IGOR

by Tyler, The Creator

Overview

IGOR starts with a crackling, hyped-up overture that paints a scene of Tyler, The Creator at the wheel, reacting beside his singing passengers to the positive results they're receiving from the all-important car test: "Ridin' round town/They gon' feel this one." Tyler and a motorcade's worth of supporting vocalists fulfill the promise and threat with what plays out, a creatively vital and emotionally heartsick set with as much pain, vulnerability, and compulsion as a classic soul LP. Having found his seam with the Grammy-nominated Flower Boy, Tyler continues to make headway by constructing nearly the entirety of his self-produced follow-up out of songs that ache and swirl like "See You Again" and "911/Mr. Lonely." He's on a ruthless rampage in the frantic "What's Good," throwing lyrical elbows at anyone who crosses him, but otherwise, the album's fervid energy concerns a triangular relationship that goes from white hot to ice cold, sometimes within a couple verses. The wild swings are typified by "A Boy Is a Gun." Over a smudged early-'70s soul sample, Tyler likens his partner to high-risk protection, also "sweet as sugar, diabetic to the first degree," but after being made to feel like a third wheel, repeatedly insists, "Stay the fuck away from me." For each stirring moment, like when all he wants to do is make amends and "chase the sun" on a bike ride through a park, there's one with a uniquely Tyler mix of alarming possessiveness and humor. Take "New Magic Wand," where he sounds hollowed out by not having his lover completely to himself, then pitches up the vocals to accentuate a lunatic fantasy: "Your other one evaporate, we celebrate." Rather than finishing neatly with the cathartic (if purposefully sickly sounding) "I Don't Love You Anymore," IGOR concludes messily with Tyler asking for a platonic resolution that sounds more like co-dependent exasperation. Speaking of reliance, Tyler delegates (and deforms) more of the vocal load here than he did on Flower Boy. Solange and Jessy Wilson, plus Lil Uzi Vert and Kanye West, among others, often sound like their butterflies are as acute as Tyler's own. The productions are as nuanced and judiciously tricked out as they are on the previous album, adjusted to enhance all the agitation and grief, yet it's all ear candy -- spiraling synthesizers, vaguely psychedelic flourishes, and bumping drums galore. Roll down the windows, crank it, and keep the tissue on the armrest. ~ Andy Kellman

Product Details

Release Date:	10/04/2019
Label:	Columbia
UPC:	0190759652213

Tracks

1. IGOR'S THEME
2. EARFQUAKE
3. I THINK
4. BOYFRIEND
5. RUNNING OUT OF TIME
6. NEW MAGIC WAND
7. A BOY IS A GUN*
8. PUPPET
9. WHAT'S GOOD
10. GONE, GONE/THANK YOU
11. I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE
12. ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Tyler, The Creator   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals
Lil Uzi Vert   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals
Playboi Carti   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals
slowthai   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Jerrod Carmichael   Vocals,Lead Vocals
Amanda Brown   Vocals (Background),Vocals (Background)
Solange   Vocals,Lead Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Charlie Wilson   Vocals (Background)
Jack White   Guitar
CeeLo Green   Vocals (Background)
Pharrell Williams   Lead Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Kanye West   Lead Vocals
La Roux   Vocals (Background)
Ryan Beatty   Vocals (Background)
Santigold   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Anthony Evans   Vocals (Background)
Elly Jackson   Vocals (Background)
Tiffany Stevenson   Vocals (Background)
Kevin Kendrick   Chimes,Keyboards
Jessy Wilson   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Zachary Acosta   Engineer,Mixing Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Symere Woods   Composer
Jordan Carter   Composer
Rob Bisel   Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Bibi Mascel   Composer
David Smith   Composer,Composer
Ashley Jacobson   Assistant Engineer
Bodiono Nkono Telesphore   Composer
MeMiceElfandI   Mixing Assistant
Kingston Callaway   Engineer
Jason Mizell   Composer
Darryl McDaniels   Composer
Joseph Simmons   Composer
Kanye West   Composer
Tatsuro Yamashita   Composer
Alan O'Day   Composer
Al Green   Composer
Mick Ware   Composer
Ben Fletcher   Assistant Engineer
Derrick Jenner   Assistant Engineer
Bobby Massey   Composer
John Armstrong   Assistant Engineer
Mike Bozzi   Mastering,Mastering Engineer
Bobby Dukes   Composer
K-West   Composer
Tats Yamashita   Composer
Tyler, The Creator   Producer
Thomas Cullison   Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Cullen Omori   Composer
Neal H. Pogue   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Vic Wainstein   Engineer
Tyler Okonma   Arranger,Composer,Engineer,Producer
Josh Sellers   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Lester Allen McKenzie   Composer