Frank Ocean | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Frank Ocean has been one of the more fascinating artists of the 2010s. A singer and songwriter whose output has defied rigid classification as R&B;, he has nonetheless pushed that genre forward with seemingly offhanded yet imaginatively detailed narratives in which he has alternated between yearning romantic and easygoing braggart. Ocean debuted as a solo artist with "Novacane," a single regarding a fling that could be read, in part, as a criticism of commercial radio, yet it found a home on mainstream urban playlists. Despite further strained relations with music industry machinations, Channel Orange, his first proper album, made him a Grammy winner and performer, and once he left the major-label system, his commercial clout was greater than ever, as demonstrated by the chart-topping success of follow-up Blond. Born Christopher Edwin Breaux in Long Beach, California, Ocean moved with his family to New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of five. The aspiring songwriter and singer had just moved into his dorm at the University of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. With his future under water, Ocean immediately left the academic life behind and moved to Los Angeles to give music a shot. He cut some demos at a friends home studio, shopped them around town, and eventually landed a songwriting deal that led to work for Justin Bieber, John Legend, and Brandy. Some of this writing was done beside Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, a fellow songwriter and producer who convinced Ocean to sign a solo artist deal with Def Jam in late 2009. It was also around this time that Ocean met Odd Future and began writing for the crew while making guest appearances on their mixtapes. In February 2011, as Odd Future were making waves, Ocean broke out on his own with the Nostalgia, Ultra mixtape, issued through his Tumblr blog. Later in the year, he appeared on Tyler, the Creators Goblin ("She," "Window"), Beyoncés 4 ("I Miss You"), and Jay-Z and Kanye Wests Watch the Throne ("No Church in the Wild," "Made in America"). Def Jams plan for the release of Nostalgia, Lite -- an EP-length version of the mixtape -- was scrapped, yet the songs "Novacane" (produced by Stewart) and "Swim Good" (MIDI Mafia) were released as singles with accompanying videos. The former reached number 17 on Billboards Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop chart. The latter peaked at number 70. By the end of the year, several publications listed Nostalgia, Ultra as one of 2011s best releases. Ocean proceeded with the making of his official debut album, working beside the likes of Malay, OmMas Keith, and Pharrell Williams as fellow producers. The album, Channel Orange, was previewed for journalists at a handful of listening events. Some writers alleged that certain lyrics on the album revealed Oceans bisexuality. Ocean subsequently published a screen shot of a TextEdit file (entitled "thank yous") that included details of a romantic relationship, his first love, with a man. On July 10, 2012, six days after the post, Channel Orange was released by Def Jam as a download. The CD version followed a week later. Along with featured appearances from Earl Sweatshirt, John Mayer, and André 3000, the album involved material about unrequited love, as well as class and drug dependency -- all delivered with Oceans descriptive storytelling and understated yet expressive vocals. Channel Orange received nearly universal critical acclaim and landed on the Billboard 200 chart at number two. Ocean was subsequently nominated in six Grammy categories and took the award for Best Urban Contemporary Album. As Channel Orange was on its way to gold certification, Ocean began work on a follow-up. Various recording details were reported during those three years, and Ocean dropped hints that led to much speculation. Meanwhile, he appeared on Beyoncés self-titled album, Kanye Wests The Life of Pablo, and James Blakes The Colour in Anything. In August 2016, a video of him