New Joanna Newsom Album "Ys" Due Nov 14

...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

uh

I love Joanna Newsom and I love that album cover, but that pic is just gruesome

too gross not to share. rip blogs.

sawdust & diamonds makes me weep like a little baby

10 years holy Christ.

i still think of this as a kind-of recent album.

i think this is the first ilx thread i ever read, wandered in trying to find the record on an mp3 blog

still my fave of hers, unbelievable album

"Sawdust & Diamonds" is the only song that makes me cry every time I hear it.

I was 21 years old when this came out and I hated it so much... it wasn’t her voice which I know it’s an acquired taste but I didn’t have any problems with it on Milk Eyed Mender, in fact it would’ve probably been one of my top 10 2014 albums if I had made a list back then.

But when Ys came out the track lenghts alone seemed terribly offputting and when I tried listening to it I realize I wasn’t prepared for what sounded like tunes for a Broadway play based on a children’s book. I’ve always had an aversion to histrionism in music and this seemed to have way too many things I hate.

Oh was I wrong... it still sounds like a soundtrack to an imaginary play to my ears and I don’t know when will I ever be in the mood and find the space and time to listen to it but this is way out there in its own universe. Sorry for being a hater before, this album was worth the hype and it’s a genuine product of love.

wow, eleven years.

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, Wednesday, September 26, 2007 7:57 PM (ten years ago)

that show (with "small orchestra" 6-piece band) remains one of the best live shows I have ever seen, you could have heard a pin drop in the 400+ person venue during the extended end of "Cosmia"

where is she now I wonder? seems to have retired from music.

There’s many emotions in here but the main theme does seem to be her struggle to come to terms with mortality. The scope shifts from heartbreaking to enlightening often.

xp the divers tour was less than three years ago, i'm guessing she'll be back

Van Dyke Parks arrangements are a bit meh still but she’s on another level... imagine someone line say Nico Muhly in there..

I strongly doubt she's retired. She had a baby less than a year ago, not exactly surprising that she might take a little break. Also, there was a 5 year gap between the last 2 albums.

i love the arrangements, don't understand the dislike for them in this thread at all

It’s actually more the production than the arrangements... they sound very idk... skinny?

It's a great album, I especially love the first 3 tracks, and the live version was indeed amazing. But there is a bit of fussiness to it. I prefer the pared back, naturalistic sound of HOOM, don't expect she can top that one.

it's not that I dislike the original LP arrangements, it's that seeing the songs done live with the stripped down 6-piece really made them shine for me in a way that the regular LP versions didn't.

ha kind of an xp there