Apparently she's just singing and playing guitar over backing tracks now?
Tonight, for 90 minutes, she stands with her guitar, static and alone, and sings along to studio-prepared mp3s that boom from the speakers, each one stripped of its lead vocal and lead guitar part so that Clark can re-insert herself, live and note-perfect, at the appropriate moment. Backdrops and video screens change behind her; lights flash around her; her stage costumes are unimaginably glamorous. The show, however, is barely alive: this is pop music as homeopathy, attempting to convince an audience that ever-smaller doses of live performance deliver an ever-increasing punch.
http://www.loudandquiet.com/short/baffling-funny-and-kidding-itself-of-artistic-heft-st-vincents-new-trolling-live-show/
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 14:00 (six years ago) link
That means we can all just stay home and send our phones in our stead.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 14:14 (six years ago) link
idk man sounds pretty fucking cool actually.
― evol j, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 15:36 (six years ago) link
isn't that sort of what the Knife did on Shaking the Habitual?
I thought her live show was great on the S/T tour, except for some very silly monologues about how 'when you were a child you dreamt of flying' or something that just didn't work and came across a bit Amanda Palmery
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Wednesday, 18 October 2017 15:40 (six years ago) link
Knife on Shaking the Habitual tour (which I did not enjoy) was avant garde dance troupe getting down to musicians miming (I think). More radical was the SIA tour, imo, which had no musicians on stage and backing tracks, the singer masked but singing live far back at stage right, the videos a weird illusion of live performance and/or pre-fab, and every one of her songs acted/danced out by her troupe of dancers, including the girl from all her videos. In an arena.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 15:58 (six years ago) link
Last time I saw St. Vincent live it was more or less set up like when Bjork toured Post, with a drummer and a couple of people behind keyboards, iirc. Plus Clark on guitar. She would stand stock still until it was time to solo, and then she would sort of shuffle around in her high heels.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 16:00 (six years ago) link
I'm enjoying this new album, though! I kind of want to hear her collaborate with ... Trent Reznor. Or Flood.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 16:16 (six years ago) link
or Drake.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 October 2017 16:17 (six years ago) link
That'd be cool, too.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 16:21 (six years ago) link
Or lots of people, actually. She's a great singer and guitarist, you could drop her into any situation and she would sound good. Better than the Byrne album, at least.
about two-thirds of the shaking habitual tour was playback with dancing on the first leg and they cut that down to a third on the second leg.
i like some of this album (pills, the title track, sugarboy) but like most of her work it still leaves me cold overall.
― ufo, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 16:33 (six years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, October 18, 2017 12:16 PM (sixteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
agreed, I was definitely picking up some NIN vibes from one or two of the MASSEDUCTION tracks this morning.
― evol j, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 16:34 (six years ago) link
Which ones sound most like NIN?
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Wednesday, 18 October 2017 16:43 (six years ago) link
I'm not them but maybe fear the future
― sick, fucking funny, and well tasty (katherine), Wednesday, 18 October 2017 16:53 (six years ago) link
I'm thinking of the production, not songwriting. So, like, Savior (which does sound a bit like Closer), or Fear The Future, or Sugarboy/ Los Angeles (with their aggro Italo disco nods). It sounds pretty pervasive to me, but again, it's pretty surface, just the way it's produced and mixed, the way the distorted guitar pops out, etc.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 16:58 (six years ago) link
I love the bit in the "Los Ageless" bridge that feels a little bit like it's pastiching Beck's "E-Pro".
― Marcus Hiles Remains Steadfast About Planting Trees.jpg (DJP), Wednesday, 18 October 2017 17:02 (six years ago) link
i dunno, that live show sounds pretty interesting. I saw the Knife tour as well and also thought that was interesting. Do I think everyone should perform this way? no, but it's a bit laurie anderson-esque and I miss that kind of artsy performance wank.
― akm, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 19:48 (six years ago) link
^ I don't know, maybe you're right, but to be honest I kind of don't care about her visual half-assed art-student commentary on consumer culture or whatever she's trying to present with her current imagery. Maybe I'm just old but I'd rather see her playing for an hour with a tight rhythm section than witness what is basically a colourful karaoke.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 21:23 (six years ago) link
Thanks for the suggestions re NIN comparisons. So far, this still doesn't feel like my thing (although I liked Actor pretty well); if there's a way in, though, this will probably be it.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, 19 October 2017 03:34 (six years ago) link
I listened to this yesterday and found it quite moving, which surprised me. I usually enjoy StV on much more of a sweet riffs basis. Immediately after it Spotify stuck on "Antidote" (from Twilight Breaking Dawn Part II soundtrack, missed that one) and I thought it made a killer last track. Alas it does not belong.
Sugarboy the pick of the bunch for me, but the singles (as is so often the case) sound so much better sat in the album.
― in twelve parts (lamonti), Thursday, 19 October 2017 07:52 (six years ago) link
Lorde's live show? Or St Vincent's?
St Vincent's. Several people I know were there and said things along the lines of 'visually great but musically flat and lifeless'. By all accounts Lorde's most recent live shows were fantastic.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 19 October 2017 08:38 (six years ago) link
From what I understand a lot of her music is made alone, sat at the computer with her guitar on a very grid-based system, so maybe that's why? I think the flatness is sort of part of it in a way? You either like it or you don't.
