Tinashe - Aquarius (out October 7 2014)

No thread for her yet? Talked about a bit in the Rolling R&B threads. 3 excellent mix tapes in 2012-13. Acclaimed early-2014 single ("2 On"). Proper debut album out in October. Latest single is "Pretend," with A$AP Rocky:

https://soundcloud.com/tinashenow/tinashe-pretend-featuring-aap-rocky/

"Pretend" is just heavenly. Highest hopes for this album.

Yes, looking forward to this. Haven't checked out her tapes at all.

the last tape was pretty bad aside from "vulnerable" - which katy b later reworked into something more transcendent anyway.

this new song is awful

"now i admit that i was fucking with a kid" is a line that could've been rewritten imo

it reminds me of something specifically i can't put my finger on but more generally it's pretty superior morose rainy day r&b à la brandy's afrodisiac

The Rocky verse in particular is very De La Soul/Teenage Fanclub

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOmdg3epcic

that asap rocky song is still trash but this is dope http://www.thefader.com/2014/09/15/tinashe-feels-like-vegas

"It begs for a Wiz Khalifa guest verse"

lol foh Fader writers

aw I like that A$AP track

Yeah "Pretend" is great. Weird hearing Stargate become Noah "40" Shebib on this Vegas track tho

2 On > Pretend > Heaven or Las Vegas

They're all great though.

idh why j0rdan hates "pretend", i'd've thought it was totally in his wheelhouse

*idg

it's like R&B as written by linda perry -- i'm good

Heaven or Las Vegas

interesting slip

haha i was about to say

although it's easier to imagine Jhene Aiko singing "Heaven or Las Vegas"

Uhh, that was quite intentional.

Pretend is hot garbage

Also Matthew trammel is a good writer I don't think he nec. meant the wiz thing as a compliment

yeah as a neutral statement i agree w/ him

The song definitely needs something imo... there's a lot of space there it doesn't know how to fill

xps guess that was a lil too subtle for me, Herbie Handcock

meh these non-"2 on" songs are boring, not sure she will ever get interesting ime

Are y'all about to pull a Jessie Ware/Imagine It Was Us on this woman and constantly judge every new track by how it stacks up against the one song in her discography that was actually atypical of her usual sound?

feel like jessie ware's recent output has been judged against far more than "imagine it was us"

idk, i guess i'm still checking for tinashe. i cherrypicked some of her mixtape tracks & like a few of em. just not v excited for this album yet.

Jessie ware is dope, this is trash. easy

Are y'all about to pull a Jessie Ware/Imagine It Was Us on this woman and constantly judge every new track by how it stacks up against the one song in her discography that was actually atypical of her usual sound?

― Greer

it's a slow night

i'm with j0rdan that linda perry doing r&b sounds most unwelcome, but i don't really see what "pretend" has to do with that. just sounds in the lane of all the other songs this year aiming to sound a bit like deep brandy album cuts off afrodisiac

don't think either new one is a patch on "2 on" (obv) and i hope it's not all in this vein but they're def better than anything from her mixtape days, i could see them clicking into place in album context

The more I hear from this album the less sense I have of what it's trying to be. This is track 2 from the record, and its pacing and long, wonky guitar outro spit in the face of album sequencing best practices

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftB-DccfZkY

http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/22001/1/stream-tinashes-debut-album-aquarius

Awesome!

Stream doesn't work, blogs keep posting it anyway.

Content above all!

it's a pretty solid album

it feels very zeitgeisty in a contained way

that's vague

it feels zeitgeisty in that it tracks along post-drake, post-aaliyah is a goddess R&B but not like fka twigs or something where it's *all* about that

insofar as it's an album with inherent commercial motivations that still manages to sound 'hip' it feels perhaps even more idiosyncratic and considered than something like twigs where the aesthetic is really the meat of the album

not that the two need to be pitted against each other or anything -- i like the twigs album a lot too

could swap jhene aiko out w/ twigs and i think the argument still holds

I am very curious to hear this. does the stream not work for anyone? soundcloud told me it was because I was in the wrong country

Everything else on her soundcloud plays for me except the album stream.

About halfway through, and am enjoying this - Aquarius seems like a really suitable title, given the full on shiny, aquatic dub sonics and subsumptive dynamics. And, ah, pan-pipes.

Yeah, those pan-pipes...

