It's the Weeknd

It's sort of surprising that I first heard the Weeknd on this past week's show, since the free mixtape he released on Sunday brings up its own News page on Google (and has already caused several websites to crash?). But the hype is for real. House of Balloons is so innovative and inspired that it's hard to believe this guy is only 20 years old. The combination of his originality and his youth has generated apt comparisons with Odd Future--which is not necessarily to suggest similarities in how it feels or how it's played, but just to say that here are these kids with the creative spirit to match demand for some new sounds with a quality product. One difference with the Weeknd, though, is that the quality has been esteemed par with the xx's debut and like Timbaland's greatest hits. It's like this guy (real name Abel Tesfaye, maybe) recognized that people wanted to like R&B, that smart, chill, smoothed out music with cool ass lyrics is always appreciated yet scarcely heard. But the mixtape is all that stuff--smart, chill, and, indeed, silky smooth. And it's got this coolness to it, too; it's got the potential to be one of those albums you put on while you're pouring your first drinks and getting ready to go out.House of Balloons has the daring and assuredness enough to make its generically R&B-type confessions of cheap lust, exorbitant spending and doin drugs perfectly chosen, and makes the work as a whole well-ahead of its time. He does it with samples from like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Beach House brilliantly backgrounding the fucked up dramatic and surprisingly rich stories of vulnerability and nightlife. As the Village Voice notes, albeit with a tone of bitterness, these tracks are pro. Yeah the kid is only 20, but there's a lot of production expertise behind him, with Illangelo and Don McKinney collaborating on the beats. But that's cool, because I think the Weeknd is accomplishing something important with these songs--also noted by the Village Voice: they're changing--I'd say refreshing--a genre.

For more writing on how this mixtape is effecting R&B, head over to the yes-that's-right-motherfucking Guardian. Check out the Weeknd's website, which'll basically connect you to everything else. And definitely give a listen to these samples below.

"What You Need" - The Weeknd

"House of Balloons" - The Weeknd

"The Morning" - The Weeknd

P.S. These three songs are consecutive, in this order, on the album. I mean goddamn.

P.P.S. Have a good weekend, y'all.