N.E.R.D. - Seeing Sounds

Out of my element but the beats are creative

N.E.R.D. always takes me out of my element. I hear Pharrell on R&B and hip hop tracks, so I have to erase that from my mind when I hear a N.E.R.D. album. Make no mistake about it. I really enjoy the Neptunes, but it's N.E.R.D. that makes me say "What happened?" It always takes a wavy boatride through rock, soul, hip hop, and a little bit of blues. The lyrics are thoughtless (ex. "you punk b**ch*" on "Anti-Matter", "Everyone Nose" rhyming about women by the bathroom, "Do you have some black inside you? Would you like some?", "her a** is a spaceship I want to ride"). What? If people listened to most of the words on this album, it'd be stupid. But it's the creativity of the BEATS that attracts me to the music (ex. "She Wants to Move" is great for a model runway). Unfortunately, I can't buy an album off of beats alone. I need the lyrics to challenge me or at least be interesting. A lot of it sounds like a fun basement freestyling session, so if that's your cup of tea, this is the album for you. If not, you might want to listen to a preview of this one first to make sure it's something you'd want to relisten to. August 25, 2008

No-one Ever Really Dissapoints

N.E.R.D.'s Seeing Sounds is my first time listening to anything released from them. I've heard of the band but never had a chance to ever sit down and experience what they are bringing. Plus all I knew really was that Pharrell was the lead member of the group and knowing how good of a producer he is next to Timbaland, it was very interesting to find out about them.

So I'm surfing on YouTube and it seems some song called Everyone Nose was one of the Most Active Videos and I just listened to 30 seconds of the song, skipped around the clip and exit out-I did not even give it a chance but then I remembered Kanye West singing the chorus on TMZ and I went back t the video and actually liked it. I actually knew what Everyone Nose meant which mostly others didn't and called it garbage-its explaining cocaine addiction obviously and the chorus is just catchy which you can't go wrong with anyway because we all want to repeat a line without it being too complicated or rubbish. Then I heard Spaz on a Microsoft Zune commercial but that was the instrumental but that had me hooked alone after seeing the album cover of their upcoming album I did more research on them and listened to the Spaz single while I dis.

I finally ordered the Seeing Sounds album after thanking YouTubers who uploaded the album because if you are like me-we all deserve a free taste before we spend money on someones work. So I play the CD and the tracks get better from the beginning to end.

Every song on the album seems to always has this 'Pharrell Conclusion' before the end and it always takes you in deep. While songs like Time For Some Action, Everyone Nose, Windows and Anti Matter are ones having to get used to-they have the exact mark I just explained.

Seeing Sounds does a good job in providing Alternative Rock, Funk, Experimental and Hip-Hop and I think this is a good move for any artist because when you go Alternative, your saying you know pleasing everyone is impossible but your doing your best to reach out to all people of different taste in music. Here is my Top 5 from the album and why-

1. Happy (This song can be played all day if you want to because the title says it all and you can't go wrong with an all around 'Feel Good' track)

2. Laugh About It (Even though its the last song of the album, you'll love the guitar in the background playing and the way the song and lyrics revolves around it is amazing)

3. You Know What (Pharrell uses a unique lyric flow on this one and has a nice sense of Funk in it)

4. Love Bomb (Lets be honest-'Love' is the only thing that can save us and as you listen closely, you would look at the crisis in the world an repeat the exact same words)

5. Spaz (You just can't ignore the the the production that went into this-definitely a party and club choice.

The whole album is enjoyable but you'll mostly skip to Spaz and continue from there. Congratulations, N.E.R.D.-you released a classic.


-Christopher Winters :)
August 10, 2008

Dope rock/rap/R&B fusion from NERD...........

Only slip up was adding track 11(A American Boy like record. Other than that this is a very solid album.

Top Songs:
Anti Matter
Spaz
Sooner or Later (Tour-De-Force, killer guitar,the song starts off slow and then builds up to this mind blowing finale)
Happy
Kill Joy
Love Bomb
Laugh About It
August 10, 2008

Not bad, for what it is

As with many of my "Pop" music purchases, this one was made because it was Amazon's MP3 Daily Deal. I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to this particular genre (it all sounds like "rap" to me), so I read other opinions in order to gain some knowledge as to what I was listening for.

The basis is a looped (minimalistic, John Cage influenced) track very common in hip-hop, rap, techno, dance & other pop music styles. There are original lyrics, although the tendency is to repeat phrases over & over (also part of the minimalistic influence?).

The first track is probably the most original of the entire recording. You can see that the artists made a real effort to leave the listener with an unanswered question in their mind, and that's what good music does... asks questions... sometimes resolving/answering, and sometimes not.

The second portion of the album gives almost some old-time Marvin Gaye or Isley Brother influenced vocals, with gentle crooning, nice harmonies, and easy, driving beats. But there is definitely a modern jive to the thing with more of the electronic mastering throughout the album.

I read the sentiment that listeners would prefer that the two styles were combined, but I am unsure how that would be done without creating an unpleasant chaos. I actually like the different styles. It helps to keep my attention on the music.

Good job. Don't know that I'd buy from these guys again, but it was worth the $3.99. August 10, 2008

N.E.R.D seeing sounds

A beautiful blend of punk rock and soul music, it's ear candy for the open-minded. August 6, 2008

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