Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting

the new single is fucking great http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/15441-lady-luck-al-fresco/

this album is gonna rule imo

yep i'm feeling this

ciderpress otm

everyone itt otm up to now

feeling "lady luck"

This album is really good.

Haven't heard the full album but everything on the sampler is spectacular. Exactly what you'd expect, in the best possible sense.

The Lewis Taylor influence is v obvious across the span of the album.

bastards all

"Lewis Taylor influence" = I'm in

yep. i guess i have to thank whoever posted a track of his in the james blake thread for how much i'm jonesing to hear a full record. is burial supposedly producing the whole thing, or just certain songs?

I may well have posted the Woon vid in that thread, I can't be arsed to check mind... I think Burial only does bits and bobs, not even full tracks, just adds Burial-ness here and there. Thats what I read in a Woon interview a little while ago anyway, wish I could remember where I saw that. If anything is as good as his track with Subeena I'll be happy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dw1PTtu2dE

I'm told Burial does "additional production" and Woon does the bulk of the production himself. It's certainly more like soul by other means than dubstep with songs.

that subeena/woon track is so good, on a par with "night air" for me

Dunno, it's got some nice noises on it but there's not really a song there - it's the least interesting thing either Subeena or Jamie Woon have been involved with.

Really digging Lady Luck!

Yeah, the studio version of Lady Luck is sublime.

Out 11 April. Here's the tracklist:

1. Night Air
2. Street
3. Lady Luck
4. Shoulda
5. Middle
6. Spirits
7. Echoes
8. Spiral
9. Tmrw
10. Secondbreath
11. Gravity
12. Waterfront

Cover's nice too

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_ePwDySjVdyo/TXV5si9XMvI/AAAAAAAAAhM/wN2zQDQIP_w/mirrorwriting.jpg

Dunno, it's got some nice noises on it but there's not really a song there - it's the least interesting thing either Subeena or Jamie Woon have been involved with.

― Matt DC, Thursday, February 24, 2011 12:21 PM (1 week ago)

kindof feel like this is just objectively wrong hmm

this guy still makes me feel a little guilty for liking him. I think it's the voice - it's like he's two steps away from turning into Jamie Cullum.

That's what I like about him though - this very conventional voice put to unconventional ends, both lyrically and sonically.

hes kindof done the ebtg in that his new sound is like a remix someone did once.

Good comparison - a whole new sound extrapolated from the Burial mix of Wayfaring Stranger.

Yeah, both have that mary poppins travel bag thing where what looked like one tune on the outside actually contained a whole house of stuff.

I used to have fantasies about that when I heard a great remix - wow, imagine if this artist sounded like that all the time. It so rarely happens.

after a week of not really bothering to listen to it i have decided that ladyluck is like a massive nosedive in quality from night air and my expectations have kindof nosedived along w/ it.

the phaggy melodrama and noir atmosphere have disappeared, sounds a *bit* like some nu british soul bs that turns up on jools holland.

I haven't heard it yet but 'nu british soul bs' made me think of James Blake. This is better than the James Blake, right?

yeah he actually sings

kind of agree w/plax re "lady luck" which i haven't gone back to very much. def better than james blake though.

Can't speak for the whole album but the other leaked tunes are more "Night Air" than "Lady Luck" (which I like, though maybe because it reminds me of an Idol performance in some ways, so I can sorta see why haters gon hate).

i do like "lady luck", it's just...okay

obv not the stone cold stunner that "night air" was.

mmm yeah it's the difference between hearing a song and being blwon away and having to listen to it 5 times a day for a month, and hearing a song and enjoying it and then forgetting it exists until someone bumps this thread

^^

like i cant help but feel like im only giving ladyluck the time of day bc of the goodwill generated by night air

seeing this dude live in 45 min. or so

Tell him we said hi

so jamie's show was pretty good. he's got KILLER pipes when he lets them show but his touring band's not doing him many favors. the songs that worked best stripped back all rock/pop arrangements for a dubby sound w/ lots of bass and room for his voice to float around in. played "night air" and maybe 6 other tunes from the album.

Think it just leaked.

I'm either going to be elated or crazy disappointed. I'm probably expecting too much from this record anyway, but it's the first thing I've been honestly excited about hearing this year.

got this today-- it's great three tracks in!

okay & that's before track 4 "Shoulda" pretty much took a sledgehammer to everything else in his catalog. AMAZINGGGG

Johnny i can't see you being disappointed, this album rules

Oh yeah, I've listened to it a couple times through since last night and I think it's fantastic.

Think it just leaked.

i can't find any evidence of this

link i found was on uploadbox via filestube (can't believe those are things)

It's in m4a at 128, so hardly idea. But it will do for a few weeks.

idea=ideal

link i found was on uploadbox via filestube (can't believe those are things)

haha i downloaded that and i think it was fake? the album wasn't in it anyway

"bland pop group"/"pop group" = 0.00098
"bland pop singer"/"pop singer" = 0.00066
"bland r&b singer"/"r&b singer" = 0.00059
"bland folk singer"/"folk singer" = 0.00003
"bland rock singer"/"rock singer" = 0.000001
"bland rock group"/"rock group" = 0.00007
"bland rock band"/"rock band" = 0.0001 (the denominator here is going to be skewed somewhat by the existence of Rock Band as a much-discussed thing)

"bland pop" About 41,900 results (0.28 seconds)
"bland pop *" About 2,540,000 results (0.43 seconds)

Google u r crazy.

