New Joanna Newsom Album "Ys" Due Nov 14

Well...searching through the thread, it looks like Edward said something about that:
"The elegant sweep of movements in "Only Skin" are flattened into sequential morasses of sound. To give a specific instance, the cascasding runs during the "rolling along, among the reeds among the rushes" segment have less of an impact because of the accompanying orchestral surge."

The 16 minutes is something nice to hear when you're idle,
but I would much rather repeat the live piano version because it dives right into that wonderful rhythm.

Haven't found the leaked version (HOW THE HELL aka yr torrent networks is garbage, son), so I'm just gonna pony the fuck up and buy it next week.

i agree with mark

fantastic though isn't it? i mean head-fuckingly fantastic.

It's not that I don't get it, I GET IT
I just don't think it's very good

I swear, if she wasn't so hot, all these male rock critics wouldn't be gushing over her so much. I'm convinced they are (many of them) in love with her whole persona/image--not so much the music

People make music this amitious all the time, and much of it is worlds better, but it often comes from older trio of aging men, or a 35 year old finnish woman who's semi fat, and nobody cares...

Or they call it pretentious. It's just so ridiculous the unilateral praise for this

When I heard it back in august I thought for sure some critics would call it out for what it is, yet it seems everyone is drinking from the same fairy pool

Long Suites, VDP and Smog peppered with harp and meandering vocals that if read without music, read like a college freshman poetry jam, don't equate = stop the world greatness.

It's just as though everyone is thinking "wow, well its' so LONG and who does that? and well, she's so young and her lyrics are so, wow! She sings about skipping stones in wading pools! and Come dance with me and monkeys and bears", and then those that think it's ridiculous train of thought garbage are dismissed as not "getting it"

I respect her intentions, but I'm more infuriated with the response

like boys just being like "I didn't know it could get this good!!"

Dude: they're lyrics. They're supposed to go with the music. Thus, you don't get to judge them as exterior to the music.

and then those that think it's ridiculous train of thought garbage are dismissed as not "getting it"

Dismissing it as "train of thought garbage" is exactly missing the point because her lyrics aren't "train of thought" or "stream of consciousness" which is what you mean i guess.

I swear, if she wasn't so hot, all these male rock critics wouldn't be gushing over her so much. I'm convinced they are (many of them) in love with her whole persona/image--not so much the music

this isn't an exclusively male critic thing, either. Jessica Hopper (among others) loves the shit out of this album.

who's that?
anyhow--I stand by what I said.

People are swooning over something I see as rather insincere, and sort of like an indie rock sham

but insincere in what way? like, she doesn't believe what she's singing about? or like, she doesn't think what she's writing is actually very good? and not to be like a total crit douche but: since when is sincerity a mark of quality?

This is the stupid comment yet on this thread.

Nevermind.

Hi Dom.

Yes, sincerity doesn't mean good or bad generally speaking. But in the case of something like this that everyone claims to be so heartfelt and real and wonderful and ground breaking and brave and bold, I just don't see that. It's a hollow shell of great artists spinning a very pretty but forgettable web around someone who knows how to sell herself and her whole wolf pelt hat freak folk wearing persona quite well.

other than the length of the songs and the orchestral arrangement I don't know what's different about this record than her last one or her earlier work. you're obviously unfamiliar with her so coming to her stuff at this point and making this declaration is more a statement on your ignorance than anything else.

you may not like my opinion, but my opinion doesn't make me ignorant you idiot

please...
i love how easily people dismiss other people's counter hive opinions
just b/c I"m not marching to the joanna piper, doesn't mean I believe rape=authenticy

I really don't understand your comments about her sincerity or authenticity. You seem to think that she's just marketing an image (not sure what's wrong with that), but that any of the real musical work is being done by other people. Everything I've seen about the making of Ys indicates that she's heavily involved with the entire creative process to the point of obsession.

I'm not the type of person to get upset about this type of stuff, but I feel like a lot of the comments on here are getting really ugly and sexist. The whole idea that she is just a cute face and depends on "real artists" to hold her hand and do the real work strikes me as absurd and insulting.

I think zippezappy is arguing that people are lavishing newsom with praise because of these qualities. And that she the ambitiousness of the album, or the work that went into it, has influenced critics' opinions of its merits.

I'm not saying this is true, but it's not that rediculous of an idea. I think alot of us got excited when we heard about Albini and VDP's involvment.

For me, it just doesn't excite me as much as her first. I understand that it requires a great deal of attention and time. I guess, I just don't feel like giving this album that much time. I guess her writing and vocals are similar to the first. But the arrangements and strings irritate me at times and take away from the simplistic qualities I liked about ms. newsom. I am not wording this well, but the strings seem to be overbearing at various parts throughout many of the songs, where they could stand to be a little more subtle.

but this thread makes me want to hear it.

i hope it's really fanciful.

I'm also waiting to hear about all these great artists making music that is far superior, but are being ingnored because they aren't pretty....

...And we have a tie

This thread is going downhill fast... but I sympathise with people finding it all a bit hollow and contrived, in a way that frequently actually repels an emotional connection.

Well for me anyway. Whether she's "sincere" or not I don't know, I wish I could finally understand why I just-about like this, and even then with doubts, whereas other people are finding it utterly rapturous & I assume, deeply satisfying.

Maybe it's because so little of her poetry strikes me as coming from the sub-conscious, it makes too much literal/poetic sense when it's understood, it reminds me of rap that I don't like, when there's piles upon piles of lyrical puzzles to untangle but not much blissful surrender. Which is unfair, as there are many moments of surrender here, but as a whole, the sheer concentration -of- it, and the concentration it feels like it needs to be absorbed is wearying. I tried letting this just wash over me too but that came out even less rewarding :(

I still have the horrible feeling this is going to click eventually and I'll have to eat my words... but I still wish the 5 parts didn't all sound so similar overall, without that differentiation, this record feels more like a half-remembered dream with an uncertain beginning and end, and not enough of a "journey" for me.

I definitely see how her music can sound like it was labored over to an excessive degree. When an artist appears to be trying too hard, it becomes a big turn-off. In that sense, I understand a lot of the criticism here.

The part I don't get is the notion that she is pulling a fast one on her audience or playing some kind of confidence trick. That seems to be the implication of a lot of comments on this thread, and I find it kind of mystifying.

Why are so many people convinced that there is a big disconnect (for good or ill) between her persona and her personality?

Is it so hard to believe that she is, in fact, that person?