Usher - Here I Stand(Laface/Zomba, 2008)3 out of 10The most significant chunk of consecutive music I'm currently capable of enjoying on the new Usher album is the last 51 seconds of a song called "Appetite," produced by hitmaking Timbaland protege Danja. Regarding this part of the song, Usher:- is singing over a sparse electro backdrop with a arpeggiated synth chord progression I find pleasing- has a lovely backing vocal harmony thing going that isn't redundant, superfluous, or unsatisfyingly reminiscent of Michael Jackson or Justin Timberlake- does not sound like an unappealing robot, but rather, as you might expect him to sound (at least in previous years), a smooth, capable human R&B singer with decent instincts- does not come across as epically shrill- is not attempting to "keep it real" with unconvincing, throwback soul songs or rote balladry- is not relying on a "hit concept" such as on the nationwide smash hit (produced by Polow da Don) "Love in This Club," which, I might add, is exactly as insulting to anyone but the deaf as the worst children's music I've ever encountered (later, there is a slightly less awful "Love In This Club Part II," with a boring verse by Beyonce and a typically confounding and typically semi-amazing, quasi-unlistenable "verse" by Lil Wayne)- provides respite from the rest of the trend-mining material on
Here I Stand, yet another disc to throw on the pile of 70+-minute, exhausting, weak-sledgehammer-hook-packing, kitchen-sink-including, Jay-Z-featuring mainstream R&B formula-parade albumsWhat I'm trying to say is it's a really nice ending of a song, and also, Stargate, Ne-Yo, Jermaine Dupri, Tricky Stewart, and will.i.am are all tiring, tiring, tiring, now and probably forever. There is nothing sonically or lyrically compelling or unique about these songs, so if you're not going to give me a nice tune like Danja and Usher have so kindly offered at the end of their collaboration, please don't make me listen to
your/everyone's drum machines,
your/everyone's autotune,
your/everyone's nausea-inducing coffee-shop guitars and
your/everyone's obnoxious sawtooth-wave synthesizers (Stargate, Ne-Yo, I'm SERIOUS). I don't want them or need them. Here but for the grace of God I stand.-Spencer Owen
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