N.E.R.D. - "You Know What" (mp3)
In 2005, Pharrell Williams proclaimed "N.E.R.D. is dead" to the press after the band's poorly received 2nd album, and three years later, I'm not sure why that isn't still true (I could crack the same joke about the "noone ever really dies" acronym as everyone else, but no). After a somewhat promising beginning, the group had quickly become a bizarre and mostly unappreciated offshoot of the otherwise hugely successful Neptunes production brand. The band got Pharrell and Chad Hugo the kinds of rock airplay and positive reviews that they probably never would've gotten just making beats for rappers and R&B singers, but it was still kind of perennially unclear what the fuck was up with N.E.R.D. and why they bother with a lot of dopey, sub-Red Hot Chilli Peppers funk rock, and it still isn't now in 2008 with the release of Seeing Sounds.
If you know me or read this blog with any regularity you probably know I am totally fucking in love with Spymob, the power pop band that were briefly signed to Star Trak and played backup on the first N.E.R.D. album (the version with live instruments, natch), and I'm still kind of bitter at overlooked they are, largely because they got some kind of 'funk-metal' stigma from being known mainly for being the guys who played on the rock versions of songs like "Lapdance" and "Rockstar." I think a couple of the Spymob guys are back on the new album to some extent and Chad has been playing much of the guitar on the band's records since the last album, but for the most part Seeing Sounds is just regular old Neptunes drum programming with a little more of that N.E.R.D. goofiness. Songs like "Yeah You" sound like they could've been scraped from the R&B half of another shitty Pharrell solo album, and the tracks that go for full on rock arrangements like "Happy" are mostly absolutely awful. Occasionally there are some gems, though, mostly on the R&B side like the closer "You Know What," not that they're even on the level of previous N.E.R.D. high points like "Maybe" or "Run To The Sun."
as for Hugo and Spymob, i didn't even notice the guys listed were from Spymob 'til you pointed it out, but yeah the guitarist and drummer play on every track besides "Everyone Nose," "Happy," "Time for Some Action" and "Windows" (last two are The Hives.) Hugo doesn't play any guitar on this one but he does contribute some to a few of the Pharrell-written tracks, including keys on "Happy" and "You Know What" which explains why they have the most recognizable trademark Neptunes synths on the album.
anyway, good blog, been reading for a while