Katy B - On A Mission (4 April 2011) - hype, anticipation &c

So On A Mission‘s out this April. Who are you working with and what can we expect to hear?

“The main producer i’m working with is Geeneus, he runs Rinse FM and first heard me while I was singing over house tunes. He approached me to do some work with him along with DJ Zinc and thats how the process of Katy B started really. Geeneus produced most the album and in the past he’s made grime, Funky and dubstep. Zinc comes from a drum’n'bass and jungle background, but concentrates more on house now, so [there's] a lot of London underground influences in terms of sound, with my little vocals over the top.”

http://www.factmag.com/2011/02/16/five-minutes-with-katy-b/

the single so far, for those who haven't heard yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNhPYj-5rIY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Ynf2ScKiA

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

Was just thinking about starting this thread a couple of days ago. I'm ancitipating this more than pretty much any release this year. Glad to see Perfect Stranger is on there as well.

I'm kind of looking forward to it. I've always loved her voice As I and Tell me are still all time funky vocal faves of mine so if anything even vaugly sounds that good on this or is at least kinda fun like the singles it'll be worth a listen I'm sure.

Can't remember who did it, but there's a d'n'b remix of On A Mission which I prefer to the OG.

Zinc as co-producer is a good move as well, he's great at doing updated twists on 90s house, which is kinda the vibe I expect from the album.

In terms of artists I’d say Adele, she was in my class at school and she has an amazing voice so I can’t wait to hear her album. James Blake was in my class as well so I’m excited to hear what he’s made, i haven’t heard it either yet.

Is there some secret UK music school I don't know about?

Yes. 95% of all UK pop music now comes from the same school:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRIT_School

She went to BRIT school with Adele and Goldsmiths with James Blake - it's the double.

the triple - she was at RBMA with jackmaster, lunice, braiden and illum sphere too...

It's like the Bullingdon Club - everyone knows everyone else.

Wouldn't mind hearing a Katy B & P Money collab. On a beat like Airmiles by Swindle or DOK's remix of Terror Danjah's Sidechain. Something grimy and ravey with loads of colour. It could work well.

I would prob just end up being on something Sweetshop by Doctor P though lol

Is there some secret UK music school I don't know about?

you know Four Tet, Hot Chip, Burial and the XX all went to the same (as each other) school too?

Surely not at the same time? Four Tet feels like he's been around so much longer than the others.

This album's as exciting for the possible effect on British dance-pop as it is as a record in its own right. If it's both good and a success it might help kill off the shonky electro collaboration for good.

not in the same year of course, no. let's think of it as a relay.

kinda amazed that the album is only happening now! when I was in London last year, approximately every single wall in the city had 4 KATY ON A MISSION posters plastered on it, surprising to now realise that promo spend was only for the single

That school sounds a bit like an episode of Skins, all the older famous ones you vaguely recognise are the teachers/parents and the younger ones get up to high-jinx and try and bother the charts. No one ever leaves, they all live there.

since its not on youtube, fave katy b track (since 'as i' at least)

http://soundcloud.com/dominorecordco/the-count-sinden-feat-katy-b-hold-me

It makes me really happy that all of the singles have been so successful so far, despite (squillions of posters aside, and in Glasgow I've not seen any) what I would perceive to be relatively minimal hype. It would be wonderful if the sound Katy B works in - distinctly UK urban pop - were to become a new template for pop in general. I could get behind Radio One if they were playing "As I" clones all afternoon instead of sexless r&b-tinged electropop.

Definitely. There's something intensely likable about her stuff - the raver next door. I'm not surprised she's a big Neneh Cherry fan.

http://www.realwestdorset.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Eype-centre-for-arts-church-st-peter-chris-downer-licensed-reuse-creative-commons-licence.jpg

Reassuringly creepy looking.

Is that Katy B's house?

haha trying to imagine katy b recording her album in a church

it could work! that church in dalston that's been renovated as a rave venue

Hah, that was meant to go on the PJ Harvey thread, in case you hadn't guessed.

Katy B - In A Mission

I am laying the word-of-mouth groundwork in the U.S. (I got one person I work with to listen and she liked Katy B. I doubt she has her on her iPod yet though.)

Broken Record is good. Not sure if it's going to be an official single?

i think i heard broken record was going to be next single, in which case i approve. so excited for this album!

<3 Katy B. Mucho excited for this.

very much looking forward to this.

Count me among the super-excited. Katy B is one of my favorite discoveries from the EOY polls. What was the name of "Mission"'s B-side? I wz kinda bummed that that had been left off the album's tracklist...

do you mean "louder"? yeah, i didn't even notice it isn't on the tracklist until you mentioned it :\

^Why no "Louder"? That song is too good to be categorized as a buzz single.

Also, I'm glad people are anticipating her album on here. I've been wanting to listen to this more than Lady Gaga or Britney. I loved all the singles so far. I kinda like the idea she learned music in school too.

That song is too good to be categorized as a buzz single.

it's not categorised as a "buzz single," it's a b-side

odd for b-sides to get videos, esp given that she can't have a huge budget (not that it looks like it cost much to shoot)

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

This is a really nice album!

Really nice as in... cheese pop with a load of dance signifiers that manages to not quite sound like shit? Cos that’s something I can get on board with!

Not feeling "Broken Record".

Me either worst of the lot yet by far.

Lights On might be my fave so far and I wasn't that keen on it at first. It seems to have the most legs out of all the singles. On A Mission isn't really working for me anymore and Louder was a bit, well not there...

Really nice as in... cheese pop with a load of dance signifiers that manages to not quite sound like shit? Cos that’s something I can get on board with!

― jimitheexploder, Thursday, 3 March 2011 23:34 (Yesterday) Bookmark

Yes, exactly.

Has this leaked?

i am feeling "broken record"

I don't like it and I suddenly am expecting this album to disappoint me. (But if I expect it to disappoint me, can I still be disappointed?)

"Broken Record" is very much an album track rather than single. I'm still expecting this album to be great.

Lots of remixes up of Broken Record on Rinse's youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWbduBTmcf0

Jacques Greene is my pick of the bunch so far and it isn't to hot, Todd Edwards is ok, Geeneus' funky remix doesn't really sound like funky... all a bit weak really. hmm...

Love Broken Record. The remixes don't sound too hot, though.

Quite like the JG. It's opened up the original for me a bit. Haven't heard the Geeneus mix yet but curious where he goes with it.

broken records not bad. sounds like something from the late 90s. im imagining the album will be like recent skream/magnetic man, just with songs.

Yes, although it is less horrible than those two albums.

It is very much in the spirit of girl-next-door 90s pop-dance, but I like that.

brit school house

It's the second sign that there's a sort of 'nuum hit factory being built. like a dubstep Stock Aitken Waterman or something.

What was the first?

"lights on" is classic

xpost oh sorry, was gonna say Magnetic Man. There's no reason why Rusko, Benga, Skream et al wouldn't keep the popstep game up if it's successful. They seem mercenary enough and the music's refreshing as far as British chart-pop's concerned.

Ill Blu really need to get their arses in gear on this one.

what good pop songs have ill blu produced apart from frontline? roskas a more likely candidate than ill blu as far as someone who could join the nummy SAW than them, even if i cant think of any great songs hes produced either.

weirdly i like that stadium dubstep tune by nero that radio 1 was playing. the saw theory only works if theres other artists in line after katy b. i dont know of any so far though.

what good pop songs have ill blu produced apart from frontline? roskas a more likely candidate than ill blu as far as someone who could join the nummy SAW than them, even if i cant think of any great songs hes produced either.

Basically I want more along the lines of their Cheryl Cole and Sabrina Washington remixes.

Jakwob might be a contender. He's already remixed a whole bunch of singers in that accessible stadium style.

As for singers, I'm sure if Katy B is successful, they'll have tons of people queuing up for production work.

