REVIEW: TYLER, THE CREATOR - CHROMAKOPIA

4/5

The Mask

Surprise, b#####s...in your best Dave Chappelle voice! Who's that 'Noid', walking through the black and white streets with The Verve of Richard Ashcroft in a 'Bittersweet Symphony'? Bumping into people in the phantom of the opera black mask like Kobe Bryant or LeBron James going hard, playing through a facial fracture. It's only Tyler, The Creator. The man with the funkiest freestyle that set Funkmaster Flex off. Back with an album out of the blue this New Music Friday, following his Grammy Award-winning 'Call Me If You Get Lost' ODB I.D. Expect another one for the compelling 'CHROMAKOPIA' in ALL-CAPS. An eighth wonder off Colombia Records for The Creator. A straight shooting classic, all the way to the same masked up black and white throwback album artwork, that's really saying something. If only you would take off your own brilliant disguise to realize.

God loves a 'Bastard'. And this 'Goblin' and 'Wolf' explodes like a 'Cherry Bomb' this Halloween. 'Flower Boy', 'Igor', 'Call Me', the big-three of amazing album art have just been joined by a fantastic fourth for the man in the best stretch of his creative career, that's lasted for a decade plus, and running. A cut above the rest, from the Daniel Caesar assisted 'St. Chroma' opening number, to the 'I Hope You Find Your Way Home ' lost ones reflective curtain. Fusing hip-hop, R&B and jazz like awakening the love of a Childish Gambino (he's here, too), Tyler Gregory Okonma, 'Chromakopia' in all its chrome features some of the best in the business. Offset by a sample of 'Thought I Was Dead' (featuring Schoolboy Q and Santigold), this follow-up to 'If You Get Lost' also finds Teezo Touchdown ('Darling, I'), Daniel Caesar again with LaToiya Williams ('Take Your Mask Off'), Lola Young ('Like Him'), Doechii ('Balloon') and Playboy Carti on the physical album'. Not to mention one of the best posse cuts with the 'Sticky' ( I smell...) GloRilla, Sexyy Red and Weezy F. baby, Lil' Wayne collaboration.

The creative force raps with reckless abandon, "Wipe that silly grin (Mm), b####, I'm really him (Mm)/You better put them palms together, b####, I really sin (Mm)/No, me and crack don't share daddies, but we really twins (Okay)/If she ain't got her s### together, she ain't gettin' in (Okay)/You see the bed top bunker, the boy got thumpers/I'm a bonafide face seat, box muncher" on the 'Rah Tah Tah'. But it's the song about 'Hey Jane' that offers more in the form of, "Hey, Jane, your hair long and your legs long/And we can both relate to the fact that our dads gone/Couple good qualities on you you could pass on/You're not dumb, and your face good, and your head strong, look". Reminding you in this safe sex education to "always, always, always wear a condom," like his mother says. 'I Killed You', the creator of Odd Future declares, as you let him cook with all he had to bear. Not one to judge like 'Judy'.

'Tomorrow' offers even more in this redemption song, feeling like a Kanye 'Runaway', running as fast as you can. "Fear it, face clear, few wrinkles on my spirit/Thought this s### out, I pop out with that oven/Tell that new version of me that I'm comin', yeah/My brodie had another baby, that's like number two (Number two)/My homegirl, her knot tied, she like thirty-two (Thirty-two)/They sharin' pictures of these moments, s### is really cute/And all I got is photos of my 'Rari and some silly suits (Man)/Mhm, will I flip the switch and finally settle down?/" At a career creative crossorads, is this a turning point for Tyler? Cohesive yet confused in its nature, this is a man who is nurturing his style, but still can afford more. Will little creators come next? Or is this collection his legacy? Time will tell, for a man whose always known how to pivot with pride. His whole career is his magnum opus. Now will he wear one or let it ride? Inglewood's finest with pearls from his mother gives us another jewel. Andre 3000 once reminded us that chronophobia is the fear of time, but with 'Chromakopia', it's still on The Creator's side. Yes, it is. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Noid', 'Sticky (Feat. GloRilla, Sexyy Red & Lil' Wayne)', 'I Hope You Find Your Way Home'.

