Stereogum reviews the new, Autotune-heavy breakup album from Kanye West.

One of my co-workers brought this in today, and we gave it a spin. The autotuning gets pretty ridiculous after awhile, especially when West tries his hand at crooning; the results sound like R. Kelly meets Daft Punk (which shouldn't be too surprising, I suppose, given West's sampling of the Punk). But on the more uptempo, "club-friendly" numbers, it's pretty infectious (if still a little on the silly side).

FWIW, here's the Washington Post review, by Chris Richards:

[A]n album so exquisite, so assured, it threatens to invent an entirely new strand of urban pop music. And not "urban" as in "music industry code for 'black,' " but urban in the sense that West is exploring the isolation, paranoia and longing of 21st-century city life. The result is the best album released this year, an information-age masterpiece about falling into the depths of loneliness while a nation of millions checks your blog for updates.

Question: Is this review indicative of the broader critical reception for this CD, and if so, should we be surprised that so few people here at A&F have been discussing it?

Not at all: I think this record is very polarizing, and I've seen a few positive reviews (this one, Jim DeRogatis in the Sun-Times), but most of them seem to be pretty negative (AMG's Andy Kellman gives it 2 out of 5). I think, in the long run, that it will be remembered very much as a blunder.

Yep, no one is neutral about it. I've seen a batch of 1- and 2-star reviews, and a batch of 4 (but not 5) star reviews, except for that one in The Washington Post. The rift seems to occur along the lines of "What happened to the Kanye we know and love?" vs. "Here's a brave, new, experimental Kanye." It is most definitely not more of the same. It's not so much rap as urban emo. I'm not sure where I stand yet on this new musical direction. I will say that it is sometimes impressive lyrically, and that Kanye is exploring some surprisingly nuanced takes on the hole in the soul that can sometimes accompanies the overabundance of bling.

I note that even the positive reviews tend to praise the album for its risk-taking and its sense of purpose, but not necessarily for being particularly enjoyable music. It is, I think, very much an album that's easy to admire but difficult to really love.

And I agree with Andy's assessment about the genuine soul-searching that's going on in the lyrics. There is some good stuff there.

I'm falling on the "this is really experimental and interesting, plus I'm a huge Kanye fanboy" side of things. Sure it's not the Kanye everyone expects, and some people may be alienated by the autotune stuff, but it seems to me to fit into the hubris that Kanye has always carried with him (after his concert I saw in May, he handed out a free book of his personal mottoes and proverbs to everyone in the audience) and that he thinks he can school T-Pain and Akon at their own game. The lyrics on "Amazing" play like some kind of dark mirror to the more arrogant proclamations that Kanye has become famous for.

And, you know what, I think he actually does it. His lyrics are more interesting than most of the pop/hip-hop out there. Certainly more appropriate for our depressed times than "Whatever You Like" by T-Pain. He's clearly dealing with the loss of his mother and break-up of his engagement ("Coldest Winter"), and for all the awkwardness of some of the rhymes, I think it's a surprisingly listenable and enjoyable album. "RoboCop" and "Paranoid" both manage to have some playfulness as they comment on crazy girlfriends, but there's still a dark undertone to the songs as well.

"Welcome to Heartbreak" is a great song and the key to the whole album I think. Even the beat, stripped of samples and sparse, shows Kanye has fantastic instincts for infectious beats. He says he was influenced by "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins, and when I heard the opener "Say you will" I was like, yup. It's true. This album is equal parts dark 80s synth-pop and heartbreak modern R&B. I think it's one of the best of the year.

EDIT: I should add, that this album is also a DJ's dream. These tracks are just screaming to remixed and played with.

I love this disc. I realize it can get old after a while, so it doesn't bear listening all the way through, but the lyrical direction here - as many have already noted - is really impressive considering the braggadocio from previous efforts.

"My friend showed me pictures of his kids, And all I could show him were pictures of my cribs...Dad cracked a joke, alle the kids laughed, But I couldn’t here him all the way in first-class. Chased the good-life, all my life long, Look back on my life, all my life gone, Where did i go wrong?"

I really like "Welcome to Heartbreak" and "Amazing". There's a great mashup floating around the internet that combines "Love Lockdown" with Radiohead's "Reckoner" and which is a ton better than the original "Love Lockdown". Here's the link for an mp3 download.

Don't forget the music video!

Operation: Humble Kanye was a success. When will these hip-hop rivalries end?

That guy is great. His U2/Beatles/Mariah Carey/Diana Ross mashup is spectacular.