James Blake, Mt Kimbie, CD/SD

well music fans are boring realists these days.

a musician is actually being attacked for declining to do hack work for cash

i'm not attacking him for this! if he doesn't need the £££ and doesn't want to do the work, more power to him. i'm criticising him for dismissing the whole exercise like he did, w/o acknowledging that a) great music can result from the process, b) even if it doesn't, other producers might not be as lucky he obviously is financially.

http://991.com/newgallery/Aphex-Twin-26-Mixes-For-Cash-234844.jpg

James Blake made 2 good EP's and one incredibly shit album. This guy will be remixing for cash in less than 3 years, right after his 2nd album flops.

has a hyped artist ever been as dreary as this? watching him "perform" on the culture show just now was like having the life slowly leached out of you over the course of five minutes.

still love this album, but i lolled at too much time on ilx moment

...ubiquitous pop critic Christopher R. Weingarten tweeted: “LOST: JAMES BLAKE’S BALLS. CANNOT OFFER CASH REWARD BUT CAN OFFER CRED POINTS.”

http://newyork.timeout.com/music-nightlife/music/984127/james-blake#ixzz1GEN10egg

ugh websites that autoplay full screen adverts are the worst. why why why was that permitted to happen.

I think there should be a slightly higher standard for describing a backlash than two jokey tweets. It's not even clear that Geoff Barrow meant Blake (the tweet seems to fit but he denies it). Not to say that there isn't a backlash but I don't like this new journalistic habit of quoting tweets as if they carry significant weight.

i've always disliked the term "backlash" anyway - in most cases it's, like, some critics like a thing, and others dislike it - this happens all the time and is not notable. and obviously those who like it got to hype it first! a true "backlash" should be when the same people who previously praised an artist turn against him/her.

and if the people crying "backlash" had actually paid attention they'd have known that there were people saying blake wasn't all that, like, 6 months ago. and the kanye album didn't have a "backlash" either, the same people who disliked it had done so from the off.

OTM. It's a lazy, annoying, usually meaningless angle.

gotta find a hook to hang eight paragraphs on, backlash is an easy one xp

It's not even clear that Geoff Barrow meant Blake (the tweet seems to fit but he denies it)

does he also deny declaring Florence Welch a deluded Russian backing singer given 5 minutes to impress the boss of a strip club in Odessa?

I think backlashes do exist w stuff like this precisely because it's often a bunch of people that liked it that end up not liking it. Reason being stuff has a rapid buzz about it which kinda makes people have an opinion *early*, before they might do otherwise. Of even where they wouldn't necessarily have one at all. Easy to end up w an opinion that isn't really the opinion you would have had if just happening across it without the buzz behind it.

Is sorta one of the reasons I don't really feel any need to hear things everyone is talking about (unless specific reccomendation)

It's true but it's a depressingly circular way of discussing music. After a couple of good pieces about blog hype - Jess Harvell's Black Kids article springs to mind - I don't want to constantly read pieces on new artists that are framed in terms of buzz and hype and backlash and what Whiney said in a tweet.

Me either, so I don't!

Good policy.

Backlash works in this context because what Blake's doing this year is totally different to what he was doing last year, and yeah what Cherry Blossom said about getting in early. What Whiney said in a tweet isn't remotely significant to anyone outside a few blogs and ILM though.

In a way I kind of think of music that is buzzed or everyone suddenly talking about it - is a bit like having the radio on at work. Except instead of the music itself being broadcast right at you its other people's opinions

I think you might be on the wrong website.

Its certainly possible

I would have thought "backlash" remains a useful concept when critics focus their negative reaction on puncturing the buzz - Kanye and Blake both are good examples of this. It's not that nobody would have disliked the music originally, it's that the expression of dislike becomes about removing the scales from people's eyes.

this mix is my shit: http://electronicexplorations.org/the-show/141-airhead/

after leaving this alone for a bit (and listening to that case of you cover which is absolutely dreadful on every level - jesus, how did he think that was a good idea, people who can not sing should not be doing joni mitchell covers) i think hes prob better off never singing again, unless its just repeated refrains that are heavily treated. anything more than that and he starts to fall apart. plus after more thanm about 20 mins of him singing, you start to hate him, and want to slap him for being so wet. a lot of his ep material is overrated anyway - all awkward, jerky shit for no reason. hes had that prob since day one - for every air and lack thereof, you get something like the b-side, where he doesnt seem to know quite how to finish or complete a track so feels he has to fuck it up unnecessarily.

the thing with this album is, like Gonzales' Solo Piano, I'm very happy to listen when it's around and i totally forget it existing when it's not
not to say it's not catchy or stuck in my head, just that it doesn't linger or leave a crater behind
so whether or not you dig this may be a barometer of how music that fits that general description fits your tastes

And it was written:

Long before he became poster-boy for indie’s momentary fascination with the soulful sounds of UK’s bass underground, Londoner James Blake could already bust a groove.

404'd
momentary fascination
hah.

so this new single streaming at pfork ... he's just seeing what he can get away with now, right? like, this isn't actually a serious stab at making listenable music ... right?

Haven't heard it yet, although I decided to revisit Wilhelm's Scream and it's really really good now.

man people just like dude cause hes young and handsome. it's the equivalent of parents gushing over their kids' horrible scrawled drawings. i'm bumping some shed after subjecting myself to those new tracks to hear how REAL MEN make electronic music

has there ever been a gabber track called 'Real Men Play On +10', cos if not there should have been

it's cool that he wants to shore up his dance music cred, but nothing on his EPs sounded this generic and boring. feels lazy.

These sound like an actual dubstep record, and not that bad. But I don't know if I want to call his production unimaginative or just his signature style.

the first song is taking minimalism way way way too literally

like dubstep drained of all rhythmic snap and interest.

oh jeez
http://pitchfork.com/news/43562-james-blake-and-bon-iver-collaborate/

i've no idea why i had this thread bookmarked, maybe in the hope of future schadenfreude opportunities.

but anyway i think i can remove it now.

saw my friends open for James Blake tonight. fuck the crowd, but man...he is quite something live. like, i actually like him now.

anyone heard his recent essential mix?

One of the highlights of the Essential Mix for me is him 'harmonimixing'/pitching down this Johann Johannsson track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdfdN4uAdFY

that doesn't sound too different from a straight johann johannson track

(oh is that not the erm harmonixmixed version)

ILX was so quick to dismiss this guy. His album and his schtick isn't perfect, but if anything Wilhelm's Scream is a tune of the year for me.

Guys I am SO FUCKING into Mount Kimbie right now, esp the more upbeat stuff like "Blind Night Errand" and "Carbonated"; can ppl recommend me some more stuff that sounds like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l18NA6rQ9LU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHEIo7ZIlQU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sspN0XcHh7o

https://soundcloud.com/dauwd/whats-there-pictures-music

Well, I see there isn't much love for James Blake around here. However, new song is out and I love it.

i'm into it. wish the drums weren't so generic/perfunctory though.

wish the drums weren't so generic/perfunctory though.

yeah, the boring percussion lets this down

i liked the early EPs and the "sounds" or sonic palette of the first album but his voice is a tad bland for me and his songwriting is dreadful. interested to see how he fares on album 2.

link plz?

http://pitchfork.com/news/49467-listen-to-the-new-james-blake-single-retrograde/