James Blake, Mt Kimbie, CD/SD

but with antonyish vocals

listening to the new album now and it's just really damn boring aside from Limit to Your Love. it's not surprising that the one track with a real melody is a cover. "unparalleled use of space" has flatlined into "where's the music".

Lex is gonna hate me even more for this, but I'm listening to this randomised with the new Nicolas Jaar, and there really ain't a lot of difference in tone, mood, ideas etc. The singing doesn't really bother me, it just sounds like another instrument. I was expecting loads of horrible faux-cockney crooning, but the vocals have mostly been manipulated so they blur in and out with the music.

AntonIver... what a disappointment this record is.

?

Good fucking God, this James Blake album is awful.

I thought you said you liked it John?

Haven't really listened to it properly yet. I want to like it, but then the only tracks I've really enjoyed so far have been L2YL and the CMYK ep.

No, I really, really like the CMYK EP but this is like Jamie Liddell or Fran Healy suddenly deciding to their tribute to 808s and Hearbreak.

But not as charming as that sounds.

It's atrocious.

Annoying thing is, there's the kindling of a great album in there - piano + subdued electronics + vocals that sound like they're sampled from 70 years ago, but the execution is terrible. It's like the Caribou album in that I can't believe he listened to those vocals again and again and decided they would in some way do.

Also, the singer songwriter aspect is being played up a bit, it's mostly the same refrains repeated over and over again.

Yeah, I agree about that. Other than "Limit", it's not indie or singer/songwriter music. Maybe this is a matter of overhyping. Only a couple of months ago this guy was an unheard-of dubstep producer making slightly subdued, sketchy tracks, now he's supposed to be some sensitive saviour of modern pop writing.

(agree on Caribou too - I don't get that album).

there's the kindling of a great album in there

this is otm, there are a few moments on this record where i think 'damn a whole album of this could be my favorite thing in the world' but with the exception of those few bits ('wilhelms scream', 'lindesfarne', the feist cover) he doesn't seem to have enough grasp of melody/harmony to pull off the 'hauntingly beautiful' look that i assume he's going for here. most of the tracks are underdeveloped, and what's there just isn't resonating with me melody-wise even though i really want it to because i love his sound palette and production. it's frustrating.

I tried to listen to this album when I was in the mood for something similar but it failed to capture my attention. It's just not a good effort.

Okay, so I listened to the whole thing on headphones on my way back form work yesterday.

It's not bloody awful. In fact the only thing that offends me about it is the autotune, which sounds like it's been applied as liberally as cover-stick on a Stevenage girl's face of a Friday evening.

So much has been made of Blake's capacity as a singer and "classically trained" songwriter that it's almost eclipsed his production talent, which I really do like. So why, with such mooted talent, has he decided to make himself sound like the fat warbling woman who takes your sandwich order at Greggs? Unlike Kanye, Blake evidently can sing, as evidenced by his deliberately deadpan delivery on "Limit To Your Love".

The use of autotune ruins so many moments, ironically making things sound out of tune, more often than not. Lindisfarne could have been an amazing piece of vocal harmonics, but it sounds like sort of a mess.

But maybe that's the whole point. This is electronica, after all, and maybe Blake is wary of aligning himself with Rufus Wainwright just yet. Had this been released on Warp for example, would this album be viewed differently? Everything Blake has done before has been idiosyncratic to say the least. An artist like this getting this kind of acclaim would have been unimaginable a couple of years ago. Since then we've had The xx, Burial, Darkstar etc, all plowing ahead with ideas of restraint and space, and receiving a fair amount of attention too.

I think the problem with this album is that it has had so many hopes pinned to it in a relatively small amount of time, yet it's very difficult to categorise. It's not really a singer/songwriter album; it's miles away from dubstep in the traditional sense of the word; and the hype factor has boosted it beyond the realms of IDM or experimental electronica. And don't start telling me it's indie,because FFS.

