Grimes/Claire Boucher thread

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

Here we go:

http://i.imgur.com/K6Er9Sp.jpg

just wanted to come on here to say that this album is really fun -- impressively diverse in style and tone, playful, catchy, generous.

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

― flopson, Tuesday, November 10, 2015 10:42 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There's an episode of On Cinema at the Cinema where Tim Heidecker says to Gregg Turkington: "surely you're not going to score this movie lower than five bags of popcorn?"

Gregg: "No, but I might take a few kernels out of each bag."

It's kind of how I imagine the editorial meeting at P4K went down for this review.

who gives a shit how many #s pitchfork gives an album? why does this matter in the slightest to anyone?

Ptichfork-etaboutit.

anyone here not on board with this album? In theory I dig the new direction and perhaps even a few tracks, but this is doing nothing for me.

I'm not, mostly. Jessica's review is correct about noting the delightful sounds on this album, but they're discrete, and her voice doesn't force cohesion on the elements.

i'll keep trying for a bit but yeah not feeling it

I'm slightly toward the "not" camp. I don't hate it but I don't find myself wanting to listen to it either.

I was not really a fan at first listen, I was even annoyed by it... too many influences made it sound all over the place, but the more I listen to it the more it started sounding cohesive. I love albums that reveal new things with every listen. There's many ideas and nifty production tricks in here to love it. who knows how i'll feel about it in a month when the vinyl finally arrives (I still prefer Realiti demo and I hate that I wont get any version on vinyl since I already pre-ordered) but it's has had it's share of replay value for me.

I had the same reaction to Visions. It felt very different at the time from her previous albums and eps.

i'm not sure this album is really aiming for "cohesion," unless you simply mean some kind of formal cohesion w/ in each track.

I meant that as a vocalist she should pull these cool sounds and melodies together, but its abrasive high end doesn't.

since my initial bleh reaction (apart from a few songs) i've been listening to it a few times a day and more of it is clicking. i can't help but think that i'll always prefer Visions, though, if only because Visions sounds like an album that only she could have made. it's tough for me to get as excited about art angels because it feels like her contribution to a universe that's already populated with other people's songs that use a similar sonic vocabulary.

i enjoy the first half of it culminating with kill v maim, but then there's that madchester one and the william orbity one and my receptivity just shuts right off at that point

Was tired and stressed and feeling put-upon this morning, Art Angels in the earbuds just blew me out the WINDOW. Venus Fly! Kill V Maim! Just an incredible record I think. My attention wanders at times, but literally 2-3 lulls on an album packed with delirious highs.

there's really no reason to bring about the comparison but i think she definitely does a better 'polished' record than ariel pink

Ariel Pink does polished records?

before today and pom pom sound 10x more polished than this

yeah that's a p low bar

Kill V Maim nodding to Crystal Castles, amirite?

sorry NickB, insufficient search before posting

yeah, it's also good that crystal castles sound is being used on an anthem of female empowerment considering ethan kath's recent dickishness

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

― avant-garde, sissy bounce, zombie rave, aquacrunk, warlock, oceangrunge, (imago), Tuesday, November 10, 2015 11:28 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

given that she's mentioned them in interviews, I am pretty sure she has heard of them

oh ok then

makes the comparison more valid prob

unless all the mentions are disses

Of PC Music, the London collective whose uncanny valley take on the top 40 of their childhoods provides a contextual touchstone for Art Angels, she says, “It’s really fucked up to call yourself Sophie and pretend you’re a girl when you’re a male producer (and) there are so few female producers,” she begins, before trailing off again. “I think it’s really good music. I probably shouldn’t have said that…”

So diss + backpedalling.

Justified negative comment + backpedalling really.

yeah but 'it's really good music' + realisation that this isn't the trendy opinion any more ;)

I think it was more that she realised this would immediately be blown up out of all proportion and tried to offset that.

sigh

Either way this is clearly a case of shared source material rather than Grimes hearing PC Music and going "OMG must make something like that". Otherwise you're well into Doglatin-comparing-Miguel-to-Animal-Collective territory.

oh you're right, 'probably shouldn't have said that' refers to the SOPHIE thing not the liking the music

but that's weird though, it was a perfectly reasonable thing to say

oh and I'm not disputing the shared source material thing! for me it was simple redolence, no imputation of lineage

Yeah it's cool, I know your post wasn't making that claim.

changing the subject slightly, the standout imo is World Princess part II - awesome track (and, to reignite the subject, easily as good as anything PC Music have put out)

Doglatin-comparing-Miguel-to-Animal-Collective

did this really happen?

haha I was about to ask

yeah, like, my intention was less "let's draw attention to this quote!" and more "gee, I wonder if possibly 'well-known producer probably hasn't known of equally well-known producers' isn't an example of the condescension Grimes talks about"

HEARD of. either way, I mean

it was more 'PC Music are probably still quite obscure around the world' but sure