Black Messiah - D'Angelo and the Vanguard

Adam Maness (0:15)

I'm Adam Maness.

Peter Martin (0:16)

And I'm Peter Martin.

Adam Maness (0:17)

And you're listening to the You'll Hear It podcast.

Peter Martin (0:18)

Music Explored.

Adam Maness (0:19)

Explored brought to you by Open Studio. Peter, go to openstudiojazz.com for...

Peter Martin (0:25)

Oh, look at him. Look at him.

SPEAKER_3 (0:28)

He's backing up further. I know why. I had to bring it for this one.

Adam Maness (0:30)

Because this is one of my favorite albums of the 21st century from one of my all-time favorite artists, the great D'Angelo.

Peter Martin (0:36)

Man, this is a heavy album. It's literally heavy.

Adam Maness (0:39)

It's a double record right there.

Peter Martin (0:41)

The two LPs, the material is heavy.

Adam Maness (0:43)

2014's masterpiece, Black Messiah.

Peter Martin (0:46)

Yes. Yes. This was a big deal. This was a big deal when this record came out. And it feels like it was just yesterday because we're OGs. Old guys.

And what is that, 12 years ago?

Adam Maness (0:58)

So I remember everything that was out around it, like Kendrick Lamar's To Bimba Butterfly, which was like really his huge breakthrough that year. Same year. I also remember that St. Vincent self-titled album was everywhere. And I was listening. I actually remember driving in my car, going between this and the St. Vincent album. And then Beck's morning phase, which I believe won the Grammy that year.

Man, this was such a good year for music. There was so much good stuff from great artists. And we were waiting a long time for this album.

Peter Martin (1:26)

I mean, since Voodoo, basically. What, 14 years?

Adam Maness (1:29)

Yeah.

Peter Martin (1:30)

This record is, I don't know, but it's like, it's both raw and refined in such a sophisticated way. I mean, normally those two things don't coexist, but I really feel like they do here. It's both an extension of Voodoo, and it has nothing to do with Voodoo.

Adam Maness (1:44)

And Peter, like all the great albums that we talk about on this show, they have to start with a banger. And this one's no different.

First track is called Ain't That Easy.

Peter Martin (1:53)

Oh, and it just eases his way. It's already started.

Adam Maness (3:30)

The vocal layering.

Peter Martin (3:42)

Yeah, I remember when I first heard this, I mean, I listened from the beginning of the CD, and I was like, okay, where are we going? You know, and I just thought-

Adam Maness (3:49)

So satisfying.

Peter Martin (3:50)

I want to take it back. So this is such like the beginning of this, and I have a little bit of a reference point. I don't know if this is a conscious connection or whatever, but I always think about, we talk about how does a record start? Like to me, this starts very unsettled, right? But then pretty quickly, it gets into some like, obviously heavy groove, but it's still like, it's a little bit menacing, right, underneath. And because of a lot of D'Angelo, at least for me, like I can't, I don't focus in on the lyrics because I can't hear them or understand them. They're all beautifully laid out on some things in here, but I had to see.

Adam Maness (4:23)

They're mixed solo first of all.

Peter Martin (4:25)

Right.

Adam Maness (4:25)

You know what I mean?

Peter Martin (4:26)

But I wrote, yeah, yeah, they're mixed low. He's in a lot of falsetto. There's a lot of layers. But the first thing I could hear on this, I remember it was like, you can't leave me. You know, the hook at the chorus.

Adam Maness (4:35)

It ain't that easy. Yeah.

Peter Martin (4:36)

And then, so there was all this build up to like the record. So it's definitely about like lovers leaving, whatever's thing. But it's also like, it seems like a little bit of a play on he's been gone for 14 years to most people. He's kind of been out there.

SPEAKER_3 (4:48)

I never thought about it like that. Yeah, that's a great take.

Peter Martin (4:49)

Cause I remember when I heard that. But check out just the way that it starts because there's silence and then it just kind of comes in, right, with the sound.

Like a guitar, right? It's almost like silence.

Adam Maness (5:07)

It's like a psychedelic rock, or it's like funkadelic or something.

Peter Martin (5:10)

Right. And so what that reminded me of was, I was trying to find it. Ooh, did we get this on here? Yes, here.

Ever heard of this?

Adam Maness (5:19)

Oh, perfect. Yeah, exactly.