Britney Spears - Blackout

Piece of Me sounds like Being Boiled its got this totally minimal electroclash sound with some pretty twisted vocal manipulation and one fucking brutal rhythm track.

Its like she took My Perogative mixed with Brave New Girl and went with it. Piece of me even reminds me of Bird Flu a bit.

"Heaven" is awesome.

Please do not invoke "Being Boiled" when discussing the meritless offal that is Britney Spears. Thanks.

Sorry, have you heard this particular song? Or what are you basing that on. Thank you.

I'm basing it on the fact that Britney Spears is incapable of making music of quality and distinction. Thanks again.

And if you hate Britney Spears why click on this thread? And assuming you haven't heard this song why read what someone you don't know has to say on it when you don't even care about it? Thanking you kindly.

My disdain for the subject matter doesn't dillute my curiosity. I don't like the Nazis, but I'll still watch the History Channel. Thanks awfully.

Great thread.

xpost

You're quite welcome. Thanks so much.

Cheers to you. You're too kind. Ta.

Don't mention it, my gratitude is yours.

http://www.genk.be/upload/25091480/images/humanleague.jpg

http://www.the-planets.com/britney_spears/britney_spears_lyrics.jpg

'cause we were never being boiled
we have too much time to find for ourselves

<i>'cause we were never being boiled
we have too much time to find for ourselves</i>

This is beyond the pale.

Listen to the voice of Buddha
Sayin' you're underprotected.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/bunchoffives/200px-Dionne_anyone.jpg

what you say today is indexed by google for ETERNITY! Please take a moment to consider this!

I don't get the jpeg

I hate what happened to my Britney thread.

All Depeche Mode synths and bizarre Knife style vocoder twists.
-- I know, right?, Saturday, October 20, 2007 7:00 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Link

haven't heard the britney album (and hopefully never will), but god, you're giving her waaaaay too much credit here; no way she's comparable to these doods. to quote alex in nyc: britney spears is incapable of making any music of quality and distinction.

The clips are okay but they sound like SO MANY of the electro-tinged pop records that have been knocking about for four or five years now. I'm hesitant to judge on the basis of a few clips but they all sound competant rather than magical.

Or maybe I've heard too many records like this now to be excited by another one, even if it is Britney.

(Okay three or four years maybe)

In Britain maybe. We've only been getting this kind of stuff for a year or so here.

I was originally going to post a snarky message about massive American pop stars suddenly going mad for a style of music we got here years ago (Will.I.Am, Kanye, Britney) but decided against it.

It's kind of odd though, over the 00s we've become accustomed to big US pop productions sounding really fresh, and now suddenly they're taking the cue from a style of music that's just become somewhat old hat in Europe.

But it's true. I find the whole hiphop/europop crossover thing rather fascinating. And it does sound fresh to American ears because most never heard this kind of stuff when it was big in Europe.

On a related note, what have the recent pop production trends in Europe been?

I mean, probably the only non-ilxor person I know who's heard of Girls Aloud or the Sugababes went to college in Britain from 2001-2005 or so.

There is no pop music in Britain any more.

Like the ancient prophets predicted: it ate itself.

I mean, the trend in the UK is either flimsy pop-ska as sung by drama school graduates who were too shit at acting to make a career out of it, or flimsy acoustic strumming from drama school graduates who were too shit acting to make a career out of it.

There's the good old 'make the guitars sound as much like synths as possible, make the synths sound as much like guitars as possible and then pile them together' school of production as well but Xenomania have been doing that for years.

But mostly there's just bad haircut indie.

There's more than one Lily Allen? That sucks.

I don't think it's possible to be too shit at acting to make a career out of it as long as Hollyoaks exists.

they call this one kate nash
http://www.theclerisy.com/afor/images/katenash.jpg

she actually looks like a shit actress come to think of it.

Worst thread ever.

In April 2007, Nash and other up-coming London acts were attacked through a parody of Nash's song entitled, "LDN Is A Victim." The unknown acts posted the song on their MySpace profile [1]. Lily Allen responded via MySpace, stating "Kate Nash is well better than you". The syntax used in Lily Allen's assertion displays a trait for which both she and Kate Nash are known; namely, for speaking and singing with incorrect grammar in the style of an informal conversation. [6]

wikipwn.

lol British

britney spears is incapable of making any music of quality and distinction.

-- stephen, Saturday, 20 October 2007 17:21

oh come now. really?

at least she's a great mother

Leave it Hoos, he's not worth it.

At least with Alex in NYC I can resort to "u old," but Stephen is a good dude! Just smh, I guess.

oh come now. really?

Some of her songs are very good, e.g., Toxic, but she isn't the one writing them. I guess that's a "rockist" criticism, whatever that means, but that doesn't make it wrong. It's also not a criticism meant to demean her; she's a very good performer (but not a good singer).

Having said that, I'm rooting for her on this disc and in her career. At this point, she's one of the more genuine figures in pop culture. She seems incapable of presenting herself as the sterile, boring "media product" that I expect with young pop stars. She seem interesting.

(But also keep in mind that "I old," as BH might say).

Some of her songs are very good, e.g., Toxic, but she isn't the one writing them. I guess that's a "rockist" criticism

I don't give a fuck if it's a rockist criticism or not, I was just chafed by the idea that nothing good can ever come from her; as you say, she's been involved with some good (I might say really good) stuff: Toxic, Slave 4 U, even Hit Me is sorta a quintessential late 90s pop tune.

Like you I'm also rooting for her just cause I wanna see someone triumph over the depressing Glitz Machine that drives so many talented people crazy. Bonus points for her beating the Glitz Machine if only because she's been so publicly fucked over by it.

I'm sure Alex will tell me I need to raise my standards or get some taste or whatever, but such as it is.

I don't give a fuck if it's a rockist criticism or not, I was just chafed by the idea that nothing good can ever come from her; as you say, she's been involved with some good (I might say really good) stuff: Toxic, Slave 4 U, even Hit Me is sorta a quintessential late 90s pop tune.

Like you I'm also rooting for her just cause I wanna see someone triumph over the depressing Glitz Machine that drives so many talented people crazy. Bonus points for her beating the Glitz Machine if only because she's been so publicly fucked over by it.

Yeah, I totally agree. I'm not so sure Alex would disagree, either.

I'm in the same corner as the two of you. I wouldn't consider myself a fan, really, but I think good can come out of this.

If Alex truly doesn't like "Toxic," then I feel sorry for him. I have a hunch he's just pretending not to like it.

Having said that, I'm rooting for her on this disc and in her career. At this point, she's one of the more genuine figures in pop culture. She seems incapable of presenting herself as the sterile, boring "media product" that I expect with young pop stars. She seem interesting.

She seems incapable of being a mentally healthy human being you mean? Her handlers are unable to keep her in shape and off of drugs. She's only genuine because she spiralled out of control. I don't have a problem with that, I just think it's funny that one of the only 'honest' seeming pop stars is a result of a demeaning media parade of her constant fuck-ups.

I'm really sick of this concept of "handlers."

i'm so excited

I'm really sick of this concept of "handlers."

I'm really not sure if she has handlers, but she certainly has a personal trainer, and voice training, and a number of people's careers whose success are somewhat contingent on hers, yet she still fails to perform. And what's wrong with handlers if they're there? You've got 15 year olds who suddenly have access to exorbitant amounts of money, it's expected they'll get investment advice, why not some degree of watchfulness. I know it's kind of unfair, but young people aren't that responsible, and young people like Britney Spears who has been a money generating machine since she was a child, are probably not learning a whole lot other than how to perform. That said, I don't follow this stuff at all, and am probably terribly off base.

my fear that someone will google this thread is costing me sleep

Hey John I handed someone this ancient Quito Ecuador QSL card in Pittsburgh and told them to take it to you, did you get it?

Now an amateur radio operator or shortwave enthusiast might find this and be even more confused and put off :D

i plan to get this album why because it looks intertsing

She seems incapable of being a mentally healthy human being you mean? Her handlers are unable to keep her in shape and off of drugs. She's only genuine because she spiralled out of control. I don't have a problem with that, I just think it's funny that one of the only 'honest' seeming pop stars is a result of a demeaning media parade of her constant fuck-ups.

I mean that -- for whatever reasons -- Spears isn't a polished, sterile pop star anymore, and she's a more sympathetic figure as a result. I have no desire to see more misery worked on her. To the contrary, I want her to get her act together and succeed. If you're implying that I'm rubbernecking in the hopes of being amused by Spears continuing to embarrass herself, you're wrong and I don't know how you'd get that from what I said.

trashthumb,

You're correct in the main, I think. I was speaking more generally to the idea that a pop star has "handlers" that are the puppet-masters to her artistic decisions & public face.

i find the sympathetic aspect of the whole debaucle interesting. i have felt it strongly, and am intrigued to find that others have as well.

