Kelis - C/D

Wanderland is supposedly up for a revamped US proper release, which it probably needs. Also "Young Fresh & New" was neat but probably a bit too weird for the single.

"Wanderland" is probably better than many people think, simply because it was released apologetically without promotion with a can't-be-bothered cover, but the Nepts were definitely spreading themselves a bit thin by this point.

Kelis will be alright, though, if she can lift Maas above the masses then she'll have the pick of the superproducers queuing for her first "free" album.

Having said that, it's perfectly possible that she might never make another very good record, but I hope she does.

this argument no longer washes in today's post -"grindin" world. paradoxical though that is, since it sounds just like a dub duke bootee production

sorry 4 tha hijack

A bit unfair, I think. Some would say that to not like Coltrane is to not like jazz, say, but Mark S clearly loves his jazz and is no Coltrane fan (unless I've completely missed something). Mistaking one person/album/song for the sole keys to the kingdom doesn't seem appropriate.

I'm never really sure what all you listen to, but in your case it seems weirder to say this and still say you like r+b (if you would say that). at least I have some idea that mark will go for a lot of jazz or free jazz. with you, it just seems like isolated records.

I wouldn't call it specifically willful, Josh -- my own reaction to it was that when it came out, and that the past couple of years have seen it elevated to where it is doesn't so much mean I'm trying to be contrarian so much as my own reactions to it just stand out all the more. I don't know whether that helps any or not. To address the larger question...*thinks*...I think it just means that people's tastes are more complicated and less prone to rigorous 'if x then y' conclusions that might be thought. Admittedly that's the type of thing I would say, but it doesn't really strike me as odd.

I'm never really sure what all you listen to

Shouldn't that be everyone's goal? Why confirm expectations? :-)

HAHA I WAS ONLY JOKING NED PLEASE SPARE MEEEE

oh wait, they were at the time as well...

Death to the unbeliever.

my posts seem really dumb months later :(

Eh? Why do you say that?

Is Milkshake actual new single, or just floaty-around-newness? Is there imminent third album? Want want want want WANT.

(producers allegedly include timbaland, diddy, dame grease, r saadiq and dallas austin)(no i don't know who all of those people are either)

I think "Popular Thug" (original) is her finest moment though.

I heard new single 'Bossy' yesterday which hasn't stuck in my head, but I need to give it a few more plays.

My girlfriend showed me a feature of her in Elle magazine and she appeared to be sporting a Supremes-like straight bob haircut too.

'bossy' is initially underwhelming - it's VERY minimal, though when i listened back to tasty at the weekend i realised that she was playing with sparse plinky-plonky 808 sounds on quite a few of the album tracks there. i think it's good, and it makes me very intrigued to hear what she'll be up to on the album, but it's an odd choice of single. i heard it last year and thought it was just an unreleased demo like 'running mate' - i didn't think it had the oomph to be a lead single!

I knew short dog wasn't goin out like that though, dream on

has this grown on anyone else as much as it has me? really badly want to hear the new album...

she hates it

i hear this the opposite -- he's too smart to tangle with her, so the best he can do is be her hype man.

great song. sexy video.

AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

Just needed to be said.

Has anyone heard this? It sucks she's not working with the Neptunes anymore...

And I think Bossy has a lot in common with Milkshake, with that stupid ringtone friendly repetitious melody. To be honest I'm glad the Neptune's aren't producing the album, maybe its because the Wanderland album bombed considering how big the singles where.. what I've heard sounds better for the lack of there trademark beat shuffle which was *Everywhere* when Wanderland came out..

Not heard "Bossy" at all, but still enjoy "Milkshake" and "Trick Me" on occaision.

He's actually done some pretty good production work lately.

I still like bossy. Thats Shondrae, right?

Rhetoric, dude.

Also, this song is awful. Kelis has so little charisma, it makes me uncomfortable just to listen to it.

And (way x-post)she has already produced a slice of genius and it was called Milkshake. I'm amazed that The Lex didn't/hasn't realised this.

And as Rodney says, this doesn't stop the new single being meh at best

not while Milkshake exists. what happened to kelis?

eh? i know! where did i say otherwise?

This post seemed to imply that you didn't think Milkshake was her masterpiece, bearing in mind that Milkshake was already released at this stage.

Anyway, I dunno, I just found it an incredibly uneven listen... I actually sold it and I LOVE Kelis really! But this probably says more about my fussiness in general than the actual record in the end.

I do want to smack Pharrell quite early on in Kaleidoscope though - TOO. MANY. SHOUTOUTS. X(

I'm forgiving of the weaker tracks: even half-arsed material like "Ghetto Children" is kinda goofy and silly and fun. And the run from "Good Stuff" to "Mafia" is the strongest four song succession on an R&B album that I can think of offhand.

Just listened to "Caught Out There" again, I'd forgotten the spoken-word intro. "....WHO'VE BEEN LIED TO BY THEIR MEN! AND I KNOW Y'ALL BEEN LIED TO! OVER & OVER AGAIN!"

The Neptunes were never this pretty again, sadly.

Still think the beat is MASSIVELY too high & hard in the mix on "Get Along With You" (another reason for smacking! and I don't like that fake i.d. mix either..) which REALLY pisses me because that track seriously 'got' me unexpected one night when I was in a post break-up state of mind.

Also, this song is awful. Kelis has so little charisma, it makes me uncomfortable just to listen to it.[i/]

sounds like an 808 kick but the maracas are definately not 808. clap could have been originally. i was just lazy and got tricked by the lyrics. sadly the songs appeal has started to wear out but i got a couple of good weeks out of it. maybe there will be another good song on the album.

ps. i have noticed since last posting how much i love how she says: "i switched up the beat of the drum" she sounds like an ignorant, petulant 8 year old girl. great.

i just downloaded the switch and the falke and braxe remixes and they are all teh suxxor.

I was thinking of Rodney's comment probably.

i'm on the tennis court this morning and what pops into my head but BOSSY! so random, playing tennis with that video in mind.

I always thought it was cruel of her to dye her poodle green in that video. At least you weren't playing tennis with "Blindfold Me" video in mind. That would've been weird.

Know what's a great song? Help Me, the track she did with Timo Maas some years back.

"Milskahe" bridge = best bridge EVAH
Kills me every time.

"Help Me" is classic and more people should know about it. Sadly, this chick's career is kinda dead. I've been a fan (moreso of her persona) since day one and hoped that one day she would make a real masterpiece of an album front to back, but I don't see it happening. Wanderland was the closest she came, imo. I hope the future proves me rong.

kaleidoscope is so freakin good

Is Kelis still single? Kelis, call me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm4q9NCBVkY

holy donna summer! digging it.

Is this an actual Kelis single or some kind of collab-o? The production reminds me of Stephan Bodzin circa 2006/2007.

It's good.

I wonder whether if she (or whoever) came up with the lyrics to the chorus ("Before you my whole life was a cappella...") before or after hearing the breakdown.

No clue, but it's good to have her back. I quite like this. While Kelis Was Here never grew on me the way I wanted it to, Kaleidoscope and Wanderland are 00s classics.

