N*E*R*D - Seeing Sounds

The band N*E*R*D is an amazing collaboration between rapper/produce Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, and Shay Haley. Their third release "Seeing Sounds", was recently announced at SXSW and will be released on June 10th, but I got a preview copy and decided to weigh in my own little opinion.






The album starts with a whimsy tale of dying of heatstroke and surviving by showering several times a day... after that the music goes straight in with beats and raps that are rare to find on a record that truly captivates the ability to write and produce adequately.

When the song "Everybody Nose" hits, the music goes insane. The beat and tune itself sounds like a B-Side of Miles Davis' "On The Corner" record. The trumpet hits, the hi-hat tapping, the bass, and the scratching give this song such an amazing appeal, and is a contender for the best song on the record. You can really feel the chemistry between the group during the song, from the backup singing to the music itself, it sounds like they're just blending their personalities together to make something great.

As "Seeing Sounds" progresses, you have VERY funk inspired tunes such as "Windows", or "Kill Joy" that have the bass ability of Flea from the chili peppers to a very housey-breakbeat song like "Anti-Matter".

Periodically the album slows down, and gets a bit heartfelt and indie-rockish as is the case with the song "Sooner or Later", which is an interesting idea- it feels like a real soul, or R&B song.

As you get deeper into it, the second half of "Seeing Sounds" seems to take a more rock-oriented approach to the songs, and includes many alt-rock sounding songs with a synth.

This record could easily be classified as hip-hop, it would be fitting to call it neo-soul or even experimental rock, because it's SO much more than just a hip-hop CD.

While "Seeing Sounds" is very fresh, and very fun to listen to- the repetition in the songs are one of the few downfalls. The beats are quite amazing, but it seems like they focused too much on single patterns that sound cool, instead of making patterned songs that have fluidity and freedom.

Most of the tracks line up in about 4 minutes, give or take- making the songs a NICE length altogether, unlike many records where it's 2 minutes of mindless drab.

It's interesting how the record is split, you have the rap songs, then the funk rock, then the soul- all mostly taking place after one another- it's nice to see an album SO diverse in this day and age.

All in all, it's a VERY good record, to which I can say very little bad things about. I appluade their new record, and hope for more.


Final Score: 9 Giraffes Out Of 10.