What do you think of MTV Teen Mom Farrah Abraham's first single?

great job with the atlantic thing! really good piece. kinda says it all really. and don't worry, phil, history won't forget the trailblazing abrahamic scholars.

Are we positive she didn't secretly collaborate with Aphex Twin? Listen to "On My Own" again and tell me that synth line wouldn't sound right at home on The Richard D. James Album.

some of the praise strikes me as at least a little hyperbolic. this is a strange, awful and oddly beguiling album. it's hard not to be intrigued by the contrast between abraham's weird, broken earnestness and the abrasive sonic textures, but i'm in no rush to announce the genius (not least because i don't know who put it together, how much abraham had to do with the music and editing).

otoh, no matter who put it together, it's easily one of the most interesting albums i've heard this year

Sorry, I didn't realize that the sarcasm line was inserted by the editor. (That really sucks! But then I wasn't "allowed" to give a Paris Hilton song 4/5 stars back in the day, either.)

Eryn Woods is the woman in the picture: http://www.erynwoodsmusic.com/fr_home.cfm

good piece. articles that refer to ILM and extensively quote the thread about the subject at hand really rub me the wrong way, though.

"In an ILM thread, some dude complained about the increasing self-referentiality of the music discussion world, leading to a parodic response about his post which took note of that self-referentiality. It was not excelsiored."

hahahahaha ned

I agree about quoting ILM, but it seemed really disingenuous not to at least link to it. It's like Oscar Wilde said, the only thing worse than referring to ILM is not referring to ILM.

LOL ned

that was awesome

Saw this yesterday. It's absolutely incredible. Step aside Rebecca Black.

Makes me think of Black Dice remixing Armand Van Helden in some dystopian parallel version of the nineties where nothing works properly and physical forces are preordained to make everything go wrong - like if you make a cup of tea 9 times out of ten you'll spill it all over yourself, and merely the act of walking from one end of the room to the other involves a high degree of calculated risk because the floor, rather than being flat and solid, kind of juts out and moves around at random. I watched three videos just gaping and scratching my head but credit to her - I hate watching YouTubes generally.

Step aside Rebecca Black.

what is the connection to rebecca black?

really? you don't see any parallel between the two at all?

i don't see a parallel

they are both pretty?

amateur singer with autotune fetish blows up all over the internet largely thanks to ostensible terribleness but comes to be reassessed by the musical cognoscenti over time.

they are both female!

people on the internet have different opinions about the quality of their output?

"blows up all over the internet largely thanks to ostensible terribleness but comes to be reassessed by the musical cognoscenti over time."

um this is like 50% of the internet

are you guys being stupid on purpose or are you actually stupid?

one young unknown woman had a song written for her and a video filmed, as a present from her parents, which then became an internet hit because of the way it was pop-but-not-quite-pop, and then the internet started liking it for the ways in which it fails as pop and the ways in which also it succeeds as pop (eg earworminess)

one young reality-tv-famous woman made a "soundtrack" for her autobiography and bundled it with copies of the book, to mass bafflement, because it's a really ugly record, and now about a dozen people on the internet are saying 'the way in which this is ugly is super effective and tbh if this was labelled as avant garde it would get a lot of kudos'

the farrah abraham record has not blown up all over the internet

the 'musical cognoscenti', as far as i am aware, have not 'reassessed' rebecca black's friday

what is the connection you are making between these records other than "they are unconventional releases which people on the internet have argued about"

Makes me think of Black Dice remixing Armand Van Helden in some dystopian parallel version of the nineties where nothing works properly and physical forces are preordained to make everything go wrong - like if you make a cup of tea 9 times out of ten you'll spill it all over yourself, and merely the act of walking from one end of the room to the other involves a high degree of calculated risk because the floor, rather than being flat and solid, kind of juts out and moves around at random.

i like this description though!

"where nothing works properly and physical forces are preordained to make everything go wrong" <-- i feel this v strongly

people were attracted to both because they're both, by most standards, 'terrible, ugly records' with amateurish production values and a sloppiness that leads one to question the very inception of said music. and yet both have their boosters who claim that this all belies some deeper more intrinsic appeal and who would genuinely defend the record. okay they didn't spring from entirely the same font, but if you can't see the parallels beyond "they are both pretty and female", well i'd say you're being deliberately obtuse.

Or more succinctly, both count as recent examples of 'outsider pop' (with the emphasis on pop). Interestingly they approach it from two different walks of life - one the disenfranchised young mum producing the work pretty mubytes rough her own wherewithall, the other a rich schoolgirl whose own parents paid to have their daughter make the video.

As for 'blowing up', I'm not sure if this'll have the same popularity and impact as 'Friday' but I hear about it through an online news story linked through fb so someone must be talking about it. Fwiw I'm Britishers and don't subscribe to MTV so to me this is completely new.

iPhone interfering with those posts sorry

dog latin isn't making his case really well but 'unselfconscious white girls abusing autotune with surreal results' is specific enough to at least warrant some mention of RB, even if beyond that things are pretty different

this is a good listen ! the sunshine state is particularly incredible

It appeals to me.

in a slight quirk of circumstance, I recently asked in the opening question of this thread: 'Deconstructionist' Music whether there were any examples of the aesthetic applied to pop. Farrah seems to have unintentionally answered this to some extent.

This rules.

connection drawn between RB and FA makes sense to me. they're both young women who came to pop through nonstandard channels, making vanity press music that resembles what you hear on hits radio, but which doesn't quite succeed by chartpop's conventional standards. the fact that there's something "off" about their music is a big part of the story and appeal in each case, though the two are obviously quite different in other respects. for obvious starters, FA's music and lyrics are much, much weirder.

Listen to "On My Own" again and tell me that synth line wouldn't sound right at home on The Richard D. James Album.

OTM Mr Snurb.

I can't wait to find out what the deal with the music is. if she made it, who else did it if not etc.

ok there is some serious hyperbole in this thread but this is a pretty odd album

the detail that she made this not as an album-album but a listen-along sdtrk for her book is the most beguiling little thing

"After Prom" is the track that really made me go "lol this is Crystal Castles, right"

I think every touring musician on this thread should use selections from this as pre-set PA music

tempted

Lex in FACT: http://www.factmag.com/2012/09/27/my-teenage-dream-ended/

More editor meddling. Still can't find anything about production credits, thinking about trying to just get an interview myself.

tempted

Do it!

I am a latecomer to this thread but I have become obsessed with this album.

tempted by the fruit of teen mother

if she made it

no way she produced it. it's unmistakably some hired gun shit and yet the production reminds me of youtube tutorial videos for massive. like, there's a level of detail in the production (the filter sweeps, effects, etc) that's so at odds with the randomness of the vocals that i would be shocked if she said she did it herself. but then the dubstep wobble shit sounds really weak and amateurish, it makes me picture a middle-aged engineer at a start-up studio getting the gig and being told "here, just make a bunch of tracks for her to sing over and do what you can, btw we need it by tuesday."

She's in college now, wouldn't be surprised to learn that this was some collaboration with an undergrad amateur producer in one of her classes or something. A lot of my students make music that sounds like the backing tracks. Or they could be demos from a D-list professional producer. But it still doesn't explain how they chose to match the vocals with the music.

That FACT review is the first review I've read that actually takes this album seriously. good jub Lex

Job even

thx

a few things that are striking me now - this shit is abrasive and alienating, yeah, but it's also weirdly listenable. i'm still coming back to it of my own volition and finding it enjoyable and genuinely moving. it's actually got to the "sing along, dance around a bit" stage with a couple of the songs.

i came dressed up on the WAY! DOWN!
enjoy the moments while i'm IN! THEM!