★ The Weeknd ★ What You Need ★

who here cares only about the music they and their friends make

lets all make an album like right now right here

this talk of 'experts' just reminded me of this lol onion article, btw
http://www.theonion.com/articles/man-on-internet-almost-falls-into-world-of-diy-mus,17013/

xpost as long as it's not chillwave

this implies that we're mad at ppl who like the record, instead of mad at ppl who write about it poorly / have poor justifications for it -- if u agree that sucks then we agree

― arachno-misogynist (D-40), Friday, June 17, 2011 3:13 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

i started out by questioning an instance of what i see as the special and unwarranted enmity that some ILXes seem to reserve for indie-friendly critics who dabble in rap, R&B and dance music, and which is almost always accompanied by a sneering dismissal of the widely-hyped artists they flock around (the weeknd, in this case). we can all easily agree that egregiously bad writing/thinking is objectionable, but that's a different issue.

lots of indie-friendly critics flock around The-Dream and pretty much all the people sneering at The Weeknd itt listen to him

yeah, it's by no means black & white. but fwiw, i took a bunch of shit for joining the terius fan club circa love king and having incorrect opinions. deej just doesn't cotton to my manner of speech. which has maybe embittered me, i dunno. i can't pretend my interest here is completely objective/dispassionate.

well there is a lot of sneering within the terry squad, but it's all generally shades of difference in a shared fandom of the same artist

yeah dream sneering is about the narcissism of small differences, it's a different thing.

i started out by questioning an instance of what i see as the special and unwarranted enmity that some ILXes seem to reserve for indie-friendly critics who dabble in rap, R&B and dance music, and which is almost always accompanied by a sneering dismissal of the widely-hyped artists they flock around (the weeknd, in this case). we can all easily agree that egregiously bad writing/thinking is objectionable, but that's a different issue.

because their dabbling is normative, whereas the reverse isn't true: e.g. what R&B heads think of indie rock isn't accepted as being the general truth of indie rock.

That gives their wrongheaded opinions more social weight than they would carry otherwise.

Also, those opinions tend to coincide with bad writing.

because their dabbling is normative, whereas the reverse isn't true: e.g. what R&B heads think of indie rock isn't accepted as being the general truth of indie rock.

That gives their wrongheaded opinions more social weight than they would carry otherwise.

Also, those opinions tend to coincide with bad writing.

― Tim F, Friday, June 17, 2011 6:21 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark

okay, that gets to the heart of it. i get annoyed by the constant (and to my mind, tiresome) complaint that indie-friendly critics are unfairly granted some special right to define discourse & canon. i mean, they often do define discourse & canon, but in a way that strikes me as neither surprising nor especially objectionable. and it seems to me that wrongheaded thinking and bad writing exist pretty much anywhere you care to look for them. they're at least as prevalent in the niche crit written by & for heads as they are in generalist/mainstream stuff.

in the end, i see much of this conflict as a battle between subcultural camps, and the only issue i have is the tendency to treat demonstrations of genre allegiance as good or bad taste/crit.

i mean, they often do define discourse & canon, but in a way that strikes me as neither surprising nor especially objectionable.

which is...

like, we're explaining why its objectionable, right here, in this thread

in the end, i see much of this conflict as a battle between subcultural camps, and the only issue i have is the tendency to treat demonstrations of genre allegiance as good or bad taste/crit.

― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Saturday, June 18, 2011 2:03 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

except that music is as much about issues of race / class / gender / identity as life is, & once those become intertwined w/ aesthetics...

i mean, was the civil rights movement (sorry for temporarily trivializing this but bracket it as an exaggerated example that imo is no less related) just about a battle between subcultural camps on a broader scale? the fact is that these kinds of iniquities permeate all aspects of our lives

i think though most of us in the terry squad sneer by nature, we are long past the point where we're sneering on behalf of terry himself

except that music is as much about issues of race / class / gender / identity as life is, & once those become intertwined w/ aesthetics...

agree, but these issues aren't being directly addressed itt, and i don't imagine much good would result from the attempt. i agree that inequities do permeate all aspects of our lives, but i don't think that all inequities are equally objectionable. like one of mr. jay batman's big peeves was a grudge against the power of majorities to dictate reality, and i just don't agree that that's an intrinsically bad thing.

^ i mean, it certainly can be. it can be terribly unjust. no argument there.

agree, but these issues aren't being directly addressed itt

― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Saturday, June 18, 2011 3:27 AM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is demonstrably incorrect -- it happened as of this most recent revive

eh, if there's a substantial class/race/gender-gender based objection to the dominance of indie-friendly crit in the US, it hasn't been laid out clean itt.

to tell you the truth, i'm not at all prepared to get into this tonight. i got company over. they're looking at me funny. plus it will make everybody else on ILX hate us. not that i'm saying no...

i never say no...

deej is your problem basically that the Weeknd is crappy r&b that is gaining undue traction w/ hipsters and critics because of its obvious surface indicators of 'depth' and 'seriousness'?

that x how its being impressed upon those ppl thru some not so great argumentative strategies

