Marina & The Diamonds!

I was with you until the astrology...!

anyway... I think it's fair to say it's ALL about her. and you're spot on about the little details: like the tiny glock chime that accompanies the word 'pins' in 'robot'. the halted, cut-up syllables at the end of 'satisfied'. the digital 'to be l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ved' in mowgli, the rhythm of which is foreshadowed in the previous bar. the way the chords of the moroder riff shift towards the end of 'shampain', emphasising her decline into drunken despondency... lots to chew on.

anyway... I think it's fair to say it's ALL about her

Which is double-edged, but on the more positive side, it means that when she is being didactic it's really as if she were writing exhortations to herself in a journal; and when she is being extremely critical, she's often at least partly criticizing herself. (I can't imagine anyone writing what she does in "Girls" whatever the lines are--I'm at work now so no music--about making money out of you insecurities, without realizing she is describing her own album.)

I keep telling myself I'm going to go through and catalog all my favorite small details on the album, but then I just end up bouncing along to it over and over again.

(Pathetically quick reply because works is slow tonight/this morning/whatever.)

not only that, but 'girls' rails against an obsession with stereotypically feminine fripperies and dieting, which must surely dwell on her mind every time she sings it, given that a) she's clearly worked hard to lose weight in the past few months, and b) is now doing a spot of modelling:

http://www.asos.com/Women/Women-Landing-Pages/20100219Fmarinaandthediamondsw/Cat/pgehtml.aspx?cid=10092

I sort of don't want to be reminded of what a painfully great figure she has (not complaining to you, just commenting in general).

like the tiny glock chime that accompanies the word 'pins' in 'robot'.

Yeah, I'm waiting for the Pantha du Prince remix.

like the tiny glock chime that accompanies the word 'pins' in 'robot'.

This is my favourite musical moment of the year! I'm not wild about Mowgli's (I can't get over 'spoons' - it sounds really student) and Hollywood is ugh, but I'm Not A Robot is just really wonderful and exciting.

I hate to say it but sometimes she reminds me of Jim Morrison. (Hate to say it because I don't like Jim Morrison.) Or even Genesis P-Orridge, possibly doing Jim Morrison, especially in that fast car bit at the end of "Girls"--that's exactly what it makes me think of: Genesis P-Orridge doing Jim Morrison.

I have a whole backlog of wacky things to say about this album.

I'm starting to think that the latter third of this album has some of its strongest work. numb, rootless, oh no! and guilty have graduated from underwhelming to stunning.

(all of which just makes hollywood seem more and more inexplicable)

Agreed, at this point I think at least that those last four songs are as strong as the rest (but I like Hollywood too).

I kind of like hollywood, but somewhat against my instincts/better judgement. it works best as a single, but seems highly anomalous in the context of the album.

I don't see where it's so removed thematically from her overall concerns about success/glamor, the ambivalence that runs throughout much of the album. And I don't hear it is sonically so different from "Oh No!" or "Girls," so I don't know. Speaking of "Girls," some of the same sort of complaints that could be made about Hollywood's lyrics could be made about it, I think. If anything "I Am Not a Robot" seems out of place somehow, even though it's very likely her strongest song. I don't know if it should have been placed somewhere differently in the album sequence, or if it just doesn't completely fit.

I do think I was exaggerating before when I suggested that her songs on this album are really solely populated with projections of herself. I don't hear "Guilty" as Marina addressing herself, and I think it's a stretch to interpret "Obessions" that way too.

(Incidentally, there are a couple seconds of electronic squiggles in "Shampain" that remind me of something in a Shiina Ringo song, but I haven't tracked that one down yet, probably because it's been a while since I've listened to Shouso Strip.)

'hollywood's swipes are not just at hollywood though, are they? calling an entire country 'a mess' is not a culture-specific assault like in 'girls', but is an attack (albeit in an affectionate, patronising kind of way) on a whole nation. and that stuff about the air hostess: gack!

sonically it's not a million miles from 'oh no!' (although it's more bloated, less effervescent) but the latter benefits from juxtaposed self deprecation, whereas 'hollywood's gaze turns outwards, so comes across as a little smug.

America is a mess, so as an American I have no problem with that, though I doubt Marina's list of what's wrong with the US would match mine too precisely.

In the course I reading interviews with her, I found one in which she said she was talking to herself in Hollywood. So I am perhaps being overly influenced by her own comments on it, but they do, after all, fit in with my own idea that she is talking to herself in a lot of the songs, even where it's not immediately obvious.

Still, I guess I have to agree it is her most stilted/pompous sounding song.

Have you noticed how often there is some stray sound at the end of a track? Easier to hear with headphones. Like the siren at the end of "Girls."

Listening to "Numb" at the moment and it really reminds me of big 70s production, with the strings and choir and everything (which is basically a good thing for me since the 70s is my favorite pop decade, even if this isn't necessarily my fave sound from the 70s).

I don't know why so many critics keep complaining about her lyrics. I think they are generally better than average (er, "Hollywood" aside, and maybe "Girls" as well). There are some imagistic threads that run through these songs (fast cars and stars, for instance--maybe she has been reading Dr. Seuss).

