Send "Saul Williams " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Saul Williams has been trafficking in his particular brand of hyper-literate hip-hop for years now. His fourth studio album (and first in four years), Volcanic Sunlight is a dense, engaging work, one that reaches for your feet and booty as surely as it does your heart and soul. Where Williams’ earlier work found him working with everything from darkly jaunty piano-based raps (“Black Stacey”) to electro-clash reworkings of U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, large swaths Volcanic Sunlight could be mistaken for TV on the Radio’s swarming sci-fi-R&B freakouts, or perhaps relative newcomer Theophilus London’s spacious modernist R&B workouts. Williams actually seems to be moving away from the righteous fury that informed his earliest albums, and has admitted that he set out to make a pop album this time around. “On this album, I wanted to put words that didn’t get in the way of the music. Before, I always let the words dominate,” he said of Volcanic Sunlight around the time of its release. But it’s still a Saul Williams pop record: eccentric and compelling. Case in point: the title track, which begins with a dancing ride cymbal figure, explodes into a labyrinthine mix of synths and multi-tracked vocals before closing with an awesomely out-of-place orchestral horn part that sounds lifted from Sgt. Pepper’s. Williams hasn’t completely subverted his more literate tendencies, and turns “Innocence” into a showcase for the rapid-fire slam poetry that first brought him fame. The first verses bring his choir of layered vocals to the fore, but after the third chorus, Williams launches headlong into a pedal-to-the-metal verse that slowly outstrips the backing track. The instruments fade away, leaving only Williams and his marvelously rhythmic delivery to take the track to its end....full text |
| Noripcord |
| To say Saul Williams has a way with words would be an understatement. His hyper-literate mix of political and spiritual pondering isn’t for everyone, but for those who get it, Saul isn’t just sharing his thoughts - he’s speaking words the world needs to hear; a sapient, emphatic voice in the midst of a genre plagued by aimless braggadocio and macho posturing. This aptitude for words lies in his ‘slam’ poetry roots - much of his early material was essentially his early writing set to music - and his rhymes have been brought to life by a string of talented producers and musicians, most notably Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor on The Inevitable Rise and Fall of Niggy Tardust. Each of his first three records offer something different musically, but one factor has been ever-present so far: the beats are intricate and unrelenting, providing an excellent counterweight to his occasionally hippy musings. Furthermore, he’s proven himself as an able vocalist, and with each record the spoken word has made way for more and more actual songs - a trend which Volcanic Sunlight continues. By his own admission, this is a pop record - so much so that pretty much all semblance of hip hop has gone. Sadly, it’s that final leap that prevents this album from fulfilling its potential. Saul’s about as open-minded as it gets, and alongside all the incisive commentary on racial equality and rampant materialism has always been a certain element of peace and love and light. That’s an admirable thing, and until this point it’s been sufficiently restrained so as not to become offputting. But on Volcanic Sunlight, it frequently becomes the primary focus. In an interview before the release of the record, he said it himself: “Volcanic Sunlight is the innermost part of something special... it’s my attempt to articulate what I feel when I feel love.”...full text |
| Onethirtybpm |
| Following the success of his Trent Reznor produced third album, Saul Williams has returned after a four-year absence with an album that, for the first time in his career, feels like a misstep. Williams has evolved with each new release, and Volcanic Sunlight does not veer away from this trend, but the problem with the direction Williams has taken with Volcanic Sunlight is that he’s lost one of the key aspects of his sound in the transition – his urgency. Sunlight is by and large a pop record, a far cry from the almost militaristic march forward of albums prior. Sometimes, this poppier strategy works, like in tracks “Girls On Saturn” and “Volcanic Sunlight.” But when it does, the reason is because a needed balance is struck between catchiness and edge, effectively blending the new Saul with the old one. Alas, when Saul goes full on into pop rock territory, such as on tracks “Rocket” and “New Day,” the unfortunate reality is we’re left with an incredibly unique voice accompanied by formulaic, toothless instrumentation. Looking back at Williams’ trajectory, it’s only partially surprising he’s ended up here. Amethyst Rock Star was essentially his slam poetry set against a musical backdrop, but follow-ups Saul Williams and The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! both featured Saul moving his focus toward more traditionally structured compositions. While it worked incredibly well on those two albums, the difference here is, again, a sorely missed sense of aggression. From a manic Saul hanging on for dear life over pounding drums and schizophrenic electronics on “List of Demands,” to the full on audio assault of “Black History Month,” there was a confrontational edge to his previous work that is alluded to, teased at, but frustratingly never fully present on Volcanic Sunlight. Aside from the musical direction, also missing from the majority of the album is Saul’s rapid-fire delivery. In the past, Williams’ words shot out of him like a last-ditch effort to be heard among the chaotic noise around him. Here, more often than not, he’s at peace with the musical space surrounding him. He’s always been less effective on mellower tracks – quite simply, his ruminations aren’t well suited to them. Almost nowhere on the record does Saul fully sacrifice himself to the track – a characteristic that used to be his calling card....full text |
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