Really must hear this. Tomorrow, hopefully.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 05:35 (ten years ago) link
I have seen this played out in clubs and people did dance tho
(I was DJing at an afterparty at that Basilica Sound Scape festival with the dude who runs Tr1angl3 R3cords and he played "Bank Head" and people totally got down to it- it's just a different kinda vibe)
― the tune was space, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 05:39 (ten years ago) link
Yeah people have def danced whenever I've heard "Bank Head" out.
― The Reverend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 06:44 (ten years ago) link
intricate/fussy
these are negatives to me. we've been here before, where others hear "weird syncopation" i just hear stilted and awkward
i've seen people dance to latter-day night slugs, i can't do it though - just too dry and stilted.
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 07:20 (ten years ago) link
i did envisage kelela providing some sort of focal point but i feel like her songwriting does much the same "hang in the air on the verge of doing something that never happens" thing as the beats
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 07:21 (ten years ago) link
haha I chose "fussy" as an alternate expressly to allow that yr mileage would probably vary lex.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 07:57 (ten years ago) link
tbh i don't even hear them as fussy or intricate, just awkward and rigid
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 08:01 (ten years ago) link
I do too - rigid certainly, and if not always awkward to my ears then at least deliberately "ungainly" - but I suppose I can deal with it better as straight soundworld indulgence rather than when it sounds like someone took a perfectly decent house track and sprained its ankle.
It seems a reasonable thing to be turned off by though, IMO.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 08:11 (ten years ago) link
I could mostly give less of a fuck about a perfectly good house track at this point tbh
― The Reverend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 08:20 (ten years ago) link
Even the straightforward "functional" dance music I'm into is club or ballroom or juke or falling in between those cracks.
― The Reverend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 08:21 (ten years ago) link
Bun fire pon 4x4
― The Reverend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 08:23 (ten years ago) link
but I suppose I can deal with it better as straight soundworld indulgence rather than when it sounds like someone took a perfectly decent house track and sprained its ankle.
i'm mostly thinking of stuff like "fogs", not to mention early jam city stuff like "arpjam", which are still some of my favourite dance trax of this decade, as examples of that urgency (not nec 4x4) which i find completely lacking among NS/F2M, including kelela, lately
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 08:35 (ten years ago) link
Kelela's definitely going for a different thing than those tracks tho, more of a floaty, romantic vibe sometimes offset by jagged tracks. Something like "Bank Head" is more made to body roll and dance sexy to than stomp your feet and that's ALWAYS ALWAYS better.
― The Reverend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 08:48 (ten years ago) link
We really need to have a thread on drums/bass/momentum/kineticism in music and what does and doesn't work for people, not necessarily dance music either. Because early NS just did not work for me at all on a basic physical level even when it was ostensibly similar to other stuff I liked.
― Matt DC, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 08:58 (ten years ago) link
Dance in between the beats
― The Reverend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 09:00 (ten years ago) link
LOL some of us do know what dancing involves Rev.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 09:09 (ten years ago) link
I guess I specifically have a love for dance music that challenges me as a dancer.
― The Reverend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 09:19 (ten years ago) link
This is one of the things I find awesome about footwork is basically its whole central premise as music specifically made for dance battles is the tension between how challenging it can be to dance to but still able to be danced to by a skillful dancer.
― The Reverend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 09:22 (ten years ago) link
Thing is it's not just about dancing is it? A lot of the listening contexts for this music happen when there's no dancing at all taking place. I like footwork because the rhythmic patterns work for me on a very basic level and would never even think of trying to dance to it. And in 99% of the situations when I actually dance anything that particularly 'challenges' me would be doomed to disaster.
― Matt DC, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 09:31 (ten years ago) link
I mean obviously dancing is the primary purpose but if the music is any good you can get a lot out of it away from the dancefloor.
― Matt DC, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 09:32 (ten years ago) link
― The Reverend, Wednesday, October 2, 2013 9:19 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I broadly have the same sympathies, which is why in general terms jungle and 2-step and funky are closer to the centre of my taste than are typical house or techno.
OTOH my preferred form of "challenge" is one where the music is rhythmically more fluent, and dares you to try to keep up, as opposed to the inverse situation where the music kinda bludgeons about in an ungainly manner, in a deliberate debasement of rhythmic fluency vis a vis, say, house - although certainly I can also think of examples of this approach which I absolutely love.
Where I think the Kelela album does well is in raising the latter approach to its own level/form of fluency through intensification. I can imagine people dancing to some of this but it seems like a secondary effect.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 15:39 (ten years ago) link
i guess the dancing thing is a red herring w/r/t kelela specifically, i'm aware it's not made for that as such, but the same issues that have made NS club tracks in the past year-ish so undanceable to me are the same issues that make this underwhelming to me, it's the rigidity and refusal to do anything except hang there twitching. prettiness is really not enough when it doesn't parlay that into meat at some point
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 15:44 (ten years ago) link
yeah i was gonna say why are we talking about this like it's a dance album
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 2 October 2013 15:45 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, that was a tangent. But Tim otm.
