(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
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 19 July 2010 11:13 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― The Black Knight! Huzzah, My Lord! (Masonic Boom), Monday, 19 July 2010 11:14 (thirteen years ago) link
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?
― plax (ico), Monday, 19 July 2010 11:15 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― The Black Knight! Huzzah, My Lord! (Masonic Boom), Monday, 19 July 2010 11:17 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Matt DC, Monday, 19 July 2010 11:18 (thirteen years ago) link
my argument is about the backing music not the singer - we should leave kylie the singer out of it. And what lex said above.
― Tim F, Monday, 19 July 2010 11:19 (thirteen years ago) link
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?
― The Black Knight! Huzzah, My Lord! (Masonic Boom), Monday, 19 July 2010 11:22 (thirteen years ago) link
kelis doing retro diva house would be kinda lame, i'm ~glad~ it sounds contemporary
― BIG MEECH aka the larryhoover (The Reverend), Monday, 19 July 2010 11:24 (thirteen years ago) link
Because the backing music for "Spinning Around" and much of Fleshtones would be p. lame regardless of who sang over it.
― Tim F, Monday, 19 July 2010 11:25 (thirteen years ago) link
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
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 19 July 2010 11:27 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― The Black Knight! Huzzah, My Lord! (Masonic Boom), Monday, 19 July 2010 11:29 (thirteen years ago) link
It means you enjoy a Boys Noize production.
― Tim F, Monday, 19 July 2010 11:30 (thirteen years ago) link
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
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 19 July 2010 11:32 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― The Black Knight! Huzzah, My Lord! (Masonic Boom), Monday, 19 July 2010 11:32 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Matt DC, Monday, 19 July 2010 13:46 (thirteen years ago) link
SONG FOR BABBY SONG FOR BABBY SONG FOR BABBY
― The Reverend, Saturday, May 22, 2010 8:46 AM Bookmark
― The Reverend, Friday, 31 December 2010 08:27 (thirteen years ago) link
"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.
― The Reverend, Friday, 31 December 2010 08:30 (thirteen years ago) link
This is a very emotionally complex album altogether.
― The Reverend, Friday, 31 December 2010 08:31 (thirteen years ago) link
"brave" is the monster on this
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, June 1, 2010 8:19 AM (7 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Tuesday, 4 January 2011 10:34 (thirteen years ago) link
i was SUPER TOUGH but now i'm SUPER STRONG
― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Tuesday, 4 January 2011 10:35 (thirteen years ago) link
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
― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Tuesday, 4 January 2011 10:36 (thirteen years ago) link
fauntleroy
i underrated this album all year
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 4 January 2011 10:37 (thirteen years ago) link
it is at least my #2 some days my #1
― tears of a self-clowning oven (The Reverend), Tuesday, 4 January 2011 10:45 (thirteen years ago) link
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.)
― _Rudipherous_, Friday, 4 February 2011 18:36 (thirteen years ago) link
That album wasn't even released in the US.
― The Reverend, Friday, 4 February 2011 18:40 (thirteen years ago) link
That probably didn't help.
― _Rudipherous_, Friday, 4 February 2011 18:48 (thirteen years ago) link
well this is completely not what i was expecting from her
http://soundcloud.com/kelis-fans/kelis-call-on-me
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:21 (eleven years ago) link
i have to listen a few times more but instareaction is: YES
the horns, that bassline...
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:22 (eleven years ago) link
this is erasing all of those bad memories of "Bossy"
― Call me at **BITCOIN (DJP), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:32 (eleven years ago) link
Love that song!
― Z S up HOOS down (Spottie_Ottie_Dope), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:38 (eleven years ago) link
(Bossy)
I... do not
― Call me at **BITCOIN (DJP), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:39 (eleven years ago) link
did you ever hear the switch remix of it, dan?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81WLcAtLVdk
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:41 (eleven years ago) link
nope
this is okay
― Call me at **BITCOIN (DJP), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:51 (eleven years ago) link
loving this
produced by Dave Sitek apparently!
― sandra dayo connor (The Reverend), Tuesday, 23 April 2013 01:41 (eleven years ago) link
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
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Tuesday, 23 April 2013 09:15 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 09:41 (eleven years ago) link
oh it's called "jerk ribs" not "call on me"
http://soundcloud.com/kelis/jerk-ribs
― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Tuesday, 23 April 2013 11:58 (eleven years ago) link
this song is really damn good
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 23 April 2013 15:30 (eleven years ago) link
Sounds kind of Dear Science
― sandra dayo connor (The Reverend), Tuesday, 23 April 2013 18:42 (eleven years ago) link
LOVE IT.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 21:09 (eleven years ago) link
I wish her vocal and the melody was a little bit more...something. The track itself is a total jam, though.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 21:16 (eleven years ago) link
You know when Beyonce said she was being influenced by Fela Kuti? The arrangement here is kinda what I imagined.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 21:19 (eleven years ago) link
yeah this is for real
― brb buying poppers w/my employee discount (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 23 April 2013 21:45 (eleven years ago) link
Song is great. Horns are straight off a Tony Allen album from the '70s. Would love to hear a whole album like this.
― 誤訳侮辱, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 22:07 (eleven years ago) link
feeling this tbh
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 23 April 2013 22:10 (eleven years ago) link
like this and...it kinda reminds me of the solange stuff from last yr
― monotony, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 22:57 (eleven years ago) link
I see the resemblance definitely but I'm liking this a lot more.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 22:58 (eleven years ago) link
I was so put off by "Losing You" I never checked out the other new Solange stuff :/
― sandra dayo connor (The Reverend), Tuesday, 23 April 2013 23:20 (eleven years ago) link