2. The Weeknd - House of Balloons
A recommendation from a friend was how I discovered The Weeknd (Cheers Gary!) and what a discovery it was too. House of Balloons is the first in a trilogy of mixtapes, the second was recently released and is of outstanding quality. However it is House of Balloons what we are here to talk about primarily, some of the production makes me thing that this is what Burial would sound like if he was a vocalist and making R&B. Unlike the earlier mentioned Frank Ocean, this is a record that probably is R&B but it is much less radio friendly than Frank’s offering.
The Weeknd started off with a bit of a Burial vibe enigmatic approach, a secrecy to identity, recent collaborations with fellow Canadian Drake have entered him more into the eyes of the mainstream and deservedly so. My favourite DJ of the year Oneman has been championing tracks from the album all year, the sumptuous ‘What You Need’ in particular. The mixtape has the usual samples of well known records, but they are expertly chosen and used in such a complimentary fashion none more so than the Juan Maclean version of Happy House by Siouxsie and the Banshees. All in all this body of work is something that is extremely easy to listen to over and over again, I haven’t met a single person who could disagree with that either.
Both mixtapes mentioned in this piece are available for FREE DOWNLOAD on The Weeknd's official website. A third is due to drop in 2012, which I for one am eagerly anticipating.
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