The purpose built next generation interstellar Dawn Richard thread

this album really feels like Dawn sat down and said "let me make an album that panders directly to the musical tastes of DJP, I'm sure he'll appreciate it"

(I do, btw)

I guess unsurprisingly this album took flight for me and bf when the melodic songs kicked in ("Castles" onward) and Dawn gets up into her upper register

"The Deep" now on repeat for the next four months, ttyl

All the Bjork references itt otm, that was my first thought -- if Rihanna made a Bjork album, or Bjork made a Rihanna album. I've only been through it once but want to put it on again immediately. There's a lot to hear and absorb.

I love how fearless it is. It's easy to go with the weirdness, because it all feels so assured -- she knows where she's going.

So... is that mask on the cover going on or coming off?

oh shit the Percolator synths on "Calypso". I'm already in love with this album

officially back on the train, y'all

Haha wow I've just realised that Calypso reappropriates BOTH Twin Peaks themes, I hadn't noticed the opening credits music in the bridge before.

"Jettisoning her independent freedom in favor of cookie-cutter girl-group pop she already managed to escape once, it turned out the group couldn't contain her anyway. The reunion only lasted a few months, resulting in a nearly-unlistenable album and an alleged physical altercation involving Richard." - this is just stupid.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20104-blackheart/

I think this board seriously underestimates what a tough sell Dawn Richard is to non-converts. On the surface, her resume looks pretty dire. Danity Kane was not a well-respected band, and the Diddy association is a turnoff to a lot of people who haven't actually heard the DDM album (or who only heard that one moronic Skylar Grey single)

― Evan R, Tuesday, 10 April 2012 3:15 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think anything can be spun.

Weeknd fans who want to embrace this can convince themselves that she is busting out of the constraints of major label R&B and that Diddy wasn't smart enough to realise her genius.

― Tim F, Tuesday, 10 April 2012 05:29 (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"independent freedom"

please let me know other kinds

still absorbing this, but it's really impressive on first listen if maybe a touch overwhelming/ear-exhausting. I mostly stopped trying to track the stand-out moments halfway through, but as someone who found Goldenheart to be unrelenting, I really like how "Swim Free" is positively minimalist for her, ftgi otm re: The Deep, and I like that her pronunciation of "warriors" reminds me of Johnny Osbourne (pvmic).

Idk what difference it makes, but fwiw, A. Ryce's background is mostly in dance music.

writers from a dance background have been worse at r&b than writers from an indie background over the last few years, and the most insistent on setting up a new value system for it

I feel that.

tbh the strawman of "indie r&b" has been more about r&b as interpreted through dance values

by dance i don't mean, like, fun dance, i mean nerdy white boy dance

ha which is ironic given how indebted this album is to nerdy white boy dance

"nerdy white boy dance" critics have basically set up a kind of indie mindset within dance anyway so the differences can be difficult to detect sometimes.

Having said that the section of the review actually about the album doesn't strike me as nerdy white boy dance writing: it's very focused on Dawn's persona in these songs and frequently lauds her projection of strength.

are there any other reviews of this live?

I usually hate listening to music on headphones (for physical comfort reasons) but this album is such a revelation on them.

I think after 4-5 listens, "Calypso", "Swim Free", "Projection" are my early favorites.

There's also this one: http://pressplayok.com/review-dawn-richard-blackheart/

needed some time with the album before i came here to talk about it but i love love love it. it's so different from GoldenHeart, which I loved but still so Dawn.

Blow works way better in its new mix/in the album context.

I managed to rip an audio track from the video version of Tide I bought on iTunes, but not sure where it goes on the album. Is it just going to be a bonus track or is it being mixed into the middle of the album somewhere for the vinyl version.

(also...VINYL VERSION? Was there a vinyl version of GoldenHeart I missed out on somehow?)

castles is a fucking bop

jaw first dropped halfway through adderall i think and it's been agape ever since

also is the limited vinyl version with Tide being made commercially available or was it just for people at that listening session? the internet is suggesting the latter.

idk!

also haven't listened to the vinyl yet but when i do i'll let you knwo where "tide" lands

apparently according to her twitter there's no CD release for BlackHeart - just the limited vinyl. every 'era' gets a different physical format and GoldenHeart got CD.

reading through the old pats of the thread and vaguely disappointed about this

Dawn Richard / NEON ‏@DawnRichard
“@drewscotty: Heartillery will be on "Blackheart" Album #HEARTS. We made the song a lot darker to fit that theme.”album 2 already bein done!

cause as amazing as Noisecastle III's production on BlackHeart is, it sounded as though there was an earlier version of BlackHeart that was substantially complete before its release was put on pause for the Danity Kane reunion - it was originally supposed to come out in the fall of 2013, iirc and then got bumped so the recording of DK3 wouldn't stop Dawn from touring and promoting BlackHeart.

Which means there's an entire Dawn Richard/Druski album that disappeared into the ether and it included a song called 'Heartillery'.

Dawn's afrofuturism makes everyone else's sound rote.

Does this mean Redemptionheart is gonna be on tape? It better be full on jeep knockers if so.

"physical" works really well as an epilogue bonus track tacked on to the end btw - you can see why it wouldn't have fit on the album itself, but its carefree vibe makes it work in a similar way to "honey" off new amerykah pt 1

i really wonder whether it'll ever happen for her - not chart-wise obv but just critical success on an fka twigs or even tinashe level

She seems to get uniformly good reviews without much sense of critical momentum or gaining traction. Maybe you need a proper promotional machine behind you for that to happen and Dawn self-releases everything.

Given this sounds like a pretty expensive album to have recorded I'm kinda mystified how it even got made in the first place. Having been in Danity Kane can't pay that well.

"Tide" video is pretty amazing.

i am only halfway through my first listen but i am amazed by the production

I feel like the Tide video is getting a bunch of traction in the press

http://www.bing.com/news/search?q=dawn+richard&FORM=HDRSC5&PC=SMSM

^not all of its centered around the video, but there's enough here to feel like Blackheart's release is big news

You're seriously using Bing? I guess you could do that.

Lol my bad I forgot to never post in these threads

Okay, finally listening and yes to what everyone was saying above. Meaning this rules and all. Yeah.

my way of getting through goldenheart lately is starting it at "gleaux"

"levitate" was posted here without much comment but incidentally i really like "levitate"

god i hope "physical" appears on like redemptionheart or something

With Ned on this: I love this with all my heart.

i thought she was headed into diminishing returns with the last album but this one is pretty special