When a friend introduced me to NER*D's November 2010 album "Nothing" last week, I was astonished I hadn't already heard that the group had released a new album. My lack of knowledge speaks to the album's lack of success "Nothing" peaked at number 20 on the U.S. Billboard Album Chart.
Even though the album did not reach the top of the charts in terms of sales, however, it definitely matches the standard set by the group's previous album "Seeing Sounds."
"Nothing" is a brilliant and artistic 10-song reflection on culture and society today. The album's cover art shows band member Pharrell Williams wearing a helmet with feathers, which the singer said demonstrates our current state of unexplainable war and our ability to find peace through love.
"The feathers represent the peace, and the helmet represents the war," Williams explained in an interview with Mark Hoppus in September 2010. "It's like where we are right now. There's a lot of war that people can't necessarily explain. The economy sucks, girls are still beautiful. We wanted to make music that reflected that."
Using an infusion of funk, alternative rock and hip-hop, NER*D makes music about love, women and nature.
With their innovative sound, NERD is one of the best "genre-less" ("Hear and Now," Jan. 26) acts out there, although the band's talent is not always reflected in their album sales and publicity. The first track on "Nothing," fittingly titled "Party People," is a positive jam made for the dance floor, drawing in listeners with a hypnotic chorus of "What I need, what I need is that girl there." The song features rapper T.I., who adds the perfect lyrics and flow to match NERD's trademark rhythmic beat. In short, "Party People" does exactly what a great album opener should do make listeners want to hear more.
Just as "Party People" creates a great dance vibe, "Hypnotize U" does what its title says, captivating listeners with a slowed-down beat reminiscent of 70s funk "lovemaking" music. The song features Williams singing in a smooth falsetto, trying to convince his female conquest to let nature take its course.
The song also incorporates pop culture, referencing the 2010 blockbuster "Inception" with lyrics like "You're a dream/Inception/You're my queen."
With its raw, stripped-down feel, "Hypnotize U" differs from the other songs featured on "Nothing," thus making the album more well-rounded.
In contrast, the track "Perfect Defect" is a soulful groove about a conceited high school girl who Williams claims is perfect, although everyone else at school treats her horribly out of jealousy. He sings "I don't care who gets you/I don't care what they don't see/I don't need God to remix you/It's less for them, but more for me."
This song is essentially the opposite of Outkast's 2003 hit "Roses" whereas Williams continues to be captivated by his high school beauty queen, the speaker in "Roses" realizes that the girl he idolized is not really all that and that her conceit will eventually destroy her. NER*D's song demonstrates that there will always be guys determined to pursue the elusive it-girl.
One of my favorite songs on the album, "I've Seen The Light/Inside Of Clouds (Interlude)," is a melodious ode to finding the right girl who will guide you through life like a godly presence or angel. In this heavily saxophone-led track, Williams finds his ideal girl and has the epiphany that she is the one.
Assisted by flute orchestration, the interlude "Inside Of Clouds" is an imaginative quandary about what could be inside clouds and explores the power clouds exert over human emotion and experience.
The interesting track "Life As A Fish" reminded me of the shortest chapter in William Faulkner's novel "As I Lay Dying" (1930), which only includes the words "My mother is a fish."
In addition to Faulkner, NER*D references the Bible in this track with lyrics like "First they say the angels sing and then the big bang/That was the first day, there's six more/From organisms to single cells, mutate, to shells/Then mutate into spores/On dry land (dry land)."
"Life As A Fish" is a slow track with an infectious melody that reminds me of the spacey "Saturn" by Stevie Wonder.
The last track on the album, "Hot-n-Fun," was the first single, released the summer of 2010. A commercial track designed for the clubs, the song echoes Cyndi Lauper's 80s hit "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" with its lighthearted and free-spirited lyrics.
The song, which features the sassy stylings of Nelly Furtado, hit number one on Billboard's U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart. Although it does not fall in line with the typical club beats played on the radio, it does bring back the hip-hop and funk sound that was so popular just five years ago.
Following the second single, "Hypnotize U," which was released in November, NER*D plans to release "I've Seen The Light" and "Party People" as their next singles.
Although "Nothing" was not a "big bang" album on the charts, it definitely deserves a listen by all who love good music.
