OK, so i decided to go through the WHOLE album. I know this is gonna be a strain on people to read and it took me an hour and a half to write BUT I feel the album is just so good that I can't just talk about a few tracks. I hope people enjoy the album as it's probably one of my favourites of all time.
Janelle MonaeJanelle Monae did that song with Fun y'know - i don't know if that's reason to dismis her or not but regardless, she's got an amazing album called The ArchAndroid and i'mma tell you about it.
So, the album starts with
... For a while I was like "oh god, are you serious?" I'm still a little bit iffy about the tuning up at the start and the claps... but it's neat stuff and it does effectively work as an overture introducing all the musical themes that run throughout the album so I can forgive the pretentiousness.
This chirps into
Dance Or Die. It's not my favourite track but it's pretty infectious and it's a good upbeat way to grab people's attentions. As the title suggests it's pretty easy to dance to. The whole thing is experimental but undeniably pop - which is something I'm super into.
This transitions seamlessly into
Faster (unless you're listening to the full album on that youtube vid which they fucked up the transition on). Note how the chord sequence is taken directly from the brief breakfast in Dance Or Die (at 1:55). These little thematic touches! You can really see that a lot of thought has gone into these songs. So, faster is another upbeat, infectious and totally danceable track! There's a lot of nice details in the arrangement that'll keep you interested on re-listens.
The next seamless transition leads into
Locked Inside (one of my faves on the album). Listen to the Michael Jackson Rock Wit You drum fill sample at the beginning! These small touches really get me. This whole track is pure Jackson anyway - fucking great chords and a really catchy chorus - I'm not that fond of the lyrics in the chorus but I can get over that. I dig the lyrics in the verses - she's really getting into the future robot gender themes of the whole concept album. Ah, that guitar solo! So that concludes the 3 seamless upbeat introductory tracks - DARE WE CALL THEM MOVEMENTS? No, probably not... but perhaps that's what janelle was thinking after starting her album with an overture.
Sir Greendown comes next and ushers in a new feeling. This is a nice ballad with a really nice arrangement and great vocal performance. This track is almost like a dream with those heavily reverb'd choral vocals fading out.
Then
Cold War (I think this was one of the singles?) wakes you up from your dream! This is, personally, not one of my favourites but it's a pretty infectious, can't help but dance. Another guitar solo :~D! I dig the use of fairly subtle key changes to increase the YEEEAH, LET'S GO, LET'S FIGHT THE COLD WAR'ness of it.
More seamlessness - into
Tightrope - the next single, I believe. Notice the string melody from the overture coming in subtly in the chorus before big boi's verse. This is just funkin'. Again, it's a great song with some really interesting touches. Gets really James Brown towards the end. As with the Michael jackson sample, she wears her influences on her sleeve but always takes that as a starting point from which to write her own experimental pop/neo-soul stuff. Listen to the brass/string melody at the end - those kinds of harmonies were pretty unexpected for this genre.
Neon Gumbo - OK, it's reverse... that's nice. I don't love this track. In the context of the whole album it's more of a transition track. Apparently this is a reversed version of one of her previous songs "Many Moons". It almost serves to cleanse the palette, really. After tightrope we needed some down time before the next track which is a really different atmosphere.
Oh, Maker - this is one of my favourites on the album. A simple song - she takes the persona of this android again asking her maker questions. The arrangement is beautiful - listen to the voices at the end! It's just a really lovely song with some great chords yo.
Come Alive - my least favourite on the album. Janelle goes garage-rock, punk... My taste is for the more chordy & tranquil tracks on the album. This doesn't do much for me. But I can't deny that it has some interesting parts, like all her songs really. You can hear the experimentation within the genres and influences she's taking in all of the tracks.
Mushrooms and Roses - another one of my favourites. Super 60s arrangement. She becomes her android self again... I suppose she never left - but now it's much more explicit. Really cool autotuned/tremelo'd vox for a gud reason. More guitar solos. This is really 60s! Android 60s. And the strings take over as everything fades out - these arrangements are just great.