Katy B isn't really very "stadium" though, the last thing I want is a load of singers fronting awful sub-Chase & Status type productions.

but the only guy who seems to be consistently good at making songs is geeneus. benga and skream seem a bit hit and miss (still dont like on a mission thaaaaat much). if theyre gonna be some sort of hit factory theyre only gonna be as good as the talent theyre producing. cos katy b is the one who can write songs it seems, not that lot.

cos katy b is the one who can write songs it seems, not that lot

yes, so glad someone said this - imo automatically going producer-centric is entirely the wrong way to be assessing katy b (also any attempt to make her a genre figurehead)

well its obv isnt it. those guys still cant write songs. just listen to that awful magnetic man album!

and not being producer centric i think is a good idea. that sort of thinking is what leads to so many american R&B duds.

i think it goes against what i think the important thing about katy b is, this sense that she's not going to get bogged down in genre wars or boundaries - whenever she's been asked about "dubstep" or "funky" or whatever she's consistently answered that she doesn't want to represent those genres, and her thing is rather versatility over any sort of beat, from house to r&b.

right, which is good for her in the long run, she wont be tied to any one scene or genre. in a few years she will therefore be able to make big fat ballads without much duress.

it's also the total opposite perspective of the nerd boy debate that's often bogged down these scenes.

OTM. This is what I like about her (even though I think the album's solid rather than great).

ive a feeling the album will be just average, if only cos they want to make her a pop star in 2011, so are therefore inhibited from really doing anything too different.

I don't see the logic in that. They obviously won't do anything 'too different' from her hit singles, but the singles are her sound and what's good about her, if you like her.

I do love this girl but it makes me feel sad for Kyla.

i really fancy her too

producer vs singer/act is always a tension in this stuff

e.g. I totally adore Mis-Teeq's R&B work whereas ultimately their amazing early UKG remixes were more about the remixers than the girls (the only real exception being Alicia's amazing work on the "B With Me" remix) - i.e. to some extent the music "working" as UKG was inversely proportionate to it feeling like the product of a coherent girl group.

Though maybe that tension was exagerrated in UKG (vis a vis uk funky or dubstep or house or etc) because the tempo always necessitated speeding up the vocals.

To be clear though it never bothered me that Mis-Teeq moved away from their roots as they were excellent R&B divas too, and I actually prefer their second album over their first (though that is ace also).

I do love this girl but it makes me feel sad for Kyla.

ny is the one that really should be attaining equal or greater success - such a good songwriter

ny was/is great. though i dont know much else apart from fallin (which was amazing). but id rather katy b than miss fire. no idea what all the web fuss over her is about. sounds like amateur hour.

kyla obv has a lovely voice but apart from do you mind i sense shes only as good as whoever shes working with.

Been listening to this a bit more. The lyrics are really straightforward and kind of charming, a bit like Mike Skinner or Lily Allen, but without the hard manning of either. She comes across rather sweet on the few tracks I listend to on the way into work this morning.

I also really liked the original of Addictive's "Domino Effect", those poor girls never really stood a chance though.

Does the album have a Weak Become Heroes-style consciously euphoric-communal moment? Feels like it should have one.

No, but it does have a long list of thank yous at the end of the last track, which is quite endearing even though I never want to hear again.

xpost
Haha, I'm yet to delve that deep. But there is a song about getting chatted up in a bar followed by a fairly reasonable shopping list detailing what she looks for in a lad.

xpost endearing was the word I was looking for, thanks DL.

(PS I sometimes think your posts are my posts and it gets kinda confuse)

Oh damn, I didn't think about that when I picked a new display name.

But there is a song about getting chatted up in a bar followed by a fairly reasonable shopping list detailing what she looks for in a lad.

starting to sound like the street/danceable kate nash ppl on here were talking about last year.

If kate nash wasn't so risible people would make that comparison much more than they do.

still need to hear this album

(PS I sometimes think your posts are my posts and it gets kinda confuse)

lol

(took me a couple of days after DL's name change to figure out why he didn't sound like dog latin)

who is DL originally btw? I can never keep track of name changes on here. Even that thread supposedly explaining them all is like a labyrinth.

I was Dorianlynskey and then I got increasingly tired of seeing my real name on screen but have never been one for online aliases so I went for the prosaic and (ha) unconfusing DL.

i didnt know it was you.

Really? I forgot to apply my new password to my laptop so I think there are some threads where I'm commenting first as DL, then as my real name, and then as DL again. Internet anonymity is wasted on me.

xposts ah right, it all makes sense now :-)

I've been wanting to ditch the "dog latin" name for ages now. It's a handle I threw together when I first started using the Warp Records messageboard back in 1999 and it just stuck with me. I still use it when I DJ, yet it's one of the uncoolest DJ names I can possibly think of.

why is there a song tagged "witches brew" on the katy b album. seriously. is that a brew made up of witches? is it a brew belonging to witches, plural, in which case where is the apostrophe? is it a brew belonging to one witch? if so that grammatical disaster may cause me to go on a rampage. THIS IS THE KIND OF THING THAT BOTHERS ME.

The witches are brewing, it's a verb.

Also yeah Miles Davis.

hang on i never noticed that about the miles davis album before - it IS meant to be "brew" as in a verb there, right? or a brew made up of bitches? right? right?

i don't think i can cope otherwise

i dont think he was saying bitches like to heat things up from time to time. its meant to be bitches' brew.

you should prob stay away from urban music. rap esp. you might hurt yourself.

i dont think he was saying bitches like to heat things up from time to time. its meant to be bitches' brew.

whyyyyyyyyy has this been permitted to happen, why in nearly half a century did no one think to step in and quietly add the necessary apostrophe???

an apostrophe would look unsightly.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Xl5E86Y3L.jpg

i hate the world

Lex I really liked your FACT review of the album - struck the right tone between setting Katy up as standing for a concept in dance/pop music and but also letting her just stand for and as herself (though maybe this is tautological insofar as the latter is also exactly what she stands for).

thanks!

it really struck me as i was relistening to the album - which is vv good indeed, and gets even better on repeated listenings, though i think the lightness (and housiness) of the beats has thrown a few people - how singular a figure in pop katy b is. i feel like i go on about this a lot - the best way to essay an underground/mainstream crossover, or to erode the boundaries between them (which is what katy says she wants to do), or just to help underground ideas become part of mainstream pop, is with this kind of identifiable feminine frontperson - it's frustrating that british dance music has been written about in such a tediously blokey way for the past decade plus, given that its form is so conducive to this.

anyway my favourite non-singles here are "power on me", "witches' brew" (it has the apostrophe on the actual cover SO RELIEVED), "easy please me" and "hard to get" - can't believe they've actually done the hidden track thing in the itunes age though smh (it's really good though)

'Easy Please Me' is the most interesting track on here as far as I can tell. On one hand it's kind of a Lily Allen/Streets-style diary entry about a night out - a device she doesn't tend to rely on too heavily on other tracks - but it also says the most about Katy B as a person.

The album might inhabit a twilit world of clubs and bars, but I couldn't imagine Katy stumbling out of Funky Buddha, flashing her bits at the paparazzi before stumbling into a cab with a premiership footballer. That's not her style, she's much more guarded and self-aware than that, coming off all the better for it in the process. No wonder she seems to get approached so often - she's a popstar with humility, the kind of girl you'd happily take home to your mum for tea and then go raving with all night.

So while she's out to have a good time, she's very much aware of the people around her. She has a kind of passiveness in wanting to please others but really wishes to find the one true person she can help to please. But until then she's politely fending off suitors, with maybe the odd polite flirtation here and there. And this is reflected in the way she approaches her music - not tying herself to any particular genre yet still embracing each one in the same genuine and endearing way. She's as comfortable with the underground as with the mainstream, like so many mumsy teatimes and all night raves.

And don't you just love the internal rhyme of "I was at a bar with my friend Olivia"? Also love those dubby synth sounds that come in during the chorus.

