St. Vincent - a.k.a. Annie Clark;

xpost, yeah it does make more sense with the other tweets

Think this album might be her ‘Rudebox’.

https://i.imgur.com/dfzbMN1.jpeg

I am sympathetic to the writer of the piece because I know what it's like to prepare for an interview and have an idea how it will go but then find out that the artist isn't on the same page as I am. Then you throw in the extra bit about how she had a very small amount of time (and constant reminders of this) which makes it hard to gracefully shift gears when the conversation screeches to a halt.

Also, I don't understand why St. Vincent and/or her handlers would be "terrified" about that interview. There were a couple of interesting quotes and none were particularly incriminating or could be made out to make St. Vincent look bad. If I looked at a transcription like that after an interview in my writing days, I would sigh and realize I really have to use more of my word count on my own observations than artist quotes. And then I would do that. But I don't see a reason those observations would be accusatorial or mean.

All that said, posting it on a blog was terrible form. Nothing good can come of it other than to point out how mean/terrible St. Vincent and/or her handlers are, but as we see above just as many people think it's all the writer's fault in the first place. Meanwhile she shot herself in the foot and might have even dragged the publication down with her (my guess is the author took it at the bequest of the publication, maybe she just thought better of it when she got negative feedback; I doubt "the man" could have forced that).

Also, maura is pretty wise and if she says the writer is not trustworthy, she has a good reason for saying it. Ultimately the writer winds up looking worse here which is sucks because I am generally on Team Writer in these cases.

it's also possible she just said "sitar" as shorthand instead of saying the full phrase "electric sitar," like how nobody says the full phrase "electric guitar" anymore

Fwiw, this is definitely possible but I don't think these two things are equivalent - an electric guitar is a guitar, just an amplified one; an 'electric sitar' is not an amplified sitar.

I don't think her terminology or identification skills are that important, though, as much as I think it would have been more interesting for her to follow up on it - still, we've done a p good job of it here so it's all good in the end.

From Jezebel: “editors and publications like the one Madden said she was writing for”

This sounds like they couldn’t even confirm she was actually writing for who she said she was.

Maybe this is all just a layered PR blitz for the new album that somehow plays into her new character.

The whole thing is just weird and no one really walks away from this looking good. If anything, the interviewer came across sounding underprepared or at least not ready for Clark's standoffishness in interviews, but nothing I saw that was worthy of a PR team freak out.

Well, I haven't read the interview and have little interest in St Vincent and yet I still looked at this thread.

*"Don't ask questions about _____" policy.*

This reminded me of the time I telephone interviewed a band who were promoting some live shows for a brewery. I was asked not to talk about getting drunk/messy on alcohol. Obviously, I did. This was when I discovered that PRs listen in. I was a naive journalist.

If you cant get the personal basis for this request for exception, i dunno. Not that i think it’s unforgiveable, just cmon, that’s a maelstrom for her—

I used to really like this artist when they weren't famous for bullshit

It saddens me to see the backlash she is getting, TBH. I think she's a very talented musician; that run from Actor through s/t is a pretty perfect run of three albums that show steady and impressive progress and absolutely any artist would be lucky to do as well. Like most musicians, she might be kind of a fucking pain in the ass and have an ego. Whatever. I think the press thing for the last album where journalists had to crawl through a tunnel was funny. I think her new thing is contrived and not to my taste. Whatever!

I was yesterday years old when I learned she got her start in The Polyphonic Spree.

It really is insane watching 15 years of nerds hyperbolically overpraising indie rock people and then just absolutely tearing them down on some "Actually, this was never good"

cf. CYHSY, Tune-Yards, Grimes, AnCo, Arcade Fire...

 I think the press thing for the last album where journalists had to crawl through a tunnel was funny. 

she sounds like an asshole

wait polyphonic spree? woah

Are there really people, like on ILX of all places, that didn't know she was in the Polyphonic Spree? that was the main reason I dismissed her in the first place! and then I came around to her circa Strange Mercy and then etc.

Are there really people, like on ILX of all places, that didn't know she was in the Polyphonic Spree?

I had no idea until now. But I'm not exactly a fan either.

oh man this explains so much

it was the main talking point when her first record came out

Huh. I just knew about the Sufjan connection.