This album has saturated my brain so much that I think I'm not enjoying other music as much as I would otherwise. I want more that sounds like this. (Yes, I know I've been posting about other things, but for the most part it's been "eh, this sounds pretty good.")

I feel pretty certain she has at least a couple more good albums in her. The albums suggests lots of possible direction in which she could move, musically.

(Weird hours in a weird time zone. . .)

Took a while to get around to getting a physical copy of the album, but loving it so far. I'd actually forgotten how much I liked the stuff I'd heard some time ago (Mowgli's Road, Obsessions) - they've really grown on me. I don't find her style annoying at all, but I do listen to a LOT of female singers with 'unique' voices, so I guess it doesn't stick out so much for me.

Too lazy to dissect (and incapable of doing it in terms of music theory), but one thing I particularly like in her songs is how often they go through a lot of changes. Multiple choruses. Coming out of a chorus and arriving somewhere new melodically, rather than returning to what came before. Etc.

She has a song which gets into the Libra thing (though not in a way I'd expect):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG6BrtIRd9w

Lots of stuff of hers on youtube that I haven't noticed until now. Not necessarily great but it's actually pretty good.

How many of her songs are out there online already that weren't on the album?

Most of the Mermaid vs. Sailor ep (which is really just crude bedroom demos and, truthfully, not so great). Everything else ended up on the album pretty much, but "Numb" and "Hollywood" were significantly bettered by the time of the album recordings.

Some of this stuff sounds pretty good to me. Better than the fucking Bush Tetras. (Why the Bush Tetras I'm not sure except the raw demo quality of some of this leaves it sounding a bit post-punk at times.)

Saw a (song-by-song) interview with Marina in which she said that "The Outsider" was the song that had the most takes. Interesting to me because I guessed a long while back that "I'm a fucking wild card" would be the segment that had that massive number of takes that one of them had. She didn't mention that particular line, but it seems like something she would struggle with. (I no longer listen to this album all the time, but do throw it on pretty frequently. It's sounding good tonight.)

Oh yeah, and she got all indignant in the interview, because the interviewer tosses off something like: "So was 'The Outsider' done pretty quickly in just a few takes?'" And she responds: "Why would you say that?" (or the like). I guess I should just find it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qq4AYyKa1s

haha!

She looks nice & Greek there, too, I must say.

Maybe from those outdoor concerts giving her some more color.

these interviews are really interesting, thanks. particularly the way she almost disowns 'girls'.

The thing I like most about her reception by the music press is that there's a genuine interest in the process. Nobody ever digs this deep into La Roux's motivations or techniques, they don't care about Shakira's writing trials and errors. Marina is sort of an open book that way.

If this is really the track-list for the U.S. release, I don't like what they've done with the sequencing. This may be a bit knee-jerk, but I think "Numb" is a bit too much of a downer as a closer, though maybe it's how she's feeling at the moment. "Guilty" was also a downer in a way, but it feels like the most personal revelation on the album, so coming at the end it felt like a sort of climax. Also, the abrupt ending seems to form a circle with the beginning (and its "hyper-meta" lyrical theme, which gives "Are You Satisfied?" a certain thematic abruptness).

Interesting that "Seventeen" comes back from the dead for the US version. While I doubt she'll have a big radio single, that's one of her better chances.

Hmmm. I don't know. I like that song reasonably well, but I think some of the others might have a better chance. Like what? well maybe Hollywood, maybe Shampain, maybe even Mowgli's Road or I Am Not a Robot--probably I am dreaming though. Kind of hoping they will at least get a lot of college radio play (but maybe they already have).

This is blowing my mind again at the moment. So musical is what it comes down to.

Well I. . .

Video for "Oh No" just showed up. Bright and shiny!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr-SqRWImmI

Hmmm. It's okay. The derriere of the dancer in blue is kind of subverting any pop self-critique going on here, but I don't take the pop critique angle that seriously to begin with. A bit much that Marina ends it with the same smile that "Hollywood" ends with (if I recall corretly).

can we talk about that video? it's so painful it needs a safety word

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4D1HSL7P98

reminds me too much of this video in a not good way

I don't know why I'm cutting her slack for being a giddy 23 year old, because I'd crucify anyone else who did that probably. tbh, I'm not listening to The Family Jewels with the regularity I used to, but I still think that in five years she'll be better instead of worse.

It's a bad video. I'm not listening to the album as much as I did initially--but why would I? Things rarely stay in such heavy rotation for me for long. I still love it though.

Such a clever album

I didn't get that "Shampain" was a play on words – I was too dazzled by it fror the first 10 or so listens.

Also I think I would marry this chick. Is that legal over there?

sort of

Yay! Abbott's on board!

"Shampain" was my favorite of hers long before the album, and it's still my favorite now.

gonna give this a good listen btw - sounds like I might approve - although I am v work-busy so verdict might take a while to arrive

She's only two years younger than me so it won't be too weird.

I think she's dating one of the dudes from Hurts, but I'm sure they swing.

Still my second favorite album of the year!