Yeah Lex, I just read your review. Really nice!

i love that she's spent the past few days bigging up teedra moses on twitter - seen so many retweets of people just discovering teedra b/c of katy <3

oh no i think she did it on some radio show - it's teedra who's been retweeting everything lol

well she brought up teedra in this interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqk7VtUfofg

and now she's repping her on the radio as well? god i love this woman

it's frustrating that british dance music has been written about in such a tediously blokey way for the past decade plus, given that its form is so conducive to this

I think British dance music, post-92 at least, has *always* been written about in a tediously blokey way - female vocalists appear all over the place but they're usually a front for the producers even when they make the whole song (Exhibit A being Shara Nelson on Unfinished Sympathy obviously). 2-step is a bit of an outlier in that respect but even that threw up fewer durable pop stars than one would expect.

Lex I really liked your FACT review of the album - struck the right tone between setting Katy up as standing for a concept in dance/pop music and but also letting her just stand for and as herself

cosign, really good review lex (just got the FACT email newsletter, read it, thought "oh cool great review!" then noticed yr name at the botton after i'd read the entire thing-- go figure!)

bottom* obv

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y12kbjyqJ0M

bangin' band behind her there

lol

Random Thoughts:

a-*This album is like a rundown of every dance electronic genre of the past decade or so.

God she has a sexy voice. Can I have a crush on a girl even though I'm gay? (thinks for a second) Yeah sure why not?

She really does play hard to get. She never sings a song on what specifics traits she likes in a guy. She keeps that information to herself. Shes both warm and aloof at the same time.

"Why You Always Here?" is the best fuck off song I've heard since the late 90s Scrub/Bills Bills Bills era.

Why the fuck Louder isn't on this album?

Please don't come to the USA and go r&b. That's how Craig David ruined himself.

She never sings a song on what specifics traits she likes in a guy

ha, until "easy please me" when she tells you all of them!

def one of those albums that gets even better w/repeated listens - seriously impressed by it

vg interview - http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/29/katy-b?CMP=twt_gu

I wanted to like this more than I do, but I've only listened through one time. It leans a little "clubby" for my usual tastes, but I'm willing to give it a fair shake.

def one of those albums that gets even better w/repeated listens - seriously impressed by it

In that case, wow, because I'm on my first play and I already think it's going to rival PJ Harvey for my album of the year. This feels like the big overground moment British dance music's been leading up to for years and I'm glad it's come in the form of such a likeable pop star. Seems such an obvious blueprint that I can't believe UK vocalists haven't been making albums like this for years.

Aside from the ones I'd already heard last year, "Movement" is the only track that's jumping out at me. I need to give this some more listens though. Given my usual listening habits, it's probably more of a surprise I like any of this. (Also, I've kind of shifted back to mostly listening to Latin music at the moment.)

no issues with this album whatsoever, it's ace. egg & chips on fine china.

no boy is on a level believe me

(aoty)

'Go Away' is the real stunner for me so far.

pardon my phallocentrism for saying so but from the origin seed of his and hers 'good life' cover geeneus has done just a beautifully well-judged job here - articulating katy's early sugababesness through a low-key nostalgic chart house prism is as rewarding on a dreary tuesday in the office as it is in evening glamour.

(course, it still would have been a nice evocative touch to have had the bassier, more propulsive og 'lights on' on the single as a club mix. he was wise to change it in the first place though.)

btw lex fwiw that is your best ever rvw imo

i was so certain you'd go overboard on the €om£dy mi$andry too but no!

also

female vocalists appear all over the place but they're usually a front for the producers even when they make the whole song (Exhibit A being Shara Nelson on Unfinished Sympathy obviously). 2-step is a bit of an outlier in that respect but even that threw up fewer durable pop stars than one would expect.

― Matt DC, Monday, 21 March 2011 13:00 (1 week ago) Bookmark

there is something about this mode of things i think is very fruitful and feel quite protective of but find very hard to put across successfully. certainly i don't believe it to automatically evidence any paternalistic despotism or whatever; in some mysterious way even it seems almost less cynical than the american model sometimes.

early sugababesness yes! i did think that but iirc it was 3am at the time and i second-guessed myself by thinking it was just her gingerness leading me on.

(and thanks!)

Yeah I have mixed feelings about the whole vocalist vs star-in-own-right thing. I think both can work. Katy B's obv got the goods to go down the second route but if she hadn't that wouldn't have made "As I" or "Tell Me" any lesser than they are.

There's a distinction here b/w the "Unfinished Sympathy" model (Shara loses out because of the excess of auteurism attributed to Massive Attack) and the "Flowers" model (people love the tune without necessarily drawing any conclusions about Sunship or Sweet Female Attitude).

It's relevant that 90% of 2-step's great vocal tunes were remixes: i.e. the creators of the original become manufacturers of source material rather than the object of focus.

I guess Katy's work prior to now kind of straddled the two models in that her big tunes were both "faceless" club hits (with great vocals obv) but attached to producers with at least some cred. Certainly it'd be shitty if people were all like wow Geneeus, wow Zinc, wow Benga.

I'm going to listen to this on Spotify now. Perfect Stranger I loved initially, but it didn't endure.

And curses, it's not there.

Yeah I have mixed feelings about the whole vocalist vs star-in-own-right thing. I think both can work. Katy B's obv got the goods to go down the second route but if she hadn't that wouldn't have made "As I" or "Tell Me" any lesser than they are.

yeah, i'm not saying tracks are any lesser if their singer is just an anonymous "ft." forever - it's about potential, even when katy b was a faceless vocalist you could hear on "tell me" and "as i" that she could be a viable artist in her own right (and the same is true with most of the random singers who pop up on uk dance records, who already contribute a ton of their own artistry to those songs)

the bassier, more propulsive og 'lights on'

i think i never heard this? are there...mp3s of this in existence?

is it worth my even bothering to see if the radio rip's still up? that's all there is of it. (and it's not even massively different at all, just... slanted differently.)

not every singer is a katy b it must be said. with the right help some admittedly could in a perfect or even fairer world be more than what they get now; otoh sometimes in america you have vast military-industrial complexes heaving and churning every gear to force a personality onto a nice voice and pretty face.

ok the rip isnt up anyway, and i don't have access to it. if someone else could oblige?

early sugababesness yes! i did think that but iirc it was 3am at the time and i second-guessed myself by thinking it was just her gingerness leading me on.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 31 March 2011 00:42 (37 minutes ago)

haha besides the general 'tude and siobhan looks, every time 'movement' comes on it think it's gonna be 'overload'. crafty fuckers!

otoh sometimes in america you have vast military-industrial complexes heaving and churning every gear to force a personality onto a nice voice and pretty face.

yup - you can never really tell whether someone's a viable solo artist until they try it. but i appreciate the US model of trying it! and wish more effort was put into UK singers - whether into framing their voices/songs in the best way, like geeneus has done here, or just straight-up logistical industry support.

just got a PR email about a new ny single featuring giggs, gonna listen tomorrow but hopefully things are kicking off for her finally?

Yeah lex I agree with what you're saying, I was responding more to matt's comments.

Yeah I have mixed feelings about the whole vocalist vs star-in-own-right thing. I think both can work. Katy B's obv got the goods to go down the second route but if she hadn't that wouldn't have made "As I" or "Tell Me" any lesser than they are.

There's a distinction here b/w the "Unfinished Sympathy" model (Shara loses out because of the excess of auteurism attributed to Massive Attack) and the "Flowers" model (people love the tune without necessarily drawing any conclusions about Sunship or Sweet Female Attitude).

Yeah I was being a bit careful to separate the audience from the way the music is written about. It's partly because dance audiences don't much care whether or not something is faceless, even when there's a face attached. But the fact we're even having this conversation demonstrates that female vocalists (and maybe dance vocalists in general) have been a bit hard done by over the years, whereas no one worries about this distinction with rappers.

It's about personality obviously but the amazing voice helps. Was going to say she sounds a lot like a jazz singer (on 'Why You Always Here' in particular) but that's a common trait with early Sugababes as well. Maybe that's her stage school background coming into play. Still, credit to Rinse for having the foresight to run with her as a frontwoman in her own right. I doubt they were expecting her to be this commercially successful, although you can't entirely separate any of this from a renewed swagger surrounding post-Dizzee (kill me now) "UK urban pop".

