holy shit
― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 16:43 (nine years ago) link
so is this Arca, or?
She said in the little interviewlet with Ellie Goulding yesterday that she's actually been doing some production herself. Whether this is one of them or not, I don't know yet.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 17:31 (nine years ago) link
Goddamn
― 龜, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 20:33 (nine years ago) link
Amazing song, amazing video
Who is bankrolling this?
XL presumably
― festival culture (Jordan), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 20:40 (nine years ago) link
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, June 25, 2014 3:31 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I think this one was a Clams Casino production.
― ginuwine's cousin (monotony), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 21:13 (nine years ago) link
if so this is the first time i've enjoyed a clams thing in years
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 21:33 (nine years ago) link
and the first time i've enjoyed a fka twigs thing anyway
v v v good
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 21:34 (nine years ago) link
This is definitely a bold clam xp
― 龜, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 21:36 (nine years ago) link
nah he said on twitter that he didn't produce it.
― festival culture (Jordan), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 21:42 (nine years ago) link
http://twitter.com/clammyclams/status/481446543598579712
― festival culture (Jordan), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 21:43 (nine years ago) link
Just twigged (har har) that the vid is probably a response/take on Kanye's Power vid?
What are earlier examples?
― 龜, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 23:06 (nine years ago) link
― festival culture (Jordan), Wednesday, June 25, 2014 7:43 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Lol, that's some shonky journalism by Pitchfork and a host of others then.
― ginuwine's cousin (monotony), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 23:23 (nine years ago) link
Annnd new interview
http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/06/meet-fka-twigs-musics-new-fashion-darling.html
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 25 June 2014 01:22 (nine years ago) link
"Two Weeks" has completely taken over my brain
basically I can't go more than 45 minutes without humming either this song or "Dark Horse"
― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:00 (nine years ago) link
^^ minus the Dark Horse part
― 龜, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 15:10 (nine years ago) link
"Two Weeks" has really changed the way I think about her - I hope the rest of the LP avoids the pallid and watery early songs (which I tried really hard to love, but just couldn't latch onto for whatever reason) and more full-bodied like the newest single. She seems like a pretty cool person in any case: http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/9460-fka-twigs/
― uxorious gazumping (monotony), Wednesday, 23 July 2014 06:38 (nine years ago) link
I still think the songs on the eps are gorgeous and really can't comprehend how they're unlikeable—particularly "Water Me," which seems to be the one most scorned—but I'm looking forward to whatever her next move is.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 06:47 (nine years ago) link
leaked. if you need me, i'll be over here listening to this one on a loop for the next couple days.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 29 July 2014 01:11 (nine years ago) link
this album is a real endorphin releaser.
― Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 30 July 2014 01:19 (nine years ago) link
i love "two weeks" and i think i also love "pendulum" but at this point i'm not convinced by the rest
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 July 2014 02:29 (nine years ago) link
I'm kind of floored by this tbh
― uxorious gazumping (monotony), Wednesday, 30 July 2014 13:02 (nine years ago) link
The album is a big blur, but it's great.
― Herbie Handcock (Murgatroid), Wednesday, 30 July 2014 18:15 (nine years ago) link
This is a much more convincing artistic statement for me than the tracks I heard from the EPs without being substantially different; I don't know what is happening here that wasn't on the EPs but more of that, plz
― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Wednesday, 6 August 2014 01:51 (nine years ago) link
For damn sure. It's a treat and works so damn well on a summer evening.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 6 August 2014 01:55 (nine years ago) link
I've basically gone from thinking she was wildly overrated to being like...why are there not 1,000 new answers in this thread right now?
My favourite album from this year so far, I think.
― uxorious gazumping (monotony), Wednesday, 6 August 2014 03:05 (nine years ago) link
am I the only 1 who reads this as "fucka twigs" in my mind?
― DERE is no DERE DERE (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, 6 August 2014 21:25 (nine years ago) link
Whoah on my first listen and this is super great. Portishead springs to mind + destiny's child or something I dunno but I like this a lot. I'm sure I heard the last EP but it didn't make much impression on me.