Do you really think ILX is any more socially advanced than a middle school?! I've thought of the mods as janitors and assistant principals ever since I became one.
― Mr. Patrick Batman (WmC), Friday, June 17, 2011 4:05 PM

many times, coming into these threads i feel like i'm throwing sawdust on puke

the less people know about music, the more adamantly dogmatic they are about what music is good and what isn't and why

this is a partial t-bomb. also that onion mustard enthusiast article is such beautiful gem, a long, fond, familiar lol at the male brain.

brainwasher: I'm reading this Ne-Yo interview in VIBE, and they're asking him about Frank Ocean and The Weeknd smh

me: gughguhg

brainwasher: VIBE: If your 2008 album represented Year Of The Gentleman, 2011 is definitely “Year of the Asshole,” in terms of R&B. What do you think of the wave of explicit R&B that’s popular now?
lol WAHT
"new wave of explicit R*B"

VIBE: Word. In a lot of ways, Frank Ocean and The Weeknd represent that polar opposite of your style.

NE-YO: I haven’t heard a lot of Frank Ocean’s stuff. I dig “Novacane,” I like his storytelling. Somebody just recently put me up on The Weeknd. I like his vibe; he’s definitely one of those cats that might curse you out on a record, but he’s going to sing, so you almost don’t even notice that he just cursed you out. I dig it though. It’s—for lack of a better word—definitely music you fu@k to, not make love. Even in that, he has some very honest songs. He says “Tell me you love me…I know you don’t love me,” talking to this stripper chick. I feel him on that. Like you need this money; you’re going to treat me like you love me, that’s what I want. That’s some real sh*t.

2011 is definitely “Year of the Asshole"

"Even in that, he has some very honest songs. He says “Tell me you love me…I know you don’t love me,” talking to this stripper chick. I feel him on that. Like you need this money; you’re going to treat me like you love me, that’s what I want. That’s some real sh*t."

...

I love it when interviewers try to project their own perspective on to their subjects, and they don't bite.

I love it when interviewers get a chance to talk to one of the biggest mainstream stars of a genre and they just want to ask questions about up-and-coming internet artists.

"Who cares what pitchfork thinks"

but you see by ASKING who cares what pitchfork thinks you are showing that you DO care what pitchfork thinks it is a riddle

LOL U GUYZ REED PITCHFRK

the only good thing about this is that it is free. the music is generic crap. aural fabric softener. at least the 3 songs i have listened to. what you need, house of balloons and wicked games. an album with a title song which is a cover. how inventive! what i find the most unbelievable though is that this piece of shit is #1 at metacritic in the 1st half of 2011. that says all about the state of pop music and the state of pop criticism these days. nobody who has ears to listen and a brain to think needs either of them.

watch me kill this thread now

I briefly flirted w/ trey songz after cb broke my heart/rihannas face but i was put off by his luvvverman thing and it felt like it was for 30smthg professionals and that you should listen to it w/ a glass of wine and watch the city through your floor-ceiling windows. weeknd sound like you're watching the end of a party through smoke.

- plax (ico), Sunday, 27 March 2011 03:16 (2 months ago) Bookmark

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512WPFZPK9L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

that is all

ahaha

Teedra wouldn't tolerate basic bitches squinting through smoke, she'd tell them to clean that shit up.

loooooool

it felt like it was for 30smthg professionals and that you should listen to it w/ a glass of wine and watch the city through your floor-ceiling windows

ie...really good?

oh 20smthg ~creatives~ and their total denial of the 30smthg professional that is already inside them and should be embraced

he should have worked *the suburbs* in there somewhere imo

In late breaking news, my Weeknd (and MBDTF) loving friend got hooked onto The-Dream's nine minute epic which gave me some told-you-so credit, so I promptly sealed the deal by making him listen to the more debauched Diddy-Dirty Money tunes and he adores them. I was thinking of doing a kind of R&B-reviving-Prince mix next (since he now predictably loves "Yamaha") prominently featuring "Complex Simplicity" (and, like, "Don't Make Me Wait" and "Schoolin' Life" and etc), at which point the circle will be complete.

and "friend lover"!

it's so weird given the unanimous across-the-board love for prince that r&b prince revivalism gets no commercial traction

Yeah obv "Friend Lover"! Several ER tunes may make it, unsurprisingly.

oh god i've only just realised that the whole "basic bitch" thing is, like, a ciara diss ;_;

This redeems any dubious origins:

http://wigcrypt.blogspot.com/2011/02/educated-basic-bitch.html

love that post

Also:

"As long as there are HBCU dorm rooms and $5 Drink Night at clubs in bad neighborhoods there will always be a place for basic bitch music. Some people like simple, uncomplicated music. No concepts, no alter-egos, no experimentation. Just some club bangers, some mid-tempos, some ballads...and thank Jesus in the CD booklet. You may not have MILLIONS of fans but somebody somewhere will buy download your stuff and in a few years your "flop-ass album" will be considered an "underrated classic" (See: Afrodisiac)."

AFRODISIAC IS AN UNDERRATED CLASSIC GODDAMNIT

/basicbitch

"who is she 2 u" was my favorite song that year probably

& i didnt even realize it was a leon ware sample until much later!

how do i find out about r&b prince revivalism?

listen 2 teh-dream