grimes' ART ANGELS poll

couldn't choose so voted butterfly, the last one i woke up singing

demo version of realiti does appear as a bonus track on CD version but not, imo, in this poll

times like this are when I wonder if I have some kind of permanent hearing problem (certainly a lot of people would agree) but I went back and listened to the demo, and no, it is not better. let's break it down:

- the vocals on the demo are objectively off-key. for an early and striking example, compare "no life" to the version on the album and try to tell me with a straight face that the former is better; or the weak quaver at the end of the line. I've mentioned these before and it would feel mean to nitpick it to this extent if these were not the exact things that got fixed.

- the vocals are less emotive; on the demo the chorus is sung like it's a scale exercise (replace "mor-ning-there-are-moun-tains-to-climb" with "do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do" and you'd get the same levels of stress and emotion), where on the album version the chorus is sung like a chorus.

- the vocals are also faint in the mix, which is weird for lyrics that are supposed to be meaningful. on the album version, they are loud and clear and commanding, particularly on the verses.

- the production is muddy and clunky, as expected for a demo. there's a sweep to the album version that just doesn't exist on the demo (particularly noticeable on the bridge). the percussion, in particular, drags the demo down constantly.

- most importantly, the stupid and glorious and perfect alice deejay synth is barely audible in the mix on the demo, when it's one of the best parts.

and yet a lot of people like the demo better. what a crazy world.

more like FART ANGELS

and I suspect a lot of that is via just being so used to the demo that any other version is automatically sacrilege, or latching onto the demo as a way of signalling they are a True Grimes Fan, unlike those casuals who just buy the album

or s/buy/stream/pirate or whatever, the point still stands

To me, the demo sounds like it would fit on visions almost. There is a moodiness there that Grimes decidely rejected in Art Angels. They sound like they belong to different eras of her career. they're like, in dialogue with each other

"Better or worse" seems like a boring question. They're different and the differences are instructive to people who are interested in Grimes' music.

but the album version is plenty moody! the production being clear only adds to the mood!

when the album was released I was disappointed that some things I loved about the demo (the swirling synth backdrop being present in the verse, delivery of "in death if we are always the same", dreamier feel) were missing from the album version but now I better appreciate the ways the things the album version is better at as well. both are fantastic and I'll take as many versions of it as Grimes wants to make

Looking forward to the 20th anniversary Art Angels Sessions complete with 60 different takes of Realiti so that we can really sort out what's what

I would be all over that

PIN

I prefer the demo and also think the pop moves on this album are fabulous so shrug emoticon.

answer is "Pin" btw

Realiti demo all the way. I don't care if that wasn't her first choice and she had to re-record everything because she lost the original files. Truth is, the charm of the demo is not on the album version. Demo version is probably her best song ever, album version is not even the best song in the album so I guess I'm happy she lost the files and she decided to release what she had.

Now considering Realiti album version as the definite one then imho:

Butterfly
Flesh without blood
Easily
Realiti
Kill v Maim

Flesh Without Blooooooooooooodddddd

Realiti
Butterfly
Flesh Without Blood
Pin
World Princess part II
Kill V. Maim
Artangels
Easily
the rest

hey y'all, just so we're all clear, we are considering the album version of "realiti" in this poll

also i voted for "butterfly"

we can have a separate "demo vs. album" poll and fight to the death over it

anyone who likes the demo version of realiti better than the album version is dumb. dumb for grimes! by that i mean they like grimes. there are things that changed for the better on the album version, and there are some aspects of the demo that were lost. i prefer the demo because i'm dumb for grimes.

i voted for flesh without bloooddddddd. uncontrollable!!

To me, the demo sounds like it would fit on visions almost. There is a moodiness there that Grimes decidely rejected in Art Angels. They sound like they belong to different eras of her career. they're like, in dialogue with each other

yeah this is my thinking too, the demo sounds like a perfect culmination to the visions sound, which for me adds a bit of contextual heft to it that the album version can't quite match, even while it does improve it elsewhere

I didn't want a Visions sound because Visions is an inferior album.

i voted for "world princess pt ii"

same

I enjoy both versions of Realiti, but ultimately voted for Butterfly. I also really dig Kill V. Maim, but it requires a certain mood.

i don't want to get into a realiti vs realiti fight, they're both great. i'm glad they're both on the CD and placed where they are. though butterfly is the real album ender.

Kill V. Maim without hesitation

though I can never remember the real lyrics

Italiana mobstah lookin so precious

Voted for SCREAM because it's great fun and I can't imagine anyone else voting for it. This album is top.

Listened to this again today, not regretting my vote for Flesh Without Blood but California and the title track are sounding pretty great too.

i do not get or like Grimes' music. She seems like a decent sort though.

