Monday
July 11, 2005
arts.michigandaily.com
artspage@michigandaily.com
A1 RTS
9
SEXUAL
HEALNG
R. KELLY HEADS BACK TO HIS
NATURAL HABITAT, THE BEDROOM
By Evan McGarvey
Daily Arts Editor
The first words out of R. Kelly's mouth on TP.3
Reloaded, an album still shuddering in the wake
of Jay-Z's pepper spray, a sexual fall from grace
and a quick diversion into
the Christian soul market, R. Kelly
hit like summer thunder: "I R
hope ya'll got ya'll's player's TP3 Reloaded
cards. 'Cause yall ain't get- live
ting in ... Unless you do."
After courtrooms and the
tabernacle, R. Kelly is right where he's supposed
to be: in the VIP and right between your legs.
The song that delivers that breeze of a first line,
"Players Only," is Kelly's sexual comfort zone:
a pseudo-Moroccan squeal (courtesy of Scott
Storch), plenty of ass-movement instructions and
even a B-list rapper, The Game, who tries to tame
his streetbarks into come-hither couplets. Its allure
is akin to watching a friend ditch a girlfriend and
leap headfirst into his old life of trysts and booze-
riddled Fridays: It just feels right.
That may be funny, but it's not a joke. Don't
classify Kelly and all his frequently spellbinding
talent as ironic; alongside D'Angelo, he happens
to be the best R&B/soul singer since Marvin
got shot by his dad. Kelly's libido is no different
that any of the greats: he finds sex in everything
and everything in sex. TP.3 Reloaded isn't a
great album, it's too blown up with patches of
woeful filler (the dullest dancehall moment in
recent history, "Reggae Bump Bump," to start),
but it's memorable for its pure, fuck-everyone-
who-isn't-on-board mentality.
"Sex In The Kitchen" leaked early and became
the filthy, brilliant herald of this album: It turns
We can't see what's going on below his waist. That's a good thing.
a Chris Rock routine about Kelly's sex tape into
perhaps the most insane, luridly powerful vocal
bridge in a decade. You'll never look at a kitchen
in quite the same way.
But take Kelly seriously because he'll sing
about sex from every angle: infidelity, animal
lust, monogamy in ways no one else will. Take
him seriously because he can reach deep into his
voice - full, adroit and honeyed in the same turn
- and apologize to his woman on "Kickin' It
With Your Girlfriend" before fucking her in a T-
shirt and writing a song about it.
TP.3 doesn't seem like a look back, though the
album title references his first hit album 12 Play.
This is a heartening, if a little rushed, return to his
natural state. The operatic in scope "Trapped In
The Closet" series leans less on the repetitive piano
chords and prose-poetry of Kelly than it does on
its own titanic self-conviction. Name another per-
son in America who puts a five-part (!) romantic
drama on the radio and makes a video accompa-
nying each piece. All these recent diversions have
finally brought us home: Sex is to Kelly what his-
tory was for W.H. Auden, the one limitless place
in the universe. And that is certainly worth getting
a player's card for.
Sufjan Stevens creates folk masterpiece
By Lloyd Cargo By beginning the album in outer to a rigid depiction, much the same Your Stepmother!" and "Chicago"
Daily Arts Writer space, Sufian embraces Illinois from way Aaron Copeland channeled the move from fragile to transcendent.
When Sufjan Stevens announced
his 50 states project, it was a clear mar-
keting gimmick to
sell a record about S
his home state of fjan
Michigan. It was Stevens
a brilliant ploy to Illinois
garner attention for Asthmatic Kitty
an independently
released album
he couldn't afford to advertise, but
before long, the idea blossomed into
a project Sufjan is apparently willing
to devote the rest of his career toward.
Michigan was brilliant, beautiful and
heartfelt, but it was also his home
state. Could he treat any other state
with such a range of emotions?
Sufjan immediately addresses
this weighty proposition by opening
Illinois with "Concerning The UFO
Sighting Near Highland, Illinois."
an outsiders view, erasing any doubts
of how he'd handle a foreign state.
Had Sufjan taken an ironic stance,
Illinois would've been too emotion-
ally shallow. Instead, by embrac-
ing everything from the mundane
to the absurd, with honesty and
imagination, he creates a vision
of Illinois where we're all tour-
ists. Illinois captures the essence
of Illinois without having to stick
ideals of America with his master-
piece, Appalachian Spring.
It doesn't hurt that the songs them-
selves are stunningly gorgeous.
Sufjan's voice is heavenly and while
his songwriting has always been top-
notch, it's his ornate orchestrations
that really elevate his talent. The addi-
tion of a string quartet to Sufjan's
one-man orchestra makes songs like
"Decatur, Or, Round of Applause for
"Casimir Pulaski Dy lisa
the heart of Illinois and, curiously
enough, it has nothing to do with Casi-
mir Pulaski, the victor in the Battle of
Brandywine, or Illinois itself. Instead
it tells the story of a childhood love's
cancer-induced death with a simulta-
neous mood of naivete and wisdom.
Whether he's singing songs inspired
by George A. Romero's "Night of
the Living Dead," Carl Sandburg or
the uagic ciuunuuiauur vvayne
Gacy Jr., Sufjan strikes a nerve. To
love Michigan you had to love Michi-
gan, but to love Illinois you just need a
heart. Flawless from beginningto end,
Illinois is an American classic.
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