Kacey Musgraves - 2013 Anticipation

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!

xpost way ahead of u

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

really enjoyed the sneak "white tee era was devoid of content" diss from the site slobbing on young thug's knob like it's corn on the cob

Oh, shit, how did I forget about Bubba? Bubba, what happened, your second album was great, get back to me!

hey bubba was a buddy of mine in college! good dude.

pics or it didn't happen

sry, we weren't super close, but this was pre-timbo and he used to play a song of his that sampled country boy can't survive at parties.

hah, nice

http://www.stereogum.com/1810529/the-week-in-pop-instead-of-going-big-kacey-musgraves-goes-home/franchises/the-week-in-pop/

great piece

But Musgraves has refused to carry the burden that she was poised to assume

ehhhhhhh okay

hmmm yeah seems a little harsh

what I heard of the new Isbell really paled in comparison to his last album

anyway I am not familiar w/ Musgraves at all but I like a few songs on this, the bookends especially.

2/3 of that piece was really excellent but comparing the pageant imagery to lily allen's "hard out here" is bizarre and tone-deaf. also, at the risk of coming off "IT IS NOT A BEAUTY PAGEANT IT IS A SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM" the whole "pageant material" thing is as much about personality and class (someone's got to pay for those walking lessons and fees to actually do the swimsuit portion that earns 20% of your points and $1000 interview suits that you're never going to wear anywhere else because they're fucking light blue) networking than about looks.

also, so what if kacey musgraves was in a pageant as a kid? lots of people in the south are, especially if they're remotely involved in the performing arts.

Lex, you're tripping

what because i said an article was good, pelase elaborate

like I said, the first two-thirds or so was good, it just sort of went off the rails with that IMO. (I never did pageants myself but my sister did throughout high school so I am very familiar with all the trekking and prepping and endless people singing martina mcbride

I missed out on buying one of those smart Martina tomato t-shirts.

Carl Wilson: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/music_box/2015/06/kacey_musgraves_new_album_pageant_material_reviewed_the_follow_your_arrow.html

THIS article is excellent.

Pageant Material looking to do 55k the first week, which is only a little more than Same Trailer did (although Same Trailer finally reached 500k this month).

i don't like that Wilson's lede suggests a false binary where she wasn't on track to be Country For People Who Don't Like Country thanks to "Merry Go Round," which was #25 on the Pazz & Jop singles poll before she had an album in stores.

I'd never heard of her before yesterday and listened to Merry Go Round just now which was okay I guess. Would I like these albums? idk but that whole Wilson piece makes me not want to care, not interested in picking sides in some culture war

THIS article is excellent.

Although yeah it seemed like there were two different issues he was taking on? Idk I read it quickly but there was pop country vs trad country and feminist country vs male dominated country? Although yeah all the country lovin dudes I try to get in to kacey or Miranda are just are usually writing them off bc their female despite their trad country sound

If you're friends with Carl on FB, Chris Molanphy offers chart data re Musgraves.

And damn this Chris Stapleton album he mentioned fucking rules

I can't stand it but I'm quite alone on that one, I think.

Weird that he was using Stapleton as an example of an album "real country" people would dislike. Cause I'm pretty sure I could get tons of those people into that

this is a wonderfully produced record, so open and natural sounding, very polished but not overly slick
i almost forget they can still make records like this

no you didn't

i guess i don't hear a lot of records that have a real nice major label sheen w.o sounding kinda flat

this is a wonderfully produced record, so open and natural sounding, very polished but not overly slick

yes

is it that much of a sonic departure from STDP? or noticeably better?

I'll concede that it sounds great.

is it that much of a sonic departure from STDP? or noticeably better?

― lex pretend, Tuesday, June 30, 2015 3:45 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't know i think i only listened to that once

anyway i OFFICIALLY RETRACT my comment cuz i feel like the wolves are circling around me for some reason but anyway this album sounds great

m@tt, I think you'd like any of the Pistol Annie projects. Try Ashley Monroe and Miranda Lambert.

that you guys can't pick up on how it sounds noticeably different is pretty weird to me

It does sound better; I noticed it a little while ago when I replayed the Willie portion of "Fine" and the strings of his guitar had real snap. The songs aren't better though.

just got through it for the second time and while it's well crafted it feels safe and maybe a little boring? there's some standouts but it's tamer than, say, Eric Church or Angaleena Presley by a damn sight. I'll try it a few more times.

i do think it *sounds* different from stdp. it's not necessarily 'better' in that regard (maybe some parts of certain tracks are), since stdp was also quite gorgeous, but it certainly stands out more than the songwriting this time around.

it's not BAD exactly but there's a spark of life and personality that was all over same trailer that feels lacking here... it's like listening to Kacey Musgraves: The Musical

i don't think it sounds radically different, but definitely smoother and more polished across the board. Just faultlessly even-keeled to a ... fault. Like I said earlier, I think the production is what hurts the songs. Many of the tracks on this album would have been better served with different arrangements and different sounds.