By Martin Chang

 Editor in Chief

Kid Cudi is embracing his inner weirdness with his third album “Indicud” like he never has before.

He has created a new sound, a slowed down, pot-soaked groove that through bass lines and sounds that seem to come from outer space, taps into the dark space in Cudi’s mind that he’s been rapping about his whole career.

All the sounds on “Indicud” add up to a view of that dark space, from the discordance of the guitars on “Unfuckwittable” and “Young Lady,” to the strange, startling synths on “Just What I Am” and “King Wizard” that fill up your headphones.

The bass sounds though, are what really give the album it’s crazy, mind expanding view into Kid Cudi. The bass is played thick and backwards. It’s played in fast rapid-fire bleeps. Sometimes it’s played slow and smooth.

These bass lines are given even more impact by drum patterns. The patterns are never too busy and with every well-placed snare hit, the drama in Cudi’s mind is that much more in your face.

All those sounds, the guitars, the synths, the bass, give Cudi’s mumbling, occasionally yelled, vocal and rapping style clarity. As he raps through his verses about madness and acid filled darkness, his words make sense like they never have before.

His voice wraps around the crazy sounds of the record and it just fits. His esoteric lyrics about the ground and sky combining feel right with the music.

The meanings of his words don’t seem out there or strange. Behind the backwards bass and spacey synths his words feel at home, like they are right where they belong.

It all adds up to an album that is surprisingly uncompromising. There are no songs like “I make her Say” that Cudi just threw out there for radio play.

For almost the entire album, Cudi expresses the sounds in his head. He doesn’t care that those sounds were filled with weird bass lines and vocal samples. He doesn’t care that those sounds don’t play perfectly next to Top 40 radio songs.

Yet the best song on the album is a song that doesn’t fit the mold of the rest of the album, a song that would make sense on the radio.

“Immortal” is that song, and the backwards sounds and the screeching guitars are held back. He is singing throughout the whole song.  It is the most normal sounding song on the record.

The way Cudi sings about finding hope after darkness is a new career high for him. The passion in his voice is powerful. He is not singing like a traditional pop star. He still has kept his style, but with this song he found that special something that emerges in musicians, that special something that makes them sing their heart out anyway they know how.

In this song, you feel him in a way that anyone can understand. The feeling is universal in the way all great music is.

“Immortal” is the only song on “Indicud” that has that feeling. The listener is left wondering if he had other songs where that voice comes out.

Instead the weird sound of the rest of the album dominates. That sound may be great, but if he has more songs like “Immortal” left on the cutting room floor he should have mixed those in.

But that might be missing the point. With “Indicud” Kid Cudi has made the music he wants to make; he is expressing what he want to express.

By sticking to his guns, he has expressed the themes of his career better than he ever has. He just needs to focus on music like “Immortal” later in his career.

5/5 Stars