thread of miguel

that assessment of the entire project isn't totally off but i'm willing to overlook a few forgettable tracks on account of three of my absolute favorite songs of the year being included (along with a bunch of good tho not great tracks)

idk yeah i don't really ever think in single of the year terms (altho i know it's not 'adorn') but i do believe it has an iconic kinda one-shot calling card quality about it that sets it apart from the equally-good songs it comes with. the brevity is a huge part of it, another couple of minutes and i'd probably rate it behind 'arch n point' and 'all'

re "uncheck", right yeah i was thinking maybe it's an itunes culture kinda thing (i don't really do itunes)

hmm well i think the best of these might scrape my top 50 tracks of the year so far. might.

I'd rank them in descending order:

Arch n Point
...All
Adorn
Gravity
Party Up

vol.3 is a shade of miguel that i know is in all his stuff but don't really like arranged together quite so pat

bandnames are failing me right now but i guess "sounding like the killers or whatever" will do for starters

haha i like the clunky guitar stuff on "ooh ahh"

bandnames are failing me right now but i guess "sounding like the killers or whatever" will do for starters

vicious

...all > arch & point > gravity >>>>>> the rest, don't really care

is vol 3 meant to be the last ADC?

― liberté, égalité, beyoncé (lex pretend), Monday, April 30, 2012 12:14 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i've seen a lot of mentions of it being a series of 3, this being the last of the series, etc. although without seeing it in any official pr/interview or anything i'm not really 100% sure.

the website makes it seem so -- it's only listed three volumes for weeks

personally i think this "shabadoo" backing vocals on "gravity" are kinda corny

the*

does the 'vol 3' link on the ADC site still go to vol 2? i had to dl it off the link itt.

nah i got an email for vol 3

corny maybe, but at least somewhat memorable

as far as overt prince rips go i think "party life" is pretty good -- something about the cadence of his singing strikes me as very accurate but not in an obvious way

Not ready to definitively rate or rank these yet. Everything this dude makes has a way of growing on me over time (which is a pretty cool feat given how short and direct so many of his songs are)

i think in general i'm actually more bullish on vol 3 than the rest of y'all, the more i listen to it. def nothing that tops the titanic tracks on the other 2 vols but i think it's a nice bow on top if you listen to all three straight thru -- a bit of a stylistic pivot but not obviously so... and still idiosyncratic in the little ways that he his. and i guess i think "candles in the sun, blowin in the wind" is being a bit underrated. certainly hamhanded as far as its politics go but i think it's a pretty good tune.

yeah i like that one a lot

Thematically and sonically it's of a piece with the call to arms aimed at misfits and outcasts in "...All."

altho i do deduce a few points for pronouncing "other" like "uhva" as if he was british

"adorn" is my most-listened to non-dawn richard (who is in her own league, obv) track this year by more than twice over

me too probably. i like most of the other stuff just fine but imo most of "all i want is you" > most of ADC

...alll >>>>>>>>> adorn >>> arch and point

there's always that bit in 'all' with him going "tee-tee tell em how to elevate" where it totally breaks the blippy springsteen vibe picturing him misreading his iphone lyrics

i mean it kinda works actually but still

I know it's a horrific epidemic, but "babies on crack" will never not be unintentionally funny. Any message track that wants to be taken seriously needs to recognize that

that opening line's resonance with "Be Thankful for What You Got" really throws me off every time. I assume it's intentional, but him singing "babies on crack" instead of "sunroof top" makes that phrase stick out even more.

this is from evan's ADC review

"arguably the most engaging singles run of any R&B album since Usher’s Confessions."

interesting position imo -- how do we feel about it? i may be inclined to agree w/ it, but that's a long time

i agree -- there are probably a couple albums with 3 hits as strong as All/Sure/Quickie, but might be cluttered up with a couple duds too

fav post-Confessions R&B singles campaigns: first Ne-Yo album, B'Day, Double Up, first 2 Keyshia Cole albums, BLACKsummers'night, first The-Dream album, first two John Legend albums, Emancipation of Mimi, second Ciara album

I was going to say Ne-Yo through Year of the Gentleman, Ciara, and Maxwell myself.

but none of these guys has excited me like Miguel; I have no idea what shit this guy's gonna do next.

I should also point out that I don't particularly care for the Confessions period of Usher's career.

yeah 'love/hate', 'goodies' and 'emanicpation' were my first three thoughts, but i think i'd take the 'all i want is you' trio over mariah, and probably have it tied w/ ciara behind the-dream

'blacksummersnight' is an interesting pick too... i didn't think of it but "pretty wings" and "bad habits" are monsters... i like "fistful of tears" a lot but it doesn't seem on the level of those two

"when you're mad is good" but it's kind of a major dip in b/w "so sick" and "sexy love" imo (last of which is my favorite late 90s max martin song that max martin never wrote in the late 90s)

yeah i love the album itself more than the singles per se, was just spitballing. "Fistful of Tears" came alive for me as a single, though.

haha want to hear a song called "when you're mad is good"

excuse my sloppy quotations there

ha

i LOVE "when you're mad" and think "sexy love" is kind of eh personally

man it's weird that they only released two singles off 'rappa ternt sanga', that coulda been in the running imo

actually fuck i'd rate the YOTG singles over everything -- "closer" -> "miss independent" -> "mad" was the most exhilarating singles run i can remember... anytime you got in the car was like a race against time before you had to get out and maybe not hear whatever the big ne-yo song of the time was

yep

yeah i thought about 3rd ne-yo too after i posted. love the first two but was never real into the sneezing song.

"Sexy Love" taught me to love "So Sick." "Because of You" was an even better use of the same template. The only thing that killed the run imo was whatever followed up "Because of You." I can't even remember it.

"Do You," which yes, was awful.

huh interesting, sh!p. I'd gladly read a defense of BOY, a worse album than even Libra Scale.

"Can We Chill" and "Go On Girl" were admirable non-hits, though

wiki says his next album is called The R.E.D. album, which can't be right