Autotune is dead. Long live Autotune.
T-Pain and Kanye are doing their damnedest to to take a self-aware stance in the wake of the backlash.
Yep. It seems the musicians most associated with this particular device are the one's most aggressively committed to throwing it under the bus, Kanye having lent his self-professed genius to this coffin nail:
Damn right Jay Z, autotune is faggy, bring on the fucking oboe.
Aside from Kanye's own history of messing with the human voice (Re: chipmunk soul), the history of vocal manipulation in music that led to autotune is pretty interesting. It all seemed to begin with his obsession with Daft Punk and other french house, a genre that is in turn hugely influenced by electro soul and prog-damaged pop of the late seventies/mid eighties.
Talkbox soul from Stevie Wonder:
G-Funk innovator Roger Troutman of Zapp & Roger:
Vocoded elctro funk from Midnight Star:
Classic Electro courtesy of Jonzun Crew:
And Jean Michel Jarre worshipers Space (Remember one post ago?):
Now, I'm as tired of Wal-Mart trance / ringtone bullshit like this as the next guy, but do we really need to revert to scowling hard talk and jazzy breaks? No thanks. Fucking sick awesome masculine oboe hook not withstanding, DOA: Death Of Autotune seems to be humorlessly whipping the dying horse that I'm On A Boat and Sensual Seduction already mortally elbow dropped.
Ah well, until the Great Autotune War blows over, I'll be in my penthouse/bomb-shelter, huddle over my radio listening to this:
