Music

Even if you’ve never heard of Timbaland, you’ll be intimately acquainted with his music. The A-list producer has been on top of his game for nigh on ten years, with his signature skittering syncopation and serpentine beats. In hip hop terms, he put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp and the dip in the dib-de-dip-de-dip.

Still, despite having had more hits than ‘Afroninja’ on YouTube (including ‘SexyBack’, ‘Promiscuous’ and ‘Get Ur Freak On’), this is Timbaland’s debut as a solo artist. Well, not quite solo. Being Timbaland, he’s recruited a roster of guests that puts the Grammys to shame. Justin Timberlake! Fall Out Boy! 50 Cent! Elton John! Nelly Furtado! Her from the Pussycat Dolls! Er… The Hives? Whether it’s due to Tim’s coaching skills or his guests’ eagerness to impress, every one of his collaborators is trying their very best. Timberlake sounds uncommonly masculine on the hit-in-waiting ‘Release’, and even 50 Cent sounds raw, passionate and... well, not shit. Unsurprisingly, considering Timbo charges $500,000 for a beat, this cast are well supported by some of the most awesome drums you will ever hear.

As this big-name, big-money floorshow suggests, this is Timbaland’s stated attempt to conquer the pop charts – ‘the Top 40 market’. Never mind the fact that half of the US Top 40 is already produced by Timbaland. Anyway, to facilitate his conquest of middle American radio, Tim’s taken a leaf from the Bumper Book Of 1980s Songwriting Tips. Quite aside from the whole record sounding as though Tim was up all night polishing every single note, Timbaland is savvy enough to know that few people (apart from critics) care if a chorus is cheesy, as long as it’s catchy. Thus ‘Shock Value’ gleefully blends and bends genres old and new, from soul to emo, but always with an eye on the hook.

This variety is highlighted by the album’s loose organisation into a series of evolving suites, covering pop, hip hop, rock and a funny kind of synth-trance which doesn’t always work. Of course, being human, Timbaland is not infallible – bits of the album stray into wank-off territory and could have done with some pruning – but when this album is good, it’s truly exceptional.