Freshly stocked with a brand-new (to him) liver, Lou Reed has found something new by which to be intoxicated. The former Velvet Underground frontman has written a lengthy and exceedingly glowing review of Kanye West’s Yeezus for The Talkhouse. In the almost 2000-word piece, Reed describes West as not just merely talented but almost otherworldly, saying, “No one’s near what he’s doing,” and that West’s work isn’t “even on the same planet.” He goes on to say that West is “seriously smart” and that Yeezus is both “majestic and inspiring.” Reed also admits that, not only did he get literal goosebumps from listening to the record “over and over,” the “melody the strings play at the end of ‘Guilt Trip’” was so “un-fucking believable” that it actually made him cry.
The whole review provides a pretty interesting look at Reed’s current musical savvy, in that it reveals he knows who both Frank Ocean and Chief Keef are. It also reveals that Reed believes “farting” is a positive descriptor—as in, West’s instrumentation is so bold, it’s as if he farted then dared the world to like the smell. That’s one way to put it, we guess.