Janelle Monáe "The Archandroid" (2020) - got it
Monáe had recorded with Outkast for their "Idlewild" album/film and Big
Boi suggested to his friend Sean (Puff Daddy) Combs that he check out
her music. Diddy did, listening to her music on Myspace and diddying... I mean digging it. She was signed to Diddy's Bad Boy Records, releasing "Metropolis: Suite 1 (the Chase)" before following it up with "The
Archandroid".
The album was in the works for a year. Monáe said that being African
American people expect you to stick to one genre "and a boring genre at
that". She clearly wanted to kick against that stereotype. Even setting aside the list of
collaborators (from a range of genres), just describing some of the sounds
should suffice as a recommendation for the album:
"Suite II" has a classical sound to it
"Dance or Die" is dancey funk complete with horns and wah-wah guitar break
"Sir Greendown" is like 50s or 60s girl-group pop or almost similar to the Bond theme "You Only Live Twice"
"Cold War" almost makes me think of Gnarls Barkley with its Outkast-esque mix of dance beats and psych-rock topped with soaring vocals.
In fact speaking of Outkast, the very next song features Big Boi from Outkast.
"Neon Gumbo" is a psychedelic tripout instrumental
"Come Alive (War of the Roses)" punky rockabilly with impressive rocking vocals
"Mushrooms and Roses" is psych-rock
"Make the Bus" Prince-esque psychedelic funk rock
"57821" is 60s-style hippy folk
"Say You'll Go" is ethereal strings and reverby vocals
The album closes with "BabopbyeYa" which, with its strings and horns backing Monáe's huge vocals would open any James Bond film with a crash!
Have since picked up a copy, and I'm definitely putting Janelle's other albums on my musical 'to-do' list for once I've finished up the 1001.
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