[powerpress]
The Album Effect episode 14 discusses My Dear Melancholy, by The Weeknd, The Grey Album by Danger Mouse, Wanted on Voyage by George Ezra, and The Now Now by the Gorillaz, plus more. Hosted by Manny, Nick, Dave, and Britt.
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Episode 14 Albums:
My Dear Melancholy, (2018)
The Weeknd
When The Weeknd debuted his dark electronic songs of drug-tinged despair on YouTube in 2010, his identity was shrouded in secrecy. Eventually revealed to be Canadian singer/producer, Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, his notoriety skyrocketed when Drake included his songs in a blog post.
Drake would prove to be a springboard for his career, as Tesfaye contributed to several songs on the rapper’s Take Care album the following year, as well as releasing his own debut mixtape House of Balloons. The Weeknd would go on to have huge hits with his 2015 and 2016 albums, Beauty Behind the Madness and Starboy, respectively, though this later material went in a much more mainstream, pop-oriented direction.
The Weeknd’s 2018 release, My Dear Melancholy, was a bit of a return to his earlier aesthetic, however. Featuring just six tracks, the surprise album was announced only through an ambiguous Instagram post. The songs featured more electronic-based production and include two collaborations with industrial-edged DJ, Gesaffelstein. The album’s lyrics may have garnered more attention than the music, though, as they were widely believed to reference The Weeknd’s previous romantic relationships with celebrities Bella Hadid and Selena Gomez, with track “Wasted Times” even going as far as to reference lyrics from Gomez’s “Same Old Love.” Though not as radio-friendly as his other releases, My Dear Melancholy was still a commercial success, streamed on Apple Music over 26 million times on the day it debuted.
The Grey Album (2004)
Danger Mouse
Few artists can say they launched an entirely new genre, but that is arguably the case for Brian Joseph Burton, aka Danger Mouse. The producer came to prominence in 2004 with the release of The Grey Album, a mashup of Jay-Z’s The Black Album and The Beatles’ White Album. While mashup culture was something that had been around in one form or another for decades, The Grey Album was unique in that it was composed entirely of samples from the two albums, with no other content whatsoever. Danger Mouse was a relative unknown prior to this release, his first official production credit coming the year prior with Gemini The Gifted One’s Ghetto Pop Life album.
The Grey Album was not only a landmark release in terms of the mashup genre, it also serves as something of a case study in terms of the legal issues surrounding sampling. The album received a positive endorsement from Jay-Z, as well as Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, but The Beatles’ record label, EMI, attempted to stop its distribution on grounds of copyright infringement.
Shortly after the label sent a cease and desist to Danger Mouse, a protest was organized by unaffiliated activist group Downhill Battle, in which they worked with over 100 websites to offer the download for free for 24 hours. Arguably, the “Grey Tuesday” event was what skyrocketed the album’s popularity and made Danger Mouse a sought-after name amongst some of the industry’s top artists. To this day, the producer says he had no interest in becoming a spokesperson for remix culture’s copyright wars, and instead simply wanted to make an art project.
Wanted On Voyage (2014)
George Ezra
You probably wouldn’t guess that George Ezra is a 20-something from Bristol, England by listening to his music. In fact, you might be inclined to believe he’s an American blues singer from the Mississippi Delta circa the 1940s. This isn’t an accident – it was a compilation from blues legend Lead Belly that inspired Ezra’s singing style. A passion for folk artists like Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan led the singer toward additional artists in the American folk and blues pantheon, and they heavily influenced his own songs, which he first shared on YouTube in 2012.
Ezra’s first full-length album, Wanted on Voyage, became a surprise hit in the UK, debuting at number three on the strength of buzz surrounding an EP released the prior year. It steadily climbed to number one within four months and became the UK’s third best-selling album of 2014. The album’s songs were mostly written during the time Ezra spent traveling around Europe, with its title taken from a sticker seen on children’s character Paddington Bear. Ezra felt this was particularly appropriate, as the phrase is a statement that was once commonly written on luggage that sea travelers wanted to carry with them on board. Ezra gained some exposure in North America the following year when he opened select dates for both Sam Smith and Hozier’s overseas tours.
The Now Now (2018)
Gorillaz
20 years ago, The Gorillaz started in a London flat by two guys who happened to be sharing an apartment after recent break-ups. They watched a lot of MTV and came up with the concept of a “virtual band” portrayed by cartoon characters that would reference various pop music tropes. Those two guys happened to be Blur frontman Damon Albarn and Tank Girl artist Jamie Hewlett, and their first record under the Gorillaz moniker turned out to be a surprisingly big success, going triple platinum in the UK and double platinum in the US. Hewlett has also created an entire animated world around them, which can be experienced through their videos and various social media.
The Now Now, Gorillaz’ sixth studio album, was recorded in only one month during the tour for prior album Humanz, in an attempt to increase the songs available to play at live shows. The album features only a handful of collaborators, and it turned out to be a much more stripped-down work, compared to its predecessor. On the visual side, the band had added an additional member, Ace from Cartoon Network’s Powerpuff Girls series. According to Gorillaz lore, Ace is filling in for bassist Murdoc – who is currently in jail.
