When was he ever in the usher mold? His early staff seems more left coast hippie shit with Blu and Emanon etc.
― twinkin' and drinkin' and ready to fly (Alex in Montreal), Friday, 27 July 2012 21:49 (eleven years ago) link
He's always been a little bit of a weirdo, no? I mean even 'Sure Thing' is weird insofar as it's totally spare except for the screwed vocal hook.
― twinkin' and drinkin' and ready to fly (Alex in Montreal), Friday, 27 July 2012 21:50 (eleven years ago) link
I think it took so long to grow on me because I wanted to hear it as a pop song in context and it felt too anemic.
On March 5 in this thread I posted the video for his 2005 single. Check it out if you haven't; it kinda speaks volumes about where he's coming from.
He was definitely a lovable weirdo on his debut, but I think Jive had so little invested in him that he was given the freedom to do pretty much whatever he wanted with that record, a luxury that he definitely made the most of.
― Evan R, Friday, 27 July 2012 21:51 (eleven years ago) link
haha holy shit @ that 05 video
― J0rdan S., Friday, 27 July 2012 21:58 (eleven years ago) link
He still pals around with west coast hippies! Jhene, Thundercat, FlyLo, J Davey, etc...
― The Reverend, Friday, 27 July 2012 22:40 (eleven years ago) link
If Prince is queer, it's because of his gender presentation, nothing to do with his orientation.
― The Reverend, Friday, 27 July 2012 22:43 (eleven years ago) link
if?
― J0rdan S., Friday, 27 July 2012 22:51 (eleven years ago) link
If he chooses to identify as that.
― The Reverend, Friday, 27 July 2012 22:52 (eleven years ago) link
apropos of nothing, this is dope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPpHgm5nRXE&feature=relmfu
― buzzafeed (J0rdan S.), Sunday, 29 July 2012 04:20 (eleven years ago) link
i get why people are using the word "sad" to describe miguel but i dunno if it's the most accurate - it has connotations of inward-facing timidity and moping to me, but the best of miguel's work this year is just so...full-blooded and cathartic and really physical, it's as much about frustration and anger as melancholy, and there's a lot at stake in his songs. i'm suspicious of fetishisation-of-melancholy in general and i think this is a different thing.
― lex pretend, Sunday, 29 July 2012 07:34 (eleven years ago) link
heard "Adorn" on Baltimore radio for the first time and, interestingly, they played the 2-minute version. the DJ sounded really excited about it before and after the song, so maybe she was a fan and pulled it straight off the EP instead of using the label promo.
― Nutri Grane (some dude), Sunday, 29 July 2012 11:01 (eleven years ago) link
that is interesting
― r|t|c, Sunday, 29 July 2012 11:24 (eleven years ago) link
yearning is prob the word that comes to mind with migs
urgency tinged with tangible need, every song sung sincerely on his knees
― r|t|c, Sunday, 29 July 2012 11:27 (eleven years ago) link
that was somewhat more lyrical miracle than i intended
― r|t|c, Sunday, 29 July 2012 11:31 (eleven years ago) link
can i get a refill
http://www.inflexwetrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Miguel-Elle-Varner-IFWT.jpg
― Nutri Grane (some dude), Sunday, 29 July 2012 11:48 (eleven years ago) link
D:
― smells like ok (soda) (dayo), Sunday, 29 July 2012 11:50 (eleven years ago) link
lex's post makes some good points
― buzzafeed (J0rdan S.), Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:08 (eleven years ago) link
is he very petite or is elle a way bigger gulp than she normally looks
― r|t|c, Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:14 (eleven years ago) link
miguel is petite as hell
― buzzafeed (J0rdan S.), Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:14 (eleven years ago) link
def true that for me Miguel's attraction as a singer is how anger and a libidinos streak intertwine.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:15 (eleven years ago) link
*libidinous
i guess i read that anger as a resiliency i.e. "...all"
― buzzafeed (J0rdan S.), Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:16 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, or a certitude
wouldnt take him seriously if i thought he was ever angry
― r|t|c, Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:22 (eleven years ago) link
he seems very controlled and confident to me, just as a person/performer, in a way that informs how he expresses any emotion in hi smusic
― Nutri Grane (some dude), Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:24 (eleven years ago) link
not at a Prince level of icy remove but definitely closer than any of his contemporaries that i can think of
― Nutri Grane (some dude), Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:25 (eleven years ago) link
Agreed. I didn't at all mean his anger was inchoate or anything; it's closer to seething.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:26 (eleven years ago) link
sure but even that seems overstated
― r|t|c, Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:28 (eleven years ago) link
these new tracks are definitely mastered way grungier right
paranoid about my hearing/stereo lately so i'm not even sure
― r|t|c, Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:29 (eleven years ago) link
Great post, Lex. I totally hear the frustration.
