as someone who generally doesn't notice these things, I have to say that the production on SUN was abominable. I listened to that album once and binned it.
― Britain's Sexiest Cow (jed_), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 19:45 (five years ago) link
philippe zdar was ~involved~ with the mixing/production
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 19:57 (five years ago) link
this really is a horrible thread title
― niels, Thursday, 19 July 2018 06:23 (five years ago) link
in beth's defense, it was before the towers fell
― flappy bird, Thursday, 19 July 2018 06:33 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd8nU87OCrA
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Wednesday, 15 August 2018 13:47 (five years ago) link
Match made in heaven. You are free comes to mind
― Ross, Wednesday, 15 August 2018 14:02 (five years ago) link
Great addition to "songs in which a doctor gives advice/diagnosis."
― ... (Eazy), Wednesday, 15 August 2018 14:06 (five years ago) link
Lana might as well not even be there.
― Britain's Sexiest Cow (jed_), Wednesday, 15 August 2018 20:50 (five years ago) link
relatable
― ogmor, Wednesday, 15 August 2018 22:59 (five years ago) link
Lana might as well not even be there.otm
good song though, and production is good too (Moka)!
― niels, Thursday, 16 August 2018 08:05 (five years ago) link
the backing vocals are subtle enough to have just been another backing vocal from chan - the lana name probably helps more than anything to bolster sales tbh
― Ross, Thursday, 16 August 2018 15:47 (five years ago) link
i'd rather the extra vocals be more on the subtle side than too bluntly thrown in; imo she definitely adds to it, although it'd be nice if she was in the video
the refrain becomes a bit much at the end but otherwise good song
― lowercase (eric), Thursday, 16 August 2018 15:56 (five years ago) link
good new song. excited for this album. I liked Sun well enough. I wish she'd released more albums and yes I think a bit part of her stature dropping was her not putting new original material out more often, also, she really did have a run of terrifyingly terrible live performances for a number of years there that sullied her reputation. I saw her with MIck and Jim touring for Moon PIx at a tiny club in Berkeley and she was great but ran off the stage the second she was done and didn't come back. The next four shows of hers I saw were erratic, unfinished, weird, scary. Then I didn't see her again for many years until recently opening for Nick Cave and she was so good solo in a huge outdoor venue with really not a lot of people listening to her. I'm glad she's doing better. She's very talented.
― akm, Thursday, 16 August 2018 18:31 (five years ago) link
Really excited for the record.
I was wondering how many of the current crop of female singer songwriters she influenced; I hear her in van Etten, Waxahatchee, Angel Olsen for example.
― Van Horn Street, Thursday, 16 August 2018 19:13 (five years ago) link
i'd assume like 7/8 of them? i'm playing a show with a cat power tribute next week -- the influence is kind of difficult to measure imo. it's not just the singing or songwriting (though it is that) it's even the act of speaking up and writing songs in the first place
she is super influential
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 17 August 2018 00:42 (five years ago) link
let's all try to remember these nice things next time she says something we don't like about vaccines
― Paul Ponzi, Friday, 17 August 2018 00:55 (five years ago) link
Sadier has defended Jordan Peterson, being anti-vaxxers is small leagues.
― Van Horn Street, Friday, 17 August 2018 01:13 (five years ago) link
xxp hope you'll post some of that show, LL, if feasible."Sexy bored housewife," also "bored housewife" (also just ["plain"{ "sexy"), don't seem like perjoratives to me, necessarily: somebody at loose ends, restless, can't won't anyway isn't satisfied, in an enclosed space, all her own and yet not--isolated anyway, on stage or off, in the biz and yet not, in some ways (not the standard antiquated production schedule). relatable Yes.
