Also, let's face it... The Beatles didn't do much innovating on Let it Be. Yes, they recorded Abbey Road-- an astonishingly innovative record through and through-- after Let it Be/Get Back, but they ended their career with a very straightforward and traditional rock album. It's still considered a classic, among the best albums of all time, but it was just the Beatles jamming. Being the Beatles.

Who says a Kanye record that was "just Kanye being Kanye," rapping and throwing around beats, wouldn't be a necessary part of the Kanye West story? The problem is that it makes me wonder if the end isn't near for Kanye in one way or another.

This is kinda funny to me. The fact that you say I won't like this article. What about you and louder? Back in '12 you guys were THE reason I moved out of that "I only like 808's and MBDTF," hipster-friendly phase and became a full time hardcore serious-as-a-heart-attack Kanye fan.

I still consider louder to be the big Kanye guy around these parts.

Does this mean you think I'm the big Ye-head now? Do I get a crown?!

Seriously though- you guys got me into Kanye. How do YOU feel about the article?

lulz. I knew if I posted it w/o saying ANYTHING it would drive you crazy haha.

Basically I thought that it was actually a well thought out article for the most part. I expected click-bait, but it was reasoned and was written by someone who seemed to know his discography well (and actually admired it deeply).

I also thought, like you, that so what if this isn't some genre-inventing epic life-changing event? So what if it is just - gasp - an album of really good songs?

I also also thought that it may even be going overboard by suggesting that this won't be a great album based on the four songs referenced.

I will give the writer this, though: a lot of the stuff that came out or leaked before the final tracklisting ("Awesome," "Only One," "FourFiveSeconds") felt like they would have been a really interesting and possibly cohesive album (I believe the writer referred to them as "beatless") and I really would have been interested to see what that album would have been. As we've discussed prior, a perfectionist like Yeezy no doubt scraps entire albums fairly often. So...

suckas scrap albums because they hear new shit from tha streets that blows their tired ass old shit out the water, so they get scared and have to re-do their shit to try and one-up the cats who are doing it from the GUT.

Seen it a million times.

Yeah, I'm interested in the whole "Beatless" thing too. But because it's Kanye, you really can never tell what fate awaits a song. He originally wanted Jay's "Holy Grail" on Watch the Throne! Ended up having no part in the final recording whatsoever. Also "Pinnochio Story"-- which, for a while, really seemed like the fan-favorite love song-- never got a studio release, while other tracks popped up more than a full year before their album ("So Appalled").

So there might be a place for those tracks yet. Really, the only thing we can reasonably expect from Kanye is the unexpected. We originally throught Yeezus was going to get a sequel almost immediately. We thought WTT would be an EP. So, you really never know.

I think there's a future in the sound used on "Only One" and "Four-Five Seconds"... They offered something new. I'm hoping he keeps them in hand for a future project, and explores that sound more.

Also the author failed to include Watch he Throne or Cruel Summer when referring to Ye's discography. If 6 albums in a row is unprecedented, then 8 means Kanye's already paid every due imaginable, and he should be free to just make any kind of music he wants to make without all this expectation being heaped upon his every move.

Sad to see that Wiz's accusations of Ripping off Max B appear to be sticking.

Max B speaking on Kanye's album title situation from jail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ws7er3Aj2E

So Wiz made a lot of fuss about nothing. Sweet.

That article had some interesting points, but doubting Kanye is so 2015. At this point I'm convinced it'll be a classic.. Kanye says a lot of shit but if there's one thing about him that you can't doubt it's his music. He seems very confident and proud of what he's made. I've never heard Gospel influence on a rap album before. He's gonna stream the album live to theaters around the world.. it has to be huge.

I honestly don't think the Beatles "influenced" anyone so much as the way they influenced Jerry Garcia, to pick up music and start bands. In regards to their "sound" i just don't hear any significant influence as you can with other more overt sonic pioneers.

so Future's new album is called EVOL. :|

It was already announced two years ago: http://www.lovebscott.com/music/futu...g-evol-mixtape

I hope it's great. Been waiting for a project from Future that truly fulfills his potential.

..which reminds me that Wayne once wanted to drop an album called "DEVOL" too: http://hypetrak.com/2013/05/lil-wayn...w-album-devol/

Weird.

