Julien Baker - Sprained Ankle, my god

this album is fine. idk why i am particularly unable to connect with it. i was sorta hoping the expanded arrangements would include drums

"hurt less" is v good

Tried listening to this album today. It sounds like it was commissioned by a music supervisor at Hulu. Maybe the most faceless thing I've heard all year. Genuinely baffled by the appeal of stuff like this - or at least baffled how people can tell this sad-girl-with-guitar from the six dozen others who sound exactly like her who also put out albums this month.

ah

imo she has a very distinctive sound but if you describe female singer-songwriters as "sad-girl-with-guitar" it could be this isn't a genre that you're really giving a fair chance

yeah i think it's pretty apparent why she sticks out—the austerity of her arrangements, her songwriting approach sort of finding the middle between emo and, like, songs: ohia

I think you hit on why I'm a bit lukewarm on the record, brad. The expanded arrangements work to make the songs more homogenous and less impactful than the debut. it's easy to forget she's still very early in her career and figuring out what works.

lol thank you for deriving that extremely good point from my not particularly good post. yeah i think that's about right

xp I don't know any other artists writing the way she does and she has a very distinctive vocal and sound

her personality and story are also interesting and probably a part of the package

I believe "Hurt Less" is the first song of 2017 to make me cry

Genuinely baffled by the appeal of stuff like this - or at least baffled how people can tell this sad-girl-with-guitar from the six dozen others who sound exactly like her who also put out albums this month.

woof

Anyway, this record was never going to hit like the debut did but it pretty clearly succeeds in what it sets out to do. I think to the extent that a few tracks fall flat for me (at least right now) it's just because the songwriting isn't as impeccable as it was on the debut. But there are still like five or six tracks on this thing that are right on par with Sprained Ankle, and that's pretty remarkable.

Elliott Smith comparisons really hold. It's the difference between Roman Candle and XO.

Tried listening to this album today. It sounds like it was commissioned by a music supervisor at Hulu. Maybe the most faceless thing I've heard all year. Genuinely baffled by the appeal of stuff like this - or at least baffled how people can tell this sad-girl-with-guitar from the six dozen others who sound exactly like her who also put out albums this month.

― grawlix (unperson), Wednesday, November 1, 2017 1:26 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is a horseshit opinion, not that i would expect much else

the six dozen others who sound exactly like her who also put out albums this month

name names! looks like i have some catch up listening to do.

yeah i'm doing a big EOY catch-up and would also love to know who these six dozen sad girls with guitars are

so i can make time in my personal schedule for all of them

https://pitchfork.com/features/song-by-song/julien-baker-delves-into-the-trauma-and-triumph-behind-every-song-on-her-new-album/

I honestly found reading that to be more emotionally bracing than listening to the album :(

for people who like JB I would recommend the most recent albums by Emma Ruth Rundle and Sarah Mary Chadwick

I connected hard to a couple of the songs on her first album, but my first impression of this new album is actually that on the whole I like it better than the first. Beautiful melodies, lyrics still raw in the best ways.

great interview, this woman is truly brilliant

and infinitely more knowledgeable than I was at 22

Saw her last night, she was terrific. Her voice is really something you have to hear live to fully appreciate, how huge it is and how skillful and subtle she's gotten at deploying it. Amazing clarity of tone in both her singing and playing, it was really radiant.

This album has not lost its lustre for me. "Shadowboxing" is just crushing

oh fuck I missed that there was a new album, it is also amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdOZxrp7t7s

I desperately need a covers record - at least an EP!

Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, and Phoebe Bridgers are.....boygenius

https://www.stereogum.com/2009654/phoebe-bridgers-julien-baker-lucy-dacus-tease-collab/news/

oh fuck

EXCUSE ME

ready for the sadpocalypse

Interested in what she sounds like as a band member but I also need her to be lead as I’m not as much into the other two.

Phoebe tho

oh my days

dacus tho

I will prob not hear an indie rock record better than historian this year

Yeah it's really great. The highs on the Bridgers album are considerable as well.

Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, and Phoebe Bridgers are.....boygenius

Did Snail Mail not return calls or?

Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers, Snail Mail and Soccer Mommy are.....The Traveling Girlburys

yes because they're all the same arent they

are you saying Dylan, Harrison, Lynne, Orbison and Petty were all the same?

yes because they're all the same arent they

― Number None, Saturday, August 11, 2018 6:55 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"they" aren't, of course, but the fact is the music these particular individuals make sounds indistinguishable to me. Maybe you can convince me otherwise? Because in a blindfold test I could absolutely not tell you one from the other, but maybe that's due to my own limitations as a listener

I can see conflating Baker and Bridgers, kinda, but Dacus is very distinct from the other two

maybe that's due to my own limitations as a listener

here it is

fwiw, Ponzi's Snail Mail joke made me chuckle, and i made my dumb joke, but i definitely don't find those 5's (or 3's) music indistinguishable. i just lumped them together because they're prominent members of the wave of young women that has risen up in indie rock over the past couple years.

first three boygenius songs are on spotify, i've only heard "bite the hand" but my god lucy dacus is such an incredible songwriter

uh "me & my dog" rules too, i love hearing them all sing together???

Eh soccer mommy does not sound like snail mail. Lush had a few rockers but was mostly subdued stoner grunge. Soccer mommy rips a lot more in a Colleen green fashion, concise fuzzed out power pop vs folkier songs on the record

"stay down" essentially envisions my dream julien baker record: her backed by a band that sounds like elliott

Can’t say I’ve ever liked Julian baker but maybe I haven’t heard the right stuff?

there is no wrong stuff

and yes def makes it clear that she could do a great full band album

damn, "Bite the Hand" would be at home on the new Mitski, and "Stay Down" is what I was hoping for from the last Baker album. they're touring together, too:

11/04 Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
11/06 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
11/07 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
11/08 Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
11/10 Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
11/11 Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
11/12 Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
11/13 Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
11/15 St Louis, MO @ The Pageant
11/16 Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
11/17 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
11/19 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
11/20 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
11/23 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
11/24 Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre
11/25 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
11/27 Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
11/29 San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
11/30 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern