Tuesday, November 29th 2011
News: The Roots
Surprisingly Good: Listen To The Roots ‘Undun’ Album
I always tend to talk a bit of shit on The Roots, because for all their promise and talent they always all flat in the long-play. Repetition kills the inspiration – but finally, with the short but gorgeously strong Undun, it sounds as if they’ve hit the Goldilocks zone.
While Undun doesn’t arrive until Dec. 6th, listeners can get a sneak preview in courtesy of NPR, today!
The sounds truly are unique this time around from the dynamic collective that moonlights as Jimmy Fallon’s house band, opening with ghostly effects and a quickening pace that leaps into a downright gorgeous architecture around Black Thought’s gimmick-free storytelling and remarkable discipline. The band inhabits a whole new territory here. This one’s going to win some deep awards. Mark my words.
But first, listen.
The 39 minute album is arranged by drummer and producer Questlove, whose recent projects include the “Philly Paris Lockdown,” a reinterpretation of the works of the French impressionist composers Erik Satie, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Undun will be the Roots’ first concept album, detailing the life of Redford Stevens, a fictional young man who died at the age of 25 in 1999.
In a recent interview with Spin, Questo said that Sufjan Stevens played piano for the closing track. As he tells Spin, The Roots actually named Undun‘s central character Redford Stephens after a Sufjan song from Greetings From Michigan.
Questlove told Spin:
“We’ve always loved the song Redford from Michigan. So we close the new album with a cover of Redford. We stretched it out into this four-part movement. Part 1 is Sufjan at the piano performing it. And then Part 2 is a string quartet that we had interpret it. Part 3 is myself and D.D. Jackson, who is an avant-garde piano player. He’s probably one of the most dangerous pianists — I don’t know how he doesn’t have carpal tunnel now. But he just destroys, literally, destroys the piano. The final movement, which ends the record, is essentially the beginning of the story. But it’s the last thing you hear. It’s a very powerful piece of work.”
Undun arrives on Dec. 6th. Their official site is down at the moment, but check for our review next week!
Love that they finally seem to be writing recording as a band first, not a backdrop for Black Thought & guests. Although, with Game Theory and How I Got Over the band has their share of studio masterworks
I hear a lot of folk and experimental influences on this album. the production, at times, reminds me a lot of “Bon Iver Bon Iver.” the lyrics are provoking and sonically more balanced and sharp than previous releases. this one is good.
“surprisingly” good??, come on, “game theory” and “how i got over” are some of the best albums i’ve heard, not just hip hop, they have a mixture thats unmistakable, just top quality music
No, most of the Roots’ albums suffers from a horrible case of sameness and unremarkable sounds. This is something entirely different.
i only speak for the two i mention before, and to me theres no such thing, they´re not perfect albums, but it will be no surprise to me if they release a masterpiece sooner or later.. im listening to undun and so far is as great as those other two, not at all “entirely different”, just like i said: top quality music
Unremarkable sounds? Where were you in the 90′s? Pretty sure questlove hasn’t used the same snare sound on any two songs in the last decade or so.
“Surprisingly good” sounds really condescending towards the only hip hop group that’s managed to stay relevant for 20 years.
We’re posting it here, which means we approve. Condescending in my book is zero coverage.
RESPECT FOR THE ROOTS!!!!!!