The most heartening thing about this is that it doesn't feel watered down for a mainstream audience, like at all. If anything it gives lie to the notion that you have to water underground styles down to cross over. The producers have the sense to get out of the way and let Katy take centre stage but it doesn't feel like they're losing focus on the dancefloor or self-consciously courting pop audiences.

Got a bit of a shock when I thought she was singing in "Easy Please Me": "Now if there's one thing I can't stand it's Africans".

Haha I hear that every time! It never fails to make my ears pin back.

lol yep, me three.

"I mean dubstep to us is fucking ancient. We're like: 'Dubstep, again. Another dubstep conversation.' But the rest of the world is jumping on dubstep right now. Normally when it gets to that stage, it means we're nearly done with it. Like Katy says, funky is newer than dubstep. And that's where she actually comes from. Her first big hit that crossed over was a dubstep tune, but her first four tracks were garage and funky influenced. So the album's a hybrid of sound that's all of the underground, rather than a genre."

It's also very 90s sounding - the twin pillars of the album are 'Good Life' and 'Let Me Be Your Fantasy'.

Now with a real band!

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

Here's the radio rip of the OG "Lights On"
http://www.mediafire.com/?fid9p4a5etoozia
Not that different but i listened to it a lot and was slightly disappointed by the released version

FWIW I wrote a bit about "good songs" in dance music for my 2010 wrap-up thread. This runs the line I was pushing above a bit harder than I mean it in general: at the time my plan was to write up "It's What You Do" later and basically argue in the opposite direction.

Tim's overflowing bounty of 2010 pop riches extravaganza thread

Ooh... That live thing sounded horribly like the brand new heavies. Oh well, at least it confirms that, yes, sadly at 30 years old I have developed a crush on a celebrity.

yeah, I was going to post "lol acid jazz"

"horribly" like the brand new heavies? what is "lol" about acid jazz? i just had to have this argument on freakytrig, ugh #fearofjazz #fearofsmooth #fearofclassy

"hard to get" is explicitly in that lineage

"dream on dreamer" is classic 4eva

I just don't like the brand new heavies, see?

well rectify that!

Only if you listen to steely dan.

what is "lol" about acid jazz?

removing the propulsiveness, the joy of physicality and adrenaline rushes that her songs capture so well; and replacing it with tedious filigrees - eg the gently tapped hats and ride - and stale signifiers - eg the twinned saxes, the bass player's gentle hat - designed to communicate to a "grown-up" TV audience that this is safe for them to buy and like, rather than a reinterpretation that serves the song.

i do actually intend to do that at some point!

actually if you like steely dan and katy b there's no reason for you not to like the brand new heavies.

xp i haven't watched that tv performance yet, i was asking what's so lol about acid jazz in the first place

I like this version...though why have her backing band gone for an "unfortunate headgear" theme?

Much as I like to keep an open mind I kind of filed bnh away with adult contempop like lighthouse family. Music for media dads to drive their 6th form drama student kids back from school by. This perception was perpetuated by a terrible band made up of said drama students who subjected our school hall to a smugly barefoot rendition of 'midnight at the oasis' circa 1994. In retrospect this might have been the moment I turned to punk rock for my teenage kicks.

i loved "midnight at the oasis" so much at the time! i never got the impression it was "for" anyone in particular, let alone...that oddly specific demographic you cite, possibly because i was 11 at the time and a massive BNH fan myself. even bought their album on CD, had a bit of an early gay-crush on n'dea davenport

I swear one of those kids had fucking toerings on and they had a member called Cool Dave who played the fucking tambourine. I'm sure there was a silly hat in there too but maybe that's my memory running away with me. Still, that evening in the school hall was awful, lex. Like the whole of everything that was wrong about 1993 just served up on an assembly stage to a crowd of unsuspecting teens. We needed a Birbalsingh of our own...

dream on dreamer>>>

and they had a member called Cool Dave who played the fucking tambourine

oh man this shit is too real <3

Hate to interrupt this mid-90s episode of Later With Jools Holland but honestly this album is unfuckable-with - from Witches Brew right through to Perfect Stranger is an incredible run.

Ooh... That live thing sounded horribly like the brand new heavies. Oh well, at least it confirms that, yes, sadly at 30 years old I have developed a crush on a celebrity.

― ford lopatin (dog latin), Thursday, March 31, 2011 10:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://www.famemagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Katy-B2.jpg

What is wrong with having a crush on a celebrity at age 30? God forbid a 30 year old finds someone attractive!!!

Plus Brand New Heavies is great. Siedah Garrett all the way.

I think there is a legitimate fear of live musicianship with music like this less because of whether Brand New Heavies in and of themselves were good and more because historically dance music and dance-pop music that starts going down that path quickly has gone to shit.

Well anyway her voice is great.

i don't know much abt dance music or pop and whatnot

but that louder song is really really good

i like the other ones too, i watched all the youtubes.

they do real cool stuff with vocal effects, reminds me of old dub effects but like more computer space age stuff, like extending the ends of lines until all these layers of decaying echo are bouncing off each other

that's probably pretty common in dance music i've never heard, i bet, but yeah my rock dude ref point is old dub shit i guess.

Lilsoulbrother, naw I'm just surprised at myself really as I've never been a celebrity crush kinda guy, not even in my teens, so to find myself kind of sighing and rearranging my hair when I see a photo or vid is very peculiar and not characteristic of me at all. Still she is lovely, isn't she? Sigh....

standing at the bar
with my friend oliviaaa

<3 <3

NO BOY IS ON A LEVEL BELIEVE ME

standing at the bar
with my friend oliviaaa

<3 <3

― lex pretend, Monday, 4 April 2011 12:24 (17 minutes ago) Bookmark

Best line imo.

finally heard this. its good but not as great as it could have been. theres a radio 1 sort of approach to the production which tires me out after a while, very LOUD and impossible to ignore, and i do like lots of the production touches, but despite what i said upthread about her being the person who really leads these songs rather than the producers, her songwriting ability actually gets stretched a bit thin over a full album (and what was she doing with the shout outs at the end?!!?) and you start to think she doesnt have quite as many ideas as first thought. she ends up resorting to a lot of the same sort of melodic tricks over and over. lovely voice throughout, but i think she could do with a writing partner. is only the first album though, so hey.

it would have been stronger if they included new versions of as i and tell me i think.

What's wrong with the shout outs?

The shout outs are so sweet.

the other katy b (bush) would never do shout outs

I've heard the shout outs once and I never want to hear them again. Save it for the sleevenotes.

exactly. it just makes her sound amateur to be honest. its not a hip hop record. but if it was at least a separate track like on kanyes first album that would make it a bit better.

the shoutouts only bothered me by virtue of the track they're spoken over being really great and jazzy - like if I was a DJ I guess I'd think it a waste of a good instrumental

this album is great imo+btw+fuiud

There's a Britishness about this album which I am completely incapable of grappling with, even though it sounds like it was programmed by robots for me to love it

shout outs on an album = almost always a waste of plastic/filespace

im thinking that shes actually just not that good at crafting album cuts, shes better just doing straight up club hits like lights on, as i, and so on. obv the hit to miss ratio of songs like that means that you cant always come up with the goods doing that kind of thing all the time, but those are still her best moments - the rest just doesnt really match up. so maybe she *is* better off being a producers puppet, or at least co-pupeteering herself. i do need to hear the album more though.

ehh I don't really get to go to funky nights or whatever much but I'm not sure the difference between 'club track' and 'album track' on this is as big or clear as you're suggesting

Titchy you are insanely wrong about virtually everything here. Given most of the album was produced by Geeneus and Zinc, who know their way around a club track, the distinction you're drawing is virtually non-existent. Almost everything here is a club track, or at least a club-friendly track.

I find the shout outs kind of sweet actually, it's like having the credits roll on what's otherwise a slightly underwhelming closer (relative to the rest of the album which is A+++).

