Haha.
― _Rudipherous_, Saturday, 22 May 2010 19:12 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
because (a) people who don't like much modern r&b have bad taste in r&b and (b) it creates a dumb implied binary like "man if you're tired of all that shit on the radio, this is r&b done RIGHT!
xp looool
― sveltko (k3vin k.), Saturday, 22 May 2010 19:15 (fourteen years ago) link
anyway i think "many moons" is an incredible song and she is pretty incredible live (though i thought she was kind of bad by her standards on letterman) - i've only heard "tightrope" and the of montreal song off this new album, the former of which i thought was kinda the inevitable endpoint of her difficult-to-take at times corny steez (i think she's hella talented but i'm not sure how much of it i can take at once) and the latter of which i'm pretty sure kevin barnes just sent her an outtake from his previous album
― sveltko (k3vin k.), Saturday, 22 May 2010 19:18 (fourteen years ago) link
incredible incredible
― sveltko (k3vin k.), Saturday, 22 May 2010 19:19 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm not trying to have good taste in R&B, or to meet someone else's standards of good taste in music in general.
(b) I'm sure there are critics talking that way. My attitude is pretty much "if you're tired of all that shit on the radio," but I wouldn't say the second part. (Though I might say "this is music done right," which I guess would be even worse. Except I don't think this is the only way for it to be done right. I probably wouldn't say the second part. Maybe just: "try this.")
There's a big big audience that's disaffected with mainstream pop music and this album is for them as much as it is for R&B fans of whatever stripe. No amount of cutting edge pop intelectualizing is going to change their minds. (In fact, most of them are never going to see any of it.)
― _Rudipherous_, Saturday, 22 May 2010 19:36 (fourteen years ago) link
i'm not sure if we're even talking about real people right now, but the last decade or so (even the last five or three years) has been a pretty remarkable time for mainstream r&b, and if you can't recognize that, or which songs/artists/albums have been great over that time period, i'm not going to listen when you say "now this is how you do r&b!!" because you are wrong and have had blinders on, if not just outright bad taste
― mr. milquetoast (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 22 May 2010 19:42 (fourteen years ago) link
^^^^
― lol dope (Tape Store), Saturday, 22 May 2010 19:43 (fourteen years ago) link
im not going to listen when they say 'this is how you do r&b' but that doesnt mean im not going to enjoy janelle monae's music
― killahpriest (/\/K/\/\), Saturday, 22 May 2010 19:48 (fourteen years ago) link
i'm certainly not saying that the two are inextricably tied -- altho if you're positing monae as some sort of transcendent figure, i'm probably gonna think that you're an asshole
― mr. milquetoast (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 22 May 2010 19:50 (fourteen years ago) link
& as andy sort of pointed out a few days ago, people who are shouting from the cliffs about her transcendence probably have no idea of the artists who have been putting out music in this vein in recent years, a lot of it better than this, without the pretension & distractions
― mr. milquetoast (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 22 May 2010 19:52 (fourteen years ago) link
well i'd call her transcendent in that for better or for worse she incorporates a lot of stuff thats usually outside r&b but obviously shes not transcendent because shes a shining beacon of light coming out of a dry genre, so i think we agree here
― killahpriest (/\/K/\/\), Saturday, 22 May 2010 20:02 (fourteen years ago) link
by prentension and distractions i assume youre talking about her style? i think this a little harsh and kind of backlash-y
"emotion picture" etc
― mr. milquetoast (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 22 May 2010 20:03 (fourteen years ago) link
arachnoid robot suite
― mr. milquetoast (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 22 May 2010 20:04 (fourteen years ago) link
it actually has little to do with her & more about people trumping up things that add nothing to the actual music
but she's so original!
― i fake it so real, i am beyonce (surm), Saturday, 22 May 2010 20:14 (fourteen years ago) link
:-)
would be interested in a rev defense of the album
― mr. milquetoast (J0rdan S.), Saturday, May 22, 2010 12:10 PM Bookmark
most of it isn't really that theatrical or high-concept, though maybe the few songs that are + her image/marketing make it seem more so than it is. it certainly is less all those things than Metropolis (which I certainly do have reservations about), while being much musically richer. even when it is theatrical, she still pulls it off in better fashion than she did before, because the music is so vibrant. tbh, i really don't think she's dropped her pretences so much as gotten better at artifice, which always means hiding your cards in plain view, if that makes sense. hence, the bowie comparison upthread is apt.
fwiw kev, "Tightrope" and the Of Montreal joint are both pretty far at the wonkier end of the material here.
― The Reverend, Saturday, 22 May 2010 20:17 (fourteen years ago) link
btw, curious to know who you're thinking of here:
the artists who have been putting out music in this vein in recent years, a lot of it better than this, without the pretension & distractions
― The Reverend, Saturday, 22 May 2010 20:20 (fourteen years ago) link
i was referring to this post
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.
― Skank Bloc Polonia (Andy K), Thursday, May 20, 2010 8:32 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark
― mr. milquetoast (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 22 May 2010 20:28 (fourteen years ago) link
the last decade or so (even the last five or three years) has been a pretty remarkable time for mainstream r&b, and if you can't recognize that, or which songs/artists/albums have been great over that time period, i'm not going to listen when you say "now this is how you do r&b!!" because you are wrong and have had blinders on
J0rdan, I get what you're saying here -- but what about those of us who dig E.Red/Terius, Ciara, plenty of other mainstream "traditional" R&B, but also really dig the Monae album? Is there anything "blinders on"-esque about enjoying all of the above?
