The producer known as ACTRESS and his r&b concrète

a lot of the tracks on ghettoville seem to invite playing around with different RPMs

This has been bugging me all day- is that a Bee Gees sample on "IWAAD"?

From "Tragedy," maybe?

http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2014/jan/24/whys-actress-ghettoville-is-the-one-album-you-should-hear-this-week-video

My favourite thing to do with Actress is to listen to it on headphones when I'm really really tired and just about to drop off to sleep. his best stuff warps around theta waves and opens up weird spaces in my mind, but I didn't get that from his last album at all - everything was much more surface-level.

come on man, that's a ridiculous criticism

eh what? I def thought R.I.P. had a more accessible superficial sound compared to Splaszh and this new one. It was okay, but I felt everything about it was more 'obvious', more 'defined' if you get what i mean?

"accessible" says more about the listener than the music

"superficial" is a mode of listening, not a feature of music

"obvious", again, relates more to the listener than the music itself

"defined" = not sure what you mean

uh....

wut?

I want to like Actress but I find his stuff rather boring in practice.

First listen to Ghettoville, initial impression is what a magnificently grim and shitty record.

As lovely as the crunch of broken glass in a piss-stinking stairwell.

I don't think it's that grim (compared to his other stuff anyway)

i am not yet impressed by this

never found his stuff to be very immediate so am hoping ghettoville is as good as RIP (which sometimes i am still not sure about either, but there are moments on there that are some of my favourite things of the last few years) which took me a long time to figure out what was actually *there* in that thing

Really love teh newie on 1 x listen, some really wow moments.

RIP works much better for me as a full album rather than track-by-track. Will definitely check this out.

5 LPs, 2 CDs and one art book

100 bucks still sounds kind of a lot for this

― the late great, Wednesday, January 8, 2014 2:00 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

seriously?

srs

actually ... you know what, it IS 180g vinyl

i guess for 180g vinyl it's about right

5 lps sold individually would cost about 100$

weird album

takes a while to warm up

I'm listening now (only as far as contagious) and his ability to create *sounds* is better than almost everyone else in electronic music. Every single noise on this is so textured and interesting. What he does with those sounds is less interesting to me, sadly.

the beginning is quite clunky

In fairness I've had the same reaction to all his albums. At the bit where it picks up now and enjoying it more.

cliche of the day: the last track is like the shaft of sunlight at the end of blade runner

more cliche would be if it has that embers burning/crackling sound all through it (still not heard this album)

warming up to it!

i really like the bell tones in the first track, best bell tones since maphive 6.1

love how they sound against the bass synth that comes in around 4 minutes

i agree with matt dc, this album is really about the sounds.

the second track sounds like a lonely tugboat lost on a foggy, heaving sea.

it's so appropriate that it's on ninja tune. so trip hop.

struggled with this yesterday, second time around was much better. Rap is the standout for me, anyone recognise the sample?

gonna guess it's 'wrap yourself around me' by david grant

http://www.juno.co.uk/MP3/SF459907-01-01-03.mp3

yeah

n1

i agree with paolo. a lot of this album actually *isn't* that dark - it's the sound of a dude playing around with beats and funny noises.

i don't think i'm ever going to "get" this dude's music. nothing happens! what are you supposed to DO to it.

listen

xpost, as I mentioned upthread, I found the best time to appreciate Actress is when I'm in a slumber state.

yeah. it's music for cold winter nights. hypnotic, eerie, menacing, a little seedy.

actress sounds great in the middle of a playlist of artists working in a similar vein, e.g., burial; shackleton and appleblim (skull disco); various prod.; the livity sound roster of artists; the bug.

shackleton got some vibey feelings on some of the records dunno about the others

Kind of like that RA went out on a limb and gave this 2.5.

I feel asleep listening to it on a bus a few weeks, and still haven't consciously made my whole way through it. I found it a bit of a trial, but did not dislike what I heard.

Actress live, on the other hand, was one of the best shows I've seen in recent years.

A few weeks back, that is... although that bus trip did seem to last forever!

actress sounds great in the middle of a playlist of artists working in a similar vein, e.g., burial; shackleton and appleblim (skull disco); various prod.; the livity sound roster of artists; the bug.

Yes - it lends itself well to mixes etc where you want to find a good segue between two ends of a spectrum.

the first track on this goes on a while without doing much but I find it strangely compelling

might be its resemblance to the Chrono Trigger 2300 AD world map theme triggering subliminal positive associations

i had that same thought! that echoing bell.