Jun 13 2008
New Album Review - N.E.R.D. - Seeing Sounds
After yesterday’s quick detour we’re right back on track to trying to finish reviewing the wealth of new albums that have come out this past week. Of course, the quality of these albums so far has just been alright, but there’s still two more albums that can potentially turn this around. The first of those two is the third offering from hip hop’s funk band, N.E.R.D. (comprised of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo aka the Neptunes and Shay Haley), Seeing Sounds. Their last effort, if I remember correctly, was, well, to be quite honest, I don’t remember much from that album at all besides She Wants To Move. Ah well, let’s just hope that this new album will at least be more memorable than the last.
1. Time For Some Action - After a really weird short intro by Pharrell describing his showers back in the day, the actual track kicks in and I’m really enjoying the bass on this. Lyrics could be vastly improved, but since this wasn’t intended to be strictly a hip hop album, I guess I can give that a pass. Nice track to begin with.
2. Everyone Nose (All The Girls Standing In The Line For The Bathroom) - Strangest song I’ve heard in a good while. The bass line is killer again, but that doesn’t save the track from being really annoying after a while. And yet, it’s so addictive. I’m torn.
3. Windows - Pretty good, I can’t help but really like the guitar riff on this. Fun fact: The members of N.E.R.D. actually do play most of their instruments.
4. Antimatter - The guitars in the beginning kind of excited me but the song itself didn’t live up to it at all. Skip it if you wish.
5. Spaz - It’s alright, but I could do without the chorus (or hook? damn, genre blurring confuses the crap out of me).
6. Yeah You - Man, I think my favorite thing about this album so far are the bass lines. The song itself is good as well. Just ignore the lyrics.
7. Sooner Or Later - I’m a big fan of slow songs, but this one is just boring to me. The high energy part near the end comes way to late, and the guitar solo is not enough to save the rest of the song. It doesn’t help that all I can think of is comparing it with Switchfoot’s masterpiece of the same name. Just skip to about the 4 minute mark.
8. Happy - Forget the fact that it completely jumps the hip hop/rock barrier and goes completely the rock direction. This song rocks.
9. Kill Joy - This song would do so much better as an instrumental. Pharrell’s singing really gets to you sometimes.
10. Love Bomb - As a slow song, it’s better than Sooner Or Later but it’s not the great ballad slow songs should be. Still, it’s not bad or anything.
11. You Know What - On the next album, N.E.R.D. should really step up their chorus/hook game as this track is a contender for most annoying chorus/hook of the year. Thankfully, the rest of the song is nothing short of great.
12. Laugh About It - It’s not bad but unmemorable for a last track. I would’ve switched the order of this song and You Know What, but whatever.
Final Score: 8.5
Fans of the Neptune’s normal hip hop work and Pharrell’s solo album (which sucked btw) might not enjoy this at first. N.E.R.D.’s a different monster than their other projects and for the most part that’s a good thing. It’s not strictly hip hop but hell, it doesn’t pretend to be so it’s all good. Besides, there’s enough hip hop elements found throughout to satisfy. Other than a couple of crap tracks, I can gladly say that this album is a pleasant surprise. Who would’ve thought that I would like this better than Little Brother’s new album? Well anyways, that’s 3 down, 1 more to go. Stay tuned for Maximum Strength and I’m gonna go and listen to You Know What a couple more times.