It really is insane watching 15 years of nerds hyperbolically overpraising indie rock people and then just absolutely tearing them down on some "Actually, this was never good"

cf. CYHSY, Tune-Yards, Grimes, AnCo, Arcade Fire...

― bruce spr!ngisH3r3 (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, April 27, 2021 9:59 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's almost as if none of it matters

she must’ve left The Spree before the Mother 13 incident on Mt. Everest.

To be fair, everyone was in The Polyphonic Spree

To be fair, everyone was in The Polyphonic Spree

So far, have there been any post-millennial indie artists who have been acclaimed, derided, and then rehabilitated?

have any died at 27? i actually hate having typed that, because it's atrocious, but the tropes they predate memes

shockingly old when I learned the founder of Polyphonic Spree was also founder of Tripping Daisy

A band superior in every way.

This thread is increasingly confirming to me that for much of the computer-owning world, musicians are indistinguishable from magic cards or pogs or something

I hear St. Vincent didn’t tell a journalist that their round of pogs was “for keeps”

very prog pog whiney drop

is it true a st vincent interviewer got sonned over a pog beef?

So far, have there been any post-millennial indie artists who have been acclaimed, derided, and then rehabilitated?

Afaict once they hit a certain level every indie or adjacent act gets a pass to coast forever. Flaming Lips, Spoon, Arcade Fire, etc., doesn't really matter what any of us think of them, or how long it's been since they released a particularly acclaimed album, they're going to be filling venues of a certain size forever. The closest I can think of an exception could be a group like M83 (that maybe self-sabotaged?) or Sufjan, who threw everyone off after his breakthrough. Bon Iver, though, is a good example of a group that got huge, threw everyone off with a zigzag, but somehow still ended up on top.

that stage where you think they aren't popular anymore but are actually way more popular than they were when they had "buzz"

Maybe this is all just a layered PR blitz for the new album that somehow plays into her new character.

This new album is supposedly set in the early 70s, so maybe the character is Nixon?

New podcast interview on Midnight Chats recorded in early April. Most of the way through it and she seems perfectly amiable. I'm not really that interested in this album so *shrugs* but at least it's not weird or awkward or aggressive. Just a heads up for the actual St. Vincent fans here.

this feels like copping an aesthetic

Introducing Goldie, the brand new, reimagined St. Vincent signature guitar from Ernie Ball Music Man.

With roasted maple neck and gold foil topped pickups of course because it's 2021.

that is one fugly guitar

i love her guitar
just cool to see a sig that's not just another retread fender model

https://i.vimeocdn.com/video/513218128.webp?mw=1000&mh=562&q=70

"IT'S ROASTED!"

The shape is fine, it's the way it's being redressed to fit the aesthetic of each album cycle.
https://www.musicconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/STVMss-620x420.jpg
(from 'Masseduction')

ah, I like the new ones a lot more than those, the three colors are good and I like the how the gold saddles in the chrome bridge match the gold foil pickups

but you know....if it weren't for making endless slight variations to the same models every year there wouldn't be a guitar busines

my biggest problem is I HATE the ernie ball headstock in general and it really clashes with this design

Yeah there wouldn't be like a million different models of Strat and Les Paul otherwise.
I think the saddles are brass because that is currently *a thing* in the biz. St. Vincent is playing an old guitar with gold foil pickups in that Noisey video upthread but again these pickups are *a thing* right now.
Agreed on the EB headstock - even Fender make some concessions to making the headstock a slightly different shape between different models.

I dont mind the ernie ball headstocks at all. It does look like the new ones have a REVERSE headstock though.

oh yeah I know gold foil is big and brass saddles I just think the new model looks really nice aesthetically with those flashes of gold, I wouldn't touch those Masseducation ones with a 10ft pole

yeah the bright colors on the older models look cheap, prefer the new models.

I played one of these in guitar center and it felt weird to hold but it takes me a very long time to adjust to different guitars.

I prefer the headstock reversed on these. First thing I'd do is replace the volume/tone knobs, though.

anyone heard the record?

I've deleted this post several times over the last few weeks, but now I got to say it:

I thought St. Vincent was the partner of Elon Musk.