Janelle Monae

I like "Wondaland" a lot.

at first i was convinced i only liked the first half, but after every listen i'm starting to like more and more beyond the halfway mark.

Yep, definitely feeling it more second time round. Like how II is all rocky and III is all weird. The production could be beefier, though.

Dammit, shouldn't have used ILX on Jabba Hands' computer!

album is a bit long but wow. i want to marry this woman.

I am really hearing a "Clair de Lune" quote at the end of "Say You'll Go," right? But those rising choral voices, aren't they something out of a 1940s Hollywood soundtrack?

Part of "Locked Inside" reminds me of "Golden Lady."

Yes! I was listening to this while washing the dishes in the other room, so only half paying attention, but I was like, "Is that...?"

The last two tracks are my favorites at this point.

Also, since I'm still very new to her, I find myself repeatedly struck by how good her singing is. I like this: Janelle Monae (or perhaps android alter-ego Cindi Mayweather) has received many accolades for her unique personal style and stage show, but not enough acclaim for the strength and versatility of her singing voice.http://www.allhiphop.com/stories/alternatives/archive/2010/05/18/22225030.aspx

(I'm a little surprised this thread is not busier. Maybe others are smart enough to wait until they've had more time to sort through the album.)

still need to really crack the album

Tunes that I've grown to like quite a bit:

Dance or Die
Faster
Tightrope
Oh, Maker
Come Alive
Make the Bus
Wondaland
Say You'll Go

I think it was a bit of a mistake to give the first three songs proper the same pace and make them run into each other - more of a mid-album trick. At the start it lulls you into nodding off a bit.

ha, the r&b acute is totally like the metal umlaut

<3 this post

Her choice of electric guitar sounds tends to be a bit banal, but what I'm finding is that most of the time there's enough redundancy built into the music that I can look over the parts I don't like. (Most skip-able songs for me: probably Come Alive and Take the Bus.)

Make the Bus. (Make the bus, take the bus, whatever.)

the occasional orchestral swoons and production idiosyncracies remind me somehow of st. vincent.

I don't think the album is very good at all.

I think it was a bit of a mistake to give the first three songs proper the same pace and make them run into each other - more of a mid-album trick. At the start it lulls you into nodding off a bit.

i found a problem with that too, but more as an issue of pacing. it didn't make me nod off, but it made me think that the album was going to be a lot more funky than it is.

if those three were placed in the middle like you suggested, then they'd work more like a well-needed burst of energy.

I'm voting yes so far.

that letterman performance was awesome.

Enjoy everything I've heard from this album so far. Gonna pick up the CD today.

that cramps psychobilly raveup in the middle was sorta 0_0 for me.

I like the way the similarly paced tracks flowing into one another kick off the beginning of the album. I think it works just fine.

i thought the performance was pretty great considering the lack of big boi. i was wondering how much his involvement effected my enjoyment, and its safe to say that i like it just as much without him. that rave up part was cool, and the nod to james brown (which one?!) was also great. there was lots of energy in the room, and it sounded great. i'm a bit surprised dave didn't ask her to play again, like he did with these folks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds3yl7YjVyM

wow i said great a lot

its been interesting listening to this alongside FanMail (due to the listening club). for all the android next level future stuff, monae's album has a kinda of retroism to it. like right now im listening to 'locked inside' and that guitar line sounds like it could have been pulled off something from 35 years ago. whereas its the tlc album that obv has that real metalic sound that youd expect to hear on album about androids or whatever

i gave up on the idea that i might like this album when i read this

Monáe describes The ArchAndroid as an "emotion picture,"

also

Its most recent antecedent is André 3000's The Love Below

only listened to it once so far but not really being moved to listen again. so busy and hyperactive, but in a kinda annoying attention-seeking way.

Here comes the flood:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14271-the-archandroid/

somebody was just telling me last night that Matt loved this album; makes sense given his taste. I really need to give it a serious go.

the occasional orchestral swoons and production idiosyncracies remind me somehow of st. vincent.

― establishment man cloggin up ur spills (Hunt3r), Tuesday, May 18, 2010 11:32 PM (2 days ago)

I was just listening to this album for the first time when Sir Greendown came on it made me think of St. Vincent so much, no bad thing at all.

Yeah I am really loving this album on first listen. I was totally smitten after the Letterman performance.

ya i was curious what its pitchfork score would be...i have a few hipsterish friends who normally dont touch pop/r&b who have been all over this

which is cool of course except when they tell me that janelle monae isn't pop/r&b

basically the last opinion i'd ever look to read about this album would be coming from a fiery furnaces stan, so thanks 4 making that happen pitchfork.

Its most recent antecedent is André 3000's The Love Below

Oh good lord no. I listened to the first two tracks and thought it kind of overwrought but promised to go back. I still will, but I find that whole approach massively offputting.

"Monáe's sci-fi mythology is an inspired addition to the rich canon of Afrofuturist art"

!!!!!!

i have a few hipsterish friends who normally dont touch pop/r&b who have been all over this

no 1 DING DING DING warning bell in my book - as a litmus test it's never wrong

Its most recent antecedent is André 3000's The Love Below

My first thought too. It's failed eclecticism.

Oh no. Oh no, I'm not gonna read a Pitchfork review which is gonna make me hate on something I would otherwise normally be all over.

Is this out? Or rather, is this out in the UK? HMV only had Metropolis when I went to look for it last night.

xp i feel like for the next 25 years any time a black artist makes an ambitious, genre-crossing album its going to be compared with the The Love Below. perhaps not incorrectly in this case, but its a comparison thats not necessarily indicative of quality

the comparisons are more due to monae's attention-seeking consciously kooky image, surely? black artists make "ambitious, genre-crossing" albums quite a lot - i don't even feel like sonically this album IS that ambitious or genre-crossing, as noted above it's really retro in a pretty straightforward way (general concept apart)

i have a few hipsterish friends who normally dont touch pop/r&b who have been all over this

Always a bad sign.

Eclecticism need not mean ambition.

So, this album isn't as immediately involving as I thought it would be, but I do feel like a lot of the naysaying is premature. It's okay if this isn't the best album in the world; it's still pretty enjoyable and Janelle is like massively, scarily talented.

Is this out? Or rather, is this out in the UK? HMV only had Metropolis when I went to look for it last night.

― The Curve Of Blinding Energy (Masonic Boom), Thursday, May 20, 2010 1:15 PM (12 minutes ago)

Play has this listed as coming out on July 12th. I'm already searching for the cheapest way to import it.

Genre-bouncing antecedents released after The Love Below: albums by Jazmine Sullivan, VV Brown, Van Hunt, PlantLife, YahZarah, Me'Shell Ndegéocello, (maybe) the Rebel Yell, etc., etc., etc.

ambition wasn't the right word (although i do think this album is ambitious). but this type of NEXT LEVEL r&b/hip-hop music is going to be compared to TLB whether its good or bad

b.o.b's album being an example of the latter

ya my point is that this album is way closer to jazmine sullivan than andre 3k, but how many reviews are gonna mention the former and how many the latter

whoa, this is a disco musical. Erykah on Glee.
TONS of interpolations/ripoffs/homages throughout; this feels really personal
still can't tell if I'm enjoying it, but it's such a jittery puppy of an album in a lookatmeLOOKATME! way. I love tightrope tho' so willing to give this more than just one full listen to get me.