I liked Jukebox, and blogged this (it's chunky, look out) posted 3.10.2008The Record to Beat in '08Cat Power's Jukebox. I used to find her tiresome, but she's notoverplaying the waif card here, even though this probably her mostromantic album, her most truly atmospheric, because in order to havean atmosphere, you gotta have gravity, from the right substance in thespin. Every time the music starts, her voice first reaches me as a dryice smoke ring 'round the moon, over the shining spine of historee(great and good old and newer songs coming together, and coming up injust a minute) with a vivid poise that keeps her from sounding tooearnest: it's just the right, sensuous sound (especially as it movesthrough her musical companions' reverb, echo and grooves) for hercosmic quest, for romantic and spiritual fulfillment. (Janis Joplinanswered, when asked what Today's Youth are looking for: "Sincerity,and a good time." Hey hay hey.) The confidence as well assensitivity—so of course "New York New York," with just a simpleadjustment of its seatbelt, should have this tensile lope and sway,backbeating right past Radio City rinky-tink, with ingenue still intow/charge. She's totally at home with the Dirty Dozen Blues Band,especially drummer Jim White, of the Dirty Three and recent,noteworthy collabs with Nina Natashia; Judah Bauer of the Jon SpencerBlues Explosion(! But he does not play no fratblooze here) is alsoaboard (with Eric Papparozzi on bass and Greg Foreman's keyboards),but this little combo is less like a blues band is usually expected tobe, more like rockers who have learned much from the Hi RhythmSection, in terms of taut, spare punctuation and momentum, fittingChan Marshall's vibrant reveries perfectly (the one time she holdsback a bit, seemingly getting lost, on "A Woman Left Lonely,"Foreman's electric piano tremolo gets more emphatic, rallying her,appropriately for a song about a woman who's coming back fromrejection). The sequence of tracks is very effective: after "New YorkNew York," Hank Williams' "Ramblin Man" is recast as "Ramblin' Woman,"and the original's melodramatic, spooked compulsion is tempered by acertain expansiveness: she knows this kind of journey is where she'smeant to be, not that it doesn't matter who and what she finds. A newversion of her "Metal Heart" follows, with a confrontation, a note toself and other, that steadfastness , mettle and "metal" is in thesound, not heavy metal, but the electricity moving through naturalelements, 20th Century engine-uity revving up again in these oldsongs, which sound as timely as ever. The sleek, starlit,meta-metal's also there in Lee Clayton's "Silver Stallion" whichpractical-minded Cowgirl Chan leads from mythology or decoration, outinto her own prospects, and "Aretha" is wistfully, unpretentiouslyinvoked, to re-inspire her lover and herself, also (as repeatedlistenings reward), I think of this as prefiguring later songs, as Irelate it to Dylan's line from Tarantuala, "Aretha, crystal jukeboxqueen (the album's title from this?), I shall play you as my trumpcard." I think of that because I know she'll reach Dylan's own "IBelieve In You," with Bauer accentuating the Stonesy riff with whichDylan foresaw "Start Me Up," and White's drum leaps develop a hip hopcast, kicking off the mud of a town through which one proud outcastsearches for another. Marshall's own "Song For Bobby, " reminiscingabout various near-misses with the Master, could easily be gushy, butshe's even too grown-up for that now. She strikingly connectsDylanesque phrasing to Billie Holiday's, on the latter's "Hush Now(Don't Explain)," reminding me of D. 's description of his later songsas "overlapping phrases on an electrical grid," the overlapping ofexpression and reticence, austerity and warmth in the shadows. Whichis also where the hope and fear meet in, Jessie May Hemphill's "LordHelp," just as "We're all reborn, to face the morning sun." Uh, and soon, with some surprises: I didn't even recognize Joni Mitchell'spassive-aggressive self-pity/guilt-tripping you-dumped-me classic,"Blue," at first, cos Chan doesn't imitate her at all! Not even inthis age of girly-swirly chamber folk, not at all (and the band's justbumpin' at the walls of the break-up, you know it'll all work out asit should or will). This girl is a woman now! (But not too scary withit.)
― dow, Friday, 17 August 2018 01:51 (five years ago) link
Also liked Sun.
― dow, Friday, 17 August 2018 01:52 (five years ago) link
Cat Power and Grouper are always linked in my mind, even if Harris was never a Cat Power fan. their chords, their voices (to an extent), the intense melancholy and despair.
― flappy bird, Friday, 17 August 2018 05:28 (five years ago) link
I’m not a huge fan of the chorus (gets a bit repetitive) and Lana’s feat is a bit useless? Doesn’t sound much different from the usual Cat Power overdubs / backing vocals... if I hadn’t known it was Lana I wouldn’t have known... hell i still don’t hear it.
