Frank Ocean, 'Boys Don't Cry'

i like this better than channel orange but it'd only have to display the slightest animation for me to do that. all of the songs basically have one structure, i.e. start off in a place really ugly and unsettling and slowly get pretty. way too many nothing interludes, and having andre in the center makes the two halves seem duller than they are

I really like "nights, "ivy" and "good guy" so far, about halfway through rn

thus far the only novel criticism of it I've seen is coming from brad's points in this thread, lol most everything else positive or negative - particularly negative - is predictable as hell

maybe my speakers are breaking but the high synth tones in "siegfried" are making them vibrate in a really unpleasant, ear-splitting way and i guess the way to make me not want to listen to an album again is to master it so uncarefully that parts of it hurt to hear

Here's what I wrote on a certain critic's wall last night:

...too monochromatic, too reliant on strumming; he's importing hip-hop (e.g. Andre 3000) into introspective material beholden to a private argot of heartbreak. I listened and waited for a tempo change, any change (maybe I wasn't listening close enough). He's closer to John Legend than his bros Earl Sweatshirt and co. but w/no interest in arenas.

xp I haven't gotten to that song yet and am listening on fancy headphones, we'll see. as for the sound in general it's pretty but also kinda...thin I guess? is that part of what you mean? definitely not enough low end.

oh yeah the record as a whole is super trebly and glassy

the first two songs are the best imo, possibly because the rest of the so-called tunes follow their template

i like "nights" a lot

Did anyone see on the list of guest musicians Fish and Anthony Phillips??

Wait, hold on, as in the former Marillion singer and the long-departed Genesis cofounder? He should have asked Steven Wilson in for a UK-prog-through-the-generations trifecta.

Think I would of been more excited by Kerry Minear of Gentle Giant or Richard Sinclair of Caravan but still strangest guest credits of the year if true...

Contributors for Frank Ocean's Physical Blond Album
Andre3000
Anthony Phillips
Arca
Beatles
Benjamin Wright
Beyoncé Knowles Carter
Bob Ludwig
Brian Eno
Buddy Ross
Caleb Levan
Christophe Chassol
David Bowie
Elliot Smith
Fish
Gang of Four
James Blake
Jamie Xx
Jason Lader
Jazmine Sullivan
Jeff Ellis
Joe Visciano
Jonny Greenwood
Kanye West
Kendrick Lamar
Kim Burrell
Kohh
Loota
Malay
Matt Mysko
Mike Dean
Michael Uzowuru
Om’mas Keith
Pharrell Williams
Rick Rubin
Rostam batmanglij
Sam Petts-Davies
Sean Oakley
Sebastian
Space Man
Tom Elmhirst
Tyler, the Creator

Might be samples??...

you forgot young lean

oh yeah, my C&P must have got cut off

apologies to Yung Lean and 88 Keys

sorry if keeping 'pink & white' and leaving the rest is basic but that's how being otm be sometimes

if any trace of songwriting or interesting sound is present on the last three tracks let me know, i gave up the slog

haha lol me too

actually no i walked away the first time within 5 seconds of andre 3k's appearance (fuck you andre) and then when i returned to it there followed the "did u hear kevin shields rly likes drum n bass" number and then the facebook frog and then i truly was done

It's hard to know what to care about; I don't know what he's singing about, he doesn't compel me to care what he's singing about, ugh.

It was...okay, I guess. Much like the last album. Heard that once and went "I suppose" and never went back to it, and I kinda figure that'll happen with me and this one.

'pink & white' is the most channel orangey which prob runs counter to some criticism i would have made of that album at the time but in mitigation it does check its dubiously priced coat in vaguely near to scritti's with the "showed me love / glory from above"

which is not about his beloved peeing on him, I suppose

probably the only thing tempting me to return is that i still have no idea what this album is about and what it's saying beyond being generally pinteresting (not saying this doesnt exist or is neglible just it didnt come across). channel o i got immediately otoh and beefed w/ it in dialogue

Channel Orange had some songs. This has... idk

suspect the crine rodman cover facepalm may live longer in the culture than the songs

Channel Orange had some songs. This has... idk

― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Sunday, August 21, 2016 6:20 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this has a list of cool collaborators

from the Rolling Stone review: "In fact, it is so meditative that there are few beats at all."

A few songs in and I'm not feeling this. The melodies are pretty, but the tracks sound like demos. Dude should've waited another four years if that's what it would've taken to get the levels right.

Dude might've gotten a little too high on his own supply.

idk, i could hear this as a product of procrastination just as equally as a couple of bits he had lying about that he spent indolent indulgent years artfully stonewashing and fraying the seams of just so

the trap is to care at all. maybe that's the point

so what you're saying is i should wait until I cop a new stonewashed jean jacket for the autumn or nah

(to buy/listen to this album i mean)

I heard this eating lunch in some hipster place in Hudson today after a 2-day airport/hotel journey, fried and exhausted, and it sounded absolutely perfect in that context, even the weed rant

in mitigation it does check its dubiously priced coat in vaguely near to scritti's with the "showed me love / glory from above"

hm gonna have to revisit this one

the trap is to care at all

isn't it always

alright treeship calm down. no i meant for an artist who trades specifically in ambivalence/apathy/fleeting fraught intensities

'pink & white' is just as much the usual n.e.r.d & theology as anything else, i realise, but pickings are slim

alright treeship calm down

i won't stand for this

i do hear the scritti tho, sort of a hook that could've appeared on anomie

the trap is to keep on breathiing

it's a concept album about how his mom told him not to smoke weed but fuck u mom

tbh i think "ivy" sounds like an outtake from to record only water for ten days, and imo frank loves rhcp

guess you can't work in the L.A. scene w/out admitting to liking them. Maybe it was the same re Jackson Browne in 1985.

I'm listening again and a few of the songs are starting to stand out, like Ivy, Self Control, and Pink + White. But the bulk of it remains a hookless morass.

At least John Mayer isn't on these albums.

I'm happy with 3 good songs.

At least John Mayer isn't on these albums

so much blooz guitar, coulda fooled me

so much zzz guitar more like

what it's saying beyond being generally pinteresting

All mood board

The complaints I am reading here -- "no songs," something something "stonewashed jean vest," an overall impression that this is more of an exploration of a certain mood than something that "says anything" -- make it sound amazing. Probably too good for me to ever listen to.

it doesn't even really work as just a mood piece or anything, it doesn't evoke anything at all

i liked channel orange but i can barely remember anything about this after multiple listens

I have taken the novel step of actually listening to this (new laptop, hadn't bothered to get itunes on it) and so far I like it?

(#wow would you look at that #scintillating take how could you produce such insights katherine #whoa)

Definitely less immediate than Channel Orange but it sounds heavenly.

I think the clumsy rollout prevented this from arriving with the boom it otherwise might have? Seems like he did himself no favors by releasing the leftovers first.

Endless definitely isn't leftover material