I remember Patrick Wolf tweeting something a couple of months back about getting to write/produce a track or two with Kelis for her new album. Curious to see what came of that.

this was produced by david guetta. i'm not 100% on it.

wkiw david guetta

I read that it was a Guetta track, and it sounds like him, although I like it a GREAT deal more than most of the stuff he's put out this year. I'm not sure if that's because he's reigned himself in from the tackier side of things, of if it's due to what Kelis brings to the table. Probably both.

Kelis meets PETA.

hahahaha

(avoid the comments, obv)

(avoid the comments, obv) is good advice for 98% of blogs.

Underpaid minorities picking your vegetables, now that's fine for you right? Please, fight for their rights. How about the poverty in the communities of brown people around the world.

Kind of misses that fact that you can campaign for human rights *and* animal rights without any contradiction?

That rebuttal misses the point she's making, namely that time spent campaigning for animal rights is time you could have spent campaigning for human rights.

the one-up in the more worthy cause dept. is usually used by people who support no cause other then 'look at how cynical and world-weary I am.' still, she is hot and I like her :)

the one-up in the more worthy cause dept. is usually used by people who support no cause other then 'look at how cynical and world-weary I am.'

It's also made by people who really really really hate PETA.

the time spent writing whiney myspace blogs is time that could have been spent campaigning for women's rights

or buying fur, or appearing in music videos, etc, etc, etc.

I know, right?

there are days when BOSSY is the best song in the world

not in my world!

I really like Acapella. Despite it being a DG produced track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8D9xCBcfzw&feature=PlayList&p=D03C39B2A5A03236&playnext_from=PL&index=3

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

song/video are so incredible

i like the video but not the song v much - it's nearly v affecting but misses the mark a bit. part of this is david guetta being a fucking dreadful producer. i don't really think the vocal really fits the beat tbh.

I have a kinda begrudging respect for DG. You can do way worse for bald-faced mersh-house.

and this beat is grrrrreat

the harmonies on this are v Amerie

Dope tune! The vocals have a nice, airy and timeless dance pop quality, it's nothing like the Kelis stuff I've heard previously. And the beat is like something that could've come out on Harthouse in 1995... That's not a bad thing, though, but I was kinda surprised how retro it sounds. If 90s are becoming trendy again, then this surely a sign of that? You could've played that tune to me blind and claimed it was from 1996, and I would've had no problem believing that.

amazing video

man, cool video. (though maybe the costumes work less well toward the end.)

have been loving that track for months - happy it will be a single! way better than the other new shit that's leaked.

song = david guetta can eat a dick

video = kelis stunting on minaj

beat is dope imo

Waiting for a decent remix over here. Glad this exists though.

her new stuff isn't all produced by guetta is it?

can't believe people on here swoon over this cliche pop-occult pagan costume gemstone wolves nature soil shit every single fucking time any bint chances her arm. SO OVER. it was bad enough on the lolguilera mystery thread!

Eh? I thought the video was nice enough, but the song would be good regardless of what's in the video.

I mean, I don't think people in this thread are giving props to "Acappella" just because of the video.

The twitchy dead baby feet costume is too crepey. (And even when she does turn around and you see live babby, it then becomes a case of gal has big hips, that must hurt the kid to have his legs spread like that.)

song was enjoyable but i've already forgotten it. huskies <3 :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

pop-occult pagan costume gemstone wolves nature soil shit

haha. but i really think this video is a particularly good example of this aesthetic. great colours man...

welcome back to the land of sexy, Kelis

Also why do people hate David Guetta so much? Is he too obvious or something, aka "the William Orbit Effect"?

This song is really nice. Video looks like something Björk would have made in her heyday... a very good thing.

huskies <3 :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

this. I stan for huskies like ENBB does for pugs

Also why do people hate David Guetta so much? Is he too obvious or something, aka "the William Orbit Effect"?

― STAY ALIVE USING EQUIPMENT (HI DERE), Friday, April 2, 2010 6:10 AM Bookmark

I think this is the beef some here have with him, but sometimes obviousness works, you know?

Song and video seem inspired by Goldfrapp to me. Much better than their new single too.

"Rocket" is so fucking awful. I don't really like Goldfrapp other than "Ooh La La"

can't believe people on here swoon over this cliche pop-occult pagan costume gemstone wolves nature soil shit every single fucking time any bint chances her arm. SO OVER. it was bad enough on the lolguilera mystery thread!

― r|t|c, Friday, April 2, 2010 6:36 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

haha :-)

it's a magic video and r|t|c is probably ruining that magic

this cheap looking clip is the final nail. see you at the county fair, Kelis.

cheap-looking?

who shows up at the county fair dressed like that

There's something about it (editing?) that screams "directorial debut". It's clunky and ham-fisted to me in it's attempt to be eccentric....much like the artist herself at this point. I used to be a fan :(

Er, didn't Kelis start her career more eccentric than she is now? I remember seeing a rainbow-haired hippie girl shouting "I hate you so much right now!" on stage in 1999, that was certainly more eccentric than the relatively straightforward dance pop of "Acappella". I can't believe people are making such harsh judgements based on one video. And whether or not you like the video, the song is still dope and not particularly freaky at all.

Well, that's my point. Kelis was an innovator at the earlier part of the 00's and now she's following a trend in pop music she sorta help pioneer. I think she's let a lot of other acts catch up with her stylistically (Rihanna stealing her haircut and owning it, is just one example)and it's pretty weird/funny to watch as she tries to assert herself amongst this group. I mean, dying her stolen weave silver and dressing like a centaur is pretty effin hilarious. I go back and forth between liking this song and feeling like it's years too late to be released as a Kelis single in 2010. She needs to have a chat with Robyn to rediscover who she was.

if you follow a trend you sorta pioneered, you aren't following a trend

also this song is the bomb and u mad

i know, i know.

I'm not too familiar with Kelis's output beyond the singles, but "Acappella" doesn't sound like any other Kelis song I've heard, so can you tell me what exactly is the trend in pop music she pioneered and is now following? Personally, I'm too old to bother following pop music trends, to me "Acappella" just sounds like a nice, timeless piece of housey dance pop, and I like it.

Also, while I do get that image is important in pop, it's kinda sad if people still write about someone like Kelis as if her hairstyle and visual look was all she ever contributed to music. I'm pretty sure no male artist would get the same kind of comments.

this. I stan for huskies like ENBB does for pugs

I saw this like 10-year-old fat kid w/a shaved head & rattail riding his bike while holding a big husky on a leash, husky all like "you fuck w/the kid in the husky sized pants, you get HUSKIED by this husky." It was adorable.

The new album is good!

Really liking it. Definitely gonna buy a physical copy when it becomes available in the US on 7/6 (I have all the others).

i was really not expecting it to be this good, considering how much of a mess "acapella" is, but i can't get enough of this - "scream" and "brave" are so amazing

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h62/freshcrunkjuice/kelis-dog1.png

so edgy, so now

uh

I can't believe some of the things that have made the "worst album covers" thread when compared to that

overleaf is dog's upper body on kelis lower body

lol what

Can we get a photo?

Yeah, I like the album. I think the best beat might come on the closer, "Song for the Baby."

it would be great if the next two pages were a spread of nas' head grafted onto the body of an antelope

wow, this album is embarrassing. was that sarcasm upthread? it just sounds so...dated. Not even retro, just stale.

