Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me (RIP blogs)

ok yeah I can dig it

what if you pretended that she only released the first disc, and listen to that a lot. and then a year from now, pretend in your mind that she released the second disc as a new album, and listen to that one a lot. and then a year from that, pretend that the third disc is another album

makes the joanna newsom album sound like the lord of the rings movie trilogy (filmed at the same time, but released in three installments in three successive years). it's perfect in a way: lotr had unicorns, i think.

(or at least it had orcs).

re jon's post

No problem, dude!

Regarding this:

I've just noticed this evolution in kshighway over the months and I found it to be a bit disappointing. I mean, he got ragged on a LOT when he first showed up for being overly excitable and earnest. Maybe its an inevitable part of the evolution of an ilxor, but he seemed to switch really quickly into snarky, jaded mode. Which was disappointing to me, because the earnestness was refreshing in a weird way. I just don't like new posters thinking that bitter snarkiness is the quickest way to fit in. I'd rather have new posters do their own thing!

Here's the thing. To some degree, new posters can't "do their own thing" here, and that's not their fault. For example, if I wanted to start an engaged, sincere discussion of Wilco right now, I almost couldn't, in part because ILM as a community has already discussed Wilco to death, and I came here too late to be a part of those discussions, but also in part because Wilco is a band that most ILMers, as far as I can tell, don't have time for. The ROI for me starting a thread on a lot of the stuff I like—see this thread—is so low that it's not worth it for me to bother. So, instead, I join in on the threads others have started about whatever band ILM's interested in talking about this week, and that's fine. I haven't abandoned my enthusiasm for Wilco, The Antlers, and whatever other indie acts I've been listening to for the past five years, but I don't talk about them here as much as I did when I started.

As far as the "jadedness" thing goes, I disagree: I don't think I'm jaded at all! Yeah, I've engaged in stuff like joking about Joanna Newsom and unicorns, but, at least in this thread, that's not because I want to "fit in," that's just because, when a thread I start takes a sharp turn into mocking someone I like and it looks like no one wants to actually talk about the music, my options are to either abandon the thread or just join in the joking around, and sometimes if I'm bored enough I'll just choose to join in. That doesn't mean I've started to dislike her because a lot of ILM dislikes her! I still love Ys, and I'm still interested in figuring out HOOM. But I can still find unicorn jokes funny even if I think they're kinda inaccurate, and I can laugh at stuff I like without turning my back on it.

I also think we have to agree that the dominant tone on a lot of threads is not just snarky but really, really rude. From the time I started posting as "kshighway," people called me a sock constantly, in part because I posted a lot about indie rock and had no idea what was going on here and had no idea what the tacit assumptions people held here were. Being here for some months now, I understand this place better. But a lot of the people who are actually jaded still show up to harass me, because that's just what happens here. Instead of flipping out about it all the time like when I first got here, I increasingly just try to ignore those people.

Anyway, that's not to say I haven't said anything that's snarky or jaded. I have. But I'm still enthusiastic about the stuff I like, and I don't think I'm a jaded person. Rock it.

rock on!

I like wilco

rude?

fuck you

wilco fan since 1995 right here, guys. love that band.

So are we ready to start discussing the new Joanna Newsom album yet?

i hear it's 3 cds

i like some wilco

yeah, i mean, it's kinda the same thing with Newsom, Wilco, Animal Collective , I dunno, other bands, too. Bands that get ridiculous praise for being groundbreaking -- ILM just has a knee jerk reaction to that stuff, I've found. Rightly, too! Nothing new. Just funny to make light of the "omg best band EVER" reactions.

i like how ppl on this thread have now complained

i) that this record has too many songs which have repetitive traditional melodies/forms
ii) that this record has too many songs which do other things and neglect traditional melodies/forms

More Barn!!

which, tbh, i. and ii. are kind of microcosms of the larger thing that goes on, where ppl say

i. joanna newsom is so amazing and otherworldly and beyond description
ii. joanna newsom is ehhhhhhh; lol unicorns

— & in neither case do we actually get at what joanna newsom is doing, or what the songs are

yeah i would love to actually talk about this record, but i think we'd need a new thread, and it would need to not be on ilx.

i think we talked a little bit about this record, it just in between all the unicorn jokes and the sidebar about post kshighway

totally worth giving it a go i reckon

i mean it's a pretty good record and all

yeah i'm just mad because i hadn't listened to it when people were actually talking about it. (tbh i haven't listened to the whole thing yet)

well you should, i am about to post spoilers

totally love wilco.

and, iirc, ksh isn't such a new poster, right? he was once "three hands clapping," or something similar. nevertheless, there's nothing wrong with being earnest on ilx.

rock on.

^^^why we can't talk about this record, exhibit no. 568

i'm sorry, b/c of me?

What We Talk About When We Talk About Unicorns

naw i'm sorry daniel, i'm just several weeks past the stage where i could enjoy ksh jokes

lol, no worries. fwiw, i wasn't trying to joke about ksh, just making an observation.

the problem may be that making observations about other posters has trumped talking about music on I Love Music

(unless it's Jedward)

Sort of about the record, have we heard any sales figures on this thing yet? I'm really curious as to how well this thing is selling. A week ago Monday when I bought it, the store I picked it up from had a huge, huge row of copies behind the counter - looked like maybe 90-100 copies at least. Stopped in same store yesterday and they had a note that they were sold out and should be getting more today. I'm wondering if this is the case at a lot of places.

(in the future, all ILM threads will be about Jedward)

The store I work at only ordered 2 CDs. Some of us there know this is a really wasted op, given how many people are asking for it. They need to order some vinyl pronto, or they'll really miss out.

i like how ppl on this thread have now complained

i) that this record has too many songs which have repetitive traditional melodies/forms
ii) that this record has too many songs which do other things and neglect traditional melodies/forms

― thomp, Tuesday, 2 March 2010 14:52 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

I don't need strike-through to tell you what the common factor is there

witch

so should I pick up this record - I enjoyed her debut lp but didn't really see any reason to get the follow-up.

and, iirc, ksh isn't such a new poster, right? he was once "three hands clapping," or something similar. nevertheless, there's nothing wrong with being earnest on ilx.

― Daniel, Esq.

i posted for a bit in late 2007 as "three handclaps," then went back to lurking off and on until 2009.

i'm all up for starting a new thread for actual discussion of the record.

The only problem with that will be the hater chorus of "do we need ANOTHER Joanna Newsom thread?!?!?!".

respond with this:

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h65/BrendonBaby/my%20stuff/unicorn.jpg

another option would be for those of us who want to discuss the record to just start doing it here, ignoring all of the inevitable interjections from people who don't give a shit about her music.

ksh is otm and slowly earning my respect ;)

hahaha :-)

I am considering getting this after hearing that one song from it that I found on Youtube that I posted way upthread. Singing healthily was a avery good move for her.

i thought disc 1 was pretty sweet. the way her music naturally wanders is tantalizing and frustrating to me--like sometimes she just nails a melody or a hook and you're like yeah! but then she's off to something else. i can never 100% love that, but i can respect it.

I haven't listened to it much yet, but so far it's not grabbing me like Ys did. The sparser production might be nice on a few songs but 2.5 hours of it starts to get on my nerves. Also I think maybe I liked her singing better when it was less polished, but I have a thing for "ugly" voices. I don't hate the album but don't love it much yet either.

Really prefer the harp-based songs to the piano-based songs.

to summarize: not enough unicorns

its an interesting album. i guess i was wrong when i said it wouldnt convert anyone--she seems to have traded in a lot of the stuff that turned ppl off, but at the same time that stuff was what turned a lot of people on.