Janelle Monae

although I did lol at the last two lines.

HAHAHAHAHA just read these and yes, dear heavens, so lol worthy.

artists referenced in 6 paragraphs:

lady gaga, beyonce, kanye, jay-z, justin timberlake, lil wayne, toni morrison, janet jackson, prince, charles burnett, julie dash, parliament-funkadelic, samuel delaney, octavia butler, kid cudi, kanye again, lady gaga again, Arrested Development, Joi, TLC, Outkast, the Dungeon Family, Goodie MOB, Gnarls Barkley, Ursher, Lil' Jon, Ludacris, Young Jeezy, Gucci Mane, T.I., dionne farris, joi, badu, andre 3k, cee-lo, left eye, jermain dupri, fiona apple, ani difranco, lauryn hill, santigold, mia, j*davey, mars volt, and the entire genres of crunk, trap, sissybounce, and juke

"Ursher"

dionne farris!!

Honestly surprised there's only been one Nellie McKay comparison so far on this thread. (The difference for me being I don't like McKay much.)

don't know anything about her.

but damn that letterman clip....that band is fucking amazingly tight and awesome...like almost on some nu-school JBs type shit. damn.

listening to some on lala

this is good! i'm glad i clicked this thread!

"oh, maker" is a really nice paul simon type song in the verses, maybe a little morrissey in the la-da-da-da-da

yeah the band is nuts. i really want to see her live, but she doesn't seem to be coming to toronto any time soon.

i'm a bit confused by how many people are saying that musically, she's way too "attention-seeking."

yeah R&B vocalists should not seek attention, poor form IMO

One would think that seeking attention would be a positive attribute in a performer.

i think ppl mean in terms of the production tho rite?

I respect this album more than I like it. I tend to like albums that do one thing for forty minutes or so - I'm old-school like that. So under the broad umbrella of "soul"/"R&B"/"black women singers," my keepers this year are the Kelis album (which is 40-plus minutes of straight Euro dance) and the Sharon Jones album. Monáe is talented but I don't enjoy the record the way I enjoy those other two, more traditional/circumspect/choose-your-thinly-disguised-pejorative discs.

I keep meaning to pick up that Sharon Jones disc, she was straight fire on The Colbert Report

i have a couple sharon jones. they are those type of records you like but then i never find myself actually listening to that much.

live she is an absolute joy.

yeah the band is nuts. i really want to see her live, but she doesn't seem to be coming to toronto any time soon.

i'm a bit confused by how many people are saying that musically, she's way too "attention-seeking."

― borntohula, Thursday, May 20, 2010 9:20 AM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah R&B vocalists should not seek attention, poor form IMO

― you better check that sausage before you put it in the rofl (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, May 20, 2010 9:21 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

Same thing crossed my mind. I also wonder how often this is a negative for Lex.

I respect this album more than I like it. I tend to like albums that do one thing for forty minutes or so - I'm old-school like that. So under the broad umbrella of "soul"/"R&B"/"black women singers," my keepers this year are the Kelis album (which is 40-plus minutes of straight Euro dance) and the Sharon Jones album. Monáe is talented but I don't enjoy the record the way I enjoy those other two, more traditional/circumspect/choose-your-thinly-disguised-pejorative discs.

I think this is a very traditional approach, it just harks back more to a late 60s/70s model of some sort.

This album is great. Flawed, but definitely not failed.

album is great, but overlong and not sequenced that well. it doesnt start off with the bang it should do. shes def not attn seeking as a singer though - if anything shes very unlike yr trad Rnb singer as shes all about putting the song first, despite having 1 of the most capable voices of anyone out there...

Most trad R&B singers DO put the song first.

and god bless em for it

cuz if i could sing like that i would be all like "Yo song step the fuk bak i'mma do my thing right now"

*whole tone scat solo*

curious about this.

Letterman clip is okay - she's obviously got a good voice but it's basically a 100% straight JB homage/tribute act

I do kinda have a weakness for any and all afrofuturism tho

That one song is a total JB homage but the album zips all over the place.

Geir to thread?

