Kelela - Cut 4 Me

Preemptively starting this so I have a place to fan out tomorrow.

"Bank Head" is top 5 this year obv.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I_2eYvrEJw

it feels really weird that a few years ago this was the kind of project i dreamed of

i just don't like the direction night slugs/fade to mind have gone in over the past year or two - those awkward, stop-start beats, the lack of groove or direction, the way all their beats feel like hanging in space waiting for something to happen that never does - no melodic or rhythm hook at all. they sound pretty but you can't get your teeth into them let alone dance to them. when i listen back to the NS/F2M tracks i fell in love with, and still love, there's so much more drama and urgency about them. pretty sure all of this is completely intended and they're making exactly the kind of music they want to but it's not for me any more.

kelela does what she can with beats i mostly don't care about, i guess. "floor show" and "cut 4 me" are the best trax here on a couple of listens. it's never less than pretty and sounds a bit like i once imagined r&g would sound in places. i haven't finished giving it a chance but overall, siiiigh

(it's sort of funny to me that of all that crew, ikonika's the one who's really kept pushing her music in meaty but completely distinct directions, including doing a pretty triumphant vocal track (for a singer who, left to her own devices, turned out to be totally dullsville!). not that i ever doubted ikonika's talent but she was the one who was much more consciously ~limited~ when she started out)

it'll probably get lots of attention and praise because people have idealised the concept of such a record so hard, i guess

Or because, you know, some of us actually like it!

But I'm not going to get into the meta conversation because I'd rather talk about how much I love the way she bites into Enemy.

Feel free to explain what's so great about it!

not everything is made for dancing, lex

it's not like it works on a slow jam level either *shrug*

I don't have any baggage to attach to this other than having seen a few people on my feeds being enthusiastic about it and liking the songs they linked to, so when I say I think it's really good, it's because I just think it's really good, not because of any idealizing.

I think this is really, really good. I love her voice. also love how bassy the tracks are.

A kinda quirk of this I like is how often these songs start of sounding like they could be the intro to some really chipper synthpop tunes and then just become something else entirely.

"Bank Head" is top 5 this year obv.

― The Reverend, Tuesday, October 1, 2013 1:50 AM (18 hours ago) Bookmark

the natural and just evolutionary end of the clapper

otm!

i just don't like the direction night slugs/fade to mind have gone in over the past year or two - those awkward, stop-start beats, the lack of groove or direction, the way all their beats feel like hanging in space waiting for something to happen that never does - no melodic or rhythm hook at all. they sound pretty but you can't get your teeth into them let alone dance to them.

Eh, that's not really true for me at all, if anything early NS/FTM stuff has taught me how to appreciate their newer stuff. And I absolutely love negative space in my dance music. Like I've long noticed when I break down with Tim over dance music it's usually because of his bias towards maximalism and mine towards minimalism. But Kelela's presence kind of makes this all moot by providing a focal point other than the beats.

But anyway, Alex in MTL otm. "Enemy" is the most gorgeous thing ever and this tape is somehow managed to live up to my high expectations. Besides, it's 2013 and slow jams are the best type of music to dance to anyway ;-)

And I like Ikonika but she's just about the border of what I'll tolerate as far as going in a more techno-y direction.

Can we talk about Nguzunguzu bringing in the "Moments in Love" flip at the end of "Something Else"? Like of course they do that, but you don't actually expect them to, so it's one of those perfect moments of unexpected obviousness that make me melt.

Kinda lol/fitting that I'm quite enjoying this.

Naturally.

I think because I struggled with the dancefloor aspect of a lot of early NS and affiliated stuff in the first instance, I don't mourn its diminution the way Lex does - to my mind, engagingly intricate/fussy non-functional pseudo-R&B beats is possibly a better look for many of these producers.

Oh yeah, weird syncopation being the other thing that's total catnip to me.

Really must hear this. Tomorrow, hopefully.

I have seen this played out in clubs and people did dance tho

(I was DJing at an afterparty at that Basilica Sound Scape festival with the dude who runs Tr1angl3 R3cords and he played "Bank Head" and people totally got down to it- it's just a different kinda vibe)

Yeah people have def danced whenever I've heard "Bank Head" out.

intricate/fussy

these are negatives to me. we've been here before, where others hear "weird syncopation" i just hear stilted and awkward

i've seen people dance to latter-day night slugs, i can't do it though - just too dry and stilted.

i did envisage kelela providing some sort of focal point but i feel like her songwriting does much the same "hang in the air on the verge of doing something that never happens" thing as the beats

haha I chose "fussy" as an alternate expressly to allow that yr mileage would probably vary lex.

tbh i don't even hear them as fussy or intricate, just awkward and rigid

I do too - rigid certainly, and if not always awkward to my ears then at least deliberately "ungainly" - but I suppose I can deal with it better as straight soundworld indulgence rather than when it sounds like someone took a perfectly decent house track and sprained its ankle.

It seems a reasonable thing to be turned off by though, IMO.