I think they confirm the album's modest, reverential touch which draws her to me more and stops her becoming another Lily Allen or whoever.

matt, i dont care who produced it. i think what i am saying is simply that there are about 3 obvious club hits on this, the rest isnt quite as strong, not cos of the producers, but cos katy didnt come up with songs as strong as say, lights on (which render them album tracks, though not as strong as 'album material' cos shes aiming for club hit status each time out). which might seem unfair (do like that shes trying to insert more of her personality into this than most garage or funky vocalists have done/would do) but then this as you said, this is a club album. but maybe i wasnt paying enough attention. i should listen a few more times to make sure ive not missed anything.

which draws her to me more

careful, dog.

love the line "now i love a bad boy mentality/ but i don't want to be visiting no jail"

and the next one - "just know when there's someone out there mocking me / be my gangster when it's time to get real" <3

GUYS THIS AMEN BREAK ON "WITCHES BREW" IS FUCKING SLAAAAYYYING ME

Yeah, I like how it's all slow motion.

<3 Broken Record

yeah i've fully come round to "broken record". remixes from todd the god and jacques greene also pretty u&k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34uavBaXoW8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3qYPokxKnY

there really isn't a single song on the album that i don't love to some extent - even the ones i think are slightly weaker still make me very fond of them somehow

you didn't like 'broken record' at first? that kind of makes me a little sad...

i did like it, i just didn't think it was AMAZING like "katy on a mission" and "lights on". that is rectified and i now think it's very AMAZING.

I'm not big on "Broken Record" as a whole but i LOVE the vocal breakdown bit.

i guess i can see it; it does remind me of radiohead a little bit

compare:

i would toss and turn at night with your voice in my head

vs.

miss could you stop the noise i'm tryna get some rest

it's a stretch for sure, but not that much of one

Zinc remix is nice too xps

yeah i had to come around on 'broken record' - looooove the ascending/descending vocal in the verses

compositionally, it's great! (plz do not read this as = soundz like Radiohead) I love the way the ending mantra repeated over and over again--a common trope in pop music--ties into the 'broken record' conceit, I love the R&B harmonizing towards the end (I assume this is what NumberNone is referring to as the 'vocal breakdown'), the little countermelodies underneath that long note in the chorus...I think the songwriting chops add a whole new dimension to Katy's style and keeps things from turning into "guess the beat" (though I like that game)

i love this woman -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/apr/24/soundtrack-of-my-life-katy-b
altho she should really mention mamas gun over baduizm (not that baduizm is bad, its not)

be interesting to see what happens when she goes a bit R&B as she prob will (even if its just trying her hand at it, rather than coverting full on)

Is this going to get a US release any time soon?

'I used to like a lot of R'n'B, but when I analysed most of those songs, and looked at the chord progression or whatever, there wasn't much there'

bet lex would love this if anyone else said it

Seeing her tonight... sooo excited...

I don't think there's much in house music when you "look at the chord progression" either.

"Is this going to get a US release any time soon?"

its released worldwide on google.

What's that stuttering sample on 'Go Away' from? The King's Speech maybe?

i think i worked out it was the prodigy ("charly" iirc)

That kind of makes sense if it's Zinc I guess. I love that song.

yeah it's absolutely gorgeous

love when she gets all r&b diva towards the end

yeah it's charly, or def something off the first prodigy album - but i don't know if that in itself is a sample?

I remember I had loads of tapes of Red Alert from NYC and Solid Steel when I first moved to London and I remember that sample being dropped into the mix, I never found out where it was from.

standing at the bar
with my friend oliviaaa

so otm

it's the next single, i hope olivia gets a cameo in the video

Good, it's my favourite track on there I think. Although, I think I've exhausted this album for a bit now.

It's still holding up for me - helps that the songwriting is so strong.

fyi she kills it live - just so much natural casual charm on stage, nothing overdone

olivia revealed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG4T7y7Yxk0&hd=1

great video

YES @ shot of ddr/dancing stage machine

love it

I'm not sure anyone has pointed out the greatness of the line "now I love a bad boy mentality/ but I don't want to be visiting no jail"

You already did man. It is great though.

ok ha

Yeah, like the video. Love the way it just takes place in a pool bar, not at China Whites or whatever.

so finally getting around to actually listening to this, and it's...great. Like, really great.

I haven't heard all of it yet, but it sounds like it's better than Eye Contact, which I didn't expect, like, at all.

"lights on" is randomly being promoted by vevo on this "i love new music" youtube sidebar. i suspect it's the first exposure many americans are getting to katy b, and sadly a large number of the comments are negative and the like-to-dislike ratio is alarmingly low :'(((

anyway i was wondering if perhaps this random e-promotion meant that she was going to get something of a 'push' stateside, but considering some of the artists featured alongside her i would guess not

where are you seeing this, tel? the one I'm liking has a 20,000-to-1,000 like ratio, which seems good to me...

tbh, I really do like Lights On, but I'm not sure if it would be my choice to break Katy B into the US; I do think both Broken Record & Easy Please Me have the potential to dominate American dancefloors though...

(maybe not the dancefloors, too midtempo? I don't know anything about this...)

easy please me - like the track but honestly don't get the love for the video. I found it sooo cringey and hard to watch.

Video's okay; who's the MIA lookalike; I think I spied her in the Broken Record vid too...?

Royal T remix

http://soundcloud.com/royaltmusic/katy-b-easy-please-me-royal-t

This is more like it, at last a bit of energy!

Naw, the laid-back voibes are totally the point imo

I found the album kinda boring, the bangers don't bang they just kinda clunk and the other tracks are good but don't bang enough despite sounding like thy're kinda aiming for that. Nothing reaches the energy of As I or Tell Me, those two hit that ballance really well. Oh I kinda like Lights On... But thats about it.

I had to listen to the whole of the magnetic man album last night. Just imagine

I used to like magnetic man and the solo production work of the 3 dudes responsible for that shit.saw them live a few years back etc.just imagine.

Okay that royal t mix sounds lovely

Magnetic Man material is kind of entertainingly bland for mainstream appeal imo

I wish that Royal T mix had gone for limber 2-step all the way through because I was really enjoying the verses but that lumpen bass stodge in the chorus kills it stone dead.

I can see why that bass might put some off yeah. I'd like to hear it on a nice club system to see how well it works Royal T tracks usualy sound pretty hefty/viseral in that department. I like it when he goes for that 2-step vibe, he did a pretty fun mix recently on that tip too: http://xpldr.tumblr.com/post/5645159786/listen-royal-t-i

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwHe0ddggig

I really like this! Someone (Johnny Fever, I think?) played it in the listening room last night. Posting it here, cause it's totally post-Katy.

da, that was me.

yeah word on the (major label hype) street is this will be a hit

Stating the obvious, but it sounds like a turbo-charged Unfinished Sympathy.

this is fantastic!

yeah i'm feeling "heaven". rev you know emeli sandé was on wiley's "never be your woman" the other year? great vocal.

Hey, could one of you Britishers d/l the "Heaven" video for me? It's not viewable in my country and I can't even get it via proxy. :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=883yQqdOaLg

omg i love "heaven"! i would love to see the video too

same

Found it w/o region restriction: http://vimeo.com/26820938

Nice.

Yeah, it's nice but it's not so much post-Katy as Unfinished Sympathy with the drum breaks speeded up? (And I thought that before I saw Chewy's comment.)

i really like "heaven" but i kinda wish the beat wasn't just "perfect stranger" reheated

"Perfect Stranger" != "Funky Drummer"

*cough*Emeli Sandé*

aoty?

It's certainly up there, in most other years it would be.

Live Stream of her concert on MTV.com (30 minutes in):

http://read.mtvhive.com/live-in-nyc-katy-b-livestream/

i was there

she was SO good

her band is a great addition to the live show. the hype man was kinda weird, though. he only showed up for three songs and spent most of them offstage yelling. i started wondering if his mic wasn't going through to the stream, so it would keep the appearance of the energy being totally her doing.

still, i couldn't be happier right now.

