Erika de Casier - Essentials

count me in on this one as well. The most Janety thing I've heard since Take Me Apart I guess.

I hear INOJ and Samantha Mumba in her voice and in the music

Another reference point that occurred to me (re the music) was the uptempo stretches of ‘Embrya’ - that sense of modern R&B as if heard (or perhaps performed) from underwater.

kinda wish there was a club mix for every track on the album since "intimate (club mix)" is so good

album is a fucking miracle

Really bugs the shit out of me that this is not available on CD. Some of us still own stereos . . .

I like this a lot. It reminds me a little of Cassie but I find the production a bit too sterile/ibiza-wine-bar-background-music to my taste to really be great.

whut

you need a clean environment for intimacy

kinda wish there was a club mix for every track on the album since "intimate (club mix)" is so good

― ufo, Friday, August 23, 2019 1:59 PM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink

^^^^ but also kinda wish the genre comprising this and dawn richard's "black lipstick" was in fact a genre with, like, other songs in it.

There isn’t a single bad song on this. An album that really lives up to its name.

yeah when the worst* songs on here are like "good time" and "story of my life" that's a great problem to have

*worst only in the sense of being a step below the really amazing songs like "intimate" and "space"

Hmm I put good time in my top picks from the album — great concept

Yeah it’s actually great? It’s just that sometimes i’m thrown by the (deliberately) laziness of “I had a rillyrillyrillyrilly good time” (and then other times I love it). Which is my point about the general greatness of the album I guess.

yeah i guess it just seems cute & unforced for that reason ... its like the thing you say when you want to say more but are afraid of bungling the articulation so your vocabulary regresses

Just discovered that Erika was (is?) part of an alt-R&B duo called Saint Cava:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnzO1Onse2A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1LHBCmCNBA

iirc it's a was, they broke up then she teamed up with dj sports for a single a few years ago which lead to the album

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

i forgot to post this but this was the single (by dj central, her main collaborator on essentials, though dj sports did do a remix like he did for "intimate" and he also co-produced some of the album iirc?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCjBW3b_mqk

new remix of "little bit" by erika & el-trick (dj central)

My favourite discovery from the 2019 EOY nominations. Has anyone seen her live? Just got tickets for the London show next month.

when she whispers her voice somehow reminds me of stina nordenstam. very girlish and immediate. which is a good thing obviously.

this album is really pretty much perfect at what it does

Erika did a remix of Dua Lipa's "Physical" and bodied the vocal with her prod.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyfA44cXwz0

this album is incredible

https://www.thefader.com/2020/05/21/erika-de-casier-interview-essentials-album

https://youtu.be/MWofrpSCekY?t=1678

gorgeous unreleased song here

whole set is lovely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK8RilMVd9U

good new track & she's signed to 4AD

This is just lovely.

yes, extremely nice. good for her!

cosign

Early highlight of 2021:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6mgqSP4pKU

Hi Mount - U N Me

Features Erika on vocals. She also sings on the A-side (SPCE - lightness).

this is incredible

that gasp at 1.25 > all other sounds ever

"no butterflies no nothing" was robbed in the tracks poll

The EP also features another track with vocals from Erika. SPCE - Lightness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saRbqHE44iQ

Doh, just re-read your post above where you say the same thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxX1fVBkOns

godDAMN

so good

Love it

that’s really good

new album Sensational out may 21!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHnqo1t0zV0

What a great track too.

very excited for this! her appeal somewhat alluded me for a while and then over the past couple of weeks I've fallen super hard

wasn't expecting a fabolous/nate dogg interpolation lol but this is indeed very very good

I found her initial stuff to be good, but I somehow find this to now be offensive for whatever reason

wasn't expecting a fabolous/nate dogg interpolation lol but this is indeed very very good

― voodoo chili, Tuesday, April 13, 2021 4:33 PM (forty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

haha i definitely had the thought on her last album that she actually sounds more like a g-funk artist than anything

my problem is prob based off the embrace of 90s R&B sound coming off as cynically empty, not helping that the vid has heavy tim and eric vibes idk

i really don't think she's doing any sort of ironic or cynical thing

i get what you mean with the video but that's not really how it comes across to me

Friendly is my jam atm

wow she's playing here in december, never expected that would happen

okay wow I need to go to that

she's great live! just wish she'd played a longer set but she did "intimate (club mix)" as an encore though at least

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAM5lyb1UQo

incredible

Love this. Will it get an official release?

very enjoyable

I believe that is an official link? it's also on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/track/4v7SAKFEqPyuYTy9gQRnHP?si=1a312715fdaf4219

On first listen I was a bit underwhelmed, but now I’ve had a chance to listen more it‘s really revealed itself, what a great version.

she has a new writing credit here also
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArmDp-zijuc

https://www.gq.com/story/newjeans-get-up-songwriter-erika-de-casier-interview

good interview about her work for newjeans

it mentions that her new album is finished & coming soon!

great interview. Love that bit about newjeans’ management liking the fact that she didn’t listen to kpop

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/09/1197958418/2024-preview-the-most-anticipated-releases-of-the-year

new song "lucky" premiered here at 48:30 except they talk over most of it, but the part they don't talk over sounds absolutely fantastic. they also reveal the new album is titled still

Lucky is amazing. Doesn't it have a pretty prominent sample or something? I think I recognize something.

Oh, a new album is coming, and the single is out now! https://pitchfork.com/news/erika-de-casier-announces-new-album-still-shares-video-for-new-song-lucky-watch

Awesome!

sounds great

judging from the credits it should be a Rodney Jerkins and LaShawn Daniels sample, must be the piano? something sounds familiar

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

yeah the full "lucky" is wonderful, i'm delighted she's going full "empty"

the piano is sampled from linda karaly's "can't let go"

Love this so much - I've wanted her to make songs like this ever since the club mix of "Intimate".

yeah, it's exactly what i've wanted more of from her. already a soty contender

the drums on this are soooooo good

Lucky is pretty nice.
The descending piano melody reminiscent of Christopher Cross "Sailin".
Pre-chorus has "You Gotta Be" vibes.
Verse melody at 29-33 seconds is 100% from some rnb or pop tune that I'm going crazy trying to remember. Anybody?

Song of the year

I think it might actually be a “sailin’” sample

Song reminds me to so many other things in certain points, but it’s perfect on its own. Really excited about the full album.

Wouldn't mind a copy of just the rhythm track on this thing. Real good fun.

Like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN5o70QddoE

That's nice, but was thinking literally just beats (maybe bass). The skittering action and 16th notes make me real happy.

the sample is 100% "can't let go", the writers are credited and everything

i think this is the best r & breakbeats song i have ever heard

love this, so gorgeous and deceptively effortless

being an outlier here but I think this is a bit underwhelming

Yeah she sounds a little buried in the fog of the sample to me and this style is not new. Thinking of Cuando Fue that I have relistened to a lot lately.

i think this is a great record, i also wish it was mixed differently to give her vocals the effect of levitating above the beat instead of being engulfed by it. the one main difference i would draw between this & something like "empty"

Ok I just heard 'Lucky' on a playlist having not heard or registered her name before, and I had to look and see if it was newjeans. So I'm glad to learn there's a connection.

new album sounds very good on first listen but "lucky" is the clear standout

after a few more listens i feel a bit underwhelmed, "lucky" is incredible but totally overshadows the rest of the album which is low key even by her standards and the songs are a little weaker and less interesting than usual too

i enjoyed "ice", but mostly because it's well-executed pastiche of a rap/r&b duet from 20 years ago

hmm it's growing on me!