The Acid Washed remix for Acapella is much better than the original

she's going on a u.s. tour with robyn apparently. yay. i guess anti-yay for some of you.

loving this album so much

always a good sign when i am singing along on the first play

and dancing too

SONG FOR BABBY SONG FOR BABBY SONG FOR BABBY

i am playing this again

this album is really classy. and dainty.

O_O at the "i'm a braveHEEEAAAAARRRRRRT" chant. like...eat THAT, nas.

i'm going to hyperbolically declare this album of the year and regret it in the morning, but I don't care. i'm on my 4th play today.

"Emancipate" is such an anthem

HE MASTURBATES YOUR SOUL
HE MASTURBATES YOUR SOUL

or whatever she's saying. dope song

wait....I missed that line! which song?

lol dude now that i've seen the tracklist i realize i was mishearing "emancipate yourself"

hahahahahahahaha

haaah

O_O at the "i'm a braveHEEEAAAAARRRRRRT" chant.

then she starts going on about purple hearts!

This is better than most other commercial Eurohouse departures in this vein but it still feels very hacky. I wish she'd picked better producers.

It feels like a wasted opportunity because there's so much potential in that hinterland between rnb and diva house and Kelis would be the perfect vehicle for that, but the tracks need to be more Robin S and less Confessions on a Dancefloor for that to work.

^^^ Largely agree with that on first listen.

I sorta feel like the sound doesn't frame her vocals awfully well. shrug, maybe it'll grow on me.

but Kelis doesn't really have a big enough voice for that diva house approach does she?

I sorta feel like the sound doesn't frame her vocals awfully well

Yeah most of these feel like mashups. With a couple of exceptions (Scream, Emancipate) it doesn't feel like she's really interacting with the beat properly, or aware of how it suits her vocals, or the producers just aren't really interested in that.

but Kelis doesn't really have a big enough voice for that diva house approach does she?

You don't really need to be a big belting Robin S/Lisa Kekula type to do diva house well though.

This is better than most other commercial Eurohouse departures in this vein but it still feels very hacky. I wish she'd picked better producers.

This is how I feel. It's a B+ or B effort.

Yeah the difference with Confessions... is the Stuart Price is so strong even when he's not trying - at first blush there's no groove here as captivating as "Get Together", say, and Kelis is too understated a vocalist to carry it without tunes that match her (which is why she and the neptunes worked so well together, or one reason at least).

Confessions is a stronger record. Whatever else Stuart Price brought, Madonna's been around a while too; she knows not to sound hack-y.

Also: Madonna had finally learned how to submerge her Post-Opera Lessons Diva Voice in the beats, so that the album seems richer from a vocal melody standpoint than it really is.

Madonna's been around a while too; she knows not to sound hack-y

*coughHardCandycough*

I pretended that one didn't exist.

knowing and doing are two separate things

You don't really need to be a big belting Robin S/Lisa Kekula type to do diva house well though

hmmm perhaps, but give an example? different thing but i'd enjoy her doing something like H&LA 'You Belong' (admittedly not because Kelis has qualities that would enhance that style of House particularly...but narrow range does enable malleability hence the JLC-inspired 4x4 electro-house template being so big in recent years)

I sorta feel like the sound doesn't frame her vocals awfully well.

yeah - this was my problem with 'acapella' and i thought it might only be the contrast with that track's metallic beat, that other producers would find noises with more sympathy to her breathiness. But I don't think they really have - she still sounds so small.

also flat - I don't know if she's exactly flat or not, but she has this way of searching around the notes before getting fully in tune (e.g. the held note on 'the silence it was deafening' in 'acapella') and a lot of the music she's paired with is kind of... unforgiving?

I really like her blue notes tbh. You don't hear that much in today's climate. It's refreshing imo.

Wait! Wait!

Listening to this - this is what they were playing in New Look at the weekend that made me so happy that I was tweeting about how great "Mallectro" was.

I'm pretty sure the "Pat Benetar singing over EA/BN's Lemonade" track was either Scream or Emancipate.

(Not saying that she sounds anything like Pat Benatar... just that's the kind of vibe. Wish I could work out what the other tracks they played were. DAMN. New Look Mallectro is possibly my new "favourite thing ever" at the moment.)

I'm not getting the disconnect between vocals and production you guys are at all.

"Mallectro" is a great neologism but I'm not sure this is it. "Sexy Bitch" and "I Gotta Feeling" were the first things that popped into my head at the term, and I know yeah, yeah, Guetta Guetta, etc., but this doesn't seem to be squarely targeted at the same teenage audience those are, and that demographic seems essential to something being "mallectro".

Which is why this won't be a huge success like those are. It's too adult (and too gay, but that's a different story).

Back to those MJB-ish blue notes (which Kelis has always done), maybe it's just the current autotune-everything climate, but they give this feeling of humanity breaking through the unstoppable machine that no one making music in this vein has right now.

I call it Mallectro because it's the kind of music that you always hear playing when you go into shops like New Look (which are often located in shopping malls). It's this kind of super-upbeat high-energy (but not necessarily Hi-NRG) vaguely edgey electropop with sassy female vocals.

(I am however predisposed to liking this because it's so outraging so many of the Erol Forum snobs who are all... "But I LIIIIIKE this... but it's David Guetta, uuurrrgggghh... BUT I LIIIIIIKE IT, OH NOES, MUSIC SNOB BREAKDOWN!!!")

(Oddly enough, my favourite thing on it is actually Segue 5 which sounds like an Aphex Twin fanboy exploding with outrage)

kinda wish this sounded a little more expensive and richer

((It's probably quite juvenile that my impressions of an album can be tempered more by the kind of people who haaaaate it as much as the people who like it.))

(I am however predisposed to liking this because it's so outraging so many of the Erol Forum snobs who are all... "But I LIIIIIKE this... but it's David Guetta, uuurrrgggghh... BUT I LIIIIIIKE IT, OH NOES, MUSIC SNOB BREAKDOWN!!!")

so OTM

((It's probably quite juvenile that my impressions of an album can be tempered more by the kind of people who haaaaate it as much as the people who like it.))

and this, too, but I've never claimed to be above juvenalia

(Especially considering these are all the same snobs who were outraged when that false rumour went round last year that Boys Noize was gonna be producing Kelis.)

Is Kelis still bigger in the UK than the US? Because this is the sort of record that goes down a storm over here.

"Milkshake", "Bossy", and (too a smaller extent) "Caught Out There" are the only hits she's ever had over here.

to

"Caught out There" 54
"Milkshake" 3
"Bossy" (featuring Too Short) 16

^^Kelis' entire Billboard Hot 100 history

Whaaaaaaaaa!

