The Headphone Masterpiece
| The Headphone Masterpiece | ||||
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| Studio album by Cody Chesnutt | ||||
| Released | September 24, 2002 | |||
| Recorded | The Sonic Promiseland, Valley Village, California | |||
| Genre | Neo soul, lo-fi | |||
| Length | 98:10 | |||
| Label | Ready Set Go! | |||
| Producer | Cody Chesnutt | |||
| Cody Chesnutt chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Blender |  |
| Christgau's Consumer Guide |  |
| Drowned in Sound | 8/10 |
| eMusic | |
| Mojo | |
| Pitchfork | 7.4/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Uncut | |
The Headphone Masterpiece is the debut album by American recording artist Cody Chesnutt. He recorded the album in his home bedroom with a 4-track recorder and played guitar, bass, keyboard, and an organ. A 36-song double album, The Headphone Masterpiece features neo soul and lo-fi music, and distorted, overdubbed production. It was written and arranged by Chesnutt, whose ironic and sincere lyrics reflect on personal experiences such as falling in love with his wife and reconciling his love for rock and roll with the drawbacks of the rock lifestyle.
After unsuccessfully shopping the album to record companies, Chesnutt released it himself on his website in September 2002 before releasing it on September 24 through his own label Ready, Set, Go!. The album charted for one week on the Billboard 200 and had sold 25,000 copies by March 30, 2003, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The Headphone Masterpiece was well received by music critics, who found it musically adventurous, albeit indulgent.
After his band The Crosswalk was dropped from Hollywood Records in 1997, Cody Chesnutt spent several months recording The Headphone Masterpiece in his bedroom, which he used as a makeshift studio called the Sonic Promiseland, in Valley Village, California. He used a 4-track recorder, and recorded the songs entirely by himself with equipment worth $10,000, including one microphone, an organ, a guitar, bass, and keyboard. He used a pair of Sony MDR-7506 headphones as a studio monitor in order not to wake up his roommate. It was subsequently mastered by Brian Gardner.
A 36-song double album, The Headphone Masterpiece has overdubbed, distorted production, and incorporates pop rock, soul, R&B, and hip hop styles. Music journalist Philip Sherburne said that it explores British Invasion music on songs such as "Upstarts in a Blowout", synthpop on "The World Is Coming to My Party", and "cheerfully misogynist" hip hop on "Bitch, I'm Broke", but the album's "core is classic soul". Jared Levy from Tiny Mix Tapes called it a neo soul album, while The Fader magazine's Knox Robinson categorized it as lo-fi music.
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