Janelle Monae

But hey, I'm glad you love it.

actually i dont think its that she doesnt engage, its more that its your standard first album performance, where the singer doesnt fully impose their vocal personality on the material (even if she does impose her personality in plenty of other ways). its sort of like hearing prince on for you compared to hearing prince later, on say, something like beautiful ones, where hes doing all sorts of weird shit vocally that could only come from him. but that might come later. or she might just be a song-first kind of artist, who tries not to do that stuff as shes more of a straighter singer and doesnt want to do R&B runs or act like shes beyonce who can fuck up a melody in 0 to 6 seconds.

Also why is Locked Inside so out of tune?

The main criticism is that the songs just aren't that good.

I didn't enjoy this album that much, but I really really wanted to.

Well, and the arrangements are frantic; I rarely feel as if she as a vocalist owns the material. Listening to the album by the pool today in one concentrated burst, I thought of Prince's Around the World in a Day: lots of good ideas -- an attractive miscellany -- but the songs were mostly no good and he felt like a visitor on his own album. It took Parade for me to go, "Oh okay, I see what he's attempting."

So, no, I don't hate this album; it's an interesting misfire with several good performances.

I agree 100% with that comment.

i agree with the sentiment, but not the example. just cos around the world in a day has raspberry beret, pop life and paisley park on it.

and even condition of the heart and the ladder are good if you strip them away from their bloated arrangements.

xpost I love a lot of the songs on ATWIAD but agree about the suspected 'owning' of it. A recent poll thread shed some interesting light on it.

xpost gah titchy beat me to this on the 'other messages have been posted...'

Just a comment, expected this to be like Outkast's Stankonia crossed with Amerie's 1 Thing...maybe I should lower my expectations with these things a little..

ha I knew as soon as I wrote my post that there's lots of ATWIAD fans.

the 'owning' thing might come with time.

I'm totally looking forward to her next album already.

Ditto.

xpost as in more people getting past its reputation and listening to it properly? or in that it's a grower and it takes time for one to mentally stamp prince as owning the material in this state.

Fwiw, I didn't come into this with huge expectations. The songs aren't fantastic, but they're fine. The arrangements are fantastic though.

I've lived with ATWIAD for twenty years. It hasn't grown -- I have, about three inches.

The arrangements are my favorite thing about this album really, I am just totally in love with how rich and deep they are.

Well, also Monae as a vocalist is a total joy, too.

I know I mentioned Kid Creole earlier, but a lot of the arrangements make me think of how detailed and lovely Dr. Buzzard's Savannah Band's were (which, really Kid Creole was a step down from, or maybe the cd issues are just shitty)

What the hell? Metropolis is basically three great songs.

so xposted

I'm very satisfied with the way she flexibly adapts to the demands of different styles and moods here. If the vocals are so buried, why has this album imprinted on my mind mostly in the form of the vocal lines?

multiple x-post:

The arrangements are great. The orchestral passages work incredibly well. I don't know, I think the songs are pretty good too. What's weird is that sometimes it's not the song as a whole, but more the melodies running through the songs. This is very strong melodically.

xpost I know i've been derailing the thread here, but the two Darnell songs I really like are Grace of God and the cover of I'm an Indian Too. Does this record bring those to mind in particular?

Ha, Rev. I'm a Kid Creole >>> Dr. Buzzard guy.

I saw you mention them upthread, by the way. Can you expand on the comparison?

Davek: not really. maybe the later? there's nothing really that disco here, it's more the other influences of DB/KC that come to bear

Alfred, you break my heart with that KC>DB talk but let me get back to you.

I mean, I like Kid Creole but I love Dr. Buzzard's like few other things.

I guess it's only really "Faster" which in particular sounds like a Kid Creole & the Coconuts song, but more of the album reminds me of KC in small bits (like the background vocals of "Dance or Die") and in how it so omnivorous, but without seperating the components and risking pastiche.

As far as Dr. Buzzard's, it's mostly in how the arrangements are so detailed yet warm and lived-in. It never gets pompous in a way that arrangements so labored over would often risk. Maybe some kinship to Cory Daye as a vocalist, too? Monae is at least as good of a singer, too, which is high praise.

On a sidenote: am I the only one who thinks "Oh, Maker" is going to "Octopus' Garden" for about the first 3 seconds?

