Beyoncé - Renaissance

What about all this backlash over the slur in the lyrics

― zacata, Monday, 1 August 2022 20:55 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

rong thread!

My take is that anyone trying to roll up on Beyoncé now for alluding to and using Black gay culture in her music/imagery has never heard “Get Me Bodied”

spazz on that ass

I keep thinking Grace Jones is saying “Brockovich Brockovich Brockovich.”

^^ lol yes

Ok I'm halfway through and this is my fave Beyonce album. The first three tracks are sick, the disco song is eh, but then I'm all the way back in for Beyonce doing NOLA bounce on Church Girl. She's flirted with it before but it's fun to hear her doing classic bounce chants instead of just using a buried sample and Big Freedia on the intro. The only bummer is that most of the world will think she just invented it, but whatever.

Very curious to hear the ballroom track, I saw Kevin Jz Prodigy and Mike Q post about it.

Also, there are heavy Dirty Projectors vibes on Plastic Off the Sofa, right?

The club beats + Prince synths on Alien Superstar, swoon

It's become my favorite track.

Also, there are heavy Dirty Projectors vibes on Plastic Off the Sofa, right?

I thought of Todd Rundgren, ha. I was hoping more of the album would be like that, though. :(

Ok yeah...it definitely feels a little weird to hear Beyonce put on a ballroom mc affect on Pure. But I don't think it's as simple as cultural appropriation, given her position in the world it seems to be more like giving the ultimate seal of approval to the culture? And at least Kevin Jz and Mike Q are on the record, even if it's a sample of an old track rather than a feature or collaboration.

The new version of Energy is definitely weaker without the 'la la las' interpolated from the Kelis song.

I've ordered the CD before Beyonce can change any more of the songs...

I was going to say, at this rate the CD is going to be a collector's edition.

Quite an album. It's pretty amazing how well it flows given the variety of what's here - only a couple of the transitions take me out of the flow. "Alien Superstar" and "Virgo's Groove" are the early standouts

yeah the flow is great. i saw someone on twitter say that every time they go back to play a highlight track, they wind up letting it ride for the next five or six songs and i've had a very similar experience

I like this album a lot. Basically club-music ballads in which she can import whatever she likes, with the comfort of a signature production to rely on. I don't mind if it's all borrowed. The songs I like the least are the ones that sound most like her previous incarnations. There are enough highlights to sort them out on a table, and they leave me wishing she went harder. Agree about the flow, when was the last 16-song dance-pop album I found so consistent ?

really fun-flowing album. first 2 tracks had heavy Bjork Medulla and Debut vibes, in that order.

one thing that helps with flow is not having a bunch of skits or voice memos or w/e larding up the album

Hmmmmm. Having fired up Serato for the first time this summer I just noticed that a healthy chunk of this album is in... amapiano tempo, essentially: 108-115 bpm. Which is interesting. Just a few years ago these bpms mostly went unused. I was expecting Break my soul at the very least to be a lot closer to 120, almost by default.

I hear “Heated” as potential amapiano in my head

Except it's not in your head, the log drums are super clear, just well integrated in the 4/4 beat. Not particularly surprising from Beyoncé after Lion King.

yes, it’s because of that log drum, I’m aware

I'm still trying to figure out when it becomes pure dancehall
Top top top song

both remixes of 'break my soul' are excellent. honey dijon doing big ballroom crashes at 125 bpm and focusing on the rap, somehow making it sound a little better. terry hunter, young chicago guy doing a lush andres-reminiscent soulful take, sounds like real rhodes.

fun to mix 'alien superstar' into 'unique' by kim cooper.

terry hunter remix sounds a little busy on a big system but i love it anyway

the nita aviance is my favorite of the bunch. the way it builds to a beyonce choir is amazing

oh nice, i missed that one.

you gotta have "a whole lotta people in the house" for real if you're going to play it 😂

Honey Dijon remix rules

inevitable (after the bootleg mashups), but surprisingly good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9WNVoA_KG8

…and no, 2022 Madonna isn’t on it

I'm going to need Terre Thaemlitz' opinion on this as soon as possible

Longneck, that's also New Orleans bounce tempo

I wish not to hear "you won't break my soul" again.

xpost

Ahhhh, you're right! Thanks.

Queen Mother Madonna, Aaliyah
Rosetta Tharpe, Santigold
Bessie Smith, Nina Simone
Betty Davis, Solange Knowles
Badu, Lizzo, Kelly Rowl'
Lauryn Hill, Roberta Flack
Toni, Janet, Tierra Whack
Missy, Diana, Grace Jones
Aretha, Anita, Grace Jones
Helen Folasade Adu
Jilly from Philly, I love you boo
Don't just stand there get into it
Strike a pose there's nothing to it
Michelle, Chloe, Halle, Aaliyah, Alicia, Whitney, RiRi, Nicki

The Santigold shoutout is surprising.

I'm going to need Terre Thaemlitz' opinion on this as soon as possible

― boxedjoy, Saturday, August 6, 2022 1:24 PM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol, love and respect to tt but it pretty much writes itself.

i'm getting a little tired of "break my soul" but some kid facetiming his mom on her birthday when i played it last sunday and holding the phone up to me - all the smiles and stuff, that was pretty fucking awesome.

I have to agree with everyone who’s said that “Break My Soul” works a lot better in the context of the full record.

And I’m finding myself enjoying the back half of Renaissance a lot more on this listen.

I have to agree with everyone who’s said that “Break My Soul” works a lot better in the context of the full record.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, August 7, 2022 3:23 AM (seventeen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I feel like we say that a lot to mean "I changed my mind, but my pronouncements are never wrong" :)

You’re probably right!

By itself, the song just felt kinda slight.

i think in this case there is genuinely something about the transition into the song… it’s not just a sequencing of a tracklist but an actual blending of music… that really elevates it, tho there is also something about the sequencing too as i posted earlier that puts the song in its best light

This album rules.

“Break my soul” got annoying really fast

xp +1

#1 album and single this week.

vogue mash-up bangs

you should have known this album ruled early on when the freakin' foremost poets sample comes in c'mon

Mostly good stuff: https://www.npr.org/2022/08/01/1114499960/revolutionary-fun-beyonce-renaissance-review-roundtable

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, August 1, 2022 5:35 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Thanks. The NYT Popcast roundtable was worth a listen, as well (unlike some prior episodes we've discussed). Always better when JC plays facilitator vs. agitator/smarmy contrarian.

Good review imo: https://ra.co/reviews/35009