Azealia Banks – Atlantis
#capitalist exploitation & the reinforcement of a classist system
[Video][Website]
[5.56]
Alfred Soto: Holding fast to the mixtape ethos, Banksy mumbles over a mediocre beat and rhythm as if she intended all three as a gesture of Dadaist defiance of expectations.
[4]
Jamieson Cox: Even in her most uninvested moments, Azealia’s voice crackles with kinetic energy, and I could listen to that basic drum & bass pattern by itself. But there are layers of chintzy dime-store sonics on most of “Atlantis,” and Azealia sounds like she’s reading her rhymes out of a Microsoft Word document while checking her email. When you’re the force behind “212” and “Esta Noche,” the expectations get loftier and loftier. She can do more; this is not enough.
[5]
Patrick St. Michel: Most of the talk about “Atlantis” has been about the video and its relation to dolphin-friendly subculture #seapunk, but not much has been said about how the song relates to the sound of that style. Possibly because pinning down any of seapunk’s musical themes is difficult — the few labels collecting the stuff seem more unified around the Wave Race 64 visual aesthetic rather than the sonic elements of early 8-bit raves of Unicorn Kid and chopped-and-screwed Aaliyah tracks falling under the seapunk umbrella. “Atlantis” — along with earlier Azealia Banks tracks like “Liquorice” and “1991” — jumps from 90’s dance, pop and rap in a short time, the song a little too muddled but still exhilarating while it lasts. It’s also one of the best representations of the sound of seapunk, both the good and the bad.
[7]
Kat Stevens: I wonder if she has been watching a lot of Nadia Oh videos? Not just in terms of eye-bleeding Tumblr fodder, but brevity.
[7]
Ian Mathers: This feels weird to say about a song that barely gets over the two-minute mark, but I wish she’d left us wanting more; after two interesting, predictably good, but not amazing sections, “Atlantis” goes into an instrumental breakdown for twenty-five seconds then repeats the second verse. It’s a perfectly decent verse, but with so little else here repeating it feels a bit overegged. It’s like the way I’m not annoyed that she’s “appropriating” (ha. ha. ha.) seapunk imagery in the video so much as I’m disappointed that said imagery is so garish and ill-fitting. “Atlantis” is still more interesting than many of the songs that pass our desks here, but we also know she can do better.
[6]
Brad Shoup: Maybe she’s an EP artist? As always, the construction is elaborate, a succession of “oo” and “ee” sounds delivered with lip-blistering speed. Her singing is yielding diminishing returns, though; we don’t even get a funny voice. And those whiny synths! Ugh.
[5]
Will Adams: Azealia’s raps are on point as always, but the production, interesting in spots, just meanders.
[6]
Katherine St Asaph: If as many hands were wrung over Banks’ appropriating ball culture as seapunk, the world would be infinitely less annoying. But let’s be thankful for the fake context. Otherwise, all we’d have is yet another fast-paced, competent throwaway. Call it #coast.
[6]
Alex Ostroff: A year out from “212,” Azealia’s great strength remains her dazzling ability to pile precariously stacked sequences of vowels on top of each other, twisting her words into propulsive and entrancing rhythms. Unfortunately, on “Atlantis” — and much of its parent mixtape, Fantasea — her dexterous spitting fails to compensate for a lack of quality control, pop instincts or variety. The raw talent is there, and the 1991 EP proves that she’s still capable of greatness, but half-hearted Paris is Burning-referencing freestyles over 90’s house beats only get you so far if there’s no song.
[4]