Vultures 1 - Carnival Edition ［7inch×2+CD］

昨年11月フィジカルリリースされたカニエ・ウェスト、タイ・ダラー・サインのデュオ"\$"によるアルバム『Vultures 1』。この度、同アルバムの新ヴァージョン『Vultures 1 - Carnival Edition』が発売決定!

アルバムのタイトルにもなっている「Carnival」は2025年グラミー賞最優秀ラップ楽曲賞にノミネートされ、アルバムを代表する楽曲となっている。ジャケットは「Carnival」の象徴的なミュージック・ビデオのワンシーンを使用した限定アートワークが施された見事なゲートフォールド・ジャケットを採用。さらに、7インチ盤には、カニエ・ウェストの娘ノース・ウェストを客演として迎えた「Talking (ft. North West)」も収録。

Kanye Wests undying genius as a producer and rap innovator has been enough for some fans to overlook even his most egregious outbursts and offensive behavior as a public figure. His art crystallized into dense musical opulence on his 2010 magnum opus My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and remained fascinating as it mutated from there, with moments of ugly brilliance surfacing even in the crude vulgarity of 2016s The Life of Pablo, or the somehow simultaneously overstuffed and fragmental chapters of his Donda series. Vultures 1, Wests collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign, is strange in that its a far cleaner, less-damaged listening experience than audiences would reasonably expect at this point in the Kanye saga. The production is the star of the show here, with the spare and distortion-inclined "Carnival," the sterile, ghostly funk of "PAID," or the bounding, orchestra-meets-old-school fun of "Do It" all exhibiting the same electric inventiveness that put West on a map as a beatmaker. After years of albums that rambled, meandered, and struggled to complete their sentences, the simple pop structure of a song like "Keys to My Life" is refreshing. Freddie Gibbs shines with his verse on "Back to Me," and Playboi Carti and Travis Scott add personality to the eerie, nocturnal bump of "FUK SUMN." ~ Fred Thomas