Thanks for sharing

It's not that mystifying - Grimes is what would happen if you gave the average ILM poster musical talent and vision. I think she's very slightly overrated on here because she's such a perfect fit - precision-engineered for music-critic types with her embrace of Pop As Art - but it's still great stuff and ultimately I have no problem with her centrality to the discourse.

yo who tf else is voting for Pin so the results of this poll can be valid and true

katherine relentlessly otm itt

the demo is interesting but it sounds unfinished (obv bc it is a demo ffs)

and wrt the demo being a culmination of the visions sound, i really disagree, it still sounds like an unfinished demo and would sound that way on visions too

lol at people seeming offended at the idea that a demo could be superior to a studio version, it's not that uncommon there's even a really cool thread for essential demos Essential demos, alternative takes, original versions, and peel sessions of CLASSIC songs...

like, has it ever occurred to you that maybe grimes knows what the fuck she's doing (and has spent a lot of time fighting against people who assume she doesn't) and if she took the time, after losing the fucking Ableton file, to entirely reconstruct the track instead of dropping the demo on the album as would be easy, then maybe the re-recorded version is closer to her artistic vision

yes & i like the demo better

i can respect grimes' artistic vision and also like whatever the fuck i like, you know?

yeah, there's no disrespect to grimes' vision in preferring the demo - for all we know she might prefer it in some ways

Given the lecturing tone of posts itemising why I should prefer the album version to the demo, I feel compelled to explain why I don't. The latter comfortably outstrips the demo in production values, but there are artistic choices which reduce its emotional impact. Specifically, the vocals on the demo are bedded seamlessly into the mix, giving it a far more organic and dreamlike feel. For the album version she consciously increases the light and shade, dropping the instrumental bed away during the verses, and singing lines in different styles with different treatments - this is pretty grating on the second line, where she takes a deliberately arch tone and sings "death" off-key. The prechorus vocal elements are treated differently to each other and become a kind of call-and-response effect instead of the blurred, overlapping murmur of the demo. The vocal melody is tweaked with note bends and lifts on the word "reality", along with countermelodies throughout (vocal and instrumental) which again are adding variety. This is precisely the problem for me - the demo beds the vocal deep in the waves of instrumentation, and the vocal take sounds almost distracted and unselfconscious, carried along by the track's pulse and drifting in the ocean of reverb. The whole becomes hypnotic, oneiric, meditative and deeply emotional in a way I don't respond to the album recreation.

otm, the vocals seem less sincere, more of a self-conscious act on the album version - like she's singing lyrics she's familiar with to the point of boredom

but same thing kinda goes for the beat and synths - it's all too clear and pounding on the album, the vagueness of the demo is what's appealing!

I'm glad that some prefer the album version though, and I agree it makes more sense in the album context

That's it for me... I don't know how to explain it in technical terms like MatthewK but she sounds less mechanical in the demo version. Not trying to imprint my own fan fiction into the story of the song or anything but I don't think it's a crazy notion that she had more fun and was more infatuated with Realiti when creating it the first time than the second time and it 'feels' somehow. I might be remembering wrong but didn't she say at one point that Realiti 2.0 wouldn't be in the album at all because she felt it didn't feel like it was part of Art Angels but as a transition in sound between Visions and Art Angels.

Hell, the vinyl version removed the song completely. If Realiti 2.0 is closer to her artistic vision than the demo then why does it feel like Grimes herself wasn't happy with forcing it into the album?

My theory: She lost the original files, loved the song, had toremake the song either way because she needs the original files to play it live or something. Vinyl takes longer than CD/digital files to print so the original tracklist doesn't include Realiti at all. While waiting for the vinyl release she was still working on Realiti 2.0 and when she finished she said 'well, here it is, might as well add it in the cd/digital version'.

how is a demo less self-conscious than a studio recording?

the two versions are very different. they're completely different songs that evoke different emotions.

pitting visions against art angels feels reductive, they're both great records.

i would prob have liked art angels more if a project that felt like an intensification of the ideas on visions had ever happened idk

What do you mean? Sincere question

the ‘bridge’ album between visions and art angels is missing. REALiTi is our only glimpse into it

i know what you're saying flappy but do artists need to create transitional records?

Need? No. But knowing such an album exists (or did exist) with one amazing song as its only extant document makes fantasizing about it all the more frustrating. And I loved Art Angels, but it’s like knowing that Revolver or Rubber Soul exists and not knowing how they jumped from Help to Sgt Pepper, and how many great songs will never be heard.

That's a great analogy.

Thought this revive was going to be about her threatening to get a face tat on instagram.

What do you mean? Sincere question

― stoker (Ross), Wednesday, June 27, 2018 7:31 AM (ten hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ths is more about my openness to art angels but visions offered a whole bunch of cool ideas i would have liked to have heard expanded on & instead it felt like she just went left ... in rap this happens a lot where a mixtape rapper has a dope mixtape, the album is an expansion of that sound to establish it on a bigger platform, then the artist pulls the audience in a knew direction ... "visions" felt like the mixtape to me more than the Official Debut, the earliest articulation of a style ... I think Famous Dex actually made the same 'mistake.' 10 years from now it wont matter or anything

thanks d-40. i'm curious what the new record will be like, whether it will bridge those albums in a way

From the previews so far it sounds more like art angels 2.0 - closer to a more energetic pop / rock sound than to the synth / dream pop of Visions but who knows.

she's said she's going for a darker and less pop vibe than Art Angels so it might bridge the two more