I'm going to need to listen to that track again right now.

x-post:

Still thinking about her allegedly not owning the songs. . . Does she fail to own "Oh Maker!"? Is she missing in action as a vocalist, or at least lost in the mix, on that track? I don't hear it. I'm not denying there are some tracks here where her vocals are heavily treated but I don't have a problem with that anyway. And I'll take a chameleonic vocal of Monae's stature over a bad or so-so vocalist with some clearly defined identity (is that the issue?).

Last minute and a half of Tightrope is straight-up amazing, like Curtis Mayfield amazing.

Just saw her performance on late night show and she was really really good.

Funnily enough I finally heard Dr. Buzzard's Meets King Penett and Goes to Washington for the first time today. Brilliant albums both.

Are there any samples on the record at all? The Wiki credits list an insane number of musicians...

Pretty sure there aren't. You'll notice some of the muscians credited have names like Eanom Ellenaj, though. ;-)

Noone else getting a David

ehem.... I was about to say:

Noone else getting a David Axelrod influence on some of the orchestration? A song like 'Wondaland' for example sort of sounds, at least to my ears, like David Axelrod providing orchestration and choral work for some eurodisco diva like Sophie Ellis Bextor or something.

I just watched the letterman clip and she is a small little woman

I just got my copy of this imported from America. I am really in love with this album but the only thing that disappoints is the album version of Tightrope is no way near as good as the live version on Letterman. I love how the brass just builds and builds on that performance, so I'm disappointed it doesn't quite get there.

I think I'll probably start skipping the Of Montreal song soon.

I quite like the Of Montreal song, as someone mentioned upthread it has an 80s Bowie vibe to it. Interesting melodies. nb I have never heard Of Montreal before.

you'll probably like their last two albums, like i said the song is basically an outtake from their latest, Skeletal Lamping

I am really in love with this album but the only thing that disappoints is the album version of Tightrope is no way near as good as the live version on Letterman. I love how the brass just builds and builds on that performance, so I'm disappointed it doesn't quite get there.

I prefer the studio version, but then that's the one I heard first. Check out the ending of the studio version closely if you haven't already, because it gets pretty interesting and I missed most of that before a few listens. I think watching the video also boosted my appreciation for that single.

yeah, the last minute or two of "Tightrope" is absolutely nuts

i like this album... and the of montreal song... and i like of montreal in general. in fact i like it better than anything on their last album.

Listened a few more times and I still think she's better when she abandons the kitchen sink craziness and goes for the sort of ballad that really gives her voice space - Sir Greendown and Oh Maker are both lovely. In contrast things like Come Alive (War of the Roses) are spectacularly irritating.

I prefer the studio version, but then that's the one I heard first. Check out the ending of the studio version closely if you haven't already, because it gets pretty interesting and I missed most of that before a few listens. I think watching the video also boosted my appreciation for that single.

― _Rudipherous_, Wednesday, May 26, 2010 1:35 AM (11 hours ago)

The letterman performance was the first song I'd heard of hers. I do still love the album version but the brass on the live one just seems really exciting, it sounds a bit lower in the mix on the album and fades out a bit too early.

I think overall Cold War is my favourite song on the album. Her vocal sounds especially great on that one and it kinda reminds me of Smiley Faces by Gnarls Barkley.

Despite what I said I think the Of Montreal one has grown on me quite a lot. I've only heard one of their earlier albums so don't know much about them, it does remind me of something from the new MGMT album a bit.

the song is basically an outtake from their latest, Skeletal Lamping

Probably a good thing I've avoided this, then.

I want to say the lines Just like a candle snuffed at dawn/You're here, you're near, you're there, and then you're gone strike me as really beautiful, especially as sung. (That is, assuming I am hearing the line correctly. I still don't have a lyrics sheet, since my CD copy came with a smashed up case and I am sending it back.) I also like the color imagery/symbolism in her lyrics, something I don't think I fully understand, which makes it interesting to me. We haven't talked so much about the lyrics, which may be a good thing since there are certainly some weaknesses, but I think at times they are pretty good.

I also like the little spoken segment in "Mushrooms & Roses." It sounds as if she is momentarily taking off her mask as a performer and actually talking the way Janelle Monae would, unveiling in the safety of all the distortion on that track.