I could mostly give less of a fuck about a perfectly good house track at this point tbh

Even the straightforward "functional" dance music I'm into is club or ballroom or juke or falling in between those cracks.

Bun fire pon 4x4

but I suppose I can deal with it better as straight soundworld indulgence rather than when it sounds like someone took a perfectly decent house track and sprained its ankle.

i'm mostly thinking of stuff like "fogs", not to mention early jam city stuff like "arpjam", which are still some of my favourite dance trax of this decade, as examples of that urgency (not nec 4x4) which i find completely lacking among NS/F2M, including kelela, lately

Kelela's definitely going for a different thing than those tracks tho, more of a floaty, romantic vibe sometimes offset by jagged tracks. Something like "Bank Head" is more made to body roll and dance sexy to than stomp your feet and that's ALWAYS ALWAYS better.

We really need to have a thread on drums/bass/momentum/kineticism in music and what does and doesn't work for people, not necessarily dance music either. Because early NS just did not work for me at all on a basic physical level even when it was ostensibly similar to other stuff I liked.

Dance in between the beats

LOL some of us do know what dancing involves Rev.

I guess I specifically have a love for dance music that challenges me as a dancer.

This is one of the things I find awesome about footwork is basically its whole central premise as music specifically made for dance battles is the tension between how challenging it can be to dance to but still able to be danced to by a skillful dancer.

Thing is it's not just about dancing is it? A lot of the listening contexts for this music happen when there's no dancing at all taking place. I like footwork because the rhythmic patterns work for me on a very basic level and would never even think of trying to dance to it. And in 99% of the situations when I actually dance anything that particularly 'challenges' me would be doomed to disaster.

I mean obviously dancing is the primary purpose but if the music is any good you can get a lot out of it away from the dancefloor.

I guess I specifically have a love for dance music that challenges me as a dancer.

― The Reverend, Wednesday, October 2, 2013 9:19 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I broadly have the same sympathies, which is why in general terms jungle and 2-step and funky are closer to the centre of my taste than are typical house or techno.

OTOH my preferred form of "challenge" is one where the music is rhythmically more fluent, and dares you to try to keep up, as opposed to the inverse situation where the music kinda bludgeons about in an ungainly manner, in a deliberate debasement of rhythmic fluency vis a vis, say, house - although certainly I can also think of examples of this approach which I absolutely love.

Where I think the Kelela album does well is in raising the latter approach to its own level/form of fluency through intensification. I can imagine people dancing to some of this but it seems like a secondary effect.

i guess the dancing thing is a red herring w/r/t kelela specifically, i'm aware it's not made for that as such, but the same issues that have made NS club tracks in the past year-ish so undanceable to me are the same issues that make this underwhelming to me, it's the rigidity and refusal to do anything except hang there twitching. prettiness is really not enough when it doesn't parlay that into meat at some point

yeah i was gonna say why are we talking about this like it's a dance album

Yeah, that was a tangent. But Tim otm.

hah if ever further proof were needed that tim is la puta madre when it comes to sweetening up disses

Lovely listen, this. Currently on "Floor Show"

Only about half way through but not feeling this at all. With a better vocalist it might have worked but her voice is kind of thin and the songwriting isn't really good enough for it to work as R&B. Also the beats are so torpid and lacking in energy even when they're fast.

i gave it another try and it's not the negative space in the beats i don't like, it's the fucking stop-start lack of a groove - like on "cut 4 me", which is probably as strong as the album gets, even there you have that pretty good loop which just PAUSES after every iteration for no reason at all. kingdom started out making infinitely better vocal music than this so it's just massively disappointing.

Yeah I don't think this realizes the potential of forward-looking production and R&B vocalist.

It sounds like most of these guys aren't giving Kelela their best shit and her writing is pretty boilerplate at times. This crawls to the finish line. I still like it, but it's not quite there yet.

Also, as much as I like a lot of things with production credited to Ariel Rechtshaid, and I love Jam City (a lot), I'm not sure how well it sits with me that the big critical success of contemporary r&b is a Warp-released album exec-produced by two white guys. I'm not in the US but the iTunes Marginalization thread is clear how hard a time ~traditional r&b~ is having. In the UK the situation is grim. If this was a stellar example of genre formalist excellence or astonishing innovation or visionary accomplishment then I could understand. But I don't get any of that from this.

this album is undeniable imo

most of the best songs are in the second half

otm, stretch from "onanon" to the end especially

I liked it a little less than Hallucinogen at first but the more I listen to it the more I admire it. And yeah, those final four tracks are ace.

Holy shite - Kelela's "Frontline" is the best song of 2017 (barely exceeding Nilufer Yanya's "Golden Cage"). Yes, I am heavily influenced by its poignant appearance in that episode of "Insecure" when Issa runs into Lawrence at Derek's birthday party, but I also freaking love how it reminds me of a perfect combination of "The New" from Little Dragon's criminally-underrated album "Machine Dreams" and the understated instrumental interplay (those very patiently-employed bass drum hemiolas) of Aaliyah's how-can-anyone-not-love-this-song "One In A Million"; with the bonus of a subliminal rhythmic awesomeness of "Available Light" from Rush's "Presto". It's difficult for me to type the words that express how thankful I am that this song exists. Damn!

