but you can say that about any album
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, March 3, 2019 12:13 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I don't think you can. It feels like there's an intention here -- whether it was conscious or subconscious -- for the shape and songwriting of these songs flowing into each other and coming together to reflect a specific kind of expression of her identity, and that's just as valid as a set of songs where the inherent structure hits certain beats that we've all become conditioned to.
― josh winters (josh), Sunday, 3 March 2019 20:26 (five years ago) link
there's a lot of tastemaker baiting in these credits -- can anyone actually make out cassie's voice on "way to the show" -- but the-dream over panda bear is pretty inspired
― J0rdan S., Sunday, 3 March 2019 20:29 (five years ago) link
xp I don't know enough about music recording to be certain of that. I know it is not the case with lots of films, attempts at pleasing specific taste is often baked into the process from day one.
I think it's fine to admit you are not into Solange's music! Acting like an archaeologist discovering the masterpiece beneath the sand is just showing wokeness on social media. It's either there for you or it isn't.
― Van Horn Street, Sunday, 3 March 2019 20:33 (five years ago) link
i think this album is really dope
― J0rdan S., Sunday, 3 March 2019 20:35 (five years ago) link
Yeah same.
― Van Horn Street, Sunday, 3 March 2019 20:40 (five years ago) link
This is a fantastic record, and it's absolutely uncompromising, but it's not a monolith. It's not even posing a challenge -- Solange is simply asking you if you can vibe with her, and if you can't, then maybe you just can't, and where do you go after that?
― josh winters (josh), Sunday, 3 March 2019 20:46 (five years ago) link
Solange’s swirling consciousness, one that has shed any regard and obligation towards traditional structure and therefore, exists freely and confidently
there has never existed a single person whose consciousness could ever, at any point in time, however brief, be accurately described this way. as you actually point out in your followup post, behind virtually any potent push against the confines of imposed structure is intention -- by definition conscious. when it's not, it's what is dubiously labeled 'outsider art'. and this is not that -- as has been pointed out already to support unrelated points, the work's credits are full of phrasings and curated guest contributions that seem designed to perk up the ears of the tastemaker crowd and to position its creator in a manner favorable to that crowd: as an Artist, even an Auteur, fully capable of cobbling together the disparate contributions of true Talents in service of her own, and above all her focused (yet deliberately unfocused?) Vision.
basically, i'm just not hearing what y'all are hearing. i thought defending a work's inaccessibility as quietly virtuous was for rockists but here we all are.
i'll give you that it is certainly an invitation to an experience or feeling, but that's what literally all art is.
― dyl, Sunday, 3 March 2019 21:19 (five years ago) link
My Reasons For Not Getting This Solange Record Are Fundamental And Philosophical
― dyl, Sunday, 3 March 2019 21:20 (five years ago) link
I guess I just don't really see how this album is 'inaccessible.' Sure, most of the songs are short. (???)
'Way to the Show,' 'Dreams,' 'Binz,' and 'Sound of Rain' seem very melodic to me!
Sure, maybe there aren't as many tracks that involve a whole lot of vocal jumping jacks -- but then there's 'My Skin My Logo' which slowly builds up from a quiet rumble to that heavenly climax.
― KevRus, Sunday, 3 March 2019 21:35 (five years ago) link
― josh winters (josh), Sunday, March 3, 2019 3:46 PM
Lunch?
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 3 March 2019 22:08 (five years ago) link
Only if you’re paying
― josh winters (josh), Sunday, 3 March 2019 22:19 (five years ago) link
Negronis for everyone!
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 3 March 2019 22:26 (five years ago) link
This feels like a particularly bad album to try to power through one's non-interest. I quite like it, but I think I was primed for it by listening to a bunch of sub-two-minute tracks while figuring out nominations for Karl's poll. Thinking about it with that in mind, I want to compare it to Just Another Diamond Day or Donuts, which also have lots of doubters--or lol maybe it's her GBV album
― rob, Sunday, 3 March 2019 22:30 (five years ago) link
i love short tracks. i love longform, coherent works with amorphous structure. but so far i don't love this longform work or its short tracks.
is the companion film going to be an apple music exclusive indefinitely? (that also reminds me i still have yet to hear frank ocean's endless in full, tho judging from what i heard of it i would probably prefer it to this)
― dyl, Sunday, 3 March 2019 23:06 (five years ago) link
It’s interesting to me how it’s only certain albums these days that people feel the need to give 10 listens to force themselves to enjoy. Like, no one was telling everyone to listen to the last, Decemberists album 15 times before judging.
I think it’s because there’s a careful curation of the image of A Verified Genius that has happened with Solange and a few others. This image of this on-another-plane, mystical, spiritual, artistically pure outsider with insights that no one else could possibly have. People have bought into it a little too unquestioningly. There’s this sense surrounding her that if you don’t GET IT you’re at best uncool and worst, racist.
The songs here are just...not very interesting songs.
