Jessie Ware - 110% (and everything else she's done)

pro tip: this song is amazing

http://soundcloud.com/jessieware/jessie-ware-110-1

it could totally be on 'velvet rope' right??

i'm really in love with this thing

I prefer "Running," which will probably be in my top ten. My favorite guitar solo in many months too.

but, yeah, she's worth watching. She reminds me of Shara Nelson.

There's also this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-ltza7hYls

Looking forward to the album

I love the video for 110% almost as much as the song. I can't figure out what the muffled sample in the background is saying, "carving my initials on your forehead" I think?

fucking love this song. definitely deserves a thread

original 'running' felt to me way too encumbered with reference and borrowed vibes, but tbf i did come to that conclusion when i was still getting to know her (which i guess i still am). alf have you heard the disclosure remix?

'110', it wasnt really until i heard it on the radio before i realised how much it goes, it's p catchy. not sure if it's gonna be a keeper but certainly one of those brief flings you kinda fall for a bit

Love this song

yeah I've played this song 20 times since I first heard it, I love it

i've been meaning to listen to this and "running" for MONTHS and didn't get round to them because i didn't think i'd have to make an effort. here we are now though, i like them all, on one listen "running" is better and neither are as good as "strangest feeling" but who knows how they'll shake out

"running" is totally and amazingly soft rock

just checked out Strangest Feeling, must have missed it last time around, amazing too. Think she's shaping up to be my 2012 pick of the girls looking at her trajectory.

i think i might start a thread for delilah at some point, her album is really surprisingly good

"running" is totally and amazingly soft rock

― kanye kardashian (lex pretend), Friday, 8 June 2012 12:06 (16 minutes ago) Bookmark

so so so tryhard sade tho

just look at the single cover even

"maybe felt a little too record industry to capture the true desired lisa stansfield realness" is what i said about my first impressions of ware generally on the bobby caldwell thread

listening to the three singles together is weird, they're all good songs but they all feel like really overly deliberate attempts to capture a certain aesthetic - sade x soft rock for "running", delilahesque trip-hop revivalism x burial 3am night bus moods for "strangest feeling", airy summery "my boo" breezy realness for "110%"

i think i perhaps like "strangest feeling" best b/c being overly conscious and deliberate suits that gothy aesthetic well

http://i.imgur.com/D0TuS.jpg

1. Devotion
2. Wildest Moments
3. Running
4. Still Love Me
5. No To Love
6. Night Light
7. Swan Song
8. Sweet Talk
9. 110%
10. Taking In Water
11. Something Inside

i wonder if i'm the only person on earth who feels sorry for jamie woon

haha the first thing i thought of when i heard "110%" was "aw, poor jamie woon"

jamie woon's album did decently, didn't it? and now he's just between albums.

capture the true desired lisa stansfield realness

i don't care man i'll take the imitation

sade is the real oak real and stansfield is the real plastic real tho, there's levels mayne

i guess what i'm saying is i am enjoying the video

yeah i dont actually know how woon's sold on the low but i dont feel his album was ever really in the air once it dropped, even in the liminal circles we're talking about. just seemed to drop and disappear

anyway i wouldnt care to speculate on what he deserved but it was definitely more than what he got. i felt like he made brave-ish decisions on that album he didnt have to if he was just playing to the gallery and it's a shame they werent acknowledged at very least

ok maybe brave is too strong but whatever, he stuck to his guns somewhat and i respect that

Produced by Julio Bashmore if you were wondering. It's blowing up, just an hour ago I heard it on a radio station in Mexico City and was wondering what ILM thought about it.

For all the reference points being thrown around here, and I know Jessie Ware's coming from a completely different place, but you could put 110% on the Grimes album and no one would notice. Its level of base competency is higher and it's a good song but I'm not sure the production does it many favours. I listened to Running straight afterwards and liked that one more.

Bit disappointed that so many of these jobbing post-dubstep vocalists seem to be defaulting to a very similar soft-rock middle ground, and yeah while it might be a brave decision up against whatever the FACT-reading bores are clamouring for, you need serious songwriting ability to pull of that aesthetic well and I dunno if any of these guys do.

Does Roses Gabor have a post-guest-vocalist career yet? That might be promising.

"running" is as good as "110%"... this might be my most anticipated album of the year atm

assuming d'angelo isn't putting an album out

Running > 110% for me, but just barely.

I hadn't been slotting Woon into this space in my brain, but now that it's been mentioned it totally makes sense.

No clue what he sold, but that album was mad underrated even on ILM, given the love for 'Night Air'. There were a LARGE number of jams there.

I love the video for 110% almost as much as the song. I can't figure out what the muffled sample in the background is saying, "carving my initials on your forehead" I think?

