Astroworld＜完全生産限定盤＞

デビュー・アルバム『ロデオ』、セカンド・アルバム『バーズ・イン・ザ・トラップ・シング・マクナイト』で2作連続全米HIPHOP/R&Bチャート1位を獲得した、ヒューストン出身のラッパー=トラヴィス・スコットが、2年ぶり3作目となるニュー・アルバム『アストロワールド』をリリース!アルバムには、トラヴィス・スコット公式YouTubeで公開中のアルバム・トレーラー映像に起用されている新曲「スターゲイジング」や、2017年5月にリリースされたヒット曲「バタフライ・エフェクト」など、全17曲を収録。また、これまでもケンドリック・ラマーやアリシア・キーズなど様々な豪華アーティストとの共作を果たしてきたトラヴィスだが、本作にはドレイク、ザ・ウィークエンド、フランク・オーシャンなどの豪華ゲストが参加している。ラッパー/ソング・ライターとしてはもちろん、ナイキ/プーマ/アレキサンダーワンなど数々の大手ファッション・ブランドとのコラボも果たすなど、デザイナー/ファッション・アイコンとしても活躍しているトラヴィス・スコット。8/2(木)にはシカゴで開催中の大型音楽フェス=ロラパルーザ初日のヘッドライナーとして圧巻のパフォーマンスを披露したばかり。『アストロワールド』は、マルチな才能で世界中から熱い視線を集め続ける彼の魅力を存分に味わうことのできる作品となっている。

Rolling Stone - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he most interesting music of his career, Scott no longer just looking the part of a brilliant artist, but sounding like it too." Spin - "Unexpected guests and surprising sounds jump out at you from every angle-there's vocals and production by everyone from Drake and Juice WRLD to Tame Impala and John Mayer." NME (Magazine) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "The sprawling album's highlight may occur during the elegiac, near-religious, calming coda to that final track. It's a moment that encapsulates the scope and ambition of ASTROWORLD."

Travis Scott sees Astroworld as the real follow-up to Rodeo, having alluded to the recording of Birds in the Trap Sing Brian McKnight as rushed. The Quavo collaboration Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho and appearances on SZA's "Love Galore," Drake's "Portland," and 2 Chainz' "4 AM," among a slew of other tracks, also preceded this third official solo studio full-length, heralded by the single "Watch," conspicuously absent given its direct reference to the demolished Houston attraction the album is titled after. Astroworld undoubtedly feels more like a spectacle than Birds in the Trap did. The sprawling theme park concept, however loose, is a cunning way to rationalize the tactically hospitable variety of producers and featured artists, which numbers somewhere around 50 -- a large supporting cast, even by Scott's standard. A long line of unsurprising guests like the Weeknd, Frank Ocean, and Swae Lee are thrown into play with Stevie Wonder, Philip Bailey, and John Mayer, the latter class of which seems like a bid for Grammy appeal. The beats, contributed by over 30 figures, are neatly sewn together by co-executive producer Mike Dean, who eases the twists and turns taken by the all the slinking rhythms and whirling atmospheres. Scott's voice slithers through the murk, rapping and singing in graphic-as-ever detail about his lifestyle of narcotics, air travel, hotels, and trysts, energized most when boasting about fans "stage divin' out the nosebleeds" and urging all to "fuck the club up." He's clearly not bothered by indulging in thrills reflective of the album's title. The modulation and echo treatments on the vocals, combined with the frequently torpid tempos, nonetheless make Astroworld ideal for being pumped through an (18 and over) amusement park's sound system near closing time, when the challenge of hitting all the rides has started to turn into an overindulgent, overheated chore. Beyond potent highlights "Butterfly Effect," "Sicko Mode," and a levitating tribute to hip-hop pioneer and Houston legend DJ Screw, there's a pair of Scott's most moving and personal cuts in "Coffee Bean" and "Astrothunder." The former, the finale, deviates from the rest of the album with a gently knocking Nineteen85 beat and Scott sounding positively Guru-like as he laments, "Fighting over your seeds, writing over your deeds, sliding over your keys." ~ Andy Kellman