I really dont know Future.

This song is gonna be on it: https://soundcloud.com/theweeknd/low...ure-the-weeknd

Low Life feat. The Weeknd

There are no "more overt sonic pioneers" than the Beatles. You can hear their influence everywhere, from Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd to Nirvana to Spoon to Vampire Weekend, across genres (the Grey Album ushered in the modern mixtape generation; DJ Koze used Sgt. Pepper's as an inspiration and blueprint for his opus Amygdala) and generations.

No offense man, but here's the truth of it: if you "can't hear" their influence, you're deaf.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21287-islah/

8.5, wow.

And he's predicted to do 80,000 first week, a great number for today's standards, without Internet buzz or promotion.

Always makes me happy to see good music winning.

Everyone check this out:

KING - We Are KING


Definitely my album of the year so far. Pitchfork's score (which was positive but not high enough to really get those girls 'buzzing') doesn't do it justice.. it's like neo soul meets shoegaze and every moment is a hook, truly one of the most unique and captivating albums I've heard in a long time.

Zeppelin is influenced by pure blues, i don't hear any Beatles in it. Not only were Floyd also clearly influenced by blues and soul, they clearly pioneered their OWN sound. Indeed be more specific. What chord structures, melody patterns, song patterns did Beatles TRULY innovate that other bands weren't already doing? Provide specific examples because frankly I'm not sure you can.


I am well aware that i am expressing an almost sacrilegious opinion BUT i honestly think people don't understand what "influence" means in the context of music theory.

I also mean NO DISRESPECT to the Beatles, i again mentioned i DO believe they are one of the most influential bands of all time HOWEVER as i said, i believe their influence is not in regards to the actual music but rather in influencing and inspiring other musicians to experiment and development their OWN original sounds and theories.

Do you play music? I been playing guitar for 15 years now.. i can "hear" as well as "add up (according to theory) the direct influence of a lot of bands, i just honestly don't hear it in Beatles music.

fucking awesome:

FUCK THE FUCK YEAH. They been working on it and they debuted some of the material on their tour last summer so this record should fucking kick ass!

I just hope theyactually put it out and don't lag, for some reason they always delay release because of post production issues

http://pitchfork.com/news/63352-eart...hite-has-died/

Sad, a big legend. RIP.

Yeah, I play. Started at age 12, so... Wow. Long time. But only seriously for a handful of years playing in bands in my 20's.

See, I think the Beatles influence on Zeppelin is pretty clear. You talk as though the Beatles didn't play the blues/were not themselves hugely influenced by R&B. Listen to "I Want You (She's so Heavy)" or "Oh Darling"... "She Came in through the Bathroom Window" would fit perfectly on Houses of the Holy.

If you strip all the layers back from the Beatles' songs, and replace the intricacies with sleazy fat bottom riffs, virtually any one of them could, conceivably, be turned into a Zeppelin song.

And that's nothing against Led Zeppelin. Not necessarily.

I'm not saying Zep didn't have their own unique variation on rock... I'm just saying the Beatles influenced them. And Floyd. Of course Floyd. Floyd even more so. In fact, the sound probably kind of split a bit, with Zep pushing for a more Stonesy sound and Flpyd trying to pick up where the Beatles left off. But both were massively influenced by the Beatles. Musically, conceptually, aesthetically, whatever your definition of influence is, the fact remains.

You're talking as if the Beatles invented the Blues or as if Sabbath and Zeppelin didn't have access to ACTUAL bluesmen to influence them. I didn't ask about guitar to make it a pissing contest, i asked to have a serious discussion. If you play then do you also understand theory?

Please then inform of any chord structures, timing, tunings, melodies, scales, patterns, or anything else that the Beatles innovatived and introduced to music? I am admittedly not a Beatles expert so I am open minded to a different perspective but from my ears I don't hear anything innovative (in other words things other bands weren't already doing). I am willing to be corrected and learn something new

And just because my opinion is unpopular doesn't mean i am in any way trolling you. Id like to have a substantive discussion

Beatles influenced Nirvana.

