The purpose built next generation interstellar Dawn Richard thread

song is incredible

amazing song, hopefully she releases it in hq too

Yes, great track. And I liked the discussion of New Orleans in the interview with her cousin. I had been thinking about her in the context of New Orleans, that she makes sense as a New Orleans artist because the city is so polyglot and culturally fearless. I listen to WWOZ a lot, and while I have yet to hear Dawn Richard there, the station plays a range of stuff that very much feels like the primordial soup that could produce her.

opening song quote from peter fonda btw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Angels

quite possibly by way of Primal Scream!

shit that song is hot

i didn't know she's from New Orleans. feeling the Mardi Gras Indians samples.

She's playing in London in June. Bought tickets the instant I saw they were onsale.

Just got back from a holiday and listened to blackheart again for the first time in a couple weeks after listening to it non-stop before that, I don't think an album has affected me this much in years, really stunning.

New video for Projection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5mHMEdTI6g

Goldenheart is one of my favorite albums from the last few years. I haven't heard much of the new album yet, but wow, 'Projection' is great as to be expected.

As much as I generally share in the enthusiasm for the new Kendrick album, I can't help contrasting the deserved hype for that and Black Messiah with how little attention Blackheart has gotten. (With a few worthy exceptions.) There haven't been two great modern R&B concept albums in the last three months, there have been three. I know she's not as big a solo name and wasn't as anticipated as D'Angelo or Kendrick, but I think the album belongs in that company.

quite possibly by way of Primal Scream! (by way of Mudhoney)

There haven't been two great modern R&B concept albums in the last three months, there have been three.

four because i'd absolutely put jazmine sullivan's reality show up there with them in terms of songwriting, if not self-consciously out-there production/arrangements

blackheart is the best by miles but what can you do, it's not about its quality that it's not in that conversation

The Jazmine Sullivan album is great but doesn't feel high concept in the way that the other three are.

Otherwise, I just want to catalogue amazing *moments* in this record, because its attention to detail is just jawdropping. The bit where the bottom just drops out of Titans and there's a couple of minutes of ambient drift before Warriors is astonishing. Also, in the penultimate chorus of Phoenix, at the point when she sings "all rise", there's the sound of something crashing to earth.

We should avoid praising albums for how Important they are.

Importance is slippery, but I think worth talking about -- if only to broaden the notion of what counts as important. (e.g., I was glad "You Don't Own Me" was given so much credit for importance in the Lesley Gore obits.) I don't love Blackheart because it's important, I love it because it blows my mind and sounds amazing on the stereo. But I do also think it's important, and oughta be recognized as such.

I wasn't looking at you, tipsy, but at the suspicion that Sullivan's album is good but lacks the marquee value of D'Angelo or Kendrick Lamar's. btw listen to it!

Haha I was just thinking that I need to. I will!

I didn't say it wasn't important, I said it wasn't high-concept.

reality show / blackheart / black messiah / to pimp a butterfly all amazing high-concept albums (reality show more subtly so) that i love and it's a shame that both jazmine and dawn aren't getting the kind of broad critical raves that D and Kendrick are.

Jazmine and Dawn are getting ignored by many critics. Dawn, in large part part because for some reason some media sites act as if they can't find a smal indie project like hers; and I guess Sullivan is somehow just cursed with being r'n'b and not "high concept" "indie/artsy" r'n'b . But you all know that.

Some of that attention for the likes of D'angelo and now Lamar almost makes me want to be contrarian and ignore both of them for just being crit-bait. Former Voice writer Greg Tate who doesn't do much writing these days, suddenly penning a Lamar review in Rolling Stone seems typical (and I have long loved Tate's writing)-- jazz elements check; spoken word check; P-funk aspects check; socio-political lyrics check. I bet he likes the Sullivan one too, or would if he heard it, but will anyone let him write about it without high concept aspects or retro signifiers?

That's what I was getting at in my post, but let's be clear: Kendrick Lamar draws clicks, Jazmine Sullivan doesn't.

Sadly true.

Agreed -- and btw having caught up on the Jazmine Sullivan album, I am totally on board with it, great record. Even in a perfect world, the D'Angelo and Kendrick albums have some built-in hype generators that are going to eclipse a lot of other worthy things. It's just jarring that so much of what's lauded about those two -- ambition, adventurousness, musicianship, personal vision, sheer talent -- is also true of the Dawn/Jazmine albums that you'd hope there would at least be a little more notice.

#BlackWomenVisionariesMatter

I love Dawn's album but it feels diffuse in a way that Kendrick's doesn't. I listen to it way WAY more than D'Angelo, though.

built-in hype generators

well it's exactly these that don't get interrogated, isn't it

The fact that #ATellTaleHeart is so quiet/nmastered means I can rly only listen to it in bed at night, which is maybe actually to its advantage

*u

A very underrated record even in the context of Dawn's discography IMO

It's gorgeous so far. Listened to DJP's playlist off the Kendrick thread and fell for it hard enough to want to listen to everything chronologically

you know, I've never actually heard it

(A Tell Tale Heart I mean, I've heard all the songs I listed on the Kendrick thread lol)

a tell tale heart is amazing but i would return to it so much more if the sooooound quaaaaaality was proper

http://www.datpiff.com/Dawn-Richard-A-Tell-Tale-Heart-mixtape.198526.html

There's a sexy sense of fun on Tell Tale Heart (like on Hey, Vibrate, Biggest Fan) which I kinda miss on what's followed, great as it is

*Starts a kickstarter for a proper remastering of a Tell Tale Haert*

Yes pls. A cpl of tracks're actually kinda disconcerting to listen to w the way the levels peak/fade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxjgpZSmUVw

<iframe width='460' height='259' src='http://cache.vevo.com/assets/html/embed.html?video=QMGR31508582&autoplay=0' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe>

(or however Vevo embeds work with BB code)

That's a vid for Calypso btw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT1ZtAo31J4

Thank you!

"adderall/sold" prob my soty

yeah, could be. the autotune acapella into guitar gets me every single time

This ain't rock'n'roll…

http://uk.complex.com/music/2015/05/dawn-richard-new-song-premiere-genocide?utm_campaign=musictw%2Bsocialflow%2B05%2B2015&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

This ain't Dawn Richard any more either, apparently.

yeah i'm kinda scared of her working more with the fade to mind crew tbh. "honest" is really good but i fear them overly influencing her sound/aesthetic

that ship has sailed

she's working with fade to mind crew? Fuck. And the triangle...
Still love her, tho, but this Isn't good news. At all.