New Joanna Newsom Album "Ys" Due Nov 14

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AC fucking DC
AC fucking DC
AC fucking DC

― Tape Store (Tape Store), Thursday, 11 January 2007 01:30 (nineteen years ago)

Arguing with Rolling Stone about music is like arguing with your grandma about sex.

― M. V. (M.V.), Thursday, 11 January 2007 21:41 (nineteen years ago)

Distasteful and pointless?

― Edward III (edward iii), Thursday, 11 January 2007 21:47 (nineteen years ago)

On the other hand, unlike grandma, a rolling stone gathers no moss.

― M. V. (M.V.), Thursday, 11 January 2007 22:21 (nineteen years ago)

Did anyone else see her tour with the LSO? I thought it was amazing, but I've come round to the opinion that it would sound better without the strings, so I hope she plays some more UK dates without them at some point.

Also, live-in-studio EP coming soon, presumably featuring the great new song she's been playing.

― toby (tsg20), Sunday, 21 January 2007 09:40 (nineteen years ago)

Where did you hear about the EP? Is there a release date?

― Matt Olken (Moodles), Sunday, 21 January 2007 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

on the tadpoles board - apparently she talked about it at the glasgow gig. out in april, i think.

― toby (tsg20), Sunday, 21 January 2007 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

Yup, she did. After the Northern Sinfonia (she only played with the LSO in London) went off, she played a couple of new songs with just her bandmates.
They were quite nice. Not quite as focused as The Milk-Eyed Mender's tracks... somewhere in-between those and the (comparatively) rambling wash of Ys.

Anyway, yes. EP. April. That's about it.

― Magnakai (Magnakai), Monday, 22 January 2007 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

New song ("Colleen"?) reminds me of Kate Bush.

― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 22 January 2007 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

I hate that my roommates (well, one roommate and the other roommate's girlfriend) won't let me listen to this when they're in the house.

How many people hated Newsom's voice the first time they heard it, and grew to like/love/tolerate it, and how long did it take? I remember liking it a lot from the start, but the first time I heard it I was pretty stoned and it sounded like a ghost or something.

― max (maxreax), Sunday, 4 February 2007 22:31 (nineteen years ago)

HATED IT at first. wouldn't give that first record a chance at all. then I heard Ys, liked it, saw her live, was blown away, went back to the early stuff and found it not only tolerable but enjoyable.

― sleeve (sleeve), Sunday, 4 February 2007 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

I heard some West African praise singing/kora playing a couple of weeks ago and just had "Sawdust and Diamonds" and I can totally hear it! Appreciate you guys pointing it out.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 10 February 2007 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

I actually liked her voice from the start...but I'm pretty weird.

― Tape Store (Tape Store), Saturday, 10 February 2007 20:13 (nineteen years ago)

Upcoming ep on Drag City, credited to "Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band," apparently

― Shannon Whirry and the Bad Brains, Thursday, 22 February 2007 12:40 (nineteen years ago)

somebody mistook her for Bjork when I played Ys on my radio show today

I just listened to Ys now I must listen to all of Bjork's Discography to get that folksyness out of me...

― MaGoGo, Thursday, 22 February 2007 17:57 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I loved it at first. I was transfixed. I know the comparison is superficial, but I told someone after the show that it was "a little Bjork, a little Billie Holliday."

― jaymc, Thursday, 22 February 2007 18:17 (nineteen years ago)

Upcoming Royal Albert Hall show, too. Well, in September.

― toby, Thursday, 22 February 2007 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

I was just reading the Arthur Mag (RIP) article on Newsom and saw this:

A week before I met Newsom, when I was trawling Joanna fansites for bootlegs, I sampled some of the chatter about Ys and discovered that the most controversial aspect of the album by far was the cover portrait of Newsom. Some bitched about the “Ren Faire costume,” and others compared the image to the cover of a fantasy novel.

Hmmm, wonder where that could've been!

― Edward III, Friday, 23 February 2007 21:36 (nineteen years ago)

I loved Milk-Eyed Meander, really loved it. But WTF is Ys.... overproduced, messy, grating. The songwriting is there but I can't sit and digest it except in print because of all the overdone florishes. Just her and her harp with some finishing touches would have been enough. Inviting the whole orchestra was a bad idea. Less is more. Hope to see her live and have my opinion changed on this.

― idle_matilda, Saturday, 24 February 2007 10:25 (nineteen years ago)

I'm hoping to see her at ATP, but the queues might be too daunting. I just don't like this album. I listened to it several times because most people here whose opinions I'd listen to seemed to like it, but the songs are too long and they just go on and on and on and on and it feels like you're listening to an over-excited five year-old telling you about the caterpillar they found, for hours.

She reminds me of the kid on Lucky Louie now.

― accentmonkey, Saturday, 24 February 2007 10:52 (nineteen years ago)

Are there really still no bootlegs from the orchestral shows, btw?

― toby, Saturday, 24 February 2007 14:15 (nineteen years ago)

There's at least one good-quality bootleg, Toby, but I don't have any good identifying information to help you out with. The arrangements sound way better (or at least less arch) with that reduced 4/5-person backing -- you should definitely keep looking.