If you're implying that I'm rubbernecking in the hopes of being amused by Spears continuing to embarrass herself, you're wrong and I don't know how you'd get that from what I said.

I'm not, I'm just saying that the reason that she's in a position to be honest is because of all this awful stuff happening to her. Didn't Mariah Carey's music become more personal after she had problems? I was just observing, not accusing you of schadenfreude.

I'm just saying that the reason that she's in a position to be honest is because of all this awful stuff happening to her.

---

That would actually have me MORE excited about the new album.

Imagine a record full of claustrophobic Neptunes-produced paranoia/anti-paparazzi songs.

-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, July 28, 2007 6:03 PM

I was just observing, not accusing you of schadenfreude.

Understood.

a record full of claustrophobic Neptunes-produced paranoia/anti-paparazzi songs.

That might be the first pop album I'd listen through the entire way. As fun and interesting as a lot of the production is, I can't get past the feeling that these songwriters can't really magically transmit sincerity into the pop stars. Even if Britney just 'co-wrote' the tracks (even if that just means telling a lyricist about events, how she felt, etc) that would give them more credibility than another sexual single that even if its true, was probably just handed to that artist because they're hot.

yeah noone has ever written an album about how fame is hard and it sucks to be photographed before. can't wait for that artistic barrier to be broken. should be thrilling.

yeah noone has ever written an album about how fame is hard and it sucks to be photographed before. can't wait for that artistic barrier to be broken. should be thrilling.

Sorry for not having familiarity with something. I think just the amount of information about Britney's collapse/personal life alongside an album like that would be an interesting document, even if it's been done before. 'It's been done before' isn't something I'd consider qualitatively when someone is addressing a massive ordeal in their lyrics. Love has been done before too, but seeing other peoples perspectives on it is still interesting. But please keep being needlessly snarky

I can't get past the feeling that these songwriters can't really magically transmit sincerity into the pop stars

They often can't. That's why so much commercially-successful music sounds so bloodless, even the bouncy/urban or beat-oriented stuff (some of which, in fairness, I like very much). But of course, I'm primarily partial to the indie-rock churned out by amateurish "young knowledge workers" from fashionable towns in the West/Northwest, so take my comments for what they're worth.

yeah noone has ever written an album about how fame is hard and it sucks to be photographed before.

not produced by the neptunes.

but then they've been cold a while, wtf am i thinking anyway.

But of course, I'm primarily partial to the indie-rock churned out by amateurish "young knowledge workers" from fashionable towns in the West/Northwest, so take my comments for what they're worth.

You mean insipid drivel by repressed angry young men who refuse to dance? Hahaha you really need to check out Britney Spears back catalogue, maybe you'll finally be able to see your blackness reflected in her.

I'm just saying that in light of Lindsay Lohan's "Rumors," that Mel Gibson-produced <i>Paparazzi</i> movie, and the otherwise pretty good new Kanye song marred by the nazi/paparazzi rhyme, I'm unconvinced that it's subject matter that would make for good art or even just won't manage to make the artist sound like a spoiled douchebag. And it's not Britney not writing her own songs or addressing her personal life that's holding her back from making music of quality and distinction, it's that she's a lousy vocalist and performer on every possible level.

I can't get past the feeling that these songwriters can't really magically transmit sincerity into the pop stars

They can't. If the singer isn't charismatic him/herself, it's not a good track.

You mean insipid drivel by repressed angry young men who refuse to dance?

A Place To Bury Strangers dance.

I think it's safe to say that most people will never feel sympathetic toward celebrities whose complaint is that the cost of never having to punch a time clock again is too dear

nor "interested" by said celebrities' great barbaric yawp

+ 5 for use of my favorite phrase

I think it's safe to say that most people will never feel sympathetic toward celebrities whose complaint is that the cost of never having to punch a time clock again is too dear

I can't really argue that, and I'm certainly not the "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE" guy. All I'll say is that -- given her very public difficulties -- I now find Spears a much more compelling person.

Lots of people sympathized with, say, Princess Diana, and she certainly was a celebrity whose biggest complaint was "that the cost of never having to punch a time clock again is too dear."

Lots of people sympathized with, say, Princess Diana, and she certainly was a celebrity whose biggest complaint was "that the cost of never having to punch a time clock again is too dear."

Princess Diana was a philanthropist whose public identity was tied in to people's nationalism too. I agree that Britney Spears is more compelling, but I don't know if it's not a result of feeling like cosmic justice has been served and a high margins person was briefly dragged through the mud, and if that is the case, I guess I should feel guilty too.

Good points.

Princess Diana = proper blue-blooded royalty and not to be compared to common trash celebrity scum whores.

That said, Britney is hotter.

Also, not a corpse, yet.

shaddup, everyone.

ban fuck little lord fauntleroy

Princess Diana = proper blue-blooded royalty and not to be compared to common trash celebrity scum whores.

That said, Britney is hotter.

-- little lord fauntleroy, Sunday, 21 October 2007 04:52 (4 hours ago) Link

Also, not a corpse, yet.

-- little lord fauntleroy, Sunday, 21 October 2007 04:53 (4 hours ago) Link

max r 2

HOOS with the eternal question: ban or fuck?

BANFUCK LOUIS JAGGER

FUCKBAN probably worse.

enough

I think it's safe to say that most people will never feel sympathetic toward celebrities whose complaint is that the cost of never having to punch a time clock again is too dear

nor "interested" by said celebrities' great barbaric yawp

Shevles and shelves full of celeb gossip magazines in the UK would beg to differ.

Not really, it's 'OMG must watch the car crash' rather than genuine sympathy.

Who in their right mind wants sincerity from Britney anyway? To be honest, releasing an album mid-breakdown is a bit of misstep anyway, you want a returning triumph over adversity in two years' time, all plastic pop and no demons in sight.

Which makes me think that the Kylie album will absolutely trounce Blackout (even if the single is a bit rub) and surely no one thinks that will be full of introspective songs about coming to terms with cancer.

Shevles and shelves full of celeb gossip magazines in the UK would beg to differ.

-- ledge, Sunday, 21 October 2007 09:39 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

This explains all the smash hit singles Pete Doherty has had in the past five years oh wait

Has anybody bothered to listen to the clips or leaks if so opinions please.

no noone has bothered because the engine of the Britney train is celebrity, and it got up such a head of steam that the "also makes music" car detached and now nobody gives a shit - this is rather a "made your bed, lie in it" proposition for our Britney

i give a shit i'm just lazy and will buy the actual album

I listened - the beats are actually really fun. I'm not a fan of Britneyper se but I love Toxic and these clips show promise..

OMG "Heaven"

I don't get the love for "Toxic" at all. I like some other Britney songs, but that one, which seems to inspire particularly obsessive love on ILM, is an overstuffed nightmare. It's like dance-pop produced by John Zorn: 300 ideas in three minutes, and none of them good.

I wouldn't describe "Toxic" as overstuffed...I've always heard it as one clever idea. You have these three different cinematic string sounds (the psycho murder scene, the barren saloon showdown, and the sci-fi battle), and each one recalls some sort of physical struggle. That's what Britney's lyrics revolve around, and that's why the song works as well as it does.

I don't get the love for "Toxic" at all...It's like dance-pop produced by John Zorn

Phil has made his disdain for Zorn pretty noisy.

"Which makes me think that the Kylie album will absolutely trounce Blackout (even if the single is a bit rub) and surely no one thinks that will be full of introspective songs about coming to terms with cancer."

Well, Kylie is also on a hot streak (3 great albums and countless good b-sides), while Britney's recent material has been pretty lame. I would not put it past Kylie to pull off a song about coming to terms with cancer.

Surely there will be just one song on the next Kylie album about the cancer - perhaps a duet with Olivia Newton-John?

Britney's last album was slightly better than Kylie's last album FWIW.

to quote alex in nyc: britney spears is incapable of making any music of quality and distinction.

Which is why she has never made any music either. If the people using her as a marionette has made something sounding like Depeche Mode, Human League or Knife it may be worth a listen. It isn't like untalented Britney should be given any credit for it being good if it is though.

OK now it's the worst thread ever.