Also about halfway through, also enjoying it.

it feels zeitgeisty in that it tracks along post-drake, post-aaliyah is a goddess R&B but not like fka twigs or something where it's *all* about that

what? the strength of the twigs album is that the pre-release narrative about that aesthetic is a gigantic red herring b/c it's not that relevant to the album, which feels like it's in another lineage entirely. it's got tinges of r&b about it but certainly not the real zeitgeisty sad-drake-r&b/glacial-aaliyah-vibes sort, and it's a v minor component anyway

How Many Times is amazing.

The stream I think is UK only but it worked for me using hola.

oh thank you, I recently moved to Canada from the US and have been meaning to figure out a good vpn

Man, I love the end of Bet, with the final thick chord, and then the guitar solo playing that little riff, which then becomes the bass-riff on Cold Sweat.

Half-expect Enya-sample from Ready or Not to drop at the start of Bet.

The best parts of this record recall Aaliyah's s/t slowjams.

It's crazy long tho, reminds me of Goldenheart that way - could have been a bit more concise.

out

really impressed by it, lots of highlights aside from the lead single: "save room for us", "no better", "stormy weather" - even the g-eazy song is good (though it'd be much better if he was excised)

ooh i didn't realise it was today, i'd just assumed it was the standard album release friday. struggling to understand why g-eazy is on it now that she's independent though

"know better"!!!

This album!

i'm really delighted that this is as good as it is

fantastic album

this is outstanding

Better than Aquarius to my ears, as much as i love 2 On and Cold Sweat, like just two hugely defining songs from the decade at least for me.

revisited Nightride, which never made much of an impression on me, and found that about half of it is excellent and the other half is fairly forgettable. it's a bit too slow and samey in mood so the weaker tracks really work to make it all blend together and i can understand why i never got really into it. there's still plenty to like about it even if it isn't as consistent as Aquarius or Songs for You

"know Better" really is something. she's been through so much shit. this whole album feels freeing. so happy it's great. played through it once so far. can't wait to spend more time with it.

some incredible harmonies and ad-libs on this, what a victory

tempted to agree this is even better than Aquarius

it is

Certainly after 2 spins it is

q: does the first track on this sample "dig" by incubus

well brad if you can't tell me that i don't really know who else i'd ask

This is good.

Apparently that is indeed an incubus sample, or at least I've seen it claimed

I'm addicted to this. amazing.

feels like such a triumph for Tinashe to release this on her own terms and have it go off -- she's one of our very best

also, not to start beef, but if anyone should be calling their musical output MUSIC FOR CARS, it's Tinashe ✌️

i don't feel so warmly toward it as yall but at least i feel alright toward it so far, unlike with joyride (ugh). i guess i feel like her songs have too much tendency to blankness, and something about aquarius balanced that the right way. i would have been delighted to hear more of an amethyst sound, but i guess that's not as compatible with her danciness.

loving this, especially "Life's too Short"!

Really enjoying this. Not sure I'm at >Aquarius level yet, but since I never loved her mixtapes this is way way above expectations. I would like to know why she included another genuinely repulsive male rapper feature on this though

need to listen to this more but it's pretty good on first blush

gorgeous record this

i think i’ve decided it’s my favourite album of the year

“perfect crime”!!!!!!

What I like I really like but, damn, is it long.

Hopscotch!

bop. boppp.

i think i’ve decided it’s my favourite album of the year

― monotony

I'm on the same boat. and 'perfect crime' is also, probably, my favourite!

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

yeah this album is great

Really wasn't expecting to enjoy a Tinashe album this much after Joyride, but this is so great. It really could be her best album.

every track on songs for you is brilliant

Not sure I'm at >Aquarius level yet

yes! I am at >>Aquarius level now

people might like the ZHU remix of “Die A Little Bit” with Ms Banks:

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

Ooh nice. I really miss her little brother's dance instruction though

i know, right?

do you want..more?

new single. she's sort of rehashing the melody of "Die A Little Bit" here:

"Rascal (Superstar)": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu07qmagjSg

oh dear

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

lmfao this entire EP is so ridiculous and I love it, I wish she had an original song on here but tbh the entire thing feels like an afterthought, down to the inconsistent track title capitalization in Spotify. I immediately thought of this Jimmy Fallon bit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0eRSQ9N8-A

yeah it's a totally ridiculous endeavour but i'm glad it exists

the "last christmas" cover is really good of course too

that 'god rest ye' is so weird. the only circumstances I can think of where playing that track would be desirable and appropriate is as the credits roll in the netflix holiday romance "Sugar & Spicy"

ha this ep is great. always looking for holiday songs done totally differently

new shift k3y & tinashe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9DNA8axChQ

imo doesn't touch the 'superlove' rmx

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCfL5zCyyto

decent new single, nice and breezy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5bVfpRRngA

here's the video

album is titled 333