this is fucking magnificent
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 30 October 2018 03:53 (five years ago) link
Honestly cannot believe how stunning “Turn the Light on” is
― josh az (2011nostalgia), Tuesday, 30 October 2018 04:18 (five years ago) link
every time i find myself thinking "oh the hooks have all disappeared i am in a wilderness of tones" a hook usually appears
i love this album
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Wednesday, 31 October 2018 00:26 (five years ago) link
oh and yeah the back half is full of bangers i guess
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Wednesday, 31 October 2018 00:43 (five years ago) link
Although every song on this is very different from every other song, I feel justified in saying that it’s like an entire album of songs like Jane Siberry’s “Bird In The Gravel”.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 08:01 (five years ago) link
otm
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Wednesday, 31 October 2018 12:18 (five years ago) link
I’m a bit afraid to listen to this as I feel very proprietary about Ekstasis and I don’t want this to be better.
― Max Florian, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 13:23 (five years ago) link
Tim F otm a very specific and correct otm
― fgti is for (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 31 October 2018 14:15 (five years ago) link
Humbug.
Let Jeux To You HD good though
― imago, Friday, 2 November 2018 14:28 (five years ago) link
*Les
Rest of the album gave me anxiety. So much...music, so much content, and none of it exciting. I felt throttled and exacted. I don't like her song structures or melodies. I don't understand her art. Glad you're all enjoying yourselves though - I just don't get it!
― imago, Friday, 2 November 2018 14:30 (five years ago) link
I feel the same and its a blessed relief when the luxurious sound of "I Shall Love 2" comes around
I've only listened to this album twice though tbf so it'll take a while for its charms to become apparent
― . (Michael B), Friday, 2 November 2018 14:33 (five years ago) link
“A bit too extra, for imago” should be the sticker on the album cover
― coetzee.cx (wins), Friday, 2 November 2018 14:50 (five years ago) link
it still makes zero sense to me that lj doesn't like her
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 2 November 2018 14:51 (five years ago) link
i mean i get it but also when i listened to this record i thought "maybe this is the one for lj" :(
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 2 November 2018 14:52 (five years ago) link
To my mind, there was at least a 75% chance that he would proselytise for it but the quarter won out.
― pomenitul, Friday, 2 November 2018 14:53 (five years ago) link
I'll certainly listen to it again, as much to work out why it doesn't work for me as to try and get something out of it
I think I liked the short second track as well tbf. I'm not sure she can pull off things that aren't pop. Talk Talk feels like a really big stretch
― imago, Friday, 2 November 2018 15:42 (five years ago) link
Talk Talk is just the easy reference point people immediately reach for when they hear music with woodwinds and a sort of hushed atmosphere, it doesn't sound like Talk Talk to me.
― Matt DC, Friday, 2 November 2018 15:49 (five years ago) link
It's like when people compared Field of Reeds to Talk Talk and it's just like, Jesus, listen to other music!
― Matt DC, Friday, 2 November 2018 15:50 (five years ago) link
there’s way more space and delay on talk talk records, this is v composed and full and constantly thrumming
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 2 November 2018 15:55 (five years ago) link
there’s a lot of space on this record too but imo it’s used very differently
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 2 November 2018 15:57 (five years ago) link
haha I made the exact connection to field of reeds when reading this thread! Not so much the talk talk thing as the general casting around for reference points, just felt similar to me.
― coetzee.cx (wins), Friday, 2 November 2018 15:57 (five years ago) link
There's a lot more repetition on Talk Talk records as well, this is almost constantly roving into new areas.
― Matt DC, Friday, 2 November 2018 16:01 (five years ago) link
much of this fell straight into my kaitlyn aurelia smith 'saying little with a lot' unhappy place tbh, if you want a comparison you'll probably find more flattering or accurate. something about lush maximalism
― imago, Friday, 2 November 2018 16:03 (five years ago) link
i think she's saying quite a lot, the experience of the record is like a brain unloading itself (or, true to its title, like being in an atrium of squawking thoughts)
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 2 November 2018 16:05 (five years ago) link
admittedly this is a quality shared by most of my favorite records this year (the mewithoutyou record lyrically is like a brain unloading itself)
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 2 November 2018 16:06 (five years ago) link
The title is the cherry on top of the “huh lj doesn’t like this”
― coetzee.cx (wins), Friday, 2 November 2018 16:07 (five years ago) link
speaking of titles, she and KAS have the same irritatingly arch way of titling things too. 'ekstasis', 'euclid', 'i would rather see', 'i am curious, i care'
― imago, Friday, 2 November 2018 16:08 (five years ago) link
This is fascinating so far. Full of surprising turns.
