the only thing i know about grimes other than seeing the name on the internet on occasion was being a conversation behind me at the liquor store the other day:
guy a: "hey, you have to check out this album i think you might like it. they're called grimes..."guy b: "already have it"(divergence off into conversation about turntable.fm)guy c: "you guys play some really boring stuff in that room"guys a + b: "..."me: (stifling guffaw as i pay cashier)
― fauxmarc, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 18:33 (twelve years ago) link
FFS it doesn't even SOUND LIKE Talabot and certainly doesn't use better sounds
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 18:36 (twelve years ago) link
To your ears, dude.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 4 April 2012 18:39 (twelve years ago) link
Me, I can't for the life of me hear what anyone likes in Talabot. I find it so banal and lifeless.
That's why there's chocolate and vanilla.
The difference is, I gave up w Talabot and I don't spend hours haranguing ppl on his thread saying they should be listening to, like, Grimes instead.
― White Chocolate Cheesecake, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 18:46 (twelve years ago) link
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 19:36 (22 minutes ago) Bookmark
srsly, 4 the luv of god
― r|t|c, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 19:00 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, I love Talabot but Visions, doesn't remind me at all of him, so I'm with lex on that, at least.
― "I know its hard to hear but I'm a Realest." (rennavate), Wednesday, 4 April 2012 19:11 (twelve years ago) link
i haven't listened to this album but the video of her doing genesis alone in a room w a table of pedals has been obsessing me for the last week or so.
― judith, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 19:18 (twelve years ago) link
the "oblivion" video is even better!
― heiswagger (rennavate), Wednesday, 4 April 2012 19:49 (twelve years ago) link
im sorry about this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3iAoxHb8B8
i think the bit that really started to sink in for me was the part where she's singing what sounds like "my heart" over and over. there's a moment where she goes "my-Y heaart" (its like 1:59 in the video if you're interested) and it has this feeling of being chopped up in pro-tools but you see her do it there in front of you, just this slight vocal affectation. i mean its not the niftiest of tricks, and its hard to bring it up without making it seem like you want it to be read like so many iterations of the body imitating the machine. there's this strategy of incorporation that i think is working in this album. these layers of signification being compressed. her voice overlaid with the ghost of its machine alteration. this particular synthesis. (its hard for me to think of without remembering that she is roughly the same age as me, grew up singing along to productions by guys who first encountered this as a nifty studio gimmick.)
i'm not being clear. i think though, that this approach definitely bleeds into what she's doing elsewhere. the vocals can sound intimate and alien and naked and elusive. the lyrics that turn into vapor. smoke weed and listen to mariah. a whole set of associations that can be tapped into in all these oblique ways. lateral steps along a chain of signification. its connected with the collapse of the chillwave project i guess. she is a post-anco popstar for sure. all those haunted houses of pop songs. and yeah vowels = space and time. all this negative space, something missing at the centre.
― judith, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 20:17 (twelve years ago) link
how hard it is to feel things, presumably
― r|t|c, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 20:38 (twelve years ago) link
attach judith's comment to tim's comment about it being "music commenting on its own making" but even to the point where i think the making is semi-erased (thus the "something missing at the centre") and it's all otm to me
― Whiney vs. (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2012 20:46 (twelve years ago) link
also the persistent criticism i encounter of this record is that is sounds "unfinished" or "like demos," which, okay, it definitely doesn't sound like that to me, but considering that, what would make this sound more "complete" necessarily? someone upthread said they imagine drum parts in this record where there are none. i think that is a totally legitimate way to love music, to fill in spaces yourself. it's an interaction, not a closed system. like hearing music faintly, from another room, how other parts are summoned that are not necessarily part of the music but are not totally your own making either
― Whiney vs. (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2012 20:51 (twelve years ago) link
Brilliant album but let's not try to explain it via R&B perhaps. Still think mid-80s Happy Rhodes is the best comparison point:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F9mg0wmBUk
The part of Lex's crusade that I disagree with most (while recognising this is a subjective measure) is the "no hooks" measure - this album is like hooks on hooks.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 20:52 (twelve years ago) link
Making this more "complete" would ruin it for me.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 4 April 2012 20:53 (twelve years ago) link
i don't recognise the "unfinished" way of listening to music at all - i can't say i've ever experienced music like that.
the "no hooks" argument is my strongest, everything else is trying to justify it retrospectively but what it comes down to is that it goes in one ear and out the other, and i have given it waaaaay more chances than things like that normally get. it doesn't stick at all.
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 20:56 (twelve years ago) link
There's nothing I can say to that but, it sticks to my head like crazy. Even though they are insane pitched riffs that I couldn't possibly sing along with.
― Popcorn Supergay Receiver (Masonic Boom), Wednesday, 4 April 2012 21:03 (twelve years ago) link
xpost I believe you, it just seems bizarre to me because I feel my number one reason for liking this album is its kaleidoscope of hooks. The songs don't feel unfinished to me at all, but really generous, like she's offering more ideas than she needs to in each song. The way the songs are filled with this winning little shifts and switch-ups vocally/sonically/melodically. It also means it withstands repeat playing a lot more.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 21:03 (twelve years ago) link
winning little shifts and switch-ups
otm
― Evan R, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 21:06 (twelve years ago) link
fwiw the R&B connection doesnt really resonate for me, like, i believe its there, but it doesnt really operate like R&B for me & i dont think thats key to understanding or enjoying it
― D-40, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 21:36 (twelve years ago) link
― r|t|c, Wednesday, April 4, 2012 9:38 PM (Yesterday)
lol thank you for checking out the course reader
― judith, Thursday, 5 April 2012 08:56 (twelve years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/dsTSB.gif
― r|t|c, Thursday, 5 April 2012 09:10 (twelve years ago) link
lex everyone knows you got baited into hating this by critics you spend your entire life claiming to avoid
― flopson, Friday, 6 April 2012 00:57 (twelve years ago) link
it goes in one ear and out the other... it doesn't stick at all.