― boxedjoy, Friday, June 8, 2012 5:57 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You heard it right - it's a sample from Big Pun's Dream Shatterer, I think.

hmmm, not so sure about this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=FnOBjARwNi0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnOBjARwNi0

baby in our wildest moomins

i like this a lot

http://vimeo.com/38905074

hadnt seen it before but this song off the alb is the real deal

"wildest moments" is amazing

fully in love with all the singles now. i think "running" might have shaken out as my favourite so far

think i might be talking to her next week

i'm really taken with how - similar to wynter gordon's newest stuff - ware's vocal strategy is a perfect midpoint between r&b and female singer-songwriter

hmm...I heard "Stimela" and wasn't impressed.

Holy fuck her album is going to be amazing. "Sweet Talk," the latest track to be released, is ANOTHER great track. When the guitars drop in at 2:30... one of the best musical moments of the year. Man this girl's on a roll.

Can we change this thread to "general jessie ware thread" btw i think it's about time

As requested, kinda.

that works. thanks ned!

+1 for Running. Shades of Sade, tasteful trip-hop, etc.

Still I actually liked tasteful trip-hop. Makes me want to go listen to a Moloko record.

That was a good interview BTW, Lex. I wouldn't mind seeing dance music in the UK go classy again like back in the 2-step heyday.

I wouldn't mind seeing dance music in the UK go classy again like back in the 2-step heyday.

I'm not sure this sentence makes sense really? Unless by "2-step" you basically mean MJ Cole and Wookie?

Yeah, and some Dem 2 tracks and Tuff Jam.

And Craig David.

"in your eyes" is fucking ridiculous

The handclaps on that one are very interesting sounding. (Not a criticism, but there's something unusual about them I can't put my finger on.)

Ending the album with the slow build of "The Kill" and "Remember Where You Are" is the year's most satisfying sequencing decision.

and THEN the Rotary Connection tribute to close the record!

― Jeff W, Friday, June 26, 2020

otm

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, June 26, 2020 8:15 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

for sure, reminds me of roy ayers too

"in your eyes" is amazing. the whole thing is great. still not sold on "oo la la" but that's ok.

Great album yeah. How do hardcore fans find it, compared to the others?

it's certainly either her best or very close to it (Devotion being its competition)

song for song it's her best

personally i'm not sure whether i've felt it as an *album* yet, and devotion had that in spades, so ymmv

i love the way it ends though, "the kill" -> "remember where you are" is just great

"the kill" is like a fuckin evil madonna song, it rules

Ooh La La is a lost Prince song as far as I'm concerned; it's a fucking wrecking ball.

I want to say that the album feels frontloaded to me but it's probably just that I'm having a hard time not restarting every time I get to Adore You. I'll catch up with you guys soon enough.

i wasn't that big on "ooh la la" as a single but it works way better in context of the album

yeah, i missed all the singles after adore you and they are going off like dynamite for me... spotlight in particular is just spinning in place under a mirror ball forever

(i really tried to stop listening to this and get through the new HAIM but not now)

I think the repeat tempos and structures hampers it as a record a tiny bit. all the songs rule tho

this is how I felt about the last kelis also iirc

if you wanna know the truth...

stop
go
fast
slow

here together
what's your pleasure

*SYNTH STAB*

so grateful to have the summer dominated by Jessie and a new Róisín album in August

THE HEART OF THE CITY IS ON FIIIIIIIRRRREEE

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, June 26, 2020 8:06 AM

This album and the Haim have really lifted my spirits this week. What a career Ware has had. Hard to imagine anything topping Devotion for me, but this is close, and all her records have been superb. The run from "Ooh La La" through "Adore You" is stunning.

the end of "ooh la la" is my favorite song

I like this album but there are still no good songs called 'Ooh La La'.

i will brook no slander to Ooh La La; it's a banger

Yeah it would seem odd to me to like the title track or “mirage (don’t stop)” or “soul control” but then take issue with “ooh la la”.

Exhaustion with the general approach by the time of about “step into my life” would make more sense to me but, idk, the whole album’s touch is so light that I don’t have that issue myself.

yeah I (quite unfairly) usually get tuckered out by the midway point then skip ahead to the glorious closing two-fer

I like this album but there are still no good songs called 'Ooh La La'.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, July 1, 202

what the

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WNwTpOKf1o

there's a poll in here for sure

https://www.allmusic.com/search/songs/ooh+la+la

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew4AYtQggFA&

i mean this came out like two months ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sff7Kc77QAY

Tbh I just find titling a song 'Ooh La La' to be an indicator of trying just that little bit too hard. The Suzi Lane one might be an exception.