NOW it's the worst thread ever!?

i think this reviews nails it:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2007/10/22/2007-10-22_studio_tricks_make_britneys_new_cd_sound.html

even if the headline and byline photo look like something out of the onion

he makes a good point about the weird disconnect between britney's musical image as a in-control master of erotic longing and her celebrity image as off-the-rails sad case

WAIT GUYS GEIR LIKES THE KNIFE

If you think about it too much, it's hard not to see her as that old Saturday Night Live "drunk girl" character, the sad lush pawing men at a party.

iiiiiiiii'm like a biiiiiiiiiird goooooonna fly awaaaaaaaay

Yeah, I think whats interesting about what I've heard is how britney seems to ride the margins. She's more of a texture and an idea than an actual presence. It really sounds like it could have been made in the future without her. Its a really interesting record.

Also its funny how that bassline in Piece of me seems designed for the patented Britney neckswervejerk dance move.

the patented Britney neckswervejerk dance move

?

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/10/22/amd_britney-art.jpg

º_o

taking sides: k-fed vs k-punk

Leaked.

It's awesome.

can I get a witness?

the new single is brilliant.

Is it Piece of me?

No "Gimme More"...sorry it's not "new" I guess.

Alright, I'll confess that I didn't mind "Toxic," but I get the feeling she had as much to do with the greatness of that track as fuckin' I did. Her voice is fucking NOTHING. Her producers deserve the credit on that one.

Piece of Me is fantastic, and does Radar samples Tainted Love -seems risky after Rihanna's S.O.S. but I like Britney's beats better.. I agree with whoever upthread said this had a kind of dirty 80s/Human League vibe. Her songwriters have come out with some pretty fun stuff, probably inspired by the fact that Umbrella was (I heard) offered to Britney and turned down

cor is that danja singing on 'get naked'! what a big hammy old queen.

yes yes yes i'm so excited

have we alread talked about how toxic borrows from an old sample? some old indian song or something

Her problem is not being a money-generating machine since she was a child, her problem is that she's just not that bright. By contrast, Natalie Portman and Jodie Foster, who have been money-generators since they were kids, seem well-adjusted. But then again, their IQs are above 60.

umm

i don't think any of us REALLY know how bright any of those ppl are?

natalie portman has my cell phone number cuz she's comin to a show here soon ;-)

Jodie Foster's just remade Death Wish and is roaming the world doing interviews where she bigs up vigilantes. Real bright.

Jamie Pressly seemed sharp as a tack when she was on Loveline.

hey this is good. smart.

GREAT ALBUM. Developed thoughts later...

can't imagine her doing any promo beyond court appearances.

MTV, the new OiNK?

http://www.mtv.com/music/the_leak/britney_spears/blackout/

can't imagine her doing any promo beyond court appearances.

-- o-ess, Wednesday, October 24, 2007 4:57 PM

misread this.

"Get Naked (I Got a Plan)" is one of the best song titles of recent memory.

MTV, the new OiNK?

http://www.mtv.com/music/the_leak/britney_spears/blackout/

-- StanM, Wednesday, October 24, 2007 12:58 PM (50 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

you realize that MTV has been streaming new albums on a website feature called "The Leak" for like 3 years now, right?

yep :-)

A pretty impressive list of collaborators, by the way:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_%28Britney_Spears_album%29#Tracklisting

yeah, you'll never see those guys on anyone else's album this year.

(btw haha i love the fact that apparently this album of all robo-albums is the one where t-pain produces but is banned from jumping on the vocoder himself)

No Timbaland? Who's going to do the "baby girl" parts then?

I like "Heaven on Earth"

"Get Naked (I Got a Plan)" is a monster club jam -- it almost sounds like a remix of "Gimme More"

In general though MATT DC OTM about the electrosquelch sound seeming a little 2002. Even if I do like that sound. They all sound like Ewan Pearson has already remixed them.

'toy soldier' is kinda ok with its jaxxy ways

and a well deployed trite pharrell song for a change

otherwise charmless

you are mad this whole album is great.

the album is totally mediocre

Blackout: The Ys of the New Era

HAHAHA

I'm really liking what I'm hearing, but I just really wish that wasn't the actual album cover what with the pink flamingo skirt and Croc Dundee hat. Of course the outfit does seem a perfect depiction of the train wreck that her life is portrayed as. To be honest, I'm really pretty amazed she was able to get in the studio and get something this impressive put together in what was seemingly a pretty short time. Should I not believe the press that all she really does is drink Sbux, be a bad mama, shave her head, drive poorly, and flash her cooch?

The album is her most consistent yet, but there's no real high point, and the sounds/beats are a bit too consistent throughout. I really love Get Naked (I Got A Plan). I suppose the darker, grittier sound is a reflection of her growth as an artist/person (hold your laughter, etc) but I miss unapologetically poppy Britney...Brave New Girl, Cinderella, Bombastic Love. And where's the requisite terrible ballad? That Neptunes song will have to do, I suppose.

Overview and some inside stuff

The problem with this is that, bar a couple of tracks, it's all too fucking mid-paced.

it is a bit too consistent but i still really enjoy the sound. and i feel it's a grower, the textures sink in more with listens. that heaven song is greattt

Surmounter, "Perfect Lover," c'mon, boy!

YES, i actually think i might have meant that one --

AWESOME.

weirdly enough, there's a certain Cardigans vibe that comes through no? i mean, not in a bad way at ALL

:)

No, but "Heaven on Earth" is awesome, too. So you're right on both accounts.

u know, i knew Perfect Lover was great the 1st time, but when i heard it the second time i really got it

Yes, exactly.

"Heaven on Earth" sounds vaguely Beatles-y (obvious Moroder references aside).

The real question here is... where is Tim Finney? Tim Finney to thread.

true nuf

I was thinking I hadn't seen Tim lately.

This is indeed amazing. I mean, it's Britney Fucking Spears! and this is still an excellent pop album! Just as great as Annie, Kylie or Bertine at their best really. What happened? I mean, if there is somebody I didn't expect this from, it's her. And particularly not in the light of recent new stories.

Now, the two most positive surprises of the year have been from Britney Spears and Babyshambles. Does this mean we'll see a classic and absolutely flawless pop album from Amy Winehouse before Christmas then?

isnt tim touring europe or something

Is anyone else having difficulty pinning down how much of this is actually Britney singing? There are a host of 'backing singers' credited on the record, including Robyn. Which is weird because before I found this out I'd already been thinking bits of it sounded like Robyn's kind of enunciation, albeit heavily treated - Piece of Me for example.

Maybe it's because I can't quite see Britney managing to spend much time in the studio this year, but I can't shake the feeling of listening to a collage of different, robotised female voices with Britney as the 'face'.

Not that it matters really, as the end product is cracking. Finally clicked with me on the way home yesterday and now I love it.

Is a good album really a surprise? With the exception of her first album, her albums have all been solid.

The first two I would rather consider the most decent ones. The next two were awful "contemporary R&B" crap.

But, really, Britney is whatever her producer/songwriters turn her into, as she herself has no other talent than looks and temptation.
Max Martin was obv. way better than Neptunes, but the people she is working with now seems to know good music better than any of the people she has ever worked with in the past.

how are the melodies?

I was listening to "Piece of Me" earlier today and thinking that it could totally fit on that Felix Da Housecat's Devin Dazzle album.

I am back in Australia :-( but haven't heard this album yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlbLdTxSkV8

This is kind of bizarre.

A Danja Hands produced Britney track, with a very Dubstep sounding wobble.

It makes my head hurt.

Why does this exist?

Robyn is on this album???????

I did find this -

"I've been approached about writing a new song for Britney and I'm cool with that. I've written for her before but it only got to the recording stages, so doing it again would be a good move for me. I'd like to think I could help." -- Robyn

i wonder where this album's silk-pursers were in 06's great paris hilton wars. seems like everything goes out the window when eurodisco is involved.

(ok yes i did personally just get a deckchair, keep shtoom and watch the lex get flayed alive but the album was okay and better than this on pretty much every level including "interesting" or whatever it is floating people's dismal little boats here)

oh sorry i forgot about the stupid robot voice treatment on every track, my bad

Don't know how it compares to the stuff that, like, actually made the album, but "A Song About You" is very nice in a wispy, Janet-esque hyperballad kind of way (that's totally not her singing in the intro though). From what I've read I imagine the album isn't like that at all though.

Actually it's not that good. I got momentarily excited by the resurrection of one of my favourite pop styles.

i will say tho (again) that in terms of assessing the current timbahandz dynasty danja coming out as some sort of glamly perverse rocky horror ringmaster is kinda remarkable! hi dere son of green velvet

Haha this is a million miles better than the Paris album you are on crack.

not today i'm not! how shall we break this down? deliciously ironical lyricky self awareness? 'stars are blind', 'fighting over me', 'screwed'. blithely wealthy industry appropriation of modern musical trends? 'turn it up', turn you on'. fuck you world and you yes you in particular? 'jealousy'. all britney has over paris is a vague hazy rage and people's insane lust for electro-toss and hacky robodiva crit; paris only covered 'do you think i'm sexy' once, not 12 times.

whh-tshh!

haha note to self only think whh-tshh next time do not type

In fairness, electro-toss and hacky robodiva crit is 90% of the reason I prefer this to the Paris record.