That said this is well produced which was my main fear and has some bite to it which was missing in her most recent albums so I’m lookibg forward to hearing the rest.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 17 August 2018 18:06 (five years ago) link
That outro just melts me.
― Gwent Stefani (Leee), Monday, 20 August 2018 22:56 (five years ago) link
The Rihanna cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-Tsk-cPXxI
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 16:17 (five years ago) link
it's a very natural cover for her
― guardians of the gums: i am tooth (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 16:25 (five years ago) link
i hate the title of this thread
― akm, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 17:09 (five years ago) link
^^
― niels, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 17:52 (five years ago) link
The title of this thread always makes me smile. Cat Power usually doesn't, so in the end I find the title really perfect.
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 20:05 (five years ago) link
if it were me being described, i would much prefer "fruitloop" to "sexy bored housewife"
her arrangement of "stay" is interesting. it's like she just chose her favorite parts/lines to sing and forgot about the rest.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 20:13 (five years ago) link
Like she did with "Wonderwall"?
― Nag Reddit (Leee), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 20:19 (five years ago) link
and "Satisfaction"
― sleeve, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 20:20 (five years ago) link
yeah i guess that is her thingi like itit's definitely her own
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 20:24 (five years ago) link
OK maybe her stuff doesn’t always work or the risks backfire instead of paying off - but seeing her raw alchemy like that, who could doubt she’s a genius, with all the baggage that often entails?
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 20:35 (five years ago) link
I usually roll my eyes at acoustic covers of pop hits but her voice, her delivery, and the way she picks the song apart and saves only a few verses from it totally sells it to me. I need to dig out The Covers Record, haven't listened to it in years, but I remember loving many tracks from that one.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 20:37 (five years ago) link
the covers record was excellent. jukebox I didn't like as much.
― akm, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 20:44 (five years ago) link
I actually prefer Jukebox!
― Nag Reddit (Leee), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 21:01 (five years ago) link
When doing covers she usually only keeps the low key parts like the verses... I feel like she’s insecure of her range or she just isn’t fond of big choruses.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 21:01 (five years ago) link
Sea of love is so nice
― Ross, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 21:03 (five years ago) link
Weird because the Jukebox version of "Metal Heart" has a humongous chorus.
― Nag Reddit (Leee), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 21:03 (five years ago) link
On her cover of the VU's "I Found A Reason" she omits the verses and just does the chorus(x2) as the verse and then turns the coda into a chorus.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 21:05 (five years ago) link
It's nice but I'm a much bigger fan of 'guitar Cat Power' than 'piano Cat Power.'
― louise ck (milo z), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 21:41 (five years ago) link
what's funny about that song is that I was more familiar with her version than theirs because I'd never picked up Loaded at the time. Then years later when I heard the VU version I couldn't place where I knew the song from.
― akm, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 21:41 (five years ago) link
I can't say I like the Rihanna cover much -- it's not too different from the original, which for me has a more spectral quality. This one by comparison is more tepid.
― Nag Reddit (Leee), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 22:18 (five years ago) link
i watched this earlier without knowing it was a rhianna cover. i vaguely recognised it and somehow concluded it was a fleetwood mac song.
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 22:23 (five years ago) link
i liked low's cover better and it was a pretty straight-ahead cover iirc
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 22:38 (five years ago) link
but cat power's is definitely hers
Oh my, that Funny or Die video posted upthread is pretty much exactly like the one Cat Power live show that I saw. Every time I see this thread title, i think the answer is: Yes.
― enochroot, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 23:09 (five years ago) link
NYT profile:https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/arts/music/cat-power-wanderer.html
Interesting tidbits about her breakup with Matador.
