There are a bunch of vocal moments on here that remind me a bit of pitched up happy hardcover insanity
― too young for seapunk (Moodles), Sunday, 8 November 2015 02:12 (eight years ago) link
*hardcore
Would welcome Madchester revival.
― austinato (Austin), Sunday, 8 November 2015 02:36 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlOrP1wSzCk
― pplasma, Sunday, 8 November 2015 03:28 (eight years ago) link
LOVE kill vs maim - finally someone finds the sweetspot between Crystal Castles, Jane Wiedlin and the Smurfs.
― djp HOOS clouds (NickB), Sunday, 8 November 2015 10:45 (eight years ago) link
Does Jagwar Ma count as Madchester revival?
― MarkoP, Sunday, 8 November 2015 15:18 (eight years ago) link
Also, besides "Ray of Light"-era Madonna, the other thing the title track somehow reminds me of is PM Dawn, but I'm probably the only person who would think that.
― MarkoP, Sunday, 8 November 2015 15:19 (eight years ago) link
besides "Ray of Light"-era Madonna
glad someone else said this; madonna in general is my pop reference point for this album much more so than anyone younger like gwen or katy perry or whoever. "belly of the beat" feels like it could have legs amongst ilx's dance-pop formalists (read: erotica fans). "easily" joins the small and exalted pantheon of things that sound a little bit like "don't tell me".
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Sunday, 8 November 2015 18:18 (eight years ago) link
I'm fond of "Realiti," "World Princess Pt. II" (K-pop!), "Easily," "Flesh Without Blood," and the title track, but the tinniness of the vocals gets wearying (and as usual Janelle Monae's talent for muffling decent tunes + beats is intact).
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 8 November 2015 18:25 (eight years ago) link
Okay, I folded and just went to Spotify. Not really my premier choice to have my first listen be at the computer desk, but I just couldn't wait.
First impressions:—She is trying really hard to top Visions (this is awesome, just in terms of the sheer balls that takes).—Her voice is better on this album. Just all around. Not as buried in the mix, more interesting melodies. Ace.—The 'Think (About It)' break is used in the new 'Realiti'!—'Kill v. Maim' has so many layers and changes. It's only four minutes long, but feels at least twice, as it's like three or four mini songs in one.—She's cocky as hell. I like this.—Love this line: "I was only looking for a human to reciprocate."—Second half has some serious deep cuts that I reckon won't really sink in for quite some time.—Can't wait to take it for a walk with me.
Highlights:—'Flesh without Blood'—'Realiti'—'Butterfly'
― austinato (Austin), Sunday, 8 November 2015 18:49 (eight years ago) link
ray of light is the first pop comparison that's made sense to me lol
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Sunday, 8 November 2015 19:24 (eight years ago) link
and actually that comparison may have opened up the entire record for me, that's awesome
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Sunday, 8 November 2015 19:47 (eight years ago) link
^^^ same
― j. winters (josh), Sunday, 8 November 2015 19:56 (eight years ago) link
someone compared "pin" to crj emotion emotions but i feel like it's the same pitch just inverted subject-wise. what i mean is that it's been really great for a break up
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Sunday, 8 November 2015 19:58 (eight years ago) link
kind of lol to envision Erotica as "formal" dance pop, like u couldn't dance to any pop music before 1992
― welltris (crüt), Sunday, 8 November 2015 20:00 (eight years ago) link
Since I first heard Visions, I always thought she was successfully blending Madonna's Like A Prayer and the Cocteaus' Treasure.
And this:what i mean is that it's been really great for a break up
OTM. Art Angels definitely has shades of breakup-ness to it.
― austinato (Austin), Sunday, 8 November 2015 20:07 (eight years ago) link
the weak link here is really "venus fly" which is a shame
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Sunday, 8 November 2015 20:19 (eight years ago) link
meanwhile i would like restate how fucking unbelievably great "venus fly" is
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Sunday, 8 November 2015 20:20 (eight years ago) link
there's a single note -- like a synthesized accordion -- at the very end of "flesh without blood" (4:15ish) that i'm obsessed with
― Treeship, Sunday, 8 November 2015 20:31 (eight years ago) link
uh i meant "butterfly" lol
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Sunday, 8 November 2015 20:32 (eight years ago) link
(continued from my previous post) most of her songs contain surprising little moments like that. i think that's part of why listeners connect so personally with her music. there are so many little production decisions to notice, and so you are constantly being reminded of the human hand behind the music. everything she makes feels very intentional and crafted
― Treeship, Sunday, 8 November 2015 20:38 (eight years ago) link
― Treeship, Sunday, November 8, 2015 3:31 PM (
and there's a snippet of violin in another song that I wish she would've saved for a full tune.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 8 November 2015 20:48 (eight years ago) link
i think that's part of why listeners connect so personally with her music. there are so many little production decisions to notice, and so you are constantly being reminded of the human hand behind the music. everything she makes feels very intentional and crafted
but you can say this about everybody and anybody, and how do we judge intentions?
Can we also throw Kate Bush somewhere in there in what we're hearing? Today hearing 'flesh without blood' it started sounding to me like how something off Hounds of Love would sound in 2015.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Sunday, 8 November 2015 20:53 (eight years ago) link
". . .and you never get sad and you never get sick. . ."
