking forward to In Another Life. Those drums sure are hard to get past tho. :(

i would call the drums a little basic sounding maybe, but i don't think i would have noticed so much if not for the convo in this thread. after one listen today i think it's pretty great, "it's definitely a bilal record" otm

production feels less than stellar but the songwriting is lovely

only heard this once, on the train, so not ideal conditions, but the album seems underwritten. i wish he would get someone to write for/with him. nice to hear him screaming a bit though, i miss that side of him.

and the drums - though a bit shoehorned in - are better than some of the drums on his other productions. at least these have some thwack to them, most of the time they sound flattened, or like theyre stuck on a certain preset.

First half is pretty good but I think it gets a little aimless near the end. The song I keep coming back to is "Star Now"

album gets better the more i hear it, though it does still seem a bit underdeveloped in places, like they could have done more with the songs. the repetitiousness of the drum sound is dissappointing after a while but the last song kind of slays me. and sirens is still amazing. i love bilal to death, but while i like that he just keeps making albums, unlike dangelo, i still think he has yet to make an album deserving of his talent. having one producer is one good idea, but a strong writer would help loads i think.

saw him live this evening in london. the relentlessness of younges non-grooves becomes more apparent live, where you just want the drummer to STFU with the breakbeats after a while. i didnt realise how sparse the new album actually is, and not always for the better. his current band are good, though it got samey quite fast to hear virtually every song end in a big rock blow out, like a rock shortcut. i wish bilal took rock's propulsion, speed, and catchiness, rather than just grand 70s heaviosity. airtights revenge worked rock/pop influences in much more subtly. hes still a brilliant performer, and singer, though oddly, he doesnt really give himself much time to relax or stretch out vocally these days, which is a shame.

Lemme tell ya that starting the year hearing Bilal do an extended live jam on "Sometimes" is as good a way to get going as you're likely to get.

what a record

so fucked up on prescription pills
she'll never trust a man again

my ears weren't ready for this album when it came out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epfE8rjLeTs

^^^ really wonderful song

seeing him with Kassa Overall on Sunday; bilal is always great in concert

i love this. low key

Did anyone spring for this Bandcamp-only, all-star, no preview tracks release?

https://bilalxhighbreedmusic.bandcamp.com/

Btw ulysses idk if that was the last concert you saw, but I hope it was a good one.

it was a good one (he did sometimes!) but not QUITE the last show I saw. god i miss live music.

not heard that EP but i love the new song on spotify, in the rain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QCwWtSZsMM

this is interesting

new album is brilliant

best since airtight’s revenge, just as formally daring

!!!

Yeah this is sick, thanks for the heads up

i didn't realise this was out yet but it rules

There’s a new album?!

*flees to Apple Music*

Listening to Love for Sale on youtube today (after hearing his interview on Questlove's podcast), it's just so so nice to hear another record from that incredible Electric Lady era.

Oooooooh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB7fhyqh0IM