chase = face obv
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 July 2015 11:11 (eight years ago) link
yes. There are a lot of references to death, dying, the end, etc
― droit au butt (Euler), Thursday, 2 July 2015 12:08 (eight years ago) link
apparently the epigraph for the first video tie-in is 'find what you love and let it kill you,' which is the opening line of his chemical brothers collab
― maura, Thursday, 2 July 2015 12:59 (eight years ago) link
also vh1 soul is showing a miguel soul story that includes 'lotus flower bomb' and 'primetime' but leaves out '#beautiful'
― maura, Thursday, 2 July 2015 13:02 (eight years ago) link
Only now noticing that the hashtag is actually part of the song name. #observant
― Hikikomori Povich (tsrobodo), Thursday, 2 July 2015 13:04 (eight years ago) link
lex otm. also the "1979" connection enhances "leaves" imo lol
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Thursday, 2 July 2015 14:26 (eight years ago) link
quickie is bad too, even sure thing isn't great
― for sale: baby shoes, never worn your ass (katherine), Thursday, July 2, 2015 1:22 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark
man "quickie" is so fucking good. he closed the npr show out with it and it sounded so nice.
― J0rdan S., Thursday, 2 July 2015 15:06 (eight years ago) link
as an ex maniac fan of smashing pumpkins, weirdly i appreciate this connection.
― Nourry, Thursday, 2 July 2015 15:25 (eight years ago) link
same obv
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Thursday, 2 July 2015 15:42 (eight years ago) link
Yes to "Quickie" and "Sure thing"; and "1979" is one of the few Smashing Pumpkins songs I like
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 2 July 2015 15:55 (eight years ago) link
"Sure Thing" was so simple and brief that it blew me in 2011. I put it in my top ten. I can hear -- but not accept -- how it might sound underfed now.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 July 2015 16:29 (eight years ago) link
blew me = I wish. Blew me away.
listening to this album imaging miguel under the influence of 90's alt rock is wigging me out
― Heez, Thursday, 2 July 2015 17:19 (eight years ago) link
is it migging you out
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 July 2015 17:56 (eight years ago) link
god "...goingtohell" is the best
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Thursday, 2 July 2015 18:34 (eight years ago) link
The songwriting on All I Want Is You is pretty underrated compared to KD but I feel like he just took this big jump forward as a singer (both his voice and his phrasing) between the first and second albums. I listened to Sure Thing again today and it's amazing, but when he sings "just put your pretty little hand in mine" he still has that pinched, slightly nasal thing you hear with lesser R&B singers. Fast forward to Adorn and he really SINGS those high notes, like his throat is wide open, his technique is way better.
Listened to the new one again and I think my main problem is just that A Beautiful Exit is a really disappointing opener compared to his first two albums. It's actually a good song but the production and arrangement choices kill it for me, virtually anything would accompany it better than that lumpen guitar hook. Also, I was all ready to laugh at the NIN comparison but actually the way he sings "I want to fuck like we're filming in the valley" is pure Reznor (a way sweeter Reznor, but there's something there definitely).
Kaleidoscope Dream really felt like Miggy exploring the space between Marvin and Stevie and late 60s/early 70s psych and modernising it in the process. The rock influences here are different, both feel like California albums, but it's like he's exploring the West Coast music of a decade or two later. Prince is ever-present in the background, but it's a different Prince (and Miguel very rarely actually sounds like Prince).
― Matt DC, Thursday, 2 July 2015 19:45 (eight years ago) link
This album is closer to Neil Young and Mamas and Papas imo
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 July 2015 19:58 (eight years ago) link
Listened to the new one again and I think my main problem is just that A Beautiful Exit is a really disappointing opener compared to his first two albums. It's actually a good song but the production and arrangement choices kill it for me, virtually anything would accompany it better than that lumpen guitar hook.
yea this is very much how i feel about the opener
― marcos, Thursday, 2 July 2015 20:03 (eight years ago) link
Yeah I'm not saying it's saturated in 90s rock references by any means (and they could be entirely unintentional) but it feels like a more expansive record than KD - a lot of these songs feel like *driving music* in a way that the last album didn't really.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 2 July 2015 20:04 (eight years ago) link
I think we'd be disappointed in any opener not "Adorn."
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 July 2015 20:05 (eight years ago) link
he did "girls like you" at the npr show in the style of an anthemic rock song and i thought it sounded better than the album version
― J0rdan S., Thursday, 2 July 2015 20:08 (eight years ago) link
"what's normal anyway" reminds me of this neglected little thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxhC094nFew
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 July 2015 20:28 (eight years ago) link
maybe I'm going overboard with 90s-hunting but the second half of "Face the Sun" gives me strong "Where Is My Mind" vibes
― List of people who are ready for woe and how we know this (seandalai), Friday, 3 July 2015 01:07 (eight years ago) link
― for sale: baby shoes, never worn your ass (katherine), Thursday, July 2, 2015 1:22 AM (20 hours ago)
um, what
― wisdom be leakin out my louche douche truths (k3vin k.), Friday, 3 July 2015 01:52 (eight years ago) link
It gives me strong Purple Rain vibes tbh but I don't think you need to strain too hard for 90s rock echoes on a song with LENNY KRAVITZ on it.
