Grimes/Claire Boucher thread

the thing she reminds me most strongly of is that "etherial girl" thing so beloved of 4AD in the late 80s / early 90s.

only a few tracks in myself but whatever it's worth this seems blatantly, painfully obvious

i'm sure a big r&b ballad is only a song away tho

also no offence but never speak of mariah ever again

hmm maybe it is slightly more 80s pop styling than just simply 4ad indie but i can't quite recall the singer i'm thinking of specifically

there are some moments esp on "vowels" that are much closer to being 'wispy' the way 90s Mariah was than whatever 'wispy' singing lex was referring to

also another thing about this album is that if you told me it was produced by john talabot I would believe you

You gonna laugh but there are moments that her productions and harmonies remind me so much of 80s Prince, but that might just be there's a song (sorry don't know titles, I listen to this when I'm jogging) which has almost exactly the same drum sounds and beat as When Doves Cry. Could be my shitty earbuds though.

But mostly it's 4AD 4-track weirdoes with a Reason DAW. It has as much His Name Is Alive and Danielle Dax in it as Mariah Carey.

But, you know, LOL signifiers. I thought one of the songs on Halfaxa sounded like Republica, what so I know?

Better sound palette than Talabot. More Germanic, too. This reminds me of Cluster with Orbital-1994-era Alison Goldfrapp singing over it.

But wtf do I know. I really like it, though.

Every person who listens to this record seems to bring an intensely hears set of signifiers and reference points to it - and they're all completely different.

Which probably means she is actually quite unique? I honestly can't think of much that sounds exactly like this so I'm always reaching, and it's possible she's never heard any of the things I project onto her voice.

Intensely heard. I Fucken hate this iPhone.

My knowledge of rnb is practically zero, so, y'know. We all have different analogues.

the only thing i know about grimes other than seeing the name on the internet on occasion was being a conversation behind me at the liquor store the other day:

guy a: "hey, you have to check out this album i think you might like it. they're called grimes..."
guy b: "already have it"
(divergence off into conversation about turntable.fm)
guy c: "you guys play some really boring stuff in that room"
guys a + b: "..."
me: (stifling guffaw as i pay cashier)

FFS it doesn't even SOUND LIKE Talabot and certainly doesn't use better sounds

To your ears, dude.

Me, I can't for the life of me hear what anyone likes in Talabot. I find it so banal and lifeless.

That's why there's chocolate and vanilla.

The difference is, I gave up w Talabot and I don't spend hours haranguing ppl on his thread saying they should be listening to, like, Grimes instead.

FFS it doesn't even SOUND LIKE Talabot and certainly doesn't use better sounds

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 19:36 (22 minutes ago) Bookmark

srsly, 4 the luv of god

Yeah, I love Talabot but Visions, doesn't remind me at all of him, so I'm with lex on that, at least.

i haven't listened to this album but the video of her doing genesis alone in a room w a table of pedals has been obsessing me for the last week or so.

the "oblivion" video is even better!

im sorry about this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3iAoxHb8B8

i think the bit that really started to sink in for me was the part where she's singing what sounds like "my heart" over and over. there's a moment where she goes "my-Y heaart" (its like 1:59 in the video if you're interested) and it has this feeling of being chopped up in pro-tools but you see her do it there in front of you, just this slight vocal affectation. i mean its not the niftiest of tricks, and its hard to bring it up without making it seem like you want it to be read like so many iterations of the body imitating the machine. there's this strategy of incorporation that i think is working in this album. these layers of signification being compressed. her voice overlaid with the ghost of its machine alteration. this particular synthesis. (its hard for me to think of without remembering that she is roughly the same age as me, grew up singing along to productions by guys who first encountered this as a nifty studio gimmick.)

i'm not being clear. i think though, that this approach definitely bleeds into what she's doing elsewhere. the vocals can sound intimate and alien and naked and elusive. the lyrics that turn into vapor. smoke weed and listen to mariah. a whole set of associations that can be tapped into in all these oblique ways. lateral steps along a chain of signification. its connected with the collapse of the chillwave project i guess. she is a post-anco popstar for sure. all those haunted houses of pop songs. and yeah vowels = space and time. all this negative space, something missing at the centre.

