Kelley Polar - Love Songs of The Hanging Gardens (Environ CD05)

I really like the singing, too. It is creepy in a subtle way.

Strings at the end of A Dream In Three Parts knock me over every time.

Still album of the year for me.

I'm confused by the amount of love for this album, especially after I just picked up the new Morgan Geist album, which I think kills this one

both albums are weaker because of the vocals. how about releasing these with instrumentals as well?

both albums are weaker because of the vocals. how about releasing these with instrumentals as well?

OTMx18589732495872309458723984572394857!!!

Either that or use the chick from Escort.

i'm not feelin the vocals as much on the polar album, but i think jeremy greenspan has much more character to his voice than polar reminds. the album is like the love child of junior boys (first album) and metro area, which is why i love it

strike that reminds

You vocals haters are nuts!

this is great. the vocals are great. the M Geist album bores me to tears.

i think this stuff is terribly boring

shut up about the vocals, they're effing great.

i like the vocals on 'Entropy' with the duet dynamic (a bit Human League perhaps), and the "heroin, cocaaaine" line keeps getting stuck in my head

Yeah that bit is great and was stuck in my head for a while too when I first got the album.

This thread reminds me to go and listen to the Caribou remix of expanding universe immediately.

This is probably my favourite album of the year?

i mean, in terms of production i think I Need You To Hold On... is incredible and definitely more original than the new Morgan Geist.

but polar's voice isn't... much of anything. it's not haunting enough, nor is it sexy, it's just too friggin nice, plain, boring... IMO and sounds more like a bad pad vocal on a keyboard

the use of vocal samples in production i think are brilliant, it's just when he starts saying words that it starts to really bug me

the second kelley polar is one of my favorites from '08 as well.

ok well the more and more i listen to it the more i can pay less attention to his lyrics and sea of sine waves is hittin the spot

i'll repeat my desire to have a Kelley Polar Quartet album released with no vocals and plenty of strings.

the strings on "the rhythm touch" are what really hooked me on polar

How can anyone dislike the vocals on "Satellites"? So frigging adorable.

i'll explain why i don't like those vocals. i'm not sure what it's called but in the first few lines, he adds extra breaths and exaggerates the phrasing. it sounds unnaturally stressed and strained.

"i was maaaade-huh, maaaade for you-huh"

that kinda shit drives me crazy, especially when the voice is weak anyway. i love the music on that track but the vocal is annoying.

Hercules, Morgan Geist, Kelley Polar = all great albums unnecessarily marred by poor vocals.

This dub guy trips so hard.

the vocals rox u r all gay

yeah, i do trip hard re: vocals in my electronic music. i also realize i'm in the minority with my opinion. i didn't like the vocals on Apparat's Walls album either. my position gets even harder to justify when you know that i love Underworld's vocals and New Order. both of which can be pretty off-putting to lots of people. you can only like what you like i guess.

You're right about Walls though!

i'll explain why i don't like those vocals. i'm not sure what it's called but in the first few lines, he adds extra breaths and exaggerates the phrasing. it sounds unnaturally stressed and strained.

keller polar is a classically trained singer...his breathing, and what sounds to you like "stress and strain" is a product of his technique. personally i feel it fits perfectly with morgan's production which you could also argue is "stressed and strained" - the painstaking arrangements are anything but natural. they're a labor of love.

oh, classically trained? why didn't you say so earlier. now i love it! thanks!

you have great opinions on music, brother.

classically trained doesn't mean it sounds good. personally my problem is how long he holds out a lot of the notes he sings, i think it distracts from the short percussive nature of his production

hooray for indie vocal tics; long may the polarize ILM

You mean like...

ehh I'm not getting this. Am I crazy that this is like dance music with an indie 'filter'? I donno I only listened once but yeah, not feeling it.

― deej.. (deej..), Sunday, February 26, 2006 8:39 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

?

chorus of protest: but it's not indie, he went to julliard

(For the record, Deej's comment was on a Hot Chip thread.)

fwiw, I love the vox on the Kelley Polar records and can't stand them on Hot Chip records. And Polar isn't trying to be danceable anyway, this is a mostly down-tempo synthpop record. Complaining that it doesn't work as dance-qua-dance music is missing the point entirely

My god, people like things I do not and vice versa! TO THE INTERNET

cant we all just get along

thought he was a classically trained violinist.

voice, violin,

cant we all just get along?

fwiw i can totally understand why someone would hate his voice. brotherlovesdub's reasons for not liking it seem like good ones. i like it.

Viola.

this thread needs a voice of reason

i would like to know where synth pop vocals end and indie vocals begin. ottomh i can't think of any other vocalist that sounds like kelley polar and even though i don't listen to much music with vocals i would consider these more along the lines of synth pop.

are there any requirements for being 'classically trained' or is it just code for 'played violin in high school'?

how about this

At 18, Polar was a prizewinner at the William Primrose International Viola Competition, followed by an infamous tenure at Oberlin Conservatory. By the mid-nineties, Polar found himself in New York City pursuing an advanced degree at the illustrious Juilliard School and cementing his reputation for general deviance...

"infamous"

<3 the vocals in Satellites

"infamous"

Allegedly there was a (very proper, restrained, scholarly kind of) riot during his recital, which was very silly in some way or another. Details are vague.

sea of sine waves is hittin the spot

I agree with this. I like the album, have some similar hang-ups over the vocals, but this track KILLS. Opening harmonies are awesome, bassline is is nicely driving, and, hey!, vocals are accompanied by a beautiful vocoder!

I thought the "riot" happened when he was at Julliard - he got expelled for it.

I think the vocals are great but I can see how someone might not like them. When his vocals are multi-tracked, he sounds like an asian boyband, cracks me up. "creepy in a subtle way" = otm.

has anyone heard the pearson and usher mixes of Entropy Reigns? I find pearson and usher to be really hit or miss but when they hit it's fantastic.