Kelela - Cut 4 Me

the opposite of catharsis isn't NOTHING

it's not her best song but there's some slow-burn tension there and a couple of hooks that work for me. i just love her commitment to minimalism. maybe you forgot to click play?

i am familiar with minimalism and how amazing it can sound but there needs to be some THERE there. early cassie - which pretty much invented the surfeit of this kind of r&b right now - sounds packed with max martin hooks in comparison

wow this sounds exactly like a weeknd song

Produced by Gifted & Blessed(!)

Though not into it really:(

This is just ok, but let's be real, if this was an Amel Larrieux album track (which it practically is), lex wouldn't have shit to say about it.

Ha, I didn't even think about the fact that Kelela always cites Amel as the person who inspired her to be a singer til I hit submit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/kelela-an-randb-star-to-be/2014/04/14/f4681b6a-bb4a-11e3-96ae-f2c36d2b1245_story.html

Interview with her

As with “Cut 4 Me,” Kelela says the recording sessions for her new album have taken place in Los Angeles, London and across the digital plane. Fittingly, the music video for Bok Bok and Kelela’s squeaky new single, “Melba’s Call,” features an empty studio with the singer Skyped in on a video screen.

Meantime, Kelela says she’s hunkering down, fending off record labels until the album is complete. “I’m just trying to make it good,” she says. And by good, she means unbearably excellent. “I’m waiting for the moment when I’m jumping around the room because I can’t even deal with it.”

I like the song with tink

this is rad! crazy - i kept seeing her name popping up here and there and thought "hey i remember a really cool girl i met in college named kelela" but i'm not really a huge R&B dude so i didn't look into it to see if it was her. what are the chances right? but holy fuck i looked into this morning and it's her! she was cool as fuck too, really super friendly and warm, easy going and chill. we had some mutual friends, a jazz musician i knew and also a girl i dated and eventually became good friends with. kelela was really into jazz at the time (so was i) so we talked about jazz a lot. she was part of this whole crew that hung out at the student-run coffee shop like all day, a group of us just kind of dominated that place. rad!

but yea anyways this album is good

This song with Kindness is faboo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVs4P4lSB6w

Arca + Kelela, wowowow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4-9mYrbXVI&feature=youtu.be

ehh bjork worked with arca w/o sounding like she was trying to ride twigs' coattails

oh yeah it's super Twigsy, but more memorable than most Kelela jams imo.

thought this was awesome

i really like "rewind" -- it's as pandering as anything she's ever done but the lyrical concept really works for me. the chorus also feels like a wind up toy kinda which is something i like about good bass songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=240&v=py6PgXq0yDM

b/w this & the jessy lanza/dj spinn record feel like it's been a lil bit of a comeback year for consciously cool hipster R&B

have you heard the abra record j0rdan?

it's on my list of things to listen to

I'm always very happy to come across a song from Cut 4 Me but have somehow unwittingly avoided anything else she's done.

i dig cut 4 me but i tend to listen in chunks rather than straight through

"a message" is outstanding i think

YO REWIND IS FLAAAAMES

i am really, really digging the hallucinogen ep

title track is awesome

this is cool: http://songexploder.net/kelela

Really regretting sleeping on this and missing her when she came to town. Hallucinogen is so good all the way through, but especially "A Message."

newish trailer, I guess:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZBnWO3UUh4

sounds like the new stuff is coming from a more loved-up place. her bf directed.

Listening to Hallucinogen EP now - great.

yesss very excited for the lp

love this ep

Her "debut album" is coming out in October and the lead single is huge: https://open.spotify.com/album/5FEEH1krjffTBOsf7xgvw6

Super exciting day in music announcements for me between this and the new Circuit Des Yeux

Really looking forward to this album. Also she is insanely good looking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePi5BLJogyA

album out

??????

album NOW out and v good

last 3 tracks in particular have absolutely destroyed me

So good.

Very excited for this.

I found her past stuff a little underwhelming. How does this compare?

it's better

I wish Lex were still around to goad me into listening to this :(

Bank head extended mix was one of my favourite tracks from its respective year. Can't wait to hear the new one

First impression - most of the best songs are in the second half. Sign of a confident artist.

'The High' was my favourite off the Hallucinogen EP. Does her latest expand on that facet of her sound at all or maintain it at the very least? Or has she embraced more conventional pop structures?

i think structurally this is very much still boundary pushing for a dance/R&B hybrid, but there are songs like "LMK" and "Waitin" that I suppose that have more conventional mechanics

"Waiting" and "Onanon" are practically Janet songs.

fuck me "frontline" is amazing

only two listens in on album so far and there's a lot to digest but so far it's pretty great

I've been listening non-stop. The best ballads remind me of Velvet Rope-era Janet.

Great performance on Jools Holland (hopefully available to non-UKers)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKML5psaCs8