Kacey Musgraves - 2013 Anticipation

haha i haven't listened proper yet but i DID find myself thinking '… this sounds like tears in heaven…'

revisited it with "tears in heaven" deliberately in my head and again nah

Whatever "Late to the Party" sounds like, it's about 15 minutes too long.

it's so sweet!

anyway

Will I curse things if I concede I've got high hopes for the new Ashley Monroe?

i also have high hopes, the title track is incredible

imo the weakest song here is the title track and it's still pretty charming. i would suggest the album is maybe compromised by her writing from a more general perspective but the most egregious example of this, "somebody to love," is completely gorgeous and precise, so lol

precision is what this album really lacks to me, i hear her singing about cardboard characters and simplistic archetypes (of places as well as people) and hardly any of the nuance that made STDP so special. it sounds like an album made by someone who knows that the mainstream know her via katy perry. sort of disappointed by how low it aims, mostly: lots of easy-to-hum songs, hardly any easy-to-love songs. "good ol boys club" and "fine" are slightly better i guess

lol y'all made this sound like 13 "follow your arrow"s in a row and maybe that's why i'm surprised by how vivid and effective it is

anyway it sounds like an album made by someone who knows that the mainstream know her via katy perry is not what i get from this record at all and is really uh :\

even the more intimate songs are trite though, almost every song follows the same formula, i don't hear anything vivid here

and SO MUCH peppy repetition where STDP had so many lines that surprised me or undercut what had gone before or took the song in a different direction...like i feel you pretty much know where every song on this album is going from its title and first line

there are verses and choruses on this record, true

will say there's no image as flexible here as "blowin' smoke"

OK, I've got my copy. Let's seem how many of you fuckers are wrong.

i also think this record is great musically

It's certainly ... tasteful.

"Pageant Material" is the first cornball thing she's written.

"This Town" is Miranda Lambert's "Famous in a Small Town" and "Fastest Girl in Town" but I love the arrangement.

and using the Killers trick too

I never want to hear "Somebody to Love" again.

don't you want some 'somebody to love' to love?

y'all are so weird

I just listened to it once in my workplace, but it doesn't seem as awful as everyone is telling. from a first listen (without too much attention, i know) i had a good impression of it. It's not a STDP, but it's probably very good.

"family is family" is easily the worst thing here right? sets my teeth on edge

"cup of tea" is almost laughable, like you're really going to write this song AGAIN

"this town" does sound lovely but i feel that the group of artists musgraves comes from has portrayed small town life with so much more depth and nuance already

"late to the party"is a really sweet song -- nice to hear a straight up love song from her

"pageant material" and "this town" are a bit of a speed bump but otherwise i think this is pretty strong -- not as good as same trailer but also enough of a sidestep that i think it works on its own terms

it's a sweet and graceful album

I've got a discussion on my FB wall with a few critics about McAnally, Clark, Musgraves, queer in country, the lapse into cuteness, etc.

"Miserable" is my favorite today.

i didn't like the first few songs i heard - so much strummyness - so i'm just gonna let this happen when it happens

j0rd otm.

If you set a low bar I guess she's cleared it, sure

think this album is straight up great ... i don't think it sounds like same trailer!! i wonder if people would be making such a connection if we didn't know it was written at the same time

i also can't understand all the hate... 'miserable', 'die fun', 'dime store cowgirl', 'good ol' boys club' are as great as some of the best moments of 'same trailer'. and listening her with willie nelson in the end is gold.

idk why i thought "pageant material" wasn't good, the first 4 tracks are literally perfect

I haven't read any "hate" for this album. It's tuneful and disappointing.

it doesn't sound like same trailer. the arrangements are way more relaxed

Song for song, it's catchier and richer than ST. Like lex, I have a problem with how on the nose these songs are, how she (sill) relies on the cutes. "Cup of Tea" is the nadir. It’s 2016, rural America’s changing, and changing fast enough so that Musgraves can be less indebted to a wink-wink conceit.

*still

one-listen take: i am quite relieved that this is nowhere near as bad or predictable as i had feared it would be from "biscuits," which may be the worst cut on the album other than maybe "cup of tea." i haven't been unusually struck by any of its lyrics the way i was on hearing same trailer for the first time, but the songs are still quite a pleasant listen and many of its arrangements are gorgeous. yeah, i probably won't like it as much as same trailer in the end (which is kind of a high bar anyway), but it's certainly not enough of a step down for me to be disappointed either.

the two bad songs i mentioned aside i was also way off the mark in thinking that the album would just be a bunch of safe retreads. yeah lyrically she does sometimes rely on some of the same tricks which is getting eyeroll-inducing/tiresome but idk, otherwise (esp. sonically) she's definitely venturing somewhere new for her. whether others have done better in similar territory is another story (obv they have) but it still sounds good so i find it hard to complain ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There's something happening in Biscuits that makes it work.

Anyone worrying that hipsters will start listening to Kacey Musgraves has never lived in America.

good to see P4k is gonna start reviewing country records:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20679-pageant-material/

A lot of country is about singing about what you aren't (or rather "ain't")

gross

circa-2004 hip-hop problem

wait hip-hop had a problem circa 2000?

feels like we've reached the point where if an artist is Important - which kacey certainly is - they need not actually be good, their existence is enough

Blah article in which Mugraves and Jason Isbell save country music because bros and countries and cars

http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/814-jason-isbell-kacey-musgraves-and-the-duality-of-the-southern-thing/

oh one of those

written by the exact person i expected

We were without one for a week. Overdue!

all this stuff seems so prepackaged considering how poorly this narrative fits 'pageant material'

Yeah, if anything the album feels a tad wan for playing it too safe.

wait hip-hop had a problem circa 2000?

feels like we've reached the point where if an artist is Important - which kacey certainly is - they need not actually be good, their existence is enough

― lex pretend, Wednesday, June 24, 2015 4:42 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The problem was that nerds were drooling all over Madvillainy instead of Petey Pablo and Shawnna. Guess this is like 2004 after all...

Timbaland should get on this country thing.

"white tee" is an incredible song, too -- and it has a narrative!