Kelley Polar - Love Songs of The Hanging Gardens (Environ CD05)

In terms of the comments above w/r/t press coverage of dance, etc., this one is top shelf, front and center on the new release wall at Amoeba, with a little "BUY THIS NOW!" card in various color magick markers under it. I also heard it at Urban Outfitters the other day....

Well it is a disco album of sorts, so what do you want?

Not nearly as gay as Brian Wilson's Smile, though...

"Forget what it sounds like- What does this all MEAN?"

Heresy!!!

OTM

I was going to add to my above post that this album is kind of like Natalie Portman in that pretty-though-not-sexy way, but I figured I had it covered referencing 10000 Hz, which is by far Air's least sexy record.

This is also a problem I have with Metro Area and said fans- I don't really understand what's so fantastic about their music. Sure, none of it is really BAD, but it's kind of par for the course with every new release.

I'd argue that Lifelike & Kris Menace's "Discopolis" has more heart, soul, longing, joy, originality and thump than any Metro Area track released to date. It's undeniably disco, but you've never heard any disco track like it.

Metro Area tracks are the same thing every time, and in most instances are simply re-hashed sounds and structures milked from well-known songs produced 20-30 years ago.

And my whole point with "Discopolis" vs. any Metro Area : quality vs. quantity

in the event that wasn't clear....

It's kinda half-way to something really great, yet I find it hard to verbalise or imagine what the other missing 50% would actually consist of when it sounds so dazzlingly complete & 'full'. It feels like a mirage. I was thinking earlier it reminded me of Anthony & The Johnsons that way, gone 'dance'. Anyhow I shouldn't post any more about something I'm not even intending to purchase!

I mean, if I'm right in suggesting there is a distrust there.

i also think the kelley polar album is full of sex so i'll have to disagree there too. maybe it is so ingrained that it's easy to overlook. the mirage of the shiny exterior is distracting i suppose.

Uh oh.

This is a totaly valid question, btw, though I just caught a whiff of Ricardo Villalobos's sweat in the air....

And hence the utter lack of sexiness. No I'm with you if you're suggesting that it's too polished, too predictable, too ovbious. And with this not being a typical Metro Area release, I find that a little disappointing. I still like the album, quite a bit, but again- pretty, but not sexy....

i also think the kelley polar album is full of sex so i'll have to disagree there too. maybe it is so ingrained that it's easy to overlook. the mirage of the shiny exterior is distracting i suppose.

-- tricky (tricky@), November 29th, 2005.

This is interesting, but that sheen still hasn't worn away for me with multiple listens. Can you elaborate on what it is you find sexy about the record? Anything that comes close to suggesting as such seems vapid to me (noting that sexiness is not necessarily a qualifier for disco records).....

i think it's the beats and the low-end (OTOH, "the rooms in my house have many parties" is a good example of this). also, a lot of the lyrics are all about being full of desire, sometimes desire so strong that it's dysfunctional and stalker-ish which admittedly is not exactly sexy...i think i noted it upthread, but i hear two-sides to this album. the first half kind of sets up the second half and it's the second half that is more sexy/groovy. also, nerdy exteriors are kind of hot.

Ok this I have noticed just a bit, but nerdy exteriors tend to ring a little false for me, hence my suggestion of it being too obvious. Nerdy interiors, on the other hand, are what it's all about- I want more quirkiness in the depths of this, more surprises.

Surprises = most sexiest!

there's a fair bit of proselytizing going on here, it's true!

Surprises = most sexiest!

agree...and the sounds like metro area commentary is definitely spot on.

also, ronan, i get where you're coming from. i think this music is very insider-y stuff. it's may sound poppy, but it is not populist.

what if your not really looking for this in dance music?

or that youre specifically looking for pastiches of these elements, facsimiles?

the bits of this album i have heard, i wished things like the melodies and stuff were more obvious,like their chord progression. i wanted it to be more cheesy and lush. it breaks into a lush swell and then cuts it out. i finsd that with metro area stuff as well. in other music that tension can be exhilirating but weith this i find a little disappointing. but i havent heard it properly yet. and i lost patience with bleep about half way thru anyway.

OTM!

I think the nay-sayers are severely underestimating the impact of the first four Metro Area releases, and the criticism that "it's always the same" is really unfair considering how much ground they've covered over the course of six records. Sure, there's a sonic "signature" there, but that has much more to do with a production aesthetic than any sort of compositional rut.

What songs exactly? While the references and feel are distinctly retro, or at least, refer to timelessly good stuff, I think that statement is a bit harsh.

Exactly, which brings us back around to the IDM question. My understanding of IDM is that one of its foundations is the ability to stay somewhat fuctional while exploring unconventional structures and/or aesthetics in the music. Metro Area, clearly not IDM, is very much functional music. The Kelley Polar record is also functional, though I don't really think the vocal variance nor layering of strings, etc. really make in any more unconventional than a Metro Area record. I'm hearing a little IDM in "Vocalise" and "My Beauty In The Moon", but otherwise not really.

I think the nay-sayers are severely underestimating the impact of the first four Metro Area releases, and the criticism that "it's always the same" is really unfair considering how much ground they've covered over the course of six records. Sure, there's a sonic "signature" there, but that has much more to do with a production aesthetic than any sort of compositional rut.

No, I agree that there was some valid impact with their initial releases, but the first part of this statement is absurd.

What songs exactly? While the references and feel are distinctly retro, or at least, refer to timelessly good stuff, I think that statement is a bit harsh.

Come on, guys- even The Rapture has the good sense not to use the cowbell in every single track.....

Clap-Clap!

http://www.jefferymac.com/images/1018599.gif

Fightin' words!

And you are way under-appreciating the amount of care and attention they put into the production, compared to most dance music made these days. Remember when it was shocking to hear a live instrument on a dance record?

oh shit I'm listening to caught up right now and will ferrel is just about hitting the cowbell on beat. close enough to be funny anyway. I'm sure it works with anything...try it.

(heightened lushness and obviousness being among the key achievements of Get Physical's earlier, more discoid efforts vis a vis Metro Area)

But semantics aside, Tim, are you suggesting the record would benefit from more Metro Area, or less of it?

one of my favorite things about metro area is the way they capture what is to me a kind of urban american street vibe, an urbanity that is not so polished, but still very pretty: multicultural, multiracial, multisexual, gritty, vacant, wide streets with buildings so high they obscure the sun during the daytime so it's perpetual twilight (the streets are like tunnels you can get lost in), anonymity, trash and sleaze, glitz, hardness, tighly knit patchwork neighborhoods, all of the people down or up on their luck, flustered eye contact on the subway, graffiti, men and women in suits, kids in the street everywhere, the guys selling drugs on the corner next to the homeless dude with one shoe, the rivers and bridges and the ocean, endless traffic and noise, a kind of hopeful sadness, the pressure of all of those other souls around you, the masks people wear, the madness and rush of modern capitalist culture, the release of nighttime...

also, scratch "time out" and replace it with "freemind"

Ha! Yes.

are you suggesting the record would benefit from more Metro Area, or less of it?

Wouldn't that be the the three Quartet 12-inches? (which I really don't feel as much as the album. But then Ronan really nailed my feelings re. Metro Area.)

On a more practical level: why oh why no vinyl version? It's perfect for an old-school two side pop-LP, Cupid & Psyche '05. Jeezzzz.

and yes: I like Herbie Hancock.