thread of miguel

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.

Great post, Lex. I totally hear the frustration.

damnit I thought we had lex so close to fetishizing melancholy

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.

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)

these new tracks are definitely mastered way grungier right

there's certainly a density to them but i thought everything sounded pretty clear.

the guitars are kinda 90s rock tho.

the guitars are kinda 90s rock tho.

what with wynter gordon too, we just need one more for a TRENDPIECE

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

Yeah "resignation" is where melancholy starts to become indie. Perhaps a sense of (self)alienation too.

Neither of which Miguel does really.

he just wants a quickie iirc

Actually arguably "Broads" is resigned.

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!

He still pals around with west coast hippies! Jhene, Thundercat, FlyLo, J Davey, etc...

This list is like my ultimate wkiw (esp if it includes Miguel)

Anyways way late to this party but glad I made it

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.

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.

you need to listen to the single version

...to know what Rev is really talking about. Ok yeah, listened and got it.

Yeah, that element existed in the ADC version, but it wasn't til the single version that it was made really clear.

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

WAIT REALLY? HOW DID I NOT KNOW THAT??

man i love that song. also shame he didn't do more work w/ jam & lewis.

is he playing ny tomorrow? little google bird told me he might be

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

he's also playing PS1 w/ jamie xx & pearson sound on 8/4

WATER PREVIEW also available on itunes now

he's also playing PS1 w/ jamie xx & pearson sound on 8/4

holy shit

right?

It's not on the Australian iTunes. I'm distraught.

http://youtu.be/8dM5QYdTo08

Video is out though.

weird

yahhh

Cool

Shot in Los Angeles and directed by Jason Beattie(Steve Aoki, Mike Posner, Good Charlotte), features Miguel in a moody underworld searching for a mythical, unattainable woman.

lol, whatever. i preferred just staring at his face, obviously.

but he looks ~fine~ here also, so it's all good.

he sure wears makeup well

his getup is a bit too Bruno Mars

Rev, didn't you once have a similar haircut?

he's so pretty http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz166/smrougifs/Gifs/EmmaRachelSwoon.gif

xp yeah, but I never paired it with a retro teddy boy suit

so nice hearing this on the radio

i think i'm talking to him tomorrow fyi if u want to get any questions in

Friday August 3rd Line-up
The-Dream
Miguel
at the Ohio State Fair

WAIT WHAT

i think i'm talking to him tomorrow fyi if u want to get any questions in

― lex pretend, Tuesday, July 31, 2012 11:38 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Tell him your friend Rodney has a thing for him and would like his number.

Friday August 3rd Line-up
The-Dream
Miguel
at the Ohio State Fair

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, July 31, 2012 2:38 PM (16 minutes ago)

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101229043821/headhuntershorrorhouse/images/3/3d/Exploding_head.gif

Rev, if we cannot work out a way to timeshare Miguel's phone number/affections, our friendship may be hitting a speed bump.

Can I take every other weekend?

Also, excuse me while I google how long a drive it is from Montreal to Ohio.

It is only 12 hours! Um. Hm. Probably not.

threesomes

haha. deal.

ok, also, calling this "Kaleidoscope Dream: The Water Preview" looks ridiculous. Is it less silly to call it "Kaleidoscope Dream: Water" or "Kaleidoscope Dream: The Water" or what?

I'd rather call this an orgy.