Also do the whh-tshh again.

whh-NO I WILL NOT BE EXECUTIVE PRODUCED DAMN YOU PAPARAZZO

Someday, a real rain's gonna come and wash all this bullshit away.

I'm imagining the marketing team standing in the studio and looking at Britney passed out in one corner, saying "So, guys, what are we going to call this record?"

lol

after listening to freakshow and gimme more... doesn't every britney song follow the same formula?? the only difference with these songs is that britney is trying to be darker and more in tune with music trends of recent times (the hiphop beats remind me of every other song).

did Seripop do her cover art? that thing looks better suited to an AIDS Wolf sleeve.

also while this album is surprisingly good, it still takes a backseat to Rachel Stevens' last album in the "soullessly robotic white-girl buying an album's worth of unstoppably insane tracks from worldbeating producers" sweepstakes.

how is anyone liking this album? seriously. whats wrong with people today. I heard Radar and Piece of Me... Its terrible

I still love this. "Heaven on Earth" is unusually affecting. Sounds yearning, unrequited.

The album would have been even better if the hip-hop beats were replaced with Kylie-style 120 bpm 4/4-beats. But still a pleasant surprise.

Is there an emoticon for resigned exhasperation?

http://i7.tinypic.com/5z50gwk.gif

(a.k.a. "sigh.gif")

2 good songs (Piece of Me, Heaven on Earth), the other songs are mainly random electroclashfuturistictimbalandorgwenstefanistyle tracks. But where's Britney on the record?

Why does everyone else like Piece of Me? Jesus, that's no good. Heaven on Earth and Break The Ice are both better.

And Christ, HoE is asking for a remix.

"Gimme More" is still the best track. Good choice for 1st single. Shame about the VMAs fuck-up.

Agree on the "Heaven on Earth" love, even if the intro calls up "Hung Up" too explicitly.

"Hung Up"'s intro calls up "What You Waiting For?" a bit too explicitly.

xpost More like a very obvious Moroder reference.

First listen today, and I'm thinking "Toy Soldier" would be an awesome single.

heaven on earth was made by Freescha!

Why is everyone all over "Piece of Me"? It's terrible. sounds like a bad Fergie track.

The rest of it is pretty good though.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/1632/moqschq3.gif

no... i'm still not understanding that gif

anyway i like this now

it is fun

Radar is my new favourite. It's very tin pan alley you might notice maybe

It's been a long time since I knew an album before the singles were released. Since the last Britney one really. It will be weird to hear these on the radio.

heaven on earth was made by Freescha!

yeah this shocked me too

i love that gif, whatever it means

pop album of the year, fwiw

I'm starting to think it is my album of the year. And I've enjoyed a lot of albums this year.

I believe the gif is showing how a producer/engineer would cut-and-paste different bars from 4 different takes of a vocal (presumably Britney's) to cherry-pick the best possible performance of each line.

boring.gif

zing.gif

Not really a criticism in the case of this particular album then.

By the way I love the poptimist piece on this. It kind of brings together all the things people have been trying to say about this album. It is very articulate.

I let my girlfriend dissuade me from buying this album at the record store yesterday. :(

Maybe I will go back. It was used for $9.99.

it dropped out of the top 20 in its 3rd week, should be all over the cutout bins now or soon.

It is very much worth it. You will thank yourself. And so will your girlfriend.

save your money for the Kylie record.

thnx al! i see now that it says take 1/ take 2 and so on.

pop album of the year, fwiw

oh shut up

name a better one, fucko

yeah, like, that was mean.

I believe the gif is showing how a producer/engineer would cut-and-paste different bars from 4 different takes of a vocal (presumably Britney's) to cherry-pick the best possible performance of each line.

otm but it's a weird criticism - I don't know many indie bands who don't comp vocals all the time, and I don't know any who flat-out refuse to do so

"pop album of the year" is a hella annoying kind of statement to make

so no

yeah whatever. 'album of the year' thing is kind of bullshit for me in honesty but i've been throwing it out more than usual because this year i've found myself liking at least two thirds of a lot of albums (at least twice as many as last year) and Blackout is one of them for defying odds/expectations and being a well conceived, well executed return. may seem like empty plaudits but i think this is a great marriage of anorak-appeasing sonic ideas - Danja's work, obviously derivative as it may be, just sounds fresher and fuller than anything Timbaland has done in the last 3 years - and the usual important pop artist elements that i'm not as interested in personally i.e. i couldn't care less about much of what she's talking about and as per i don't look to Britney for stunning vocals or to actually relate duh. its just trashy sexy fun and i like the sound of it.

MAYBE I TRY THIS COCAINE SOME TIME

Nothing as good as Say it Right, but yes. Freakshow, Radar, Piece of Me, Gimme More, Heaven and Break the Ice are all as classic as you can get.

it is weirdly tricky to precisely nail the right median at play in enjoying this album - too much of either robodiva anonymizing or deadening biographical literalism and it all falls apart. (nor is it a case of switching either side on or off whenever you please, whatever context yr listening it to in.) ewing's piece is really great (as ever!) but i feel he, and the million other people who've said similar, betrays that balance with his disdain for the corny melo neptunes closer.

Can you rephrase that. I want to understand but don't.

incidentally that is also pretty much the reason i lash out at "pop album of the year" (and i am alright about other genre album of years) cos the pop bomb is somehow nearly always dropped by those with a shonky krazy noize production bias that does pop a disservice imo. it is just too slippery a term i'm ever comfy with using really.

heh saying that, britters probably really is the pop album of the year either way so w/ever!

That's not what I wanted clarity on. I really do love this album though.

Ha ha RTC your last post is pretty much why I'm gonna campaign to get "Is It You" as high up on the Pfork end of year singles chart as possible.

can you try understanding again. i want to help you but don't.

uhhm i am just saying that there's "woo woo robot pop" and "wah wah hero/sad brit" impulses mingling as you listen to it and that it's hard to get across satisfactorily and bah damn thanks for making me look facile now

no problem : )

i'm just being honest when i say what draws me to this collection of songs first and foremost is the nature of the production and the context it works within.

as far as songcraft goes, i much prefer the Feist album and a number of others, but Blackout is more 'interesting' or exciting than most if not all of those because of this crucial context and mythos surrounding it and the valuation put on that.

I don't think you really get a clear sense of the "sad brit" angle from the music itself, which is probably why nearly everyone who approaches this album from that angle ends up saying "there's not enough Britney in it" even though she's as front-and-centre as she's ever been. It is interesting through that she chose not to do an "Everytime" style track this time around.

Conversely, because she is so front-and-centre if people did run with the whole anonymous robo-diva line it would seem pretty off-the-mark - we know her voice too well for that. At the same time the production is very impressive in some places. Perhaps the closest thing to a successful version of this take is to note that Britney's appeal has always at least partially been a kind of masochistic intermingling of her vocals with monstrously monolithic production - no less true of "Baby One More Time" than "Gimme More" etc. But this works precisely because she is neither robotic nor anonymous.

(I've never really believed in anonymous robo-divas anyway - I'm not sure which singer fits the description. R&B especially practically has a cult of vocal personality going on. Maybe Keri Hilson's backing vocals fit this description?)

Why do you say "masochistic" when describing this intermingling, Tim?

i'm just being honest when i say what draws me to this collection of songs first and foremost is the nature of the production and the context it works within.

i got no problem with this! this, the grubby coin of the poptimist realm! just wish more people set their stall out before drawing for the slogans is all.

This is good. The album is built with fragments. You get a Britney yowl and then her voice is violently displaced, detuned, disfigured. The production is allowed to be brash in a way that few big pop productions are. I want to clarify that what I mean by that is it is brash in how it is allowed to be so reckless with her voice, Danja either has supreme confidence in the particulars of Britney's voice (I never realised quite how familiar the nuances of her phrasing were until hearing this) or else a complete disregard for making an album about/for/with Britney.

Compare it to the DFA demo ("Get it" or whatever). That track is so performative, Tim goldsworthy lets her voice fill the centre of the song and get surrounded by all the various elements, it sounds like the air from her breathing is setting off the cowbells. She is allowed to give a vocal performance in a way she rarely has ("Everytime" and "Breathe on Me" are exceptions)

I can't believe I forgot to list Get Naked above. The creepy voice that introduces it. Also when she sings "whatti gotta do to getchoo to leave the party?" it is quite brilliant for reasons I can't quite figure out.

