Frankie Rose - Interstellar (2012)

at its best this album is like a really rudimentary take on SVIIB

Uh, Frankie and SVIIB are each a different taking a different approach to emulating a 25 year-old sound. To say this record is a version of their sound is sorta ridiculous.

sorry for that cluttered syntax...thinking WHILE typing isn't my strong suit.

maybe it's because you constantly phrase this as "UGH YOU LIKE THEM? WHY AREN'T YOU LISTENING TO ___?" it's pretty annoying and based on this weird concept that one band/artist can displace another band/artist.

Quoted from n/a in the Grimes thread, but I feel like lex is doing this exact same thing again today with Frankie Rose and SVIIB.

You are turning into a master of reading things that people never actually said, Jon.

Uh, this is exactly what lex said itt:

at its best this album is like a really rudimentary take on SVIIB

can we not turn every thread into an analysis of how Lex reacts to music

Sure, if lex could just leave it at "I don't like this" for once.

i think there's a pretty clear difference between a general statement of "band x does this better" and the type of browbeating lex can get into, but who cares

"UGH YOU LIKE THEM? WHY AREN'T YOU LISTENING TO ___?"

I was that guy for a long, long time. Then I realized it's more fun to let people find things on their own and too much work for me to be everyone's tourguide through the city of music.

Anyway, I really like the two tracks I've heard from this. Pretty encouraging after how disappointing her last one was.

Saying "this is a really rudimentary take on SVIIB" is clearly not the same as "why aren't you listening to SBIIV?", especially given that School of Seven Bells are much more popular on these boards.

can we also not turn every thread into "let's jump up and down on Jon"

I am v. excited about getting this record in the mail soon.

Matt, thats not what I was trying to say. I was pointing out how lex always seems to frame his dislike for one band through the frame of reference of another band.

who gives a shit, it's pretty common

I don't have a strong opinion on this album. I really liked "Interstellar" and everything since has been a pleasant indistinguishable smear. I wouldn't be mad if I bought this but I wouldn't feel particularly compelled to play it.

To clear things up, Frankie Rose is a pretty faithful take on Lush/etc. where SVIIB is a stylized and grand take on Lush/etc. with a bit more intricacy in the songwriting and arrangements. One thing is not better than the other and most people can appreciate both.

the kind of stuff careless talk costs lives writers swore up and down was "pop"

I have to say that while I probably have a much higher tolerance for such stuff than you, Lex, this tendency in indie folks to use "pop" to describe indie that's non-aggressive/has a few hooks/is generally in major keys has always driven me nuts

Being sung by girls and having vaguely Spectorish production tends to help too. Bonus points for including the Be My Baby drum intro.

but it's not really weird that vague meaningless genre names mean different things to different people in different contexts

no, but indie "pop"-ists always struck me as a little disingenuous about it. "pop" is "something that has a hope in hell of making the singles chart imo." OTOH that means that eg much hip hop is pop now - I guess I have a real problem with making "pop" mean "in a musical style" instead of "in accord with current popular taste." Hence the Association are more properly called "60s pop," etc

obThread, I listened to some of the Frankie Rose (I love the name "Frankie Rose" to pieces) and it seemed fine enough but in these times of reduced listening time for me I take a pretty cold "let's be honest, you don't care about this" attitude to anything that doesn't really grab the hell out of me

I guess I have a real problem with making "pop" mean "in a musical style" instead of "in accord with current popular taste."

ha you must spend a lot of time being irritated by this since that's basically the opposite of what "pop" means these days. a genre of stuff that's just "in accord with current popular taste" instead of being based on what the music sounds like is a pretty weird concept imo

but it's not really weird that vague meaningless genre names mean different things to different people in different contexts

Well firstly 'pop' isn't really meaningless or even particularly vague, although it can be all-encompassing. In this sort of context, especially with "perfect pop" the writer is usually making a value judgement that harks back to some kind of imagined golden era they weren't around for (usually 60s girl groups but it's being increasingly co-opted by the 'I only like 80s Madonna' crew).

http://991.com/newGallery/Nick-Lowe-Pure-Pop-For-Now-295792.jpg

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lh6i9sVoNi1qzado8o1_500.gif

XD

oh sorry it's not vague, just all-encompassing

pleasant indistinguishable smear

a couple maybe-standout songs on here but this is a good description.

To clear things up, Frankie Rose is a pretty faithful take on Lush/etc. where SVIIB is a stylized and grand take on Lush/etc. with a bit more intricacy in the songwriting and arrangements. One thing is not better than the other and most people can appreciate both.

I don't think this has the distinctiveness of Lush; the Susanna Hoffs reference upthread rings much truer to me (another thought I had during the more uptempo numbers was a murkier take on "Crash" by The Primitives).

Well firstly 'pop' isn't really meaningless or even particularly vague, although it can be all-encompassing. In this sort of context, especially with "perfect pop" the writer is usually making a value judgement that harks back to some kind of imagined golden era they weren't around for (usually 60s girl groups but it's being increasingly co-opted by the 'I only like 80s Madonna' crew).

ooooh when they say "perfect pop" that is the worst. "Alphabet Street" is perfect pop not the Boo Radleys fcol

oh sorry it's not vague, just all-encompassing

What I was saying was that pop encompasses most genres by 'pop' has certain connotations - ie if you hear 'pop-metal' you know it's probably not going to sound like Slayer.

um these days that is probably exactly what pop metal is going to sound like

Haha forgive my metallic ignorance.

