The Internet’s debut album, Purple Naked Ladies, is an oddity among the Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All releases. While it does have the honour of being the first official album released on the group’s new label, it strays from the established style of Odd Future — an indescribable type of gangsta rap that manages to be refined while still being vulgar and raw. Purple Naked Ladies throws that out the window for an attempt at aurally pleasing soul beats and sonic satisfaction.
On paper, the two members of OFWGKTA trip-hop soul group The Internet, Syd Tha Kid and Matt Martians, should work well together. Syd is Odd Future’s sound engineer, audio mixer and live DJ, while Martians is one of the many producers in the collective. However, in practice, I have a tough time getting past what I consider to be the main flaw of the album — its vagueness of purpose.
The bass and associated undertonal beats in just about every song are strong, but the highs and mid-ranges vary from track to track — sometimes they are the musical analogue of hotboxing your basement, sometimes they inspire you to get on a treadmill and keep running. Unfortunately, the lyrics in every song are mostly uninspired and bland.
On the four singles on Purple Naked Ladies, variation is encouraged — it keeps things fresh. As an album, though, I feel as if there is no narrative or build up for the singles to culminate to. It’s as if they recorded the songs, tossed them into iTunes shuffle and just chose the track listing from there. Maybe I don’t fully understand what The Internet is going for with Purple Naked Ladies, but the album’s lack of direction keeps it from standing out.