Grimes/Claire Boucher thread

Yeah there's a strong Xenomania circa "Graffiti My Soul" vibe.

I was going to say that a lot of this album reminded me of Girls Aloud (Kill v Maim especially is like the sort of kitchen sink 'oh fuck it why not?' banger that would occur 3/4 of the way through a GA album), but I was too sheepish to actually do so.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimes,_California

Genius says California samples Pon de Replay. So mixing those two?

yeah, many songs remind of other pop/rnb hits of the last years.
"Venus Fly" has a "(Girls) Run the World" vibe.

Ah yes I knew there was a pon de replay sample. It isn't that obvious at first listen but could be mixed with any of the songs that used the sample.

silly article from the gawker biosphere: http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/grimes-is-a-very-awkward-pop-star-which-makes-art-ange-1741376304

Here’s the second-best jam, “Realiti,” in slightly modified form—it first showed up in March as the teaser for another album Boucher very theatrically scrapped, because “it sucked.” (You get to love the theater of it all with her.)

wha?

there is not a pon de replay sample on california

silly article from the gawker biosphere

there is not a pon de replay sample on california

― james brooks,

As stated on her siriusXM takeover, “California” is a hate track towards the music website Pitchfork. This hate may be the result of various misinterpretations of her words, and Grimes has expressed her discontent in her tweets.

The beat of the song also samples Pon De Replay by Rihanna.

http://genius.com/Grimes-california-lyrics

Maybe you're thinking about Pon De Floor? Pon De Replay and California definitely have the same beat throughout. I'm not completely sure it's a sample but it's definitely the same beat. Only Grimes added the sound of something like a kicked bucket in there.

This is pon de replay.

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

In the grimes song it gets clear it's the same beat when she starts singing. 0:18 in California or so.

It's pretty much a variation on the Diwali Riddim so you can easily mix California with the other artists sampling Diwali:

Lumidee, Sean Paul, Rihanna, Brick and Lace....

it's easy to happen upon that beat when programming drums without consciously referencing anything in particular, especially when you're primed to respond to it having heard it in a bunch of different places

its not a sample, is the correct argument here

it does appear to be a conscious use of the same or a similar drum pattern imo

hey now genius is such a trustworthy source

i defer to songmeanings.net

i think if anyone's a trustworthy source here it's james

Lmao Moka you're literally talking to Grimes' bf.

Oh! Hahaha it's that James Brooks? Ok, sorry, in my defense I was saying it was a similar beat and I wasn't sure it was actually a sample. Tried looking for sources on the claim and couldn't find any other than that genius link.

So, maybe James could clear that up? Is it intentionally based on the Diwalli riddim?

sounds like a great question someone could ask her in an interview sometime

wow the suspense is killing me

I know it isn't I was just curious. Ok, not a sample got it.

i was serious though

I can never tell in here when anyone's serious or not.

unrelated note, but knowing you're around: I got one of the early watermelon versions of Ruin and I love the packaging. I have only played it once since I saw on discogs mine's supposedly rare and only 100+ copies of this particular version were printed.

Is it really rare or was I fooled?

this is definitely not the not the diwali riddim, which is about twice as busy at least -- check something like elephant man's city lock. but pon de replay wasn't diwali either -- it had the same syncopation but also was less busy. this isn't a sample of that either, tho its close -- you can hear the curve of a hand-played tabla drum or similar in the pon de replay beat.

that said, yeah you could drop it into a diwali set and sort of get away with it, and its hard not to imagine this was on purpose.

Saw her live last night. It was fun but very short and she only did a couple of songs from the new album. It seems like a strange decision to me. "Kill V. Maim" was really good though.

yeah 'kill v maim' went so hard

it's clearly not sampled from either but the beat is far closer to "pon de replay" than diwali imo

for anyone that saw her on this rhinestone cowgirls tour - what's the setup? is she playing solo or with touring musicians? eager to hear about a rescheduled DC date

solo with 2 dancers and light show, don't regret going but pretty wack overall. i missed nicole doppelganger

passable phone footage here from 2 days ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq2kaJMEW1g

interesting, what was wack? short set? lack of new songs? performance?

Personal opinion watching her live in a festival two years ago: The performance wasn't great. I assume it's how reliant of studio environment her songs are, there's not too much of a 'live' sound. The aspect that translates better to a live environment is her voice but even that element is heavily reliant on studio trickery (loops, reverb, delay, multiple tracking).

i thought her voice was pretty good live. she's definitely better in smaller rooms but i think she brings it for the most part.

nicole dollanganger's show was pretty rough. nice voice but needs a lot of work.

performance was fun i like her dancemoves, just sounded kinda weird. the melodies on the visions stuff were drowned by super loud bass. "kill v maim" sounded amazing. the other new album stuff she played (scream, venus fly) were ok but were probably the trax from the new album i least wanted to see live

Watching her now, like a neat basement party. Like her presence even if it seemed a little under conceived as a performance. Pretty much a muddle of beats, bass and reverb though. Wish a lot of songs stretched longer to take advantage of aforementioned.

I should say, the professionally amateurism is ultimately pretty endearing.

I'm hoping, probably in vain, that she adds a few more songs from the new album to the setlist by the time I see her in February.

I should say, the professionally amateurism is ultimately pretty endearing.

― Josh in Chicago

I think this depends on the venue. On a smaller venue it can be adorable. On a big, crowded venue the quality of the music being played is very important as most of the people in there can't really watch the stage. You're confined to your small space where you can barely dance and if you try to look at the stage there's a high chance there will be the sweaty neck of some dude in the way.

Still waiting to get the CD so I can listen to this. #luddite

#insight

One does one's best b

some dude and his sweaty neck

Biggest disappointment was how short the songs were. She's essentially making dance music, but her songs, as such, are pretty short. It would have been easy to stretch them out a bit more rather than squeeze 12 tracks into a 60 minute performance. She likes to dance, she has dancers, people were dancing - why not just make it a dance party? She's doing some live triggering, which gives her a bit of flexibility. Why not embrace it? I really liked the energy of "Scream," for example, but it felt like it was over in just a couple of minutes. Same with the other standouts, like Venus Fly or Kill Vs. Maim. Tbh she's really not my thing, so I'm in no position to suggest, and people seemed to be into it, but people seem to be into anything. It's a pretty low bar to make people happy if they're already on board, but she nonetheless could use a little more ambition or, um, vision. Anyway, she's still working stuff out.

How do you know who is already on board?

I was just at a grimes show and I can tell you it's pretty easy lol

But will I believe you?

In undergrad, my roommates had an econ professor whose biggest claim to fame was apparently telling frito lay to "put more chips in the bag." I'm imagining a music crit career launched by Josh telling Grimes to "put more minutes in the songs." Boom. Grimes is bigger than Adele.

But the analogy doesn't work so well bc the people who like chips probably do actually want more chips.