Anticipate David Bowie's BLACKSTAR

i realise this exposes my stupidity (again), but without googling, i have not heard of anyone in that band lineup...

They're all New York jazz dudes.

question: does this revelation give further insight into the sound of the new album?

Yes. It will be an album of jazz dudes playing rock music. So it'll probably sound like Steely Dan.

thank you.
i am not that tuned into the NYC jazz scene, so, appreciate the insight.

First single/video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kszLwBaC4Sw

This is good.

"he's obviously too sick to tour or perform"

I think he just lost interest in touring after having a heart attack. I don't think he's got some kind of ongoing illness; he's getting old, from the videos that are out, but he doesn't look unwell.

well, his eyeball popped out too

wow this song is wild

He's looking a bit like John Robb in that video, most disconcerting.

I really like this new song.

did he just sing, "I've got game"?

"i'm not a porn star"

great fucking song. can't wait now

this makes me want to listen to The Next Day

see what daves been up to

this makes me want to listen to The Next Day

― flappy bird,

it'll take a few minutes to change your mind

I keep seeing Scott Walker comparisons

i'm so fucking about this holy shit

bowie!

The "I'm a black star!" refrain is annoying after 20 times. The froufrou bits at the five-minute mark are by far the best.

nice echo off his spooky oooooohhs from "Subterraneans."

Love it. And love The Next Day. My most played Bowie album in years.

I couldn't get past how many terrible rock songs TND had. The one in which he yelled through clenched teeth that she'd NEVER BEEE THE BOSS OF MEEEEE made me laugh for days.

That's a lot of laughing!

this is so wild!

crap this is cool

Great song. I wish the drums were lower in the mix though

Atvlong last a great Bowie record.probably.

My goodness his voice sounds good. If he's not touring so as not to trash his instrument, he can keep on not touring.

The clip's somehow referencing ergotism, right?

I thonk he don't do interviews as well anymore

Nor do I

"Finally, doing the Scott Walker album I wanted to do!"

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 24 October 2015 18:16 (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hah, just looking at the album title and off the back of Sue, this is exactly what I was thinking before I even clicked the thread.

First 4 minutes > last 4 minutes > middle 3 minutes. Brilliant video though.

first 4 minutes percussion reminded me of Björk's Hunter tbh

I thought there was a bit of a Kid A/Amnesiac era Radiohead vibe crossed with the David Bowie from Labyrinth growing old and crossing over with Pan's Labyrinth. Was pretty strange to see it by accident on Sky Arts.

Okay HERE'S something funny -- turns out the director of the video, Johan Renck, who has also directed a lot of other things of late, including the TV series Bowie's done a song for...is none other than Stakka Bo. Really.

https://vimeo.com/70208312

Via Wikipedia, more of his resume:

"He has directed music videos for a number of artists including Madonna's "Hung Up" and "Nothing Really Matters", Kylie Minogue's "Love at First Sight", All Saints' "Black Coffee", Robyn's "Handle Me", Robbie Williams's "Tripping" and "She's Madonna", The Libertines' "What Became of the Likely Lads", Suede's "She's in Fashion", New Order's "Crystal" and "Krafty", Beyoncé's "Me, Myself and I", Chris Cornell's "Can't Change Me", The Knife's "Pass This On", Fever Ray's "Seven" and Bat for Lashes' "Daniel".[4] In 2012 he directed the music video "Blue Velvet" for Lana Del Rey which was also used for the commercial campaign by H&M, as well as the music video for "Wild" by Beach House. In 2015 he directed the ten-minute video for David Bowie's "Blackstar."

oh wow i'm a huge fan of this dude's videos. who knew

Video's great, song is OK. It could fit right on "Outside" without calling attention to itself, for better or for worse. Thinking specifically of stuff like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okg1UBdyvow

I thought of Outside too. He's still got that weird charisma in the video, no question.

That's exactly why I like it so much.

First 4 minutes > last 4 minutes > middle 3 minutes. Brilliant video though.