This isn't even scheduled for release in the U.S. til July, which indicates it may go the way of Wanderland :/

i'd forgotten that 'Lil Star' was actually a top 3 hit here

i thought the only guetta production was "acapella" (which i dislike) and that boys noize did have a song on it? (dunno which but i'd guess "scream")

"mallectro" makes sense w/r/t uk high street clothes shops - new look as k8 says, top shop, miss selfridge et al. the production mostly reminds me of late-90s french filter house x straight-up commercial house (not so much guetta as, like, shapeshifters' "lola's theme" or something).

completely disagree that it sounds hacky or that there's a disconnect between kelis and the production though! it's certainly not as hacky as confessions on a dancefloor, which i LIKE but even then was fairly aware that a couple of songs apart that album basically = stellar grooves papering over non-songs.

there's this tremendous sense of euphoria throughout it - kelis all but abandons the idea of writing pop songs and just goes straight for a constant cascade of repeated, anthemic hooks - i rarely sense that she's trying to fit her songs to the beat, but more that she's improvising or writing based on the beat, and she's ready to pare herself down accordingly. but she still stamps her personality on it - her vocal hooks are SO huge ("it's not enough to SING so just SCREAM", "I was SUPER COOL but now I'm SUPER STRONG", "EMANCIPATE YOURSELF" etc), her husky voice works really well with the constantly building music, the motherhood narrative isn't laid on too thickly but is certainly present enough to be effective, particularly with "song for the baby" as the closer. it's sort of like her ray of light imo. and crucially the production avoids the recent commercial-dance pitfalls of being too focused on the treble.

With a couple of exceptions (Scream, Emancipate) it doesn't feel like she's really interacting with the beat properly, or aware of how it suits her vocals

i honestly don't hear this at all - it's true of the horrible "acapella" but elsewhere i could literally believe she's ad-libbing over the beat, going with it at all times!

i also think most of these trax would absolutely EXPLODE on any dancefloor

Yeah the difference with Confessions... is the Stuart Price is so strong even when he's not trying - at first blush there's no groove here as captivating as "Get Together", say, and Kelis is too understated a vocalist to carry it without tunes that match her (which is why she and the neptunes worked so well together, or one reason at least).

think "brave" and "scream" certainly match the booka-rip that is "get together" - the production's certainly not the star of the show here compared to confessions, there's no "whoa stuart price is a genius" moment, but that really enables kelis to shine imo. as for understatement...sure, in the past, but c'mon she's basically bellowing arms-in-the-air chants on every line here.

"it's not enough to SING so just SCREAM", "I was SUPER COOL but now I'm SUPER STRONG", "EMANCIPATE YOURSELF"

Haha these are total Lexnip phrases though but I don't hear them bursting with personality in the manner of a Caught Out There or Milkshake. Partly because the music they're tethered to is so anonymous. Not sure what big gulf in quality you're hearing between Acapella and everything else either.

she's basically bellowing arms-in-the-air chants on every line here

This is the problem, she's not bellowing really, she feels kind of overwhelmed by the production, maybe it's all just too loud </compressionbore>

lex entirely otm except for his bizarre "Acapella" hate, esp. about the motherhood narrative

I'm willing to consider that this just sounds shit on headphones.

Oh! It's 22nd Century. That was actually produced by BN.

xp possibly, but I do 95% of my listening on my stereo

Haha these are total Lexnip phrases though but I don't hear them bursting with personality in the manner of a Caught Out There or Milkshake.

ehhh, not so much personality as...character, i guess. like when the shapeshifters girl sings "I'M A DIFFERENT PERSON!" on "lola's theme". or sonique's "it feels so good", or rui da silva's "touch me" - those are the songs it reminds me of more than any latter-day urbanlectro fusion (i guess the key is that it's not in any way r&b, it's just a straight commercial diva house album, with all the blessings of anonymity that implies, albeit with a discernible and affecting emotional narrative and a famous name attached).

my real standouts so far are 4th of july/home/scream/brave, i think

The only one I don't really like so far is "Home" - I think it's those silly trance chords at the beginning that just rub me the wrong way.

Wish the Segues had production credits on them, tho.

the first track is italo *_*

One track into this and I'm already *whoooaaa*

Weirdly, and I hate songs where artists sing about their kids, but "Song for the Baby" is my favourite after a few listens.

The production on that track is really really great. Really warm, those horns are thrilling, and it's like an early 90s throwback without sounding like pastiche (too much, at least).

Which is why this won't be a huge success like those are. It's too adult (and too gay, but that's a different story).

― upper mississippi sh@key mo (The Reverend), Tuesday, May 25, 2010 11:09 AM (5 hours ago)

yeah this was my thought exactly - easily the gayest thing i've heard this year

don't think it will sell well at all either, but who knows

"Song For the Baby" works because it's not sentimental at all, just joyous and celebratory.

^^otm - the entire album's purpose seems to be conflating the euphoric highs of club culture and how motherhood has transformed her (kinda turning on its head how settling down with kids is when most people drift away from the hedonism of their youth).

it's not really about her kid, is it? it's about her, about how motherhood has made her feel on top of the world and 73 feet tall and all-powerful.

I really don't get it, sometimes, how someone can write an album which is *so* female (and all about WOMANHOOD as opposed to girlhood) and be all celebratory of motherhood and the power of it and all that kind of thing...

...and it still gets dismissed as sounding "gay".

Because it's full of euphoric boshing trancey Eurohouse and filterdisco maybe?

i'm not sure 'gay' is a dismissal?

Yeah that's the other thing.

Bear with me, this is a thought as still unformed. But I'm still not sure where the cut off point between "strong, emancipated female" and "gay iconry" really is. Because they often exist in the same space, they code the same? And this does, to my ear, go back to the 70s disco era and all those disco divas...

But, at the same time. It does worry the radicalfeministshoutybitchhityoursuggestbanbuttonnow in me the way that things which code "Female" yet also "emancipated and strong" code to some people as "gay" because they do not code as the usual "straight male heteronormative view of sexuality and females as weak passive ethereal unicorn girly elf creatures."

But that is a thought that I really do worry about expressing on ILM.

xpost i mean, this is strictyly-4-my-underground-homo-deep-house-thugs ilm here, 'gay' when used about music doesn't necc mean 'frivolous' or w/e.

"too adult (and too gay)" to be a hit record in the US in the way that "sexy bitch" and "i gotta feeling" are - that isn't a dismissal, it's a statement about qualities people perceive in music.

Yes, and I'm trying to get a feel for why those qualities are perceived that way - and why that means it won't be "a hit."

Anyway, I have work to do this morning so I can't really get into this, and don't feel like being suggest banned for my opinions this week, really.

No Kate I think I agree with you on the first bit, but contrasting it with "straight male heteronormative view of sexuality and females as weak passive ethereal unicorn girly elf creatures" is probably a bit too reductive and binary.

That said it might well be dismissed as too gay in parts of the US. In Europe, probably not. That said I'm not sure what "too gay to sell well" means at a time when the biggest pop star on the planet is Lady Gaga.

I think you're right that there is an overlap between 'strong female voice' and 'gay icon diva', and that this could be problematic. I don't think "dismissed" was the right verb to use, and I don't agree with your idea that the conflation of strong-female and gay is rooted in straight male heteronormativity. But, yeah, there is a germ of a thing there.

(basically, what Matt said)

the link between "strong female" and "gay diva icon" is already one that could do with a ton of unpacking, it's not a very straightforward thing...

Not sure they even need to be that strong, exhibit A being Kylie.

OK, maybe dismissed is the wrong word, but it is still ... odd to me.

It *is* something that needs unpacking, and obviously I come at it from a different side. (But these issues were raised by that massive Gaga interview by Caitlin Moran (sp?) this weekend so perhaps this is not the place.)

