U.S. Girls

Her voice really reminds me of stefani on mad as hell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cFnewlPpzI

dopest

that grew on me over its length. helps that i like finches and avians in general

it really is going to be her funk album - unless they've all been funky and i've not noticed until now

the guy in the video is her husband which is nice (apparently he's a musician of localised renown himself)

like this album and this piece https://www.theringer.com/music/2018/2/12/17003518/u-s-girls-meg-remy-in-a-poem-unlimited-profile

that's quite a title

headline aside the album is great

Looking forward to hearing this. She reminds me of Solex, especially on sororal feelings - never a bad thing

Maybe my favourite band going rn? idk anymore I love this music so much

new album's great

totally.
as good a place to hop into the U.S. Girls thing as any other album, for sure.

Raffles and fgti otm

L-o-v-e-r is such a great bad romance track. Love the theme of vouching for your sensitivity in a cold relationship

gave this a first listen while coming in to work. This is good.

hooooly shit 'incidental boogie'!!!

Yeah this album is great

on a par with Half Free but it's a good par

'poem' is another excellent non-single

Mad As Hell (aka MAH), Rosebud, Incidental Boogie are excellent. The other singles are pretty nifty too.

Mad As Hell is so great!

I'm loving the angry swirl of this record.

hell yeh this rules

I love "Half Free"'s A-side more than any other record ever, prob

Not meant to detract from either artist in saying this, but I've always been annoyed that the sound-world that Solex proposed wasn't further explored by other artists subsequently, and to my ears US Girls are exploring and expanding that world

Fgti, I mentioned solex earlier - great minds ;-)

She's hard to beat tho and underrated but US Girls are definitely carrying that torch

Nothing here quite as incredible as Woman's Work but then I think that was my #1 in the 2015 traxpoll

Incidental Boogie definitely from the same sound-world mind you

M.A.H. is awesome. I like the whole record, need to listen more. I sort of miss her scabrous noise days, but it's also cool that she's done a whole range of things since then.

Also 2nd/3rd the otms about Solex.

Might have heard part of the last album but this is the first new thing i’ve bought in forever without really knowing what it would sound like. Seems great so far.

(Just realized I have used the word scabrous twice in this thread, which is probably overselling her scabrousness. But she was pretty murky, kind of industrial. I love the new stuff too.)

The timbre of her voice on this record in particular reminds me a lot of mid-90s Kylie.

i've been thinking the exact same thing, Will!

Yeah, spot on. Put this on and after a few songs my girlfriend asked "uh...are you listening to a Kylie Minogue album?"

it hadn't occurred to me but she really does sound so much like Kylie

this album is excellent & so is her band. i was surprised to learn that Rage of Plastic and Time are both covers, they're so thoroughly transformed. Time is especially a highlight

here are the originals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH39LembpDQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1L-YQK756g

Kylie, yes, but Olivia Newton-John more.

alfred otm. also this record is glorious

I'm obsessed with Mad As Hell at the moment. It kind of reminds of Don't Talk To Me About Love by Altered Images which is one of my favourite songs ever. The rest of the album is slowly growing on me.

Loved the last album.
But this one?

The singles were coming out, and I wasn't completely convinced, but...
Hearing them, partnered with "Incidental Boogie", "L-Over", etc etc + the ultra-fantastic "Rage of Plastics"... makes this album feel like a goddamn subtle(ish) self-possessed wonder.

Playing it over and over again.

Yeah, I played the shit out of Half Free and was lukewarm on "Mad As Hell" at first, but LOVE this album and couldn't possibly overrate it

Same!

What I really want to do is play "Rage of Plastics" over and over again, but I always end up listening to the whole thing.
THAT's how I know this is super good.

mad as hell giving me heart vibes

Vocally I'm getting Ida No vibes more than anything else

Exactly ! I also hear Kylie now that she’s been mentioned but my first thought was Glass Candy.

Mad as Hell actually reminds me of Blondie of all artists.

