Frank Ocean: Nostalgia/Ultra
By the former alias Lonny Breaux, Frank Ocean has just released possibly a more critically acclaimed R&B mixtape/Album since So Far Gone, yea I liked So Far Gone, then Drizzy signed to Young Money, but that's besides the point. Frank Ocean has been a writer for great artists such as Beyonce, Brandy, John Legend, and even Justin Bieber. Frank Ocean is a writer and R&B singer living in New York city, but earlier this year Frank Ocean decided to take his talents out west and is recently now a member of OFWGKTA ( odd future wolf gang kill them all) a super group of young rebellious teens out of California, that skateboard very well, and write music. The two most notable of this group are Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler the Creator. Although some others like Hodgy Beats are starting to make a name for themselves along with Domo Genesis. Anyway Frank is the only R&B artists out of the group and he released Nostaliga/Ultra as his first official work.
Nostaliga/Ultra: This mixtape features 3 different skits, and beats from three songs you might be able to recognize, one being from Coldplay's "Strawberry Swing" another, The Eagles "Hotel California" and the last being from MGMT "electric feel" the album also features three different skits that capture you into knowing whats next, its almost trippy like, and hard to explain, but this album will mesmerize you, guaranteed. "Read More" to see the review and also to listen to each song, and get the download link
Street Fighter:
A 22 seconds skit that literally just sounds like a guy taking a cassette in and out of a casette player, and playing the song for just a little bit and then stopping again, constantly hitting the button, to make it sound right, its an effective intro into the album, as it gives you the reassurance that he's making it right.
Strawberry Swing:
Strawberry swing is the first song on the mix tape sampling Coldplay's "Strawberry Swing" The song opens up with a steady drum beating and a little guitar playing leading into Frank Ocean's captivating voice. This song literally takes you into a Holden Caulfield-esque mindset. Frank's talking about the things he used to do as a child and how the world was right and everything was so memorable, it puts this good feeling in your heart listening to the first verse, and really makes you want to reminisce on the good times you had as a kid. It's really the innocent part of the album, he wants to go back to how it was, but in the second verse he realizes its not a reality the line "Say hello, then say farewell to the places you know" makes that point clear, life goes by too quickly, we can die at anytime, and crying will not prevent that, its just a fact of life, the outro however is the deepest part of this song "Spaceships are lifting off of a dying world, And millions are left behind while the sky burns, There wasn't room for you and I, only you, goodbye, goodbye" He's the most powerful in the outro, you can tell because there is more passion being put into it, and it puts you in this somber mood and makes you appreciate what you have, then Chris Martin comes in and sings the chorus of the original as the drums and the guitar get louder, as if he's about to wake up, followed by 20 seconds of an alarm clock waking him up out of his fantasy. The song just makes you appreciate everything, but at the same time, realize that all the innocence that you had is gone, and you need to open your eyes to the real world that's around us. 4.8/5.0
Novacaine:
It's astonishing how you can go from a holden Caulfield type feeling to now growing up all in one song, and Novacaine is definitely him grown up. The gist of novocaine is that Frank met a girl at Coachella, who gave him a bong of Novacaine, or it made him have the feeling of numbness that novacaine provides. Essentially Frank has evolved into one nights stands with a numb emotion, meaning that they are meaningless, its essentially a way of saying "no strings attached". The first verse talks about how they met, and it foreshadows the fact that novocaine, will be used when she says that she wants to be a dentist, in order to complete it though she was "doing porn in the valley" but anyway after this first numb sexual encounter with this girl the second verse Frank has become addicted. "Sink full of dishes pacin' in the kitchen, cocaine for breakfast, yikes" this is describing his new found addiction to it, and essentially the chorus to the song is how he's blaming this girl for getting him addicted to meaningless sex, and he closes with a line "Pretty girls involved with me, Makin' pretty love to me pretty, pity pity" the two words "pity" at the end is explaining how he's taken pity on the situation, but overall this song offers you a very addicting but mildly inappropriate chorus, yet a very descriptive narrative, with a solid beat in and out of the song, with Frank's synthesized vocals giving you your own feeling of numbness, the song though content wise isn't amazing the production values are top notch... 4.3/5.0
We all Try:
Well if you want to know Frank's views on life then listen to this song, haha that's the easiest way to put it, but in this song he provides very powerful, emotional vocals evoking the listener to fathom upon what their own beliefs are, it's incredible really especially following a very trance like song in Novocaine, he just keeps bringing you in, and you can't help it. Anyway Frank gets out all of his beliefs some I don't agree with but this isn't my mix tape, he talks about how he believes in pro-life, he says that "love is love" meaning hetero or homosexual love is acceptable, but he makes one point clear that you must believe in something and if you get one thing out of this song, then that's it. He goes on to how he believes in the conspiracy with the moon landing, and how he believes that people are good yet we do sin, but were good in nature. This song speaks volumes to people who have lost faith in something, just keep trying is the motto, it's so ironic because I've lost faith in something, and I'll resort to this song as my safe haven, but anyway if you're ever feeling down this is a great song to listen to strong, emotional vocals, and inspiring lyrics. 4.4/5.0
Bitches Talkin:
A 22 second conversation where women are talking and deciding what they want to listen to, as simple as that, and how they want to play some music, and at the end there's a joke "what's a radio Head" which I interpret as they are clueless about good music.