Rob Schnapf, a producer for Elliott Smith who mixed “Wanderer” and engineered some recording sessions, said that Ms. Marshall knew “she did not want to make a big record — she absolutely did not.” He recalled moments of inspiration in the studio where the spirit would hit her: “Her eyes would roll back and she’d just channel and go,” he said. “You can’t make that happen. Either you’ve got the genie in the bottle, or you’ve just got the bottle.”But Matador rejected the album.“They said, do it again, do it over,” Ms. Marshall explained. (Mr. Slater confirmed that Matador told him “Wanderer” was “not good enough, not strong enough to put out.” The album will be released by Domino.)Ms. Marshall said she’d received the same mandate from Matador during recording as she had for “Sun,” her previous album from 2012. “It was like, ‘We need hits!’” she said. “And I did it — I got Top 10. I did the best I could to give them hits” on “Sun,” using bright synths and more modern sounds. (“Sun” has sold 114,000 albums to date including streams, according to Nielsen.)But to Ms. Marshall, the label had always represented artistic freedom. “Looking back, I know they were using me,” she said, recalling a Matador executive playing her an album by Adele and telling her that that was how a record was supposed to sound. “I understood that I was a product,” she said, “and I always thought I was a person.”Matador said in a statement: “Chan Marshall is without question one of the most talented, brilliant artists we’ve been fortunate to know,” adding: “Our working relationship with Chan has not been without difficult moments. We’ve had disagreements over matters both artistic and business, but none of that changes our respect for her as a person or performer.”Ms. Marshall said she did not alter the music after the label change, but did add a track: “Woman,” featuring Lana Del Rey, which in many ways became the defiant, upbeat centerpiece of an understated album, beginning with a folky, pointed lament:If I had a dime for every timeYou tell me I’m not what you needIf I had a quarter I would pull it togetherAnd I would take it to the bank and then leaveAsked if the track, which has received more than a million YouTube views in a month, was a middle finger to her ex-label, Ms. Marshall demurred: “Thank you for asking, but no comment.”She did, however, compare some indie-rock circles to a fraternity, with little space for a lone woman without a band or a manager. “I had to fight a lot for little stupid things, but I just thought, ‘That’s what I do,’” she said. “Pavement’s going to the Bahamas or something with the label, Interpol is going to St. Lucia or wherever with the label. I remember yelling: ‘Can you take me out to dinner? I’d love to go to a fancy place!’”
But Matador rejected the album.
“They said, do it again, do it over,” Ms. Marshall explained. (Mr. Slater confirmed that Matador told him “Wanderer” was “not good enough, not strong enough to put out.” The album will be released by Domino.)
Ms. Marshall said she’d received the same mandate from Matador during recording as she had for “Sun,” her previous album from 2012. “It was like, ‘We need hits!’” she said. “And I did it — I got Top 10. I did the best I could to give them hits” on “Sun,” using bright synths and more modern sounds. (“Sun” has sold 114,000 albums to date including streams, according to Nielsen.)
But to Ms. Marshall, the label had always represented artistic freedom. “Looking back, I know they were using me,” she said, recalling a Matador executive playing her an album by Adele and telling her that that was how a record was supposed to sound. “I understood that I was a product,” she said, “and I always thought I was a person.”
Matador said in a statement: “Chan Marshall is without question one of the most talented, brilliant artists we’ve been fortunate to know,” adding: “Our working relationship with Chan has not been without difficult moments. We’ve had disagreements over matters both artistic and business, but none of that changes our respect for her as a person or performer.”
Ms. Marshall said she did not alter the music after the label change, but did add a track: “Woman,” featuring Lana Del Rey, which in many ways became the defiant, upbeat centerpiece of an understated album, beginning with a folky, pointed lament:
If I had a dime for every timeYou tell me I’m not what you needIf I had a quarter I would pull it togetherAnd I would take it to the bank and then leave
Asked if the track, which has received more than a million YouTube views in a month, was a middle finger to her ex-label, Ms. Marshall demurred: “Thank you for asking, but no comment.”
She did, however, compare some indie-rock circles to a fraternity, with little space for a lone woman without a band or a manager. “I had to fight a lot for little stupid things, but I just thought, ‘That’s what I do,’” she said. “Pavement’s going to the Bahamas or something with the label, Interpol is going to St. Lucia or wherever with the label. I remember yelling: ‘Can you take me out to dinner? I’d love to go to a fancy place!’”
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Saturday, 22 September 2018 11:02 (five years ago) link
a Matador executive playing her an album by Adele and telling her that that was how a record was supposed to sound
wow!
― ogmor, Saturday, 22 September 2018 11:44 (five years ago) link
Can't wait to see Gerard's rebuttal to that lol...
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Saturday, 22 September 2018 15:45 (five years ago) link
FWIW, Matador also recently rejected a Malkmus album.
― growing up in publix (morrisp), Saturday, 22 September 2018 15:56 (five years ago) link