But in other ways, this album almost comes off as a parody of the last coupl of years of music - the autotune, the slight mockney affectations, the UK-singer/songwriter/producerness, the AC-esque vocal clouding, the dubstep influence, the XX-ness of it all... this might well be why ilxors find it so irksome, as opposed to the album sounding awful, because autotuned vocals aside, there are some quite cool bits on it.

Blake evidently can sing, as evidenced by his deliberately deadpan delivery on "Limit To Your Love"

This isn't actually evidence that he can sing, quite the opposite actually.

?

He's using that delivery to mask the lack of any real vocal range or power, is what I'm getting at.

I'd call that singing. It's an idiosyncratic style, and it sounds like he's treated the vocal a little, or slowed it down, but it works for the song. He's been quoted in interviews as saying that he prefers to flatten his vocal when he sings, influenced by certain Sam Cooke songs apparently. He has sung in gospel choirs and things too. So he can sing, but it's like he's got something to hide with the excessive treatment.

Slowest, most defective Procol Harum album ever.

I'd much sooner listen to Kerogen, if I'm going to go for Lover's Dubstep. Lovestep if you will.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY-Beggc2zE

last year i spent hours digging out a kerogen cd-r that had been sent to me.
all that effort for a 1 track cd-r.
then again, it was a bloody good track (not the one posted ^^ i think).

blubstep

i dunno what you lot are hearing. this album is great. and lovely. listening for the first time now. much better than jamie fucking woon in any case.

That's a relief. I was beginning to think I was the only person here who loves this album.

one of the best albums ive heard in ages. i dont know how its inspired such hate.

(apart from people being sheeplike, obv)

Love the album too, from start to finish.

Agree that Kerogen is better than both Blake and Woon.

yeah love this album a lot

that korgen track is pretty boring, lacks character imo. this stuff jacks burial better imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV9Lrt8ZVaY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS52AKvj8M0

i wish it was a whole album based around the vocoder chorale sound in 'lindesfarne', that's the most magical bit of this for me

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/feb/03/james-blake-album-review
Petridis on the new album. Sounds like he's being a little fair on it.

The Quietus and Fact reviews are pretty damn fair as well: http://thequietus.com/articles/05632-james-blake-review / http://www.factmag.com/2011/02/04/james-blake-james-blake/

I still need to hear it I've been sleeping on it cos I don't dl and couldn't be arsed asking for a promo. Glad there is some sense being talked in amongst the hype he deserves it, he's got some killer music in him.

thought the Petridis review was reasonable overall but he raised my hackles straight out of the blocks with "tiny independents" in the first paragraph - pretty sure R&S isn't run out of someone's bedroom ffs

That Quietus review is pretty much OTM.

fuck fairness this album is abysmal and thoroughly worthless

god i should've pitched to review it somewhere but i couldn't face slogging through it again

TheQuietus are pretty much otm its a bit unfair to call it dance music for bedweters though, its not really got any dance on it as far as I can tell. Couldn't they just call it music for bedweters? lol

eh, well as much as a "what *is* dance music really" conflab would be as boring and pointless as the equivalent 'indie' one that ppl on here seem have been flogging of late, there are plenty of programmed drums and basslines on the album

lots of boring strawmanning here

mrdreamnyc MR. DREAM by rifftrafft
Also...one free Best New Music to the first chillwave band that names itself "James Blake the Tennis Player"

i lol'd

Its more electronic than dance though, you can be one without the other. He does make dance music in other places like... But not here. Doesn't really matter though.

i do find it amusing that james blake the producer's rise to prominence coincided EXACTLY with james blake the tennis player falling out of the top 100

I by no means love this album; I by no means hate it either. I'd be interested to hear why people who hate it do though - especially those who like his previous stuff, but also Lex. Not trolling, but I'd like to hear it articulated into words beyond "it's awful".

my cousin represents the tennis platwe -- i should ask her about this james blake

you never mentioned that your cousin represents tennis players j0rdan!!! :O

lol "platwe"

yeah she works for IMG

dog latin: http://twitter.com/lexpretend/statuses/20406733859987456

OMG DOES YOUR COUSIN MANAGE VERA ZVONAREVA TOO??!!!

lol idk