Auto-Tune: Notable Exceptions

Last post on the topic whose name shall not be mentioned. Here are 2 auto-tunes (...) approved by yours truly. First one is by the Black Eyed Peas ... just kidding.


Kool Keith - Executive Suites (2009)

First impression: This might be Kool Keith's most accessible and catchy song to date. On second thought, everything about it is so over the top (including the not-so-subtle integration of auto-tuned vocals) that I'm getting highly suspicious. With all its subtlety and ambiguity, it is a far more intelligent (and hilarious) comment on an auto-tuned world than Jay-Z's and KRS-One's banalities. As Hegel would have said, Kool Keith is on some determinate (as opposed to abstract) negation shit. Plus it's a dope song which leaves me with high expectations for the upcoming album scheduled for october 13th.


Newcleus - Programmed for Love (2009)

Electro pioneers Newcleus return with some surprisingly new school sounding material. Big pounding drums and a distorted bass provide the backdrop for a soulful tune full of ambient sounds and effects. The use of Auto-Tune is very subtle: not as a means in itself, a bland l'art-pour-l'art gesture, but as a way to enhance and underline the dreamy and meandering character of the vocals.

So can we please get back to talking about vocoders now?