That said I'm not sure what "too gay to sell well" means at a time when the biggest pop star on the planet is Lady Gaga.

I'm not a big fan of Gaga except in the concept, but it's certainly going to be interesting to see what a post-Gaga pop landscape looks like.

And likewise while it might be fun to live in a world where people like Ms Dynamite or Lil Kim or No Lay are gay icons I don't see that happening any time soon.

Not sure they even need to be that strong, exhibit A being Kylie.

yeah this is something i posted on popular last week, the idea that someone like kylie codes gay, is a gay icon etc, actively offends me (never mind sodding dannii or sophie ellis-bextor) - wtf i feel no connection to these women, even if i like a few of their songs; the idea that there's some sort of intrinsic connection between being gay and liking what they do is so annoying. but then i've got pretty stereotypical gay love for madonna, mariah et al, so it's not as if the connection doesn't exist. it's just a lot more complex than it's usually presented as.

haha lil kim pretty much IS a gay icon though

and nicki minaj is well on her way to becoming one

Okay Trina then.

Also, listening to A Capella again, paying careful attention to the words, it irks me, in that it is almost the opposite of emancipation, in that it is a straight up hymn to the idea that motherhood is the perfect and ultimate realisation of Woman.

And while I don't necessarily have a problem with women expressing their joy at motherhood (though even Madonna had a hard time doing it without descending into schmaltz - Kelis certainly does it better than that) - this idea that it is somehow the paragon and ultimate destiny of Womanhood really REALLY winds me up.

(But this is one of the deep divisions even within Feminism itself, so it's not gonna get solved in a pop song, you know.)

I do like the song more and more the more I hear it, but for me, personally, even though I think the lyrics are good, as an accurate description of an emotion, they're not something I relate to at all in any way, and are so deeply related to a version of Femininity I find deeply troubling.

yeah it's a bit like on ray of light when madonna kept going on about how stupid she used to be (and here "i was super cool but now i'm super strong" is problematic despite being a pretty great line).

Hey, you know, I'm able to recognise that I actually *was* really stupid when I was 25 and I'm much Stronger at 39, but I didn't *NEED* to squeeze out a brat to realise that.

man that a capella video

I see u, Kelis

I've only just realised what a short album this is. Only 37 minutes.

And I'm sorry sorry sorry to say this but stand-out point is the lack of boring pointless ballads to pad out the album and make me skip them. (yes, I know, this is such a rockist thing to say and I do apologise for it, but still I can't not but feel it.)

loving this album but there is one part i don't love: the rap on "scream"

kinda feel like this is gay in more than a "hey its camp and disco u gais!" which always feels like a reductive and blank conflation that tbh kinda pisses me off. Feels more gay in its house classisism, and its aggressive sensuality.

Also, listening to A Capella again, paying careful attention to the words, it irks me, in that it is almost the opposite of emancipation, in that it is a straight up hymn to the idea that motherhood is the perfect and ultimate realisation of Woman.

I see what you mean here but i guess motherhood can be an exhilarating experience for some women, esp. like hormonal bonding etc. and I think its totally possible for a pop song to celebrate that w/o having to temper its joyousness in order to nabisco on problematic elements related to that. Just like it would be ridiculous if every love song started angsting over its part in consolidating compulsory heterosexuality or something.

I don't think that the comparison works, because love is one of those universals with which everyone - gay or straight, male or female - can identify, which is why love songs work across the lines of gender and sexuality.

This whole religion of the joys of Motherhood, however, is one of those things that is so specific - I don't think you can quite grasp the enormity of the pressure - mainly from the right wing "family values" types - that is placed upon women to perceive Motherhood as the sole paragon and sole crowning achievement of a woman's life to the exclusion of all else.

I'm sure there are lots of women to whom motherhood is lovely and wonderful and the be-all and end-all of their existence. Except for the fact that most of the women I know who have had children, it's one more thing they did in amongst a rich life in many other ways.

Although I'm not accusing Kelis of that kind of "family values" political slant, I do think that the song and the sentiments expressed in it play very much into a particular view of women that I find very problematic on many levels.

this is true but

before you, my whole life was a string quartet
now a quintet's the only song i sing

doesn't have the same ring to it does it

I'm sure there are lots of women to whom motherhood is lovely and wonderful and the be-all and end-all of their existence. Except for the fact that most of the women I know who have had children, it's one more thing they did in amongst a rich life in many other ways.

i would imagine that this is very true of kelis, the pop star

ehhm kate i think ur kindof countering my failure to grasp the complexity of the motherhood issue w/ ur own simplification there. I mean we live in a pretty narrow band of time and geography where being gay is accepted in mainstream attitudes. And yet the fact that institutions like marriage/going to the prom/etc. are still ones that elude the majority of gay ppl means that major signifiers in love songs can feel explicitly exclusionary in a way that might extend beyond those mere signifiers so that love itself as it is understood in mainstream pop lyrics is separate from "gay love" or whatever (which i mean "gay community" etc has had to find its own means of expression even if in our privileged place this has faded quite a lot)

im not trying to get all "my patriarchal oppression is more oppressive than yours" but I think there's an extent to which pop music makes its meanings apparent more in the introduction of new elements or something to the mix. Like I think there are representations of Papa Dont Preach lyrics that illustrate w/n the pop canon that babymakin isnt a completely unproblematised act, and that its ok w/n that landscape for Kelis to make big pop record about how being a mom has made her awesome if that is how she feels (its also worth noting that since she is no longer w/ Nas that she is a babymaker in a non-traditional makin-it-on-my-own type of way but I know that that isnot gonna put any feminist fires out, nor do i want to to, just worth bearing in mind that it is not exactly as easy to paint as a joy in acquiescing to traditional familial structures)

Also in terms of strong women, especially women who are strong sexually, being adopted as gay icons (altho yeah, to echo lex, blech omg) I suppose i kinda see it as an identification w/ a sexuality that chafes the kind of (lol) patriarchal structures that, like i said, might feel exclusionary for phags as well as powerful women who dont wanna quit their job to pop out babies. Although I guess its worth noting that a lot of strong women, and like Madonna is the canonical eg., have made quite a name for themselves explicitly appropriating elements of queer culture and making it mainstream in a way that at the time no out homo stood a chance in hell of, so its not exactly as clear cut as some insidious recoding of female desire as an element of homosex u kno?

tl/dr

I'm still waiting for, like, Aphex Twin's big concept album about how fatherhood has changed him and made him realise that his ultimate destiny in life was to provide genetic material for his babbies and how stupid he was before his kids and how awesome and amazing he is since he's bred because Fatherhood was the ultimate be all and end all of his entire existence, right.

Sorry - that sounded snarky and dismissive. I am in the middle of a huge chunk of work and can't take the time to unpack what you've written and address it properly.

There are a whole bunch of issues are that are tangled up together.

I'm just stating why I don't like a particular lyric and why I find the concept behind this whole sub-genre quite problematic.

More later if things calm down around here.

It's a shame there aren't any ballads on this because, well, Kelis is amazing at ballads. Get Along With You and Suspended are two of my favourite Kelis songs, the huskiness in her voice really suits them.

what did you think of the way madonna presented much the same attitude towards motherhood on ray of light k8?