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Saturday, 22 May 2010 20:31 (fourteen years ago) link
no
― mr. milquetoast (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 22 May 2010 20:33 (fourteen years ago) link
i'm talking about a specific set of critics here
I don't really see anyone on that list as doing what Monae does here (Jazmine and Yahzarah aren't far at all from The Audition-era Monae), although there are certainly commonalities.
― The Reverend, Saturday, 22 May 2010 20:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Nothing is grabbing me from this album at all yet, as much as I like her.
― silence is a rhythm too (Turangalila), Saturday, 22 May 2010 23:57 (fourteen years ago) link
I really like (and genuinely surprised by) the quasi-brazilian stuff that pops up on a couple tracks
― The Reverend, Sunday, 23 May 2010 06:28 (fourteen years ago) link
― mr. milquetoast (J0rdan S.), Saturday, May 22, 2010 3:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark
do u even listen to this stuff. i mean im a big van hunt fan, but this is diff
nb ive only listened to 2 tracks
― its like why GROCERY BAG and not saddam? (deej), Sunday, 23 May 2010 09:11 (fourteen years ago) link
of the jm i mean, obv listened to way more van hunt
I haven't been able to read all the thread, so maybe I'm missing something -- but I wasn't implying that all those artists sound alike. "Genre-bouncing antecedents" = antecedents in that they are all genre-bouncing. Not sure how it could get turned into something else (if it did).
― Andy K, Sunday, 23 May 2010 10:54 (fourteen years ago) link
btw this album is currently the 6th higest rated album in metacritic's history
are you trying to say that this isn't the sixth best album in music history, because i just paid cash money for it and will be very disappointed if it isn't at least slightly better than
7 Madvillainy by Madvillain 2004 93 8 Live At Reading by Nirvana 2009 93 9 The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads [2004 Version] by Talking Heads 2004 93 10 Love And Theft by Bob Dylan 2001 93 11 Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards by Tom Waits 2006 92
8 Live At Reading by Nirvana 2009 93
9 The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads [2004 Version] by Talking Heads 2004 93
10 Love And Theft by Bob Dylan 2001 93
11 Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards by Tom Waits 2006 92
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 May 2010 11:22 (fourteen years ago) link
never forget
@perpetua Wow, it would be great if Community never did another awful, awful, awful, awful episode like that ever again.
― gas followed by mass (cozen), Sunday, 23 May 2010 11:39 (fourteen years ago) link
update: this is not the sixth best album in music history.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 May 2010 13:07 (fourteen years ago) link
hater
― killahpriest (/\/K/\/\), Sunday, 23 May 2010 13:40 (fourteen years ago) link
eh, i'm no hater. just hasn't knocked me over on first -- casual -- listen. i'll listen again, more carefully. i mean, there's certainly nothing as immediately grabbing as, say, umbrella, but admittedly, that's a high bar to hurdle.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 May 2010 13:45 (fourteen years ago) link
i do like the -- maybe brazilian? -- touches in at least one of the songs.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 May 2010 13:47 (fourteen years ago) link
I wasn't implying that all those artists sound alike.
I realize that, j0rdan kind of was, though.
― The Reverend, Sunday, 23 May 2010 15:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Only Brazilian-ish thing I can remember is "Locked Inside."
― jaymc, Sunday, 23 May 2010 15:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Part of "BabopbyeYa", too.
― The Reverend, Sunday, 23 May 2010 15:22 (fourteen years ago) link
My favorite thing here is the least fussiest: "Say You'll Go."
― Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 23 May 2010 15:25 (fourteen years ago) link
I also hear some in the background vocals of "Dance or Die" xp
― The Reverend, Sunday, 23 May 2010 15:26 (fourteen years ago) link
shit, I just realized a lot of this album reminds of Kid Creole & the Coconuts! <3 <3 <3
― The Reverend, Sunday, 23 May 2010 15:28 (fourteen years ago) link
I mean, if "Faster" doesn't sound like Kid Creole, what does it sound like?
yeah, my girl made the Creole connection too.
― forksclovetofu, Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:23 (fourteen years ago) link
"Neon Valley Street" v. much sounds like a Lauryn Hill song.
― The Reverend, Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:35 (fourteen years ago) link
the Of Montreal joint is pretty easily the worst song here (sorry, kevin)
― The Reverend, Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:38 (fourteen years ago) link
^^^^^^^
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Sunday, 23 May 2010 17:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Yes, I was thinking this album is going to create a lot of Of Montreal haters overnight.
― _Rudipherous_, Sunday, 23 May 2010 18:15 (fourteen years ago) link
It probably wouldn't annoy me half as much as it does if it felt more like a collaboration than a cast-off from the last Of Montreal album.
― jaymc, Sunday, 23 May 2010 18:18 (fourteen years ago) link
otm
― The Reverend, Sunday, 23 May 2010 18:39 (fourteen years ago) link
I can barely detect Janelle Monae on it
― The Reverend, Sunday, 23 May 2010 18:40 (fourteen years ago) link