Is anyone else listening to the new mix she made?

https://soundcloud.com/kelelam/aquaphoria

Love it, such a cool approach given the context of the mix (the Warp anniversary)

Also, the beatless electronics + vocals vibe and effects remind me of this record: https://astralplanerecordings.bandcamp.com/

some good turns on the new girl unit album that approximately three people seemed to have cared about

surprised "All The Way Down" doesn't get a mention on this thread, such an amazing song and production
one of those songs I can play for hours (? let's see) on end

just found out that Tinashe co-wrote it (update: as did Jess Glynne!)

also something something janet.

came across this choreography video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qFuRbx29rw
especially feeling the first two dancers

I saw her live in 2017 during her Take Me Apart tour. One of the best shows I've seen in the past decade, visually gorgeous too in all its low-budget simplicity.

i've completely slept on kelela and i see there's a huge remix compilation from 2018

It's really good! I'm not much of an R&B guy but I've always got time for more Kelela.

yeah I saw the Take Me Apart tour too. the way she worked with the background singers and lighting was incredible

she's back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A45gzN0cgow

good song, if a little slight?

my take too; more of an intro than a single. dig the hat tho.

another one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhJpOjqho8s

not bad but also expected something a bit bigger considering LSDXOXO produced it

I'm not mad at it but it also sounds like it could be a PinkPantheress track

Not bad.

apparently it leaked a while ago from a very reliable source that the album is titled raven

supposed tracklist:
Washed Away
Raven
Bruises
Contact
On the Run
Missed Call
Sorbet
Closure
Fooley
Let It Go
Holier
Divorce
Happy Ending

the new album is raven, out on feb 10, and the leaked track list was close but not quite correct:

01 Washed Away
02 Happy Ending
03 Let It Go
04 On the Run
05 Missed Call
06 Closure
07 Contact
08 Fooley
09 Holier
10 Raven
11 Bruises
12 Sorbet
13 Divorce
14 Enough for Love
15 Far Away

newest single is "On The Run" and the best yet IMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=getdc1zzvnc

that one's real nice

video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66_JoWwDEJI

my fave of these tracks

v nice

next new one is “Contact”, it’s the first of the new tracks I love outright:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV57nu3Kre4

(someone is making an amapiano remix right now)

damn that's nice

yeah, that's good.

yum!

yeah that's the best so far

starting to really look forward to this album. it’s building up very nicely.

album rules, goes all in on ambience + breakbeats, & appreciate it being a pretty much continuous mix

on first listen all i dislike is the guest verse at the end of closure that's pretty out of place?

why am i the only one who's listened to this so far, it's so good

I’ve definitely listened to it (several times!) but am still trying to work out what to say about it beyond that I think it’s incredible. Just as assured and uncompromising as Take Me Apart, which is one of my favourite records of the last 10-15 years.

The singles make sense because (“Washed Away” aside which was essentially an re-introduction for her) they’re really the only tracks that work in isolation - the rest sort of demands the continuous mix sequencing that’s laid out here

need more time w/ this album for sure but "Bruises" seems like an early standout

On first listen I wish the ambient parts were a bit more engaging/challenging.. but when the beat drops in songs like the title track? Holy shit

I wasn't sold on those electronic tracks initially but I guess there are pleasing Dawn Richard type of dynamics here and I could see it grow on me. I suspect the album is backloaded. I need to relisten to it with headphones.

wondering about going to this, really ned to listen to the album
https://www.bam.org/kelela-res-keiyaa

go see her - she was incredible live the time I saw her in 2017, see the testimonials Extended Mix and I wrote three years upthread

just played the album front to back and absolutely loved it. love how it builds up to “Raven” and “Bruises”, the centerpieces, and then breaks it all down again.
man, if she should come this way again, I’ll be the first to buy my ticket

Alright, I copped

dc show sold out too quick, I didn't get tickets.

feel like I’m close to falling in love with this album

I still have to listen to this! Haven't had the right moment.

it’s definitely an album that demands the moment and mindset to be right. night time pretty much a prerequisite.

finally listening to this and yeah it seems pretty great. it's exactly the kind of album that will really open up for me on headphones with an edible and a run, i'm predicting. has late afternoon / golden hour vibes imo.

Anyone feels like the mood is similar to the SZA album ? Meandering, frail, lonely, vocals going up and down in vast and cold spaces and around skeletal structures. Raven with a consistent soundscape, SOS more sprawling.

A similar sense of desolation

Definitely the best thing she's done, but I'm a complete sucker for jungle breaks.

idk know Take Me Apart had more variety, and the songwriting isn't up to SZA's.