Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

k-os
k-os tabs k-os discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

k-os guitar tabs

CD reviews

Yes!

k-os - Yes! Audio CD

A fair review of the k-os "Yes!" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all k-os reviews here, or go back to the k-os tabs.

Band: k-os
Title: Yes!
Rating:

Release Date: 2009-05-05
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Zambony 2: Astronaut 3: Burning Bridges 4: Uptown Girl - Emily Haines, k-os, , Murray Lightburn, k-os 5: I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman - Nelly Furtado, k-os, , Saukrates, k-os 6: 4 3 2 1 - k-os 7: Eye Know Something 8: Aviator 9: Fun! 10: Mr. Telephone Man 11: Whip C.R.E.A.M. 12: Avenue

Yes! I have it.
I thought it wouldn't be as good as his last since I play it more times than I do with a lot of my CDs I have and ditial ones too. This is a very good album. He rap more on this album than his last one. I hope a lot of you get this one or his other ones also he is very good.

K-Os returns to his roots ... but like never before!!!
I was seriously disappointed when I found out I would have to order his new album Yes! online because it wasn't being sold in stores. I'm a huge K-Os fan -- I have all of the man's albums.

K-Os really returns to his old school-style hip-hop roots with this album while experimenting with new sounds that leave him more "current" than his previous albums. His last album Atlantis, though very brilliant, leaned into a lot of classic/retro pop. I loved the album but it definitely didn't add him any credits as an M. C. but this time he returned showing all of his influences in previous albums with respect to a mature and a very "today" sound.

If I have to knock him one star for ANYTHING it would be he still delves more than necessary into retro sounds -- I think for K-Os to really showcase his talent and remain relevant he needs to be more cutting edge and lead trends rather than stay on the cusps of trends in hip-hop music. However, I am very pleased to see he has found himself and exudes confidence -- the type of confidence that only a man who is comfortable in his skin can convey.

"Call it baggage, I use it all, to advantage"

A major strength of k-os is his ability to use a genre within his hip hop, and -- while definitely doing hip hop -- making the borrowed genre come alive in its own identity. K-os named his new album 'Yes!' to reflect the positive and unrestrained approach from which he created the music. He does it extensively with indie rock on this album. He does it especially effectively with reggae(ton), including an excellent sequence where he raps against what seems to be but isn't his own echo. There are also some great doo-wop elements, which are not especially subtle except that most listeners will be unfamiliar with the genre. (Also I have to suggest listeners look to "Valhalla", my favorite track from his last album, for a sublime use of the spiritual form as a chorus against rapped verses. )

This is "fusion" in the best sense. More than that, it is the "recontextualization" (c. f. "found art") sophisticates like to talk about, except that unlike an old sneaker put on display in a museum, what k-os does is worth paying attention to. Certainly it is metaphorical, not documentarian, that k-os is pictured on the album cover holding a sampler with his face obscured. The ability of hip hop to incorporate any other genre should, in principle, render hip hop the universal musical form, supremely flexible and given to profound novelty. Reflect on how limited so much of hip hop actually is, and you will see that k-os' disappointment in hip hop is deeper than its fixation on money. Or perhaps its fixation on money, so superficial, has rather deep consequences.

One of the k-os' funny characteristics reappears in this album: while he attacks the pompousness of other rappers, he maintains a way-large ego himself. For example, he begins a track with Neil Armstrong's famous transmission of "one small step for [a] man," cutting it off by sighing melodramatically before launching into a song.

K-os has made impressive strides in becoming a better singer; his rapping, always good enough, does not show the improvement of his singing. And, compared to previous work the instrumentation in this album really is novel. This brings us to a potential "problem" with the new album. The beats of several songs are so intricate they border on sounding busy instead of musical. Personally, I like intricacy, so it doesn't bother me -- but if you tend toward stripped-down beats leaving the rap front and center on a track, you might be put off.