Hope you had help it get to the top 77 2017 poll, we need to get at least one song represented in next year’s poll.

I still hear Gwen stefani in her timbre but also a deep reverence for doo wop (Glenda Collins maybe?). Still prefer half free tho

Rage of
Plastics sounds like black velvet to me

"Incidental Boogie," an excellent Eno-worthy title, is my ear worm.

"Incidental Boogie" is terrific.
Probably my #2 after "Rage...".

As for the singing... while she doesn't (I don't think) have the natural ability or range of Billy Mackenzie,
I def hear a touch of him in her more adventurous or dramatic note/performance choices.

Yeah I love this album. "Pearly Gates" is my current jam, but it's all good -- one of those records that ends too soon so I just put it on again.

pearly gates is great but we can all admit it rips "regulate" right?

I think you meant "and" not "but" -- part of what makes it great!

fair enough

New album out today. Kind of seems like she's fallen off of everyone's radar? Apparently the first single from this album came out back in July and I had no idea.

The opener sounds like....Toto.

She had definitely fallen off my radar; this is the first I had heard of the new album.

I saw her live in NYC in February 2020, the last show I saw pre-quarantine. So now I unfortunately associate her (and Heavy Light in particular) with that early-COVID sense of pre-apocalyptic anxiety. I thought the critical backlash to that album was pretty harsh, so I've got high hopes for this one. Only two tracks in right now--Toto OTM re: opener.

Also re: opener, from this track-by-track interview https://www.stereogum.com/2214480/us-girls-bless-this-mess-track-by-track/interviews/footnotes-interview/:

You said that this song is about the act of creation? Tell me why this one kicks off the album.

MEG REMY: Because of how it sounds, how it starts. It hits. As they say, “It slaps.” An instant “Oh, shit.” Thematically, the song’s really all over the place. I was initially writing it in my mind as a duet. I really wanted to do a duet with Julian Casablancas, which obviously didn’t happen. Then there was a brief moment where it was going to maybe be a duet with Donald Fagen. That didn’t happen either — someone got my hopes very up.

Get Don for the remix!!

If Holy Ghost and Thundercat can get Michael Mcdonald surely so can she

Feel like Heavy Light showcased most of their worst impulses (or at least the things I enjoyed least about their previous work)... to the extent that it made me question my love for Half Free and In a Poem (which already had some ill-advised clunkers to go with the VERY high highs).

Should I listen to this?

early indications appear to be that this has a couple of bangers and a bunch more half-baked stuff, will listen (no matter how cringe she gets, Half Free will always be a masterpiece)

I liked “Pump” the best on first listen.

listening now. at least so far i can say it has a better track than anything on heavy light (the second). however it also has a worse track than anything on it (the third). nice to give yourself an out by calling it a mess in the title lol

yeah this isn't very good

It's about as uneven as Heavy Light was for me. The playlist I just made with the best tracks from both is a pretty decent album though!

https://i.imgur.com/jAAMOW3.jpg

surprised to see no discussion of the new album. i was surprised by how much i dig her take on americana. getting gene clark vibes

surprising!

nothing is sticking with me on this album as much as some songs on earlier albums, but I do very much like the general vibe.

I haven't had a chance to give the new one a proper listen, but I did take my 15 year old daughter to see the show in DC and it was great. A really good live band, much better than I would expect. Afterwards Meg was working the merch stand and she chatted with the kid and it was really sweet. They've gotten to a point to where they are consistently good if unsurprising.

"Bless This Mess" made me get all misty during a hard time. The video is rather nice as well.

Meg was an amazing performer, barefoot in a cotton dress. In between songs she was warm and charming but when the music starts a switch is flipped and she gets this intense early David Byrne nervey thing going on. It's fascinating and hypnotic. Her movements were at different times sexual, maternal, and primal. There's a famous photo of Carolee Schneeman performing "Interior Scroll" and that is what kept flashing in my mind during the concert.