Janelle Monae

but there was a huge thread of "how is this more adventurous than [pop r&b artist x] [pop r&b artist y] & its like, look -- its a genuinely unique record! just because we can now acknowledge that, hey, the-dream is a really unique artist, doesnt mean that all 'outsider' alternative-y artists are overrated. this record is good

naw, I totally agree

but to some of us, this particular 'outsider' alternative-y artist is being overrated! -- this is like the most critically acclaimed album of the year

yeah, the rhetoric around the album is ridiculous, but who gives a shit, the music itself is great

in our circle i dont see much bullshit -- matt p's review was pretty good i thought, & looked at the record for what it was w/out hammering 'the rest of R&B' with it. obviously some cornballs will always see anything vaguely 'alternative' as superior but thats unavoidable, whether this record is great or wack.

the idea that 'tightrope' is the best song on this is nuts imo -- tightrope is kinda the most trad/boring -- this record mostly reminds me of bassment jaxx in its manic kitchen sink thing. way more than, like, nellie mckay. this is a great record! i want to know what tim f thinks

he definitely is the kind of person who can go either way when it comes to debates like this which gives at least some illusion of objectivity haa

man this is so so good ... after reading this thread i expected it to be, like, ok but uneven, but this is just wall 2 wall banging

i will say that 'war of the roses' has always been a bit too 'lets do the time warp agaiiiin' for my liking

The screamed verse on that is ace.

Also the bells in the bridge. I think it's a good track.

deej otm

xx-post

The bells are my favorite part and are a subtle echo of some things in other tracks (or at least one--I forget which at the moment). The bells kind of makes me think of the Butthole Surfers's classic "To Parter."

the thing about "Tightrope" is it starts out totally trad but then starts going in a million directions at the end and it's easy to lose sight of one or the other when both these things make the other stronger

the of montreal song is cool w me, sounds like shes going for a freddie mercury thing. but i dont listen to of montreal so

xp to rev yeah this was esp noticeable seeing her do this on TV & it made me reconsider the song

i think my favorite is actually the low-key songs like 'wondaland' (not really low key at all) but like ... this is where she sounds the most jaxx-ian to me.

the most jaxon

I find this record more and more obnoxious, and keep erasing more tracks from my iPod (still like "Cold War" and "Locked Inside."

We'll never reach a consensus with this one.

and I can't imagine what song woudl win a poll.

I'm not even ready to answer such a thing. The record is still revealing its charms to me.

I kinda feel like this hits the same spot last year's Platinum Pied Pipers album did, where even when it's retro, it's never reverent and uses those retroisms to springboard into something completely new, except the songwriting and production and everything are way better than on that record.

xpWow, I'm kind of jealous of how much you like it. I really wanted to, considering how fucking awesome she is.

Also, the weirdness on Locked Inside isn't necessarily just the voice. There's something offputting harmonically about the whole song to me. e.g., there's something unpleasantly *off* about the 4th chord in that accompaniment loop throughout.

'Tightrope' kind of reminds me of Róisín Murphy

We'll never reach a consensus with this one.

― Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, May 29, 2010 3:39 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

by this i assume you mean, 'ill never agree with the emerging consensus'

i'm trying to wait til i'm in the right mood to give this a second chance but it's not happening yet, just thinking about how busy it is is tiring me out

There's something offputting harmonically about the whole song to me. e.g., there's something unpleasantly *off* about the 4th chord in that accompaniment loop throughout.

― silence is a rhythm too (Turangalila), Saturday, May 29, 2010 3:54 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

to each his own but imo this is a great harmonic move

deej, you listening to & liking an album does not mean that there is an "emerging consensus"

btw who is Nellie Mckay?

me agreeing with matthew perpetua suggests something must have some serious appeal ha

nellie mckay is like the white precocious theater kid indie version of this -- way awful though. iirc miccio dug her

i really like nellie mckay's first album

heres an emerging consensus for u jordan
http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/monaejanelle/archandroid?q=janelle%20monae

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_mjAQb_2gc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q6HKiF83aI

heres an emerging consensus for u jordan
http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/monaejanelle/archandroid?q=janelle%20monae

― its like why GROCERY BAG and not saddam? (deej), Saturday, May 29, 2010 4:11 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

yeah no duh i already mentioned that -- alfred said "we" as in people posting itt & reaction has been completely mixed

alfred is an eccentric & u are riding lex kneejerk popism here

most of the monae stans aren't even feeling this!!

not sure how this qualifies as knee jerk popism -- she's signed to bad boy & sold 3 times as many albums in her first week as electrik red -- i just think there's a lot bluster & noise on the album and not much quality songwriting

i haven't even said i dislike this yet, and i quite liked her ep!! i will say that 100% of the critical response (ugh, that perpetua review that i ended up reading by accident) makes me roll my eyes though.

& you have more eccentric tastes than alfred, you tard

whats wrong with the perpetua review lex

the quality songwriting is exactly why this is great fwiw

cold war is def my favorite vocal performance

"there's a lot bluster & noise on the album and not much quality songwriting"
^kinda where I'm at; the razzmatazz gets cloying

and I voted for Metropolis as top 10 p+j in 08 and I'm pretty sure this won't make it into my top 20 unless another few listens really changes my perspective... though tightrope might be a top ten single.

i think a more restricted palette served her better; this is nice and it has def high points but after three or four listens I haven't felt as compelled to return to this as, say, Josh Turner or Guido or Ratatat or Ellie Goulding or

btw, nellie calmed down that jazz hands shit over her last two hands and is no longer quite so drastically unfocused and is quietly building a pretty nice discog

"last two hands" = "last two albums"

dog u like ratatat

yes and you like jacka

our respective crosses to bear

btw i listened to shooterz for a week and finally decided that, with exceptions, you and i have definitely different tastes and that's kinda where it's at

ratatat is great!