By shelz.

N.E.R.D.’s previous three albums have taken the brilliance of The Neptunes production and sprinkled it with the so-so crooning of their most famous member, Skateboard P. However, that’s almost been forgiven considering the wonderfully outlandish ways the trio has painted outside of the lines.  Nothing again features Pharrell’s whispering falsetto and sing/talk delivery over genre bending beats that you wish you could hear an actual vocalist work with.  In other words, Nothing is par for the NE.R.D. course which is both good and bad.

The album opener, “Party People,” starts the revelry with a funky bassline and old school Earth Wind and Fire inspired horns.  It promises a build that gets stymied by a dizzying repetition of lyrics that fade into the background.  T.I. does his best to save it with a rapid fire feature about ménage a trois, but this song would have been better off as an instrumental.  Unfortunately, this is an issue that ribbons through many of the songs.

“Hypnotize U” sports a Daft Punk crafted track that slides slow-moving sheets of synth under Pharrell’s bedroom falsetto.  However, when Skateboard P trades the whisper for a bass infused demand to touch umm…it, the song takes an unsexy and creepy turn.  I mean, she does have the right to say no and pushy is never enticing.  It’s generally a dope track though.

The 70’s rock revival is then ushered in on “Help Me” with a simple guitar riff and an underlying bassline leading the way as P goes in on someone he wouldn’t piss on if they were on fire.  The breaks are the best part of this tune, large horn sections and an energetic drum following the brass sections path.  P’s half sung/half spoken lyrics deserve more attention here than the previous songs.

N.E.R.D. continues their ode to AM radio with “Victory” and “Perfect Defect” The funk of the latter with its lounge-inspired organ could produce some Vegas style dance moves after a few drinks. “I’ve Seen the Light/Inside the Clouds” has an odd Renaissance Festival thing happening on the verses that reminds me of the children’s song  “When the Ants Go Marching.”  The sluggish saxophone does the song a disservice.

“God Bless Us All” is a story of acceptance self-pride that totes horns around thick enough to get Cab Calloway’s toes to tapping. The 70’s soul vibe is nice but the song still falls flat.  The 5^th Dimension smoothness of “Life as a Fish” is obscured by the odd narrative of being a fish and watching the land creatures kill each other.

The party is revisited with “Nothing On You,” a dance jam that carries the trio’s signature sound.  Tribal drums and a great bass give N.E.R.D.  a funky foundation to drop compliments on the hottest girl in the room. The album’s first single “Hot N Fun” is up next and after “Nothing on You,” sounds pretty generic.

On the heels of this pair of rump shakers is a modern twist on the theme handled by Buffalo Springfield in “For What It’s Worth.” There’s something strange going on, something in the air.  We don’t know what it is, but it’s not right. It sounds like soulful 70’s protest music, but it’s again hampered by the vocals.  The last of the songs on Nothing fight with the same problem.

“Sacred Temple” is a hypnotic dance piece with a slinky bassline that explodes into an out of synch drum on the hook.  “I Wanna Jam” has a solid rock foundation and “The Man” lets loose cloudy puffs of synth over almost non-existent percussion.  All pretty dope.  You can name 10 vocalists who could shred these tracks, but no one from N.E.R.D. would be on your list and that’s Nothing’s downfall.

N.E.R.D. – “It’s In The  Air”

11-n.e.r.d.-its_in_the_air

3 out of 5

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