Spin This: Childish Gambino - 'Awaken, My Love'

REVIEW: WILLIE NELSON - LAST LEAF ON THE TREE

4/5

The Tree Of Life 

Spooky season may have given way to the festive one, as quick as shopping malls change their Halloween decorations, to Christmas ones. Yet 'Last Leaf On The Tree' is not a festive album from Willie Nelson, hot on the snow boots of Ben Folds' 'Sleigher' last week. We're sure the 91-year-old icon of country and American music has already done that in his 76 solo studio albums and counting. Besides, this is his second album of the year, this fall. Coming after the May day checking of 'The Border' patrol, which clocked in as one of his best records yet across the plains. And did we just mention he's chasing a century in not only age, but albums? As Autumn strips the trees, 'Last Leaf' plants new material based on the roots of other artist's records. Sure, this is a covers album, but it doesn't make it any less compelling than Willie's other work. This is no half-baked Nelson here.

With a few chickens in his Hen House studio in Venice, Los Angeles, Willie Nelson's 'Last Leaf On The Tree' is led by the singles 'Last Leaf', 'Do You Realize??' and 'Lost Cause' by Tom Waits, The Flaming Lips and Beck respectively. The latter lamenting a sea change for the "hello, walls" singer as he broods, "Your sorry eyes, they cut through the bone/They make it hard to leave you alone/Leave you here wearing your wounds/Waving your guns at somebody new" with a devil's haircut. These Legacy Recordings (produced perfectly by the maestro Micah Nelson) from the long-haired singer also braid work from the fellow legendary likes of Neil Young ('Are You Ready For The Country?') and Nina Simone (the compelling 'Come Ye') for the faithful. But, this wouldn't be a Nelson album without original work from Willie himself and his outstanding output.

On 'The Color Of Sound' he asks, "if silence is golden, what color is sound/And the love we don't hold in plants a seed in the ground," for some of his most poetic prose yet. Nelson describes this album as, "facing death with grace". We don't want to think about this being it for Willie, especially after two albums alone, just this year. Not to mention the fact that any moment could be the last for anybody. Yet, he really is working on new material like there's no tomorrow. With youthful vigor, just like 94-year-old legendary director Clint Eastwood with 'Juror #2' this week. I guess 90 really is the new 20. With the 'Spirit' of his most stripped down classic, Nelson also doesn't give up 'The Ghost' off of 'Naked Willie'. "The silence is unusually loud tonight/The strange sound of nothing fills my ears/Then night rushes in like a crowd of nights/And the ghost of our old love appears", as classics, like legends, never really die.

They live forever like a hidden bonus track 'Looking For Trouble' and the last laugh in this song and dance. On the wings of a 'Broken Arrow' like John Travolta from the quiver (featuring a snippet of 'Mr. Soul'), Nelson gives us even more legend in this lengthy number that flies as one of the best of the set. And this includes 'If It Wasn't Broken', robbing a Rolling Stone like Keith Richards blind and revisiting Waits for the familiar 'House Where Nobody Lives'. Always on Willie's mind like the walls that tell a thousand tales, families in frames couldn't quite capture. Willie is doing this until the 'Wheels' (wrote by Micah) fall off, and they're firmly turning too. Either way, he wants you to 'Keep Me In Your Heart' like the Jorge Calderón and Warren Zevon standard. How could we not as "hold me in your thoughts, take me to your dreams/Touch me as I fall in view/When the winter comes, keep the fires lit/I'll be right next to you" (and us, too) beats on? As inspired as his interpretations of these songs his own ones probably helped influence, the heart keeps getting filled from Willie's well. The tree stands strong. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Lost Cause', 'Broken Arrow', 'The Ghost'.

Spin This: Willie Nelson - 'The Border'