Kelela - Cut 4 Me

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

New LP is FIRE, good lawd. Probably end up my AOTY

this was a really good read https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/2524

really enjoyed this, especially "frontline"

lovely cover of Sade's "Like A Tattoo" on BBCR1:

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

I really wish I could hear what you guys are hearing in this. There's a few nice production touches but Kelela herself doesn't bring much except a technical competency. It all feels like it's trudging along at the same pace and lacking personality.

Why are publications that wouldn't normally touch an r&b album fawning over this? What is it that lends this a greater sense of... legitimacy?

It’s on Warp.

I liked ‘Cut 4 Me’ but haven’t gotten around to checking out the album.

Label Warp
Producer
Kelela (exec.) Ariel Rechtshaid (also exec.) Jam City (also exec.) Arca Bok Bok Dubbel Dutch Kingdom Kwes Asma Maroof Mocky Aaron David Ross Al Shux Loric Sih Terror Danjah Nick Weiss

I really wish I could hear what you guys are hearing in this. There's a few nice production touches but Kelela herself doesn't bring much except a technical competency. It all feels like it's trudging along at the same pace and lacking personality.

She's good at writing about confusing sex, and she can sing about it too. This and Kehlani's album are among my favorite R&B albums of the year.

The Kehlani album is probably my favourite album of the year (sorry Susanne Sundfør) and I get that this is going for a different thing anyway but I do feel like it's getting a free pass and acclaim when it's lacking in many ways. It does improve in the final tracks but compared to something like the (ultimately underwhelming) Sevyn Streeter album this just feels like a slog to get through.

The whole situation makes me think of Dawn Richard too. Redemptionheart came with Machinedrum's credibility but it was nowhere near as good as its predecessor.

I mean I hate to be comparing women of colour who make music to each other and r&b purism does nobody any favours. But it's not like the production on the Kehlani/Sevyn/whatever contemporary r&b album is particularly lacking when compared to this

I think there are different layers of contextual appreciation at work: yes, for some people the Warp / Fade To Mind connections are going to be important. But I think the other component at work is how this album plugs very carefully into a now widely celebrated critical articulation of opulent r&b balladry. An artist adopting as her aesthetic centre the trajectory of Aaliyah’s “One In A Million” —> Janet’s “Empty” —> Ciara’s “Promise” is always gonna be critical catnip (well for the last ten yeas or so at any rate).

Other r&b artists slip through this sound but it’s not their selling point - e.g. Dawn strives for something more portentous, while Kehlani is more focused on relatability.

I guess the question then becomes how one feels about the secret history of this vibe being transformed into something more concrete and explicit: of course it’d be nice if more people dove into old deep cuts like Ashanti’s “Voodoo” but I can’t begrudge the handiness of Kelela adopting this sound for a sustained exploration of its parameters, or the possibilities that affords.

I'm surprised to see a comment reducing Kelela's role on this album to mere technical competence. That may have applied to Cut 4 Me but I hear so much more confidence in her vocals now; without sounding too wishy washy there's a connection between sound and feeling on this album that was only hinted at in her early songs.

This video, where she discusses the meaning behind each song on the album, underscores that notion and I thought the passion with which she spoke was really telling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWPDww10aic

I think there are different layers of contextual appreciation at work: yes, for some people the Warp / Fade To Mind connections are going to be important. But I think the other component at work is how this album plugs very carefully into a now widely celebrated critical articulation of opulent r&b balladry. An artist adopting as her aesthetic centre the trajectory of Aaliyah’s “One In A Million” —> Janet’s “Empty” —> Ciara’s “Promise” is always gonna be critical catnip (well for the last ten yeas or so at any rate).

Other r&b artists slip through this sound but it’s not their selling point - e.g. Dawn strives for something more portentous, while Kehlani is more focused on relatability.

I guess the question then becomes how one feels about the secret history of this vibe being transformed into something more concrete and explicit: of course it’d be nice if more people dove into old deep cuts like Ashanti’s “Voodoo” but I can’t begrudge the handiness of Kelela adopting this sound for a sustained exploration of its parameters, or the possibilities that affords.

― Tim F, Wednesday, October 18, 2017 4:42 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

very good post. where do you stand on this one vs. cut for you?

xpost If that's in response to me monotony that wasn't my intention. I agree that Kelela's songwriting and performances are really strong here (this is part of the "sustained exploration of parameters/possibilities"), to be clear, I really like this album!

But the question of "why is X artist getting more critical shine than Y artist if Y artist is also really good" is rarely totally resolved by "because X is just better". Especially where the X and the Y proffered are Kelela and Kehlani...

i like kehlani more but i get why kelela gets more critical laurels

xp no Tim that was in response to boxedjoy's comment upthread.

deej it's been so long since I listened to Cut 4 Me that it's hard for me to compare the two, though that in turn implies that Cut 4 Me didn't really cut it 4 me.

"Empty" is the aural touchstone I had in mine too. Also: "Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun)"

i like kehlani more but i get why kelela gets more critical laurels

― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40)

the Kehlani album is really fucking long, as much as I love it (this doesn't address your point, I know).