― The Reverend, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 16:17 (ten years ago) link
hah if ever further proof were needed that tim is la puta madre when it comes to sweetening up disses
― r|t|c, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 16:46 (ten years ago) link
Lovely listen, this. Currently on "Floor Show"
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 17:12 (ten years ago) link
Only about half way through but not feeling this at all. With a better vocalist it might have worked but her voice is kind of thin and the songwriting isn't really good enough for it to work as R&B. Also the beats are so torpid and lacking in energy even when they're fast.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 3 October 2013 11:06 (ten years ago) link
i gave it another try and it's not the negative space in the beats i don't like, it's the fucking stop-start lack of a groove - like on "cut 4 me", which is probably as strong as the album gets, even there you have that pretty good loop which just PAUSES after every iteration for no reason at all. kingdom started out making infinitely better vocal music than this so it's just massively disappointing.
― lex pretend, Thursday, 3 October 2013 11:32 (ten years ago) link
Yeah I don't think this realizes the potential of forward-looking production and R&B vocalist.
It sounds like most of these guys aren't giving Kelela their best shit and her writing is pretty boilerplate at times. This crawls to the finish line. I still like it, but it's not quite there yet.
― I make $94k Based God (rennavate), Thursday, 3 October 2013 15:37 (ten years ago) link
Lex, have you every considered the idea that you might be rhythmically inadequate or deficient, and not this music?
― Josephine, Thursday, 3 October 2013 18:15 (ten years ago) link
For Fans of: FKA Twigs, Ruby Goe, Aaliyah
i'm good
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Friday, 4 October 2013 14:39 (ten years ago) link
I've not paid much attention since The Perfect Lullaby but kinda despairing that this is the sort of R&B that Nguzunguzu decide to make when they get the chance.
― Matt DC, Friday, 4 October 2013 14:52 (ten years ago) link
This tape sounds pretty good to me, but I understand the indifference. It epitomizes everything that's meh about R&B in 2013: tiny voiced singers who mistake minimalism for substance; production that sounds like it came from glass studios where you can't touch anything; songs that don't stick; AlunaGeorge-isms, etc.
― Evan R, Friday, 4 October 2013 15:21 (ten years ago) link
this sound just codes as super yuppie to me atp
― flopson, Friday, 4 October 2013 15:26 (ten years ago) link
― Evan R, Friday, October 4, 2013 10:21 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
bingo. this style is dead as ... dead. heroin's coming back in a big fuckin way
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Friday, 4 October 2013 16:27 (ten years ago) link
Y'all have never been so wrong.
― The Reverend, Friday, 4 October 2013 16:32 (ten years ago) link
ILM you disappoint me.
evan otm. it does sound "pretty good" but...that's it
― lex pretend, Friday, 4 October 2013 16:36 (ten years ago) link
also idk who "josephine" is but i'm calling sock at any poster who seemingly only shows up to snark at me
get over yourself, b
― J0rdan S., Friday, 4 October 2013 16:37 (ten years ago) link
whenever i see this thread title i hear the weeknd singing "take a cut for me"
FWIW I'm not grading its quality either way, just expressing a general ennui w/ the entire approach
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Friday, 4 October 2013 17:17 (ten years ago) link
haven't really digested this whole thing yet and though i think evan's assessment has an element of truth to it, "enemy" kinda refutes the idea that this is all very precious
― J0rdan S., Friday, 4 October 2013 17:17 (ten years ago) link
production that sounds like it came from glass studios where you can't touch anything
i think this is less of a problem here... a lot of these beats are hard. one of the best things about this record. they would break glass studios! i understand the lineage you're referring to but i think it's a red herring here.
when the songs fail it's because the producers misunderstand timbaland's genius as purely related to his drums instead of his drums rubbing against the textures of traditional, soulful R&B. production nerd problems, i'd wager.
― J0rdan S., Friday, 4 October 2013 17:32 (ten years ago) link
but i like this record. i don't think it's GREAT but the songwriting is stronger than i anticipated. i also think the vocals are generally pretty good except when she sounds too much like cassie (my main prob with "bank head"). also i think this leans closer to so so def-era bass music than it's getting credit for.
that said i do sympathize with lex in that i wish there were songs here that had momentum. there's a lot of banging up and down here — and i like that about it, "enemy" and "floor show" and "cut 4 me" — but not enough pushing forward
― J0rdan S., Friday, 4 October 2013 17:37 (ten years ago) link
i'm with rev, this is great.
― festival culture (Jordan), Friday, 4 October 2013 17:43 (ten years ago) link
lex is right that this needs to be more danceable though lol
― J0rdan S., Friday, 4 October 2013 17:45 (ten years ago) link
it's like two albums worth of good slow jams crammed into one which sounds good but is kinda boring
actually it's funny that evan made the "glass studio" quip when there's literally the sound of glass shattering in one song
― J0rdan S., Friday, 4 October 2013 17:49 (ten years ago) link
lol, does 'guns & synths' use the gchat notification sound on the backbeat every so often? it's tripping me out.
i think this is plenty danceable in its way, thought that was the whole idea.
