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
― my booty it clean (fgti), Friday, 16 January 2015 01:05 (nine years ago) link
"The Deep" now on repeat for the next four months, ttyl
― my booty it clean (fgti), Friday, 16 January 2015 01:09 (nine years ago) link
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.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Friday, 16 January 2015 02:46 (nine years ago) link
So... is that mask on the cover going on or coming off?
― longneck, Friday, 16 January 2015 05:45 (nine years ago) link
oh shit the Percolator synths on "Calypso". I'm already in love with this album
― The Reverend, Friday, 16 January 2015 06:08 (nine years ago) link
officially back on the train, y'all
― The Reverend, Friday, 16 January 2015 06:29 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Matt DC, Friday, 16 January 2015 07:26 (nine years ago) link
"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/
― Nourry, Friday, 16 January 2015 14:29 (nine years ago) link
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
― prolego, Friday, 16 January 2015 15:09 (nine years ago) link
"independent freedom"
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 16 January 2015 15:21 (nine years ago) link
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).
― rob, Friday, 16 January 2015 18:32 (nine years ago) link
Idk what difference it makes, but fwiw, A. Ryce's background is mostly in dance music.
― The Reverend, Friday, 16 January 2015 20:11 (nine years ago) link
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
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 January 2015 20:57 (nine years ago) link
I feel that.
― The Reverend, Friday, 16 January 2015 20:58 (nine years ago) link
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
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 January 2015 20:59 (nine years ago) link
ha which is ironic given how indebted this album is to nerdy white boy dance
― The Reverend, Friday, 16 January 2015 21:06 (nine years ago) link
"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.
― Tim F, Friday, 16 January 2015 21:14 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Tim F, Friday, 16 January 2015 21:22 (nine years ago) link
are there any other reviews of this live?
― The Reverend, Friday, 16 January 2015 21:29 (nine years ago) link
I usually hate listening to music on headphones (for physical comfort reasons) but this album is such a revelation on them.
― The Reverend, Friday, 16 January 2015 22:36 (nine years ago) link
I think after 4-5 listens, "Calypso", "Swim Free", "Projection" are my early favorites.
― The Reverend, Friday, 16 January 2015 22:39 (nine years ago) link
There's also this one: http://pressplayok.com/review-dawn-richard-blackheart/
― Nourry, Friday, 16 January 2015 23:18 (nine years ago) link
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?)
― twinkin' and drinkin' and ready to fly (Alex in Montreal), Saturday, 17 January 2015 02:05 (nine years ago) link
castles is a fucking bop
― bae sremmurd (monotony), Saturday, 17 January 2015 02:28 (nine years ago) link
jaw first dropped halfway through adderall i think and it's been agape ever since
― bae sremmurd (monotony), Saturday, 17 January 2015 02:29 (nine years ago) link
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.
― twinkin' and drinkin' and ready to fly (Alex in Montreal), Saturday, 17 January 2015 02:37 (nine years ago) link
idk!
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Saturday, 17 January 2015 06:40 (nine years ago) link
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.
― twinkin' and drinkin' and ready to fly (Alex in Montreal), Saturday, 17 January 2015 08:57 (nine years ago) link
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'.
― twinkin' and drinkin' and ready to fly (Alex in Montreal), Saturday, 17 January 2015 10:16 (nine years ago) link
Dawn's afrofuturism makes everyone else's sound rote.
― The Reverend, Saturday, 17 January 2015 10:20 (nine years ago) link
Does this mean Redemptionheart is gonna be on tape? It better be full on jeep knockers if so.
― The Reverend, Saturday, 17 January 2015 10:21 (nine years ago) link
"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
― lex pretend, Saturday, 17 January 2015 13:19 (nine years ago) link
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
― lex pretend, Saturday, 17 January 2015 13:26 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Matt DC, Saturday, 17 January 2015 13:57 (nine years ago) link
"Tide" video is pretty amazing.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 17 January 2015 18:42 (nine years ago) link
i am only halfway through my first listen but i am amazed by the production
― dyl, Saturday, 17 January 2015 19:48 (nine years ago) link
I feel like the Tide video is getting a bunch of traction in the press
― all that glitters ain't cyber gold (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 18 January 2015 05:40 (nine years ago) link
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
― all that glitters ain't cyber gold (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 18 January 2015 05:47 (nine years ago) link
You're seriously using Bing? I guess you could do that.
― MikoMcha, Sunday, 18 January 2015 09:22 (nine years ago) link
Lol my bad I forgot to never post in these threads
― spliffify (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 18 January 2015 09:44 (nine years ago) link
Okay, finally listening and yes to what everyone was saying above. Meaning this rules and all. Yeah.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 18 January 2015 16:57 (nine years ago) link
my way of getting through goldenheart lately is starting it at "gleaux"
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Sunday, 18 January 2015 18:27 (nine years ago) link
"levitate" was posted here without much comment but incidentally i really like "levitate"
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Sunday, 18 January 2015 19:20 (nine years ago) link
god i hope "physical" appears on like redemptionheart or something
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Sunday, 18 January 2015 19:22 (nine years ago) link
With Ned on this: I love this with all my heart.
― a pleasant little psychedelic detour in the elevator (Amory Blaine), Sunday, 18 January 2015 22:07 (nine years ago) link
i thought she was headed into diminishing returns with the last album but this one is pretty special
― some dude, Sunday, 18 January 2015 22:12 (nine years ago) link
The detailing on this record is just some kind of next level!
I didn't get to hear it until I went into work today, but it just completely sucked me in and forced me to listen to it 3 times in a row, just to try and figure how it all fit together.
And I can't point and say exactly what the difference is, but Goldenheart, that was an album I had to work to understand and get my head around and get inside. Like, that album did not make it easy for me.
But Blackheart, despite the fact that it is just as out there, just as proggy, just as odd and strange and intense, this album is so damn moreish and "no, come in, have another listen, no, go ahead, listen again, you know want to" and every single thing about it pulls me deeper.
Damn, because now I want a physical copy because I'm so done with MP3s in 2015. :(
― Branwell with an N, Monday, 19 January 2015 17:12 (nine years ago) link
god "Choices" is legit so amazing, not just for an interlude
― rob, Monday, 19 January 2015 18:52 (nine years ago) link