― ArchCarrier

agreed with all of that. that video, though. hoooooly shit it's good

http://49.media.tumblr.com/1549d7a19297aa8de4679d49209ec6a4/tumblr_ny4jmuaiBT1qdmmiqo2_500.gif

as expected, mojo are all over this.

collecters edition (i.e subscribers) has a special bowie cover, a massive feature re the album, and have given the album 4/5 rating.

" * somewhat recalls station to station in form - epic multipart title track opener, seven songs in 41 minutes, odd atmospherics, rhythmic heft, tremendous singing - but otherwise there's no obvious precedent in the bowie canon'

colour me fucking pyched.

Well, to be fair, legacy artists keep MOJO going. The album must be 4/5 stars.

i tried gifing this video and it has some special codec or something that blocks that from being possible =(

gotta go with screen capture

There is absolutely no chance anything about this resembles "Station to Station" beyond the artist's name.

Loving this song. Did not believe he had anything like this still in him. He tried so hard in the 90s and could not come close. He had 10 years to write an album and put out one with Boss of Me on it. Now out of nowhere comes this. I've been in a good mood all day after seeing this. It's brilliant.

feeling pretty ho hum about this, interesting enough, nice to see the old boy still doing it, and not embarrassing himself.

otoh: horrible drum sounds, really grating refrain of "im a blackstar" - and that's the only things I remember from the track having listened to it 4 hours ago.

Does he ever say "I'm not a pop star?"

I really think Tis a Pity She Was a Whore could be the very best thing he ever did.

Anyone read this yet? Looks interesting: https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/blackstar-theory-9781501365379/

xp that's so cool thanks!!

Man, she punched me like a dude
Hold your mad hands, I cried
'Tis a pity she was a whore
'Tis my fate, I suppose
For that was patrol
That was patrol
'Tis a pity she was a whore

Did anyone figure out which star field/constellation is in the hidden NASA artwork? Surely it can't be just any random picture of stars...

Happy birthday. Nate Chine assembled a rough oral history of the ★ sessions: https://thegig.substack.com/p/at-the-centre-of-it-all

Completely forgot Jason Lindner was on that.

totally blew my mind at the time when i found out Bowie was working with Maria Schneider— i love both artists to bits

I nerded out and went to Brooklyn to bug Ben Monder with some Bowie questions shortly after he died.

Lovely.

This album is extraordinary. Hitting a real personal punch tonight. No exaggeration to regard it as one of his best ever records.

Listened to it last week for the first time in several years. It's very good, but not perfect; "Girl Loves Me" and "I Can't Give Everything Away" (which sounds like a closing-credits song from a mid '80s movie) are the weakest tracks. But it really hangs together as an album-length statement, and the first four tracks are all great.

McCaslin (I think) said somewhere recently there was an additional track from the album sessions that would be released on the 10th anniversary...but haven't heard any more about that

oh it was Tim Lefebvre

"I Can't Give Everything Away" (which sounds like a closing-credits song from a mid '80s movie)

― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson),

I do not consider this a bad thing. I also don't think it's a weak track.

Would love to hear the demos

yeah I Can’t Give… is the emotional heart of the album

Oh man, I love “Girl Loves Me,” among other things for those gonzo drum fills.

"Dollar Days" is the only B+ track imo

ompletely forgot Jason Lindner was on that.

It's impressive as hell to think that Lindner, McCaslin, et. al. worked off Bowie's detailed demos.

"Dollar Days" is the only B+ track imo

If I'll never see
those English evergreens
I'm running to
it's nothing to me
it's nothing to see

that song has hit me so hard on many occasions

I do find that verse and his singing of it quite poignant.

Its limpid strum calls back to Space Oddity for me, too.

For me, Girl Loves Me is the only dud, and even that's pretty likeable. The album has definite Station to Station vibes I think. Just occurred to me he's wearing his STS outfit in the Lazarus video as well...