Janelle Monae

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?

she rolls up in the club with 50 penguins

fuck the tuxedo tbh

fuxedo

"she reps a tux on the flippy flop"

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.

This comment is confusing to me, because her songwriting is not personal, in the sense that it's not her singing about how this person left her in Chicago or something like that. The mask and the theatricality are a thread running straight through the work, so I'm not sure why it shouldn't be performed that way as well. (I would agree though that the music is personal in another sense and that she has a distinctive vision.) I can see simply not liking that approach, but I don't see how the staginess of the performance doesn't suit the material.

i guess i find the stageyness of the performance plus the concept a bit cloying and near disingenuous; if she could keep the concept and tone down the razzmatazz, I'd be more inclined to buy into the project rather than being dazzled by the glare. I've said this before, but I blame American Idol for so goddamn much.

And yes, that latter explanation of why i find her songwriting/performance "personal" is my meaning.

re that atlantic article

reps a tuxedo every day

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

― jonathan blapelbon (J0rdan S.), Thursday, May 20, 2010 5:18 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

haha totally.

that just does not belong in the atlantic. like hearing your parents try out hip hop slang

So the one track no one's really mentioned yet is the one with all the numbers for a title that sounds like Simon & Garfunkel. Does Janelle even sing on it? It's quite a nice track, but I'm not entirely sure what it's doing there.

i'm trying to figure out why i think this album is just intensely, intensely annoying

because ur a hater

for one i think the songwriting is very unexceptional -- and i feel like her voice isn't out in front of the mix? like, for as "full" as this album wants to sound, it feels very 2-D to me, if that makes sense. i feel like i'm listening to the television.

well yeah that too

alright, reading perp's review

Much like fellow sci-fi magpie David Bowie, Monáe sings with the confidence of a star, but is essentially a vocal chameleon who places the needs of her songs ahead of her ego. Her performances can be jaw-dropping-- check out the transition from gentle folk phrasing to showstopping vocal runs on "Oh, Maker" for one example-- but she never gets in the way of her songs, which rely as much on her star power as the remarkable versatility of her band.

this is pretty much what i hate about this album. like, i feel like if vocals are gonna not be in the forefront of your music, then you better have songs that balance 'adventurousness' & hookiness the way that the electirk red album does or you need to be able to carve out an actual, unique niche like ciara ballads ("promise" and post-) or cassie (for better or worse)

& all of that is aside from all the valid criticisms of her tired ass steez

damn the song ft of montreal sounds exactly like an of montreal song

just makes me wanna listen to hissing fauna tho

yeah it is straight outta skeletal lamping

This album is light years ahead of anything Of Montreal has released.

i really hope this doesn't spiral into the pointless argument that it could, but i'll state for the record that you are crazy wrong

I don't quite understand some of the sneering that's going on over the album's crossover audience. This album seems much more intended for an audience that isn't particularly enthusiastic about the current R&B they hear, not to mention that it's not clear it should even be described as an R&B album. Given the list of artists Monae has the most praise for, and especially the inclusion of Lauryn Hill on that list, why would it be noteworthy that this doesn't appeal to someone who really likes Electrik Red or Cassie? This album has more in common with something like Kate Bush's Aerial or Tokyo Jihen's Adult (or Shiina Ringo's failed Sanmon Gossip) than with a lot of the R&B I see getting praised on ILM. (Not pretending to follow the genre, but I do sometimes lurk on threads I don't post to, check out what's being linked to, etc.) I don't feel like I am the crossover audience here.

Why wouldn't people like an album in a genre they don't normally like (especially in its contemporary form) if it does something along the lines of what they do like?

well i think it's fine for someone to be like "i don't dig modern r&b because of x, y and z and i dig this monae album because it's not that" but i don't think you can then turnaround and posit monae as some sort of transcendent pop/r&b figure who is more important or more adventurous than any artist of the past decade or whatever

Okay, that makes some sense. While I can relate to the level of enthusiasm some critics are expressing, even I find stuff like "Janelle Monae redefines music" just a little ridiculous.

"In view of the indubitable artistic brilliance & cultural relevance of 21st century musical luminaries such as Cassie, Ciara, & Electrik Red, Janelle Monáe falls short."

love when the backup singers murmur 'genocide' in 'locked inside'

ok, 2 songs in and I am in total bliss