The Daily Spin, January 22
Frank Ocean | channel ORANGE
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: channel ORANGE (2012)
Artist: Frank Ocean
Link:
Throughout channel ORANGE, Frank Ocean blazes a trail - first sonically, melding RnB, sweet keyboards, something rock-like, and funk into one beautiful package, coherent despite the wide range of sources he’s pulling from. He then makes a statement regarding his queerness - in an industry noted for its relative conservatism towards sexuality despite its progressiveness on many other social issues (and cutting-edge beats).
Though I find myself preferring Blonde these days, I think the win in channel ORANGE comes in the evident inspiration it has served, innovative throughout. Looking at so many RnB records, so many up-and-coming acts, the ties back to what was accomplished on this album, whether that be in the diversity of genre, in the production style, or in the overt honesty, the gender-neutrality that allows a wider experience to fit into the story being told.
In the years since its release, I think the best word that has come to be associated with channel ORANGE is “classic” - whether for its style, for its groundbreaking moments, or simply because it slaps - a classic.
Rating: 9.0/10
Best Tracks: Bad Religion; Monks; Thinkin Bout You
Worst Tracks: Fertilizer