― festival culture (Jordan), Friday, 4 October 2013 17:52 (ten years ago) link
next new one is “Contact”, it’s the first of the new tracks I love outright:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV57nu3Kre4(someone is making an amapiano remix right now)
― the shaker intro bit the shaker outro in the tail, hard (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:55 (one year ago) link
damn that's nice
― ꙮ (map), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 22:06 (one year ago) link
yeah, that's good.
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 22:15 (one year ago) link
yum!
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 22:15 (one year ago) link
yeah that's the best so far
― ufo, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 22:51 (one year ago) link
starting to really look forward to this album. it’s building up very nicely.
― the shaker intro bit the shaker outro in the tail, hard (breastcrawl), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 08:04 (one year ago) link
album rules, goes all in on ambience + breakbeats, & appreciate it being a pretty much continuous mix
on first listen all i dislike is the guest verse at the end of closure that's pretty out of place?
― ufo, Friday, 10 February 2023 04:36 (one year ago) link
why am i the only one who's listened to this so far, it's so good
― ufo, Friday, 10 February 2023 21:16 (one year ago) link
I’ve definitely listened to it (several times!) but am still trying to work out what to say about it beyond that I think it’s incredible. Just as assured and uncompromising as Take Me Apart, which is one of my favourite records of the last 10-15 years.
― monotony, Friday, 10 February 2023 22:05 (one year ago) link
The singles make sense because (“Washed Away” aside which was essentially an re-introduction for her) they’re really the only tracks that work in isolation - the rest sort of demands the continuous mix sequencing that’s laid out here
― monotony, Friday, 10 February 2023 22:06 (one year ago) link
need more time w/ this album for sure but "Bruises" seems like an early standout
― Murgatroid, Sunday, 12 February 2023 00:15 (one year ago) link
On first listen I wish the ambient parts were a bit more engaging/challenging.. but when the beat drops in songs like the title track? Holy shit
― josh az (2011nostalgia), Tuesday, 14 February 2023 03:24 (one year ago) link
I wasn't sold on those electronic tracks initially but I guess there are pleasing Dawn Richard type of dynamics here and I could see it grow on me. I suspect the album is backloaded. I need to relisten to it with headphones.
― Nabozo, Friday, 17 February 2023 16:12 (one year ago) link
wondering about going to this, really ned to listen to the albumhttps://www.bam.org/kelela-res-keiyaa
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Friday, 17 February 2023 16:33 (one year ago) link
go see her - she was incredible live the time I saw her in 2017, see the testimonials Extended Mix and I wrote three years upthread
― let us now celebrate ama ‘piano’ smith & the clowns (breastcrawl), Friday, 17 February 2023 23:11 (one year ago) link
just played the album front to back and absolutely loved it. love how it builds up to “Raven” and “Bruises”, the centerpieces, and then breaks it all down again. man, if she should come this way again, I’ll be the first to buy my ticket
― let us now celebrate ama ‘piano’ smith & the clowns (breastcrawl), Friday, 17 February 2023 23:18 (one year ago) link
Alright, I copped
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 18 February 2023 01:34 (one year ago) link
dc show sold out too quick, I didn't get tickets.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 18 February 2023 05:10 (one year ago) link
feel like I’m close to falling in love with this album
― let us now celebrate ama ‘piano’ smith & the clowns (breastcrawl), Monday, 20 February 2023 22:39 (one year ago) link
I still have to listen to this! Haven't had the right moment.
― change display name (Jordan), Monday, 20 February 2023 22:45 (one year ago) link
it’s definitely an album that demands the moment and mindset to be right. night time pretty much a prerequisite.
― let us now celebrate ama ‘piano’ smith & the clowns (breastcrawl), Monday, 20 February 2023 22:49 (one year ago) link
finally listening to this and yeah it seems pretty great. it's exactly the kind of album that will really open up for me on headphones with an edible and a run, i'm predicting. has late afternoon / golden hour vibes imo.
― ꙮ (map), Tuesday, 21 February 2023 00:43 (one year ago) link
Anyone feels like the mood is similar to the SZA album ? Meandering, frail, lonely, vocals going up and down in vast and cold spaces and around skeletal structures. Raven with a consistent soundscape, SOS more sprawling.
― Nabozo, Tuesday, 21 February 2023 09:55 (one year ago) link
A similar sense of desolation
― Nabozo, Tuesday, 21 February 2023 09:56 (one year ago) link
Definitely the best thing she's done, but I'm a complete sucker for jungle breaks.
― chap, Sunday, 12 March 2023 12:32 (one year ago) link
idk know Take Me Apart had more variety, and the songwriting isn't up to SZA's.
― the very juice and sperm of kindness. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 14:14 (one year ago) link
Raven is so, so goodthrilled to be seeing her live again later this year
― slugbuggy, life has new meaning to me (breastcrawl), Wednesday, 10 May 2023 20:30 (eleven months ago) link
so good I have to un-hide it: Raven
― slugbuggy, life has new meaning to me (breastcrawl), Wednesday, 10 May 2023 20:31 (eleven months ago) link
really digging the *Rave:N, The Remixes* album. so dreamy and cool.
https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27342be66dc114499902e3a4d15
― scott seward, Saturday, 10 February 2024 17:51 (two months ago) link