"Seeing Sounds" is the third album by N*E*R*D (Noone Ever Really Dies), who were said to have broken up a couple of years ago. Obviously, the rumours were not true, so Chad Hugo, Shay Haley and Pharrell Williams return with their Hip Hop-influenced Funk Rock music, but they are not concerned about rigidly sticking to any genre.

Hugo and Pharrell make up The Neptunes, one of the biggest names in music production in any genre. Their beat making has been hear across the board from Hip Hop, to Pop, to R&B, and towards the end of the ninties and start of the '00s they managed to dominate airwaves with their distinctive spacey beats being heard everywhere. From here with the addition of the drummer Shay Haley, they take on all of their success and use it to make music for which they have more passion in creating.

Generally the genre which they choose to go on aren't my thing, but their lead single "Everyone Nose", and it's remix (featured as a bonus track) had such and impact on me with the use of more hip hop than in the past that I had to see what elese they were capable of.

1. Time For Some Action (Intro)

2. Everyone Nose

I cannot fully categorize the musical genre for this track, and this is how I feel N*E*R*D like it, because they don't want to be tied down to anything too specific, because this would force them into making music with little variation to fit expectations.

Initially when you hear this, you will probably think it's a nice upbeat dance number, but if you listen cloesly to the lyrics, it's about women taking cocaine to have a good time. The composition of the track is very effective as it goes through the various mind-sets of someone taking a sustance like this, going from a near-stop, suddenly into a fast tempo as it becomes party time.

**Five Stars**

3. Windows

Followin all of the excitement of the leading single, the mood is completely dropped as they opt for an Indie Rock track. I know that they don't like to be seen as one particular thing, but when they did this it just threw me as i didn't expect it, and they couldn't really execute with it as they hadn't really got the experience of this genre, opposed to others.

The whole thing was just annoying, in terms of how they attempted something differnt and failed, and also tried so hard to make you want to enjoy this by going all out on the way that Indie rockers ted to make up a horus based upon noises rather than actaul words, but these only work on the odd occassion, and this wasn't one of those times.

**Two Stars**

4. Anti Matter

Although I haven't got a clue what was meant by the lyrics, sang by Pharrell, I could really get into this track as it used a very nice blend of Hip Hop and Rock to come out with some great results. The rock was going to be in there from the start, so I shouldn't have to explain this, but the effective utilisation of DJ cuts made for an amazing hook, as part of the encorporation some Hip Hop to this track.

There is a heavy and deep bassline throughout this and it echoes a rocked-out version of the main Hip Hop variation in Houston (strangely). This gave the overall impression of a hard, no nonsense band which are capable of doing anything (in terms of experimentation) to come up with something which peple are going to enjoy. However they don't stick to one slow tempo throughout as they speed it up too to challenge the listener.

**Four Stars**

5. Spaz

This is an up-tempo number, which can be classified much more easily that a few of the other tracks on here as it is clearly a Funk Rock track, and at times you need to be able to categorise the music so you can stick on certain songs when you are in a specific mood. The drums seem to just rooll for this one, and creates a great dancing atmosphere.

Something which I don't really get is the mood which we are meant to be in though as we are told by Pharrell to "Spaz if [we] want to", and I haven't got a clue what he means by this, but if he means it like people in the Frisco Bay, then he probably means just go crazy and dance, and from the music, I'd say it's quite likely.

**Three Stars**

6. Yeah You

Oddly after all of the fast tempo and exciting tunes, the momentum which was generated is then simply dropped as we get into some lounge music with Pharrell singing softly along to the calm rhythm from Hugo and Haley behind the scenes. I felt that it showed some originality and diversity for the album

**Three Stars**

7. Sooner or Later

I really couldn't be doing with any of this type depressive track as it just isn't what you wan from artists who are most famous for their more up-beat tunes. I understand that the wouldn't have liked to make it seem that they do all of the saem stuff all the time, bt we are aware that they change thngs up from the porduction which The Neptunes do, so I felt that they didn't have to assert themselves in this manner in a song which didn't work as Pharrelll's voice doesn't really suit this type of thing.

**One Star**

8. Happy

This was the first proper Rock track on the album, and I cannot complain about it, because it is what they do, but regardless of this it isn't the type of music that I listen to (apart from odd tunes), and so I was never going to be able to get into it. However as a Rock song, I felt that it was decent and those who will appreciate this side of them will enjoy it more than I did.

**Two Stars**

9. Kill Joy

I really liked the hook, which you hear most clearly ast the beginning as you have Pharrell make up a kind out scat, beatboxing type of rhythm from his exhalations, and from here the drums kick in to build upon these foundations in order to make it suitable for a Funk Rock tune.

This would have to be one of the only times in the album where you can clearly call this Funk Rock as it uses such a fun melody and adds some smooth lyrics to take it to another level. Pharrell takes on his Skateboard P persona as he turns away from the falsetto singing, and instead, from the influence of the fast tempo he comes with some Rap Rock vocals (oddly starting with a story about Little Red Riding Hood)

**Four Stars**

10. Love Bomb

As we have seen throughout the record, N*E*R*D have come with some very inventive tracks which seem to come out of nowhere, and the originality doesn't end herre as the opening words "Sittin' here in this white padded room..." sets you up for another strange song which has the group come out with something extremely unconventional.

Pharrell has us follow his amazing imaginaion, which is obviously lead to him being placed in this facility, and it's quite extraordinary that he coulds get into the mind of someone like this and come out with a dreamy story. All of this is backed up by thee other pair who add the spacey beats to increase this feeling of floating around in the mind of such a person.

**Two Stars**

11. You Know What

This is quite similar to the feel of "Yeah You" from earlier on in the album, and it once agin calms you down after so much of the more fiery and unpredictbale tunes which challenge you when you listen to them as they switch in the middle of them by removing certain elements of the track in order to put the emphasis on alternate part of the song.

I felt that this kind of track wasn't needed as a transition stage to further parts of the lbum, and it allowed the artists to shw what they can all do together as Pharrell does his usaully falsetto singing, Haley has the Rock style of drumming down, and Hugo adds some Electronica to give it a spaced-out sound, and all of these effectively come together.

**Three Stars**

12. Laugh About It

If you wanted to hear more songs like "Everyone Nose" which have a club feel to them, then this just will be pleased to have as it has the same sort of feel to it , but without the darker under-current to it, so you don't have to feel as though you are being deceived by the beat when the lyrics paint a more disturbing picture, because this one is a lot more honest.

**Three Stars**

I was surprised that the inventive ambiguous language used in "Everyone Nose" wasn't used anywhere else, and I was quite disappointed by this, because the remainder of it had lyrics which simply didn't make sense. Lots of ideas were brought up, however none of them were explored to any depth as in that song, so I was left without explaination for a lot of the LP.

Overall, I was impressed with what I heard, and I was aware that I wasn't going to get exactly what I wanted, because they don't really go into my type of music that much, and because of this, I feel that I couldn't be harsh on it, because it did what was expected (although you can't exactly predict Experimental Rock), and the album was a good listen, which is bound to grow on me with time.