James Blake, Mt Kimbie, CD/SD

new album is really nice, definitely his best since the debut, maybe even better than that?

he's finally come into his own as a songwriter, not just a producer, and all the collaborations are great and well integrated unlike say that terrible RZA one from Overgrown

talking about James Blake's Assume Form of course, though Dominic Maker from Mount Kimbie did co-produce most of it

"Mile High" is very Forest Temple-core

i've never been a huge fan but I really enjoyed this album on first listen this morning , went well with the snowy train ride .

I'm traveling but very much looking forward to this when I get back.

he's finally come into his own as a songwriter, not just a producer, and all the collaborations are great and well integrated unlike say that terrible RZA one from Overgrown

I've got a soft spot for this one.

CANDLE LIGHT DINNER OF FISH AND CHIPS WITH VINEGAR

I expected it to be crap after the Colour in Anything. Pleased to say my expectations were way off. This is his best album so far. It's weird how good he's been on record thus far and I'm able to just say this new one is easily his best after just a few listens. Really a great album.

I hope Dom (maybe Kai!) from Mount Kimbie get higher profile work after this. They've been good (and only improving) for three full lengths and a bunch of EPs. Definitely co-credit Dom for the strength of Assume Form.

yeah it's quite a turn around and i agree it's his best - i still like his debut a fair bit but after revisiting it i found it falls off towards the end. surprised this got panned so hard from p4k when they published much more positive reviews for the last two far weaker albums

The first line of that p4k review is annoying re: "confessional" songwriting. I thought it was long established that he doesn't actually have any siblings?

Yeah, that Pitchfork thing is just stupid.

"Suffocating seriousness" <— They're reviewing the wrong album. That was Colour in Anything.

And, I'm sorry. No album that contains the line "Ass fatter than a peach" can reasonably be accused of taking itself too seriously.

Total idiocy. Assume Form is awesome. Done talking about it.

Had this playing in the background and forgot it was on, so ... mission accomplished? But then “Can’t Believe The Way We Flow” caught my ear and pulled me back in. At least for that song.

His covers (Feist, Joni Mitchell, etc) are great, also his singing, his production, but his actual own songs are just nothing-y, and they fall apart like a cheap suit. Maybe it's why his covers are so well known but his own stuff? Not so much. Put a gun to my head i couldn't whistle a note of any of it. They sound like a sample pack on shuffle, like.. 'Hey this might be nice when it's finished'.

I know what you mean, pisces. Assume Form rectifies that, though. I think mostly, because he came out of the dubstep scene, his songs have felt aimless in the past. He was trying to be a dubstep singer / songwriter, so it was more about manipulation of sound over traditional structure. He's finally found his balance on the new one. It's easily my favorite new album since King Krule's last one.

Revisiting the Colour in Anything this morning and yeah. . . a handful of strong moments, but it's mostly just kind of rambling; which is exactly what I said about it when it was new three years ago.

And, jesus christ, fuck Justin Vernon. This song is just absolute dogshit.

Thank you piscesx I’ve been feeling insane not getting it

Prefer his non vocal stuff tbh

Also, this little aside has made me think about what would I put on my own "best of" playlist for JB. And it's made me go back through and discover some absolutely unique and esoteric pop music. I'm thinking songs like:

'Lindisfarne'
'Retrograde'
'The Willhelm Scream'
'Overgrown'
'Modern Soul'
'Digital Lion'

And about half the new album.

I've always thought of him as someone who has ambitions to be a pop star, sell out stadiums, and win lots of awards. . . but he's just too eccentric. Like a Robert Wyatt for millennials or something.

@ piscesx, yeah, my assessment of James Blake recently was "the world's most successful songwriter whose never written a song"

tbh I enjoy his production so, so much (especially on "Digital Lion", which Austin mentioned) that he's more classic than dud for me, but I hope he develops a voice as a songwriter sometime soon

the new album is the first time his songwriting's really done much for me consistently, it feels much stronger and more focused/less meandering than before - "into the red", "barefoot in the park", "power on", and "don't miss it" are all great songs not just great production

i like the s/t a lot still but the strength there is the production and the way he gets so much out of small melodic phrases like on "the wilhelm scream" (one of his absolute best still even though the melody is sampled from one of his dad's songs) and "i never learnt to share". i've never figured out quite what's going on rhythmically in "unluck" either

overgrown is just a bit of a mess to me, it has a lot of ideas but they don't really cohere anywhere near as well, there's a lot more focus on his weaker songwriting, and the sound design felt like a step down from the debut. i love "digital lion" and "retrograde" at least

i don't really remember much about the colour in anything at all, it's just so long and keeps the same mood the whole way through but "i need a forest fire" is really nice

Is 'unluck' is the one with the quintuplets in the drums?

I like him as a producer first, and he's had some great moments blurring the lines between 'voice as an instrument' and 'what is a song, really?' But also some bad moments where it veers too far into singer/songwriter territory and can only be judged on those terms.

Anyway I still haven't heard the new one and I'm hoping for the best, but the EPs (and most of the 1st album) are underrated these days.

