Kelela - Cut 4 Me

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.

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.

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.

I guess I specifically have a love for dance music that challenges me as a dancer.

― 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.

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

yeah i was gonna say why are we talking about this like it's a dance album

Yeah, that was a tangent. But Tim otm.

hah if ever further proof were needed that tim is la puta madre when it comes to sweetening up disses

Lovely listen, this. Currently on "Floor Show"

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.

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.

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.

Lex, have you every considered the idea that you might be rhythmically inadequate or deficient, and not this music?

For Fans of: FKA Twigs, Ruby Goe, Aaliyah

i'm good

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.

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.

this sound just codes as super yuppie to me atp

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, 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

Y'all have never been so wrong.

ILM you disappoint me.

evan otm. it does sound "pretty good" but...that's it

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

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

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

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.

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

i'm with rev, this is great.

lex is right that this needs to be more danceable though lol

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

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.

Up and down but not forward is a v good description of the beats (and why I don't get with them)

do you mean like in terms of dynamics (structure, builds, etc) or just how the grooves feel?

How the (NON) grooves feel I guess?

the actual slow jams (minus minimal dance beats) at the end of the record are stunning

This is growing on me a lot. Wish "Go All Night" was a full track.

the glass thing is probably one of Jam City's?

I thought it was the NA track?

I thought this would be boring like jessy lanza, but it's actually pretty nice. I'm all for night slugs/fade to mind + vocals.

yeah lanza did cross my mind too but it def doesnt deserved to be put it with that ilk

jeez.. deserve to be put in

none of these melodies are sticking in my head at all but it doesn't matter, i can't stop listening to this.

it's the beats, but they wouldn't work at all without the vocals, there would be nothing there.

"Enemy" has been in my head all the time (as well as "Bank Head" obv), but otherwise true

Up and down but not forward is a v good description of the beats (and why I don't get with them)

― lex pretend, Friday, October 4, 2013 10:54 AM Bookmark

I actually agree with this, in that they're meant to BOUNCE

'bank head' is an exception for sure, although it still reminds me of 'stillness is the move'.

Up and down but not forward is a v good description of the beats (and why I don't get with them)

― lex pretend, Friday, October 4, 2013 10:54 AM Bookmark

I actually agree with this, in that they're meant to BOUNCE

― The Reverend, Monday, October 7, 2013 5:19 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah i don't think it's a negative across the board, just wish there was a bit more variation

re: bounce, i agree, they're built like dance beats but feel like rap beats.

dc show sold out too quick, I didn't get tickets.

feel like I’m close to falling in love with this album

I still have to listen to this! Haven't had the right moment.

it’s definitely an album that demands the moment and mindset to be right. night time pretty much a prerequisite.

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.

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.

A similar sense of desolation

Definitely the best thing she's done, but I'm a complete sucker for jungle breaks.

idk know Take Me Apart had more variety, and the songwriting isn't up to SZA's.

Raven is so, so good

thrilled to be seeing her live again later this year

so good I have to un-hide it: Raven

really digging the *Rave:N, The Remixes* album. so dreamy and cool.

https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27342be66dc114499902e3a4d15