Kendrick Lamar on BET
This is it, my top three of the year. Deciding the final order has me fidgeting even now, unsure if I’ll feel differently next year. It should be obvious who won out. So many on this list were so deserving of consideration. Any of these albums could top the list not just this year, but most years. These artists just happened to produce some of their best work during the prime of this generation’s greatest poet.
Julien Baker
Turn Out The Lights
3
Well after midnight one evening in December of 2015, I sat at this community table smoking cigarettes. Nothing felt like it was working. I wasn’t in a band anymore, I couldn’t find a job, Karlsberg and my grandfather had passed away, and something felt off about my girlfriend. Everything was about to change, but I didn’t know it yet. I didn’t understand everything I was going through and what I was about to face. I found empathy in Julien Baker’s debut album.
It came out of nowhere, like everything I was going through. I remember listen to “Something” and wondering why my eyes got so wet. Her raw and bare expression said everything you ever wanted to say, but couldn’t. Sometimes we can’t find the words, can’t discern the thoughts, or maybe we’re too afraid to speak.
I saw her two weeks ago in front of a sold out crowd at The Irenic. We all stood in silence, hanging on her every word. When she raised her voice, the hairs on your neck jolted. So much power coming from this frail-looking woman. When she spoke, her voice was quieter than sneaking back home without your folks finding out. Watching her erupt shocked you. There’s so much strength, yet it looks like she’s barely even hitting 80 MPH. She can hit another level if she wanted to.
I walked away from that show with my roommate, both in amazement, from just hearing her for the first time two years ago to seeing her live. The hold she has over a listener equals her control of a live audience.
Turn Out the Lights, the follow-up to Sprained Ankle, finds Baker still mastering her unbreakable emotional grip over listeners while expanding upon her sound. There’s a bit of church infused on this new project. Pianos, strings, organ, and some passion for faith. No, it’s not a religious album. Baker goes to church and played music in church. Naturally, it’s influenced her style.
Photo by Angela Owens
The first single, “Appointments”, leads the album in with new ingredients. The effect-doused guitar loop layered over the piano melody lets Baker reach into you deeper. One can make out the themes right away. I can relate to working through the isolation and duality between depression and happiness when our time with someone in life or death leaves us.
“Televangelist” dismantles into barrenness. There’s simply piano and Baker’s voice rising at a measured pace. The metaphor here is one of shame and condemnation. Baker, openly gay, tattooed, and whatever else preachers on TV damn people for these days, probably takes some reproach.
In reviewing lyrics and reading interviews, I learned about Baker’s struggle with addiction. “Happy to Be Here” and “Claws in Your Back” dive deep into overcoming mental illness, drugs, and depression. I’ve never abused hard drugs but I have had my own issues. Cigarettes in particular. It’s better now but I still can’t get past a month without incident. I’ve had other challenges too but I’ve gotten past the worst of it, I’m happy to say.
My favorite track “Shadowboxing” symbolizes fighting our own invisible conflicts no one can see. The chorus unleashes Baker’s beautiful voice with equally earnest lyrics. Read them for yourself, so this next part makes sense. For me, I enjoy a woman’s attention. I’ve been fortunate this year and grown more confident in myself, but there’s still room to grow. As much as I enjoy having mutual interest, I yearn for someone to go out of their way for me. I’ve never had that experience and maybe if someone did move heaven and earth just for lil’ old me my confidence could break an old barrier.
Maybe after all the progress I’ve made this year I won’t need a miracle like that. I’m far more comfortable going after what I want. I’m not as skilled at the pursuit as I’d like but I’m improving steadily. I’m not afraid to say I worship Julien Baker’s work. It’s tough to say you love someone you don’t know, but I’m in love with the idea of her. Our experiences aren’t the same but I feel a kinship with her, just as her audience does. Experiencing Turn Out the Lights is church without damnation. Just love.
Turnover
Good Nature
2
I haven’t seen this one on anyone’s list, nor did I expect to. Turnover were just another solid band on Run For Cover’s impressive roster. I’d heard some of Peripheral Vision, not everything, but enough to dismiss them. I thought of them as a solid band, but not anything of what I’m about to say.
If it weren’t for the next album, Good Nature would have been my top album. I played it more than any other record this year. Most of this list champions artists sharing their private and vulnerable experiences. Things most of us never share with anyone, let alone publicly. Turnover deviates from everything on this list and what I normal enjoy.
Good Nature emanates joy. My mood improves whether I’m groggy or having the best day ever when I play these songs. Nothing negative can infiltrate these vibes.
Genres get created every day, but dream pop is an apt description for Turnover’s sound. They lull you into the most joyful fantasies. Singer Austin Getz has said “Super Natural” made him feel relaxed when they wrote it. Fitting that he made it about romantic love. Call it dream pop or whatever you’d like, I find the experience romantic. It sets a mood of being with someone with no superficiality.