how hard it is to feel things, presumably

attach judith's comment to tim's comment about it being "music commenting on its own making" but even to the point where i think the making is semi-erased (thus the "something missing at the centre") and it's all otm to me

also the persistent criticism i encounter of this record is that is sounds "unfinished" or "like demos," which, okay, it definitely doesn't sound like that to me, but considering that, what would make this sound more "complete" necessarily? someone upthread said they imagine drum parts in this record where there are none. i think that is a totally legitimate way to love music, to fill in spaces yourself. it's an interaction, not a closed system. like hearing music faintly, from another room, how other parts are summoned that are not necessarily part of the music but are not totally your own making either

Brilliant album but let's not try to explain it via R&B perhaps. Still think mid-80s Happy Rhodes is the best comparison point:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F9mg0wmBUk

The part of Lex's crusade that I disagree with most (while recognising this is a subjective measure) is the "no hooks" measure - this album is like hooks on hooks.

Making this more "complete" would ruin it for me.

i don't recognise the "unfinished" way of listening to music at all - i can't say i've ever experienced music like that.

the "no hooks" argument is my strongest, everything else is trying to justify it retrospectively but what it comes down to is that it goes in one ear and out the other, and i have given it waaaaay more chances than things like that normally get. it doesn't stick at all.

There's nothing I can say to that but, it sticks to my head like crazy. Even though they are insane pitched riffs that I couldn't possibly sing along with.

xpost I believe you, it just seems bizarre to me because I feel my number one reason for liking this album is its kaleidoscope of hooks. The songs don't feel unfinished to me at all, but really generous, like she's offering more ideas than she needs to in each song. The way the songs are filled with this winning little shifts and switch-ups vocally/sonically/melodically. It also means it withstands repeat playing a lot more.

winning little shifts and switch-ups

otm

fwiw the R&B connection doesnt really resonate for me, like, i believe its there, but it doesnt really operate like R&B for me & i dont think thats key to understanding or enjoying it

how hard it is to feel things, presumably

― r|t|c, Wednesday, April 4, 2012 9:38 PM (Yesterday)

lol thank you for checking out the course reader

http://i.imgur.com/dsTSB.gif

lex everyone knows you got baited into hating this by critics you spend your entire life claiming to avoid

it goes in one ear and out the other... it doesn't stick at all.

I have had the "see you in a dark night" line from 'Oblivion' stuck in my head - in a good way - for about two months straight

yeah, i get various hooks that don't seem to last more than 2 seconds stuck in my head all the time.

right now my favourite track from her is not on this album, it's "vanessa".

the part where she goes :
"My heart, oh
and I don't care what you say
but it's the way it goes and it's a happening everyday"

has been completely stuck in my head for days !
(+ she's very cute in the video)

Ha! I woke up with a Grimes song stuck in my head this morning, without having heard it in days. I don't know the name of it or even the lyrics so I've substituted Cocteau Twins nonsense but it's like "some, some, some, some, give it all back, I would start the seaside, I would start the whoooaaaa-ooaaaa-ooooaaa"

I've checked, it's Visiting Statue and it's "seabed" not "seaside" but approximately the same lyrics.

That song is an earworm!

they're (almost) all earworms !
I've just bought tickets to see her in paris in may.

i need someone else
to look into my eyes and tell me girl you know you gotta watch your health
(to look into my eyes and tell me girl you know you gotta watch your health)
LA LA LA LA LA

otm

Interesting interview from Tiny Mix Tapes:

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/grimes

Used to work at D&Q!

(ha ha, it took me like 3 years to learn how to export lossless from GarageBand but by that time I'd moved to the Record upgrade of Reason, so now I don't feel like such a dummy if she couldn't crack it either.)

Hildegarde von Bingen! OK, I love you. I knew I was right to do so.

Well, now we know her primary influence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37I7egeAtSY

I have never heard that song before; it's awesome.

yeah, wow, that's gorgeous. and jeez, you can really hear what grimes took away from it. hamill sounds like she had a p interesting career. according to wikipedia, she recorded with, toured with with or joined: procol harum, jethro tull, king crimson, gilbert o' sullivan, wishbone ash, jon and vangelis (she's on friends of mr. cairo!). voices sounds pretty great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tdeqk3zdPI

http://twitter.com/#!/Grimezsz/status/189136305098199041

http://grimestyle.tumblr.com/