The reaction from a couple of rockcrit buddies is: "I expected space/disco/future pop/eclecticism, not boilerplate R&B." I totally disagree the assumptions behind this statement (what's`boilerplate R&B' and what's wrong with it?)

r&b's been kinda boring for the last 5 years or so?

altho their definition of boilerplate may refer to a different era

Not according to my ears. Until a couple of years I thought so too, but I was being lazy, not testing my assumptions.

xpost

I mean, I think The Chase Suite EP in three full length tracks had a lot of diversity but hewed to one sonic template and the album has a lot more down tempo stuff, a lot more "Broadway" at times, etc. None of this is necessarily bad even if I don't love it as much as Violet Stars Happy Hunting! or whatever.

But The ArchAndroid is a really strange beast of an album, both more progressive and more traditional than a lot of the criticism is giving it credit for. I'm still not sure whether I LOVE it but it deserves to be given some time to open itself up (at least for me). And I mean, whether I end up loving it or getting bored with it, the fact that Monae has gotten some attention from alternative/indie sources is completely irrelevant re: the album's actual worth.

The reaction from a couple of rockcrit buddies is: "I expected space/disco/future pop/eclecticism, not boilerplate R&B." I totally disagree the assumptions behind this statement (what's`boilerplate R&B' and what's wrong with it?)

is what I was referring to when talking about The Chase Suite. It's not necessarily that future pop eclecticism is by nature better than boilerplate R&B (whatever that IS), but for three years or so we only had four songs in Janelle's catalogue to listen to and two of them were pretty structurally interesting left-field R&B, plus 'Sincerely, Jane' which is just stunning front to back. A full length album has let her display the full breadth of her influences and not ALL of those influences are to the taste of people who dug the EP. I think that's maybe what their objections are. Of course, they're wrong.

personally by "Attention getting" I mean very very ego based and mannered; shit sounds like a broadway musical to me. This is not a style i'm inherently into, luckily it's not the only thing she's doing.

shit sounds like a broadway musical to me.

You could say this about anything, though, going back all the way to Jacques Brel and Scott Walker, and forward to, uh... Green Day?

Got halfway through this now and it's much less irritating than the reviews make it sound. I don't even hear THAT much self-conscious eclecticism. Certainly not compared to The Love Below or I Am/Sasha Fierce, which lest we forget had a POST-ROCK track on it. It feels more like classic soul that's been musical theatred up a bit.

Not sure how much I like it yet, but she has an exceptional voice - works much better on the ballads.

Has anyone told her there's no fighting in a cold war?

I think maybe there's just a certain type of critic who automatically jizzes themselves whenever they hear live instrumentation in a commercial rnb record.

So, whenever they hear anything that reminds them of white males playing guitars, basically.

critics!

Certainly not compared to The Love Below or I Am/Sasha Fierce, which lest we forget had a POST-ROCK track on it.

You mean the Tsunami rip-off?

Has anyone told her there's no fighting in a cold war?

Not to defend all her lyrics, but: wrong.

(Does it make a lot of sense to me the way she's using the phrase? Not really. But still, the point is wrong.)

Certainly not compared to The Love Below or I Am/Sasha Fierce, which lest we forget had a POST-ROCK track on it.

You don't say? (What's the track?)

"Love Theme To Bundy K. Brown" iirc

yeah do not remember any tortoise wibble on that

but tbh i was INCENSED that it's like 11 tracks spread over 2 cds and never listened to it much

"You could say this about anything, though, going back all the way to Jacques Brel and Scott Walker, and forward to, uh... Green Day?"

Oh, cmon. You know what I mean. It's a degree of dramatic showiness, theatrical presentation and general glossy sheen. It's the same issue I have with her live: the shows don't feel organic and every moment is heavily scripted. It's a bit staged and while I don't have anything against that inherently, it's a little chafing for music that's this personal. I hear the McKay thing to the extent that they both engage in that way and it's the element of McKay that I find least interesting as well. McKay's always had the benefit of potentially going batty or absurd; Monae seems more rigid to me.
That said, it's a nice album. Not totally killing me but I'm glad to be listening to it.

you could literally say that about ANYTHING...napalm death...merle haggard...bobby brown...eightball and mjg

would watch 8ball and mjg broadway show

would produce 8ball and mjg broadway show

if we raise enough money from the 8ball and mjg broadway show we can save our teen center from that evil developer that wants to tear it down and build a convenience store!!!

Comin' Out! (hard)

twyla tharp choreo; a lot of leaning from side to side

"Wondaland" is great!

re that atlantic article

reps a tuxedo every day

so she goes around all day shouting "SHOUT OUT TO TUXEDOS" or what?