one of the things i'm really appreciating about hearing that as an album is that the cumulative effect of all of these songs at once is something i've been really craving - previously i've only been able to hear their songs alongside each other, they're not suited to multi-artist playlists at all
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Monday, 8 February 2016 16:49 (eight years ago) link
this album is amazing and all i am listening to
― horseshoe, Monday, 8 February 2016 23:57 (eight years ago) link
"Native Land" is my favorite album closer in recent memory.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, February 8, 2016 8:31 AM (15 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
It's their version of D'angelo's "Africa".
― Hey (Extended Mix), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 07:34 (eight years ago) link
not quite as good imo right here and now but I feel like this album will take a long time to sink in completely, so maybe!
― Hey (Extended Mix), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 07:35 (eight years ago) link
the way "The Story" sets it up tho!
(sorry, I will be using lots of exclamation points when I talking about this album)
― Hey (Extended Mix), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 07:37 (eight years ago) link
imo the dreamy breathy everything-is-backing-vocal style is a necessary aesthetic choice to perfectly attain the subtle narcotic development of each song on the album. have never heard a record before where every song creeps up on me, adding layers to the mix until the whole thing is floating in space
still think Love Song is my marginal favourite but this back end is so strong, have been listening to it this morning
― odysseus (imago), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 07:39 (eight years ago) link
yeah, I agree with Tuomas that the vocals could be more present but it feels more like a feature than a fault
― Hey (Extended Mix), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 07:46 (eight years ago) link
Guys I think it's safe to say that an album calling itself WE ARE KING is not overly concerned with the primacy of individual voices.
This alone makes it both pretty unusual and interesting in the context of contemporary R&B which has for the last decade or so tended to emphasise individual stars, or groups where there's either one dominant force, or everyone gets a star turn.
Actually listening to this again, individual vocal lines are not the point of it all, if you isolate the vocal melodies they are in and of themselves not that interesting, but the harmonies (both vocal and instrumental) are sublime. It's like a beautiful cloud.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 9 February 2016 08:30 (eight years ago) link
this is a really good point
― Hey (Extended Mix), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 08:32 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, I can understand the anti-individualist aesthetic on a theoretical level, but on a practical level the combination of that and every tune being sung in the same vocals style makes all the songs on the album sound like each other, with no unique character to each. And I don't think that's a good thing, because this is still a pop record, not ambient music or anything.
Also, while Matt is right that the "star turn" approach to R&B group vocals has been dominant for the last 15 years or so, if you go behind that you can find examples where individual voices and variety of singing styles can work within a more collective ethos: En Vogue, The Jones Girls, The Three Degrees, etc. Though of course KING might not be interested in that kind of approach either... But it means that, to me, this album will not rise to level En Vogue at its best, for example.
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 9 February 2016 09:41 (eight years ago) link
The way the three work as a collective instead of letting a singer shine extends to the mix too. I couldn't figure out why "Oh, Please" baffled me, and it's due to how the voices and instruments are mixed as if recorded on the same track. Maybe they are.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 11:37 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, the mix tends to put the vocals on the same level as the backing track instead of putting them on the front, like you normally do in pop music. This also adds to why they feel so nondescript and samey, because they blend in with the other instruments. Again, this is an approach that can work in other genres, but to me it just sound good on an r&b album.
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 9 February 2016 11:50 (eight years ago) link
"it just doesn't sound good"
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 9 February 2016 11:51 (eight years ago) link
i would argue that it sounds extremely good, especially on an r&b album that is particularly focused on harmonic collisions, and creating a kind of soft inhabitable space which the emphasis of a singular voice would undermine, and that r&b is not some monolith where this is struggling against the technical achievements of en vogue, of all things
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 12:16 (eight years ago) link
Honestly I love the mix, vox are mixed way too high nowadays imo
― I'm currently in an online essential oil class! (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 12:24 (eight years ago) link
i mean i get that you are articulating why the vocal approach doesn't work for you specifically but it seems a weird thing to get stuck on, for me, as it's not like this record would be enhanced by a more isolated and elastic vocal (the closest the album gets is "hey" which i think is fitting bc it is where the record gets sort of reduced to its essence). the design of the vocals within each song makes them even more captivating harmonic vortexes. and i hate to make a like "this record is all and no genre, man" argument but your distinction between pop and ambient feels particularly meaningless here
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 12:25 (eight years ago) link
Brad otmI feel like it would be SO much worse with a more lead singer/backing vox situation
― uptown garfunkel (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 12:34 (eight years ago) link
the album's already kind of a singular achievement to me in that it manages to build an enormous environment that feels like an almost unconscious form of r&b, one captured through layers of dreaming, while also remaining groovy as hell
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 12:39 (eight years ago) link
yep
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 12:39 (eight years ago) link
brad otm, this record creates its own self-contained, immersive world better than anything i've heard since nicolas jaar's early material - you feel like you're in it, and the vocal harmonies & production are very much key to that. i also think that the songwriting, the melodies and the sheer richness of the arrangements preclude it ever feeling samey, even if a lot of those things come into focus only after a few listens. (the moment when that bassline comes in on the extended version of "supernatural", the way that the horns only come in after the 5 min mark, this record gives so much so gradually)
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 15:04 (eight years ago) link
I filed my review yesterday and made some of these points. I love the album but can understand how it can turn into a beautiful trance.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 15:23 (eight years ago) link
it starts as a beautiful trance that unfolds into loving every discrete element!
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 15:25 (eight years ago) link
heaven forfend we have any rockists left on ilx but the whole 'they play all the instruments and produce it' aspect of this unearthly masterpiece is surely catnip for traditionalists and progressives alike - it doesn't make the music any better when taken out of context but it makes KING an even more satisfying and exciting proposition imo. their next album could be...anything
― odysseus (imago), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 16:34 (eight years ago) link
This album is good, but I must agree with the sentiments that it all kind of rolls together into one hourlong wash of a song.
― Austin, Tuesday, 9 February 2016 20:08 (eight years ago) link
Excellent deep house offers a useful point of comparison for this album, I think.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 9 February 2016 20:50 (eight years ago) link
only now realizing—guess what amazing song has a paris strother co-write
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsfT7QhnGj8
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 05:43 (eight years ago) link
AHHHHH that was one of my absolute favourites from that album.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 06:34 (eight years ago) link
wtf why didn't i know they were originally from minneapolis???
― uptown garfunkel (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 19:04 (eight years ago) link
Great review Alfred!
The other reference point that occurred to me was Rene and Angela's "You Don't Have To Cry".
― Tim F, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 20:59 (eight years ago) link
lol i literally just compared the record to "your smile"
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 21:24 (eight years ago) link
― Tim F, Wednesday, February 10, 2016 3:59 PM (
Thanks, Tim. Are you trying to kill me with that reference?
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:41 (eight years ago) link
IDK is that a good thing or bad.
An even better one (apart from "Your Smile"! OTM brad) is Angela Winbush's "Angel", minus the massive hollering.
― Tim F, Thursday, 11 February 2016 00:25 (eight years ago) link
Alfred, I'm not in the know — please share a link to your review.
― Austin, Thursday, 11 February 2016 00:25 (eight years ago) link
The agony of not catching it, especially since I'm about write a long piece on Angela Winbush.
Austin: http://www.spin.com/2016/02/review-king-we-are-king/?utm_source=share-fb&utm_medium=button
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 February 2016 00:32 (eight years ago) link
can't read your review until the pile of garbage i wrote about them is shaped into something worthwhile but i promise i will afterward alfred
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Thursday, 11 February 2016 00:37 (eight years ago) link
Cool; a very flowing and heady review: a perfect match for the music.
― Austin, Thursday, 11 February 2016 00:37 (eight years ago) link
especially since I'm about write a long piece on Angela Winbush.
Alfred casually outshining all other pretenders ITT.
― Tim F, Thursday, 11 February 2016 00:38 (eight years ago) link
yeah that is my dream piece alfred, i would only trust u with it tbh
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Thursday, 11 February 2016 01:04 (eight years ago) link
I'll try my best to take home the gold
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 February 2016 01:13 (eight years ago) link
i was going on amazon to see about buying the CD but it linked to this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00007AJQQ?qid=1455153396&ref_=tmm_acd_swatch_0&sr=8-1
― nomar, Thursday, 11 February 2016 01:17 (eight years ago) link
They're playing in Mpls in a few hours! The sisters are DeLaSalle grads of '04 but this is their first big Twin Cities show. They were just on the radio talking about Nintendo's "Punchout" and Cocteau Twins. I'll try to report again from the other side...
― Ys Man a.k.a. Have One on G (geoffreyess), Saturday, 13 February 2016 01:39 (eight years ago) link
i have listened to this record a couple of times and mannnnnnnnn native land is already one of my favorite songs ever
― get a long, little doggy (m bison), Saturday, 13 February 2016 04:09 (eight years ago) link
isn't it?
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 13 February 2016 04:12 (eight years ago) link
its like tamales at christmas 2 me
― get a long, little doggy (m bison), Saturday, 13 February 2016 04:15 (eight years ago) link
I've fallen hard for "In the Meantime," such an incredible bass line and chord progression
― thom yorke state of mind (voodoo chili), Saturday, 13 February 2016 04:17 (eight years ago) link
thing is, that is all of the songs, all of the songs have incredible bass lines and chord progressions
― get a long, little doggy (m bison), Saturday, 13 February 2016 04:19 (eight years ago) link
"Native Land" is definitely my favorite right now
― some dude, Saturday, 13 February 2016 04:27 (eight years ago) link
They're very light touch when it comes to bass, so when they do turn it up you really notice it. The bassline on In The Meantime really purrs.
The chord progression on The Story is incredible and really reminds of something. Like I think it's widescreen techno of some sort but I dunno.
― Matt DC, Saturday, 13 February 2016 12:36 (eight years ago) link
In the Meantime also has that ridiculous chord change on the third line of the verse
― thom yorke state of mind (voodoo chili), Saturday, 13 February 2016 15:15 (eight years ago) link
Saw them last night in Minneapolis. They were really amazing. Hey got the biggest reaction, there were a lot of people singing along to it which was really moving. I was disappointed they didn't do Native Land but that was the only thing I'd change.
― Kitchen Person, Saturday, 13 February 2016 16:10 (eight years ago) link