Disco de N*E*R*D: “Seeing Sounds”

This ain't objective in the least. I am a hardcore Neptunes fan and generally give all their stuff high reviews (See: Kelis' 1st and 2nd cds, both Clipse cds, Pharrell's solo cd, Chad's work with Kenna and of course, the first two N*E*R*D cds)

Seeing Sounds is, again, great stuff. While it can't be summed up in just a few lines, I can tell you it's more of typically laid-back grooves given a tough backbeat with a cocktail of sarcasm-and-decadence-lyrics on the side. Not as great as In Search Of or as hard-rocking as Fly Or Die but this is a better-than-solid third effort.

Everybody Nose: Probably the most "hateable" track. The chorus sounds like bad Miami bass rap from the early 90s mixed with drums n bass. But then P brings in a killer keyboard riff and the whole thing suddenly makes sense.

Love Bomb, Windows, Sooner or Later: Pharell and Chad embrace their inner Beatles again.

Time For Some Action: bass-heavy opener. The closest to hip-hop this cd gets.

Anti-Matter, Spaz: Savage fuzzed-out guitar anchors this drums n' bass lite track.

Yeah You: similar to Frontin'. On this and You Know What, Pharell is Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones combined!

Happy: An 80s hard/soft rock/soul track that could have been a collabo between Journey and the Eurthymics.

Kill Joy: They rip off themselves beatboxing "She Wants to Move" and copping the underlying rhythm for this track. But it was so good the first time, you won't mind hearing it again.

I loved it at first listen.

Given the amount of work and wide disparity of ideas the Neptunes have done and thought up over the years in the realms of pop music, it comes as little surprise that their slightly more rock-oriented side project N.E.R.D. (with rapper friend Shay) is about as cohesive as a jar of silly putty. With Seeing Sounds, their third album, N.E.R.D. has created a colorful stew of random pop detritus marinated in a simmering combination of divergent genres. The theme of this album is it has no theme; each song is as different from the one before it as Miley Cyrus is from Trent Reznor.

Seeing Sounds, in effect, comes off as the epitome of throwing everything and the kitchen-sink into what can only very loosely be called a rock album. Just listen to the opener "Time For Some Action": it starts off a `50s sitcom string part (which, by the way, strangely kept reminding me of the work on The Sims) and Pharrell's spoken-word tale about how he started, uh, seeing sounds before a mean drum `n bass beat comes in and Pharrell reminds us to "turn this bitch up here we go."

On "Time For Some Action," this mad-scientist amalgam of different sounds and styles works. Other songs pull it off as well, such as the magnificently poppy doo-wop of "Windows" and the club banger "Anti Matter" with its very millennial chant of "you jump around like you're ADHD!"

Pharrell thankfully keeps the rapping to a minimum on this record, and he tends to shy away from the falsetto that can easily ruin a good Neptunes track. Nevertheless, N.E.R.D. are at their best when they're making a relentlessly hypnotic jam like album highlight "Spaz," which bounces around on loose, ricocheting snares, a horror-show synth, and an irrepressibly memorable chorus.

With all the ideas Pharrell and company pump out on this record, it should be no surprise that a good many of them fall flat. First single "Everyone Nose (All The Girls Standing In The Line For The Bathroom)" has a Neptunes-worthy beat and some of Pharrell's best lyrics on the album. But the criminally annoying titular chant kills any momentum the song might have had.

Seeing Sounds can almost neatly be divided cleanly down the middle, with the first half generally consisting of more Neptunes-ish dance tracks and the latter more funk rock-ish material. Not surprisingly, the second half is weaker all-around, disrupted by half-baked ideas or poorly executed designs. "Sooner or Later" sounds like a second-rate Ben Folds song with an out-of-place guitar freakout at the end, and "Kill Joy" resembles early Red Hot Chili Peppers, in a very bad way.

By the end of the album N.E.R.D. seems to lose steam, the last few songs stuck in various ideas that fail to develop much beyond their origins save for bright spot "You Know What," a disco-tinged tune that is a welcome breath of relaxation amidst the walls of sounds around it.

N.E.R.D. have certainly accomplished making a record that is more wildly diverse than their Neptunes work and even their previous albums, but they have yet to master the pop chemistry that makes the Neptunes the kings of music production. Just because you can throw everything into a song doesn't necessarily mean you should, something the Neptunes learned long ago but that N.E.R.D. seem to have forgotten in their excitement at being able to put to record every random musical thought they were never able to use.

Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams aka The Neptunes aka N*E*R*D. (it's rumored that third member Shae really does all the work): geniuses or a couple of dorks who accidentally made a musical footprint as large as Timbaland? Whatever, as their hit-and-miss history over the past couple of years is mostly forgiven on this third album. After a brief skit, the album does exactly as the first title suggests: it's "Time for Some Action", the band ripping into slinky bass guitar, snare and panned whispers; apparently the duo recently discovered drum `n' bass, or simply decided now is the hour to bring it back, as evidenced on the scratched-out "Everyone Nose", the swaggering "Spaz" and Check Your Head meets E40 mix of "Anti Matter". Except for the ersatz pop rock number, "Happy", and the bored ballad "Love Bomb", fans who embrace the group for their eclectic nature will celebrate and give thanks that Hugo and Williams still save the most interesting beats for their solo work.

N.E.R.D is an American hybrid band of hip hop, funk, and rock. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo were a duo as The Neptunes and they formed N.E.R.D with Shay Haley as a side project of The Neptune in 2001. After their first two albums achieved success in Europe, Japan, and the U.S., N.E.R.D's highly anticipated third album, "Seeing Sounds" was released in June 2008. As a measure of their success, in the first week of its release, the album sold 80,000 copies. "Seeing Sounds" was produced solely by Pharell Williams and Chad Hugo while Williams wrote most of the songs. The title and content of the album revolves around the neurological phenomenon of synesthesia, which refers to a mixing of sensory modalities. Furthermore, the cover art for the album shows a red haired gorilla standing on an image of a brain, their band logo. The three N.E.R.D members are standing in the forefront, dwarfed by the titanic size of the gorilla. I did not know how the album name, cover art, and their music would all come together until I started listening to each individual track. Some of their tracks are nonsensical, others are somewhat serious, but no one can take away the vast array of sounds they used in their songs.

My personal favorite song in "Seeing Sounds" is the first single they released from the album, "Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)." Written by Pharell Williams and Chad Hugo, the title of the song derives the subject of social snorting of cocaine in restrooms among women. The song begins with the phrase "All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom" repeating several times as the acoustic bass patch from a Roland 5080 is introduced shortly thereafter. Afterwards drums from the Triton Extreme can be heard as well as the scratching of a vinyl record back and forth from time to time. The beats are generally fast paced, up tempo dance beats and create the partying image at a club very well. Personally, the beats make me want to get up and start dancing, although I am not a very skilled dancer. Although, the subject matter of the piece deals with a serious issue, the song sounds somewhat comical. With the occasional scratching as well as the addition of strange hooting noises in the background, it is hard to believe the song deals with such an issue. Without listening to the lyrics and just the music itself, one may think of it as a goofy sounding song. However, I think this is the strong point of the group N.E.R.D. Their ability to use various sounds in their pieces is uncanny and their usage of technosonic instruments is top notch. Besides "Everyone Nose," I personally liked and would recommend "Anti Matter," "Spaz," and "Sooner or Later" to really get a full taste of their music.

N.E.R.D uses a ton of technosonic instruments and computer programs to create their music and they bring out the best in them. Pharell Williams uses a Triton Extreme, Triton Pro and Pro Tools while Chad Hugo uses Access Virus TI, Roland JV-1080, JV-2080, XV-5080, TR-808 and TR-909. All of these instruments can be ultimately credited to Max Mathews, the father of computer music, as well as Risset, Tenney, and the inventor of FM synthesis, John Chowning. These computer music pioneers have made today's computer generated music possible with their inventions and endless research. They learned about the endless boundaries of computer generated music and John Chowning's inventing of the FM synthesis led to the creation of the first commercially successful digital FM synthesizer, the Yamaha DX7. Various pieces in "Seeing Sounds" have familiar technosonic elements to them as I could clearly hear parts of the songs resembling the pieces from the founders of computer music.

"Seeing Sounds" incorporates an innumerable collection of sounds into a sometimes funny, but overall, an astounding sonic experience. To explore the way of N.E.R.D.'s music I can only recommend that you give their album a try, but I do believe you will not be disappointed.

When I got the CD I was scared because of the mixed reviews, especially of those who've followed the group from the beginning. I wasn't thrilled about the music the first time around, but after the third time listening to the CD, I am in love.

I love the music and I love the seemingly spontaneous subjects. I stepped outside of my box and was pleasantly surprised.

Seeing Sounds got a 5/5 because my Mp3 player has been going non stop :o)