Grimes/Claire Boucher thread

I think this is nice enough on laptop speakers but will give it the headphone treatment on my walk tomorrow morning

having followed her statements on music since she scrapped the first visions follow-up, this is pretty much the album i expected.

lyrics and feels from "Pin" easily hit some of the musical young love/ crush moments of E•MO•TION for me...

It wasn't quite what I expected but it's still very enjoyable. On some level it's disappointing because there's nothing else in the same vein as Realiti, but that's ok. I do hope we hear more from the scrapped album she said she might release, since both tracks we've heard from around then are great (Realiti and David).

I feel like Visions is probably a more successful/cohesive whole but the uneven start is really the only issue I have with this.

I really need to stop reading this thread. I'm getting impatient to the point of anger.

Wait, why can't you listen to it now? It came out today.

As explained upthread, I ordered from 4ad with the thought that I would get digital access today, but that's not happening, apparently.

I can't really stream it because my computer is fussy about such things (still running Vista and so on) and I want to be able to listen away from a computer screen anyway.

I may just fold and buy it on Amazon mp3.

I anticipated listening to this so much I dreamt about this album all night, and it sounds just as good irl. Only one listen in, but this album is fucking wonderful. I love the new REALiTi, too - it's lost a little demo stardust but it's not like you can't listen to both.

I figure if you paid for a physical copy there's no big moral issue with dling alb from your favorite torrent site (but then again i see no big issue in the first place)

it's on spotify too

This album sounds better played over speakers in the common living area with the dog running around and roommates debating whether to get take out. Visions sounds better in my room while i look at the window, absently refresh ilx, or maybe read a few pages of anna karenina before taking my laundry downstairs.

That's oddly specific.

when your lens is Treeship, your focus is specific

or whenever your lens is actually a good lens

I agree with Treeship except on one minor detail that is that for me it sounds best if I leave the laundry in the room. As soon as I leave to take it down stairs for some reason it's charms fade.

"Pin", love the dancey power pop feel, the lyrics-- "tearin at your hair like banshee", "Dirt on your fingernails, blood on your knees
But did that ever make you happy?", etc etc

All of the little touches like how right after she says "just after 3" she makes this little exclamatory squeal that i find myself doing along with her and kind of doing this strange dance where i stick out my arms right at that moment...

are you looking for a harmony?

there is harmony in everything

Somehow feel this album augurs a Madchester revival (or has that happened already?)

There are a bunch of vocal moments on here that remind me a bit of pitched up happy hardcover insanity

*hardcore

Would welcome Madchester revival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlOrP1wSzCk

LOVE kill vs maim - finally someone finds the sweetspot between Crystal Castles, Jane Wiedlin and the Smurfs.

Does Jagwar Ma count as Madchester revival?

Also, besides "Ray of Light"-era Madonna, the other thing the title track somehow reminds me of is PM Dawn, but I'm probably the only person who would think that.

besides "Ray of Light"-era Madonna

glad someone else said this; madonna in general is my pop reference point for this album much more so than anyone younger like gwen or katy perry or whoever. "belly of the beat" feels like it could have legs amongst ilx's dance-pop formalists (read: erotica fans). "easily" joins the small and exalted pantheon of things that sound a little bit like "don't tell me".

I'm fond of "Realiti," "World Princess Pt. II" (K-pop!), "Easily," "Flesh Without Blood," and the title track, but the tinniness of the vocals gets wearying (and as usual Janelle Monae's talent for muffling decent tunes + beats is intact).

Okay, I folded and just went to Spotify. Not really my premier choice to have my first listen be at the computer desk, but I just couldn't wait.

First impressions:
—She is trying really hard to top Visions (this is awesome, just in terms of the sheer balls that takes).
—Her voice is better on this album. Just all around. Not as buried in the mix, more interesting melodies. Ace.
—The 'Think (About It)' break is used in the new 'Realiti'!
—'Kill v. Maim' has so many layers and changes. It's only four minutes long, but feels at least twice, as it's like three or four mini songs in one.
—She's cocky as hell. I like this.
—Love this line: "I was only looking for a human to reciprocate."
—Second half has some serious deep cuts that I reckon won't really sink in for quite some time.
—Can't wait to take it for a walk with me.

Highlights:
—'Flesh without Blood'
—'Realiti'
—'Butterfly'

ray of light is the first pop comparison that's made sense to me lol

and actually that comparison may have opened up the entire record for me, that's awesome

^^^ same

someone compared "pin" to crj emotion emotions but i feel like it's the same pitch just inverted subject-wise. what i mean is that it's been really great for a break up

kind of lol to envision Erotica as "formal" dance pop, like u couldn't dance to any pop music before 1992

Since I first heard Visions, I always thought she was successfully blending Madonna's Like A Prayer and the Cocteaus' Treasure.

And this:
what i mean is that it's been really great for a break up

OTM. Art Angels definitely has shades of breakup-ness to it.

the weak link here is really "venus fly" which is a shame

meanwhile i would like restate how fucking unbelievably great "venus fly" is

there's a single note -- like a synthesized accordion -- at the very end of "flesh without blood" (4:15ish) that i'm obsessed with

uh i meant "butterfly" lol

(continued from my previous post) most of her songs contain surprising little moments like that. i think that's part of why listeners connect so personally with her music. there are so many little production decisions to notice, and so you are constantly being reminded of the human hand behind the music. everything she makes feels very intentional and crafted

there's a single note -- like a synthesized accordion -- at the very end of "flesh without blood" (4:15ish) that i'm obsessed with

― Treeship, Sunday, November 8, 2015 3:31 PM (

and there's a snippet of violin in another song that I wish she would've saved for a full tune.

i think that's part of why listeners connect so personally with her music. there are so many little production decisions to notice, and so you are constantly being reminded of the human hand behind the music. everything she makes feels very intentional and crafted

but you can say this about everybody and anybody, and how do we judge intentions?

Can we also throw Kate Bush somewhere in there in what we're hearing? Today hearing 'flesh without blood' it started sounding to me like how something off Hounds of Love would sound in 2015.

". . .and you never get sad and you never get sick. . ."

That one hits me.

More stuff I am reminded of: Britney's "Brave New Girl", Christina Milian's "I Can Be That Woman".

This album totally rules.

yeah i was sort of only halfway into it until today and i'm really happy that i'm more taken with it now

speaking of Kate Bush, The Dreaming is the album i keep thinking of. an incredible female artist wresting control away from fan and music industry expectations after breaking through, and coming out with something intricate and personal and reflective on the creative process itself.

Artangels, the track, reminded me of Annie

Broke into a Lorde-esque dinosaur dance walking down the street yesterday following the drop in "World Princess, Pt II".

On a few more listens I like it more but don't love it. I find all the chipmunked vocals to be an odd choice (although so heavily used that she obviously has something in mind with them), and I miss the breathier, almost slipping away from you sound of her earlier vocals (which were still present on the demo Realiti but not the album Realiti). I actually do like the album Realiti more than I did at first, but still prefer the demo -- the album version is squarer, like a club remix.