(i pretty much agree with you on the issue as a socio-political thing, but i think both kelis and madonna framed it in such an intensely personal way that it was easy to overlook - on both ray of light and flesh tone there's a sense of euphoric revelation, which i can quite well believe they found in motherhood, but which i can relate to and enjoy in ways that have nothing to do with motherhood, obviously) (also both albums are actually pretty subtle - they don't really bash you over the head with the whole motherhood thing, you could easily believe "acapella" to be a straight-up love song if you didn't know the context - it's only at the end of the album that "song for the baby" throws everything into that context in retrospect) (ditto with "little star" and "mer girl" on ray of light, actually)

I love love love Ray of Light but kinda disliked the songs about her kid. I thought they were pretty much the weakest tracks on an otherwise strong album.

However, as Plaxico did point out, Madonna has such a history of writing about every aspect of the female experience (including the problematic aspects of pregnancy and Choice as noted in Papa Don't Preach) that I'd think it was odd if she DIDN'T write about her pregnancy and childbearing.

Sorry, again, have to get back to the stupid weekly reports, can't expand.

I don't think you can really blame recent mothers for writing about motherhood like it's the centre of the world, because, well, for them it IS. I don't think its meant to crowd out of devalue all other forms of femininity, it's just what babies do to people's lives.

Oh come on, don't pretend like this attitude isn't completely exploited by the whole right wing "family values" lobby who don't think that women shouldn't actually work outside the home, get back in the kitchen and make them a sandwich etc. etc.

Just don't go there.

And I mean it's not like there are women (thinking Kristin Hersh here just as one example) who are able to have kids without writing damn symphonies about how it's the total realisation of their entier life.

(And FWIW, I'm not "blaming the mothers" I'm blaming the culture that shoves this idea down people's (read: women's) throats that parenthood is the be all and end all of womens lives, yet the same does not apply for men and their relation to their progeny. Yeah, fair enough, it's not like men carry the fleshslug around in their gonads for nine months at a time, but at the same time, it's the endless cultural raising of *motherhood* above all roles in a woman's life in a way that it simply does not do the same for men, and in a way that is incredibly dismissive and damaging to women whom for one reason or another haven't spat some foetal genetic experiment out their pissflaps.)

Anyway.

Oh of course, I just don't think it's fair to criticise the artist for that as if their whole aim is to reinforce a right-wing viewpoint. And it's not as if the motherhood angle is that overt on here either, as Lex says something like Acapella could be read as a straight love song.

I'm not criticising the artist. I'm saying I don't like the lyrics to a song I otherwise think is A+ great. (Because of the attached cultural issues.) It is my right to not like a song for any reason, really.

"brave" is the monster on this

WORD TO JAMES FAUNTLEROY

NOTHIN I'LL EVER SAY OR DO
WILL BE AS GOOD
AS LOVING YOU

i love the beat switchup after that, too

"didn't think i needed you"

and that cut up piano sample

E MAN CI PATE YOUR SELF!!!!!!!

E MAN CI PATE YOUR SELF!!!!

i guess that's one interpretation

I'M A BRAVEHEART
SO COME AND PIN MY PURPLE HEART

LOL at the idea of the right wing family values movement appropriating Flesh Tone for their own nefarious ends.

Which of the following Kelis songs do people think is the most damaging to women's freedoms btw:

"Caught Out There"
"Get Along With You"
"Mafia"
"Milkshake"
"Blindfold Me"
"Acapella"

not feelin this really - Acapella, Emancipate (tho what's with such an abrupt fade-out?), 4th Of July are OK but nothing stands out and I guess I'm quite bored of her voice now.

My issues are mainly production ones - if you treat it like a DJ set then it's much better in the build-up than in the peak zone. The first three or four tracks that sound like Discovery outtakes are great, after that it gets bit scrappy. The exception is Scream, which is the best thing on here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9_JWxzXq0I

<3

i want to hear this in a hot club in the middle of summer when the sun is coming up

otm

RELIGION SCIENCE FICTION TECHNOLOGY

EVERYBODY'S DANCING

Okay "4th of July" is really really great.

Totally reminds me of Madonna's "Hung Up" but it's hard to criticize for that...

RELIGION SCIENCE FICTION TECHNOLOGY

― grin and ˁ˚ᴥ˚ˀ it (The Reverend), Saturday, June 26, 2010 1:00 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark

otm. this is probably my favourite song on the album

Still lolling @ this:

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h62/freshcrunkjuice/kelis-dog1.png

so edgy, so now

― r|t|c, Thursday, May 20, 2010 9:14 AM (1 month ago)

That said, I think the album's great. Kate OTM about the lack of skippable "ballad" tracks. This is a lot further into dance/house territory, and a bit further away from R&B, than I ever imagined she might go. But I'm enjoying it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqtZ7i1ToIQ

?

That said, I think the album's great. Kate OTM about the lack of skippable "ballad" tracks.

;_;

Though Kelis has never been a ballads lady.

really thought this album would have some really great dreamy housey rmxs by now but i haven't managed to hear any. Fourth of July is begging to be twice as long and w/ half the lyrics

really thought this album would have some really great dreamy housey rmxs by now but i haven't managed to hear any. Fourth of July is begging to be twice as long and w/ half the lyrics

― plax (ico), Saturday, July 17, 2010 5:40 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

As much as I love the album, I'm waiting for some killer remixes too... come on DJs and producers!

Though Kelis has never been a ballads lady.

get along with you
suspended
shooting stars
lil star
rolling through the hood
stick up
marathon

admittedly the last 3 aren't really trad ballads but i think they're secretly the pinnacle of kelis's career

Oh I love that list absolutely, I'm just not sure many of those read as "ballad" in the derogatory sense ilxor means - and it's a short list compared to most R&B singers.

"acapella" would work so much better as a ballad

That's a great idea actually.

Get Along With You FakeID bootleg >>> Get Along OG

OMG no, A Capella as a ballad would be a skippable horror of "argh argh clawing through your clothes to find your iPod and GET IT OFF GET IF OFF til everyone on the bus turns around to stare at you like you're a mad person" proportions.

A Capella as a ballad would be pretty much the most cloying thing imaginable. It would work much better as a house banger with a half-decent producer at the helm.

Which reminds me about my idea of getting someone to do a mashup version of the entire album over actually good eurohouse - most of these choruses are too good to deserve the shoddy treatment they get here. A Capella would be terrific over something in the Mandarine Girl/In White Rooms vein.

Also Kelis is way better at torch-song type ballads than pretty much anyone else.

one of the things i love about this album is that she makes no distinction between highbrow and lowbrow versions of house and wraps them all around each other because she doesn't know better

It's nothing to do with highbrow and lowbrow and more about good vs crap. At least half of this fantasy bootleg album would be about as High Street as possible.

all of the album is fucking planters tho as is

x-post

Agreed. I've always disliked Kylie Minogue's "Spinning Around" - kind of deadened fag-end filter disco - but when she performed it live using the music from CeCe Penniston's "Finally" it suddenly became brilliant. "Finally" is neither more or less high-brow than the original "Spinning Around", but the former is vibrant and energising where the latter sounds both self-satisfied and "will this do?"

