Review: WZRD

It doesn't surprise me that Kid Cudi would choose for his next project to be an "alternative rock" album.  His last album, Man on the Moon II:  Kid Cudi and the Chamber of Secrets* was definitely leaning pretty hard on rock, and let's not forget that MGMT and Ratatat both showed up for the first MatM album.  In fact, in listening to WZRD (and, yes, that is pronounced Double-You Zee Are Dee), I'm curious as to why Cudi even felt the need to separate this from his solo material, except for perhaps the prominent contributions of producer Dot Da Genius.


That is, to say, the biggest hurdle to get over while listening to WZRD's self-titled debut is that it's labeled as "alternative rock" in the first place.  Sure, there are guitars, and some rock-ish mentality present, but so are drum machines, sweeping synths and every other electronic beep and boop I'd expect from a typical Cudi album. 

I'm sincerely curious as to what the reaction would be of an average "alternative" rock (and let's assume that such a fan exists in the post-1990s) fan who either didn't know who Kid Cudi was or didn't know that Kid Cudi had a hand in this album.  Outside of tracks like "Live and Learn" and "High Off Life," (which even then, has a very hip-hoppish chorus) there are few songs on this album that actually sound like anything I'd hear if I turned to my local alterna-rock radio station. 

Okay, so really, who cares, right?  It doesn't matter what it actually is or what its labeled as, right?  Well, I guess.  Except for the part where it feels like Kid Cudi and Dot seem to have honest intentions of doing something different and experimental with their music. 

There are times where this happens.  "Brake" starts off with some reverberating guitar noises that comes so close to sounding like something psychedelic that the song becomes an obvious standout.  Elsewhere, "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie" samples Desire from California's Italians Do it Better collective for a really an outstanding shoegaze track. 

Meanwhile, there are songs like "The Dream Time Machine" and "Dr. Pill" that almost feel directionless and get lost in WZRD's not-quite-rock-yet-not-quite-rap overall sound.  If there's one lingering problem on the album, that is it - a decent enough number of the songs here, while good, have trouble standing out from each other.  It's the tracks where Cudi and Dot really push themselves beyond our expectations that really stand apart.

Strangely, another great moment on the album is the cover of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?," seeming to take some stylistic nods to Nirvana's famous cover of the song during their MTV Unplugged concert.  Besides the drum machine beats, the song does very little to change the song from anything we've already heard.  Except, that is, Cudi's voice.  That unique tone that he has in his vocals shines here and when he belts out the "In the pines/in the pines" line, it's hard not to respect Cudi's passion for his music.

Which takes me to the biggest point here:  Overall, WZRD is a solid album.  It's not excellent, nor does it reach the highs of his solo albums, but its consistently enjoyable.  If anything, its something nice to hold us over until Man on the Moon 3 is released (is it too much to ask for a 2012 release?).  While I may be hesitant to sell this as a "rock" album of any sort, it's most definitely another showcase for the range and creativity of Kid Cudi and Dot Da Genius.  Cudi is proving himself to be one of the most flexible and talented artists making music right now.