Whatever happened to... Maxwell?

there's so much detail yet it's so coherently woven into a composed surface that it sort of feels like watching sand shift

also psyched for this record bc i need new records with amazing drumming in my life rn

distracted by the clearly-not-Chris-Dave old dude on drums in the video, so here's some Chris Dave: https://www.instagram.com/p/BFiUAcbPiGf/

chris dave is so good

i thought i knew what he was doing in that video and it turns out: i didn't

The new song is good; reminiscent of 'Stop the World' from BLACKsummers'night — think I prefer 'Lake by the Ocean' though.

trying to determine what the timpani and choral vocals remind me of. rotary connection? they give it such a haunted feeling

Yeah, definitely a semi-spooky Rotary Connection "baroque soul" vibe to this new tune.

http://pitchfork.com/features/interview/9901-maxwell-hostage-of-love/

this interview makes me very excited to hear the album

possibly more excited than the album will make me

good album cover though

though tbh, the first single sounds very much like post-00 maxwell. hes really become kind of a sade artist. he basically does one thing, does it well, but doesnt really shift much anymore, not in the way he did from UHS to embrya. i think his melodies used to be stronger too, which might just be as a result of not working with stuart matthewman anymore.

imo this album is way different texturally from any of his other work. melodically it is recognizably maxwell ofc

also he totally still works with matthewman

I prefer post-00 Maxwell so I am excited

matthewmann worked on the new one? he wasnt on the last one.

"melodically it is recognizably maxwell ofc"

i think his melodies changed quite a bit after now. what ive heard of the new one - just whats on YT - sounds very much in line with the last album.

I think now and BLACKsummer'snight share a lot more than now does with embrya. his compositions have shifted yeah but I think they're generally more open and uh dimensional? since embrya, not to take away from how awesome and immersive that album is. i think the more useful songwriting relationship to observe re: maxwell is how his songs with hod david have evolved

I think the Matthewmann stuff has a much looser, jammy feel. The songs have room for extra flourishes, solos, etcetera.

In contrast, the Hod David stuff feels much more (to use a word that may have negative connotations) inflexible. There are still strings and horn charts, but everything has its specific part to play and that's it.

Both sounds have their pros and cons.

Am I the only person who much prefers Now to Embrya? I feel like that record doesn't get much respect even though it is incredible

Embrya is his worst.

never said it was a GOOD move from UHS to embrya

Ha, I didn't know other people struggled with Embrya, too. It's always spoken of so reverentially

"Cococure" is the only thing that sticks imo

drowndeep is one of his best songs imo

it ends up being R&B muzak after the half way mark or so IIRC but cmon, that opening stretch is terrific!

reminds me of that bit in prince's movie star - 'environmental records... supposed to make you horny but just makes me wanna go to the bathroom'

"know these things" is also amazing

embrya is amazing and i'll hear nothing against it

urban hang suite is his "worst" imo

embrya is sort of like "what if voodoo took place underwater"

i like embrya but that's an extremely generous interpretation

embrya is sort of like "what if voodoo took place underwater"

"..and crabs ate the remains..?

lol yeah it's an exaggeration

We can agree, I hope, that each record improved on the last. Now was the breakthrough; "Fortunate" helped.

the minimizing of urban hang suite here feels like revisionist history to me

"urban hang suite is his "worst" imo"

WTF?!

embrya is more like what might happen if maxwell heard way too many ambient records, read way too many new agey spiritualism books, and never heard voodoo once (which he couldnt have done anyway, its more like he spent more time than anyone should have done with prince's karma sutra album).

idk embrya is so much about inhabiting a groove, which i think grounds it and makes it accessible even as it digresses and blurs

it's really important to look at those scare quotes imo when i talk about uhs

also i think i'm really in the minority re: thinking urban hang suite is his "worst," i'm pretty sure that record is settled in its canon and i can't do much to revise its place in history

I don't think it's his worst, but the first two records are his least interesting to my ears

yeah i think that is what i am really saying

i could buy the argument that now is his best record but i always understood it as his less interesting & adventurous coming off embrya

Embrya was a life changing album for me.

I rank it with Kid A and Kind of Blue.

And RE: Now

It is probably his most interesting album, lyrically. It is a pretty brutal breakup album bookended by two "happy" songs.

my man

anyway i think now is both conservative and expansive if that makes sense. "symptom unknown" sitting near "temporary nite" sitting near "get to know ya."

Now was my favorite until 2009.

usually when i listen to now i end up listening to this woman's work 50 straight times

My order would probably go

Embrya
Now
BLACKsummers'night
Urban Hang Suite

They're all solid 8/10s for me but I'm still waiting for his masterpiece.

Killfiling anyone and everyone with a word to say against Embrya.

I actually don't feel that strongly about any of his other albums (although I do about a song or two on each of them) but Embrya is like

https://www.sonntag-sachsen.de/sites/default/files/styles/article/public/field/image/2014_49/2014_49_90561.jpg?itok=UWmNkchq

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7ziWpTAOWs

^^^ this song

New album's good.