I feel like Fleshtone has emerged at roughly the same point in post-electro-house as "Spinning Around" did vis a vis post-french-house, and at times there's a similar sense in which the listener is expected to just register the style's basic cues and think "oh yes I do like this style" with no regard to whether it's a good example or not. (a fairly reliable bet with this music's gay audeince at least I guess)

Which is not to say nothing totally amazing in this style could ever emerge again - Kylie's "Love At First Sight" is pretty much in the same style as "Spinning Around" but is magical.

A Capella would be terrific over something in the Mandarine Girl/In White Rooms vein.

I think the kid might be onto something.

No, that would be *terrible*. There's something just way too subtle about that kind of music. It wouldn't work, it would actually sound quite boring. The Kelis album works *because* it's all bombast and obvious stylistic tricks, but in a really fun way that compliments her over the top delivery.

But I guess I just look for different things in my pop.

at times there's a similar sense in which the listener is expected to just register the style's basic cues and think "oh yes I do like this style" with no regard to whether it's a good example or not. (a fairly reliable bet with this music's gay audeince at least I guess)

you see this was absolutely what i was expecting the album to be, and it was really surprising that it turned out to be a lot more than this - it doesn't feel as cheap or tossed-off as so much else doing the rote post-gaga redonesque urbanlectro rounds at the moment, it doesn't really feel like kelis is just doing a genre move for the sake of it. it's not as great as her first three albums but it's as good/better than kelis was here (though they're both 7/10 for completely different reasons)

gah post wasn't finished!

it doesn't come across like a genre move b/c kelis has been dabbling in commercial dance since day dot (timo maas, richard x, moby collabs), and i kind of admire how she hasn't gone for the obvious r&b/dance fusion album but she's just dived in at the deep end and made an album of songs like shapeshifters' "lola's theme" and sonique's "it feels so good". which i think we all agree are commercial dance classics, right?

yeah, she didn't adopt house signifiers, she made a house album, there's a difference.

The Kelis album works *because* it's all bombast and obvious stylistic tricks, but in a really fun way that compliments her over the top delivery.

^^^otm

made an album of songs like shapeshifters' "lola's theme" and sonique's "it feels so good"

They're okay but they're not in Finally or Show Me Love territory*, and I think the songs on Fleshtone are absolutely good enough to be in that bracket given the right treatment. But the production choices made here are just so hacky where they could have been transcendent - "will this do?" accusation totally OTM. There's nothing wrong with bombastic but there's good bombastic and there's lazy half-arsed bombastic. The end result is just clumsy, it's like the difference between Vitalic and Justice.

These songs don't really sound like Lola's Theme or It Feels So Good either fwiw.

*Or for that matter Corona's Rhythm Of The Night which sounds terrific over In White Rooms.

also there's actual BASS on this album, which the urbanlectro fusion has been sorely lacking. and there's a sense of grandeur in her vocals that balances out the obvious bombast-rush of the arrangements.

See, for me, vocals of GRANDEUR and bombast-arrangements work together. In a way that vocals of GRANDEUR over much more subtle treatments only serve to make the grand vocals seem silly or the subtle treatments seem boring.

But then again, Matt DC will chase me off the thread because I do actually prefer Justice to Vitalic. (But then again, I see Justice as just a cheesy Goth-Industrio fun slampiece.)

matt dc is weirding me out on this thread by using the argument i always use about something i like

and that i was FULLY expecting to succumb to all those pitfalls!

something in the Mandarine Girl/In White Rooms vein.

^^^ Hardly lacking in grandeur IMO.

(I'm tempted to say that the reason Kylie doing filter house doesn't work is more because she has the vocal personality of a hamburger bun than the production, but I haven't listened to Kylie close enough to know for certain.)

speaking of moby and kelis mashups: this and 4th july

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj8oFqzMcCw

I'm not really advocating Kelis doing Booka Shade here but she could have made an INCREDIBLE bombastic commercial diva house record and instead she got maybe half way there. Maybe I'm just advocating a more retro type commercial diva house - all the reference points I'm reaching for are from the 90s whereas you can't deny Fleshtone is 100% contemporary.

(I'm tempted to say that the reason Kylie doing filter house doesn't work is more because she has the vocal personality of a hamburger bun than the production, but I haven't listened to Kylie close enough to know for certain.)

that's true re: her vocal personality, but as tim says the kylie/filter house combination has worked sometimes, so idk really

Maybe it's a question of environment - perhaps Mandarine Girl/In White Rooms work really nicely over a Funktion 1 sound system in a club environment, but listening to them at work, over YouTube and shitty headphone speakers, they sound, well, subtle to the point of dull. Pop music like Kelis *has* to be able to sparkle, even over shitty MP3 sound quality in rubbish sound quality environments like my desk workstation. And they do.

But I do recognise that a lot of you are speaking from a "does this work in a club" perspective while I'm talking about it from a "can I listen to this as I program" perspective, which is what I want pop music and especially dance to function for.

you can't deny Fleshtone is 100% contemporary.

― Matt DC, Monday, July 19, 2010 11:13 AM (1 minute ago)

i think it sounds ridic retro?

Kylie only works in contexts where the flat/blandness of her voice is a *feature* - where the song is supposed to exude polished sophistication and the shiny all-white sleekness. Where the vocal is *supposed* to have the emotional lack of aura of a coffee jingle. In cases like that, Kylie's voice works fine as a kind of cipher. But in cases where the vocal needs a strong personality and presence, she's all wrong.

But this is not a Kylie thread.

that a lot of you are speaking from a "does this work in a club" perspective while I'm talking about it from a "can I listen to this as I program" perspective

No I'm absolutely talking about this from a radio/listening to at work perspective, I just think this particular style Kelis has opted for sounds shitty even on headphones/on work speakers.

(I'm tempted to say that the reason Kylie doing filter house doesn't work is more because she has the vocal personality of a hamburger bun than the production, but I haven't listened to Kylie close enough to know for certain.)

my argument is about the backing music not the singer - we should leave kylie the singer out of it. And what lex said above.

but... but... how can you leave the singer out of it when the whole point is the fit/contrast between the singer and the backing?

kelis doing retro diva house would be kinda lame, i'm ~glad~ it sounds contemporary

but... but... how can you leave the singer out of it when the whole point is the fit/contrast between the singer and the backing?

Because the backing music for "Spinning Around" and much of Fleshtones would be p. lame regardless of who sang over it.

the backing music of "spinning around" is nothing special whereas the backing music of flesh tone is mostly amazing though? i don't get where this "it sounds shitty" argument is coming from, it's pretty much an amalgam of a ton of commercial dance sounds that i love which is totally refreshing after hearing so many pop artists get it wrong lately

Given that many of us on this thread have absolutely no problem with Flesh Tone I don't think that argument works. With another singer - or as instrumental club music - it might be "lame" but with Kelis, it works. Hell, she got me to like and even *enjoy* a Boys Noize production, so that really does say something for the combination.

It means you enjoy a Boys Noize production.

People are allowed to like things other people don't. We can both be right/wrong on this.

haha yeah i'm not exactly a big fan of any of the producers kelis has worked with here - last time i saw boys noize in a club he did my head in - it's a bit similar to gaga/redone in that his production sounds awful to me 90% of the time but working with gaga clearly forces him to raise his game substantially

It means that I like the combination of Boys Noize with Kelis. I do not like Boys Noize under usual circumstances. Sometimes it is the combination, rather than the ingredients, so discussing the ingredients separately and switching them out is only half the story.

