a true piece of art is a window into the transcendent
December 5, 2017 7:53 PM   Subscribe

Dissect is a musical podcast "created by Cole Cuchna, "one person, working in his spare time, in a garage in Sacramento." It is also a moving and illuminating deep look into the music and genius of Kanye West, via a deep dive into his album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Even if - Especially if you are a music fan who has found Kanye to be insufferable and unpleasant, it is worth your attention, because there is a good chance that the experience will be relevatory, and you might find yourself encountering some surprising moments of grace (at 26:20). posted by beisny (7 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
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posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:24 PM on December 5, 2017 [1 favorite]


Fantastic! Thanks for posting this. It's such an extraordinary album.
posted by sldownard at 11:31 PM on December 5, 2017 [2 favorites]


Thanks for this! Kanye is a genius and this album is superb. Yes, he’s also a jackass, as Obama correctly said. Anyway, I’m looking forward to this.
posted by persona au gratin at 1:16 AM on December 6, 2017 [2 favorites]


Previously, but I'm all for this awesome thing getting double coverage.
posted by klausman at 7:03 AM on December 6, 2017 [2 favorites]


I'm looking forward to this. Honestly, the album rattled me quite a bit because I was dealing with my own anxiety, self-loathing, and "lost in the world" issues at the time -- and I thought it did such an amazing job of putting those things front and center, not just in the lyrics but in the music and production itself. Hearing about how it might have accomplished those things sounds really interesting.
posted by treepour at 9:09 AM on December 6, 2017 [2 favorites]


I don't understand the hagiography of Kanye as genius when--for example--the tritone involved in the transition from one song to the next that so fascinates Cuchna is immediately credited to "Kanye’s primary collaborator on the album, Mike Dean, [who] is a classically trained composer." It's Kanye's work, for sure, and it's good. It's not a sign of genius that an album made with the collaboration of people who represent a tremendous amount of musical expertise includes recognizable musical motifs.

I listened to a few episodes of the podcast after it was last mentioned and couldn't get into it. It's not the deep focus, or the subject matter, that drove me away. I think I'm fundamentally unable to listen to this kind of "deep dive" talking about music. Count me firmly in the "writing about music is like dancing about architecture" camp.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 1:04 PM on December 6, 2017


I’m greatly enjoying this so far although I’m pretty surprised that I’m into the third episode and the only mention of Rhymefest was in Kanye’s Grammy acceptance speech. My understanding is that Rhymefest contributed a lot of lines to Kanye’s raps in College Dropout, especially Jesus Walks.

I’m not sure why someone writing a musical interlude at Kanye’s request diminishes Kanye’s achievement with that album. It’s a brilliant, dense, collaborative album. The music and lyrical subject matter are united to such an extreme degree that when Kanye distorts his voice so much you can’t understnad a word he’s saying, you KNOW what he’s trying to communicate. I don’t question the genius of the Coen Brothers because of their reliance on equally genius cinematographers, I respect their ability to create and helm incredibly complex pieces of work which involve and showcase dozens of other equally talented performers. Part of Kanye’s genius is he knows when to let others shine. .
posted by cyphill at 1:49 PM on December 6, 2017 [3 favorites]


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