"Bland indie" About 7,680 results (0.07 seconds)

I think it's safe to say this is not a criticism that's uniquely and disproportionately imed at R&B.

IIRC the great bland wars on ILM were w/r/t Kate Bush's Aerial.

"bland r&b *"About 19,200 results (0.15 seconds)

"bland rock *" About 53,700 results (0.16 seconds)

of course standard caveats that a. there is probably more written about rock on the internet than r&B and b. lex probably pays much more attention to r&b criticism which leads to c. a disproportionate perception of "bland R&B" by the lex

jesus i'm sorry i brought this up at all JUST FORGET ABOUT IT OKAY

Sorry for causing a kerfuffle...the long and short of it is I wanted to like this album...didn't very much... He has a voice he can make wobble...thanks...goodnight...

Sorry just wanted to clarify that IN NO WAY do i link r&b with bland...The reason i was so dismissive was that best r&b can be so fucking trannsformative...Off The Wall period MJ...Instant Vintage Saadiq...Alicia Keys on "You don't know my name"...I know not cutting edge but just so great...

A point that may be too obvious to mention: within every genre there is music that can be described as "bland", music that studiously avoids taking risks, music that retreads what we've heard a hundred times before. The mini-debate above is really about whether some genres tend to be described as "bland" more frequently than other genres, which might show something about stereotypes associated with, say, r&b or pop. I tried to take the Google approach a bit further but I gave up as I don't think Google is fit for this use (see "Google u r crazy").

Though it's given me an idea for an experiment I might run...

Sorry for causing a kerfuffle...the long and short of it is I wanted to like this album...didn't very much

This. I think he's got the ability to do an amazing album, but this just disappointed.

i still quite like this, but im not passionate enough about it to mount a stirring defense really

It's probably still my favorite album of the year so far.

really liked 'night air', really liked the fragile, veiled menace in his voice. haven't heard anything on the album that approaches that yet, I'll have to give it a few more gos.

I really couldn't get into this, I can't pin point why either. It just doesn't stir any feelings what so ever in either direction good or bad. Its like it doesn't exist lol. Night Air is the best on it at the moment and I still like the Ramadanman remix a load better. Maybe its a creeper...

Lady Luck live video in a radio session + some other tracks in audio: http://www.stubru.be/media/herbeleefjamiewoonindelivingroom

Someone please remind me to try speeding up "Night Air" so that it sounds like an old italo record.

I heard a terrific straight house mix of Lady Luck last month, but it doesn't appear to be any of the ones that are knocking around on the internet.

i really like the hudmo remix of "lady luck"

oh i said that a few months ago lol

I've had no inclination to go back to the album since I first heard it hungover to death on the slowest busiest train from Brighton to London at about 6.30am with no sleep. Somehow these associations linger. I really love Night Air - I love the little "Thriller"-style bassline that comes in right towards the end.

btw he's playing live in Katowice right now and it's transmitted by Polish Radio 3. press "Słuchaj" in the upper right corner: http://www.polskieradio.pl/9/29/Artykul/425639,Koncert-Jamiego-Woona-w-Trojce

So did this cat just fall off the face of the earth or ??

I think he's been doing some production work but haven't heard a peep from him solo-wise.

that's strange... only this evening, i decided to dig out 'night air' for the first time since it came out and wondered the same as JF

I liked the song he did with Banks, but that's all I've heard him do since his own lp.

He was on the Disclosure album!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxD8HS5shIU

yeah that's actually my personal fav from the disclosure album tbh

Here's where I admit I never spent a ton of time with that Disclosure lp.

So did this cat just fall off the face of the earth or ??

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 2 December 2014 21:27 Bookmark

The Lewis Taylor influence is v obvious across the span of the album.

― I've been dancing since 9 and I'm tired and hungry (Dorianlynskey), Wednesday, 23 February 2011 12:38 Bookmark

extending that analogy would make banks aaliyah tho so uh

https://soundcloud.com/woon/sharpness

New single prod. by Robin Hannibal from Quadron, it's so lovely and smooth, love it

YES

very nice!

tip-toed stevie wonder thing suits him

ah i feared he'd gone forever. great news!

LOVE IT!

kind of a Bobby Caldwell vibe

incredible performance imo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J0CjQjjy24

Indeed. That's what i call a groove. This guy has more soul in his voice than stevie wonder.

<3 Jamie so much but that's....quite a statement!

LOVE that fast pause just before the 2 minute mark.

New album is up on Spotify, haven't had the chance to check it out yet.

it's good!

This guy has more soul in his voice than stevie wonder.

ok lol.

been listening to this a lot though, it's nice. really like the live band sound, particularly because the arrangements are really meticulous and it sounds like they're emulating more of an electronic approach.

Mirrorwriting still holds up better than most things from 2011, as I'm discovering tonight.

Mirrorwriting still holds up better than most things from 2011, as I'm discovering tonight.

this is still true in 2022.

great headphone album.

Heard this on Martyn's Dekmantel mix:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alvp8RWcj3M
https://iliantape.bandcamp.com/album/itlp16-music

like that a lot

revisiting this performance of "sharpness" & it's still awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J0CjQjjy24

New album is great, especially the lovely ‘The Heart’s Mountains’.