building a staircase, accompanied by instrumentals, was streamed on his website. Later that month, he released Endless, a 45-minute visual album that featured additional construction footage and a stream of full-blown songs written primarily by Ocean alone. Jazmine Sullivan, Jonny Greenwood, and Blake were among the contributors to the new material. The following day, Ocean released the skeletal and sprawling Blond, for streaming. Copies of Oceans magazine, distributed at pop-up locations, included a compact disc version with a shorter track list. A multi-genre festivals worth of "album contributors," ranging from many of his previous associates to the likes of David Bowie and Yung Lean, was listed in the pages of the publication. Blond replaced Drakes Views at the top of the Billboard 200. A series of individual tracks, beginning with "Chanel," was issued across 2017. Throughout the year, Ocean also surfaced on Jay-Zs 4:44, Tyler, The Creators Flower Boy, and Calvin Harris Funk Wav Bounces, Vol. 1 (the Top 40 hit "Slide"). | ||
 | Album: 1 of 5 Title: nostalgia,ULTRA. Released: 2011-03-24 Tracks: 14 Duration: 42:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Street Fighter (00:22) 2 Strawberry Swing (03:55) 3 Novacane (05:02) 4 We All Try (02:51) 5 Bitches Talkin (Metal Gear Solid) (00:22) 6 Songs 4 Women (04:13) 7 Lovecrimes (04:00) 8 Goldeneye (00:18) 9 There Will Be Tears (03:14) 10 Swim Good (04:16) 11 Dust (02:33) 12 American Wedding (07:00) 13 Soul Calibur (00:18) 14 Nature Feels (03:43) |
 | Album: 2 of 5 Title: The Lonny Breaux Collection Released: 2012 Tracks: 64 Duration: 3:46:54 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Acura Integurl (01:57) 2 Bedtime Story (03:38) 3 Blasted (03:57) 4 Bricks and Steel (04:07) 5 Broken Pieces (01:17) 6 Can’t Be the Last Time (04:14) 7 Day Away (03:32) 8 Denim (04:22) 9 Done (03:24) 10 Dying for Your Love (03:32) 11 Flight (03:41) 12 Focus (03:05) 13 Follow (03:27) 14 Go Up (04:14) 15 Got the Keys (03:22) 16 Greedy Love (03:40) 17 Hardest Thing (04:05) 18 Holly Baby (03:38) 19 I Need Love (03:32) 20 If I’m in Love (02:25) 21 J.O. B (03:01) 22 Dying for Your Love (03:32) 23 Kamikaze (03:39) 24 Know Better (03:18) 25 Lights (03:31) 26 Lonny (new mix) (04:09) 27 Lost Angel (no 2nd verse) (04:36) 28 Lost Angel (04:36) 29 Love on My (piano) (03:13) 30 Miss You So (04:24) 31 No Bonnie (03:44) 32 No Love (02:52) 33 Non-Stop (03:37) 34 Ohh in Love (03:15) 35 Old Terror (03:24) 36 One Look (03:47) 37 Open Air (03:35) 38 Overload (03:51) 39 Private Show (03:34) 40 Quickly (03:49) 41 Read the Stars (03:15) 42 Ready (04:09) 43 Real (03:54) 44 Rewind That (03:41) 45 Richest Man in the Room (03:47) 46 Rocket Love (04:02) 47 Scared of Beautiful (04:06) 48 She Won’t Say Hello (03:16) 49 Simply (03:48) 50 So Comfortable (03:32) 51 So Fresh (01:33) 52 Standing Still (03:47) 53 Stay If You Go (03:02) 54 Sucka for Love (03:19) 55 Sucker for Love (03:05) 56 Surprise Ending (03:38) 57 Taste (03:26) 58 The City (03:42) 59 Time Machine (03:28) 60 Together (04:29) 61 Tonight (02:43) 62 Truce (03:33) 63 Wake Up (03:39) 64 When I’m Done (03:24) |
 | Album: 3 of 5 Title: Channel Orange Released: 2012-07-10 Tracks: 17 Duration: 55:39 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Start (00:45) 2 Thinkin Bout You (03:21) 3 Fertilizer (00:39) 4 Sierra Leone (02:28) 5 Sweet Life (04:22) 6 Not Just Money (00:59) 7 Super Rich Kids (05:04) 8 Pilot Jones (03:04) 9 Crack Rock (03:44) 10 Pyramids (09:52) 11 Lost (03:54) 12 White (01:16) 13 Monks (03:20) 14 Bad Religion (02:55) 15 Pink Matter (04:28) 16 Forrest Gump (03:14) 17 End (02:14) |
