This afternoon, after several months of teasing it, Kanye West finally unveiled his new album The Life of Pablo. The title and tracklisting are actually things he didn’t settle on until yesterday, and presumably the entire thing will be available to stream/download at some point on Friday. Physical versions will likely be out in a month or two, once they have a chance to actually get manufactured. What went down today was a party at Madison Square Garden during which Kanye showed off his new clothing line while playing the album in its entirety. For those who weren’t able to get to New York to attend, there was a live stream on Tidal. That’s how I watched it, and in all honesty the spectacle was quite self-serving and congratulatory, but also pretty brilliant. That’s kind of Kanye in a nutshell anyways. One of the more notable things during the broadcast was the song “Famous,” which contained the lines, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that bitch famous.” The Taylor in question is presumably Taylor Swift, and given that the two of them have been friends the last few years following his stage crashing incident in 2009, it would appear that friendship is over. So if anything, that’s one takeaway from the launch party worth noting. As for the full album, it sounded solid to me, though many more listens are ahead to better judge. In the meantime, please enjoy this final Pick Your Poison for the week, with quality downloads in this set from 23:23, Cotton Mather, Esquela and Old Monk. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream songs from Acid Dad, Agent bla, Britta Phillips, Eskimeaux, Film School, Kyle Forester, Mood Hut, Nisennenmondai, Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop, Show Me The Body and Teleman.
Bonobo – Noctuary (Screwed by Rissa Boo)
SOUNDCLOUD
Acid Dad – Don’t Get Taken
Agent bla – Frustrerad
Britta Phillips – One Fine Summer Morning
Eskimeaux – Power
Film School – Give Up
Kyle Forester – Won’t Go Crazy
Mood Hut – Disco Mantras
Nisennenmondai – #3
Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop – Every Songbird Says
Show Me The Body – Body War
Teleman – Dusseldorf