That one hits me.
― austinato (Austin), Sunday, 8 November 2015 20:54 (eight years ago) link
More stuff I am reminded of: Britney's "Brave New Girl", Christina Milian's "I Can Be That Woman".
This album totally rules.
― Tim F, Sunday, 8 November 2015 21:08 (eight years ago) link
yeah i was sort of only halfway into it until today and i'm really happy that i'm more taken with it now
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Sunday, 8 November 2015 21:13 (eight years ago) link
speaking of Kate Bush, The Dreaming is the album i keep thinking of. an incredible female artist wresting control away from fan and music industry expectations after breaking through, and coming out with something intricate and personal and reflective on the creative process itself.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Sunday, 8 November 2015 23:28 (eight years ago) link
Artangels, the track, reminded me of Annie
― Shin Oliva Suzuki, Monday, 9 November 2015 00:20 (eight years ago) link
Broke into a Lorde-esque dinosaur dance walking down the street yesterday following the drop in "World Princess, Pt II".
― art baengels (monotony), Monday, 9 November 2015 01:07 (eight years ago) link
On a few more listens I like it more but don't love it. I find all the chipmunked vocals to be an odd choice (although so heavily used that she obviously has something in mind with them), and I miss the breathier, almost slipping away from you sound of her earlier vocals (which were still present on the demo Realiti but not the album Realiti). I actually do like the album Realiti more than I did at first, but still prefer the demo -- the album version is squarer, like a club remix.
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Monday, 9 November 2015 03:35 (eight years ago) link
So, I'm thinking after a few listens, that this is less consistent than Visions, but the highlights are better than those on Visions.
― austinato (Austin), Monday, 9 November 2015 03:38 (eight years ago) link
I also think the vocals are what made it hardest for me to accept at first, because her singing -- the part of the music we probably most identify with most artists -- just sounds so DIFFERENT than it did on the last record.
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Monday, 9 November 2015 03:51 (eight years ago) link
this album has a really obnoxious title but it's pretty good yeah
― twunty fifteen (imago), Monday, 9 November 2015 11:58 (eight years ago) link
Had a series of dreams just now where she released the album a capella for fans to remix as a sort of contest — never found out what the prize was. In any case, I was able to hear 'Realiti' a capella in bits and pieces and it was just heaven.
― Austin, Monday, 9 November 2015 12:33 (eight years ago) link
Still haven't had a complete listen but I'm liking it more after hearing it a friend's car and in piecemeal at home. It definitely feels made to play at festivals, can't get that image out of my head during most of the tracks.
Venus Fly is a jam btw.
― expertly crafted referential display name (Jordan), Monday, 9 November 2015 15:33 (eight years ago) link
attempted to lisen to this on my commute but i downloaded a copy with awful dj drops and had to stop halfway :-[
but based on that limited shitty experience, worried this album won't be all that i was hoping it would be
― flopson, Monday, 9 November 2015 15:54 (eight years ago) link
this kinda sounds like good pc music in a hyperrealised pop by outsider way
― twunty fifteen (imago), Monday, 9 November 2015 16:32 (eight years ago) link
albeit more emotive + less depersonalised
― twunty fifteen (imago), Monday, 9 November 2015 16:33 (eight years ago) link
the chipmunk thing is less obnoxious here at least
― ufo, Monday, 9 November 2015 16:37 (eight years ago) link
I bet this whole album is good, but I just keep restarting the flesh without blood through artangels run of songs
― the grimes of claire boucher ('90s on) (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 9 November 2015 21:48 (eight years ago) link
yeah i'm having a hard time getting through this for the same reason. i did jump ahead and listen to the new version of realiti.
― dynamicinterface, Monday, 9 November 2015 23:26 (eight years ago) link
for me the biggest highs are on Pin and Butterfly. Pin is one of the shorter songs on the album, but it is just so intricately layered, emotive, and most of all cathartic. I agree that there is definitely a big PC music influence on this, kind of combined with Ray of Light era Madonna, and everything in between.
― pplasma, Tuesday, 10 November 2015 05:34 (eight years ago) link
where the fuck did this "PC music influence" come from and can we please excise that from any future discussion regarding this album tyvm
― j. winters (josh), Tuesday, 10 November 2015 05:44 (eight years ago) link
^^^
― james brooks, Tuesday, 10 November 2015 05:48 (eight years ago) link
yeah, i don't hear PC music in this
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Tuesday, 10 November 2015 07:00 (eight years ago) link
So... Is this the first time pitchfork has ever apologized to an artist for being an asshole?
― mingalaba, Tuesday, 10 November 2015 07:10 (eight years ago) link
it comes off more as a hasty aside than an explicit statement so i demand more
― j. winters (josh), Tuesday, 10 November 2015 07:51 (eight years ago) link
I think I can hear some PC music in this, the way she sounds like some sort of demented cheerleader sometimes and the saturated arrangements here and there but this album isn't really parodying bubblegum pop it seems like there's some genuine admiration for it, hence it's quite the opposite of PC music.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 10 November 2015 07:53 (eight years ago) link
Pitchfork's like "sorry we mocked you, but this album isn't better than your debut"
― pplasma, Tuesday, 10 November 2015 07:54 (eight years ago) link