Justin Timberlake in 2013

it's not awful, it's just underdone and mediocre - on the terms in which it was puffed up it totally collapses though

clever of JT and Timbo to record a song called "Tunnel Vision" whose sound/conceit/arrangement approximates the experience of listening to it.

"let the groove get in" has those weird house piano diversions! the second half is distinct from the first and is a p natural development!

i know lex, i'm just laughing that yr go to for 'epic jams' is erykah badu. much prefer the long tracks that wander off into some digression to the ones that just keep going (does anything here even attempt epic, except maybe 'mirrors'? fs/ls had some honest attempts at epics and 'cry me a river' actually managed to be an epic in under five minutes), might've been more palatable and more a call back to tradition if he had done 'strawberry bubblegum pt. 1 & pt. 2' etc., or if he had done some editing and cut back tracks to 4-5min than something like 'mirrors' might've come off like a forgiveable misstep instead of my beautiful dark 20/20 experience. i like the album but do agree as a failure it could've been more interesting, half finished songs blown up into meandering epics can still be inspired (hello marvin gaye).

you people

Here, My Dear and In Our Lifetime had unexpected synth fills and always grooved, but I guess a groove will always be subjective.

but, rev, do you still love us?

i'm just laughing that yr go to for 'epic jams' is erykah badu

idg why it's funny :(

'cry me a river' actually managed to be an epic in under five minutes

RIGHT?

idg why it's funny :(

i laughed bc it's very you

the second half is distinct from the first

oh yes all these aimless non-song non-grooves all have much-vaunted "outros" that never quite have the impact they should because when they turn up i'm like...hang on but we're only just done with the intro where is the song

but, rev, do you still love us?

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, March 19, 2013 1:47 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no

lol idk the first half of "let the groove get in" much as it seems a pure vamp coheres pretty easily into a song for me

the entire thing is just a vamp! it's a pretty good vamp. WHY IS IT EIGHT MINUTES LONG.

again, the outros are actually the best part of the album

this jt album is way too long and directionless... *listens to goldenheart*

lol

http://www.fascsafety.org/buckle1.jpg

this jt album is way too long and directionless... *listens to goldenheart*

― 乒乓, Tuesday, March 19, 2013 1:56 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

WAHAHAHHA

hyuk hyuk hyuk aren't you all amusing

IT COULD WORK THE OTHER WAY ROUND FYI

again, the outros are actually the best part of the album

also how is this a compliment

outros are ppl too

was talking to maura about this record earlier today and she characterized the outros (which she finds too numerous and long) as "funhouse mirror interpretations" which otm

in fact, it's rockist if i may say so, to value canonical song-parts like choruses and verses over outros

"funhouse mirror interpretations" which otm

in the stooges sense!

go tell that to someone who was saying that

i just told u

also how is this a compliment

― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Tuesday, March 19, 2013 5:03 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

because it refutes the myth that they're aimless/unnecessary

i think "the outros are the best part" totally makes sense as a compliment bc the outros take the songs to complicated and distinct and surprising places

i just told u

― ums (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, March 19, 2013 9:07 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i wasn't saying that

do you have short term memory loss?

again, the outros are actually the best part of the album

also how is this a compliment

― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Tuesday, March 19, 2013 4:03 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

if it can't be a compliment, then the outros being the best part surely must be a flaw

"the outro is the best part" implies that the main bit of the song is not as good

thread is starting to look like funhouse mirror

every song has a best part

tunnel vision itt

Sprawl seems kinda MBDTF influenced but a little more purposeful.

i have had no compulsion whatsoever to ever hear this album again

have you heard "like i love you"? it's a good song.

― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Tuesday, March 19, 2013 10:22 AM Bookmark

I'd like to point out for the official record that the outro of "Like I Love You" is the best part.

An outro is the butt of a song so it's a compliment just like sayin damn look@the caboose on that timberlake song

Timberlake's caboose is pretty damn tight these days imo

mmhmmm

just starting the album, pusher love girl is pretty nice

He's got an outro that just won't quit

a strange man asks you if you saw the outro on that one

it's weird that the length of the songs and intro/outros is such a big discussion point, since FutureSex had several songs in the 6-7 minute range and lots of outros and transitions, only real difference being they were denoted in the tracklist. this seems like just a mild and totally unsurprising step further in that direction.

fs/ls had two songs out of twelve over seven minutes, 20/20 has seven out of ten over seven minutes. the combined run time of the first two singles from fs/ls was only thirty three seconds longer than the run time for 'mirrors' alone.

how many blockbuster pop albums of the past decade have multiple 7-minute songs though? FS/LS was already notable for lengthy song/suites is all i'm saying.

and if you change it to 6-7 minute range it becomes 3 out of 12 for fs/ls (25%), 8 out of 10 for 20/20 (80%); this is w/ interludes/preludes/quaaludes folded in to fs/ls runtimes.

difference between two big epic attempts that possibly require/warrant long running time vs nearly every song drags on forever (if i asked you two longest songs on fs/ls the answers pretty easy to guess, whereas w/ 20/20 even 'blue ocean floor' goes long for whatever reason), even if there isn't a gesture toward epic. cf appetite for destruction vs use yr illusion, late registration vs mbdtf, though tbf the culprit doesn't seem to be cocaine or even ambition here, this feels more like the average runtimes on michael jackson tracks get longer each album, though to be fair to mj this is occurring w/ introduction of cds and it never gets as crazy out of hand as it has here.