I don't really know where I'd set my stall first. I am a massive Britney Spears fan though.

I mean, I was probably biased as this was my most anticipated album like ever. Especially since In Da Zone was her best since her debut imho and I loved the singles from her Best Of.

"Why do you say "masochistic" when describing this intermingling, Tim?"

ha ha I guess ever since I read a review of "Baby One More Time" which compared the sharp inhalations and exhalations which make up part of the rhythm to some sort of bondage play, I've always made the link between Britney's harder tunes and rough sex.

Ha ha RTC your last post is pretty much why I'm gonna campaign to get "Is It You" as high up on the Pfork end of year singles chart as possible.

-- Tim F, Monday, 26 November 2007 22:40 (17 minutes ago) Link

YESSSSSSS

(It's number 5 on my Idolator ballot)

"i know right?" does the para on 'piece of me' in ewing's rvw not round out yr dualism a bit?

i like this voice crit stuff! can't say i ever thought about it too much before but it feels like it ought to be weighty. would be nice to think that it wasn't all just symptomatic of the goodgirlgonebad perv angle she's always had though, but i'm not so sure

also as hungry as i am for anything that slightly punctures the baffling puffed-up keri hilson gravy train, i think a robo angle on her is more to do with how little she's done so far in her career; the nature of her outside clutch writer credits suggest it'll be impossible for her to sing her own stuff that way. also in pictures she does seem enticingly diffident!

the french-sung version of 'the way i are' grates in quite robotic fashion.

lemme reread it.

oh plz dudes, there are harder critpop challenges than cassie to overcome. though i don't doubt there'll be enough disinterest to make it feel like it's not.

nb. i am not about to name a harder challenge

nb2. cough, did always like that big james blunt song that year

ps. has poptimist kru caught the (DREADFUL) usher noize single yet? mmmmm i can almost taste the bile of the future rising up

ooh link me to 'the way i frog'!

did people notice btw that timbahandz was on top of the russian charts for like a month with some random russian dude with a random russian song. they are pimping all over the world.

Actually Robyn is fantastic in that song. All I remembered from that song was the line about "piece of meat". It just grabbed me in a way that made me forget everything else.

It is fair to say that this is an album that exists very much in its context. That it is an album about britney where the most personal sounding song contains no co-write credit, she seems to be doing no promotion or even doing up her website adds to the disconnection that is so often focused on in most discourse about it.

the way i hee-hoh hee-hoh

The challenge with Cassie is more that she'll only ever get loved for stuff like "Me & You". It also helps that there wasn't a better song than "Is It You" this year.

Conversely "You're Beautiful" would be worth getting behind if it was good - I don't mind "1973" though, it appeals to my soft-rock side.

someone stole my Paul Young cassingles goddammit now im nothin :((((

The challenge with Cassie is more that she'll only ever get loved for stuff like "Me & You". It also helps that there wasn't a better song than "Is It You" this year.

Exactly. Last year, it felt like people were treating Cassie as if she were a one hit wonder the minute "Me & You" hit. The live performances/dirty video didn't help.

And even though "Long Way 2 Go" was better than most singles on radio last year, it didn't do very well (charted in the 80s, i think?). So in regards to a comeback, everything seems stacked against her.

But this year, she released four amazing tracks, and no one really seems to be paying attention. And apart from a few blog mentions, no one seemed to react to the (false) rumor that Bad Boy dropped her.

A successful single for her now seems like...I don't know, Blu Cantrell making a comeback. Maybe I'm wrong (I've become a bit obsessed recently...I search "Cassie sophomore album" once a week)

And critical acceptance seems more unlikely (like Paula DeAnda getting votes on Pazz & Jop). Though I'm worried that a Pitchfork run this year would be less successful than one run next year (when it's officially released)

fuck, that was long-winded and stupid

Also, though, the only R&B that gets mainstream critical love is stuff like "Me & U" ("it's so cold!!!"), whereas "Is It You" is just too sweet and winsome.

4give me for saying so, but tape store's swansong has something of the patented self-mythologizing teenpop defence system® about it. obv i sympathise with the urge to not see her get totally ignored, and 'is it you' is as terrific as has been said, but it does seems slightly counterintuitive to be expecting a more robust critical (and cough cough popular) framework around her than there already is; moreover, is there not something laissez-faire and disposable that we secretly buy into with her in the first place? something a little... of the boutique, critically? (wasn't it kinda interesting how a lot of people, inc me, went for a nu-freestyle angle with 'me & u' - did anything audible in the song actually merit that? not really!) seriously, i am not trying to ride you guys on some "perfect pop" scorn tip but nor am i sure of quite what i want cassie to be achieving tbh.

(also not to be completely dreary but 'me & u' was a breakaway smash hit and 'is it you' was... what? i think on some soundtrack in the end? has to be said)

The song is contagiously hot and has the type of ominous beat that makes you take notice wherever you are. I was taking out the bins last night so that the bin men could collect them the following morning and someone drove past my house with Me & U at full blast. As the car sped away at a few good yards through the cool summer night, you could still hear the song very transparently as it faded away into the distance.

<3

best and truest review ever, by toyah of toyah's world

I'm sure the opening comment of the Britney album has been played to death critically, but it's taken on a really funky performative quality in my real life social groups. We'll now say hello to each other by saying 'It's Britney, bitch,' like as an introduction. This relates someway to the impersonal nature of the album - ie: We'd never quote an earlier Britney album in such an adoptive manner. Quoting Hit Me Baby One More was always an evocation of Britney. This seems completely disembodied - freed from her persona. Maybe that's what people mean by "this doesn't sound like Britney" even though, as has been mentioned here, she is VERY front and center. It's, gasp, transcendent.

good point, but i disagree that it's "freed from her persona" - if anything it's opened up her persona for other people to take on, if that makes sense. particularly at the moments where the vox have been fucked with, too. this album was on at a houseparty i went to and it turned into a right old quote-athon from start to finish (granted i was with a bunch of very camp folk at the time but still)

Not to mention that she's self-referential in a way I'm more used to with hip-hop artists than Britney.

i really like this album but i'm not ready for it yet. i'm just not in a place wher ei want to listen to this kind of music. but when i get there i'm sure to immerse myself in this.

I've never heard "Is It You," but I really like "Sometimes."

This thread is the reason I listened to Me&U like fifteen times today.

not to get en gang w u creeps but the crazier she gets the doper her music will be she is the frank sinatra of my hermaphrodidic generation as we revert to the follies of the 80's now

she needs to get smackt

i'd still rather bang uffie

I figure the 80's will go out of fashion in like five minutes now, so um... not really. I mean, it's bee ages surely people are sick of it by now

THE RISE OF THE CALIPHATE CANNOT BE STOPPED

"radar" is really great.

People who like this album should really check out Ashley Tisdale's Headstrong. It's quite similar, only with slightly less look-at-me production and slightly better singing/songs.

But Tim, what if we're unreasonably attracted to the look-at-me production? (Personally, I couldn't stand Headstrong. I really wanted to like it, cause I like Tisdale, but it was awful.)

Oh i'm not saying Headstrong is necessarily the better album (although clearly I like it more than you!). Britney really makes the limited singing/songwriting work for her here.

I like the look at me production.

Okay so obviously me saying "look-at-me" is being taken as a value judgment. It's a good thing, and Britney's album is better than Ashley's. If anything, the better singing/songwriting makes Headstrong seem more like a generic pop album. All I meant was that the best stuff on Headstrong (e.g. "So Much For You", "Be Good To Me") sounds like what Blackout might sound like if Britney was still trying to make typically shiny pop songs.

well i think the fact that the album has faired so poorly on the charts must be partly because the 80s thing isn't really grabbing everyone's attention right now. that might be me just BSing -- but this definitely sounds 80s to me in parts.

Video previews of 'Piece of Me' suggests she still doesn't know the words.

Album of the year!

i should put this on tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89oS4SN4mNg

she looks okay, but she could flatter herself better.

The song somehow sounds a bit boring with that video.

Still Britney's best ever album, but my immediate enthusiasm has cooled somewhat. Junior Boys, Kylie, Annie and Bertine all do this so much better.

As my sister said, she 'looks like somebody you'd move away from on the dancefloor'. Too true!

Your sister is a prophet.

Why is her hair up in one second but down in the other? could they only do two takes?

This album is the bomb.

