Katy B - On A Mission (4 April 2011) - hype, anticipation &c

OMG SO GOOD.

I find this super-straight but mysterious house sound (e.g. this and "Aaliyah") such a good look for Katy.

Yeah that's great. She's got such a good ear for melody, that vocal line never goes to the obvious places the groove is trying to push it to.

'Aaliyah' had better be on the album.

this song is really good

think "got paid" might be one my favorite songs by her, if not my favorite

WHOA

NICE

yeah this is a winner

'aaliyah' was a look but this is more like style, with the maturing confidence to not try to distinguish herself lyrically on every line and instead just let the house signifiers do the talking

but still the sheer quality of "and i can say life is for days / looking at your beautiful face"

yeah that's great. i suppose it's noteworthy that the two most credible UK pop singers at the moment are both mining 80s sounds right now, kind of neat that they've taken complimentary approaches

isn't it 'and i can stay like this for days'

cool tune

so so good

album not till october tho bleurghh :(

this is a nice tune but i am surprised to hear it's the lead single. it doesn't sound that thrilling or instantly gratifying.

i also adore "got paid" -- wish "aaliyah" had had a different title so people would've stanned for "got paid" instead

i should say tho that a lot of the other katy b material i love wasn't "instantly gratifying" either so maybe i am judging too early

the two most credible UK pop singers at the moment are both mining 80s sounds right now

fuck it. i'll bite.

who is the other one then ?

jake bugg

jessie ware presumably?

Charlotte CHurch

i thought jessie w as well ..

if not her, then i really am stumped and need to be directed accordingly ..

(btw .. the jake answer made me proper choke on my beer and laugh out loud .. )

Also assumed JW, though a world in which their approaches are to be contrasted is quite a narrow one imo.

Hmmm. Liked this on first listen and already liking it more on second listen.

Also assumed JW, though a world in which their approaches are to be contrasted is quite a narrow one imo

It's an emotional contrast, you can really hear it on Aaliyah - Katy always sounds either exuberant or defiant and when Jessie comes in she sounds like the most mournful person in the world in comparison. Katy B doing 'Imagine It Was Us' would be a very different beast, determined rather than longing.

I mean Jessie can do strong and booming pretty well (Night Light, Taking In Water, the Rack & Ruin collab) but it's curious she's elected not to do so on house tracks. Maybe it's a register thing, but I like to think it's an emotional choice.

this is amazing <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZc6ZDCohR0

The video for "What Love Is Made Of". . . Has she been watching old reggaeton videos?

haha yeah, it does have that vibe. I don't really care much for the song, sounds like a much weaker version of "Aaliyah". The sonic palette was the least interesting thing about that song to begin with.

I like the song a lot. I am turning into a fan of house 25 years after hearing house for the first time. It's weird. (I still don't like most of it really, but I like a whole lot more of it than I did just a few years ago.)

Does seem kind of limited sonically, but it still adds up to enough for me.

I really hate all the drag race stuff in the middle of the video. Have more respect for your own song. Why interrupt and trash it that way? This is not a movie.

the song is boring, i have little respect for it

it is a bit of a weak lemon drink of a track, but idk that's still quite nice sometimes. comfortingly insipid

yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma4MOlxK1DU

Is there any word on when the album's out yet?

"before the end of the year"

this single isnt very good :/

ideal sitch at this point is probably if keisha sends siobhan loopy again, katy slides in unnoticed, and mk produces the whole deal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5yhfLZI9lg

this song is pretty real tbh

way better than the last one. my anticipation of the album resumes.

this is better than the last one but it's also kind of 2011 US pop radio (not a pejorative, just kind of not really what I want from katy B? whatever happened to the EP, was that deemed a failure?)

i mean they were giving out the ep for free from the get-go so i can't imagine many standards by which it would be considered a failure

if this new one is deemed by some to be satisfactory then i can only commiserate kb for passing through cassie's veil

that beat's so sick, that tune's so ill

this is better than the last one but it's also kind of 2011 US pop radio

yeahhh :/

bring back the real katy, this is an imposter. it might even be some other katy who shall not be named.

you'd think with the pop-house explosion in the UK since her first album dropped she'd be able to get this right but...

Anyone going to the XOYO gig? My anticipation has just rocketed upon discovering she's been playing Aaliyah live.

it might even be some other katy who shall not be named.

it could be! the other katy is topping itunes rn with a house track so i mean

The production on 5am is very US pop radio but at the same time it still feels like a Katy B track, it doesn't do the overwhelming blare thing.

So yeah the gig was great on Tuesday, although she could probably have got away with playing for more than 45mins. It appears the new album is called Little Red and could go one way or the other.

The best song, Hot Like Fire is a Geeneus-produced banger a bit like Witches Brew/Broken Record. There's also a Joker-produced dubstep power ballad a bit like Go Away. It's pretty good. And there's a Jacques Greene collaboration called Sapphire Blue or some shit that sounds exactly like you think it's going to be. Plus a piano ballad.

I dunno, could go one way or the other.

same again then

https://soundcloud.com/katyb/i-like-you

produced by george fitzgerald. was unconvinced by this until the climax which completely won me over

Like it.

All of these are serviceable but they're also all at the level of the weaker tracks from On A Mission and I've not heard anything that approaches that record's highs yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SLwSI06Mdg

correct configuration for this one imo

Lex is right, the breakdown is killer.

Would love an album of KB/MK (or indeed KB/Deckstar) jams.

do we know how much geeneus is on this?