Kelis - C/D

something in the Mandarine Girl/In White Rooms vein.

^^^ Hardly lacking in grandeur IMO.

(I'm tempted to say that the reason Kylie doing filter house doesn't work is more because she has the vocal personality of a hamburger bun than the production, but I haven't listened to Kylie close enough to know for certain.)

speaking of moby and kelis mashups: this and 4th july

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj8oFqzMcCw

I'm not really advocating Kelis doing Booka Shade here but she could have made an INCREDIBLE bombastic commercial diva house record and instead she got maybe half way there. Maybe I'm just advocating a more retro type commercial diva house - all the reference points I'm reaching for are from the 90s whereas you can't deny Fleshtone is 100% contemporary.

(I'm tempted to say that the reason Kylie doing filter house doesn't work is more because she has the vocal personality of a hamburger bun than the production, but I haven't listened to Kylie close enough to know for certain.)

that's true re: her vocal personality, but as tim says the kylie/filter house combination has worked sometimes, so idk really

Maybe it's a question of environment - perhaps Mandarine Girl/In White Rooms work really nicely over a Funktion 1 sound system in a club environment, but listening to them at work, over YouTube and shitty headphone speakers, they sound, well, subtle to the point of dull. Pop music like Kelis *has* to be able to sparkle, even over shitty MP3 sound quality in rubbish sound quality environments like my desk workstation. And they do.

But I do recognise that a lot of you are speaking from a "does this work in a club" perspective while I'm talking about it from a "can I listen to this as I program" perspective, which is what I want pop music and especially dance to function for.

you can't deny Fleshtone is 100% contemporary.

― Matt DC, Monday, July 19, 2010 11:13 AM (1 minute ago)

i think it sounds ridic retro?

Kylie only works in contexts where the flat/blandness of her voice is a *feature* - where the song is supposed to exude polished sophistication and the shiny all-white sleekness. Where the vocal is *supposed* to have the emotional lack of aura of a coffee jingle. In cases like that, Kylie's voice works fine as a kind of cipher. But in cases where the vocal needs a strong personality and presence, she's all wrong.

But this is not a Kylie thread.

that a lot of you are speaking from a "does this work in a club" perspective while I'm talking about it from a "can I listen to this as I program" perspective

No I'm absolutely talking about this from a radio/listening to at work perspective, I just think this particular style Kelis has opted for sounds shitty even on headphones/on work speakers.

(I'm tempted to say that the reason Kylie doing filter house doesn't work is more because she has the vocal personality of a hamburger bun than the production, but I haven't listened to Kylie close enough to know for certain.)

my argument is about the backing music not the singer - we should leave kylie the singer out of it. And what lex said above.

but... but... how can you leave the singer out of it when the whole point is the fit/contrast between the singer and the backing?

kelis doing retro diva house would be kinda lame, i'm ~glad~ it sounds contemporary

but... but... how can you leave the singer out of it when the whole point is the fit/contrast between the singer and the backing?

Because the backing music for "Spinning Around" and much of Fleshtones would be p. lame regardless of who sang over it.

the backing music of "spinning around" is nothing special whereas the backing music of flesh tone is mostly amazing though? i don't get where this "it sounds shitty" argument is coming from, it's pretty much an amalgam of a ton of commercial dance sounds that i love which is totally refreshing after hearing so many pop artists get it wrong lately

Given that many of us on this thread have absolutely no problem with Flesh Tone I don't think that argument works. With another singer - or as instrumental club music - it might be "lame" but with Kelis, it works. Hell, she got me to like and even *enjoy* a Boys Noize production, so that really does say something for the combination.

It means you enjoy a Boys Noize production.

People are allowed to like things other people don't. We can both be right/wrong on this.

haha yeah i'm not exactly a big fan of any of the producers kelis has worked with here - last time i saw boys noize in a club he did my head in - it's a bit similar to gaga/redone in that his production sounds awful to me 90% of the time but working with gaga clearly forces him to raise his game substantially

It means that I like the combination of Boys Noize with Kelis. I do not like Boys Noize under usual circumstances. Sometimes it is the combination, rather than the ingredients, so discussing the ingredients separately and switching them out is only half the story.

It occurred to me that I'd just assumed that the really boshing blary penultimate track was the Boys Noize collaboration and I actually quite like his song here. He can do restrained quite well when he wants to, his remix of My Moon My Man by Feist being the prime example.

SONG FOR BABBY SONG FOR BABBY SONG FOR BABBY

― The Reverend, Saturday, May 22, 2010 8:46 AM Bookmark

"Song For the Baby" works because it's not sentimental at all, just joyous and celebratory.

― upper mississippi sh@key mo (The Reverend), Tuesday, May 25, 2010 1:55 PM Bookmark

I said this before but not only does it avoid sentimentality by being j&c, it also does so by being v frank and honest and avoiding any pretense of sugarcoating. It's a strange mix of emotions that not only works, but avoids obvious ways out.

This is a very emotionally complex album altogether.

"brave" is the monster on this

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, June 1, 2010 8:19 AM (7 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i was SUPER TOUGH but now i'm SUPER STRONG

for a while i heard that as "i was SUPERTHUG but now i'm SUPER STRONG" which would've been a kinda neat neptunes reference but oh well

fauntleroy

i underrated this album all year

it is at least my #2 some days my #1

I'm backtracking and listening to Wanderland for the first time and I mostly like it so far. I would say Kelis has my idea of a classic R&B sound than most relatively recent R&B singers I've heard. Also, I'm kind of surprised this stuff doesn't sound familiar, but I guess it's because she wasn't that big in the U.S. (and I haven't been going out of my way to hear R&B, and apparently not spending times in places where I might happen to hear it anyway).

(Anyone uninterested in my impressions of R&B singers is free to ignore them.)

That album wasn't even released in the US.

That probably didn't help.

well this is completely not what i was expecting from her

http://soundcloud.com/kelis-fans/kelis-call-on-me

i have to listen a few times more but instareaction is: YES

the horns, that bassline...

this is erasing all of those bad memories of "Bossy"

Love that song!

(Bossy)

I... do not

did you ever hear the switch remix of it, dan?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81WLcAtLVdk

nope

this is okay

loving this

produced by Dave Sitek apparently!

i don't really have any sort of handle on sitek's sound and his wiki discography isn't illuminating me

this song though, so good so good so good

I associate him with making guitars sound fantastic (even when boring bands are involved) but I've no idea how he would approach a Kelis track. Not heard this one yet.

oh it's called "jerk ribs" not "call on me"

http://soundcloud.com/kelis/jerk-ribs

this song is really damn good

Sounds kind of Dear Science

LOVE IT.

I wish her vocal and the melody was a little bit more...something. The track itself is a total jam, though.

You know when Beyonce said she was being influenced by Fela Kuti? The arrangement here is kinda what I imagined.

yeah this is for real

Song is great. Horns are straight off a Tony Allen album from the '70s. Would love to hear a whole album like this.