Janelle Monáe - Metropolis: The Chase Suite
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Janelle MonáeBrand: MONAE,JANELLE
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Special Edition
CD Release Date: 2008-08-12
Music Label: Atlantic
Soundtracks:
- March of The Wolfmasters
- Violet Stars Happy Hunting!
- Many Moons
- Cybertronic Purgatory
- Sincerely, Jane
- Smile
- Mr. President
Free Music Notes for Metropolis: The Chase Suite
Free Music Review: Genius!
Hit: 5 Stars
For the TL;DR crowd: Buy it. It's a fantastic EP where everything bears repeated listening.
I actually came to Janelle Monae's Chase Suite EP by way of her ArchAndroid album, simply because it really is part of a larger work, one that begins right here with this EP. Usually the first work of an artist that I hear defines that artist for me and nothing else I hear later quite measures up in the same way, but Janelle Monae's work is surprisingly consistent in its inventiveness, even in this EP from a couple of years back.
Metropolis: The Chase Suite introduces the story of Cindi Mayweather, an android marked for termination because she has fallen in love with a human. Janelle Monae sets up that narrative with a bang of three major set pieces: Violet Stars Happy Hunting!, Many Moons, and Sincerely, Jane. Each explodes with energy; from the dancey electro-rock vibe of Violet Stars Happy Hunting!, to the soulful belting out of Sincerely, Jane (if any Hollywood bigwigs out there are looking for a singer for the next James Bond theme, listen to Sincerely, Jane. Seriously), this is epic music without self-consciousness or tongue-in-cheek.
The unapologetic ambitiousness of it isn't off-putting in the least because the songs just work on so many different levels. You can treat them like catchy, fun pieces of pop for casual listening and disregard the sci-fi backdrop as whimsical, but it rewards intent listeners. Melodically, the phrasing runs circles around someone like me who's not trained in music, but I can still pick out distinct nods to the styles of music pioneered by African-Americans: R&B, soul, funk, rap (in ArchAndroid). Also, there are nods to other cultural artifacts like Sesame Street ... listen closely in Many Moons! Lyrically, the narrative itself is intriguing and part of the fun is piecing things together, particularly as it heads into messianistic territory in the later suites. On top of that, the songs make clever use of the Metropolis setting (itself a nod to the 1927 film) as an analogy for the African-American struggle for civil liberties, and in that light her songs can also be interpreted as directly addressing the listener, such as her refrain of "Are we really living or just walking dead now?" from Sincerely, Jane. The amount of craft and thought in her work is truly inspiring.
The Special Edition release adds two songs: Smile (a cover) and Mr. President. Both stand out as unrelated to the Metropolis epic and the EP does suffer a little for those who like to listen to albums as more than a simple collection of songs. Mr. President, in particular, has a naked socio-political message that feels a bit clumsy compared to how it's woven into the rest of the Metropolis suites. The two songs however, do allow her to express her creative range outside the confines of the dense palimpsest that is the Metropolis Suites.
Metropolis: The Chase Suite Poster
Janelle Monáe is nothing short of a musical breath of fresh air,combining the very best of R&B, funk, hip hop, and rock into
a sound all her own. She has already attracted support from
industry superstars from Missy Elliot to Outkast' s Big Boi and
Andre 3000. She has become a press darling, earning acclaim
from Vibe to Interview Magazine. And now with her major-label
debut, Metropolis: The Chase Suite, executive-produced by
Big Boi, Janelle is poised to bring her music to the masses.
Janelle' s unique sound was honed and crafted by her creative
collective, Wondaland Arts Society, who Diddy calls an incredible
group of people not just producers, they' re idealists...
definitely the future of music. And that future is now.
Introducing....Janelle Monáe.
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