Vanessa Beecroft & Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak Listening Event

Links (9)

Video: Kanye West - Love Lockdown (Live on Kimmel) + 808’s & Heartbreak Listening Reviews
Published 10/15/2008 by eskay at Nah Right
... detailed account of the night, complete with paraphrased quotes from Kanye: “Would you judge a grandmother’s love? Give it 2.5 mics out of 5?… If I wanna rap, I’ll rap. If I wanna sing, I’ll sing. I told Jay, LA Reid and everyone at my label that I needed to put this out right now, I’ll have another album in June, but this has to come out right now…” And the FADER also offers a quick rundown: After waiting in a loading area with an open bar and a DJ, ...

Kanye West: Indie Saddo [The Kanye Files]
Published 10/15/2008 by Michaelangelo Matos at Idolator
... , I mentioned that Kanye West was clearly trying to ingratiate himself to the indie audience: fake videos with Will Oldham and Zack Galifinakis, collaborations with Daft Punk, dropping in on upstart indie MCs' videos. Judging from The Fader Blog's play-by-play of an L.A. listening party for the forthcoming 808s and Heartbreak (and here I'd so been looking forward to Good-Ass Job, the long-bruited fourth part of West's educational saga, but whatever), he's gone all the way in by making a friggin' Junior Boys album. I'll reserve judgment on that particular move, but ...

Kanye Hits LA For Jimmy Kimmel, 808's Listening Party
Published 10/15/2008 by Stereogum at Stereogum
... . (He performed "Champion" and "Good Life" for the Kimmel crowd, too). West looks cool in his Sonny Crockett outfit, but despite the infamous Auto-Tune, he sounds off-key on verses. Of course, when Kanye sings off-key, he sings off-key Best In The World SQUID BRAINS!! After the performance, he held a listening party for 808's & Heartbreak at Ace Gallery with Italian artist Vanessa Beecroft. Fader attended and reports that the album is sung almost entirely through Auto-Tune. And sounds like Adult. "LL" and a live clip of " ...

Kanye West: The Fader reports from 808’s and Heartbreak listening party
Published 10/15/2008 at Prefix
... next June. Another album out in June? Is that one going to be Good Ass Job ? I hope so, that title is awesome. But back to the naked ladies what was the point of that? Maybe they stood as a metaphor for the clash between music and sex. It s probably po-mo and I don t understand it. At any rate, you have to hand it to Kanye for having an ego big enough to try singing an album instead of rapping. It d be like Thom Yorke dropping a Dr. Dre-produced hip-hop record after OK Computer . [ The Fader ]

KANYE WEST’S “LOVE LOCKDOWN” ON JIMMY KIMMEL
Published 10/15/2008 by LexAve at STRAIGHT OUTTA NYC
What would a day be without a Kanye post?! His 808s & Heartbreak went down last night in LA and reviews are in! Here’s FADER’s thoughts: “As for album: yes, it’s almost entirely sung by West, aside from one verse by Young Jeezy on “Amazing” and a duet with Lil Wayne; yes, it is sung almost entirely through Auto-Tune; yes, some people are not going to be sure what to make of it, but we applaud West’s decision to step off a creative ledge wearing a jetpack that no one else is sure will actually work.” “West delivered a monologue about how this album is about the freedom to do ...

Kanye Premieres 808s & Heartbreak at Weird L.A. Party
Published 10/15/2008 by Paul Thompson at Pitchfork Media - Today
Photo by Joseph Mohan Someone from The FADER made their way to a listening party for Kanye West's forthcoming 808s and Heartbreak at Los Angeles' Ace Gallery last night. To the surprise of no one, the whole affair was very lavish, and totally weird. Things went down in a stark room packed with 40 naked ladies-- wearing masks ostensibly made of fake lamb's wool, obviously-- who were backlit by glowing lights as the music went ...

Kanye Listening Party: Auto-Tune, Mos Def, and 40 Naked Ladies
Published 10/15/2008 at Vulture
... ). But after reading Fader's account of 808s & Heartbreak's apparently bonkers listening party, well… we're not exactly sure what to think. Held in an L.A. art gallery last night, it featured flashing lights, Mos Def, and "approximately forty nude women … wearing face-obscuring masks seemingly made of faux lamb's wool." Of course. What about the music? Apparently, "Love Lockdown" was no one-off experiment — Kanye barely raps, opting instead to sing through the Auto-Tune for nearly the entire album. And if 808s is a ...

Review Of, ?808?s & Heartbreak,? Listening Session(Dropping Another Album In June)
Published 10/15/2008 at Network News Mashup | Rawkus.com
... As for album: yes, it’s almost entirely sung by West, aside from one verse by Young Jeezy on “Amazing” and a duet with Lil Wayne; yes, it is sung almost entirely through Auto-Tune. West delivered a monologue about how this album is about the freedom to do what you want to do and that he used Auto-Tune because it is the most fun thing ever. Then he said 808s & Heartbreak was about emotional nakedness. Then he said he’ll have another album out next June. Full Story: The Fader I was never a big fan of Kanye using the auto-tune but I will give this album a chance.

Mutual Masturbation: Vanessa Beecroft and Kanye West
Published 10/16/2008 by Ro at SOULBOUNCE.COM
... worst, a showcase of misogynistic tendencies masquerading as creativity. For Vanessa Beecroft it was just more of the same; the majority of her performances for the last decade or so have included partially clothed or nude women. Perhaps this could be a trite attempt at postmodern ambivalence but even that is taking it too seriously. The clearest point is that Auto-Tune and titties sell. And by all accounts the listening party/artistic collaboration was full of both. [RU/FDR/RS]