Annie (From Norway)

You did use the word "pop" as one of three descriptors.

Ah, never mind. I was just wondering about the "amazing" and "political" part of the equation, but it's not important.

I hate that word “accessible.” It gets brandished about like a bayonet rifle to knock artists and musicians into some sort of preconceived social order; oh, how dare you do something different, why can’t you give the majority of people what they know they want and be ACCESSIBLE?

The new Planningtorock songs sound pretty “accessible” to me but carry an insistent, buried threat – or a plea – which is heightened, rather than diminished, by the constantly repeated phrases and slogans, as though emboldening the thought into people’s minds is the point (and I’m sure it’s at least one of the points). They are also “accessible” in the sense that mainstream radio in Britain would have happily played them in the evening 25-30 years ago – Anne Clark/AC Marias anyone? – but presumably not in the contemporary sense of “When I Was Your Man” and “Pompeii” repeated a million times an hour until one screams because that’s apparently what people want; if not, are you rebelling against the State, are you a WEIRDO? #lynchmobmentality

The first thing that struck me on RK was her disappointing vocals, but after finishing the song I like them as they are as it doesn't detract from the hypnotic production. Glad to see other people here who loved her EP!

Didn’t mean to attach any value to the phrase accessible, but quality rant anyway.

Anne Clark/AC Marias anyone?

AC Marias got mainstream radio play?!

Apparently she's back in the studio with Richard X. Hoping for some new material this year.

Annie is notoriously slow in the studio.

Yeah, my hopes are not very high.

I'm on my phone and don't know how to post links but there's a new track over at Popjustice. It's called "Cara Mia" and its good! Also, news of upcoming EP.

another one for the tropical house thread i think. it's here: https://soundcloud.com/richardxbm/annie-cara-mia-from-the-endless-vacation-ep

Lovely song. So excited for the new EP. The A&R EP was perfection.

yayyyy

btw THE GUEST uses an annie song to great effect

Another new one:

http://www.thefader.com/2015/10/06/annie-is-catchier-than-ever-on-eurodance-inspired-dadaday

Now that Alice Deejay song is gonna be stuck in my brain all week. Thanks, Annie.

And another one! This one sounds like something from the early 90s. Cathy Dennis, perhaps?

https://soundcloud.com/richardxbm/annie-workx2-from-the-endless-vacation-ep

Quite an album cover on the new EP, which is now floating around (and all 4 songs are awesome):

http://i.imgur.com/ASsWjcW.jpg

This isn't quite as perfect as The A&R EP but it is really great.

what do you want (the breakfast song) gets stuck in my head every morning and I have arrived at some odd interpretations of the lyrics

What's yer interpretation

I get it stuck in my head when I go shopping a lot, "what do you want, what do you want from Argos"

New music soon, per Annie's Insta: https://www.instagram.com/p/BqskGbcgc1t/

Wow!

She also sort of had a Billboard #1 hit with Metro Boomin's new album this month, centrally sampled on this track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThRbi74tkLw

Hoping she got a good payout for use of the sample, I'd guess that's still a way to make some £££/$$$ as opposed to the pittance from streaming etc?

New single (I'm guessing this is the "new music soon" announcement from a year and a half ago, lol). Anyway, she's collaborating with Stefan Storm from The Sound of Arrows on this one. Very synthwave, I like it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HqTDoScPI4

New album too:

https://pitchfork.com/news/annie-announces-first-new-album-in-11-years-shares-new-song-american-cars-listen/?utm_brand=p4k&mbid=social_facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_social-type=owned&fbclid=IwAR0js4bXYu7MFwCyYQqA1odN1NQzOVP0jzYkmaPCrZUUZ37djMHpg_m5BFY

Sounds sweet!

Tried to add to my Watch Later list, but apparently "This action is turned off on content made for kids"?

got some vintage Pet Shop Boys quality has that, nice.

If she put this out straight after the last album, she'd be just in time for the cold?utm_brand=p4k&mbid=social_facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_social-type=owned&fbclid=IwAR0js4bXYu7MFwCyYQqA1odN1NQzOVP0jzYkmaPCrZUUZ37djMHpg_m5BFYwave revival

this is indeed very synthwave.
just when i had given up hope that the scene would have its big name moment.

https://youtu.be/wl2Jkt547rA

Another new one, I prefer this to American Cars

I’m not really feeling either of these at all so far. Sad face.

finally the new one that got me stuck on repeat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-fYvBAoKwI

Her new record seems nice! I get a bit of a Sally Shapiro vibe, IDIB as well.

hard IDIB vibes for sure. fine by me.

any dancefloor bops on it? singles ITT all very chill

"Forever '92" is probably the closest thing here to a dancefloor bop. And "Mermaid Dreams" goes pretty hard. But no, nothing like "WorkX2" or "Back Together."

Plenty of mid-tempo swaying bops, though! I'm enjoying this quite a bit, it's captivating.

Really beautiful album. Very understated compared to most of her previous work. The sadness of the lyrics about Tore have been hitting me hard.

This isn't doing a lot for me and it's really sad because I can tell this was an important album for her and I've always liked her a lot. The melodies are strong but it's far too long and one-tempo. And it doesn't sound so much like the 80s as the 00s approximation of the 80s.

I always thought that her nondescript singing was a feature and not a bug: on songs like Back Together she was able to sell them as formalist examples of perfect pop, stepping out the way to let the songs themselves stand as platonic ideals of genre excellence. But on this she just sounds a bit adrift and I think this material really needs a bit more presence to work.

agreed, I found this pretty boring.

Ok this is maybe a bit sad-youtube-comments-/early-00-pitchfork-review but the first time I played the album it hit me in the gut. Downloaded it last friday for a long drive to my parents and started driving at the beginning of what ultimately felt like an unusually long dusk, the sun had just beautifully set in partly cloudy skies that subsequently shifted to a melancholy inducing yellow-green-grey over highways that became emptier as I drove on. Alone in the car, my thoughts had started wandering through memories of times (up until 1990) spent in that part of the country to which I was driving. High school love, forgotten friends, family members long gone, but also good times/moments/parties. Hearing the album, loud, in that context - it was perfect. I probably should refrain from listening to it ever again.

I would add Julee Cruise/Lynch/Badalamenti to the list of influences in at least a couple of tracks (Corridors of Time, The
Untold Story, It's Finally Over).

Love that writeup, willem. This really is the best thing she's ever released. I wish it were getting more attention. The production is stunning and the melodies are achingly gorgeous. I wanna bop my head to 'Miracle Mile' forever.

My favorite track right now is Stay Tomorrow. I'm getting some mid-eighties French pop vibe from it. Maybe Mylene Farmer? I dunno.

Yes, really feeling your write-up Willem, nice that it coincided with that particular area of NL :) Will try and save it for a similar experience in the near future.

Yeah, this is very nice. Love the nocturnal mood, definite IDIB vibes.

was disappointed/bored with this initially but it's really grown on me - beautiful, perfect music for cold, rainy evenings.

"Mermaid Dreams" is incredible.