Justin Timberlake in 2013

http://www.pickinsplinters.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bugs-bunny-maroon.jpg

Two notes:

For all the talk of the retro moves on this record, he quite intentionally undercuts every one of them with some tic that could only be modern in origin.

I've never really understood people who get all aggy about looser songwriting styles. A good percentage of my favorite records take that particular tack.

otm & same

"looser songwriting style" is a compliment that JT doesn't deserve. These things are mostly grooveless or lack melodies that make me wanna listen more than two minutes.

ehhhh @ "grooveless"

i don't get aggy about looser songwriting styles. i'm just saying that on most of these songs the music does not merit the length and is a negative.

Not much of a comparison but I'm listening to "(Not Just) Knee Deep." It's fifteen minutes long.

my experience of this album is pretty much: begin listening to song that i mildly enjoy, drift off for what feels like 10 minutes, come to, wonder why the fuck that song is not only still happening but still has two minutes to go

like i said: dude is not exactly erykah badu here.

lol @ erykah badu for lex's ref

she does really long songs! and they are great!

song that i mildly enjoy

^^ certainly what I think about "Strawberry Bubblegum" and "Tunnel Vision."

For me, the songs all feel much shorter than they are!

And these songs (except the last two, I guess) are hardly grooveless.

I don't understand how so many people are trying to tell me a record that sounds so good is in fact awful.

"tunnel vision" is prob the only one that really comes to life beyond vaguely pleasant groove that lasts several decades

"let the groove get in" and "don't hold the wall" do have good grooves but absolutely no development at all

it's not awful, it's just underdone and mediocre - on the terms in which it was puffed up it totally collapses though

clever of JT and Timbo to record a song called "Tunnel Vision" whose sound/conceit/arrangement approximates the experience of listening to it.

"let the groove get in" has those weird house piano diversions! the second half is distinct from the first and is a p natural development!

i know lex, i'm just laughing that yr go to for 'epic jams' is erykah badu. much prefer the long tracks that wander off into some digression to the ones that just keep going (does anything here even attempt epic, except maybe 'mirrors'? fs/ls had some honest attempts at epics and 'cry me a river' actually managed to be an epic in under five minutes), might've been more palatable and more a call back to tradition if he had done 'strawberry bubblegum pt. 1 & pt. 2' etc., or if he had done some editing and cut back tracks to 4-5min than something like 'mirrors' might've come off like a forgiveable misstep instead of my beautiful dark 20/20 experience. i like the album but do agree as a failure it could've been more interesting, half finished songs blown up into meandering epics can still be inspired (hello marvin gaye).

you people

Here, My Dear and In Our Lifetime had unexpected synth fills and always grooved, but I guess a groove will always be subjective.

but, rev, do you still love us?

i'm just laughing that yr go to for 'epic jams' is erykah badu

idg why it's funny :(

'cry me a river' actually managed to be an epic in under five minutes

RIGHT?

idg why it's funny :(

i laughed bc it's very you

the second half is distinct from the first

oh yes all these aimless non-song non-grooves all have much-vaunted "outros" that never quite have the impact they should because when they turn up i'm like...hang on but we're only just done with the intro where is the song

but, rev, do you still love us?

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, March 19, 2013 1:47 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no

lol idk the first half of "let the groove get in" much as it seems a pure vamp coheres pretty easily into a song for me

the entire thing is just a vamp! it's a pretty good vamp. WHY IS IT EIGHT MINUTES LONG.

again, the outros are actually the best part of the album

this jt album is way too long and directionless... *listens to goldenheart*

lol

http://www.fascsafety.org/buckle1.jpg

this jt album is way too long and directionless... *listens to goldenheart*

― 乒乓, Tuesday, March 19, 2013 1:56 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

WAHAHAHHA

hyuk hyuk hyuk aren't you all amusing

IT COULD WORK THE OTHER WAY ROUND FYI

again, the outros are actually the best part of the album

also how is this a compliment

outros are ppl too

was talking to maura about this record earlier today and she characterized the outros (which she finds too numerous and long) as "funhouse mirror interpretations" which otm

in fact, it's rockist if i may say so, to value canonical song-parts like choruses and verses over outros

"funhouse mirror interpretations" which otm

in the stooges sense!

go tell that to someone who was saying that

i just told u

also how is this a compliment

― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Tuesday, March 19, 2013 5:03 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

because it refutes the myth that they're aimless/unnecessary

i think "the outros are the best part" totally makes sense as a compliment bc the outros take the songs to complicated and distinct and surprising places

i just told u

― ums (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, March 19, 2013 9:07 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i wasn't saying that

do you have short term memory loss?

again, the outros are actually the best part of the album

also how is this a compliment

― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Tuesday, March 19, 2013 4:03 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

if it can't be a compliment, then the outros being the best part surely must be a flaw

"the outro is the best part" implies that the main bit of the song is not as good

thread is starting to look like funhouse mirror