― DISMISSED AS CHANCE (NotEnough), Wednesday, 6 August 2014 21:51 (nine years ago) link
i guess i'm waiting to download the official version but based on the two singles this will be one of my fav albums of the year for sure
― festival culture (Jordan), Wednesday, 6 August 2014 22:00 (nine years ago) link
live at maida vale - http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ed2nc8#p0249zb1
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 6 August 2014 22:03 (nine years ago) link
apologies for tedious interview that precedes it
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 6 August 2014 22:38 (nine years ago) link
set starts at 4:49
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 6 August 2014 22:39 (nine years ago) link
ugh zane lowe is the worst
― uxorious gazumping (monotony), Wednesday, 6 August 2014 23:36 (nine years ago) link
― DERE is no DERE DERE (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, August 6, 2014 5:25 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
no
― katherine, Thursday, 7 August 2014 00:11 (nine years ago) link
pendulum is quite good but i can't shake the feeling that i'm missing something in my core that allows me to get excited about this artist's work. as with kelela and SZA, i am impressed and enjoy the songs but i couldn't remember anything enough to hum them to save my life.
― go ahead. make vid where u rap about this new TMNT movie. (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 7 August 2014 06:22 (nine years ago) link
^^^ exactly how i felt about twigs before this album.
Kelela and twigs I think have far more focussed and refined aesthetics than SZA who I feel like is figuring herself out still - the album was sort of all over the place with a couple of gems. ("Julia", mostly).
― uxorious gazumping (monotony), Thursday, 7 August 2014 06:45 (nine years ago) link
I listened with fairly low expectations and this is really, really good, hairs-on-back-of-neck good in places.
All the "it's really about the producer" stuff upthread is revealed as cobblers by this point. With all the names knocking around - Arca, Dev Hynes, Paul Epworth, maybe Clams Casino - it's remarkably consistent in sound and aesthetic leaving you in little doubt that the person who's actually driving things is her. As opposed to other hyped new artists where the debut sounds like a bet-hedging grab-bag of different approaches.
And so many of these tracks SOUND fantastic, like pop songs stretched out until their component parts are miles apart, and then making maximum use of that space. I'm trying to work out why I find this all so affecting, she doesn't have a particularly great voice or what you'd call presence (other than in a kind of airy seductive ghost way) but her voice ties everything together perfectly, you can't imagine this working without her.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 7 August 2014 11:29 (nine years ago) link
Terrible fucking name by the way.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 7 August 2014 11:32 (nine years ago) link
I don't like the name either but I liked her explanation when I interviewed her: "I like the masculine letters. It sounds like a boy’s computer game. A sergeant has to save people. FKA twigs on a mission! FKA twigs do you read me? Copy that!" Then she started moving her arms like a game character running. She's quite odd.
― Re-Make/Re-Model, Thursday, 7 August 2014 12:54 (nine years ago) link
The record is wonderful. At first I thought it was all just a beautiful blur but then I started listening to tracks in isolation and the different strengths and idiosyncracies come out. Two Weeks is one of my songs of the year.
― Re-Make/Re-Model, Thursday, 7 August 2014 12:56 (nine years ago) link
Yeah it all seems kind of samey but then you pay attention and start to realise how much each track changes as it goes along, all these evolving shapes and sounds in the background.
Hate the first 15 seconds of Lights On though. Maybe they had the Pitchfork audience in mind and decided to include a rythmically inept guitar figure right at the beginning just to reassure them.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 7 August 2014 13:13 (nine years ago) link
i love all kinds of sounds i could never hum to save my life
― °ㅇ๐ْ ° (gr8080), Thursday, 7 August 2014 13:37 (nine years ago) link
With all the names knocking around - Arca, Dev Hynes, Paul Epworth, maybe Clams Casino - it's remarkably consistent in sound and aesthetic leaving you in little doubt that the person who's actually driving things is her.
sounds like she produced a lot of it herself as well?
― festival culture (Jordan), Thursday, 7 August 2014 13:38 (nine years ago) link
Yeah I think so.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 7 August 2014 13:51 (nine years ago) link
i love all kinds of sounds i could never hum to save my life― °ㅇ๐ْ ° (gr8080)
― go ahead. make vid where u rap about this new TMNT movie. (forksclovetofu), Friday, 8 August 2014 03:22 (nine years ago) link
loving this. earnestly looking forward to lex explaining why we're listening to the wrong thing
― Simon H., Friday, 8 August 2014 03:56 (nine years ago) link
I'm actually having quite a lot of trouble hearing this as an R&B album in any way, obviously there is loads of R&B influence in there but a lot of the time the melodies just don't feel like R&B melodies, there's this odd kind of English folkishness to some of the vocal lines. It's a weird blend but she makes it work.
― Matt DC, Friday, 8 August 2014 08:41 (nine years ago) link
I don't think it really has any pretensions of being "an R&B album", so to speak - it's much closer to Homogenic than Aaliyah.