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Friday, 20 October 2017 11:26 (six years ago) link
Shitloads of modern music is made like that without that flatness though.
― Matt DC, Friday, 20 October 2017 11:35 (six years ago) link
sure, i mean, i don't notice it or get bothered about it as much as you do though. there's plenty of music that does my head in (Four Tet, Caribou) for exactly the reasons you describe (too much mid-range, flat, lifeless and awkward-sounding) but I like St Vincent's production and sound choices
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Friday, 20 October 2017 11:50 (six years ago) link
then again, i'm a big fan of things like Talking Heads and that nervous, twitchy, slightly stilted funk is something i really enjoy
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Friday, 20 October 2017 11:51 (six years ago) link
so far i don't think this is her best album for me though. it feels like her tics are starting to show and while it's by far her most accessible work, it's the first one that feels arch or affected somehow
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Friday, 20 October 2017 11:53 (six years ago) link
lol that apparently my problem with St Vincent up until now is that she wasn't arch enough
― Marcus Hiles Remains Steadfast About Planting Trees.jpg (DJP), Friday, 20 October 2017 13:34 (six years ago) link
"Pills" is super.
― Freedom, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 20:09 (six years ago) link
Was humming this song as I reached for the Advil following my evening workout:
Pills for my headPills for my back Pills for my kneePills for my neckOyyyy, pilllllsssss!
― Moodles, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 20:11 (six years ago) link
I also love that "Pills" follows in the footsteps of "Inbetween Days", "Dreams Never End", and other I-IV pop anthems.
― Marcus Hiles Remains Steadfast About Planting Trees.jpg (DJP), Wednesday, 25 October 2017 20:23 (six years ago) link
i LOVE this record. have never gotten anything out of her other stuff. idk.
― call all destroyer, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 23:03 (six years ago) link
otm
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 25 October 2017 23:52 (six years ago) link
I have got *something* out of her stuff before, but found it immune to love. This album may break down that barrier.
― Freedom, Thursday, 26 October 2017 09:12 (six years ago) link
Just not feeling this album so far and I'm not sure why. Feels like a more affected St Vincent, sheened up with the edges razed off. Starting to think Actor is her most genuine-sounding record with the s/t her musical peak. Not that this is a 'bad' album - it's her most accessible to date, but her style is getting predictable and I'm starting to feel worn down by it
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Thursday, 26 October 2017 13:18 (six years ago) link
oh I just said that a few posts ago. I'm just repeating myself
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Thursday, 26 October 2017 13:19 (six years ago) link
you're getting predictable
― akm, Thursday, 26 October 2017 14:15 (six years ago) link
can't turn off what turns you off
― you are juror number 144 and we will excuse you (Sufjan Grafton), Thursday, 26 October 2017 14:16 (six years ago) link
Oh shit this is exactly what I’m looking for in a St Vincent album at the moment, haven’t listened much since Actor. Same sort of emotional range, but pitched up in intensity- it’s almost like turning up the saturation in a landscape photo. /badignorantanalogy
― for the last while (Hunt3r), Friday, 27 October 2017 16:02 (six years ago) link
Repeating New York all night.
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Saturday, 28 October 2017 07:59 (six years ago) link
Never been a fan or heard any of her records, but I got this one and it's fucking great. Can't stop playing it.
― flappy bird, Sunday, 12 November 2017 21:14 (six years ago) link
First album of hers I've gotten into but I can't stop playing it either. Took a little while to grow on me because it felt like there wasn't much oxygen until "New York" but it's just got a really interesting trajectory and flow. Love the between song interludes that are mixed really low, the key chain guitar parts and the devastating ballads. Front to back classic
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Thursday, 16 November 2017 20:48 (six years ago) link
trying to decide whether it's worth it to pay exorbitant resale prices to see her live
pro: among my favorite albums of the year; I have money now; I don't do this much waffling about taking five cab rides, which is about how much it'd costcon: exorbitant resale prices, the knowledge I've been ripped off by a middleman (for the hell of it I Googled the original owner of my Tori Amos ticket and his online presence had a tad too much MAGA for me to believe he was a Tori fan who had something come up last-minute)
― sick, fucking funny, and well tasty (katherine), Monday, 20 November 2017 21:39 (six years ago) link
(I don't really care about the reviews of the tour or it being largely backing tracks or whatnot -- The Knife's tour was similar and that's still among my top shows of the decade)
― sick, fucking funny, and well tasty (katherine), Monday, 20 November 2017 21:40 (six years ago) link
For what it's worth id say go :-)
― In a slipshod style (Ross), Monday, 20 November 2017 22:01 (six years ago) link
definitely go! you'll regret not going later
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 05:16 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4HxWVA59zk
― In a slipshod style (Ross), Thursday, 21 December 2017 17:00 (six years ago) link
I've missed something somehow: I just noticed the press around the album repeatedly refers to her life/relationship becoming tabloid fodder.
What's that all about? I literally have no idea.
― alpine static, Thursday, 11 January 2018 00:24 (six years ago) link
Until about a year ago she was dating model/actress Cara Delevingne. Not sure if there was anything after that.
― JRN, Thursday, 11 January 2018 01:31 (six years ago) link
Kristen Stewart I think
― flappy bird, Thursday, 11 January 2018 02:13 (six years ago) link
o_O
― niels, Thursday, 11 January 2018 06:02 (six years ago) link