Fall Out Boy - Folie à Deux

MTV fan-favorite group Fall Out Boy says they “don’t care what you think, as long as it’s about” them. Luckily, we’ll be thinking only good thoughts when Folie à Deux, their new album, hits shelves and iTunes everywhere December 16th. Being hyped by the boisterous single, I Don’t Care, the album promises more of the pop rock fun we’ve come to anticipate from Pete Wentz and friends. The Chicago natives are joined on this album by a variety of other young pop culture favorites, and they help push this 13 track adventure into the history books.

Originally set for a historic November 4th release, the band collectively decided the date seemed too “gimmicky” and delayed release an extra month. Folie à Deux, which translates as meaning “a madness of two,” is 13 tracks of FOB goodness. From top to bottom, the group fails to disappoint. “Boycotting love” is the theme of the album’s opener, entitled Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes. Apparently, their odd sense of song naming is still intact as well. Social commentary afoot, Patrick Stump, the group’s lead singer, tells the ‘perfect boys with their perfect lives’ that no one wants to hear them ‘sing about tragedy’. I Don’t Care, the first single from the new album, has been described as a very ‘political’ song by the group. At first listen, one doesn’t precisely understand what that means. The politics they speak of are the politics of a relationship, a staple of the group’s subject matter. The catchy chorus and strong sung lyrics make the track fun and memorable.

Originally titled Does Your Husband Know, Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet is an adulterer’s tale. The vocals explain that the unnamed assailant just wants to be “a footnote in someone else’s happiness.” One song that sticks out oddly is What A Catch, Donnie. The slow, soft ballad, while not uncommon of the group, doesn’t seem to fit well with the rest of the album’s lighter material. In an act reminiscent of a final farewell, the long bridge that brings the song home is in fact a selection of some of Fall Out Boy’s greatest hits, sung by members of other bands. These appearances include Gym Class Heroes’ Travis McCoy singing the chorus to Sugar, We’re Going Down, which was the band’s first hit single. Panic at the Disco’s Brendon Urie can also be heard singing Dance Dance from the album Under The Cork Tree. As much as the track differs from others on the album, it finds its own place and stands well amongst the masses.

Another notable track is Tiffany Blews, which features rapper extraordinaire, Lil’ Wayne. Fans looking for a full on 16-bar offering from Mr. Carter will be disappointed though, as his cameo on the song lasts a grand total of 30 seconds. Legendary group Blondie’s lead singer, Debbie Harry, also makes an appearance on the album’s closer, West Coast Smoker. Heard singing the chorus alongside Stump, Harry supplies an extra ounce of feeling to the high octane curtain closer. Other glorious offerings on the album include The (Shipped) Gold Standard and (Coffee’s For Closers). Why both tracks feature the prominent use of parenthesis is anyone’s guess. Every song featured on this disc emits pop rock, MTV friendly, yet secretly edgy excitement. Pete Wentz and his clan of musicians have proved once again that they may be here to stay for a while.

9/10

Kanye West - 808s And Heartbreak

“Goodbye, my friend.
Will I ever love again?”

That is the question asked by Kanye Omari West, and unfortunately, many of his fans. 808s and Heartbreak, the new album by super-producer Mr. West, is set to appear on shelves November 24th. Originally slated for a December 16th drop, rapper/producer West decided himself to push the date forward after finishing the album early in Hawaii, where most of the recording sessions were done. Produced solely by West, with minimal help from longtime friend No I.D., 808s promises to be his most emotionally involved effort yet. The question that remains is, will this also be his worst received effort to date?

A word to the wise, before placing your currency in the local FYE cashier’s hand, the rumors are true. Kanye does not rap much on this album, with the exceptions of the bonus freestyle track, Pinocchio Story, and a verse by Young Jeezy on the song Amazing. The entire album is sung by the rapper with the help of the Auto-Tune sound made popular recently by entertainer T-Pain. West himself has said that this is not a rap album, describing it as “pop-art.” Boasting only 12 tracks, most of which have previously leaked separately onto the internet, the album clocks in at close to 50 minutes.

On September 7th, 2008, during the MTV Awards, Kanye West closed the ceremony by performing a new song entitled Love Lockdown. West later revealed that the song, which had been written just ten days before the show, was to be the lead single from his new album. When a studio version was released to internet and radio, West was highly criticized for the mundane use of the Auto-Tune vocals and weak drum cadence used during the chorus. The song was then remastered with newly tuned vocals and stronger sounding Japanese Taiko drums laced throughout the record. The newer recording was praised as being better than the original, yet still an ill-attempt to capitalize on the Auto-Tune fad. By September 24th, less than a month after supposedly beginning Love Lockdown, Kanye posted on his internet blog that he had completed the album, and would be releasing it in November. The result is 808s and Heartbreak.

With the list of features amounting to only three names, Lil’ Wayne, Young Jeezy & GOOD Music artist Kid CuDi, 808s and Heartbreak is exactly what its title suggests, break-up music with hard backing. Say You Will, the album’s opener, is the first of these break-up ballads. Kanye pleads with an unheard assailant not to “say you will, if you won’t.” Welcome to Heartbreak, which comes next, is one of the more upbeat, and more depressing, tracks on the album. Ye’ croons about how the illusions fortune and fame doesn’t amount to they joys of family and human contact. From this track alone, listeners can feel just how deep and dark the hole is that the rapper is currently in. The album’s second single, Heartless, is emo-pop at its finest. Kanye spends the 3 and a half minutes telling of the “coldest story ever told” about a man who’s played by his girlfriend.

Not one to dwell forever, though, Kanye does momentarily return to his boastful ways. Amazing, which features Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy, is a very low-key ego track. Kanye proves that he can still talk himself up the way he’s been doing since 2003. Other notable tracks on the album include Robocop, which was recently retreated by jazz musician Herbie Hancock, See You In My Nightmares, which features rapper and fellow Auto-Tune lover, Lil’ Wayne, and Coldest Winter, a mournful record chronicling the loss of his late mother.

As it stands before the album’s scheduled release, early estimates say that Mr. West will have to pull on a completely new fanbase to reach the million-sold mark this time around. 808s and Heartbreak is an extreme departure from the rapper’s usual hard boiled egotistical delivery. Were is not for painfully wretched songs like Paranoid and Bad News, the album may have been considered a successful departure, but the rushed sound of many tracks and the half-hearted features bring the record below the skyscraper sized standards we’ve set for Kanye. While many of us doubt poor sales numbers will lead Ye’ back in the proper direction, we still hope that not winning any awards this year will.

6/10