The album in general feels more 80s than 90s to me, there's some big anthemic pop-rock sound that the faster, more top-down songs remind me of a bit, it's not Don Henley but it's something not far off.
NWA makes a really good companion to #HoodLove by Jazmine Sullivan btw. The whole stretch from Coffee through to Face The Sun is virtually flawless. The weather is helping.
― Matt DC, Friday, 3 July 2015 07:46 (eight years ago) link
yeah it's an amazing sticky summer evening album
is "the valley" beat really not a sample? it sounds so familiar but maybe it's just Generic Dubstep Growl
― lex pretend, Friday, 3 July 2015 08:54 (eight years ago) link
Album reminds me of Iggy Pop's "Candy".
― Tim F, Friday, 3 July 2015 09:03 (eight years ago) link
well especially when he starts literally singing "purple rain", perfect interpolation at perfect moment
― lex pretend, Friday, 3 July 2015 09:07 (eight years ago) link
enjoying this record a lot
― Joan Crawford Loves Chachi, Friday, 3 July 2015 12:59 (eight years ago) link
this feels like more of an 'album' than the other two i love it so much fuiud
― 龜, Friday, 3 July 2015 13:59 (eight years ago) link
not here to hate on the debut but it was v much "solid collection of songs overshadowed by the 10/10 classic single" where the next two have been incredible and fully realised pieces of work
thinking about the contrast between this and KD, KD's overall vibe was sort of floating, drifting, on cloud nine emotionally and in this bubble of romance; wildheart is all dirt and grit and roughness and stuff that pushes you rather than makes you swoon
― lex pretend, Friday, 3 July 2015 15:00 (eight years ago) link
"coffee" in fact feels like the outlier in this respect (an amazing outlier tho)
yep
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 3 July 2015 15:01 (eight years ago) link
If Kaleidoscope Dream was Oracle then Wildheart is Odessey.
― geoffreyess, Friday, 3 July 2015 15:11 (eight years ago) link
Percussion on damned is wow
― 龜, Friday, 3 July 2015 15:11 (eight years ago) link
The whole album is Sebadoh (with sex)!
― pophatte (admrl), Friday, 3 July 2015 15:12 (eight years ago) link
Miguel made the same song w leaves and face the sun and put them one right after the other and it's still great and amazing
― 龜, Friday, 3 July 2015 15:16 (eight years ago) link
Re: the 90s, the guitars on "A Beautiful Exit" kind of sound like "Souvlaki Space Station" rewritten to soundtrack the opening of Altman's "Short Cuts" or better yet Bigelow's "Strange Days."
― geoffreyess, Friday, 3 July 2015 18:20 (eight years ago) link
And "the valley" reminds of "Closer" mainly in the way that I can imagine having seen the real cool video with the "fuck" bleeped out and then getting the album home and hearing it uncensored for the first time. Like, I can imagine it so vividly, it's a mere technicality it didn't actually happen that way.
― geoffreyess, Friday, 3 July 2015 18:23 (eight years ago) link
Haha
― Tim F, Friday, 3 July 2015 21:39 (eight years ago) link
"Waves" sounds like "Electric Feel".
― The Reverend, Saturday, 4 July 2015 08:58 (eight years ago) link
It's worth remembering that "Sure Thing" was recorded in like 2007 or so. (It's was the song on his demo that got him signed, then his label sat on him for a couple years.) Something like "Teach Me" is a lot closer to his current phrasing.
― The Reverend, Saturday, 4 July 2015 09:27 (eight years ago) link
i learned that he was originally signed as a songwriter more or less and "sure thing" was specifically earmarked for usher
― J0rdan S., Saturday, 4 July 2015 15:46 (eight years ago) link
pretty obsessed with "Leaves"-> "Face the Sun"
I am a dummy on "production" but these two songs do this thing where they build up layer by layer steadily over the song, until the climax is a wall of sound. though if you're listening carefully the sound is good enough to hear the different layers individually. like you're listening to a pyramid, a three dimensional object, being built. this is particularly true of "Face the Sun". I don't know enough to say what lineage that sound has: it's very complex, layers of counterpoint building, more and more tracks coming in. I dunno, maybe I think of like Be Here Now? Miguel gets pretty shouty on these songs, well and elsewhere on the album. maybe it's a kinda cokey sound? this is no shade: I am just listening to those two on repeat, with "Waves" once in a while, which is a more linear groove. I dunno, I'm hearing something that's probably really easy for the rest of you to classify etc but for me it's pretty striking.
― droit au butt (Euler), Saturday, 4 July 2015 20:13 (eight years ago) link
I've been thinking this too.
― MikoMcha, Sunday, 5 July 2015 06:25 (eight years ago) link
'electric feel' reminds me of los angeles hotel lobbies, so the connection makes sense
― maura, Sunday, 5 July 2015 07:06 (eight years ago) link
i could wipe you down right now babylet me ride that wave right now baby
― 龜, Sunday, 5 July 2015 12:38 (eight years ago) link
The first verse on Coffee is horrible. I don't think I can deal with this dude right bow.
― longneck, Monday, 6 July 2015 19:04 (eight years ago) link
uh
― List of people who are ready for woe and how we know this (seandalai), Monday, 6 July 2015 20:51 (eight years ago) link
hm peach color moon glistens the plot thickens
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Monday, 6 July 2015 21:12 (eight years ago) link