I wasn't too impressed at first but it hit me yesterday : this album is great, indeed !
no track I really dislike and many potential hits (well, maybe not commercial hits since it seems "gimme more" didn't work too well yet it might be my favorite britney single ever).
as everybody said, the production/synth sounds are amazing.
from "it's britney, bitch" to the pretty smooth neptunes closer through the fun paranoid robotic pop of "piece of me" (the equivalent to MJ's "leave me alone", in a way), the raving 90s synth of "break the ice", the great pop tunes "heaven on earth" and "hot as ice", the epic "get naked"... so many things to love !
also, I really like how her image has changed, much darker, trashier, stronger (i'm not talking about her life per se but the image the album and videos build). When you compare her in the video of "piece of me" (which I find very fun) and "slave 4 u", for instance, it doesn't really seem like it's the same person. she seems, I dunno, taller, stronger (obviously, she's not as thin but that's not just that), her face is more angular... I was never a big fan (liked "one more time", "boys" and "toxic" but that was about it) and never found her sexy or else but I really like her new persona and music.

hum. after a quick check it seems I was wrong and the album and "gimme more" are a success, actually...
all the better for her !

rly ? i thought they weren't doing too hot. numbers?

here's what I found on wiki:

blackout : United World Chart peak : 1 Gold 1,232,000+
"Gimme More" became Spears's highest chart peak since "...Baby One More Time", having reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The single has sold 2 million+ United World Chart points

i'd take it

But the album didn't perform that well...

mhmm... well who gives a flying fig, i mean everyone knows it's the best she's ever done. she just needs to fix her skin situation and she'll be fine.

Surely her best, but she can do better. If next time around she gets rid of those Timbaland proteges and instead uses someone like Richard X, to make a similar album, only with straight 4/4 beats and a more true 80s-retro sound, it will be even better.

You seem to have gotten lost, Geir:

http://poptimists.livejournal.com/

the other day i was struck by how much "piece of me" sounds like a justin timberlake song; not just the melody and instrumentation but the WAY that she sings those lines, with the same kind of insistent, almost monotone that he uses

I think it sounds like Virginia Woolf tying stones to her shoes. Great song.

Her skin is bad?

Officially break the Ice is by far the best thing on this. It sounds different on every different stereo/headphone whatever you play it on too.

wow I just realised how risqué the lyrics are

do people (and by people I mean 'people who aren't record companies') still care about chart placement in this day and age where no-one actually buys music?

by which I mean: this album and the single seem to be in a weird place where they have sold relatively ok, placed well in charts, have gotten critical acclaim, and yet everyone still has a terrible opinion of her and the media is out for blood (not that she is helping them in that regard...and I guess you could argue the album's critical success has little or nothing to do with her)

It is all about her though!

They wanna look, we can give 'em a ENCORE!

yea it's not about the album it's about her. which is too bad. but actually for the people who don't follow all the bullshit (like my parents), the bottom line DOEs sometimes seem to be -- well the album is fairing well. it's just when you pay attention to like Access Hollywood that things get messy

i'm sorry but this is just hot

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/rrawn/brit.jpg

in a big way.

& she lost even more weight no?

Easiest mash-up in the world: "Piece of Me" and "Word Up".

Such a sucker for these things: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixlHxS3ZpZM

akm: I wouldn't say "critical acclaim", rather mixed reviews: http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/spearsbritney/blackout

Surely the best album of Britney, but it's mainly because of their previous ones were shite. This is just half-shit.

the same kind of insistent, almost monotone that [justin timberlake] uses

it's like halfway to rapping (at least) - so cool how her voice is literally played on a synth despite how many times this has been done - shades of "j-j-jam it on the one" as if theo was hanging out in booka shade's studio instead of stevie wonder's

xpost

I don't really like Hot As Ice all that much, but there's pretty much no song on this that you could say is less than good. About 50% is brilliant and 40% is incredible

definitely not half-shite, if you appreciate pop music.

"Hot as Ice" sounds like it could fit on Felix da Housecat's Devin Dazzle and the Neon Fever.

Yeah, seriously, this album is like the definition of unfuckwithable

I do appreciate good pop music...
But this is just half good. Sorry about that, Brit.

That Turtles song "Ooh Baby Baby" or whatever it's called is garbage, and "Why Should I Be Sad" is kind of blah, but otherwise yeah this album is wicked. The three-song stretch "Get Naked (I Got A Plan)"/ "Freakshow" / "Toy Soldier" is *LEGENDARY*.

How do the Turtles get here?

it samples/interpolates some Turtles song...

"happy together"

Strange, but I can't hear The Turtles there... but the song is really shit, you're right.

I don't understand why they didn't put "Kiss U All Over" on the album, it's one of the best songs from the Blackout-sessions.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1r-mJb1ERF4

theres some good songs on the new album but id like to hear songs like why am i so sad sung by someone else.

"Radar" and "Piece of Me" are masterpieces. Then there's about five or six lesser ones. Her best album.

You are forgetting Break the Ice, from the moment you really hear it, it sounds amazing!

yes.

putting it on

"why should I be sad" is so nice and sad. great one to end the album after all the synths and freaky beats...

Apparently she is supposed to be dead within the next half-year. So I guess this is her swansong album then....

PERFECT LOVER

i don't rly know that there's a bad song on here? i'm not HUGE on Get Naked but everything else sounds great to me.

get naked (i has a plan)

"Heaven on Earth" gets better and better, and it was already my favorite song.

If it's her last album, it's a great one to leave with (and "be sad" would be a good final).
the rest of the album is really amazing, indeed. for me, with no order in particular, the best would be : gimme, naked, break the ice, heaven, sad, ice... almost all the album actually ! (and it's such a joy to listen to with good earphones).
any idea what the next single will be ?

Britney to Make 'Purr-fect' Album

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Troubled popstar Britney Spears today announced plans for a new album entitled "Epic Fail." Spears further said that all lyrics for the album will be written in something she referred to as "loll-cat."

"I has producers. I has artistic vision," Spears said at a press conference. "Nom nom nom nom nom."

At times, Spears seemed agitated, yelling for no discernable reason. "I IS SINEAD CAT," she said. "WHERE IS MONORAIL BABY?"

At other times, however, she was playful, pointing at a photographer and saying, "Invisible ethics."

The press conference finished as confusingly as it began, with Spears asking, "My bucket--has you seen it?"

Representatives at her label had no immediate comment.

shutup, i'm really gullible so just tell me ur kidding

just joeks

this has already dropped to a mere fiver in your local Woolies.
i'm still getting into it to be honest.

me too

i'm at that stage where it's all i wanna put on

I seriously can't listen to anything else anymore, not since Tusk has an album so thoroughly ruined the rest of my listening.

i'm at that stage where it's all i wanna put on

-- Surmounter, Friday, January 25, 2008 7:23 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

I think I actually broke my (admittedly refurbished) mp3 player by playing this album exclusively while commuting 3hrs+ a day on the bus for two months straight. Now I have no music. Now I am depressed.

What is so great about Tusk? I have a 2CD Fleetwood Mac greatest hits, and I like a handful of songs, but I'm a little baffled whenever I hear people speak so reverentially of that album in particular. Is it that different from, say, Rumours (most of which is on the greatest hits)? All I know is that they use marching bands on it.

there was a marching band only on the title track. the rest of the album is just very good songwriting, with a particular weird sheen to it all...so where Rumors is good and solid pop songwriting, Tusk is good and solid WEIRD pop songwriting

Cool, maybe I will check it out.

If you've only heard the three singles on the comp, jaymc, you haven't heard Tusk; it's much weirder.

I think there are five songs on the comp: "Tusk," "Think About Me," "Storms," "Sisters of the Moon," and "Sara." I just listened to all of them, and they're all pretty good, but "Sara" is especially sweet.

"Sara" is my favorite Nicks song ever, and indicative of how the album sounds.

Awesome. My favorite Nicks song is "Dreams," and I think "Sara" has some sonic similarities -- the hazy, languid quality of her vocals meshing with those crisp drums is key.

yea i need to check this album out too. (Tusk)

so Break The Ice is happening for me now.

I wouldnt say that Tusk sounds that much like "Sara". If I had to choose a representative sample, I'd probably go for "Think about Me".

The 90s techno synth on Break the ice is so great (the beat and melody/singing too). You want to hear the track blast in a rave in some suburban boarded up factory !

absofuckinlutely

FAR ! (fancy a rave)

Well, I learned to love Rumours when I was around seven and I bought Tusk about a year ago, so that's why I said Tusk. Also, they're both batshit brilliant pop albums where the dislocated fragmented nature finds an almost conceptual base in the Britney and Lindsey chaotic lives of the artists.