― triggercut, Sunday, 3 March 2019 23:40 (five years ago) link
strawman all you like, it's just that her last record was really fucking good and this one less immediately so, therefore I cut her a little slack and listen to it a while before dismissing it. The hot take is not the only take.
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Monday, 4 March 2019 00:01 (five years ago) link
Like, no one was telling everyone to listen to the last, Decemberists album 15 times before judging.
why are you recommending mass ptomaine poisoning?
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 March 2019 00:04 (five years ago) link
Creating a binary in which black R&B woman gets press vs white indie rock band isn't uh the way to even if you think Solange's album is no good.
― Let's have sensible centrist armageddon (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 March 2019 00:05 (five years ago) link
yeah seriously omg
― dyl, Monday, 4 March 2019 00:59 (five years ago) link
I don't think anyone who doesn't vibe on Solange's new record is uncool but I am starting to question this need to justify not liking an album over and over. You don't like a record it's cool if you feel forced to like any record it's between you and your conscience.
― Van Horn Street, Monday, 4 March 2019 02:00 (five years ago) link
These tracks are built on cool grooves, but they feel static and repetitious in a way that def. does not jibe with my taste.
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Monday, 4 March 2019 05:20 (five years ago) link
seems like repetition was a part of what she was going for
― clouds (peanutbuttereverysingleday), Monday, 4 March 2019 16:02 (five years ago) link
see bithfrk interview Steve riech etc
― clouds (peanutbuttereverysingleday), Monday, 4 March 2019 16:03 (five years ago) link
I’m sure it was, it’s just Not For Me
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Monday, 4 March 2019 16:07 (five years ago) link
I tried to listen to this this morning but turned it off after a couple tracks to listen to Ghost
― alpine static, Monday, 4 March 2019 19:16 (five years ago) link
I couldn't even finish this tbh, it just felt so inconsequential, and her voice which I normally think is the best part of her music didn't seem to be doing anything dynamic or interesting. It's a nice enough vibe I guess but simply turning up and being Solange really isn't enough
― boxedjoy, Monday, 4 March 2019 22:43 (five years ago) link
uh oh I am starting to really enjoy this
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 20:58 (five years ago) link
my fav thing about seat was the piano/keys, so jazzy and plinky and not the usual neo-soul deep chords. my least fav was all the talking. haven’t listened to the new one yet but im hoping for more of the same keys and less talking
― flopson, Tuesday, 5 March 2019 21:50 (five years ago) link
you got it
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Wednesday, 6 March 2019 02:28 (five years ago) link
this album reminds me of the last thundercat album
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 6 March 2019 04:06 (five years ago) link
thought the last thundercat album was dogshit
but pretty sure i like this
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Wednesday, 6 March 2019 17:47 (five years ago) link
ya this is dope, i think i like it just as much if not more than a seat at the table
― flopson, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 21:38 (five years ago) link
brad otm on both counts
― voodoo chili, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 21:39 (five years ago) link
i don’t hear hookless art installation at all, just sounds like a good r&b album
― flopson, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 21:40 (five years ago) link
"sound of rain" fucking floors me every time. i segued it out of "sweet thing (reprise)" on my radio show yesterday and man o man
― maura, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 21:45 (five years ago) link
rappers turned out fun laconic verses for this
― flopson, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 21:51 (five years ago) link
I miss when she made songs like “sandcastle disco”
― k3vin k., Saturday, 6 April 2019 01:12 (five years ago) link
I like this, but it seems very evanescent on the first several listens
maybe I will love it in a few years
― Dan S, Saturday, 6 April 2019 01:30 (five years ago) link
why did she reissue sol-angel a few years ago without "sandcastle disco"?
― ufo, Tuesday, 10 September 2019 10:51 (four years ago) link
On Sept 16th and 17th Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter and visual artist Solange Knowles presented Witness!, an original performance piece featuring new musical works composed, directed and choreographed by Solange Knowles at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg in Germany accompanied by a 38 piece orchestra and dance ensemble. With support from Dropbox, the performances were presented by the artist within the architectural marvel that is Elbphilharmonie's world-class concert hall, one of the most acoustically advanced in the world.
“Performing at the Elbphilharmonie was a very gracious and special moment I’ll hold close forever. To hear and see these compositions and choreography come to life on that scale, and with such a divine ensemble will be such a lasting memory to carry on.” - Solange
The performance piece debuted 6 new musical works composed by the artist featuring an ensemble of Tubas, Trumpets, Cellist, Violinist, and Percussionist as well as highly featuring new compositions of songs from her ode to Houston, the When I Get Home (2019) album.
― maura, Thursday, 26 September 2019 18:08 (four years ago) link
https://gal-dem.com/why-solange-matters-book-extract-stephanie-phillips-indie-microaggressions/
― candyman, Friday, 7 May 2021 09:52 (three years ago) link
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a46683528/solange-knowles-interview-2024/
Interesting Interview and photo spread.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 20 February 2024 16:41 (three months ago) link