That one is a minor moroder masterpiece

Spotlight is a little more aggressively dancefloor but get some Rhye vibes from it

Slandering RTJ's Ooh La La is also slandering Nice & Smooth how rude

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLE-2ZSa_Dg

Suzi Lane, Jessie Ware, Faces, Goldfrapp “Ooh La La”s are good songs and I wont hear otherwise.

Also Blossom Dearie and The Raincoats; they’re not amazing songs but they’re not bad.

Let this be the end of the thread derail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS1jI4LQbvQ

Oh that’s a great one too!

Yesss Willem. Arno <3

I got distracted by Haim for a bit but now I realise: this is the best album

The thing about most modern "X goes disco" albums is that they channel other modern "X goes disco" albums rather than anything that feels like the 70s. This album is still more 80s than 70s but I do hear flashes of Salsoul, Cerrone, Patrick Adams,...and I hadn't really thought much before about how novel that is.

ooh la la is my fav on this album probably? idk. I have trouble listening to the whole thing. Its very mannered at times in its disco obsession. ive been ruined for it by a guy who kept using it as a stick to beat the dua lipa album which ... theyre very different obv, but i kind of appreciate how dua lipa is less oriented around capturing the correct disco blueprints ... anyway i do love several songs on this though.

which songs do u like on the dua lipa deej? i didn’t love it the couple times i put it on

it seems odd to even compare this to dua lipa's album; the two occupy pretty different aesthetic territory, and it's pointless to say which is intrinsically more valuable. both are very well executed. the odd-but-apt 'too perfect' argument that was applied by some to future nostalgia and lipa herself could easily apply here as well. each sound, every aspect of the arrangement sounds like it was deeply considered. it builds beautifully on tracks like "save a kiss" and "the kill" without overblowing things. the referential signposts unsurprisingly tend to point to those works and artists that various cults of 'good' dance music remain devoted to. though many of these styles, particularly rendered so thoughtfully, remain genuinely thrilling, her music can sometimes seem like it's built more around excellent aesthetic judgment than depth of feeling. i know grading the apparent rawness of a performer's emotions is largely bullshit, but i prefer an artist who can at least temporarily sell me on the illusion. at times ware's voice simply lacks the idiosyncrasy to fully embody some of the styles and situations she dons.

with all of that said, it's a very impressive record and i do personally prefer it to future nostalgia

I love both for discrete reasons and otm

This album is still more 80s than 70s but I do hear flashes of Salsoul, Cerrone, Patrick Adams,...and I hadn't really thought much before about how novel that is.

I have thought abt this a lot, I can't remember if I already said this upthread but this album is so reverent of its source material, she has clearly taken the time to learn the history in a way that few of her peers have, it is why this record is so sumptuous and such a treat and avoids cheesy pastiche

Anyone catch how a string section at the 1:42 mark in "Save a Kiss" evokes "Jive Talkin'"?

I have thought abt this a lot, I can't remember if I already said this upthread but this album is so reverent of its source material, she has clearly taken the time to learn the history in a way that few of her peers have, it is why this record is so sumptuous and such a treat and avoids cheesy pastiche

― vision joanna newsom (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, July 6, 2020 12:48 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i feel like this is saying exactly my criticism but as a compliment!

I think there are obvious reasons to compare this & dua lipa even though yes they're doing different things w different ways ... disco is obviously a common touchpoint. but yes its pointless to say which is 'intrinsically more valuable' sure.

I think there's a lightness of touch which I find personally more exciting w/ the Dua album, which has these kind of strictures that force it to sound a bit more of-its-time, certain melodic choices it makes, the way it cuts quickly and makes some unconventional harmonic/melodic moves for disco while not really going full-blown generic pop, that make it feel less like periodicization and instead like a kind of weird hybrid. at least at its best

i like "Cool" which is more an 80s thing i suppose but thats another enjoyable aspect to me is its sense of nostalgia is more in a jukebox style
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY8tAKDVxK8

ironically i remember worrying to brad & tim that "Don't Start Now" was kind of disappointingly mannered nu disco when it was released as a single which felt kind of like a backward step after "one kiss" & just pure pop (coughs in regretful coinage) like "new rules"

ends up the album short circuits these kinds of limitations by lifting from a sort of nostalgic pastiche that isn't quite as laser focused as jessie ware's

@flopson "Cool" "Physical" "Levitating" "Hallucinate" ofc, "Love Again" flipping the same sample as White Town lol ... it has a kind of whimsy

this is all a matter of personal pref of course, and as I said there's songs on the jessie ware album i love ... but its historical precision is the least interesting aspect of it imo, i think i'm drawn maybe to its perfectionism not bc of how accurately it conveys abcdefg cliches (though it does) but that as a side effect of how much i guess...passion? is required to take it to the limit like that, i think that kind of bubbles over in the elaborateness of the songcraft

also maybe understating the persona appeal of both artists