SOLANGE KNOWLES, omg the return of

TBH it did piss me off when my IRL friends whose only contact with rap/r&b comes remixed by Diplo were raving about this today. i'm always recommending them good shit to listen to but this is what it takes clearly.

― david cam'ron (tpp), Friday, November 13, 2009 4:24 PM (18 minutes ago)

yeah i sympathize w/ this, though it shouldnt prevent someone who likes solange from giving it a chance *COUGH*

xp only if you think "soul" isn't completely meaningless

This strikes me as a pleasingly random songchoice - c.f. Sugbabaes covering the Arctic Monkeys. I guess an equivalent of that would have been covering, I dunno, "My Girls"? Which almost certainly would have failed.

On Twitter I asked Lex what the clear distinction was between people getting into Solange because she covers Dirty Projectors and people getting into The XX because they cover "Do You Mind" and "Teardrops", and he said "those are good songs."

Which makes sense (from his perspective - I like "Stillness Is The Move" though obv not as much as "Do You Mind" or "Teardrops") but doesn't add up to some kind of ethical distinction by itself.

I think the motivation in both is "hey look we/I have broader taste than you might think and look how cleverly we can turn this into our chosen genre type" i.e. it's broadsheet/press release fodder on some levels, but on others serves to underscore both the performer's aesthetic solidity and their sensititivty.

Much worse is that kind of Sugababes/Arctic Monkeys (or conversely any indie or rock band covering Britney or etc.) thing where it's like the songchoice is designed to the beat you over the head with the genre contrast.

I wonder if any country fans got suspicious of pop fans who became excited when Taylor Swift covered "Umbrella" etc.

or when she covered eminem

what i didn't have room to say on twitter is that i don't know ANYONE who got into the xx directly because they covered womack & womack and paleface & kyla - i have never seen anyone say "oh THIS indie band must be good b/c they do r&b covers", let alone show little interest in the xx's own material. if anything if i'd known about the covers first it would probably have made me more suspicious of the xx.

also i'm not suspicious of solange's motives, she can cover what she likes, i was more hating on the general "omgzzz" reaction i saw from people who'd never shown the slightest interest in solange before, even when i was solidly pimping her last year. (tpp very much otm.)

i mean, i know people who got into the xx through the hot like fire cover. not that they would be naturally disinclined to like them anyhow, but the hook was not new british band so much as "new british band influenced by and who cover r&b.

tbh, that's probably what hooked me initially, because while i do generally like indie, i'm deeply skeptical of most uk hyped acts...an endless stream of disappointment that i generally avoid listening to. never bothered checking out the klaxons, glasvegas etc. etc. any of nme's frequent saviors of rock. the only reason the xx got a second glance was that their stated influences included r&b, dubstep etc. - sufficiently different and "broader taste than you might think" (viz. tim's comments) that indicated a desire to be something other than standard british indie mush.

so while that's not "THIS indie band must be good because they do r&b covers", it certainly is prizing broad taste and appreciation for the musical values of r&b above other qualities, i suppose.

I totally decided to check out the XX because of their taste in non-indie stuff.* I'm not proud of that but there it is.

* A bad way to get into them, in many ways. It meant it took me longer to just accept them for what they are.

I'm shallow & immoral and see nothing wrong with that way of getting into a band, fwiw.

their cover of 'do you mind' blows imho -- not sure why it got so much attention ... the tune to that song itself isnt anything special, its totally about the rhythms & instrumentation (if it can be called that) & so the 'cover' just felt like a reference to the *event* that is that song rather than to the song itself

otm, same kinda goes for their cover of "hot like fire"

yah its for the benefit of an indie audience that wants to see a *broad spectrum of influences* rather than for the R&B/funky house fan looking for a way into their music

as an R&B/funky house fan, it was "Basic Space" that made me pay attention to them, not any of their covers

i guess it's important for us to still shit our pants every time a black person namedrops an indie rock band, though.

― soulja boy antebellum (some dude), Sunday, 26 July 2009 04:06 (3 months ago)

also i'm not suspicious of solange's motives, she can cover what she likes, i was more hating on the general "omgzzz" reaction i saw from people who'd never shown the slightest interest in solange before, even when i was solidly pimping her last year. (tpp very much otm.)

Yeah but Lex seriously can you imagine how angry you'd be if it was Dirty Projectors fans hating on Solange for covering their beloved band? This sounds like the lesser of two evils to me...

It's not like indie kids are ever under any obligation to listen to rnb, even when like Solange it's totally aimed at twee indie fuckers. Her entire schtick seems to be acting the quirky indie little sister to Beyonce's globetrotting pop behemoth - see also covering Bjork and Coldplay. It strikes me that the reaction you're hating on is entirely the reaction she wants.

i guess it's important for us to still shit our pants every time a black person namedrops an indie rock band, though.

― soulja boy antebellum (some dude), Sunday, 26 July 2009 04:06 (3 months ago)

yeah, but can't this just be inverted to "white person namedrops an r&b singer" and be just as on-point re: both the xx & DPs?

uh i don't think anyone is shitting their pants over solange knowles covering DP - she has a pretty long track record of talking up indie records & bands, this really isn't surprising in the least - it's just a dope cover, sheesh

how i break it down to an extent

I think I might be interpreting "shit our pants" differently here, I was more eyerolling at the discussion this has already prompted.

How's her first album, Solo Star?

Well then.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f14/snouts/babydaniel.gif

im a cool low jane with a skip on my feet iirc

shes back again

http://mydamnblog.com/iblog/2010/03/to-hold-you-over/

this is great.

middle eight of "would've been the one" slaying me atm

i was the one, yes i was the one
and yes that was my name inked upon his arm
and if he loved me that much and still did me wrong...

Yeah love that one, her vocals towards the end are just incredible.

Really hoping we get a new album soon, I still play the last one a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMXuuYnoRdI YO OMG NEW SINGLE COMING UP

WAIT NO THAT'S NOT RIGHT I MEANT THIS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB2-sH0LTUQ

produced/written by dude from of montreal and dude from test icicles (poor lex)

omg the return of

dead 2 me

So excited for the new album, Sol-Angel is one of my favourite albums of the last few years.

reminding myself of the solange's endless dreadful collaborators it's genuinely astonishing she managed to make an album that good

erm SUBS ADD GRAMMAR ETC TO THAT SENTENCE

You know that Beyonce would be doing shit like this if she didn't have a proper career to maintain.

http://t.co/N593pEx3

haha, she already worked with Empire of the Sun

and grizzly bear and dirty projectors and twin shadow...

oh who are we talking about, S or B?

I was talking about Bey

and Sleigh Bells allegedly

yeah but the point is that beyoncé caused us trepidation with the sleigh bells rumours but then she gave us 4

Because she has a proper career to sustain.

Beyonce featured on this gem with a bloke from Coronation Street, so Solange wins.

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

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Hy9W_mrY_Vk"; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

okay that didn't work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy9W_mrY_Vk&feature=plcp

awesome song

after this and "Everything Is Embarrassing" I kind of want Dev Hynes to write all of the pop songs. which is so weird.

This song is amazing!!!!!!!!

OMG I AM SO FUCKING EXCITED FOR THIS ALBUM

yeah fffv I'm having that same weird feeling... the vocals have a bit of an "everything is embarrassing" feel to it