Janelle Monae "The ArchAndroid" [2010]

Even in the egocentric world of popular music, it's rare to find yourself choking on someone's ego like smoke from a housefire as brutally as when you're listening to Janelle Monae's "The ArchAndroid." Endless tracking and even-more endless name-dropping of historical giants in literature and cinema (Fritz Lang? really? And what R&B fan is going to hear the name Philip K. Dick and not immediately think "porn star"?). Witness the couplet "Just another weirdo / You can call me your hero" -- it's nearly impossible not to turn green with nausea. Besides, just because your producer knows how to string together your unfinished Stevie Wonder-via-Quincy Jones knock-offs (with Barry Manilow choruses! feeling ill yet?) does not make your self-centered vignettes a "concept" any more than Lady Gaga does "concept" albums about being a disillusioned party girl abandoned at the club. Monae's references to existing as a synthetic entity does not square with her struggles to get past her detractors' complaints about her -- what self-respecting android would give the slightest shit? -- but at least it's consistent with her polished voice and dehumanized production values. Picture the love-child of Prince and Grace Jones blasted into outer space to get an idea of what "The ArchAndroid" is trying to be, and then take a moment to appreciate your life resembles this inferno of pretension not at all.