On "?," an underrated gem from Outkast's Stankonia, Andre 3000 blazes through a relentless verse pondering on what makes humans do horrible things, either to others or themselves. Through the sounds of poured-out bottles towards the end, he seems to hint at his conclusion: alcohol. Excluding the Atlanta native's latter half of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, this is one of the very few songs to feature him without his partner Big Boi. On the rapper and flautist's new album New Blue Sun, he's asking a different question through a 90-minute ambient, new age, spiritual jazz album: What’s the next phase of his career? Instead of asking the world, Andre Benjamin asks himself and finds the answer from within. The result is a raw, imperfect, gorgeous, and deeply emotional statement of self-discovery.
One thing about New Blue Sun that anyone should be able to appreciate, regardless of their experience with new age, is the sonic craft behind it. Carlos Niño, who acts as producer, percussionist, and Andre 3000's right-hand man in this album's creation, brought a surprising aesthetic to the table. The production is heavy and dense despite the woodwinds leading us elsewhere. Bass elements are dark and cavernous and can add real evil to otherwise breezy soundscapes. Often, sharp static feedback, white noise, and hisses during the recording process give this record an earthy, grounded, and very raw feel. It all works together very seamlessly- and so do all the players, given the improvisational nature of these compositions which the production puts at center stage.
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New Blue Sun's Production
In addition, the clicks of Andre 3000's digital flute and other unwanted sounds as folks play their instruments occupy significant space in the mix. It adds to this feeling that you're right there in the room with them -- or rather, the mystical meadow and fantasy land that the music and the album's title point to. The track "Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, And John Wayne Gacy" highlights Diego Gaeta's gorgeous piano, while the closer "Dreams Once Buried Beneath the Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout into Undying Gardens" is the most overt instance of ethereal guitar worship from Nate Mercereau's playing.
That's another thing: the production is so enveloping and dense that you can barely tell whether what you're hearing is a guitar, flute, synth, or someone's faint voice. Their intent to vary each song structurally when compared to the next is key to this album's appeal. For example, for every improvisational linear and jazz-like moment, like the head melody and pondering movement of the opening track, "I swear, I Really Wanted To Make A ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time," there's a song of pure ambient and meditative worship, like the next song "The Slang Word P(*)ssy Rolls Off The Tongue With Far Better Ease Than The Proper Word Vagina . Do You Agree?"
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What Makes New Blue Sun Unique? What Hinders It?
This, plus its aforementioned density, sets New Blue Sun slightly apart from its influences. The tribal, primal, rhythmically patient, and tense hunter mind-state presented on "That Night In Hawaii When I Turned Into A Panther And Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control … Sh¥t Was Wild" is among this album's most unique moments. But it's difficult to identify those when talking about Andre 3000's album holistically. Each track is a microcosm of the whole experience. Still, this versatility means that some moments will lean heavily enough into an ambient and meditative state that feels uneventful and disengaging. "Ninety Three ’Til Infinity and Beyoncé," whose four-minute length feels like thirty seconds in the grand scheme of New Blue Sun, still makes an impact. The longer cuts, though, fall victim to their length and static stasis on occasion.
Also, the playing on New Blue Sun isn't perfect, which is where it falters when compared to influences like Alice Coltrane, Laraaji, and others. In fact, it's almost an ironic reality. Andre 3000's flute, which he sometimes plays out of key and too meanderingly, might be the weakest aspect of this album's composition and musicality. Even though space, meditation, and patience are key tenants of ambient music and spiritual jazz, sometimes this album stretches itself out a bit too thin with its adherence to that vibe. But don't get it twisted: it's still very expressive, serene, cohesive, and immersive. It just doesn't hold up to other improvisational standards. Then again, Andre doesn't know chords, notes, and music theory like that, which is totally fine.
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What Did Andre 3000 Achieve Here?
For what it is, it stands as a great intro to this sound for casual music fans, not the next best thing in it. But what does it matter what a hip-hop writer says about an album that is so explicitly not hip-hop? Well, I'm going to invoke blasphemy and recall Drake's Honestly Nevermind as a comparison point. The most important thing that album did, regardless of quality, was welcome an audience who might not have known how much they could like house music. So, Andre 3000's New Blue Sun knows exactly what it's doing. It ends up being a fitting tribute to these sounds from Steve Roach, Yoshio Ojima, Yusef Lateef, and more, rather than a distilled novelty.
All throughout New Blue Sun, there's tension, and then release, which these inspirations are true masters at. Subtle key changes, futuristic effects, and melodic variations of each other's structures do provide some respite for listeners looking for the fine details. As a background listen, it feels unrestrained and tender enough to focus on the bigger picture, so you can check Andre 3000's album out either way. Just be cognizant of what you're in for and take it at face value.
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Conclusion
Even with little words, Andre 3000 still says a lot. New Blue Sun is deliberately peaceful, often somber, and sometimes chaotic with incredible swells on tracks like "BuyPoloDisorder’s Daughter Wears A 3000™ Shirt Embroidered." Emotionally, the album covers everything under the sun with the same sense of passionate wonder. Take "Ants To You, Gods To Who ?," for example, with its cold, dreamy atmosphere accentuated by a unique flute tone and melodic direction. It also represents the "She Lives In My Lap" artist's own role amid all this. This isn't really a solo album -- in fact, none of his work truly is. But his skill and sensibilities shine through on everything he touches, and 3 Stacks is incredibly grateful for all the avenues that championed his artistic freedom, of which this is the latest.
New Blue Sun's closer's title references the Dungeon Family, the first space in which the flautist felt fully free to express himself in his career. Back then, that mode of self-discovery was through rap, which he pondered intensely as he wrote verses. If Andre's a rap architect, then this is him as a gardener, planting seeds and experiencing how they grow. Those can't blossom without the company he chose, and that synergy is palpable on this album. In that humility and inspiration, he crafted one of the greatest artistic legacies of all time, in which New Blue Sun is a pivotal piece. There's nothing more emblematic of Andre 3000, or compelling to him as a human, than the constant search for an answer. He found it, is finding it, and will always seek the way the wind blows him next time.
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