Suite III Overture - our next overture. Perhaps the album is separated into two halves by these overtures? I'm not sure, I've never thought of it like that before. The overture takes mushrooms and roses as it's starting point and gives us a few hints of the tracks to come - neat voices which can't not make any one feel nostalgic - it's just like DISNEY LAND... but not horrible.
OK, into
Neon Valley Street. This sounds almost like an old-school kanye beat. But this is just pure bliss, a really enjoyable love song. But, of course, listen to the rap verse - janelle will always surprise you! I mean, she could have riden out on the first two chords and it would be great buuuuut no, she's making an amazing album so really like, every song has so much in there to keep your attention on multiple listens. Another guitar solo! hahaha, these 60s-style soul/funk arrangements in the context of modern production and really interesting composition with GUITAR SOLOZZZ, that's becoming her trademark. I'm vary though because the album is so vastly difference.
Make The Bus - this is not a great move for the album in my opinion. It kinda spoiled the mood that was set up and is effectively just an of montreal song with an of montreal song. I LOVE OF MONTREAL and they do share the same experimental pop style with Janelle BUT this album was so keen to keep itself as this really interesting coherent whole with all the overtures and the consistent production style. I like this track on it's own but I wouldn't have included it in the whole album - it kinda just takes you out of the mood of the album. That said, the song's great and of montreal are great.
Wondaland - OK! Back to Janelle land. Well, this has actually got a pretty Of Montreal feel haha. Anyway, yeah, this track is cool. It's not my favourite but I've had "take me back to wondaland, I've gotta get back to wondaland" stuck in my head on my occasions. I really dig the "hallelujah" bit halfway through. Again with the thematic continuity - the hallelujah returns at the very end.
57821 - this is a really beautiful folky song - simon and garfunkel right here! Beautiful chorus. That's all I can say really. It's a beautiful song.
Say You'll Go - my favourite on the album. A lot of the overture's music is based on this track so it really feels like the culmination of the album. It's got amazingly experimental harmonies and arrangement but is really catchy - I've had so many parts of this stuck in my head. She writes "orchestral pop" here and it's not cheesey or stupid. It's got album James Bond mysterious harmonies but they're not stupid either! "The world could end outside our window" - yeah! This is a nice balanced love song that's jus a really interesting composition. The ending - the clair de lune quote... I'm not a huge fan of this - it's kinda unnecessary and the piece itself is so overused that it's difficult to enjoy it in this context. Really unnecessary. I suppose Debussy's probably another one of her big influences as you can hear from the overtures and the general approach to harmony.
Babopbyeya - now I would have probably cut out the clair de lune and ended on Say You'll Go. I personally find this song a little goofy - where Say You'll Go straddled the James Bond line, I feel this has crossed it and becomes a little humorously bondy. It's a nice song but Say You'll Go left me in such a good and relaxed mood as a final track that I feel this kinda goofy track takes me away from this. If this was halfway through the album I'd probably dig it but I think it's position is quite unfortunate. There's a lot of interesting stuff in here - reminds me of some stuff from cowboy bebop. The same kinda big-band pop song sound! This song really goes all over the place! I do like it actually! :~D but it's too bondy after the amazing end of say you'll go. Right, so it's over!
TL;DR - IT'S AN AMAZING EXPERIMENTAL ALBUM THAT KEEPS THE BEST BITS OF POP AND IS REALLY GOOD GET IT NOW!
Wow, so, I wrote about the whole thing. That took a while! If anyone read the whole thing - congratulations!
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DOUBLE RELEASE 
oops! Next time :~D
Thanks! Yeah, I'm really impressed with seiho, great stuff. I'm a big fan of Cornelius too (since you mentioned him) and I also love (no joke) Pizzicato Five. 