― Evan R, Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:38 (eleven years ago) link
damnit I thought we had lex so close to fetishizing melancholy
― smells like ok (soda) (dayo), Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:39 (eleven years ago) link
Late to the party but "Use Me" and "Don't Look Back" are just so... damn miguel how have you made so many of my favourite songs this year already.
― Tim F, Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:45 (eleven years ago) link
xp This is probably the part of Lex's "indie is ruining everything" conspiracy theory that I agree with the most. Melancholy is too often mistaken for substance, and I would hate to see it become a rampant empty signifier in R&B the way it did in indie rock. (That being said, I do obviously love it when it's done right)
― Evan R, Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:49 (eleven years ago) link
there's certainly a density to them but i thought everything sounded pretty clear.
the guitars are kinda 90s rock tho.
― buzzafeed (J0rdan S.), Sunday, 29 July 2012 15:02 (eleven years ago) link
what with wynter gordon too, we just need one more for a TRENDPIECE
― lex pretend, Sunday, 29 July 2012 15:04 (eleven years ago) link
yearning urgency is exactly right btw re: miguel
melancholy implies a sort of resignation - you've given up - that's not present in miguel's work
― lex pretend, Sunday, 29 July 2012 15:05 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah "resignation" is where melancholy starts to become indie. Perhaps a sense of (self)alienation too.
Neither of which Miguel does really.
― Tim F, Sunday, 29 July 2012 15:08 (eleven years ago) link
he just wants a quickie iirc
― Nutri Grane (some dude), Sunday, 29 July 2012 15:10 (eleven years ago) link
Actually arguably "Broads" is resigned.
― Tim F, Sunday, 29 July 2012 15:27 (eleven years ago) link
I cannot get over the depth of this stuff.
I want to see the waveforms when we finally get high quality versions, because (just based on my ears) this feels like a perfect opportunity to contrast tracks with lots of layers that have been recorded and mixed properly vs. stuff like My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy which is just overstuffed and overcompressed etc.
Like, 'Use Me' is the kind of song that could be a total mess sonically if it wasn't so impeccably put together. That round at the end! over top of the guitar strum!
― twinkin' and drinkin' and ready to fly (Alex in Montreal), Sunday, 29 July 2012 18:15 (eleven years ago) link
This list is like my ultimate wkiw (esp if it includes Miguel)
Anyways way late to this party but glad I made it
― seapluspluspunk (loves laboured breathing), Monday, 30 July 2012 04:53 (eleven years ago) link
It occurs to me that part of what makes "Adorn" so special is where in most r&b songs you have a static chorus with ad libs over the top, here the chorus is single-tracked and there's this tension where he has to find this balance between embellishing and carrying the melody. Does he toe the line? No, HE GOES ALL THE WAY FUCKING IN.
― The Reverend, Monday, 30 July 2012 05:01 (eleven years ago) link
I might be wrong but I don't feel like there's much of a distinction really between the verses & chorus, and that the choice between 'toeing the line' and 'going all the way fucking in' as you put it, is kind of the main demarcation between the two. That and the short running time of the orig version (I haven't listened to the single edit yet) maybe gives it a sort of sinuous slipperiness where you can feel like lots of stuff is happening but you can't quite get a handle on it--or at least I can't. Which is one of the things that compels me to listen to it again and again.
― seapluspluspunk (loves laboured breathing), Monday, 30 July 2012 05:46 (eleven years ago) link
you need to listen to the single version
― now there's a lot of bad bitches in the building (am0n) (some dude), Monday, 30 July 2012 10:58 (eleven years ago) link
...to know what Rev is really talking about. Ok yeah, listened and got it.
― seapluspluspunk (loves laboured breathing), Monday, 30 July 2012 14:05 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, that element existed in the ADC version, but it wasn't til the single version that it was made really clear.
― The Reverend, Monday, 30 July 2012 19:21 (eleven years ago) link
i just realized that miguel wrote this which totally makes sense in light of the adc shit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye-cmRfwFxM
― i'm a housewife, an artist, and a snow leopard (The Brainwasher), Tuesday, 31 July 2012 01:58 (eleven years ago) link
WAIT REALLY? HOW DID I NOT KNOW THAT??
man i love that song. also shame he didn't do more work w/ jam & lewis.
― buzzafeed (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 31 July 2012 04:33 (eleven years ago) link
is he playing ny tomorrow? little google bird told me he might be
― I dont even know that I think this sucks per se (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 31 July 2012 04:41 (eleven years ago) link
that SPIN post said they're gonna have a video of a performance from a "secret live show" on wednesday morning, so yeah he's prob playing somewhere tomorrow night
― buzzafeed (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 31 July 2012 04:44 (eleven years ago) link