On my Radar is kind of a crowd pleaser, it's funny. i mean i think it's great and all but it was definitely a bit of a grower for me.

it's 8am and i want to put this on. i tink it's because my radio alarm went off this morning with an alert that brit's in the hospital

again

girl needs to chill

Finally coming around to heaven on earth, reminds me a bit of The One of Kylie's new album,

yes!

It's in the echoey piano part.

echoey piano is one of my new favorite elements in a song.

Sorry.
But no part of Blackout comes anywhere near to the brilliance that is The One
I picked up Blackout cos of the love on this thread, but after a week, I'm still not getting why this has been met so positively.
Caveat : There is a strong case that in a few weeks I wil regret this post.

yea

it took me a little while with this album!

Really? I was hooked when they posted those samples on people! Piece of me was the one that jumped out and just sounded tremendous at first, but now I don't see it as being as good as , say , Break the Ice. Yeah, the One is pretty fantastic. The new Janet single has this same feel, but it doesn't have the heart. I guess Kylie takes it on that one though, but this album is an incredible machine.

I find Blackout cold and distant.
I feel hugged and loved by X.

yea i need to hear The One.

Blackout is cold to me too, but that's what i like about it -- it's like she is cold and she wants you to know or something. i know, deep.

well, this DID sound big to me at first -- but i didn't really get the subtlties in it until a bit later.

There's so many warm facets to Blackout though. The more I listen to it the more Britney's voice becomes the golden key to getting it. It makes all these nice warm effects when its multitracked that are just so soft. It cuts throught the metallic beats or at least drapes itself over them.

xpost, yeah like harmonies on Radar are just so subtle at first but they eventually dominate the song. And on freak show, just the way she moves around the speakers is entrancing, its like a Yes record, you could watch her voice bounce around the room for hours.

Has there been a bad remix of "Piece of Me" done yet? The three I've heard so far (Boz O Lo, Tiesto, Bimbo Jones) are ridiculous good.

i COMPLETELY agree, IKR. her voice. the layers, the production, the way they soften it so MUCH, just cascades over the treble-heavy beats. one of my favorite examples of this is the chorus of Perfect Lover. "you're the best -- you got me obsessed." they make her sound like honey.

freakshow is amazing. and yes, i love the dancing between speakers -- one night, i caught myself actually leaning toward one speaker and then the other as i was listening.

my favorite part in piece of me is when she says "please"

yum

i think that's what i meant by subtlety -- i didn't get this at first.

i love piece of me a lot.

it is funny tho how the chorus vox are so much higher than the rest. sounds a little like my speakers are fucking up sometimes. still amazing.

true to form i am so late with this album. i gather everyone's past it now. oh well.

better late than never.

I'm not past it. I listen to it all the time. I'm still holding out hope that "Toy Soldier" (or "Radar") will be a single and a gigantic hit.

i love Toy Soldier. Radar isn't a single? what HAS been released as singles? Just Gimme More? Or Piece Of Me too?

"Gimme More" and "Piece of Me" have been released as singles. "Break The Ice" is rumored to be the next single (a mistake, I think), but I haven't read anything official.

i don't know, Break The Ice is intensely hot.

it's all in the "hot hot hot hot"

I looked it up and it seems Jive HAS confirmed "Break The Ice" as the next single. It's being released to radio tomorrow, in fact!

I know a lot of people love it, but it hasn't really grabbed me. I usually skip it to get to the songs I really love though, so maybe I'll come to like it more if I give it some proper attention.

it didn't grab me at first either -- ooh tomorrow!

Why Should I Be Sad is so great, and sad

Yeah, as I said before on this thread, it's a great and beautiful track. one of the best and most touching britney's tracks ever IMO. also, one of the best things the neptunes have done these last years.

very touching, AND catchy, which is a great combination

yup.
one of the great things on this album is there's no real slow, romantic whatever song (which always suck, at least on britney's previous albums). only bangers, dark synth pop. and then this final track that's sad but not in an obvious way. more like a beautiful spleen (ah, this description could be the title of a Suede song !).
I still listen to this album on a regular basis. still brilliant.

yes, no sappy songs. just that token of sweetness.

Somehow, it seems to diminish each song when they become a single, this is such an album

what just became a single?

break the ice?

ah yah i knew about that, i didn't know if there was another one. i love hearing Break the ice on the radio, taking it out of the album is funny =P

i can't believe Break the ice didn't do any better placement-wise

After not being particularly enthused by singles Nos. 1 & 2, I have to say that "Break the Ice" is awesome.

radar is the next single, that should do well.

I think the shitty animated video killed break the ice's chances

animation is more disciplined than the real thing atm

So "Radar" is the next single and there are rumors that's she going to film a "girls night out" type video in London. I like the song, but I was kind of hoping for a video of Britney as sexy policewoman, aiming a radar gun at guys in fast cars.

Anything will be better than the "Break The Ice" video, I suppose.

But break the ice says to be continued so I figure it must be animated again.

Ugh, you're right. But considering how poorly "Break The Ice" did, maybe it'll never be continued.

I thought it was brilliantly wrong for a Britney single! It didn't seem like something a pop star of her profile would do, and it was great how it revealed they couldn't even get her to do a music video anymore after the comedy of Piece of Me, where you could see ever bit of erraticism dramatized by her rising and falling hair style in the bathroom dance.

OHMYGOD. This is such an amazing album, I'm so disturbed by how good it is. Its fucking brilliance.
Break The Ice (shoulda done waay better), Heaven On Earth, Radar, Get Naked, Why Should I Be Sad? (FUCKING GENIUS), Ooh Baby....all hype
Piece Of Me and Gimme More are rubbish and imply the album is also more electro crap but really its electro magnificence.
Hypehypehype.
Radar is fantastic but srsly she needs to bring out something more along the vein of Break The Ice like Heaven On Earth/Get Naked/Why Should I Be Sad as they are far edgier than peoples would expect. Even Toy Soldier is decent!

Or, to put it another way:

(map) Death by fire. This like that magnificent album, I' Is; m so like the good thing and from first until end is it to disturb. Criticizes it luminous intensity. The sky will dawn in the ice (shoulda getanes waay more recovered,), endurance and the radar why will cut off and will carry and (sul) will be a (phu) and? (BUMSENDES geniuses), Ooh babies….Secret intention all exaggeration piece and Gimme little more the electric compost which is a waste and also an album but with realness it electricity interprets in place which is great. Hypehypehype. The radar in endurance like sky and according to the vein of the gap in order for the people to forecast for they far selfish because more of the nerve why goes out fantastisch where do sadly, brings little more srsly it silences do to do but at the outside, or maintains the ice dawns. Spielzeug-Soldat tidal range acceptance is possible! where

Seriously, this album is brilliant. Gimme More is actually brilliant, but you don't realize it because as I've said before, this is an album in the real old-fashioned way. Which is odd, the whole thing hangs together in a way that's more than the sum of its dazzling parts. I can think of few albums in recent times that have been such a full frontal attack of greatness!

"full frontal attack of greatness" - are you Heart FM's Jamie Theakston?

yes

the answer is (b) Amy Winehouse.

?

:D still listenin

i just told my boyfriend, "we can give em an encore - make it a freakshow" is like my life story.

Is there something you'd like to talk about Ramzi?

haha =) another time

a cappella http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q40p0DeCAZA&feature=related

omg

the little harmonies on the chorus

Break the Ice is even better!

I can really hear Robyn in the background of POM!

does anyone else always hear the sound effect from the beginning as a chicken? and how weird is that?

(of piece of me)

i get it, and it's always weird

!

I mean, who's idea was it? Every time I wonder.

what's running through my head is you
up in my face

ok, pussycat dolls "when i grow" up> most of this album

STFU THAT IS TOTAL BULLSHIT AND YOU KNOW IT SIT THE FUCK DOWN AND STOP ACTING THE PLEB

Sacrilege. Ban.

Seriously, these songs are so rich harmonically.

Diamanda Galás on Britney:

"What about Britney, then?
Oh, I’ll always love Britney. My ex-boyfriend used to work with her. He was a mastering engineer and he worked with her back when she first came out. The reason I love Britney Spears -- I don’t know if it’s Britney I love, I’m not really sure -- but the reason I love her voice so much is that it’s not really human. I know a lot about electronic music -- you have a very small vocal signal which is interfaced with a lot of signal processing stuff to tune it -- because she sings out of tune. So you have harmonizers and these different signal processing instruments and by the time they get through with it all the voice is not human. It sounds like a cockroach. And I love that sound because it’s so unique. So it sounds like -- [tries to imitate Britney’s voice for a second or two]. I can’t do it, but it’s such a funny little sound that I like it. One of my favorite science fiction films is a film called Squirm and it’s kind of the revenge of the radioactive worms in the South -- I don’t know where in the South, it could be Alabama. So they took these worms that they had and put through electroshock. They’d put water on them and they shocked them -- and they got the sound of them. It’s horrifying. And they interfaced that with some really sleazy analog synthesizers. I like Britney for all the wrong reasons -- I like her because there’s a total pedophilic worshipping station there but it sounds like radioactive worms! It doesn’t sound like anything else. For example -- the singers who want to sing like Whitney -- they all sound the same. They sound like Whitney -- and Whitney still sounds better than all of them, especially when she’s on crack. She still sounds better. But that’s me -- I just have a perverted sensibility of voices for my own reasons. I don’t like to be bored."

