yeeeees she's coming to Aarhus in May!
― niels, Friday, 18 March 2016 11:30 (eight years ago) link
Been a long time since a debut from a singer-songwriter hit me this hard
I drove from Mississippi to Nashville to see her a week or two ago, because I feel the same way. Her record reminds of when the first Smiths record came out when I was a teenager. Not that it sounds anything like the Smiths, but there is that same feeling that this person is articulating emotions that I have felt. You could have heard a pin drop while she was playing, she had the room in the palm of her hand, although her between-song banter was self-deprecating and funny.
Aside from the lyrics, I love how the music is sooooooo spare and spartan: she gets an awful lot out of one or two chords and a delay pedal. In that regard, it reminds me of the very early Durutti Column records, if they were slowed and stripped down even further.
― Driver 8, Saturday, 19 March 2016 06:50 (eight years ago) link
The musical side of it is so perfect, just can't imagine these songs any other way.
― michaellambert, Saturday, 19 March 2016 14:31 (eight years ago) link
I'm probably just gonna keep bumping this thread until every song from the album has been posted here b/c I love them all
No idea how I made it so long without posting this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSgWPJy01es
― Evan R, Thursday, 31 March 2016 15:17 (eight years ago) link
evan have you seen her live yet
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Thursday, 31 March 2016 15:18 (eight years ago) link
Nope, seeing her in a few weeks in Madison. Super excited but also nervous to revisit all these songs from the darkest point of my life in a public place.
In all the live videos she somehow sounds just as good as she does on the album so I have pretty high hopes.
― Evan R, Thursday, 31 March 2016 15:23 (eight years ago) link
yeah i saw her in san francisco last month. it was tremendous. pin drop quiet
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Thursday, 31 March 2016 15:30 (eight years ago) link
i get some nina nastasia vibes from her occasionally but she's very much her own thing
― nomar, Thursday, 31 March 2016 17:03 (eight years ago) link
Saw her a second time a couple of weeks ago in a small venue that's usually full of noisy drunk people, but she does get people to shut up and pay attention.
Leaving aside the lyrics, within the self-imposed box of the minimal style she has chosen to employ on this album, she is really a tremendous guitar player with a great sense of dynamics.
― Driver 8, Saturday, 2 April 2016 00:52 (eight years ago) link
I showed "sprained ankle" to one of my students on Tuesday and he had already recorded a cover by Thursday
― get a long, little doggy (m bison), Saturday, 2 April 2016 01:28 (eight years ago) link
I can't believe how young she is. Up with Julia Holter as a major new player in Americsn music
― beamish13, Saturday, 2 April 2016 05:23 (eight years ago) link
uh i dont really put em in the same building tho
― get a long, little doggy (m bison), Saturday, 2 April 2016 05:24 (eight years ago) link
also julia holter has been recording for a minute
― get a long, little doggy (m bison), Saturday, 2 April 2016 05:25 (eight years ago) link
ur gonna run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlVp9W6LvTQ
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Saturday, 2 April 2016 17:48 (eight years ago) link
Seeing her soon and stoked! I predict crying in public!
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, 2 April 2016 22:55 (eight years ago) link
ok i covered sprained ankle, toohttps://soundcloud.com/matthewmathieu/sprained-ankle-julien-baker
― get a long, little doggy (m bison), Sunday, 3 April 2016 05:19 (eight years ago) link
^^^^that is awesome.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Sunday, 3 April 2016 14:38 (eight years ago) link
http://www.stereogum.com/1869199/julien-baker-the-ballad-of-big-nothing-elliott-smith-cover/mp3s/
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Monday, 4 April 2016 17:15 (eight years ago) link
Excellent show last night. Kind of an eerie moment when, after taking in the entire set in stone silence, the crowd worked up the courage to start singing along with "Something."
― Evan R, Sunday, 17 April 2016 16:49 (eight years ago) link
holy shit there were a ton of people at her Minneapolis show on Friday. where are people talking about her besides here?
― Ys Man a.k.a. Have One on G (geoffreyess), Sunday, 17 April 2016 16:54 (eight years ago) link
Seems like a situation where people are just gradually converted as they discover her. Glad I caught a club show; I wouldn't be surprised if she's playing theaters by the time she tours behind her next album
― Evan R, Monday, 18 April 2016 14:56 (eight years ago) link
Amazing live. Also it was my first time trying MDMA (in slightly too small a dose, I think), which made it extra nice.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, 20 April 2016 04:26 (eight years ago) link
i'm seeing her tonight! no mdma tho.
― yellow despackling power (Will M.), Wednesday, 20 April 2016 14:46 (eight years ago) link
Again marveling at what a remarkable feat this album is. Over the last six months nearly every track on it has been my favorite at some point (most recently I landed on "Good News" as the clear standout, but that could change). Can't think of a recent record that unfolded and grew on me at such a systematic pace. I never burn out on the record, because every time I think I've finally tapped it dry, a different song starts speaking to me.
