The ArchAndroid | Loppylugs

Submitted by the panel on 17 February 2013 - 9:34pm

Cover:

Artist:

Janelle Monae

album-ID:

a_92

Nationality:

USA

Year:

2 010

Release-year:

0000

Num-of-tracks:

Track-listing:

Suite II Overture*Dance or Die*Faster*Locked Inside*Sir Greendown*Cold War*Tightrope*Neon Gumbo*Oh, Maker*Come Alive [War Of The Roses]*Mushrooms & Roses*Suite III Overture*Neon Valley Street*Make The Bus*Wondaland*57821*Say You'll Go*BaBopByeYa

Length-in-mins:

Nominator:

Bean

meeting-ID:

m_34

Now-num:

Spotify-URL:

7MvSB0JTdtl1pSwZcgvYQX

Grooveshark-URL:

The+ArchAndroid/4016062

Short-title:

archandroid

nominator-ID:

u_43

Meeting-date:

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

MusicBrainz-URL:

7c5bb286-ac24-443c-81cc-4f5f6261c343

Wikipedia-URL:

The_ArchAndroid

Spotify-link-type:

album

Metacritic-URL:

the-archandroid/janelle-monae

Discogs-URL:

Janelle-Monáe-The-ArchAndroid/master/260095

Allmusic-URL:

the-archandroid-mw0001977907

BBC-URL:

5g6m

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reviewers-IDs data

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75

reviewed by

Glyn Lewis

Would the real Janelle Monae please stand up?

2-7-10-11

4-6-15-17

This is a fantastically polished and accomplished mix of dance based pieces but which ultimately lacks personality and cohesion. This could well be a compilation album were it not for Janelle’s vocals, which seem to be the only obviously common thread in this genre hopping work. She jumps about from very convincingly crafted tracks in the style of OutKast, Carole King / Joni Mitchell, Sparks / David Bowie and many others, there’s also a sort of John Barry / Frank Sinatra one and even something that sounds like an early Iron Maiden piece (Come Alive). You can’t help but be impressed by how well these are done and they are by no means slavish copies but this is sprawling stuff with what feels like an obsessive, humourless and slightly worrying weirdness at the heart of it. She’s ambitious for sure and she’s succeeded spectacularly in many ways but I’m not really convinced about her ambitions.
74

reviewed by

Richard Norbury
63

reviewed by

Matthew Baker

Computer Love

15

A very strong personality and aesthetic, with ambition to match. Results not entirely to my taste though, alas. Hopefully she'll develop into a full brown Prince/alien in her next venture into albums.
30

reviewed by

Neil Hornsey

I didn't really listen to this

1-2-3

I didn't really listen to this but I don't think it was any good.

Still, this is a good way to test out the new site. Let's see how it goes...