So jealous. It looked it was really fun. Her "ordinary girl" appeal is a much needed alternative

i repent for sleeping heavy on this amazing album

i was never overwhelmed by her singles until "easy please me" & "witches' brew" (two of my favorites on here) but the depth of quality songwriting throughout this album really surprised (& pleased) me

i think there's a rare quality here for a dance pop album (?) where neither the beats nor vocals overshadow the other... it's all very seamless and natural

otm

she's just a really dope songwriter overall

It's all very well having a big stack of great singles but it's the quality of songs like Movement, Go Away and Disappear that elevate it to a great album.

At the other end of the year I'm probably playing this more than PJ Harvey now.

Can someone add neneh cherry to the j0rdan s listening club thread

it's gonna be really hard to decide between pj harvey/katy b/beyoncé for my album of the year but it's pretty hard to see beyond that all-female top 3 right now, nothing comes close to them

Beyonce's out of the reckoning for me, the highs are very high indeed but there's still a sense of nagging patchiness and the ending doesn't feel particularly satisfying, whereas the other two end on either an emotionally devastating note or a triumphant bow. But it's the difference between top five and top three.

the beyoncé ending with the bonus tracks = double whammy for schholin' life/dance for you = an ending which is JUST FINE BY ME

*schoolin

I don't really like Dance For You, but I'm not really counting bonus tracks anyway. 'Party' aside, the first three quarters of 4 has this amazing upward momentum to it, and then it gets a bit lost at the end.

Whereas On A Mission is perfectly ordered and paced. I dunno, I just get a slight feeling of too many cooks about the Beyonce album. But like I said it's largely amazing and there aren't too many records I've enjoyed more.

i kind of think of the ending proper as "end of time" which works really well tbh, given that i see no reason to ever listen to "i was here" and i think of "run the world" as a thoroughly amazing but completely separate single. but in practice it's end of time => lay up under me => schoolin' life => dance for you. yessss

On A Mission is a really solid album, but after playing it loads for about a week or two earlier in the year, I just don't feel like I have that much to come back to. Might dig it out again.

For me the quality of year's best albums is so high that having to edit tracks out is a strike against though.

Anyway this is Katy's thread and there isn't a single track on her album I ever want to skip.

Katy's album is more consistent, but the highs are higher on Beyonce's and I find myself playing it way more.

is Witches Brew a single now too? I didn't know...

Have been listening to this more lately and loving the album tracks like Go Away and Disappear. this album is seriously getting better on the re-listens.

i love power on me, its defo my favourite off the album atm

Does she have any imitators other than Emeli Sande yet?

jess mills and delilah riding the post-katy b wave too

and yasmin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsNBQJEofQM&ob=av2e

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxNe9jWNuEU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbmm_hXcrA0&ob=av2e

there's cleo sol too, this single isn't very katy b-like (though it is great) but she's vocalled several uk funky tracks in the past and probably will do so again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPr6YY7kDaI

i don't see any of those as being "post-katy".

oh i know they predate katy and aren't following in her wake soundwise, it's more the sudden major label push to their careers

or whatever, i'm typing in a hurry so if you want to nitpick go ahead cuz i have 949039483 thoughts in my head atm

no, that was pretty much all i thought save maybe qualifying "sudden push" a little (has katy sold well enough to count as a gravy train? maybe she has, idk). it looked like you were running with rev's imitators line.

Thanks. The Yasmin is the best (and most Katy B-like) of the bunch. Cleo Sol was cool, too. I think I'd like the Delilah more with a better singer, and Jess Mills didn't do anything for me at all. Also, hellllllllooooooooooooooo Yasmin.

The unexpected Public Enemy squeal coda is so great.

yasmin's other two singles this year -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HO-E0mlmEc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQcwuAhJ4Ms

also it's just struck me that a lot of people in here won't have checked ruff diamondz - GOT ME BURNIN - new UK girl group, their current single was produced by geeneus and written by katy b. and it's EXCELLENT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNArt8VbCqo&ob=av2e

ooh, very nice. i like.

i've been loving yasmin's singles for the most part.

Royal T did a pretty good Yasmin remix earlier in the year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPVqLpMN0Vk

I thought there was a good bassline remix too but maybe I'm just remembering hearing the Royal T remix in a DJ Beez mixtape or something.

love a lot of this album, including the title track. but i just played it and when the chorus arrived, i expected it to sound ... bigger, maybe? like it was rocket that didn't quite tear out of the docking station during lift-off.

xp this is the remix you want - one of 2011's enduring little classics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptkNUvd7ADM

great show in shep bush tonight. she looked like she was having the time of her life, it was super infectious.

"movement" video like your favourite holiday photos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFwGeW2HmcA

Movement is a single too now? goddamn!

DREAM VACATION

she just got a write-up in SPIN, fairly small but worth checking out if you're an utter obsessive

is it by my man's and dem powertweeter whiney g?

nick duerden? am i missing out on some intricate ilxian inside joke?

Notorious ILX rabble-rouser Whiney G. Weingarten writes for SPIN.

Katy B doesn't seem like his "thing"

he actually tweeted recently that you're an asshole if you want to listen to how to dress well (or whoever it was) instead of katy b

what if you like listening to both?

http://twitter.com/#!/1000TimesYes/status/123815014615355393

http://twitter.com/#!/1000TimesYes/status/124136955809243136

Katy B - On A Mission (4 April 2011) - hype, anticipation &c

( Elliott Wilson fired as XXL editor-in-chief )

lol so yeah, no expression whatsoever of appreciation for anything about her music, just a furious dichotomy hurled at asshole strawmen

strawholes

Ha! I guess the 'A' doesn't stand for 'Asshole' anymore. #movingup

i love this album to death but i'm on my third week since listening to it and

"standin at the bar with my friend oliviAAA" remains not only the one line i can retain from any song, but something that just randomly interjects itself into thought

Tbh I've kind of fallen out of love with "Easy Please Me"...right now this album is all bout the title track, Go Away, Disappear, Broken Record, and Beautiful Stranger...

...waitaminnit I meant "Perfect Stranger". Duh.

I used that line to explain something in a conversation about diff accents.

xxp

How so? A lot of times, strictly going on singing voice, I almost feel Katy could be from a place like D.C. or somewhere more somewhat-accent-neutral-but-not-totally as some places in the south are

Perhaps because a more traditional London accent would pronounce it as "Oliv-e-er"?

"Olivia" and "bar" don't even come close to rhyming in my accent.

You're not a pirate then ?

xp this is the remix you want - one of 2011's enduring little classics:

i'm listening to this album on spotify

i like it. it's bubbly.

i like her name too "Katy B" and the title "On a Mission" it sounds like girl rapper from the '80s

haha holy shit her accent threw me...i thought on "easy please me" she said "One thing I can't stand is Africans/there's no way that we could ever get along" but I realize she was saying "arrogance"

she should stop having such a racist accent tbh

One thing I can't stand is Africans

lol i think you're like the 5th person itt to have this reaction

Hahahahahaha...that still throws me once in a while.

Y'ALL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqelNJl4_F0

whoa!

I love this album. It's in the car.

in New York shortly, anybody seen her live and know if it's worth the trouble?

She's great live, well worth seeing.

Co-sign. She's a warm and engaging live performer, and her band really deliver the goods.

gonna see her this next coming saturday, very excited

and tickets are $10!! waaaaaaaaaat

damn

Need to get tickets but she's here Jan 27th. Excited! (Especially because Los Camp! just cancelled their show here a week before)

I want to go too, Alex! But I've never been to a dance/electronic show at Belmont - any idea what time she's likely to actually be on stage?

Not sure. I saw Hercules & Love Affair there and they were on by 10 or so, I think?

Kingdom/Nguzunguzu/Bok Bok was a bit different.

I'll see if I can find out any info and let you know.

