But I really love what he does with the space here: the fragment of piano the snippets of tune (“But in my heart / There’s a radio silence going on” “I don’t know how you feel”). “Radio Silence” is one of the biggest draws here, certainly not because of that ping-pong drum sound or the mechanical climax wherein James Blake hammers away at one note, or the fact that the rising synths at the 1:33 mark makes it obvious that this is more or less “Retrograde’s” sequel. It might have been okay if the highlights here matched the highlights of either of his previous records - nope.
And for his third album, he decides to make his longest record yet, and to only have one feature from someone who sounds exactly the same as him!!! What was the point? (Also, it’s as if the previous Bon Iver/James Blake collaboration was such a marvel, right?) And, like adding insult to injury, he has Frank Ocean around to co-write two songs I guess he knew Ocean’s soul actually came from someplace genuine, and so wouldn’t let him sing. I mean, this is someone with access to Brian Eno (who co-wrote “Digital Lion”, Overgrown’s second-best song), has collaborated with RZA and Chance the Rapper and Trim(bal), promised us a Kanye West collaboration, and could probably get Jay Z (who said something about James Blake being the only non-hip-hop artist he listens to, which makes sense given Jay Z’s growing non-musical sense), Drake (who enlisted James Blake for his OVO Fest) and Beyoncé (who got James Blake to do a one-minute blink-and-you’ll-miss-it interlude on her indie-minded latest) on call if he cashed in a few favours. Like Drake, he had it in him to release a great album here. Which, it should be mentioned, are likely so because they have second-in-command Airhead’s fingerprints all over them (his “Pyramid” predates both, and should have probably had a writing credit on both as a result). At times, his debut managed both together, and he sharpened his songwriting for his more sophisticated (though not necessarily better) sophomore: “Retrograde” and “Digital Lion” are triumphs. CMYK and Klavierwerke were two solid EPs, the former’s title track showcasing Blake’s dance background in one of his most visceral and most well-conceived and the latter demonstrating his penchant for atmosphere. That being said, I actually really like James Blake. You didn’t get anyone to shut up - mainstream music was moving in that direction with or without you. That will be my legacy.”Īlright, calm down, you handsome git. Here’s a snippet, from The Guardian’s Dorian Lynskey’s interview and write-up on James Blake: “The xx set the precedent and I set the further precedent, and the music world has bent to that sound… It’s like the opposite of punk, isn’t it? I got them all to shut up… I’ve subdued a generation. If anything he can even be comically melodramatic (“Where is my beautiful life?”) or annoyingly whiny (“I can’t believe that you don’t want to see me”)”, and I know Lozano was talking specifically about the lyrics, but the criticism can be leveraged to Blake’s entire body of work), and even a lot of Blake fans seemed to have called this one out. Actually, surprisingly, most critics weren’t too lavish in their praise for this one ( Pitchfork‘s Kevin Lozano: “He is never clever, catchy, or subtle. This felt even more colorless (y’know, despite the title) and tedious (76 minutes of an artist who had only ever written two or three songs, which is less than the number of songs Drake has written).
#JAMES BLAKE RADIO SILENCE LYRICS FULL#
Kanye, with full support and admiration for Blake responded, “He’s kind of basically the opposite of that.At times, Drake can be an impressive… Wait, I’m not reviewing the new Drake? Could’ve fooled me. This enticed the interviewer to pose the question, “Who is James Blake?” In response, his co-interviewer joked, “He’s Justin Bieber’s dad.” In an interview with Wired 96.5 in Philadelphia, Kanye West stated that his favorite artist was indeed James Blake. Blake has received awards such as UK’s Album of the Year and the Mercury Prize for his airy, eclectic music that will certainly will keep you on the edge of your seat waiting for 2015’s releases.
In an interview with Esquire, James Blake admitted collabs with two unexpected artists: Kanye West and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver). We do know a little bit more about this illusive LP, though. James Blake performing in Tampa on May 9 2015
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