Rapper/singer Kid Cudi and his long-time producer Dot da Genius have created a new group – WZRD, and have recently put out a new album.
I know what you’re going to tell me – “Eric, it twas not but a pair of evenings ago that thou hast ensured me that thou would not take your Track of the Moment to talk about hip-hop”. I would then immediately punch you and burn you as a time traveling witch, what with your eloquent Shakespearean English and ability to retain memories for more than 2 days. And as your body turned to ash I would yell “But WZRD is electronic alternative rock!”
Now, the reason I throw in the “electronic”, as opposed to the media-approved just alt-rock label they gave them is that, throughout the album, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was listening to a DJ the entire time, even after knowing Mr. Solo Dolo laid down all the guitar tracks. And that’s because I was. While the relatively basic riffs are all Cudi, the rest of the compositions are all Dot da Genius’s computer. Yes, I’m sure that all of the music (besides the strings) will be played live on real instruments, but it doesn’t stop many of the tracks from having an artificial feel. Even bands that use synths and/or electronic drum kits have this feeling that everyone is playing their instrument during the recording. I’m not saying it’s bad; I’m currently enjoying the album. I just can’t, in good faith, call this alternative, lest I lead the faithful FoaLiaBMB readers astray.
Alright, now that I’m done ranting about the media and time traveling women, on to the actual music. Kid Cudi has always had a decent voice, but it seems he was told it was fantastic by too many people, and that’s how the horrible high octaves on “Erase Me” happened (or so I imagine). However, in this Nirvana, Hendrix, and Pixies inspired debut album, Kid Cudi doesn’t stretch his vocal range too far and stays mostly in the lows, where he sounds best.
And most of the music also stays in the low ranges, and, given the heavy Nirvana inspiration, it’s a bit unsurprising. However, Dot da Genius can’t seem to get past his hip-hop background, and uses drum machines and synths to create the rest of the music, and it’s pretty obvious (in a bad way). That said, it doesn’t sound horrible; you can tell they were going for more of a spacey, out-there feel, and they definitely got it. It doesn’t have that same passion as a true rock album, but it’s still in the same chilled-out vein that “The Mood” or “We Aite” are in.
This is an interesting experiment. Changing genres is harder than you think, especially from one that is more vocally focused like hip-hop to the more group-orientated rock. Check out a few songs by them, for no other reason than to just see what they did. It’s not amazing, but it’s better than expected. I’m curious to see what WZRD does for their next album, now that Cudi knows how to play guitar (he was learning to play as he wrote this album).
I decided to go with their cover of Nirvana’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”, so as best to get hits showcase the fact that they’re pretty committed to the whole rock thing, but still put a slight hip-hop spin on it. Past that, I would suggest “Teleport 2 Me, Jamie”, “Live & Learn”, and “Efflictim”.
Also, I threw in a link to a video series chronicling the making of the album, and which includes the various troubles Cudi and DdG went through in the conversion. It’s short and interesting.
http://www.complex.com/music/2012/02/the-making-of-wzrd/