| Channel Orange : Allmusic album Review : Def Jams contracted edition of Frank Oceans Nostalgia, Ultra never materialized. The label nonetheless released two of the mixtapes songs as singles. One of them, "Novacane," clashed with everything else on the radio, reached the Top 20 of Billboards Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart, and crossed into the Hot 100. The singers presence spread with appearances on Goblin, 4, Watch the Throne, and The OF Tape, Vol. 2. He then completed this album with Malay, OmMas Keith, and Pharrell as his co-producers. Journalists present at June pre-release listening events speculated that some of the lyrics revealed Oceans bisexuality. Ocean subsequently published a screen shot of a document, dated December 27, 2011, that included details of a crushing romantic relationship with a male. Ocean also revealed that he wrote for the sake of his sanity and credited his inner circle: "Im sure these people kept me alive, kept me safe." One listen to Channel Orange makes it obvious that he is as free as an artist as he is as a man. The album doesnt have as many slyly powerful hooks as Nostalgia, Ultra, but Oceans descriptive and subtle storytelling is taken to a higher level. Hes up there with Bilal. As easy as it is to listen to Oceans voice in long stretches -- hes casually expressive -- the number of deep ruminations over slow tempos requires some patience. Even the lone song that could be termed a banger is a ten-minute suite that takes 90 seconds to get on the floor; the song with the widest and most creative scope as well, "Pyramid" shifts from "my black Queen Cleopatra" and ancient Egypt (over swift synth funk) to "Your love aint free no more" and a strip club (over booming, low-profile slickness). The lighter moments, such as the loose and bright "Sweet Life" and the relatively exuberant "Monks," both of which would be standouts on any N.E.R.D. album, offer more than bright coating, dealing in surrealism and sharp observations that are equally penetrating. On the other end, the most personal song is "Bad Religion," a phenomenal brokenhearted ballad consisting of organ, piano, strings, and handclaps: "This unrequited love/To me its nothing but a one-man cult/And cyanide in my Styrofoam cup." Everything that falls between, counting the rumbling drug dependency tale "Crack Rock," the snapping/swooning "Pilot Jones," and the longing falsetto shuffle "Thinkin Bout You," is vivid and worthy of complete immersion. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 5 Title: Endless Released: 2016-08-19 Tracks: 19 Duration: 38:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 At Your Best (You Are Love) (05:20) 2 Alabama (01:24) 3 Mine (00:32) 4 Unity (02:53) 5 A Certain Way (00:11) 6 Comme Des Garçons (00:58) 7 Xennons (00:31) 8 Honeybaby (00:09) 9 Wither (02:33) 10 Hublots (01:48) 11 In Here Somewhere (01:44) 12 Slide on Me (03:06) 13 Sideways (01:53) 14 Florida (01:15) 15 Impietas + Deathwish (01:55) 16 Rushes (03:25) 17 Rushes To (02:12) 18 Higgs (03:38) 19 Mitsubishi Sony (02:50) |
| Endless : Allmusic album Review : During the four years that passed between album-length recordings from Frank Ocean, the Grammy-winning singer and songwriter surfaced on releases by Beyoncé, Kanye West, and James Blake. Through the processing of reports and speculation throughout the time, and knowing Oceans unease with the pop machine, the follow-up to Channel Orange appeared to be imminent, or maybe mythical, or somewhere within the two poles. On the first day of August 2016, The New York Times published "Frank Oceans Long-Awaited Boys Dont Cry Is Due on Friday," yet the articles opening sentence was less certain, stating that the wait "may nearly be over." Nothing was clear. Later in the month, within the space of two days, Ocean released a pair of recordings, neither of which was titled Boys Dont Cry. This was the first and inferior one, the prelude to the proper Channel Orange follow-up. Termed a visual album, upon its release it could be heard only as one 46-minute piece accompanied by black-and-white imagery of Ocean, or a team of Oceans, constructing a staircase in a warehouse. The sound is introduced and concluded with sections of Wolfgang Tillmans "Device Control," a composition that obscures the distinction between sound art and dance track. Its lucidity, crispness, and energy are at odds with the murky, slightly submerged-sounding suite of predominantly fresh material. The Ocean sequence begins like a This Mortal Coil-gone-quiet-storm project, with