Does she not know how to say Autotune?

where's that diamanda quote from? i love reading her interviews.

the tutor played 'when i grow up' at hip-hop dance class yesterday, it was banging. I WANNA SEE THE WORLD, DRIVE NICE CARS, I WANNA HAVE GROUPIES

how can anyone say they are not feminists

here baby

http://www.out.com/detail.asp?page=1&id=23696

awez, cheers

haha she is endlessly quotable. she's otm about e john being a "dreadful, dreadful, horrible little midget corpse". and!

"People can go and do their fucking yoga and all that shit but speed is speed. So, instead of doing a double fucking fuck on people that take speed and saying, “You deserve to get the fucking AIDS virus because you’re a fucking asshole who’s still taking drugs,” why don’t they do something intelligent and mix a cocktail of speed and prophylactic antivirals?"

"double fucking fuck"!!!!

Yeah, that's all so great. So wonderful.

Nick's in a bad mood.

nick's like 45, he always is!

i mean spiritually

hahahaha

Double fucking fuck.

You wish.

Maybe I should listen to one of my Diamanda Galas LPs. I fear they would seem pretty corny now though, compared to when I would read Re/Search books and "Apocalypse Culture" and all that.

via ONTD/BreatheHeavy:

Jive Press Release: New Britney Single Out Sept. 22nd; Album Titled Circus out Dec. 2nd

First Single "Womanizer" Is Slated To Hit Radio On September 22nd

Jive/Zomba recording artist Britney Spears announces her sixth studio album, Circus, set for release December 2nd. The first single from the album is titled "Womanizer" and was produced by the up-and-coming Atlanta production team The Outsyders. The album release date coincides with Spears' birthday.

On the heels of an MTV VMA awards sweep, where Britney walked away with three Moonmen awards for "Video of the Year," "Best Female" and "Best Pop Video" for "Piece of Me," Jive Records is preparing her latest album, Circus, a follow-up to her critically well received album, Blackout. For her latest effort, Britney has enlisted a stellar group of established producers/writers that include Dr. Luke (who wrote and produced the album's title track, "Circus"), Danja, Max Martin, Bloodshy & Avant and Guy Sigsworth (Madonna, Alanis Morissette, Bjork).

Britney Spears is one of the top-selling artists of the last decade, and to date, she has sold in excess of 62 million albums worldwide that include Baby One More Time (1999), Oops!...I Did It Again (2000), Britney (2001), In The Zone (2003), and Blackout (2007), eight #1 worldwide singles and four consecutive #1 albums.

The Zomba Label Group consists of record labels Jive, LaFace, Volcano, Verity, GospoCentric and Fo Yo Soul. These labels represent a varied group of artists including Justin Timberlake, R. Kelly, Usher, Tool, Ciara, Chris Brown, Pink, Britney Spears, OutKast, Kirk Franklin, Three Days Grace, 311, Nick Lachey, T-Pain, Byron Cage, Bullet For My Valentine, Buddy Guy, Living Things, Anthony Hamilton, Donnie McClurkin, John P. Kee, Fred Hammond, Hezekiah Walker, Marvin Sapp, Kelly Price, J. Moss and Backstreet Boys.

so soon!

I'm pretty sure the last one was only recorded in a matter of a few weeks (or a week's worth of days over the course of a topsy turvy month) so I hope that it'll hold up!

help me up

the Outsyders......????

ooooh SO SOON!

I love that you're here for this

ME TOO. i hope i'm still here when it comes out.

surotmter

surm, are you leaving ilx? that would suck

What? I only just bought Blackout last night!

(And it is the best thing I've heard in ages.) The production on it is just like candy, it's so textural and at the same time so spartan.

I heard Piece Of Me by accident in Woolworths and my ears just pricked up with the whole WHAT IS THAT!??!? It took me a while to realise it was Britney - I thought it was some bizarre Madonna out take. I'm beginning to realise that Toxic wasn't a fluke, and she might be more interesting an artist than I realised.

Perhaps I should take the time to wade through the 300 posts on this thread. But, um, if it's the usual crew, um, probably not.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3196/2860174939_8556a88945_o.jpg

No, we formed our own crew.

Like, it starts off badly then gets really worse with lot of vague meandering about "the state of pop", or something, skip all that. At about the point where people hear the album, it gets really good. I remember the day I spent trying to find the leak, good times, good times.

any wagers on Womanizer being about that guido fuck she was hanging out with for a while?

guido fuck?

(this question is double-proged, as in, I don't know anything about that or indeed what it means)

no i'm not going anywhere :)

um, is Womanizer a new song?

I assume....

Perhaps I should take the time to wade through the 300 posts on this thread. But, um, if it's the usual crew, um, probably not.

Usual crew? This is pop, hardly LBZC material.

I'm not talking about LBZC, I'm talking about the "We're Not Rockists" Rockists.

But never mind, work has just been too busy today to read the rest of it. Maybe tomorrow if it's less insane.

"Womanizer" is the single that's coming out next week. There was a leaked video a week or so ago of her dancing to it. The sound in the video was pretty bad, though, so I couldn't really make it what it's like.

No, that can't really be true.

this thread is still horrible for the first 100 posts or so

yeah, I know. It had a difficult birth.

oh that's womanizer -- i love that leaked video a lot, it really made me happy

and this song sounds great to me

here ya go http://entertainment.msn.com/secretbritneyvideo/

That's not "Womanizer" that's "Mannequin"

Tell. Me. Everything.

"Quicksand" reference track:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/1885292407294b1d/

are you fucking serious?

i hope that's real

it is real.

That is clearly not Britney singing, what's it supposed to be?

Brainwasher laid own vocals down over the track

hahahahaha

who knows with these computers these days, tiarnan.

But that definitely isn't her. He says reference track is it like, what she will be singing?

Obviously it's not her singing, that's why it's a reference track. Lady GaGa is singing.

OH

I have never heard this term reference track. And people were convinced by, like, Anastasia tracks last time, so who knows.

Reference track for "Radar":

....

omg what

Haha- That last one kinda sounds like Justina.

I mean jUsTiNa.

Is that Robyn on the Radar one? Would make sortof sense, she was involved in that and Radar is one of the Bloodshy and Avant tracks.

In any case, it's pretty stunning how Britney really brought that alive.

no, it's Candice from The Clutch, who wrote the song...

Well, its a great song, but I'm glad Britney sang it.

Super LQ clip of "Womanizer": http://www.zshare.net/audio/19057302260733a0/

In any case, it's pretty stunning how Britney really brought that alive.

― I know, right?, Tuesday, September 16, 2008 4:23 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

thx for clip! sounds great. it's so weird, this formula they've came up with for her -- it just seems so feasible. GIMME MORE

In any case, it's pretty stunning how Britney really brought that alive was brought to life.

― I know, right?, Tuesday, September 16, 2008 4:23 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ikr

aarrrrggghhh

the end of break the ice when it's all brit takes my breath away

i demand to know right away why no one told me about the video for this.

for what you kerazy person?

BREAK

THE

ICE

hi ramzi

hey! was just thinking of you tonight -- i saw a brooklyn boy with your face.

oooh

guys

i just realized that if you listen to get naked" on headphones, you hear this soft monster of little britneys singing "whatcha tryin to do" in the middle

all the production on this song is kind of ridonc. never got it.

how did I miss that post actually

xpost I love that song!

yeah "get naked" is the best song on the album imo

guys this album soundtracked a very particular period of my life and i think its going to be a long time before I can really listen to it again : (

just like britney!

that said

http://www.factmagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3162&Itemid=105&limit=1&limitstart=10

This album is still so amazing. sigh

guys this album soundtracked a very particular period of my life and i think its going to be a long time before I can really listen to it again : (

― ❊❁❄❆❇❃✴❈plaxico❈✴❃❇❆❄❁❊ (I know, right?), jueves 13 de agosto de 2009 19:37 (2 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I feel you. :(

sorry for sleeping :(