― uxorious gazumping (monotony), Friday, 8 August 2014 12:58 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, I'd be wary of falling into the Santigold trap here
― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Friday, 8 August 2014 13:02 (nine years ago) link
it's for a spy film so she met the brief
― ufo, Friday, 19 November 2021 01:45 (two years ago) link
Did not know that. Makes sense.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 19 November 2021 02:34 (two years ago) link
the song in question - it's great!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgvTBLA6nA8
― Roz, Friday, 19 November 2021 03:36 (two years ago) link
Unexpected new album
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Friday, 14 January 2022 00:44 (two years ago) link
New *mixtape
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 14 January 2022 14:21 (two years ago) link
Plenty to like here but on first listen I love “Careless”.
I like this simple, pop approach she’s taking on most of the mixtape.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 14 January 2022 14:40 (two years ago) link
It is nice seeing her not take herself so seriously, but when she does her music hits higher highs. This is fun though! Definitely enjoyed the first half this morning.
― octobeard, Friday, 14 January 2022 18:37 (two years ago) link
this isn't really grabbing me for the most part idk
― ufo, Saturday, 15 January 2022 03:08 (two years ago) link
this is a great look for her imo. i like this a lot. much better than that last LP, i think her bending back towards the mainstream is better for her, she can find some spot where she's a bit on the fringes. she has a unique voice & can write a melody, she doesn't need to go broken pretentious arty arca w/ it, her best stuff is typically the most straightforward i think
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 18 January 2022 23:28 (two years ago) link
I'm the opposite, I loved Magdalene with all its Kate Bush swoops. I think this is fine, a couple of really good tracks.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 18 January 2022 23:32 (two years ago) link
Same, I really like the mixtape but Magdalene was a classic for her. And unlike the early Arca eps it had a pretty traditional palette, it was mostly piano-based (but treated in a super modern way imo)!
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 18 January 2022 23:35 (two years ago) link
A question because I am old. How is this NOT an album?
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Saturday, 22 January 2022 07:27 (two years ago) link
I think it's just something people say when they release an album but want to deemphasize its importance in their canon. Maybe they didn't take as much time as they would with an 'album', or maybe it's because they don't want to do the full album-cycle work of touring and promotion, or maybe they just didn't clear all the samples? Idk. It's pretty clearly an album, but I get if she wants to convey that it's not the serious follow-up to Magdalene that is yet to come.
― change display name (Jordan), Saturday, 22 January 2022 13:55 (two years ago) link
mixtape = EP minus quality control
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 22 January 2022 17:26 (two years ago) link
Lol that's a much better explanation
― change display name (Jordan), Saturday, 22 January 2022 17:58 (two years ago) link
Sounds good no matter what it is called
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 22 January 2022 19:04 (two years ago) link
xp I prefer your explanation, Jordan
Mixtapes are often cohesive full length efforts, stylistically thematic, and some can be incredible (Clipse's We Got It 4 Cheap series, Kehlani's You Should Be Here, Weeknd's House of Balloons, etc).
But they aren't canonical, often lack singles and tour support, sample clearing, big name production, etc. It's largely divorced from a mixtape's origins of homemade cassette tapes with a cohesive mix of tracks/raps/songs tied together on top of a bunch of hodge podge beats. Honestly when I think of an actual "mix tape" I think more of turntablists like Q-Bert or a DJ mix. Pop mix tapes feel more like full length "demos".
― octobeard, Monday, 24 January 2022 03:31 (two years ago) link
these days it usually means it's an early project being given away for free to build hype (not that the 'free' part means a lot in the modern streaming era), or the label doesn't want to give it the same sort of promotional budget, or it's a more casual stopgap release not intended to be the 'proper' follow-up release. rare for any of these to get a physical release
here it seems it's more like the third? it's kinda silly to make the distinction at all these days really
― ufo, Monday, 24 January 2022 03:48 (two years ago) link
In non-music news. Can't she just play the Crow instead?
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/fka-twigs-bill-skarsgard-crow-reboot-1235124947/
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 5 April 2022 15:02 (two years ago) link
That would be better, although I'm still hoping for the FKA Twigs as Highlander reboot.
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 5 April 2022 15:27 (two years ago) link
Excellent Briana Younger feature.
https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/fka-twigs-interview
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 20 June 2022 18:44 (one year ago) link
Good story. Interesting how she first went to LA to learn more about krumping from the originators.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 21 June 2022 04:59 (one year ago) link