SOLANGE KNOWLES, omg the return of

"Cranes in the Sky" is gorgeous.

I have listened to this a lot lately and like it more and more.
It really sounds great and soothing and after a while I can finally identify and enjoy each individual song.
It's clearly an album in the sense that I never want to listen to any specific song but only the whole thing (so, for instance, I always start listening from the beginning).
In a way, the whole is greater than its parts, to me.
I still think that a couple of stronger songs wouldn't have hurt, though (and I'm not talking about upbeat, big crossover hit, Blood Orange or anything. Just some tracks in the same spirit as the rest of the album but with stronger hooks).
still, as it is, it's very good and I'm happy with it.
It's my favourite album/ep from her.

oh and skits should be banned from ANY album !

i like the skits!

#nolimitsoldier

i think it's a good album, i like the low key nature of it, it's got a lot of great melodies and sounds even if it doesn't go out of it's way to be "impressive"

yeah, definitely many great things, details, arrangements, sounds...
And there's something very spiritual and soothing, not necessarily in the lyrics but overall.
I like that there's no big upbeat/aggressive hit to disrupt the flow, for instance.
As for the skits, I have nothing about these ones in particular but against the principle of skits/interludes on albums itself !

#1 album this week

This is comfortably her best record IMO, although I can see how you'd be disappointed if you were hoping for some more feeble shit like Losing You.

i'm liking this a lot.

Blown away by how thoughtful and gorgeous and vulnerable this whole record is. It's incredible.

Doesn't hurt that it gives off major Velvet Rope vibes, too.

they aren't really 'skits'

jaw kinda dropped when i heard "cranes in the sky" on the radio yesterday (on the mainstream hip-hop/r&b station). i guess it wasn't 'normal' for them either b/c right after it finished the dj asked ppl to call and tell them what they thought of it.

it's a #1 album...

yes i'm aware. and? plenty of #1 albums by r&b artists have zero songs being spun by mainstream urban radio. i was commenting on how unusual it seemed against the rest of that particular format's playlist.

dyl otm

its attracting a lot of "in the conversation" attention which radio employees pay more attention to than sales weirdly

Cranes In The Sky reached #74 on billboard this week, which is obv not really that high and i have no idea how american radio works but i would presume that might mean it get some rotations on a few stations

this album is beautiful imo

Really great album

I listened to it again today for the first time in a few weeks. It sounded so good. Cranes In The Sky is a song of the year contender for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Df_6rUzfk

my local radio station which had been playing "cranes" for months has now started playing it with a rap verse at the beginning :\

(not sure who provided the verse but it's not one of the ones i'm finding on google, it feels really really out of place)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x7wSlrwKJQ

this is very old

"If Solange Knowles isn't sampling Boards of Canada or getting Jay-Z and Beyoncé into Grizzly Bear, she's jamming out to Dirty Projectors."
most 2009 sentences of all time
haven't listened to this in a long while tho', holds up

dre/badu/bumpy's lament sample is eternal

Yeah it's old but classic!

wow she's doing a show with the Sun Ra Arkestra

Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen supporting Solange : Orion's Rise @OrpheumBoston Thu Sept 28 @ 7:30pm @solangeknowles pic.twitter.com/YggDLNhFc3

— Sun Ra Arkestra (@SunRaUniverse) September 28, 2017

More than one show with Sun Ra Arkestra. Am seeing her in Washington DC with them October 1st.

i'm going to that

EARL opening

Enjoyed the Kennedy Center show with Sun Ra's Arkestra opening. The Arkestra had 14 people onstage, and Solange topped that with around 23 (16 horn players). Impressive singing and hiphop and modern dance moves. "Mad", "FUBU" and "Cranes" were highlights. Earlier that night on another Kennedy Center stage I saw Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar and his band play their desert blues. An inspiring night of music.

is she doing the berkeley show with sun ra arkestra???? I hope so

Don't know. The look of the stage and the lighting and the choreography is also impressive.

Did she have the red sun on stage? The scenography at Roskilde was amazing, and I'm now thinking of that + 16 horn players. Not sure I would have been able to handle that.

1 big round orb in the center and pyramids on the outer edges of the stage (light-colored but the whole stage was bathed in red light throughout the whole show)

Oh, we didn't have pyramids either :( Stil, probably the best show I've seen all year.

caught the final show last night in Berkeley, was incredible. Bonus ILXOR sighting when Jason D. walked in front of my car while I we were going home. TBF this happens at least every other month in this town and I never honk at him.

also, earl sweatshirt was a no show for both shows apparently. not sure what happened there.

OH HAI

saw this vague sentence online: Due to unforeseen circumstances, Earl Sweatshirt will not be performing this weekend.

So a few days ago Solange premiered a new film/art piece that she directed, available to watch here
(full disclosure I work there): https://hammer.ucla.edu/solange/

Don’t you wait is a stunner

bumping a seat at the table. what a record

also cranes in the sky is one of the most otm songs about depression ever

My son and I saw her perform at a festival in Houston last year, she was amazing! Didn't go in to it with any particular expectations, hadn't really listened to the album, but I was completely blown away. Every element was absolutely perfect, the stage set up, the band, their outfits, the choreography, every thing just right.

Oh dang I just listened to A Seat At The Table yesterday for the first time prob since it came out. I love it so much.

https://pitchfork.com/news/solanges-new-album-coming-this-fall/

!!!

:D

nice

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/t-magazine/solange-interview.html

Great article all the way through. But re: new album hype:

Her instructors are wide-ranging and eclectic: Joni Mitchell, in whom Solange found lessons in balancing a career as a musician with the demands of visual creation (Mitchell’s first, never abandoned love was painting); Missy Elliott, whose music videos are genre-defying and imagistically striking. Solange is drawing sonic inspiration from the ’90s singer Aaliyah, the experimental 20th-century musician and composer Sun Ra, the ’60s psychedelic soul band Rotary Connection and Stevie Wonder’s 1979 album “Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants.”

Couldn't tick my "I'm excited for this" boxes much more (unless she added in Arthur Russell to the mix)...