Whether or not you like the music of rap collective Odd Future (or enjoy their unrestrained vulgarity), you have to admit they sure can market themselves. But maybe next time Odd Future should spend less time on ironically shitty album designs and visual aesthetics and more time on editing their recording output.
The Internet is the brainchild of Odd Future producer/DJ Syd Tha Kid and recording accomplice Matt Martians. Their ironically cheesy name creates images of the late 80s and early 90s, which perfectly captures the sound of their music.
The Internet’s debut album, *Purple Naked Ladies*, is a mixture of neo-soul, experimental jazz and underground hip-hop. It recalls early Sade, Bjork and Massive Attack. Most of it all, it resembles a collection of long lost b-sides to a Maxwell album.
But that’s not necessarily a good thing. *Purple Naked Ladies* is certainly experimental compared to the rest of the Odd Future catalogue. But what The Internet doesn’t have working in their favour is the fact that it is pretty easy to pinpoint that this is a bedroom recording by a guy and a girl sitting around with some midi controllers (in fact, their liner notes have photos of them doing exactly that).
I have nothing against bedroom recordings, let alone using a midi keyboard to record an album. But the problem with this record is that it sounds too clinical. It sounds like something you could make messing around with your friends on some Akai keyboard, not like a legit studio album ready for release. Although the ideas are interesting, this mostly sounds like a bunch of demos.
Think for a second about The Flaming Lips’ *The Soft Bulletin*. The band employed the use of virtual instruments, but detuned each note to make it sound organic.
*Purple Naked Ladies* does the opposite of this, relying on pre-programmed sounds to get their creative ideas across. It’s immediate, but has a lack of polish.
But honestly, that’s what most of the fans of this group are into. Part of the fun of enjoying Odd Future is that about every two months someone from their group has a new album to unleash online. And that’s not to say that *Purple Naked Ladies* doesn’t have glimmers of genius (Left Brain’s cameo on “Cocaine/Tevie”; the soulful jazz of “Love Song-1”).
This album feels more like a collection of sketches than a definitive release. But at least they show some promise.
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