Songs for Women:
Coming off a skit like "Bitches talk'n" this song just seems like its some guy actually singing songs for women, but no that's where you're wrong. Frank takes us through a personal narrative in this song, he discusses how when he began singing it was in fact for the women, and men thought he was cheating by doing it, but if they had the vocals he had then they wouldn't be singing genuine music, but eventually as frank progresses in his career, he has no time for the girl and she loses touch with him and insults him by always playing Drake and Trey Songz in his car, two very popular R&B artists. As he grows older he realizes that signing songs for women is pointless and that the music that he sings needs to be for him and for the love of the music. He ends with a little skit of his own, talking about how all he writes are love songs, but its for himself, because women aren't listening to lower artists like himself. This song is well done, because it provides a good beat, with a combination of good vocals, good synthesized signing, frank's actual vocals and then a great narrative, this song makes Frank come off as genuine and an artist I respect because he's creating music to express himself like real artists should, not just for the benefits of hit songs and fame. 4.7/5.0
Love Crimes:
Like a song later in the album Frank gets some of his inspiration from Kanye West and in this song its evident because it sounds like a beat from 808's Kanye West's experimental album. Anyway this song is few words but it's about how Frank loved this girl and all but in the end she committed a "lovecrime" and cheated on him, even after all the things that he has done for her, and that she had done for him, and Frank is in love with her, but she is unfaithful and is committing the ultimate love crime, not much else to it, the beat is solid, the synth'd vocals are pretty good, but overall too me this is the skippable track on the mix tape. 3.6/5.0
Goldeneye:
just like in the opening skit, once again there's music playing then being stopped, and played again, I'm not to sure why this time, but it could be because the songs are kind of changing in this next section of the mix tape.
There will be Tears:
One of the most powerful songs on the album bar none, the songs opens up with an auto-tuned frank singing "There will be tears, I've no doubt, There may be smiles but a few, And when those tears have run out, You will be numb and blue" The song is essentially about Frank's dad and so this powerful beginning is describing the emotion's Frank has towards his father. Then the song busts into a bridge talking about how Frank will one day be near his dad, and will finally meet him and how frank wants to meet him. Frank then breaks into song about how his Grand dad was his mentor, but eventually he died also, and Frank was emotionally distraught, but he had to act tough because he was around other boys that had their fathers walk out on them also, so people told him to forget it but he couldn't, the strongest part of this song is in the outro where it goes "I can't be there, that's all you had to say to me was, You couldn't be there, why couldn't you say to me" the drums are clearly heard better then others at this part of the song and Frank is almost in full crying emotion type mode really creating a felling of realism, its quite impressive. This song is for multiple types of people, its for people that have lost loved ones, but can also be related to people who could never get what they wanted, as far as relationship, love, and how there will be good times but mainly bad times. The song has almost a clapping type of beat behind it bringing you into the song and emphasizing on Frank's strong vocals. 4.7/5.0
Swim Good:
This song honestly brings out the worst in me, it makes me think of all the negative things in life, and my past which was rocky when I was younger, not like parents or anything, just my mentality that still rests with me today. Anyways enough about me, this song is to anyone that just wants to get away from anything or anyone, they want to "drive to the ocean, I'mma try to swim from something bigger than me" is just incredible when listening to this chorus the emotion that I feel is like none I've ever felt, depending on my mood sometimes bringing me to tears. Anyway Franks is once again utilizing a technique he does so well which is narratives, at one point in the song he's 5 miles away from the end of the road later on in the song he's 1 mile from the end. He's closer and closer to what he's trying to avoid. Once again like it seems in most songs his outro is the strongest part vocally, the lyrics "I'm going off, don't try stopping me, I'm going off, don't try saving, No flares, no vest, and no fear, Waves are washing me" are so deep and Frank is going to get away from his problems no matter what no matter what he has to do, he sings them in such a powerful scream, to captivate the listener into feeling the pain that he himself is feeling, if you're ever in this mood, this song is the perfect fit for you. The song helps you kind of get away from your problems and to a false-reality safe place for a little while, it's hard to explain but once you've lost faith in something listen to this and it will speak volumes. 4.9/5.0
