Most Disappointing Album 2013

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Hiya!

Here we can discuss what we thought was the most disappointing album of 2013 - the one you had high hopes for, but really just couldn't get into.

For me it's Random Access Memories by Daft Punk.

They took the winning pop/house formula of Discovery, they polished it, they made it sound crystal clear. And they forgot to make great songs. RAM is a collection of disco songs without any of the fun. One dimensional, like if someone told Daft Punk what disco was all about without ever hearing it. The snippets of Get Lucky were really cool. And then the whole song dropped, i liked it at first. So did everybody. And then I heard it every day. Couldn't go an hour without hearing this bootleg from Michael Jackson's Off the Wall days. And i grew sick of it, over exposure.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I'd have to agree with what you said about Random Access Memories. As much as I wasn't expecting them to take this new neo-disco angle, it's still a neat idea and it's actually right up Daft Punk's alley when you think about it, but unfortunately they kept the repetitive nature of their more electronic stuff. That repetition was put to good use in their electronic music, but not in Random Access Memories. The album could have easily been about 10-15 minutes shorter.

Also, I'd like to mention Jay-Z's Magna Carta... Holy Grail. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of Jay-Z to begin with. Even in his earlier, more widely-acclaimed albums like Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint, he mostly comes across to me as yet another rapper who's fascinated with himself and wants everyone to know how much of a braggart he is. However, when he collaborates with someone and has to accept his smaller role in the music, he really knocks it out of the park in my opinion. (I present "Empire State of Mind" featuring Alicia Keys and the 2003 remix of "Mundian to Bach Ke" by Punjabi MC as examples of this.) It was these moments of brilliance he's had over the years that made me look forward to Magna Carta more than I should have. What I got was basically your usual gangsta rap album with slightly better beats.

 

[dig]

The Jay Z album felt like the most forgettable release of the year. I didn't even consider mentioning it until you brought it up. Completely rubbish, not one moment is worth listening to again, even for a big Jay Z fan. He instead relies on his brand name and hype machine instead of the beats and lyrics - you know, what people actually judge music on.

This guy is being nominated for like 8 grammys, what the hell did he do all year? He just pissed it away in The Louvre.

Which then brings me to Yeezus.

If there ever was a document proving that Kanye actually believes the bullshit he comes up, it's Yeezus. The first 20 or seconds on Bound 2 are genius, and then he fucking squanders it. Chief Keef's interplay is fantastic, but Kanye ruins a perfectly good, hooky rap song. He's too far up his own arse he can see what he ate the day he wrote Goldigger.

 

[slate]

disappointment of the year is probably yeezus though i probably have different reasons than fabulush for disliking it. my issues with yeezus mostly stemmed from the fact that was too incondite to do what it wanted to do; from the sloppy beats to the unfocused and sometimes downright embarrassing lyricism, it was just sort of aimless and quite a few songs were unnecessary. it probably would have worked better as an ep. i think i understand the direction kanye was going in with the release, but it's just a mess, lyrically and production-wise. i think with more interesting production and better lyricism would have made it aoty potential, but there are just so many viscerally repellent things about the album, 'from keep it 300/ like the romans,' and 'i want to fuck you hard on the sink/ after that, give you something to drink,' to, well, the mess that is guilt trip/send it up. i admire kanye as a musician and public persona, but ugh. it has its moments (the last verse on new slaves, i am a god, the first verse of black skinhead), but yeezus is a confused tangle of interesting elements that aren't really synthesized well enough to really be that great. i like the concept, but not its execution.

vampire weekend was boring too. it's a shame that they haven't made anything i've liked since their s/t. imo arcade fire have produced nothing worth listening to since funeral and i think their latest release confirmed that for me. i guess those count too. idk.