Grimes/Claire Boucher thread

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.

Idk felt like a reasonable critique to me. Would it work? Who knows! But I get where he's coming from.

Don't know that artists should approach their shows as if they are wedding dinner menus. And "people seem to be into anything" is just unknowable and mean.

lol maybe a bit hyperbolic but in general i think 'fans of artist who pay money for the show like the show no matter what' isn't like, completely out of line.

hes thinking like a DJ where ppl generally dont know who you are & you have to convert them via selection/sequence/showmanship or whatever...artists can be more or less ambitious in their attempt to reach non-fans depending on their wont

Not sure many of these songs would benefit from being stretched out that much frankly, one or two of the softer ones near the end maybe, otherwise its punchiness is one of its main virtues.

pin rules everything around me

i love the lyrics in the verse

Dirt in your fingernails
Blood on your knees
But did that ever make you happy?
I think you were my best friend
Gentle do not reprehend
I know it hasn't been a dream
But if you pardon, I will mend
Drunk in a parking lot
Just after three
Tearin' out your hair like a banshee
Lighter and a safety pin
Light the end, burn the skin
I'll stick to you forever
Cause this scar I think is permanent

I think you were my best friend
Gentle do not reprehend
I know it hasn't been a dream
But if you pardon, I will mend

^this part in particular reads so nice. great writing

this is my AOTY

that stanza's corrupted puck

really? lol

(puck soliciting applause from the audience, no less-- v meta album!)

that stanza's corrupted puck

― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour)

Can someone explain this to me? English is not my first language and I have no idea what a 'corrupted puck' is. The wiki articles on Puck only left me more confuseD:

Puck may refer to:

Objects
Hockey puck
Puck, a graphics tablet accessory
Puck, the coffee grounds inside an espresso machine portafilter

Fictional characters
Puck (mythology), a folklore character
Puck (A Midsummer Night's Dream), a character from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
Puck, from the Faeries CBS TV special
Puck, from Gargoyles animated series
Puck, the eponymous character from Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill and its sequel
Puck, from The Sandman series of comic books
Puck, from The Sisters Grimm series of novels
Puck (comics), the codename of two Marvel characters
Puck (Glee), from the musical comedy-drama Glee
Puck (Love Birds), youngest penguin from the Robert J. Sherman musical Love Birds
Peter Puck, a hockey-puck-shaped cartoon character
Puck, a character from the Berserk manga and anime series

Literature
Puck (magazine), an 1871–1918 humor publication
Puck (literary magazine), a 1990s publication
Puck, a novel by Ouida

Places
Puck, Poland
Puck (moon), a moon of Uranus
Puck Building, a Manhattan landmark
Bay of Puck, in the Baltic Sea

People

David "Puck" Rainey, reality TV personality
Theodore Puck (1916–2005), American geneticist
Wolfgang Puck (born 1949), Austrian celebrity chef and restaurateur

Other uses
Puck Fair, an Irish festival
Puck, a monotypic genus of dreamer from the family Oneirodidae.

Puck (A Midsummer Night's Dream), a character from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

If we shadows have offended,

 Think but this, and all is mended—

 That you have but slumbered here

 While these visions did appear.

 And this weak and idle theme,

 No more yielding but a dream,

 Gentles, do not reprehend.

 If you pardon, we will mend.

 And, as I am an honest Puck,

 If we have unearnèd luck

 Now to ’scape the serpent’s tongue,

 We will make amends ere long.

 Else the Puck a liar call.

 So good night unto you all.

 Give me your hands if we be friends,

 And Robin shall restore amends.

I guess that makes this the second time I've heard a song this year by a Canadian artist originally from British Columbia that used lines from the ending of A Midsummer's Nights Dream.

The other being the very end of the closing track from Marianas Trench's Astoria.

anyone else love the title track? the chorus vocals are my fav moment on this

ya her vocals on artangels are heavenly, esp the part she sings in french

It must be me, but I keep hearing the melody of this over Artangels and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

Fine pop tune with ace vocalist with pedigree. Whats not to like?

Whatever pop station they play at my gym played Flesh Without Blood today.

Flesh without blood seems to quote Bubble Pop briefly

so our four yr old's favorite musician is officially Grimes and his favorite music video is Realiti. he made some fan art for it too, complete with lyrics. i've caught him singing 'oh baby every morning there are mountains to climb' on a handful of occasions.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/Screen%20Shot%202015-12-03%20at%2010.58.56%20AM_zpstrvbyito.png

<3

aw

Cute.

no joke, you should send those to grimes, she would probably love them

GRIMS!!!!

i meant to post another version of the pic i had that was a bit cropped for privacy's sake but that's alright i guess.

after my family-wide steely dan taste-making failure i'm glad grimes worked out.

omg

guys how do we send these to Claire omg