So good live. So good. Played from 1:30 to 2:15 maybe

Louder
Broken Record
Easy Please Me
Movement
Witches' Brew
Perfect Stranger
Lights On
Katy On A Mission

Might have mixed up some of the order. A++ good live. Vocals carry through. Charisma like crazy. Much shorter than anticipated (physically, not the length of the set).

with jim jones

http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyhvlwk8bx1qbjyhgo1_500.jpg

bin meenin to post a review as a i saw her some weeks ago here in denver, but the enthusiasm has admittedly sort of faded and what i thought was going to be a 4 paragraph in-depth look now feels like possible diatribe

anyways:

she played for about 30 minutes. really short show. for such a small venue as ours she seemed absolutely enthused to be singing and i really thought she was a masterwork at having a *stage presence* that was just inescapable and rarely dawdling. she repeated a lot of lines, verbatim, i've seen in youtube videos from other shows which sort of added to this uber-rehearsed atmosphere i ultimately got but whatevur.

likely the most awkward part of the night was during "katy on a mission" in which she'd point the mic at the audience to complete the chorus (oo aa oo aa oo!) and, as far as i could tell, nobody took up the pledge.

and she kept doing it. i couldn't tell if she was more disappointed or curious as to whether we'd finally give in.

by lines, i mean things said in between songs... song commentary, etc.

when i saw her in london last year she played for well over an hour, the audience sang every line and the place went crazy during perfect stranger, on a mission, lights out etc. tons of fun.

Not sure how she can do over an hour unless she also does all the deep cuts. We got nothing but the hits, but it was still a solid 45 minutes or so plus chatting in between.

Wish she had let the audience do the Ms. Dynamite verse during Lights On instead of just repeating the chorus a lot, though.

We totally could have.

There wasn't a single person in the club not singing along to every word.

Nothing to do with Katy B, but I figured Katy B fans would be interested or know the answer to my query

Does anyone know what happened to Ny?

She was on a couple of good dancier tracks back in the day and released two mixtapes - the second of which "Split Endz Vol 2" was really very good but I haven't heard anything about her since?

Similar to some of the Katy B/Delilah/etc. type thing but c. 2007.

Right now I'm imagining "Easy Please Me" as covered by a cinematic doom metal band... WTF?

standing at the blood-covered altar with my friend olivia

easily my favorite song

No song on this is my favorite "easily."

Most days it's "Movement" or "Power on Me," though.

Anywhere In the World – the song created by Mark Ronson and Katy B – will be released for sale on May 13th 2012, and fuses the actual sounds of Olympic sports with music in Mark’s unique and innovative style. To produce the track, Mark travelled the globe, meeting five young athletes and recording their individual sounds of sport to provide the beats of the song. They will perform the song live at the Hyde Park event on 26th July.

suspect that some posters itt have heard this song and are just pretending it doesn't exist but it is bad and turgid

well yeah it is appalling but giving a toss would be like a bananarama fan throwing a paddy over 'do they know its xmas'

I've seen the ad a million times but i've never actually heard the full song. That one line is kind of stuck in my head though

fuck Mark Ronson.

hey

http://www.factmag.com/2012/07/12/watch-katy-b-perform-a-new-song-based-on-moscas-bax/

post seems to have been nixed but here's the vid you want anyway

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs3s9o_katy-b-what-you-came-for-somerset-house-8th-july-2012_music

feeling like i know this is a good thing but i am so bored stupid of 'bax' by now i can't really muster the yays

cool when the new horns come in towards the end though

Mark’s unique and innovative style

Thanks rtc. Not all that nuts about the song, but (1) I think this has the potential to be massive and (2) it's kind of a cheesey performance be she's so great to watch anyhow

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs3oeh_katy-b-easy-please-me-somerset-house-8th-july-2012_music

interpolating "doo wop (that thing)" lol

so good

a year later, this album is still a monster. I think I like it now more than I did back then.

song that opened up to me this morning = Why You Always Here

song where I just noticed the faint resemblance to Three-Six Mafia = Go Away

my God the first twenty-five seconds of "Go Away" = !!!!

I adore this record.

put "Broken Record" on my iPod last weekend.

her vocal version of "bax" got quietly released this week with katy, bafflingly, as an uncredited vocalist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk3I-jhYC9s

it's still good though

LOVE her vocal of Bax.

yeah uncredited is p harsh, just not really happening for her though is it

gobsmacked this has only just properly come out, the promo was out and about at least six weeks ago and it's been and gone from the radio now

yeah this track is fantastic

NEW EP NEW EP NEW EP

http://www.katybofficial.com/gb/splash/

THIS IS REALLY AMAZING

the first song is a geeneus-produced duet with jessie ware called "aaliyah" that's kind of like a UK funky take on "jolene" or "the boy is mine"

!!!

there is some amazingly happy bass parping away on the second song, which sounds like katy and wiley recorded it mid-carnival. first time i've felt warm in WEEKS

third song is produced by diplo (well, probably "produced" by "diplo" as per) and features iggy azalea (???) but is still alright if not as good as the first two. iggy seems to think she's featuring on a britney or ke$ha song, katy drifts along benignly, "diplo" "contributes" a pleasing breakdown

Loving 'Got Paid'

Little percussion touches on that are v. cute

never mind all that

'aaliyah' is incredible, what a fantastic concept

damn shame geeneus couldnt put his back into it a bit but still, amazing

can't download it here but here's a dailymotion link to 'aaliyah'
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvofyq_katy-b-x-geeneus-x-jessie-ware-aaliyah_music#.UMH0p1F_7To

this is like the first true appreciation of aaliyah maybe ever, not the glancing one that says what a lovely talented girl such a shame but one that approaches her sheer singular unearthliness, worshipful awed and fearful like towards a kind of god spirit forever seductive forever unattainable

there no stopping him
as the beat rolls on
i watch from afar
and watch you sing along

the mixture of eternal admiration, helpless defeat and verging on heretical resentment here is so next level

when jessie comes in and you expect a "boy is mine" kinda situation but actually she, separately, is in the exact same position as katy

aaliyah, please
this is green envy
why must you taunt me, girl

the acres of space that they have to contemplate the situation

holy christ

some kind of Harold Bloom-ian killing-your-literary-parents shit going on

i'm not sure if i knew what to expect from ware tbh! that contrast between her holy beseeching mournful prayer and katy/geenus' determined secular lightness is what makes the song, the way it's obviously written in their own disinct voices and how that variety is then in itself representative of all womanhood

i think it might be ware's best ever vocal

that sequencer in "Light as a Feather" will get tiresome quickly

heh it cuts deeper than anxiety of influence i think

if, as it must be accepted, aaliyah is the best girl ever there must be an unspoken dark side to that which this song finally now dares address

'got paid' is fab though overshadowed obv

other two are disposable as in have already disposed of

couldn't think of a single thing to say about the jacques greene one

"fuck off canada" is my usual trusty go-to

gah fux sake katy if you had just done 'get paid' immediately after 'heatwave' was #1 you might have had something, now what do you look like eh

erm also how did i miss this

katy working with the (old) sugababes????!!!

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a382332/sugababes-original-lineup-recording-with-katy-b.html

Emeli Sandé has also been linked to the project

\( •_•)_†

aahhhhh that emoticon

Holy shit "Aaliyah" is ridiculously good.

WHAT WHAT IS THIS WHAT?
Downloading now.

and it's FREE?!?!

wait. the link isn't emailing to me. argh.

nevermind. working now.

it took a couple minutes. I went to the restroom and when I returned there it was. Try that.

Love Aaliyah. Songs about other artists tend to be great, don't they?

It would be fitting if my two favorite songs this year would be "Springsteen" and "Aaliyah."

lol that emoticon

god iggy azealia is awful, the diplo track is pleasant but floats by without much to grab onto, production feels like a demo, like its a sketch rather than a song

the jacques greene track is dope! way better than the diplo track, also a better song too

"Danger" is my second favorite; it woulda worked as a hidden track on On a Mission.