A list of artists influenced by the Beatles:

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/hatigu...r_t he_other/

Interesting.. they birthed some incredible songs.

Black Messiah was influenced by the Beatles as well.

I don't think I am. I'm not saying the Beatles were the only influence, just that they absolutely had an influence. What's the problem here?


Who's having a pissing contest? I didn't think that's what you were doing. But yes I understand theory. Is it at the front of my mind? No. You're probably way ahead of me on that stuff.


Do you need me to tell you what key "She's so Heavy" is in? What the time signature is? Or have you just never heard it?


And I'm not a Zep expert. Really, I'm not. But there are few bands I know as well as the Beatles. To me it seems like you're asking me to tell you what green and purple have in common. You're asking me to tell you about songs that (in my mind at least) everyone has heard thousands of times.

Just go listen to "I want you (she's so heavy)" and the other songs I mentioned, and if the influence on Zep isn't immediately noticeable, come back to me and we'll dig in more.

I'm not trying to be a dick here man. I haven't played my own guitar in ages, and it's been years since I was last in a band. I didn't take a lesson until after college, and that was ages ago now, so I don't want to embarrass myself by saying some thing stupid, and I don't really feel like looking up correlations between Zep and Beatles song structures for the sake of this debate.

Make sense?

Yup. Totally.

Indeed! And tons of other hip-hop/R&B albums, from Late Registration to 8 Diagrams.

I actually think "She's so Heavy" is about as good as the Beatles get. Definitely one of my all time favorite songs. You can hear a bit of a prelude to noise rock in the ambient fuzz that grows louder and louder in the background. Such an epic song. to be heard in its entirety only. :)

Do you have any music theory to back this up?

Again, incorporate some music theory.

The problem is I asked for empirical evidence based on substantive music theory to support your claim. Otherwise you are being nothing more than a music critic which is to say sharing an OPINION. I am not judging your opinion so much as asking to fact check.



What I am asking is for you to connect this influence. Tell me a key, chord change, or timing structure that the Beatles innovated that as you claim other bands or artists then later implemented in their own music. THAT is what influence is according to music theory.


To elaborate on your analogy, I am asking you to get out your spectrometer or electron microscope and tell me the wavelength and atomic structures that differentiate purple from green.


Do you think I have somehow never heard Beatles music before? I think you missed the individual trees for the forest.

Neither am i. Just trying to have a very very grown up conversation, I am even intentionally trying to be self conscious of my own tendency towards sarcasm to turn it down.


I'm not asking you to get in over your head, I am asking you to do some homework.

Even in the pop world there are music theory based innovations that artists and producers bring to the table, that is why I personally don't ever disrespect pop music even when I don't care for it. I still see it as a craft and an art

Other bands had concept albums before them, the tracklisting even during Beatles was determined by record company contracts and business models NOT necessarily as something artistic, same things with singles they are part of record company plans not necessarily any kind of artistic showcase. Maybe you could say the Beatles manipulated these record company strategies to their own artistic advantage but frankly your're going to have to include some better evidence of this like interviews or quotes from the artists directly saying that yes, their tracklisting and singles were something more significant than "just business"

Now we're getting closer.. Just a hint: I did some homework myself and discovered some interesting things but I wouldn't be a good teacher if I just gave y'all the answer. keep digging you are inching in the right direction.

Wait, how did YOU Not know this? Basic Record Industry 101..

The record contract determines the number of tracks because the number of tracks determines the pay rate. As to singles, record companies especially in the 50s and 60s were really hard on singles and trying to put out singles for albums as both promotion and also to make extra money in additional sales of the singles with the albums. Its not that the record companies actually chose each individual song (though for some bands and contracts that is indeed exactly what the did) but rather the format was determined by record contract stipulations. Its business. I am not saying the Beatles didn't have some freedom, I am saying they didn't invent that structure it pre-dates them. They very may well have had some more freedom than other bands under contract, but until you post an interview or quote explicitly mentioning this it is mere opinion or worse conjecture.

This is the best conversation we have had here in a while. I love you guys.

That is the thing, proven in which way? it is a WELL KNOWN fact that record industry determined the number of tracks for albums long before Beatles. Stop being lazy and do something homework. Teach me something and we can all learn together through the process.