Lady Gaga - Artpop

Whats Lady Gaga doing in an industrial webzine you might ask? Well, since a few years the mainstream music has become very close to the so called industrial scene. Kayne West's most recent album comes to mind and a few years back i was even discussing Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" with Mark Jackson from VNV Nation because the beats and bassline were very VNV Nation like. I said to Mark: "I can so see you drum on that cut" and he agreed he saw him doing it as well. And have you heard that new album from VNV Nation yet? No? This new Gaga is more industrial than that one! So, Lady Gaga in an industrial webzine. Suck it up buddies!

This is her third album, or fourth if you count 'The Fame Monster' as an album. Something which i am personally inclined to do, since that is my favorite album of her. 'Born This Way', her last album was a tad disappointing to me. It had a few good tracks like the fantastic Kraftwerk/disco pastiche "Government hooker" but also a lot of proto poprock songs not far away from Queen, a band i largely feel disdain for.

'Artpop' moves more into a dancy electro/synthpop/EDM direction which is more suited for her artistic endeavors. The album also aims at putting "art" back into pop, but that is in my honest opinion a bridge too far. It is a very decent pop album but lacking on the art side. Still 'Artpop' offers a lot of fine tracks and a more average quality level then on predecessor "Born This Way". My favorite tracks would be the ABBA meets complextro "Venus" with its sarcastic lyrics, the urban styled electro of "Do What You Want" with R.Kelly as guest and a EBM like baseline, and the ecstatic electro house of "Swine". "Jewels & Drugs" is even a dark hip-hop track with a witchhouse like ghost over it.

With 15 tracks the album is a bit on the long side, and i could do without a few tracks. The title song is quite weak, and this goes for the ballad "Dope" and the following track "Gypsy". Cut back to 10 or perhaps 12 tracks 'Artpop' would be a lot stronger. The album also feels a bit fragmented since there is a lot going on soundwise, but on the other had there are a lot of good hooks to keep the listener entertained.

'Artpop' is stronger then 'Born This Way' but still falls short on 'The Fame Monster'. People with an open view on music and not in the "OMFG THIZ IS NOT INDVSTRIAL" group will find in 'Artpop' a solid synthpop album not far from similar acts like Sweden's Echo Image or Germany's De/Vision. I find the fact that Lady Gaga is one of the biggest artists worldwide not an issue for me liking her music. "Artpop" is a decent album with enough going on to be of interest to lovers of synthpop. electro or futurepop. Nov 06 2013