Turnover
“Nightlight Girl” affirms romanticism isn’t about pussy or whatever Top 40 music wants us to celebrate. “Your bones have curves, your skin’s got lines, and that’s the way that you were designed.” I hum that to myself every time I hear it. I’m not looking for some social media, Tinder facade in a mate. These natural perfections draw me. All of these songs talk about living in reality, which we try to escape, rather than appreciate the goodness of the world and not just its quandaries.
Look this one’s simple compared to the rest of this list. I’m at ease when I put this on wherever I am or whatever mood I’m in.
Finding re-listenable albums in the streaming era seems futile. It reminds me of losing cable television. Living with my parents, I could always find Lord of The Rings and relax for a few hours. Good Nature is one of those rare experiences. You’re in all the way for forty-two minutes. Even if it turns up on shuffle or a playlist, you’re in for that song at least.
What I enjoy most though, is the allowance to daydream about the experience of being with someone again. I look forward to private moments of being together and building an experience. Perhaps I’m building up an impossible fantasy but why dream at all if you don’t have any real goals or hopes of what you want in life? Put maximum effort and energy into your desires. For me, even if I fail, I can live with that, rather than asking what would have happened if I tried.
Kendrick Lamar
DAMN.
1
“I think a player in his time is going to be great in all circumstances” says Howard Mudd, famed Offensive Lineman Coach, of Dick Butkus. I hope I don’t need to tell you who Butkus is. Watch this if you need to. I think of certain musicians in the same way. It doesn’t matter when or where they rose from. These people have timeless talent. Whether it’s destined or a blessing, these are the ones who outlive themselves.
I’m ready to call Kendrick Lamar the greatest artist of his generation. He’s the most important and notable musician of this decade. DAMN. crowns him the throne and the honor that comes with it. I’ve likened him to Metallica in the past, through each album release. To Pimp a Butterfly is his …And Justice for All.
Both push their makers’ ambition and abilities to the very edge of their abilities. James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett never played more progressive and challenging guitar. Those lyrics attack the glory of war, cherished laws, and legal processes. Kendrick raises the collective fist of Black America, infuses freeform jazz, chronicling the social climate of those ideas, and the coming Trumpian future.
After pushing yourself artistically to the best of your abilities, what’s left? Metallica asked themselves that question entering the nineties. You can play fast forever but someone will always come along and play faster or better. What’s left? They responded with a record that stands up against any record past, present, and future with The Black Album. I compare Kendrick with them because their narratives mirror each other.
DAMN. established him above everyone else, if anyone doubted him. Drake may always sell more records and have more temporary popularity, but he’ll never carry Kendrick’s reverence. No one has the same level of important albums in this decade.
The first single “HUMBLE.” made it clear that, not only would this be his year again, but he had a song as timeless as “Enter Sandman” or any Beatles song. I’ve heard friends and critics downplay in comparison to TPAB but, in the words of Rick Bobby, if you don’t like “HUMBLE.” then fuck you. The track hooks listeners like heroin to an addict. “DNA.” does the same. It’s the most furious track in Kendrick’s repertoire since M.A.A.D City. Also, who doesn’t dig the Rick James sample?
Kendrick on BET
These songs aim for every ear. I give Kendrick a lot of credit for “LOYALTY.” and recruiting Rihanna as the feature. It abandons an M.O., at least that I’ve had for him. I wouldn’t expect him to work with someone I don’t regard with his artistic legitimacy. The combination works and gives Kendrick a recognizable radio song while giving his catalog more diversity. “LOVE.” also adds more dimension. It’s a pop/r&b song but it’s not something I’ve heard him try on M.A.A.D City or TPAB with its simpler chorus and overall palatability.
“XXX.” should satisfy TPAB fans with its free ranging structure. There are a couple of different songs in one here. Much like TPAB, each part seems as arbitrary as a jazz song, but the mess masks the intentional confusion to the uninitiated. This album seems meant for those who were just discovering or are still somehow unaware of Kendrick. Bono’s appearance seemed random at the time, but now it makes more sense with how they’ve worked together.
Just this month, the Collector’s Edition came out, reversing the initial track list order, which we came to find out was how the album was meant to be released. It’s like two different albums, even though the songs are the same. I enjoy the Collector’s Edition experience better. “DUCKWORTH.” and “GOD.” prologue the coming adventure better.
You can transition from TPAB‘s “Mortal Man” straight into the Collector’s Edition. It’s seamless. Starting with “DNA.” fits better with the current political climate. More abrasive and incensed. How you want to experience DAMN. depends on how you’re experiencing America today.
Either way, Kendrick created the best album of 2017. I must say, in another year where Kendrick doesn’t release a studio album, Julien Baker and Turnover would have won this spot. 2017 had so many great albums. There were obviously so many left off this list. They’ll get their dues elsewhere. Kendrick deserves this acknowledgement. This year helped solidify him as the greatest artist of this generation.
Disaesthetic 