a fragile and spectral cover of the Isley Brothers "(At Your Best) You Are Love" held aloft by strings orchestrated by Jonny Greenwood and piano and synthesizer by OmMas Keith and Blake. From there, the set is fragmentary -- the original tracks average two minutes in length and tend to melt into one another. It all snakes along, albeit slowly, akin to a fogged-out lazy river ride with an adjacent big screen projecting a flickering series of memories that veer from ballerific to frantic-romantic. Ocean, whose voice is joined most frequently by a (still underutilized) Jazmine Sullivan, alternates between offhanded raps and singing that ranges from plainly observational to almost exorcistic. The tender everyday stuff, like when Ocean consoles his lover after a lost game of basketball, tends to be as affecting as the comparatively intense moments. This offers more of the detailed scenes only Ocean can script, as well as some stray sly quotables. Ultimately, its a smartly ordered patchwork of mostly secondary material. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 5 Title: Blonde Released: 2016-08-20 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:00:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Nikes (05:14) 2 Ivy (04:09) 3 Pink + White (03:04) 4 Be Yourself (01:26) 5 Solo (04:17) 6 Skyline To (03:04) 7 Self Control (04:09) 8 Good Guy (01:06) 9 Nights (05:07) 10 Solo (Reprise) (01:18) 11 Pretty Sweet (02:38) 12 Facebook Story (01:08) 13 Close to You (01:25) 14 White Ferrari (04:08) 15 Seigfried (05:34) 16 Godspeed (02:57) 17 Futura Free (09:24) |
| Blonde : Allmusic album Review : Boys Dont Cry, the magazine distributed at pop-up locations the day this unlike-titled album was released, featured an essay in which Frank Ocean affably reflected upon his infatuation with cars. Allusions to parallels between vehicular travel and other aspects of life, such as making music, were drawn, his relief in completing the Channel Orange follow-up made apparent. For those who felt the proper debut wasnt forthcoming enough with hooks or traditionally structured songs, this is bound to seem less like a luxurious joyride on a freshly paved motorway than it does an interminable stay in a repair shop waiting lounge. In terms of pop appeal, none of it approaches "Novacane" or "Thinkin Bout You." The focus is more on Ocean, the extensive list of "album contributors" -- possibly a combination of studio collaborators and mere inspirations -- notwithstanding. Hes often accompanied by only keyboards or a guitar or two; less than one-third of the tracks include the sound of his voice and that of a beat within the same space. Over the course of an hour, all the sparsely ornamented ruminations can be a bit of a chore to absorb, no matter how much one hangs on each line. The writing talent on display, however, is irrefutable, whether its a sharp aside, the precision and economy in the chorus of the Beyoncé-backed "Pink + White," or the agony evoked in "Self Control" (with an outro multi-tracked to pull heartstrings). Through references to movement, and events that take place in automobiles and swimming pools, Oceans words continue to be fueled by his memories of youth and young adulthood in summertime, while recreational pharmaceuticals are a factor more than ever. The lines regarding relationships are acutely descriptive with frequently abrupt transitions from deep to shallow observations. Theres a little more playfulness to go along with the wistful heartache, Oceans perverse sense of humor shows most when he follows his mothers stern anti-drug message with an ebullient vocal-and-organ number that opens with him "gone off tabs." In the closing "Futura Free," one of several cuts where processing distorts his voice the way a fun house mirror deforms a body, there is much weight to him to remarking "Dont let em find Pac/He evade the press/He escape the stress," then declaring "I aint on your schedule." Hes clearly bemused with the industry and fan entitlement. An undoubtedly reactive work, this is undiluted and progressive nonetheless. | ||