Justin Timberlake in 2013

well i didn't say that

i dunno you said "Its sound is rooted both in Memphis soul and Timberlake/Timbaland's own forever-futuristic sonic experimentatio" as if that's 50% of the formula

i guess if you interpret "both" to mean "half this, half that"

in any event i'm not even sure if that would be wrong. i don't know what shtick it is you're talking about, anyway.

my first thought about those impulse reviews was the dizzying amount of frank ocean references which seems offtm in a way i can't exactly pinpoint

anyway someone should've hired rtc who is having the most reasonable reaction to this record

there's a languidness to the album that is comparable to channel orange, but also a lot of other things

i dunno i just think "Memphis soul" is a pretty specific subgenre out of dozens of types of R&B that Justin may or may not draw from, and that it only gets mentioned, by him and other people, because he was born in Memphis, not because of anything you hear in the music. personal pet peeve of mine is all.

this aeroplane remix is a plate of ass but i'll probably listen to it again

Well it is Bootylicious

done. gonna go out clubbing with neil strauss now, chances are I'll be negged less

"forever futuristic" REALLY j0rdan?

I think I've learned to love "Mirrors". It's "Losing My Way" Part 2.

he def lost his way

Anybody know if Tim did this on his own? Or does he have a new Danja in his camp or something?

Def touches on pre-Danja Tim sounds and tricks more than anything he's done (or I've noticed!) in a bit.

Or does he have a new Danja in his camp or something?

seems like it was co-produced by a guy named j-roc

"forever futuristic" REALLY j0rdan?

― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Tuesday, March 12, 2013 7:21 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

i was using the term there as a descriptor, not necessarily as an indicator of quality.

this aeroplane remix is a plate of ass but i'll probably listen to it again

― 乒乓, Tuesday, March 12, 2013 4:11 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

imma 180 on this

what a shock

tbh i just needed something with cool value to post to my thisismyjam acct

tru

lol I posted it to mine too

I realized watching him on SNL and Fallon this week that I think I like watching him perform better than just listening to him sing? I found the album kinda dull...it's okay, but not the wow I was expecting. but I really dig the songs I've seen him do live. It's weird, I've never really encountered that before.

charisma/cuetness helps I guess

This album is mostly dope and only falls off in the last two songs. People be tripping.

Actually, even "Mirrors" sounded better here than in isolation.

Except for the last track none of the long-ass songs feel long-ass and I love the languid, cozy feel of the rest.

"forever futuristic" REALLY j0rdan?

― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Tuesday, March 12, 2013 7:21 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

i was using the term there as a descriptor, not necessarily as an indicator of quality.

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, March 13, 2013 1:04 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

but it doesn't work as a descriptor. the album doesn't sound futuristic. timbaland hasn't sounded futuristic in over a decade.

PresentSex/LoveSounds

my first thought about those impulse reviews was the dizzying amount of frank ocean references which seems offtm in a way i can't exactly pinpoint

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, March 12, 2013 6:46 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

FO is always on the outside while JT is generally on the inside of things?

Anyway, I think I like this album. Need to listen more though.

Whew: Caramanica doesn't like it.

He just wants to entertain. On “Saturday Night Live” recently he put his musical gifts to wide use, impersonating Elton John eulogizing Hugo Chávez in song, reprising his partnership with Andy Samberg as sensual early-’90s white R&B goons for a dating show sketch, and dressed up as a piece of tofu, hawking a vegan restaurant by singing health-friendly versions of Chic’s “Le Freak,” Trinidad James’s “All Gold Everything” and more.

He sounded more at home and vocally present in those moments than when singing his new songs, or almost anywhere on “The 20/20 Experience.” Forget the album; go see the show, or whatever else Mr. Timberlake applies his talents to. He’s learned how to be a musician who has no need to make records, the perfect solution to the modern economy.

thumbs up to pretty much every point in that review, inc re the one great song

The result is a smallness of purpose, with only slight variation throughout, like the deeply wholesome soul of “That Girl” or the drowsy “Blue Ocean Floor,” which had it been released two or three years ago, might have been called chillwave’s pop breakthrough. [...]
Seven of the 10 songs are more than seven minutes. In an era of Frank Ocean soul meditation, this could pass for artistry, but really it’s a gesture of conservatism, an argument for the album as a whole over whatever abbreviated singles will eventually be shipped to radio. It also harks back to ’70s soul, Prince’s funk breakdowns and Michael Jackson’s hyper-ornate pop. It is Mr. Timberlake radiating seriousness, lest you think his music making is frivolous.

w/r/t this - He gets a tremendous amount of mileage just for being a cool guy who’s willing to hang out with regular folk - it's true, but he's a luxe brand at the same time...it's very canny positioning, this sort of bridge between the increasingly remote gilded-cage opulence of kanye and jay-z, and "ordinariness". aspirationalism as classic film comfort blanket, shorn of the weird hard cold edges and triumphalism of his friends.

also, he's white

yeah i meant to imply that with actual words rather than just in my mind, lol

Really it’s a gesture of conservatism, an argument for the album as a whole over whatever abbreviated singles will eventually be shipped to radio.

I don't get why that's conservative. There are lots of reasons to enjoy long songs and coherent albums that aren't "I <3 the 70s".

i think caramanica's argument - which would be mine too - is that in this case the song lengths really don't serve much purpose other than for the sake of just Being Long - they don't benefit the material and it doesn't feel needed.

I can see it's badly done, but I don't read it as automatically "conservative" - it's just a failure of execution. I hate the idea that long ambitious tracks (quality aside) are somehow more conservative than radio-ready pop hits. Both forms have existed for decades. It feels a bit like "Albums are over guys. Get with the bold new digital age," which I find very boring and limiting.

this is the most impressive line: "He’s learned how to be a musician who has no need to make records."

I'd also question this claim: "FutureSex/ LoveSounds, Mr. Timberlake’s follow-up, aimed lower aesthetically [than Justified]"

Did it really?

But it's a good review, dubious claims and all.

ha i really appreciate that lil offhand challop (with which i wholly agree)

I can understand someone thinking it ended up lower aesthetically (I prefer Justified) but its aims were obviously grand.

it aimed bigger but not nec higher

justified was more low-key about its ambition and didn't wrap it up in an overarching marketing thing but i think the music on justified - both the range and the peaks - was far more of a daring statement in 2002 than FS/LS was in 2006

What you seem to be saying is that a pop star with a slightly skewed musical sensibility seems more daring the first time he executes that vision than he does the second time.

if I remember well, justified was more about getting in sync (sic !) with the (arguably) most exciting music and producers of the time while FS/LS was something else which was then copied by most afterward (not to say the sound didn't exist before, just that it wasn't already big as opposed to the sound on justified).

I've come around to thinking both albums contain the same number of songs I skip.

I like more non singles tracks on FS/LS than on Justified (which is easy since I don't like any album track on the latter !).

Agree with (the non-parenthetic part of) that but the singles on Justified are way more all-time.

def don't understand dismissing all of the non-singles on justified

my favorite track of his is between "rock your body", "sexyback" (which I like a lot more now than then) and "My love".
I had zero hope he could make another track of that level in his new album so I won't be disppointed when I listen to it !

Killer album tracks:

(And She Said) Take Me Now
Right For Me
Let's Take a Ride
Nothin' Else