"aaliyah" > "danger" > "got paid" > "light as a feather" for me

yeah, you passed my love to the left hand side
smoked it right down to the roach
so i might as well put it out

fantastic

"Oh my gosh"

a moving dramatisation of lex's ill-starred stint among the factmag stoners

nevertheless rating it over 'get paid' warrants a slapping

Got Paid is pure joy.

nevertheless rating it over 'get paid' warrants a slapping

― r|t|c, Friday, December 7, 2012 9:56 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's why i said "for me" plus i always have a thing for moody creepers like "danger"

bloody moodiness

"got paid" is fantastic tho don't get me wrong

the number of jacques greene productions that i care about remains at 0, tbh

not even "another girl"!? i'm a jacques greene stan tho so ymmv

another one cutesily parading around their little "tee hee i'm just such a ___ guy!" foibles and then hiding behind subjectivity's skirt when challenged. i blame djp

another one cutesily parading around their little "tee hee i'm just such a ___ guy!" foibles and then hiding behind subjectivity's skirt when challenged. i blame djp

― r|t|c, Friday, December 7, 2012 10:08 AM (14 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

guilty as charged

"another girl" is boring and completely redundant given the number of remixes of the cici track and indeed the original

the closest he's come to alright is the track on the first night slugs comp whose title i have forgotten

fuck 'aaliyah' is still SO GOOD

i know this simply because i want to write out the lyrics in their entirety and just go LOOK AT THIS

it always amazes me how we can be so close on so much and yet so far on other things, lex

perhaps i was too hard on geeneus earlier

moreso than a focused spotlight would have done the clubby anonymity ends up adding something sphinxlike and enriching

Aaliyah is the only keeper here really, although Just Got Paid perks up when Wiley comes in.

The Diplo track is a prime example of producer and singer/songwriter not knowing what to do with one another. One of the reasons the album was so great was that everyone concerned seemed to know exactly what they were going for.

Is there supposed to be a lift from The Israelites in Got Paid by the way?

Like Aaliyah has that perfect mix of joy and sadness that characterises all great diva house.

yeah otm about the diplo track. you'd hope they tread more carefully in future, though the gamble taken is always that for every ten duffers there'll be the one breakout hit greater than anything created inhouse. maybe it is time for that risk now, idk

That's clearly a back-of-sofa Diplo beat but at the same time there's a garishness to his stuff that doesn't suit Katy.

Dunno why they're pissing around with Jacques Greene when they have ROYAL-T sitting around in-house anyway.

AHHHHHHHHHH AALIYAH AND GET PAID ARE SO GOOD AHHHHHHH

WILEY !!!

KATY X JESSIE 4EVER

sorta feel like working like ppl with diplo & jacques green is something you do for a free EP, yeah?

whats the line ware sings starting with "i don't believe...", been trying to work it out

sorta feel like working like ppl with diplo & jacques green is something you do for a free EP, yeah?

― J0rdan S., Friday, December 7, 2012 12:42 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

exactly, the diplo and greene tracks are b-sides at best, but i think the greene track is a great b-side. they wouldn't be album tracks, and i'm fine with that

Back on form after the awful jarring vocal over Bax. Aaliyah is great especially..

i lose my shit when wiley comes in, they drop him in at the perfect time

WAIT HOLD ON IS HIS NAME REALLY PRONOUNCED "WILLY"

well if it's short for william? but he's said "wie-lee" on tracks plenty of times, no?

well definitely not short for william fml

does he just say it for effect on that song then

i'm rolling with k.b., so jiggy

i think so, to make it rhyme, too?

I thought it was short for "Guillermo."

the song with diplo would be great except for the parts where it gets really diplo-y... also iggy sounds a lot like kesha

wiley also says "friday is hair"

the closest he's come to alright is the track on the first night slugs comp whose title i have forgotten

baby i don't know what you want! i love that one. i agree tho, another girl is p overrated

anyway liking this ep, gonna go listen againnn

loool at the typo for iggy azalea's name

eyes practically popped out of my head when i scrolled through pitchfork this morning and saw that there was a katy b x jessie ware track called "aaliyah"

downloading this now

oh boyyyyy this song really did not disappoint

YOU CAN'T GET PAST ME AALIYAH

eyes practically popped out of my head when i scrolled through pitchfork this morning

this is no way to discover new katy b music (or anything)

i don't really see any reason to hate on pitchfork as a news source

plus i got to read jordan s' accompanying writeup, so w/e

give it a rest lex

"Got Paid" and esp. esp. esp. "Aaliyah" are so great.

Pretty sure I like "Aaliyah" more than anything from the album already! The housey synth patterns are such a good look.

And just, I dunno, its longform hypnotism, its determined refusal to climax.

Fuck it, top 5 of the year for me on my third replay.

i hereby cosign that motion

*unzips download* OMG THERE'S A SONG CALLED AALIYAH PLAY PLAY PLAY

also is "Got Paid" an update on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl1mQASHc48

I don't think it's as stirring as Johnny Kemp's though :(

wat. "Got Paid" is fantastic.

can't really compare tbh, I've known the Kemp song since I was a toddler and generally find it pretty difficult to judge songs I've known since before I knew how to judge period.

Pretty sure I like "Aaliyah" more than anything from the album already!

― Tim F, Saturday, December 8, 2012 12:50 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^this is quite some statement

Fuck it, top 5 of the year for me on my third replay.

― Tim F, Saturday, December 8, 2012 12:54 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^probably agree with this though

It's the perfect cap in a year in which I've been seeing Aaliyah everywhere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szj7efHG-00

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

That's about how much I like the song not a complaint re On A Mission which is great.

well definitely not short for william fml

my name's william and I'm gonna make a million

still listening to "aaliyah" on repeat

with every move you make, you know you've got him transfixed
but you can't get past me, aaliyah, i won't fall for your tricks
there's no stopping him as the beat rolls on
i watch from afar, and watch you sing along

whats the line ware sings starting with "i don't believe...", been trying to work it out

i can't hear this and it's annoying me so much! also the line that starts "woman to woman"

BLOODY ENUNCIATE, WARE (even though your murmuring style is perfect on this track)

well definitely not short for william fml

my name's william and I'm gonna make a million

― ( ͡° ͜ʖ͡°) (sic), Sunday, December 9, 2012 3:16 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah but his name is richard kylea cowie

It's "woman to woman a promise" anyway

william is just a play on the name, he does it all the time u literal dumbasses jeez

that's what i figured but you never know...

alternatively it's a little known fact that the original grime progenitors were initlaly brought together by a keen shared interest in us maritime history, and r cowie is actually named after william wiley. (similarly dizzee rascal's very occasional sobriquet captain roscoe [with a crossbow] was inspired by the famed mine-clearer roscoe bulmer.) contrary to popular opinion however crazy titch was always more of a hornby model railways man.

sup lord custos

damn man look at u hiding in a bush waiting to spring something on me

i mean ok it was pretty bad but still

cmon dawg I would have been forced to call out anyone who posted that one.

idk i guess i was brought up to break the custos glass only in case of emergency

nothing new to add but damn this is great

i would go:
aaliyah > danger > got paid >>>> light as a feather

damn, got paid really growing on me

woof if they could ditch the WUB WUB WUB and iggy "light as a feather" would be great

I love that we're supposed to pretend Katy B is working some sort of job where she gets a weekly paycheck.

hasn't that always been the case?

like regular girl next door is totally her persona

i'm sure katy b at some point worked a job where she got a weekly paycheck

also there was that time this girl called aaliyah tried to steal her man.

nicki minaj is so broke she can't pay her rent this month

Where Katy is all "I was at the bar with my friend Olivia tryin my best to catch up" Nicki is "Doin shots with my bitch Olivia. My bitch Olivia. She's really a bitch and she's named OH-LIV-EE-A."

lol

standing at the bar with my son olivia surely

not a metaphor punchline

katy b's in the trap

alternatively it's a little known fact that the original grime progenitors were initlaly brought together by a keen shared interest in us maritime history, and r cowie is actually named after william wiley. (similarly dizzee rascal's very occasional sobriquet captain roscoe [with a crossbow] was inspired by the roscoe bulmer.) contrary to popular opinion however crazy titch was always more of a hornby model railways man.

― r|t|c, Monday, 10 December 2012 18:34 (1 week ago)

famed mine-clearer? who are these ppl

how many mines do u have to clear to get even half as famous as crazy titch

depends on how much aggravated sexual assault is involved in mine-clearing iirc

oh wait never mind that was the other guy

sorry to make u look bad titch