― Evan R, Thursday, 28 April 2016 16:02 (eight years ago) link
Ack, jesus christ speak of the devil
http://www.stereogum.com/1874106/watch-julien-baker-sing-good-news-with-sharon-van-etten-in-nyc/video/
― Evan R, Thursday, 28 April 2016 16:09 (eight years ago) link
i saw her and it was remarkable, really could hear a pindrop (except for the creaky-ass floor at the venue... at one point someone near the front needed to go to the washroom or something, and she walked away, and it was SO LOUD)
after seeing her live, rejoice absolutely jumped out, what a song
― yellow despackling power (Will M.), Thursday, 28 April 2016 16:39 (eight years ago) link
saw her live friday, absolutely amazing - entire show was a highlight but "everybody does", "good news", "blacktop" and "go home" stood out for me, eyes welling up
quickly ran into her later and she came off as the nicest person, as she also does in recent piece published on p4k
while the songs feel very contemporary to me in their intimacy, I couldn't help but feel they could become part of the western cannon same way as dylan/joni/browne/townes/etc's stuff
― niels, Monday, 23 May 2016 10:27 (eight years ago) link
bury me with this album
― Evan R, Friday, 1 July 2016 19:59 (eight years ago) link
NPR is streaming her set at Newport. Starts a bit slow but it's greathttp://www.npr.org/event/music/488354526/julien-baker-live-in-concert-newport-folk-2016
― video2000, Wednesday, 3 August 2016 20:46 (eight years ago) link
Signed to Matador, no shock there. "Funeral Pyre" is a bruiser.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, 11 January 2017 13:56 (seven years ago) link
Do you reckon we'll get a second album this year following the Matador signing? I really hope so.
― NWOFHM! Overlord (krakow), Wednesday, 11 January 2017 14:17 (seven years ago) link
seconded
― niels, Wednesday, 11 January 2017 14:36 (seven years ago) link
I think there's a very good chance of that happening, yeah
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, 11 January 2017 14:38 (seven years ago) link
Funeral Pyre sounds great
Wonder if she'll record with a band now she's on a bigger label
― niels, Thursday, 12 January 2017 13:48 (seven years ago) link
Kind of reminds me of hearing Because I Was In Love for the first time and appreciating that this is a songwriter who will probably go on to make better records, but will probably never make one this raw and pure again
― Evan R, jueves 5 de noviembre de 2015 20:51 (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Ha! I was just talking about this with a friend yesterday. She's 21 I think? She certainly has the potential talent to continue doing even better music but as she gets older it's a given that sensitive types of singers get a bit burnt down and they stop delivering heavily emotional performances. Most I've seen become more tired, more cynical or simply start becoming more obsessed about layering sounds in the studio instead of raw performances.
I don't think she'll ever be as
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Wednesday, 1 February 2017 18:58 (seven years ago) link
Whoa pushed submit by accident. Anyways watch her live while you can!
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Wednesday, 1 February 2017 19:01 (seven years ago) link
I listened to "Sprained Ankle" the other week and it almost broke me in half
― monotony, Wednesday, 1 February 2017 22:21 (seven years ago) link
but it was just a sprain, tho?
― Spottie, Wednesday, 1 February 2017 22:23 (seven years ago) link
"Everybody Does" sends these weird and terrible shivers down my spine every time.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 4 February 2017 09:01 (seven years ago) link
new song "distant solar systems" is out there
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Friday, 17 March 2017 14:53 (seven years ago) link
Almost breezy by her standards!
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, 17 March 2017 15:10 (seven years ago) link
another new song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI7fFavJQ0k
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, 10 June 2017 16:07 (seven years ago) link
sounds great, digging the guitar work
― niels, Saturday, 10 June 2017 16:42 (seven years ago) link
also: https://www.instagram.com/p/BUpXYC5AE2s/
new album turn out the lights out october 27
https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5994f719b5493d7110d146be/master/pass/JB_cover02.jpg
new song "appointments" is on spotify and etc.
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, 17 August 2017 14:36 (seven years ago) link
Yay! Looking forward to crying all November.
― devvvine, Thursday, 17 August 2017 14:43 (seven years ago) link
sounds great!
loving the cover, wonder if it's for sale as a poster somewhere?
― niels, Thursday, 17 August 2017 17:00 (seven years ago) link
cool I'm tearing up at work
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, 17 August 2017 17:48 (seven years ago) link
her voice is huge in the last bit, my goodness
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, 17 August 2017 18:10 (seven years ago) link
only songwriter who's ever made me physically reluctant to press play for fear of what she might make me experience
Her first album is inextricably associated with a personal trauma, so that's a big part of it, but she's the only artist that's given me that feeling. Like, I don't even know a way of describing it that isn't completely hyperbolic. I don't feel like I'm listening to the songs, I feel like they're happening to me, the evocations are so strong.
― Evan R, Thursday, 17 August 2017 21:09 (seven years ago) link
A ton of great melodies on this album, and the lyrics are raw, effective, and gutting, but the production and recording sounds quite muddied and leaves me wanting throughout. Still one of the better American indie-rock records I've heard this year.
― Indexed, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 20:10 (two years ago) link
great live show!! Her voice is amazing and her band rips and she seems like a really cool person!!!
― brimstead, Sunday, 7 November 2021 17:08 (two years ago) link
sorry for xasanthur style post
― brimstead, Sunday, 7 November 2021 17:09 (two years ago) link