I was not the biggest fan of Motion. A summer anthem called ‘Summer’ and a bunch of sterile tunes
with precisely timed drops convinced me that the EDM mogul was now getting
robots to write his songs. A video of paint drying was all I could muster as a
review.
Given that I’ve got a softspot for disco, Funk Wav Bounces Vol 1 seemed almost
certain to be a superior album – and indeed it is. ‘Slide’ immediately brings
its listeners to the poolside with its organic disco grooves and buttery
singing courtesy of Frank Ocean. The only thing preventing me from pouring
myself a pina colada and pulling out my sunlounger is the out of place presence
of the Migos (we’ll come to that in a sec…).
As the tracks continue, a red carpet parade of A-list guests
take to the mic. It’s enough to outdo even the recent Gorillaz album Humanz, which I described as a party round Jay Gatsby’s place. ‘Feels’ may be the greatest posse cut of the bunch
featuring Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry and Big Sean all on one track. Here
Calvin draws the best out of every guest, accompanied by a contagious Chic-esque
bassline and bouncy reggae guitar strums.
Sadly Calvin’s casting decisions aren’t quite as astute for
the remainder of the album. In fact, there are some tracks in which the guest
choices are plain confusing. Rather than phoning up the likes of Justin
Timberlake or The Weeknd to croon over these sunshiney melodies, he’s instead
invited his traphouse contacts along. As a result, we get artists like Future
and Lil Yachty - who should be riding rumbling 808 bass and skittering hi-hats
– attempting to rap awkwardly over smooth disco instrumentals.
Some of the artists just about pull it off. Takeoff from
Migos is able to match the old-skool g-funk tone of Snoop Dogg on ‘Holiday’,
although his auto-tuned warbling on ‘Slide’ feels very out of place. Young
Thug’s rapping on ‘Heatstroke’ meanwhile is some of his most controlled to date,
even if his attempt to passionately sing ‘the
love you got for mweee’ ends up like a bad Miss Piggy impression.
Others simply don’t try to match the mood including Nicki
Minaj and Future, laying auto-tune-drenched warbling over the tropical instrumentation.
They may as well be trampling over the palm trees and sunbeds in a monster
truck whilst rolling coal.
Perhaps with less trap rappers and more soul singers, Funk Wav Bounces Vol.1 could have been able
to rival Mark Ronson’s Uptown Special. It certainly feels fresher and cooler. However in the effort to be cool, Calvin may have gone a little too far with his choice of guests.
★★★☆☆
TRACK TASTER: