But I don't hate this song. Kinda indifferent. So far based on this thread I'm not sure if that opinion is allowed!
― Evan, Thursday, 27 February 2014 02:47 (ten years ago) link
lol. it's allowed, i'm pretty sure!
i don't like the song, which could put me in a near-exclusive club. who knows?
― Daniel, Esq 2, Thursday, 27 February 2014 02:48 (ten years ago) link
i swear like two days before this revive i found myself wondering what happened to this terrible artist, guess i know now
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 27 February 2014 03:05 (ten years ago) link
The album is half Alternative Nation mixtape (bad) and half spooky PLMS vibes (good). It really sounds like two different artists to me.
― What is wrong with songs? Absolutely nothing. Songs are great. (DL), Thursday, 27 February 2014 09:48 (ten years ago) link
I have very much cooled on EMA's older stuff, both PLMS and Red State, after revisiting so I don't have a dog in this fight. I just find the change from "This is great, it sounds like the 90s" to "This is terrible, it sounds like the 90s" kinda perplexing. (I would really like if she sounded like Belly, I absolutely *loved* Belly.) I guess it's more like... use better descriptors, please.
― Bipolar Sumner (Branwell Bell), Thursday, 27 February 2014 09:51 (ten years ago) link
It's in the voice basically. I don't care at all if something sounds like something from the 90s but she has a very generic rock voice and a weakness for melodrama when she lets rip whereas in the more restrained, hypnotic songs I think she sounds fantastic. Any less derivative? Probably not, but I far prefer it.
― What is wrong with songs? Absolutely nothing. Songs are great. (DL), Thursday, 27 February 2014 10:08 (ten years ago) link
Is this gonna be her Celebrity Skin?
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 27 February 2014 12:48 (ten years ago) link
It's gonna be her 'New Jersey'...
― Mule, Thursday, 27 February 2014 18:53 (ten years ago) link
i was alone in the citaaay
― markers, Saturday, 12 April 2014 14:45 (ten years ago) link
Only one listen in, but aside from "So Blonde," where are the songs?!
― Inside Lewellyn Sinclair (cryptosicko), Saturday, 12 April 2014 16:29 (ten years ago) link
This album makes me sad. I almost want to take back my support of Martyrs.
― Moka, Saturday, 12 April 2014 18:30 (ten years ago) link
It is *because* of Martyrs that this album (so far) makes me sad.
― Inside Lewellyn Sinclair (cryptosicko), Saturday, 12 April 2014 18:58 (ten years ago) link
I think I'm in love with her and all that I think she stands for. She just seems happy and so well adjusted and free and a real lover. She seems way more of a lover than a critic.I like to play her music alone and play it loud, maybe with a pint or two. I love how there is a seeming disconnect between the sparse electronics and guitar and the richness of her vocals. I love the subtle changes within the songs. Some parts are so amazing that you wonder if they were happy accidents instead of immaculately sequenced. Have not been this big of a fan of an artists first two albums since Le Tigre or the White Stripes.
― nicky lo-fi, Sunday, 13 April 2014 14:37 (ten years ago) link
he's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
― WE WANT FET WAP (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 1 June 2015 20:34 (nine years ago) link
blonde
http://25.media.tumblr.com/9cd48e9a89876c2b37488e88bc6bc8a4/tumblr_n1ikrphI9h1todheko1_400.gif
― Evan R, Monday, 1 June 2015 20:46 (nine years ago) link
I mean I know this song is not ~typical EMA~ but I have such a soft spot for summertime sunny day shoegaze jams that I just want to listen to it on repeat
― WE WANT FET WAP (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 1 June 2015 20:48 (nine years ago) link
guys what if this song is actually better than anything that Lush or Ride did
warm lush overdriven guitars with stoned reverby vocals, suneshine all around, crack open a beer and chill by the pool
― WE WANT FET WAP (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 1 June 2015 20:55 (nine years ago) link
song owns video owns vibe owns
― adam, Monday, 1 June 2015 21:03 (nine years ago) link
this is one of those songs that like seems like it sounds like a million other songs but when I actually stop and try to think of other songs that sound like this w/ this vibe i just draw a blank
― WE WANT FET WAP (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 1 June 2015 21:21 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfkKIH6ggcA
― The New Gay Sadness (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 October 2015 21:28 (eight years ago) link
2 yrs later and still blasting "So Blonde" for zenith summertime vibes
― he not like the banana (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, 30 June 2017 15:16 (six years ago) link
New album, Exile in the Outer Ring, out August 25!
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Friday, 30 June 2017 15:18 (six years ago) link
the new song is good!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7epnE7mxPM
― he not like the banana (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, 30 June 2017 16:01 (six years ago) link
I know nothingLasts foreverIf you don’t love me, someone will
8-)
― the ghost of markers, Friday, 30 June 2017 16:33 (six years ago) link
Love this new song!
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Friday, 30 June 2017 17:03 (six years ago) link
I've not really followed her career deeply so I don't know if this is as strong or not compared to previous stuff but this new album is A+
― boxedjoy, Monday, 14 August 2017 22:55 (six years ago) link
Haven't heard the new one but Past Life Martyred Saints is still amazing 6 years later.
― josh az (2011nostalgia), Monday, 14 August 2017 23:56 (six years ago) link
Goes for like $6-7 on discogs these days... what's the deal? Not that it's super indicative of anything except supply > demand but still... did it not age well for most people?
― Evan, Thursday, 27 August 2020 19:39 (three years ago) link
This reminds me that I once opened for her and Downtown Boys and she (and they) were extremely nice & cool
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 27 August 2020 19:51 (three years ago) link
I see her albums pretty cheap in used bins a lot as well. but in general music by non cis male solo artists tends to have diminished resale value (with some exceptions of course)
― unpaid intern at the darvo institute (Simon H.), Thursday, 27 August 2020 19:57 (three years ago) link
I'm sure her somewhat avant leanings aren't much help either
― unpaid intern at the darvo institute (Simon H.), Thursday, 27 August 2020 19:58 (three years ago) link
i still give past life martyred saints a spin every now and then -- it holds up well, though California doesn't feel like as much of a standout single as it once did (for context, it came in at #3 on p4k's eoy singles list). I don't think i've played anything from the second album since the year it came out
― josh az (2011nostalgia), Friday, 28 August 2020 03:54 (three years ago) link
perhaps "suffered" a bit from overexposure, always seemed kind of niche to me in its aesthetic
it's also quite dark so for me personally it's not something I listen to that much
― corrs unplugged, Friday, 28 August 2020 11:30 (three years ago) link
I was very impressed with the theme of the last record. really enjoyed the interviews about the kinds of ideological conversations she would get into and how the best shows were always at the boundaries between the cities and the suburbs, she had her finger on something being able to address those issues without falling into easy condemnations, while at the same time not letting the evil off the hook. what she does isn't always a kind of pop music I intuitively get, but y'know local bay area family means I root for and I thought that last one was going to be her biggest
I hope she doubles down and goes further into it now that 2020's made all those issues even less ignorable
― Milton Parker, Friday, 28 August 2020 20:36 (three years ago) link
i know i gave the full album a spin at least once but i don't recall much about it. should try it again. "california" was/is tremendous
― dyl, Saturday, 29 August 2020 03:51 (three years ago) link
I listened to this again a few months back, and its still a very impressive record in the way that Fetch the Bolt Cutters is a very impressive record, though my enthusiasm may have dimmed a tiny bit.
― A White, White Gay (cryptosicko), Saturday, 29 August 2020 04:32 (three years ago) link
PLMS takes me back to an alternate reality, somewhere in 1997, where this album sits comfortably next to Sonic Youth's Washing Machine and Cat Power's What Would the Community Think.
I think the description upthread of how she evokes both the best and the worst of the alternative 90's is otm. Her songwriting - like most of the songwriting of 90's alternative - leaves a lot to be desired, but she's great at evoking a past life. Problem for me with the follow-up albums to PLMS is that the clearer the production, the less evocative of nostalgia her songs get and her sound is all about nostalgia.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Saturday, 29 August 2020 06:21 (three years ago) link