― jmm, Friday, 2 November 2018 16:08 (five years ago) link
and yeah I'm sure she's saying plenty. I just can't hear any of it. I'm saying 'it's not you, it's me' this time
― imago, Friday, 2 November 2018 16:09 (five years ago) link
Don't much care for KAS for the very reasons you mention, yet I enjoyed my first encounter with Aviary – its maximalism did not strike me as an empty form carefully concealing itself.
― pomenitul, Friday, 2 November 2018 16:12 (five years ago) link
love JH but this was a racket for me on first listen
― ||||||||, Friday, 2 November 2018 16:12 (five years ago) link
I'll give it another chance now/this evening
― imago, Friday, 2 November 2018 16:12 (five years ago) link
fgti was otm upthread when he compared this to Scott Walker's late works, a far apter point of comparison than Talk Talk.
― pomenitul, Friday, 2 November 2018 16:16 (five years ago) link
This is going to be fun to explore. I feel like this is the music I've been waiting to hear this year.
― jmm, Friday, 2 November 2018 16:55 (five years ago) link
vinyl feels like the right format for this record, the chunking helps it feel less oppressive
also just on a selfish consumer level, I appreciate a double LP that's actually the length of an old-school double album
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Friday, 2 November 2018 16:59 (five years ago) link
May have to double down on some of my criticism. Chaitius which I'm enduring right now is basically high-budget muzak with some terribly affected echo-mumbling on top. I cannot begin to see why she'd release this. And the the big melodic change-up is...an ascending scale. The melodies are just nothing
― imago, Friday, 2 November 2018 17:54 (five years ago) link
I think the Scott Walker comparisons stem from the horns bit in Everyday Is An Emergency ripping off that one bit in Clara. The comparison sort of tanks after that though as Walker was all about vivid juxtaposition whereas this all feels like its trying to goo all its textures together
― imago, Friday, 2 November 2018 18:08 (five years ago) link
YOU'RE a gooey texture!
― Greta Van Fleek (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 2 November 2018 18:15 (five years ago) link
ILM's biggest Jyte Gyte fan: sorry guys, this is too much for me.
― Duke, Friday, 2 November 2018 18:17 (five years ago) link
I feel that misrepresents my criticisms
― imago, Friday, 2 November 2018 18:24 (five years ago) link
I'm only joking. No insult intended
― Duke, Friday, 2 November 2018 18:33 (five years ago) link
OK the first song to save me from distress is maybe In Gardens' Muteness
― imago, Friday, 2 November 2018 18:40 (five years ago) link
the beginning of the bangers
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 2 November 2018 18:41 (five years ago) link
imago is a pointilliste.
― pomenitul, Friday, 2 November 2018 19:03 (five years ago) link
I had to pause due to work but I did like that song. It ditched all the gooey echoey muzak nonsense and tried to actually yknow be a song or whatever rockist pointillist thing I believe in
Will listen to the rest presently
― imago, Friday, 2 November 2018 19:49 (five years ago) link
So yeah, there are (imo) two good songs, and they both sabotage themselves because JH has seemingly no sense of momentum, or when she has a good thing on her hands. In Gardens' Muteness is really good for about five minutes, then the climax of the song is this clunky one-note piano thudding that sort of works but I'm sure wasn't the best way for it to go. And then - worse - Les Jeux To You (these fucking TITLES) actually hits an awesome art-rock groove - like, after so much flimsy muzak, something with purpose! - and then instead of riding with it to the stars as she threatens to, she just abandons it and returns to the muzak for no apparent reason. I just can't deal with it. If it was just those two songs then I could deal with it as a good but flawed single but today I've sat through this album for three full hours and gawped at its RYM average score and wondered how everyone's brain is wired up compared to mine with increasing alarm. What is wrong with me/you?
― imago, Friday, 2 November 2018 20:42 (five years ago) link
idk man maybe it's bc you keep referring to it as muzak
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 2 November 2018 20:44 (five years ago) link
TS: clocks or clouds.
― pomenitul, Friday, 2 November 2018 20:44 (five years ago) link
Chaitius which I'm enduring right now is basically high-budget muzak with some terribly affected echo-mumbling on top.
idk are you listening to the bass in this track? the tightly turning strings that make up the first part of it? the silence it drops away into leaving her uttering clipped unintelligible syllables in empty space? "muzak" feels intentionally distancing
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 2 November 2018 20:57 (five years ago) link