Then there is k-os' ambition for this album -- he wanted it to be enjoyable, easy, free of the baggage of his prior work. K-os' baggage comes in two main forms: disdain for mainstream hip hop, and philosophical musings. Actually, considering that most of these new songs address these topics, it seems that when k-os lets his mind drift freely he turns right to the weightiest of thoughts. K-os was the guy at the party who would have a few drinks and more, feel the music bumping, and nonetheless find himself lost in serious thought (or conversation. . ) about the meaning of life when everyone else was busy forgetting all the seriousness of life.

But this tendency of his does not harm the album. K-os giving it free range (and free reign, and free rein) has rendered both his philosophical musing and his commentary on mainstream hip hop more productive, less encumbering -- they are no longer baggage. In the case of his meaning-of-life issues, he puts more emphasis on the fact that some things are, ultimately, unknowable. (This is not entirely new, as listeners might recall from his debut album. ) He also allows the instrumentation to more clearly reflect his weighty subject matter, no longer setting metaphysical raps into good-but-conventional beats (. . . although I should note that the more-apt eerie-echoey-disoriented beats verge on annoyingly repetitious in this album). In the case of his complaints about mainstream hip hop, on this new album k-os employs a bigger arsenal than ever in his fight, including especially satirical mimicry. Thus in both channels k-os succeeds in the artist's mission to show rather than say -- per Archibald MacLeish, to not mean, but be. We're always ourselves, whether guarded or relaxed, but that if we accept our own identities that same self becomes constructive rather than awkward.

I don't know if I like this album more than k-os' others or if I will listen to it more often. There is a solid chance of this album defining k-os within the broader history of music. Moreover I do suspect that this album's sharp, catchy, contemporary productions stand the best-so-far chance of generating big-time popularity for k-os. That is a little ironic though, for the simple reason that on this album those catchy, contemporary-sounding songs are vehicles of irony. "I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman" IS catchy. It is TOTALLY a standout. AND its singalong breeziness stands across a fearsome chasm from its story of the loneliness that a person must accept if they want to accept themself. If you recognize both the breeziness and the pain that make up the song, the divide between them appears as well. It is a song of agony. And so it weirds me out to know that people will be bumping it like a party tune.

"I Wish I Knew" is also a song of triumph, anthemic of the album. Creativity means making something good from the darkness -- a metaphysical metaphor k-os has pursued from the beginning of his artistry. It IS a happy song, even if I hear a dangerous relationship between the happiness and alienation. "I know I'll find a recipe / for me / but I can't really make you love me. "

.

yes
This album is the best composed and produced albums from K-Os but unfortunately not the most fulfilling to listen to. To put it simply, the help of money and better producers continue to aid K-Os in his success. Regardless the album is worth a listen if one had never experienced the hip/hop essence that K-Os brings, and for those familiar you won't be disappointed.

Best (kinda, sorta) hip-hop album of the year so far.
It's darker than the last disc, Atlantis. Ok, it's not completely hip hop in form, but it is definitely maintained in essence. . . , but it's still probably the most fun hip hop album to come out in some time. The blend of the old school, and the current, enables the listener to recall hip hop's rosier parts of its past. Meanwhile, the "indie rock" portions mashed up against the 808s, give the album a distinct feel, but somehow or another it just makes sense. How many albums do you know of that can put Saukrates, Emily Haines, and Murray Lightburn - on back to back songs - and it sounds cohesive?

It's not an absolutely flawless album, but then again, I don't know if it's about that. I think he just wants you to feel genuinely 'good' when you listen to music. In a time of darkness economically and otherwise, it's a refreshing and rich listen, especially the deluxe edition. Most of the remixes are on par with the originals, i. e. 4 3 2 1 (TheSoundCrate Remix). . . nice driving song. Definitely the perfect album for the spring, going forward into the summer time. It's worth your twenty US dollars, and whatever that converts to in anywhere else in the world.

You can see a complete list of all k-os discography, or go back to the k-os tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.