Janelle Monae

bcuz jacka himself doesnt really sound like any member of g-unit & certainly has his own lyrical style

anyway we should take that to the fruity therad

did the mods write "no bay area youtubes from poster 'deej'" into the code?

― ok dennis hopper (J0rdan S.), Saturday, May 29, 2010 7:12 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark

i try to do yall a favor & u zing me for it -- just for that im posting 10 bay rap youtubes in the fruity swag thread before today is over

:-p

'faster' is sooo good.

^^^

dash-dashing prince or horny toad

Haven't really heard much of her stuff, but I'm excited that I'll be seeing her open for Ms Badu tonight.

this record is cool, but sometimes it's a little too "jazz hands" for moi

holy shit, she's touring with Badu?????

i think it's funny how popists basically react like O.G. indie rockers when the uncool kids invade the clubhouse

holy shit, she's touring with Badu?????

http://outmymindjustintimetour.com

argh, not going to be able to go

Neither am I! I'll be in Canada when they swing through.

I'll be in a part of Canada that they won't be swinging through.

i think it's funny how popists basically react like O.G. indie rockers when the uncool kids invade the clubhouse

― m@tt (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, June 2, 2010 11:26 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha

Yes, exactly. OMG, indie fans like an R&B album! It must be shit!

it's very suuuuuuuuuuuuspicious!!!!!

Oh those crazy popists!

the chorus to "cold war" is really amazing

"Cold War" is really reminiscent of Gnarls Barkley to me ("Going On" specifically)

xp Yeah really baffled at people who knock the songwriting on this.

in one song she is "shaking like schizo" in another she is like "schizo running wild"

Okay, she was fucking amazing last night opening for Erykah Badu. I am now 100% completely sold and went out to buy the new album and the EP this morning. Since I'm not familiar with all the songs just yet, the only titles I know she played for 100% certain were "Smile" (which was so beautiful, the guitar player she had was pretty good - he looked like what Snoop Dogg would have if he'd have joined the Ramones) and "Tightrope" which closed off her set. Fantastic homage to James Brown, complete with the knee shaking dance and cape thing. She was so energetic and joyful. Loved loved loved her!

Wonder if she's planning to tour the UK, was pretty eager to see her before and that post has made me even more so.

she's really amazing live

idk if she's still doing this but when i saw her last year, she painted a canvas on stage and threw it into the audience, wet paint and all.

Does she play with a string/horn section?

she didn't, but that was a small one-off show so she might next time, now that she has music out in the uk

She did not do the painting thing and no, no string/horn section. Very stripped down - drummer, keyboard guy, guitarist, and a couple hooded backup dancers.

seen her twice now and I found that "energetic and joyful" thing a bit canned; she'll absolutely manufacture it if the crowd's not into it.

right, just listened to this again...so much energy and so many ideas but the songs just aren't there. there are several stretches where she just putzes around, darting hither and thither, and it's all very impressive to hear what she's capable of, but she rarely settles down enough for it all to gel. it feels lacking in the same way that listening to a soundtrack is lacking - i get the sense that while monáe's obviously really talented musically, her ideas work best visually...live, obviously, and the "many moons" video. (not that there's a song as well-crafted as "many moons" here - this isn't near to the standard of the metropolis suite.) it doesn't really span that many genres - it's basically a musical (maybe this is why i'm not totally down with it, i'm not a fan of musicals really...) with a few retro rock'n'roll moments thrown in.

"tightrope" is pretty great, my favourite stretch on the album is the closing two songs, where you suddenly feel there's something at stake emotionally. i've never heard of montreal, but the song with them is fucking awful.

i'm glad this exists and think she'll make much better music in the future, i just have to avoid reading a single word by indie fans or rock critics about it, especially if those words build her up by knocking other r&b artists.

xp she absolutely manufactured it when i saw her (terribly-publicised gig, tiny crowd and kinda empty venue) - still worked though

I don't think it was manufactured at this show, I mean there was a very sizable and loud group of people right in front singing and dancing along with every song, she seemed to be feeding off of them quite a bit.

this isn't near to the standard of the metropolis suite.

I'd argue the opposite!

yup, relistening to "many moons" now, SO good and hitting me in a way the album didn't really

jon, i'm not saying it wasn't real; just saying that she will and does manufacture that energy if the crowd isn't reciprocating it.
with some caveats, i kinda agree with lex.

isn't that just "goin' in"

you have to bring it no matter what fuck a crowd

yeah see i can fux with musicals personally but the crucial flaw in this album is in appropriating them in form but no longer in function - the overrarching narrative, so implicitly redeeming to the metropolis material, is tenuous and garbled on this, just a series of wildly variform rococo set designs wheeling in and out between tracks like a favouritest hits comp for a body of work that's never actually gotten round to existing.

like lex says it's nevertheless still a worthwhile showcase of commendable musicianship & songwriting and whatever but you have to call into question the ambition, and the motives of people lauding that supposed ambition, of an album that manages to so perversely mulch down so many different styles and impulses into the same monotonously showy inconsequence (aka the polar opposite of what basement jaxx do btw deej). what is the agenda here besides a proof of talent?

what is the agenda here besides a proof of talent?

You couldn't be more off-base. I'd say a "proof of talent" is the last thing she's trying to get across. Whether or not that's your personal interpretation is strictly your problem (and your loss) -- not hers.

i always feel the need to repeatedly point this out, but I really LIKE janelle and archandroid is a great first album. It's just too rag tag and flailing for me to really fall in love with it. Give her a few years and I absolutely expect her to wow me.

the overrarching narrative, so implicitly redeeming to the metropolis material

this is the worst thing about metropolis imo

an album that manages to so perversely mulch down so many different styles and impulses into the same monotonously showy inconsequence

this is a great way of putting it - exactly what it does.

relistened to metropolis and maybe it's the conceit working better when it's concise, confined to just a few tracks, maybe it's just better songwriting, but it really bursts with life compared to the archandroid - "sincerely, jane" and "mr president" are a good deal better than anything on this album too.

xp the overarching narrative is probably the worst thing about janelle full stop

an album that manages to so perversely mulch down so many different styles and impulses into the same monotonously showy inconsequence

yes

"ilxor", ok i'm sure she herself does have all kinds of the most delightfully daringest ideas imaginable about what it's supposed to be but my point is what of it are you left with after hearing this album?

rev, i coulda cared less about the metropolis plot as such but imo it lent a (forgiving) focus to the material that's been entirely lost here.

You guys, it's okay that this isn't the world's greatest album! It's still a lot of fun!

all the fun of underpants, roll up roll up

like ok i don't wanna sound like the guy all cross that i didn't get to find out what happened to the gripping android lady plotline (although we were promised a diddy in character cameo EFF WHY EYE) and i'd love to be able to hear this as a jaxxian fun parade but so much of the structure and delivery of the album actively militates against even that simple pleasure - you could hand me any single track on this and i'd most likely be quite taken with it but as a whole no fucking way.

tbh I have completely ignored the narrative throughout this and Metropolis and have only been listening to the songs as pieces of music; how they present themselves, how they flow from one piece to the next, etc. I couldn't tell you what most of the lyrics said because I'm too busy listening to the way she's singing the words than to what the words actually are.

So I don't know, it seems to me that a lot of things that are actively irritating people are things I'm actively ignoring, and while I didn't think this album was an immediate showstopper I've enjoyed it more with every subsequent listen.

i can think of very few concept albums i like that actually have a coherent plot.