Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer album/film

I'd love to hear you de-conflate it, because for me, yeah, it's conflated. The unique thing about the record is the bright sounds, major chords, and sloganistic/kliché ridden lyrics, so pop, happy and cornball are in this case the same thing.

You are accurately describing what I'm saying instead of yelling at me about something I've never said, so so far it's not turning into any kind of session.

It's sunny, 20 degrees out, cool breeze and this album is everything rn.

i’ve had “crazy classic life” and “screwed” in my head all week

I like most of this but I find her rapping cringey for some reason I can't quite place (it might be the perceived Drakeness)

― Simon H., Monday, April 30, 2018 10:57 AM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Have you ever had the experience of really enjoying something (a movie, a tv show, a meal, etc), only to have someone break the spell by loudly complaining how much it sucks.

every time I log on ILM yeah

otm enoch

i love this record and you're all harshing my mellow

sorry everyone

(i'm w simon re drakeness)

Janelle I love u but you've chosen drakeness

During this record I’ve thought of chill peppers, Aqua, Gwen and toto on take a byte

Sorry only Toto on take a byte, does anyone know what that reference is?

It's the serpent and the fall of man. Y'know: Sex.

I may have misunderstood you're question.

Really into that forever ever vocal on the intro track

Fred I’m looking for the musical ref

Carl Wilson's review

Symphony to god! Damn. Isn’t that musics gift??

We are all reaching for something unattainable. The thing about reviews is I know why the record tastes good - don’t need a calorie and ingredient spreadsheet

Music is for enjoying not quantifying

I know this is really not the point to be drawn out, but as a Canadian, Wilson has no business calling the American left "despairing."

I’m Canadian man

Love to Simon

Sorry Simon what do you mean?

oh just that the canadian left is an incredibly dismal, pathetic state at the moment compared to the States where there's been quite a bit of energy and potential for momentum by comparison

LBI otm

Treating a record like a jigsaw - take a load off n enjoy

Simon I’m sad to say I don’t know much about Canadian politics

Carl Wilson's review

― incel elgort (cryptosicko), Friday, May 4, 2018 10:30 AM (twenty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

kinda looks at first like he's giving the album a 0

I do find it kind of funny that Wilson alleges the album is being slightly overrated for its positive vision while Fred alleges more or less the opposite is true

Can’t figure out wtf Fred is on about

Back in arch days Janelle added me to MySpace and man that made my day. Her happiness on this record and gospel upbringing rings hard for me. Janelles happy = I’m happt

Happy

I like that

the jubilance + strength combo is so addictive, cannot stop listening.

Sorry only Toto on take a byte, does anyone know what that reference is?

Not hearing any drakeness I’m confused.

Enjoying the record but I still prefer the first two she did.

drake flow has been so pervasive in pop i barely hear it anymore. genuinely think janelle’s raps are better lyrically than what she sings on this record

but also i can handle a lotta corniness especially when it’s gay as hell

(I suppose "Americans" might work better if you're american but to me it sounds like an 80s big american movie's closing song !)

People in America are very traumatized by Trump right now so this kind of corny bullshit works really well on them. Plus, never forget the Santayana quote "Americans love junk. It's not the junk that bothers me, it's the love."

― grawlix (unperson)

so ever since tom pepinsky briefly went viral way back in early 2017, i've been following his blog. and his latest post - hey this board could have something to say about it! it's called "glam, metal, and regime change". (link: https://tompepinsky.com/2018/04/27/glam-metal-and-regime-change/ ) i clicked through to the slides. i clicked through to his example of a video from the "arab spring":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgw_zfLLvh8

okay, now this is what the music of regime change sounds like. resistance depends on manufacturing a viable alternative, on manufacturing _hope_. i understand that's a discredited neoliberal concept right now, but it will need to be rehabilitated.

To clarify my not-really-liking-it statement upthread. It's the combination of:
- Janelle having an OK voice, not great, but in the past having interesting melodies that carry her average voice. Not to be all Geir Hongro, but this has some pretty average tunes.
- It used to feel, lyrically, like she was a little less of open book. Now the sexual references, social media references, political references are more obvious, even simple. I won't argue the sexual politics of this though - I have a lot of respect for what people have said upthread about what it means to them.
- The beats kind of suck. Actually, for me this a big thing. There was so much exciting music on vol. 1, and a good amount on vol. 2. No track on here has me all "shit!" and searching for production credits the way the first 2 albums did. For me, this album has become the Janelle Monae show "as personality," and not the Janelle Monae show "as musical prodigy."

mmmm. i didn't take it as "average" at all. i do think it's simpler and more straightforward than her past work, and that's really what i like about it. it's the sort of thing that's difficult to do well, and she does it well.

Forgive the comparison in advance, because it just popped into my head, but this seems like her 90125. After a career of concepts and overkill, I really appreciate the straightforwardness of Dirty Computer.

To further clarify - and this may seem rockist, if that's still a thing - but it now sounds like she's singing over beats, whereas on the earlier stuff it felt like the music was coming out of her, if that makes sense.

it felt like the music was coming out of her, if that makes sense.

I've felt that way before (re: a number of artists), but not with this album. idk

what

To further clarify - and this may seem rockist, if that's still a thing - but it now sounds like she's singing over beats, whereas on the earlier stuff it felt like the music was coming out of her, if that makes sense.

― paulhw

like in this sense?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig-ZoUQKst4

No.

gross

Oh me oh me oh me oh my

Read (most) of the Wilson review and I left it thinking this album (which I haven't gotten to yet) must sound like St. Vincent making Prince's symbol album. I did see her play a club show with Prince once, and I felt that he (or probably more specifically/fairly, the situation) was bringing something different out of her, compared to when I'd seen her before. Curious!

wait hold up "the beats kinda suck"? out of all the criticisms, this is what i'd least expect, the production is so lush and limber. (not to mention that one of the first things that struck me is how flexibly her voice moves w/in the songs' landscapes; even phrasing aside "singing over beats" is such a wrong take)

eric otm