Azealia Banks

The last third of this album is fire.

So no mention of the fact that there's a cover of a song from Ariel Pink's Pom Pom on this?

It's very sixties that both of them are releasing their respective versions of "Nude Beach a Go-Go" in the same month. This kind of thing should happen more often.

this is basically a mixtape - bit of a mess, a few fire moments, shows lots of "promise"

she is SO much better at rapping than singing (well she can sing decently enough but she can't write a vocal hook to save her life)

that ariel pink song is absolutely dreadful

album is better second time round but she really does halt the momentum every time she stops rapping and starts singing

mj cole produced "desperado" huh!

A lot of this production feels undercooked to me. I'll give it a few more listens but as of right now this isn't even better than Fantasea to me.

Y'all are so over everything before it even happens. So this record was supposed to happen 2 1/2 years ago, so she's turned into a PR disaster in the interim, so fucking what? It sounds pretty dope to me. And granted that the production won't be to everyone's liking - nothing is - I don't even know in what galaxy the word "undercooked" would apply to it. If anything it's almost overproduced, overambitious. Like she's got something to prove. Which, I mean - of course she does!

Feel like I'm listening to a different album to some of you, particularly considering the production is very much foregrounded on this album and sounds "expensive" - undercooked doesn't seem like an accurate descriptor. I think she has a tendency to fall back on catchphrases ("I be on that..." seems like her default) but the knack for clever assonance that she perfected on 212 is present on many of the new tracks.

I would also disagree that her sung hooks are boring / bad, though I'm not really on board with the Ariel Pink track. Highlights for me initially are "Chasing Time" (i want that fluorescent housey synth pattern in the verses to percolate in my head forever), "Soda", "Ice Princess" and the second half of "Gimme A Chance".

Overall it's a way more impressive collection than I'd've expected from someone who was releasing stuff like "ATM Jam" a year ago.

i really like this album! the ariel pink track is sort of ridiculous but i think it's deliberately so.

and lone >>>>

I like "Ice Princess" and she can rap in Spanish. I'm still coming to terms with the singing.

haven't listened to the album yet but i like her p4k interview http://pitchfork.com/features/update/9540-azealia-banks/

this sounds so good

Good album. Not all great, but strong overall. I had "Desperado" on repeat yesterday. It's weird that Interscope was convinced they were going to make her a billion-dollar star. Why would "212" make someone think that? Not that she could never have a hit, but she's not a good bet for world dominance.

"Soda," "Ice Princess," "Wallace," "Gimme a Chance," two or three others -- I like this a lot.

i mean anything that gets millions of hits on youtube without a major label machine behind it is gonna make the major label machine think about what would happen if they WERE behind it, so i can't fault anyone for optimism. but it definitely seems like they should've gone about the whole thing differently instead of just trying to get Pharrell to wave his wand and make her mainstream.

a few months ago I heard "212" in The Heat, and i was like "this is the perfect final resting place for this stupid overrated song, a Sandra Bullock movie"

xp

This is totally not the album I would have expected from her and it's interesting in a load of different ways (I love that the first couple of tracks seem to be playing in some afrobeat-tropicalia hinterland) but as an MC she is weirdly head-down on a lot of this.

awful

Ummm are the first couple tracks a portent of the rest? Cause this is sounding fucking great.

Not really, but it goes to a lot of different places.

i'm more and more impressed with this album as it settles in - her loose approach to structure and ad libby raps let it down at times but they're also what makes it stand out, there are so many unexpected switch-ups or extra details that come into tracks midway through. and it really, really sounds great. she does rap in exactly the same way on all tracks but a lot of the things that sounded half-baked at first are now actually the things that help me get lost in it. "desperado" and "jfk" going on longer than you think they will, azealia giving way to the instrumental, before she wraps them up. "heavy metal and reflective" being shorter than you think it should be. the ranting on "yung rapunxel" works so well in album context.

same here! And I can even deal with the Ariel Pink song if I listen to it as if it were a Sunny Delight commercial.

i listen to the ariel pink song as if it was an actual pop-up internet commercial before the bonus tracks (which - in a good, victory lap way - is what the two misses feel like) (ie i don't listen to it)

a few months ago I heard "212" in The Heat, and i was like "this is the perfect final resting place for this stupid overrated song, a Sandra Bullock movie"

xp

― nakhchi little van (some dude), Sunday, November 16, 2014 6:37 AM Bookmark

it still gets played at every other queer party tho

one listen six tracks in and this is very very good

This is an unexpectedly nostalgic listen for me given she uses beats like "wad" and "bandalero desparado". I wish she wouldn’t sing but I can't fault her taste really.

this is really a good album! Definitely some misfires and false directions but the majority of the music is v v solid. I'm impressed.

^^
agreed. I'm hoping it will get more visibility/attention, it deserves it.

Of course things descended into vile homophobia as always with her but Igloo Australia made me chuckle

still descending

https://twitter.com/AZEALIABANKS/status/540592082277367808

descending further

https://twitter.com/AZEALIABANKS/status/540596975323062273

wonder if she'll get a thank you tweet from cosby

probably

jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus christ that second one...

Can't pretend to be surprised. Think the Cosby convo is gonna be a powder keg in a lot of black households this Christmas if it wasn't already on Thanksgiving. I'm seeing people perform breathtaking mental gymnastics to make the shit seem untrue.

oh gooodddddddddddd

in her defense, "igloo australia" is kind of funny

She started off so well with this! The tweets at Iggy were righteous and hilarious. :(

She was right but she definitely wasn't righteous

Finally got around to listening to this album and I really like it but she is the least exciting thing on it. I like that she sings like she raps though, with lots of stress on assonance and working with the rhythms and sounds around her, but for someone who seemed to have such an aggressive, intimidating persona on her breakout hit this is oddly lacking in star quality.

Why is she singing in Spanish? The salsa/son break in 'gimme a chance' is so odd but she's actually decent at it.

I'm glad her Twitter persona doesn't bleed much into her lyrics. She seems to rely way much on twitter beefs to remain 'relevant'.

The easy solution to that is to not look at them.

bushra the bitch ‏@bushradaexposah Dec 4
@AZEALIABANKS your teeth can build shelters for the poor

Xpost: i don't look at them, I've never understood the appeal of using Twitter no matter how hard I tried, but this thread keeps reminding me of her obnoxious social network persona.

i think it's a bit off-base to suggest that she does it to cling to her remaining relevance tho

She did an interview and now everyone loves her lol

I'll give her this she's better than action bronson

Not to downplay the impact of race but I do think its a lil weird how everyone is pretending like she doesn't make retro hip house for hipsters that has little broad commercial appeal (and actually sounds quite a bit like iggy's pre-fancy records that were also not really broadly popular)

i liked her interview

iggy azalea is a fucking cartoon villain

the interviewer, whoever he is, was great. had a nice way of drilling-down deeply into topics.