It occurred to me that I'd just assumed that the really boshing blary penultimate track was the Boys Noize collaboration and I actually quite like his song here. He can do restrained quite well when he wants to, his remix of My Moon My Man by Feist being the prime example.

SONG FOR BABBY SONG FOR BABBY SONG FOR BABBY

― The Reverend, Saturday, May 22, 2010 8:46 AM Bookmark

"Song For the Baby" works because it's not sentimental at all, just joyous and celebratory.

― upper mississippi sh@key mo (The Reverend), Tuesday, May 25, 2010 1:55 PM Bookmark

I said this before but not only does it avoid sentimentality by being j&c, it also does so by being v frank and honest and avoiding any pretense of sugarcoating. It's a strange mix of emotions that not only works, but avoids obvious ways out.

This is a very emotionally complex album altogether.

"brave" is the monster on this

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, June 1, 2010 8:19 AM (7 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i was SUPER TOUGH but now i'm SUPER STRONG

for a while i heard that as "i was SUPERTHUG but now i'm SUPER STRONG" which would've been a kinda neat neptunes reference but oh well

fauntleroy

i underrated this album all year

it is at least my #2 some days my #1

I'm backtracking and listening to Wanderland for the first time and I mostly like it so far. I would say Kelis has my idea of a classic R&B sound than most relatively recent R&B singers I've heard. Also, I'm kind of surprised this stuff doesn't sound familiar, but I guess it's because she wasn't that big in the U.S. (and I haven't been going out of my way to hear R&B, and apparently not spending times in places where I might happen to hear it anyway).

(Anyone uninterested in my impressions of R&B singers is free to ignore them.)

That album wasn't even released in the US.

That probably didn't help.

well this is completely not what i was expecting from her

http://soundcloud.com/kelis-fans/kelis-call-on-me

i have to listen a few times more but instareaction is: YES

the horns, that bassline...

this is erasing all of those bad memories of "Bossy"

Love that song!

(Bossy)

I... do not

did you ever hear the switch remix of it, dan?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81WLcAtLVdk

nope

this is okay

loving this

produced by Dave Sitek apparently!

i don't really have any sort of handle on sitek's sound and his wiki discography isn't illuminating me

this song though, so good so good so good

I associate him with making guitars sound fantastic (even when boring bands are involved) but I've no idea how he would approach a Kelis track. Not heard this one yet.

oh it's called "jerk ribs" not "call on me"

http://soundcloud.com/kelis/jerk-ribs

this song is really damn good

Sounds kind of Dear Science

LOVE IT.

I wish her vocal and the melody was a little bit more...something. The track itself is a total jam, though.

You know when Beyonce said she was being influenced by Fela Kuti? The arrangement here is kinda what I imagined.

yeah this is for real

Song is great. Horns are straight off a Tony Allen album from the '70s. Would love to hear a whole album like this.

feeling this tbh

like this and...it kinda reminds me of the solange stuff from last yr

I see the resemblance definitely but I'm liking this a lot more.

I was so put off by "Losing You" I never checked out the other new Solange stuff :/

Losing You's b-side was fantastic. Better than the rest of the ep.

(I'd forgotten the name. It's "Sleep in the Park".)

lol, i've seen people elsewhere react to this with "she's copying solange!!!!" as though both of them weren't harking back to and drawing on much older forms of soul, afrobeat etc

(and as though kelis hasn't just written an effortlessly better song)

Crucially, Kelis doesn't feel like she's using drums as a strainer-filter for all the messy emotion of R&B.

i don't think she's copied her, merely that they appear to be mining similar territory. fan of both ftr.

not feeling

Me neither. The horns are an annoyance.

Just pulled out wanderland again. Haven't listened to it in years and it drives me nuts that they've yanked all the stuff from it from youtube on copyright grounds, which is insane because its like you didn't even release the album in the states! why won't you just let people hear it!

start-to-finish one of my favorite albums still. other albums and artists probably have better individual tracks. but it has a consistency of vision and an overall structure that just knocks me out. Also this is probably my favorite period of neptunes productions. another buried kelis/neptunes classic circa about the same period is Royce Da 5'9"'s Make This Run. love how the production feels looped and regular and super-electronic but simultaneously sort of subtly evolves over the course of the tracks with a subtly organic feel. its like it keeps time with my breathing. and the imagery with the wings is just next level.

the intro on junkie is so playful.

the futurism/conscious stuff in little suzie especially, its like the direct predecessor to janelle monae. i wonder how different kelis' career could have been if this was a hit in the states.

new song is strong imo, i'm into the production.

holy shit i never heard the young fresh so solid remix before! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wiFB3B8qyY

it's a mess, but it's also totally great.

I just heard the last part of a great interview w/ Kelis on the broadcast of the "BBC World Service" (for either March 4 or 5, I would guess)

anyone know where I can find the rest of it? google is no help.

One of these, maybe? Kelis seems to have been on BBC Radio a lot in the past couple of days.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/iplayer/?q=kelis

kelis flesh tone is insanely underrated

21st century/fourth of july are all time

22nd century **

otm

I did not remember that Ned didn't like Kelis

Playing 3 shows in Victoria soon, sounds amazing

felt sad at seeing her judge that awful choir competition thing on the BBC (since cancelled?) but hey gotta pay the bills

icymi https://www.thefader.com/2019/06/05/kelis-neptunes-produced-record-wanderland-is-finally-streaming

classique

this disclosure thing is my dance anthem tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM2oOEmDU3w

oof cringey video tho

solid jam

by all accounts Nas was a terrible husband and his story of their relationship on "Bye Baby" is probably a load of bullshit, but this image stuck with me:

You screaming at the racist cops in Miami was probably
The highlight of my life

https://pitchfork.com/news/kelis-says-she-wasnt-told-beyonce-sampled-her-on-renaissance/

“Milkshake” is interpolated on Beyonce's “Energy.” When she heard the song was sampled, Kelis likened it to “theft.” She is not listed as one of the producers, composers, or lyricists on the sampled song and has previously discussed the terms of her early contract.

It's the delivery of the lines "On stage, rockin', I'm star crazy, Cocoa flow like 1980's" using the flow from the Milkshake hook that's in question? used to be a commonplace and benign thing to make references like that

maybe I'm not hearing it right

Kelis thinks she should have gotten a songwriting credit for "Milkshake" long ago, but acknowledges she signed a contract then. So since there's a credit on the B album to the Neptunes for the "interpolation" she thinks she should have been credited as well. But yeah that used to be commonplace to make melodic references like that.

Aah now I get it, thx

So she's dating Bill Murray. Huh.

Um…

Great revive?

I don’t know what famous people do.

Pondering it too much, that way lies madness.

Not that this will stop me.

I don't have any actual opinion about Kelis dating Bill Murray, I just thought it was interesting in a "pictures of famous people you wouldn't expect together" way.

Right, of course.

Guess we might as well actually see a picture.

https://consequence.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Kelis-and-Bill-Murray.jpeg