Dust:
In the end we all turn to dust, just remember that, now on a less negative tone, the beats of this song sound like straight off a Kanye Wests 808's track, which would make logical sense because Frank Ocean absolutely loves Kanye West and in fact references 808's earlier in "Swim Good." Anyway this song starts off weird"Whose that talking in the library? Whose that talking in my library?" However, the library is a metaphor for Frank's life, and love life, each book in his library is a story in his life, good, bad, regrets, and stories he wishes he could erase, but he has to "keep writing, and keep living, and keep loving" he's got to move on take the good with the bad and move on, it is what it is, in the end "When the ink dries and the pages turn to dust, so will we turn to dust" In the end we will all perish so we just need to continue to move on in life through successes and failures. This song I wrote off at first, but wow, now that i've figured out the meaning behind it, I can see how this song can help people get by tough times and just realize to move on. 4.4/5.0
American Wedding:
When listening to this song, you will realize that it is using the instrumental from the great hit of the The Eagles "Hotel California" like Hotel California talked about love, American Wedding talks about the truth in America currently, wedding's don't mean anything anymore. It's quickly illustrated during the end of the first verse "Getting married in a courthouse, writing vows in a rush,Making out before the judge with my teenage wife, Got a wedding band done that I just might die with" Americans are getting married at a young age, quickly without even thinking about consequences the line that sticks out is "writing vows in a rush" vows used to be heartfelt and serious, but now they are just a part of the process. Frank simplifies it though in the chorus, It's an american wedding, it doesn't mean too much, now whats mine is yours, thats American Law, obviously talking about how people get in marriages that don't last and as long as they get those papers signed for prenups then that's all that matters. He illustrates this more in the start of the second verse, but overall in the end the song is a shot at America, and how we don't truly know what love is, us Americans rush into "love" and it ends up being false love. This song really stuck out to me because it's the realist song on the album, and is actually quite sad. 4.6/5.0
Soul Caliber:
The last skit of the mix tape, is just like the ones before he's playing a song cutting it and playing it again, i don't know why though, the only explanation I can think of is to change the mood of the album.
Nature Feels:
Nature feels is using the instrumental from MGMT's Electric Feel, if you're familiar with that. It's the last song on this mixtape and is very different from a majority of the previous songs. Honestly, I don't have a deep meaning for this song, it literally is him and his "eve" fooling around underneath cherry leaves, I guess it's just showing how "nature feels" I really can't get that strong of a read on this song, it would be best if someone would give me there opinions about this one, but in the end it could be interpreted that he's finally reached love and so he's expressing it, or then again it could be a song like "novocaine" where its meaningless. Anyway I think that this song does justice to "Electric Feel" Frank provides good vocals, a very risque descriptive story, like he has all through out and I guess if you wanna fool around underneath a cherry tree Franks' saying go for it. 3.8/5.0
Nostalgia/Ultra: 4.42/5.0
Two other great songs by Frank ocean:
Acura integral: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTJ4YY4hZFc
Pyrite(Fool's gold): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5gmeDrwGSQ
Download Nostalgia/Ultra: http://hulkshare.com/tboojt12rk5n
Download Nostalgia/Ultra: http://hulkshare.com/tboojt12rk5n
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