Album Review: K-OS – YES!

I have this love/hate relationship with K-OS.  All of my animosity can be traced back to the fact that he walked off stage in the middle of the one chance I had ever had to see him live.  From my perspective he threw a tantrum over the fact that not everyone at the show was there to listen to him.  In the middle of one his songs he left the stage, grabbed some popcorn, threw it at the audience, and walked off stage.  All this happened after starting the concert late.  As you can see, that as a fan who really wanted to see perhaps the only Hip Hop act I’ve ever liked live, the whole event had left a bad taste in my mouth.  This was in October 2007, shortly after Atlantis: Hymns for Disco came out.  After the show, I contacted him asking for my money back, he even offered to refund personally, but I did not send my address to him.  Whether or not he would have actually refunded my ticket, I’m not quite sure.

It is now two years later, and I still have that bitter taste in my mouth over my disappointing concert experience, still feeling like he owes me $15 or at least a free concert.  He has released his fourth studio album (after saying publicly he’d only ever put out 1 ), and it is titled YES!.  The first single is titled 4321, which is also the moniker for his disc launch website 4321.fm .  Which, by the way is where you can now listen to his entire album, online for free!  So due to being cheap, lazy, and unsure if I wanted to give this man my money, I listened to the entire thing online, several times tonight to get a feel for it.  So, all that introduction aside, here is what I think of it.  One last thing before I dive into it, I generally do not like hip hop, rap, R&B, etc, it is just one of those genres of music I could never really understand, relate to, or sink my teeth into.  There are a few *very* rare exceptions, one being Gnarls Barkley, and the other most notably, being the man himself, K-OS.  I have liked his stuff pretty much from day one, maybe it’s his rhymes, or his voice, or the crunchy guitar he likes to throw in here and there or a combination of all three.

To put it simply, and out front; this album really is quite good.  It starts off with Zambony which is a great opening song that is a strong example of what I think Kevin does very well.  He presents the listener with digestible hip hop verses, with a singable chorus that are separated with very smooth transitions.  Next up on the list is Astronaut, which has some great verses, a good beat, an interesting world music vibe, but the modified voice overs through out the song, just ruin it for me.

After that is Burning Bridges, which reminds me strongly of “Sunday Morning”, which is a good thing.  That was one of my favourite songs from his last outing and the song structure works well here.  Singing about caring what other people think of him, hopefully he has taken these lyrics to heart and performs for the people that came to hear him, and not for those who didn’t.  He follows that one up with Uptown Girl which is another stand out on the album.

Almost half way through we get treated with what I like to describe as the most stereotypical hip hop song on the entire album.  It has classic female harmony sung by Nelly Fertado, hard over the top rap lyrics, which usually isn’t my thing, but for some reason it works here and I liked it.

As mentioned earlier, 4321 is the first single from the album, and is fine on it’s own, and was probably the most logical choice for a single on the whole album.  Not much to say, other than that.

Right after that is the follow up Eye Know Something, which has some heavy synth, voice overs and K-OS’ alien voice makes a comeback.  It is another song that I normally wouldn’t like, but it brings me in and I hate that I like it.  If that makes any sense.

In Aviator we see a slower tune, with some funk guitar overlaid, and is a good setup to Fun! which is probably my second favourite track on the entire album.  Which is opened up with some heavy guitar, dj scratching, and scathing lyrics.

Sometimes, the best is followed with the worst, and so is the case with Mr. Telephone Man.  If musicians can have “gimmick” songs, than Mr Telephone Man is one.. with the repeating dialing tones playing in the background, stuttering verses, and lyrics surrounding the topic.  Easily the weakest track on the album, seems like he just sat bored one day in a room staring at his phone and out popped track 10.  The last two songs are WhipC.R.E.A.M and The Avenue, which are not really not worthy, and easily forgettable.

K-OS really shines when the music gets out of his way, sets up the back beat and his lyrics just flow from topic to topic.  For the most part, he does this on the album, but it’s marred by some over sampling and trying to do much here and there.  This album is not as musically diverse as his other outings, but that doesn’t detract from the overall experience…  I did really enjoy the album, and I am probably going to buy it.  If you liked any of his earlier work, I recommend you pick it up, you won’t be disappointed.

I give this album 4 concert refunds out of 5.

As a final note he is touring the country for free in a “pay what you want” type of concert.  Maybe he’s trying to make up for his walk out in PEI, or maybe that is just my imposing my wants onto his publicity stunt.  And the cherry on top, is that I won VIP passes to any of the shows in Canada, but I can’t attend any of them.

K-OS, if you ever read this, or it comes across your desk, come back to PEI, I’ll buy the ticket again, just give me the full show, and we’ll call it even.

1. “Zambony” – 3:46
2. “Astronaut” – 3:14
3. “Burning Bridges” – 3:32
4. “Uptown Girl” (featuring Emily Haines from Metric & Murray Lightburn) – 3:38
5. “I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman” (featuring Saukrates & Nelly Furtado) – 3:10
6. “4, 3, 2, 1″ – 3:54
7. “Eye Know Something” – 3:36
8. “The Aviator” – 3:27
9. “FUN!” – 5:27
10. “Mr. Telephone Man” – 6:06
11. “WhipC.R.E.A.M.” – 2:56
12. “The Avenue” – 9:23