Is this album not significantly more experimental than School of Seven Bells? Not a virtue in itself, obviously, but that seems like a big part of the appeal in this case. It would take some doing to pin down exactly how this is so. Might even be more to do with the arrangements than with the compositions, but I feel like this album involves a pretty original framework for making music. Really like the drums and guitar, so there's a bit of a rock thing to it, definitely, but as Nitsuh said in his column last week, there is that "passing urge" again!

The new School of Seven Bells album is better than this album, but I feel it would be very inconsistent of me to apply some kind of "only one artist in this sub-genre at a time" rule given my general approach to (in particular) sub-genres of dance music.

i am not enjoying this album at all, it sounds like the kind of stuff careless talk costs lives writers swore up and down was "pop" (maybe even "perfect pop") a decade ago.

That kind of thing annoys me too - aerosmith and matt dc also generally otm on this issue.

However I haven't seen any claims made for Frankie Rose along these lines.

To put it another way: should I hate Raphael Saadiq because it's the kind of stuff careless talk costs lives writers (or maybe not them specifically, just stupid critics in general) praised for being "real R&B" a decade ago?

I get disgruntlement at wrongheaded judgment-laden critical approaches to music, and I also get how it bleeds over into to disguntlement towards the music itself but, like, what feels like a battle trench in one decade will often just look like a curious patch of earth in the next.

Ha, finding myself feeling a little rankled at the humanness of this album not being prized in the comparison to SVIIB's gauziness, I guess.

[this music] reminds me of [that music] ≠ judging frankie rose based on critical approaches, as i haven't seen any. plenty of other things i was annoyed about too.

Well then, what, in itself, was wrong with the music that ctcl swore up and down was perfect pop?

actually i'm not even sure what specific music this is now. I'm having a bit of a blank trying to remember what filled in the shoegaze-pop category in those years. BRMC were too (self-consciously) "rock" I would think.

though I guess frankie rose is like what I always vaguely imagined masonic boom projects must sound like.

it was just a vague handwavey reminder, i can't be bothered to flesh it out when i criticised frankie rose more specifically on several other counts already

something about how pat her melodies are and the bored-sounding smear of the vocals

my least favourite thing about this record are the drum sounds, easily, if they weren't so annoying it'd just be straight-up dull

DUDE. WTF?

i wish i liked this more cuz i wanna buy the fuck out of that vinyl damn

The wordless chorus on the title track strikes me as something that is very much not melodically pat occurring only about one minute into the album. Those are rock and roll chords that I don't hear much in this genre (again, since maybe Lansing-Dreiden) and she's singing in harmony over them, the harmony keeping things sufficiently sweet for the genre.

i did not expect lex of all ppl to exhume careless talk

And then there's that pretty modal guitar solo in the same song. Again, really does not strike me as being pat at all.

Pitchfork review referenced the Cure and surely you hear that in "Know Me," but are those Cure chords? I don't think they are (unless they're similar to some Cure songs I don't know).

And did the Cure, furthermore, ever have drums as tight as the ones on that song or a bass line as energetic as the one in the chorus?

I find things like this to be startling, frankly.

The new album definitely isn't as instant as the last two.

Anyone else heard it yet?

I've listened to it three or four times -- none of it has made an impression yet, but will give it time. I've only been playing it on my morning train commute, which it doesn't seem suited for. I've got it on now and am liking "Trouble" but already can't even remember what the song before sounded like. "Art Bell" on now and I don't much care for it.

Yeah, I'm on my fifth listen now and nothing has really made any impression yet. I'm really disappointed.

I'm just listening to it for the first time now. I don't know if I'll have any takeaways, but it sure is a glorious sound.

i think it's good

as good as interstellar? prob not, but it's very early and that's a very high bar

Just digging into this, liking it so far, less rock than the other two, more of an 80s throwback sound. First song sounds like Cocteau Twins, second like "A Forest", etc.

this sounds amazing texturally - some great guitar sounds - but I agree it's a bit underwritten

it's up on Spotify now... reminds me very much of the first Wild Swans album

I like her. Herein Wild is my favorite. This one is growing on me, but I don't like how the vocals are recorded.

Is it common knowledge that Frankie Rose has covered The Cure's 17 Seconds in its entirety? I just found out about this -- it's from a monthly vinyl subscription series called Sounds Delicious (turntablekitchen.com/sounds-delicious/) where artists cover classic albums. Wasn't crazy about her last record but looking forward to checking this out if I can find a way to.

"At Night" and "A Forest" available to stream here:
soundcloud.com/matthew-tk

Sounds maybe a bit too faithful on first listen.

her cover of a forest sounds great! yes because it does not stray far from the original. still. but I would buy this in a second if it wasn't one of those obnoxious vinyl subscription services.

She even played "A Forest" when I saw her a few months ago. Possible highlight of the set.

I found "Cage Tropical" to be plenty immediate, surprised it didn't get much of a response. She tweaks her formula in a more compelling way than on "Herein Wild," which felt like a song-for-song rewrite of "Interstellar." Title track through "Red Museum" is glorious.

All of the other releases are available individually on their shop page (turntablekitchen.com/shop/); this one isn't listed by itself for some reason but you can buy it as part of the record+"Sounds Delicious" t-shirt bundle for $40.

Cool. I'll wait until somebody is selling it for $15 on Discogs.

All these years I haven't paid that much attention to Rose but I'm listening to an advance of the new album and rather enjoying it.

I play Frankie Rose (the first two albums) pretty regularly on my “new wave & synth-pop” radio show. Does very nicely mixed in with 70s and 80s stuff. https://wayofm.org/shows/are-friends-electric

really enjoyed the start of the new record, quite samey as the previous stuff but not in an overly bad way
second half was less memorable but will give it more time