Frank Ocean – Novacane
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Opposite week. I could play the song to a dad never known. I could play the love letter to a way of life ruined by nuclear war, the bullet for atomic scientists. How about the ode to primal sex set to “Electric Feel,” or the Radiohead skit, or the one that sends you on a Season of Migration to the North via Lincoln Town Car. (The one thing I will not do is give you the treatise on weddings—American, Islamic, polygamist—over a reprise of “Hotel California.” If you’re prepared for that, my friend, you’ve got to cross the threshold yourself.)
Range is no trouble for Frank Ocean, most of whose beats are lifted here humbly, tracks spliced together with tape deck sounds. I’m leaving you with “Novacane,” the Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All collective member and aspiring R&B crooner’s tribute to numbness, the new coke. In his pharmacology, autotune is anesthetic for reminiscence, a way to normalize emotionality and soften its harsh edges. I hate to get all Gaye on you but poison is the wind and this man has distilled it for a spell.
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Frank Ocean – Novacane [download]
Album’s up for free at his site.
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