The purpose built next generation interstellar Dawn Richard thread

xp I need to listen to her mixtape but I need to find and tag it first

Dawn would be cool for that, but I think I'd be more excited about such a project with Naomi as the vocalist.

I mean, not like I wouldn't be excited as fuck in any event.

and "Fly" is a Kalenna-style banger

I think we shouldn't ignore that Dawn has always done heavy bangers as well - it's not like anything on Book of Diaries bangs harder than "Superman" or "Runway". I don't think the duality is there, it more resides in their general songwriting approach - Dawn is very focused whereas Kalenna is all over the place (sometimes winningly so).

Yeah but Last Train to Paris did that too, if in a different way and with different touchstones.

yeah I was thinking that too - but as you say, different touchstones. There's something quite ostentatious about the way "Changes" bites from percussive house and "Black Lipstick" from drum and bass (and to a lesser extent miami bass - it reminds me of Janet Jackson's "Empty" slightly in this regard).

Whereas the LTTP dance influences are kinda more like current electro-housey R&B but done better and more creatively (esp. on stuff like "No Ordinary Love").

in a recent interview Kingdom said he'd really like to do an album with an R&B vocalist as the credited artist (he said maybe Naomi Allen) and all of the production by the Fade to Mind crew... if this happens (I HOPE IT DOES) Dawn would be like the perfect vocalist imo!

Sure, but Dawn/Dirty Money seem better at swiping ideas from dance music than Kingdom is at swiping ideas from R&B - at least on the evidence of "Take Me". I'm not sure what Fade To Mind would really bring to the table that these guys don't already do themselves?

But it's not like I'm against the idea of this project or anything.

"take me" is wonderful. tim you're only lukewarm on kingdom anyway so why would you be excited?

i wasn't really trying to set up a kalenna/dawn duality upthread, more trying to delineate what distinguishes them from each other, and i don't think "fly" disproves any of it - of course dawn does bangers, but even then her bangers are all about how perfect and awesome she is, whereas kalenna's are all about getting crunk and out-of-control. runway vs club.

I've always liked Kingdom. "Fogs" was in my top twenty in 2010, and of course "Mind Reader" in 2009. But while "Take Me" is fine I don't think it's in the league of the great Dawn songs (or Electrik Red songs obv).

Yeah I think your delineation between Dawn and Kalenna there rings pretty true. Even Kalenna's ballads sound kinda out of control.

I like 'Take Me' but might prefer 'Girlfriend' which is the Kingdom/Naomi Allen track on the latest Nguzunguzu mix. Credited to 'NA'.

where's the latest nguzunguzu mix?

http://www.xlr8r.com/news/2011/12/check-out-nguzunguzus-transmusic

that "Gilfriend" song just sounds like an edit of Aaliyah's "Girlfriend" though, i don't hear Naomi

Huh. lou and I thought it was Naomi. :/

i'm really late on this but holy shit @ a tell tale heart

Still think the album is arguably underrated even by a lot of supporters, in a couple of ways but especially production-wise (perhaps due to the low quality slash non-existent mastering) - especially the initial run of tracks through to "Broken Record" the uncompromisingly machinic rhythmic approach is so startling and unique, and really underscores and packs weight behind Dawn's emotional intensity in its various guises.

your hall of shame thread title made people underrate the mixtape

the uncompromisingly machinic rhythmic approach is so startling and unique

i only really hear this on "bulletproof". and also "december sky", which is turning out to be one i really underrated initially as just ok, but it really is the MOST widescreen epic thing dawn's done

This Kalenna album really falls down the more melodic she gets, she's way better over harder tracks, neither the vocal presence nor the songwriting are really there with the ballads and midpaced songs. The Ladder is terrible.

Except Pain and Alcohol, which is wonderful.

I think "The Morning After" is great. Agreed about "The Ladder" which I listed upthread as good but must have misremembered.

But I'm not sure of your general principle here b/c "6000 Sistas" is the worst song by some margin.

"6000 sistas" = female WAKA

its monomania can be a bit much but i bet it sounds amazing when you're drunk. MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY COIN COIN GUAP

most unmemorable song is "feeling good" - i'm sure i remember "the ladder" as being good? it def all goes up a notch at "matte black truck", from there to the end it's pretty flawless

Sure, but Dawn/Dirty Money seem better at swiping ideas from dance music than Kingdom is at swiping ideas from R&B

Not really interested in Kingdom wrt this debate but I think part of the problem with the danceification of R&B is that singers and songwriters haven't really got to grips with how the artists should sing over it*. DDM aren't immune from this, one of the reasons I don't rate Ass On The Floor as highly as most people is because the singers don't really convince over the top - when they aren't singing the "madder than a motherfucker" but they don't really sound like they know what to do over that beat. You get these sort of fairly drippy, open "stirring" melodies that just don't convince up against the rest of the track, awkward halfway houses between ballad and dance banger.

Contrast to how effortless and at home Kalenna sounds over something like Matte Black Truck. Then again this may be all rolled in with post-Umbrella R&B - a lot of this stuff feels very different melodically from anything pre-2007 or therabouts, ballads included.

*This is weird given the entire history of DIVA HOUSE is pretty instructive here. Not saying R&B artists should be aping diva house at this point but it's a pretty good guide as to what kind of performance works and what doesn't.

Matt have you listened to "Black Lipstick" and "Change" yet?

(not that i agree with you about "ass on the floor" but...)

Yes, Black Lipstick is great. Dawn's own stuff is way better in this regard than either Kalenna or DDM.

it's my duty to inform you that there's a napoleon dynamite sample in the kalenna mixtape

The ballad/banger tension is a lot of what's great about "Ass on the Floor"!

And like half the DDM catalog for that matter.

Chamber of Diaries is hit n miss but i like it, kinda hits that Last Train To Paris vibe more effectively for me than Tell Tale Heart. although i'm kind of weary of all the superhero-themed lyrics on both tapes.

R&B mixtapes should come out with special "no-bullshit anonymous guest rappers" versions the way rap mixtapes have "no-DJ" versions

but then you would never learn about bo deal

lol some dude otm

that "Gilfriend" song just sounds like an edit of Aaliyah's "Girlfriend" though, i don't hear Naomi

ahaha oops! that was dumb of me. i obv had no idea that song existed. it's so good! the vocals on the nguzu mix DO sound a hell of a lot like naomi to me, though, and the tracklist credits it to "NA", which i assumed meant N/A before alex pointed out those are naomi's initials. and the souped up beat sounds like kingdom or girl unit. now i'm really dying to know what it is exactly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FelGsbxq6tM

I thought it was Kingdom/ER related too ¯\(°_o)/¯

Whoa. I didn't know that existed! New Aaliyah. Wow. Yay.

finally got around to the kalenna mixtape

"poison" rules

Preview of the new single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1bdYextQeI

I have the biggest crush on dawn

(sorry for being male gaze-y)

This sounds excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vBVJKF_dGU

LOVELOVELOVE HERRRR! "i wanna be in a rainforest!"

also excited to hear the #smfu remix

also producer guy is v. cute

apparently dirty money is "finished" though which is totally heartbreaking

that sucks... not entirely surprising. they put a ton of effort (and presumably) music into making that album happen, wish they would stay committed to it but the fact that 'last train to paris' even exists is some sort of miracle i think, so i can't be mad.

presumably money**

dawn's not signed to bad boy any more and the tone of the last kalenna interview i read ("that part of her life is BEHIND HER and she is MOVING ON") did not imply that the end of dirty money was all that amicable

also producer guy is v. cute

― Peace (peaceful) (The Brainwasher), Friday, March 23, 2012 12:48 AM Bookmark

ayo

apparently dirty money is "finished" though which is totally heartbreaking

― Peace (peaceful) (The Brainwasher), Friday, March 23, 2012 3:49 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

quit while you're on top, imo!

judging by the new projects, still on top tho

I didn't know you pronounce richard like ri-shard as in shard of glass

wait what?

http://youtu.be/SMpyMFtmqKM

I really can't handle her dress, it's like sean young in blade runner

i feel like my perception has been altered in a deep way not experienced since i found out nancy whang's name is pronounced "wong", not "wang"