Grimes/Claire Boucher thread

So... Is this the first time pitchfork has ever apologized to an artist for being an asshole?

it comes off more as a hasty aside than an explicit statement so i demand more

I think I can hear some PC music in this, the way she sounds like some sort of demented cheerleader sometimes and the saturated arrangements here and there but this album isn't really parodying bubblegum pop it seems like there's some genuine admiration for it, hence it's quite the opposite of PC music.

Pitchfork's like "sorry we mocked you, but this album isn't better than your debut"

"demented cheerleader" is some kind of backhanded compliment isn't it

"demented cheerleader" is some kind of backhanded compliment isn't it

― j. winters (josh)

No, didn't meant it as an insult!

Regarding the Pitchfork review: odd they didn't mention the lyrics of California at all since it's a hate track dedicated to them.

Grimes has talked at length about absorbing aa load ofJ-pop (and K-pop) in the run up to this and I think this is one of those moments when we can probably take the artist at their word rather than reaching for the first reference point at hand. Most of the things this album sounds like existed before PC Music and any similarities between the two are likely to be because PC Music is almost entirely built out of self-conscious reference points.

Classic young person's "let us compare the thing that came before to the thing that came after" move.

Kill V Maim sounds like Daphne and Celeste if they were actually allowed to commit extreme anime violence on people instead of just playground taunts.

But now I want to live in an alternate universe where Grimes produces Daphne & Celeste's comeback album, instead of Max Tundra.

It's pretty hard to get pfork editors to agree to an 8.5 so I don't think that should be taken as a relative diss or anything.

"Easily" getting all the feels here right now. Weightless reverie, that gleaming Kraftwerk vibe I loved in Visions.

The song is Boucher eating the lunch that Miley packed, may it be #blessed with infinite stadium-EDM remixes.

What the fuck does this sentence even mean

It's a little hard to get excited about a celebrity's media resentment as a theme.

Funnily enough, I really relate (and I suspect a whole bunch of women will relate, too) to lyrics themes of: "Hey, you've been expressing your ~opinions~ on me for a couple of years now. Well, now. Here's my opinion: I don't particularly like you much, either."

I don't think it matters if she's talking about Pitchfork in particular or the Male Gaze in general. It's just a super-relatable sentiment and I love the way she's expressed it.

fair point and seems OTM. A line that bothers me a little though is "it's nice that you like me/but only conditionally" -- fan/media love is by nature conditional. That's the beast.

Did pfork actually call her a "human tumblr"? I can't find that in any article/review.

Although tbf the sentiment fits into a line of capital A Artists in pop/rock/folk that probably goes back at least to the 70s, where part of the fan experience is rejecting that (consumerist?) conditional love paradigm, because the artist represents something about selfhood and individuality and we reaffirm that by accepting even changes in the artist that may not initially suit our taste at the moment.

It's pretty hard to get pfork editors to agree to an 8.5 so I don't think that should be taken as a relative diss or anything.

― Tim F, Tuesday, November 10, 2015 4:03 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nah an 8.5 def codes as a dissapointment given the hype for this album. two weeks ago i was sure it wouldve been AOTY

still sounds like a 7.8 to me :'-(

xxp Dylan was Judas in '66 iirc. and that narrative is pretty old and boring, but it's a narrative that's part of good tunes in this case.

I definitely didn't expect a score lower than 9.0 from pfork, just because of how they hyped it up.

Not that I care that much what they rate it; just find it interesting.

8.5 is also what Pitchfork gave Joanna Newsom's latest.

It's also the same score they gave that fucking Tobias Jesso Jr. album.

how many 9.0s or higher do they give out? I can't recall seeing many for new music in 2015

Looks like Deafheaven got one. Tame Impala got a 9.3 lol gtfo.

They've given a few 9's this year.
9.0 to Deafheaven.
9.3 to Kendrick Lamar, Sufjan Stevens, Tame Impala, and Jamie XX.

This is literally the most boring conversation it is possible to have about this album.

Heard it got three and a half carp in Angling Times this month as well. Backlash?

But anyway, back to the music. . .

they dinged it for not having enough critic bait xp

Sod pfork. I want to live inside this album.

Whenever I have a look two dozen more comparisons have been made, this album is all and no pop. And I love how badass and defiant she is throughout. Visions was great but this album just makes me so HAPPY

fwiw, flesh isn't about the media

without getting into specifics, it's about other musicians

Love how my 'reminds me of PC Music' post became 'influenced by PC Music' two seconds later. She's probably never heard of them

Still hate the title. Hate any album title with 'Art' in it tbh. Despite this, it is a solid, surprisingly ornate listen that deserves between 6 and 10 out of 10

listening more today, i don't think this is a bad album at all but it's def not the album i wanted from grimes. weirdness, where it hasn't been expunged completely, has been very tightly managed.

I know a certain mob film was mentioned as an inspiration for Kill V. Maim but I'm getting more of an American Gangster ref

fwiw, flesh isn't about the media

without getting into specifics, it's about other musicians

― james brooks, Tuesday, November 10, 2015 11:25 AM (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

interesante

it's about Eiffel 65

they were blue, and now they can't love

wait, how did you and james brooks also know that. i was told that i was the only one who knew

"genesis" has actually just been "blue" played in reverse this entire time

true of the Old Testament book as well

also phil collins

but not sega

I read in an earlier interview that she apparently sampled some obscure Japanese songs on the album, which is where I'm assuming where the opening riff of Butterfly comes from. Anyone know what they are?

"penguin dancer" by masayoshi takanaka on butterfly is the only sample

"Easily" sounds a lot like Ray of Light Madonna. I was just listening to it and even my brother thought it was Madonna.

He is old.

Iirc Grimes said 'flesh without blood' is not a breakup song per se since she doesn't write anymore 'love songs'. I'm just going to assume it's a farewell song to the indie/underground scene.

Btw, almost every song off this album has its own individual artwork. I love that. Hopefully they'll be available on the cd booklet and on the vinyl version. Let me do a quick collage and I'll post it.

Also it seems some of them are animated:

http://i.imgur.com/43HEoaM.gif