(Or wait, by "orchestral" do you mean she's done shows with the full arrangements?)

― nabisco, Saturday, 24 February 2007 21:59 (nineteen years ago)

"way better" is a understatement. it's what the album should have sounded like, instead of y'know, fucking unlistenable.

― fandango, Sunday, 25 February 2007 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

(Or wait, by "orchestral" do you mean she's done shows with the full arrangements?)
Yep, she has. In the UK, I think.

I still haven't heard the band versions of the songs, but I keep hearing good things about those, esp. from people who didn't like the album. Something about them sounding Eastern-y, with bouzouki and all.

― Turangalila, Sunday, 25 February 2007 19:19 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, that's what I mean - I have a couple of the "reduced" ones, and they're great, but having been to one of the orchestral shows I'd kinda like to hear that again, too.

― toby, Monday, 26 February 2007 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

I dig it. I just wanted to answer because the thread always seems to be in the most recent. I think that's fun.

― Saxby D. Elder, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 06:43 (nineteen years ago)

the songs are too long and they just go on and on and on and on and it feels like you're listening to an over-excited five year-old telling you about the caterpillar they found, for hours

I think this is perhaps the most OTM criticism of "Ys" that I've yet seen.

― o. nate, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

this chick is not as good as tone loc.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

tone loc? young mc pwns her totes.

― Edward III, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 17:00 (nineteen years ago)

Listened to the bootleg. I quite like Ys arranged for the band, but I much prefer the album version of the songs. I still hate "Sawdust & Diamonds." Telling, eh?

― Turangalila, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

three months pass...

so it took me almost a year apparently to fall for this album but...yeah.

― strongohulkington, Monday, 4 June 2007 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

NO STRONGO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

― J0hn D., Monday, 4 June 2007 22:26 (nineteen years ago)

yesssss give in.

― jonathan - stl, Monday, 4 June 2007 22:28 (nineteen years ago)

ha.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 4 June 2007 23:29 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

For a guy who self-identifies as a feminist, I willfully ignore this stuff to a crazy degree.

― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Monday, 9 July 2007 15:41 (eighteen years ago)

Don't be such a girl.

― M.V., Monday, 9 July 2007 17:45 (eighteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

i only just got this. for ages i held off, because long songs (particularly for this genre) can scare the hell out of me. but there really is something peculiarly intriguing about this record. there's enough variety and shifts throughout the songs for me not to exercise any desire to turn the thing off. and the softer moments, the really quiet sections, are really quite enchanting.

― Charlie Howard, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 05:26 (eighteen years ago)

haha, just realised how heavily accented some of the vocals are

― Charlie Howard, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 13:32 (eighteen years ago)

i could kick myself til i was lame for missing the tour.

― pisces, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 14:40 (eighteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

'cosmia', the closer, is the true highlight. a beautiful song. i can almost appreciate the way she sings the word 'can'.

― Charlie Howard, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 15:55 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

...but can't for the life of me imitate the way she sings the word 'can'

― Charlie Howard, Wednesday, 26 September 2007 17:33 (eighteen years ago)

I love, nay, cherish the album now but I had the same trepidation, I saw her play the suite in its entirety with just a harp before she cut the album and it was intriguing but extreeeemely exhausting so that along with the hype/backlash gave me every reason to beg off the album(which I did until a few months ago).

― tremendoid, Wednesday, 26 September 2007 18:43 (eighteen years ago)

I have not listened to this since last November.

I might have to give it a try tonight.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 26 September 2007 19:50 (eighteen years ago)

it was not that good, was it?

― alex, Wednesday, 26 September 2007 22:39 (eighteen years ago)

Nope. I tried again too. Piece of shit.

― paulhw, Thursday, 27 September 2007 01:27 (eighteen years ago)

album not that good (ruined by Van Dyke Parks as some suggest upthread), tour supporting it was one of the best things I have ever seen.

― sleeve, Thursday, 27 September 2007 02:57 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

anything but a 'piece of shit'. over the top? perhaps. overly ambitious? sure. but competent, intriguing and enchanting nonetheless

― Charlie Howard, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 12:46 (eighteen years ago)

I would go see her if she played Flying a Kite. What's with the lack of love for that one?

― MRZBW, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 15:54 (eighteen years ago)

four months pass...

I bought this weeks ago. Honestly I had never heard a song of hers until a few weeks ago.

I haven't paid close attention to lyrics since I was a Rap fan in high school. When in college I discovered Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine, I stopped caring about lyrics. I'm 24.

Ys is lyric heavy and not as diverse musically as I'd like. However when I take the time to read some of the lyrics I'm kind of moved by some of the lines. Specifically, "Sawdust and Diamonds". I'm gonna have to make some time to really pay attention to what she's saying. Ys would definitely be the first "story" I've finished in a while.

As for her voice, I don't find it too unusual. Sometimes I think I'm listening to Bjork though [& I don't really have a problem with that].

― dreamsonvhs, Saturday, 15 March 2008 03:28 (eighteen years ago)

― carne asada, Saturday, 15 March 2008 03:35 (eighteen years ago)

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