Oh dear. I'm sorry to say that if that was the standout track on the Colour In Anything for you, the rest of the album is going to be a real challenge.

Look at it like this:

'I Need a Forest Fire' : The Colour in Anything :: 'Friday, I'm in Love' : Wish

Thing is he IS a star, he sold out terminal 5 few years back. I had a comp and went, thousands of Williamsburg waterfront condo types unsure of what to do, looking at phones, etc

And I stand by my "Robert Wyatt for millennials" in that case.

I think more David Sylvian, me

Robert Wyatt for millennials

David Sylvian

i guess i'm gonna have to finally give this guy a listen

James Blake has written an article for world mental health day and it seems, amongst the other stuff, that he's an only-semi-reformed incel

https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2019/oct/james-blake-on-mental-health/

Is this not a bit... y'know https://t.co/TMrHtefy4X pic.twitter.com/UxHVVj0Y3G

— Laura Snapes (@laurasnapes) October 11, 2019

also how about seeing women as, idk, people, instead of a "lesson in empathy and love" pic.twitter.com/6Bg6GYQpkL

— Laura Snapes (@laurasnapes) October 11, 2019

that's not how i read it at all.

to me, it was pretty obvious that he is saying that in order to find external human connection, you need to have empathy and love for yourself first. and that is increasingly hard to do in a modern world that (he feels) emphasizes being "made to feel we can do anything and be anything" and pushes "understanding women as a resource rather than a lesson in empathy and love" before understanding those concepts as applied to oneself. he (presumably) applies this to women because that is his preference for a partnership.

too bad that someone can be genuinely vulnerable and express their innermost ideas and best intentions and still face shit for it.

I'm all for expressing vulnerability and talking about your mental health problems. However, as someone who has had these problems myself I would hate for anyone to treat this as an excuse for me if I was behaving in a shitty way. His attitude towards women really needs work - and his constant self-flagellation just makes it even more about him and even less about them.

His attitude towards women really needs work

i think he's always been the first person to say as much.

He sort of says this, yes, but it's obvious he doesn't get why they are wrong, he keeps making everything about himself and keeps using dehumanising language about women. How about their mental health? Can we have an article from his girlfriend instead?

keeps using dehumanising language about women

this is across the board for him, not just women.

not saying i agree 100% with him in this regard, but he is trying to relate his own experiences to an altogether more universal sentiment. it's been a pretty constant theme through all of his music. he almost always finishes things with a "we / "our" / "us" stance. and the times he doesn't, well, he's only human.

we got from "I'm all for expressing vulnerability and talking about your mental health problems" to "Can we have an article from his girlfriend instead?" pretty quickly!

Sure
https://twitter.com/jameelajamil

i recommend crooks and lovers, the 2010 album by mount kimbie

i recommend every release by mount kimbie.

It's their clear peak imo

And it holds up too.

This is surely his best song-based album (although of course I liked him best before he learned to write a proper song)?

A friend of mine has a duet on this album which is truly mind blowing to the me of 2010 - 2012. Or 2021. I think it's a highlight for sure.

i've been kind of lost on him since the dust settled on assume form (which i still think is great). i was feeling impatient a couple weeks ago and decided to skim the scattershot of singles and eps he's done in the meantime and it all just felt kind of stopgap. i should give it more of a chance.

gave it a front to back listen on our walk just now and i really like the music, but his vocals are so unenthusiastic. thematically, he's repeating himself more than ever and he just sounds so stagnant, like he's bored of everything he's singing about. it's decent overall, but i can't imagine going back to it with any frequency.

"he sounds bored" is kinda where i've landed with Blake for the past five years or so

Idk I think he just sounds like James Blake

Except his influences are pop music and being in L.A. instead of dubstep and being in London

we may be saying the same thing

How about their mental health? Can we have an article from his girlfriend instead?
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 11 October 2019 18:44 (two years ago)

What a bizarre position to advocate, that people should be compelled to confess because someone they are involved with is objectionable to satisfy ones pseudo-political hang ups. Not that I cared for Blake's article but the responses to it have been peak pop idol fandom, and of course the inverse of the popstar is the fascist statesman-like orator. Very brexit-like this whole controversy was. Bowie did arrive at a key realisation coked out of his gord, (dance der mussolini) he just didn't then read Amadeo Bordiga's critique of democracy and abandon his liberal career to make unlistenable scronk for communist nerds. So in essence he only ever committed to his bovine fetish. A pity, it really is. Destroy the rockist vs poptimist binary now! pure hooligan plunderphonics!

There's a limit to your love James Blake, stop making tweepop and it will be unlimited.

JB backing up Monica Martin <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G4T6L7tm4I

Enjoyed this podcast with JB, at least the bits where he gets very specific about his process. How the remixes where he would reharmonize acapella tracks led to doing the same with his own music (ie making a whole track, then scrapping it and using it as sample/source material for the 'real' track), and producing for other artists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4Mz7d6vjX4

Mount Kimbie released a Speakerboxxx/Love Below style EP, with the L.A. guy doing collabs with Danny Brown and Liv.e, and the UK guy doing hard UK bass tracks on the flip

Both good but living in London makes for more interesting music :)