I have had the "see you in a dark night" line from 'Oblivion' stuck in my head - in a good way - for about two months straight
― She Got the Shakes, Friday, 6 April 2012 01:04 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, i get various hooks that don't seem to last more than 2 seconds stuck in my head all the time.
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Friday, 6 April 2012 01:04 (twelve years ago) link
right now my favourite track from her is not on this album, it's "vanessa".
the part where she goes : "My heart, ohand I don't care what you saybut it's the way it goes and it's a happening everyday"
has been completely stuck in my head for days !(+ she's very cute in the video)
― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, 6 April 2012 07:45 (twelve years ago) link
Ha! I woke up with a Grimes song stuck in my head this morning, without having heard it in days. I don't know the name of it or even the lyrics so I've substituted Cocteau Twins nonsense but it's like "some, some, some, some, give it all back, I would start the seaside, I would start the whoooaaaa-ooaaaa-ooooaaa"
― Popcorn Supergay Receiver (Masonic Boom), Friday, 6 April 2012 09:35 (twelve years ago) link
I've checked, it's Visiting Statue and it's "seabed" not "seaside" but approximately the same lyrics.
That song is an earworm!
― Popcorn Supergay Receiver (Masonic Boom), Friday, 6 April 2012 09:36 (twelve years ago) link
they're (almost) all earworms !I've just bought tickets to see her in paris in may.
― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, 6 April 2012 09:56 (twelve years ago) link
i need someone elseto look into my eyes and tell me girl you know you gotta watch your health(to look into my eyes and tell me girl you know you gotta watch your health)LA LA LA LA LA
― Somewhere between Fergie and Jesus (Alex in Montreal), Friday, 6 April 2012 13:31 (twelve years ago) link
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Friday, 6 April 2012 15:34 (twelve years ago) link
Interesting interview from Tiny Mix Tapes:
http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/grimes
― Moodles, Sunday, 8 April 2012 16:38 (twelve years ago) link
Used to work at D&Q!
― and i don't even care, similar to how a badass would respond (Abbbottt), Sunday, 8 April 2012 17:56 (twelve years ago) link
(ha ha, it took me like 3 years to learn how to export lossless from GarageBand but by that time I'd moved to the Record upgrade of Reason, so now I don't feel like such a dummy if she couldn't crack it either.)
― Popcorn Supergay Receiver (Masonic Boom), Sunday, 8 April 2012 21:00 (twelve years ago) link
Hildegarde von Bingen! OK, I love you. I knew I was right to do so.
― Popcorn Supergay Receiver (Masonic Boom), Sunday, 8 April 2012 21:03 (twelve years ago) link
Well, now we know her primary influence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37I7egeAtSY
― Sanpaku, Sunday, 8 April 2012 23:23 (twelve years ago) link
I have never heard that song before; it's awesome.
― and i don't even care, similar to how a badass would respond (Abbbottt), Monday, 9 April 2012 00:14 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, wow, that's gorgeous. and jeez, you can really hear what grimes took away from it. hamill sounds like she had a p interesting career. according to wikipedia, she recorded with, toured with with or joined: procol harum, jethro tull, king crimson, gilbert o' sullivan, wishbone ash, jon and vangelis (she's on friends of mr. cairo!). voices sounds pretty great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tdeqk3zdPI
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Monday, 9 April 2012 00:51 (twelve years ago) link
http://twitter.com/#!/Grimezsz/status/189136305098199041
― markers, Monday, 9 April 2012 01:24 (twelve years ago) link
http://grimestyle.tumblr.com/
never gonna get over her malice mizer background
― Whiney vs. (BradNelson), Monday, 9 April 2012 02:48 (twelve years ago) link
Reading her twitter, she just reminds me so much of my siX0r at that age, like freaky avante-naive prodigy goth girl in love with *everything* and eating up everything she possibly can with a spoon and dishing it out in this weird cuisineart blender of everything all at once, and yet still very personal and distinctive.
But, you know, I just love spooky art school girls so much. It's like... man, we could hang out, and drink wine and make the baby jesus cry. It'll be awesome.
― Popcorn Supergay Receiver (Masonic Boom), Monday, 9 April 2012 10:53 (twelve years ago) link
Side note, OK, why have I never heard Claire Hamill before? This has my name all over it!
― Popcorn Supergay Receiver (Masonic Boom), Monday, 9 April 2012 10:59 (twelve years ago) link
Hamill's Voices topped the UK New Age Chart in 1986, but its outlier in a discography of 70s folky/proggy singer-songwriter and 80s Kate Bushisms (for a few songs each folky album, at least).
― Sanpaku, Monday, 9 April 2012 17:20 (twelve years ago) link
yeah def wanna hang w/ grimes
― judith, Monday, 9 April 2012 17:31 (twelve years ago) link
interesting to discover her favourite album of last year was Katy B.
― Tim F, Monday, 9 April 2012 21:18 (twelve years ago) link
interesting that her favorite album of last year was so uninteresting
― Evan R, Monday, 9 April 2012 21:45 (twelve years ago) link
I was thinking of you when I posted that, admittedly.
― Tim F, Monday, 9 April 2012 22:45 (twelve years ago) link
I bit my tongue so hard before taking the bait... I really, really tried not to
― Evan R, Monday, 9 April 2012 22:47 (twelve years ago) link
not much crossover between this thread and the billy joel poll
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Monday, 9 April 2012 22:59 (twelve years ago) link
The Katy B record is great!
― heiswagger (rennavate), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 00:35 (twelve years ago) link