New Joanna Newsom Album "Ys" Due Nov 14

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

NO STRONGO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

yesssss give in.

ha.

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

Don't be such a girl.

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.

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

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

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

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

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).

I have not listened to this since last November.

I might have to give it a try tonight.

it was not that good, was it?

Nope. I tried again too. Piece of shit.

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.

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

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

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].

!

i think she has a great voice, but sings a little too over-enthusiastically at times

dear god.
she's shown admirable restraint in keeping this under 3 discs of material I guess.

― bad hair day house (fandango), Tuesday, September 5, 2006

lol

Edward III unpacking the meteoroid bit upthread is one of my all-time ILX favorite posts.

does anyone still think the new album is better than this?

hell yes

but first one is still my favourite.

I don't.

dear god.
she's shown admirable restraint in keeping this under 3 discs of material I guess.

― bad hair day house (fandango), Tuesday, September 5, 2006

lol

― i know who the sockpuppet master of ilx is (velko), Sunday, February 21, 2010 4:25 AM

I think the new one is better, but I wish it contained more of the harp shredding on display in "Sawdust & Diamonds".

I went to this thing the other night where spontaneous songs kept breaking out and this one girl sang this 10 minute epic poem about a boy and she totally had Joanna-voice, I was so sure it was imitation-as-flattery, but afterward she was like "No, I've never heard of her." So I sent her this. It blew her mind.

oh maaan

ys is just totally fearless. i have a lot of admiration for JN because she just sounds so uninhibited and when i listen to this record i'm always reminded of other great songwriters and the work they did at their narrative peak, for instance bob dylan circa blood on the tracks.

the latest album is just too much for me to absorb, and it's frustrating that i'll probably never get round to appreciating more than just bits and pieces, because there's just too much of it.

I had a bit of an AW MAN moment last night when I realised that I'm older than Joanna Newsom was when Ys was released.

(I also saw her play last night and she was great and so was Roy Harper supporting, but I'll save my embarrassing effusiveness for elsewhere.)

(((d-_-b)))

the hills are groaning with excess, like a table ceaselessly being set

Yep. This album is still a masterpiece in its own little way, despite what came before and after it. Bring back Van Dyke Parks!

I haven't listened to Joanna for ages. The triple album lost me a bit...

That's because it was hopelessly dull. Go back to Ys, the 'meteorite' refrain on 'Emily' is heartbreaking.

can't really get with her other stuff, but Ys has gradually and steadily grown to become an all-timer for me.

She'd have been a shoe-in for the ILX pre-covers LULU -- the Lou Reed/Metallica album if she could limit herself to twelve minutes...

http://25.media.tumblr.com/98aa24920ad2605eaea23ba8f8cabef6/tumblr_mnzinlcOnG1qagxv6o4_400.jpg