I wonder if they've been selling the record prior to last night's show. People were walking around with the LP so I wonder if it was the first time it was available to purchase during the tour.
― octobeard, Friday, 8 November 2019 18:59 (four years ago) link
Is this really R&B though? The artists it reminds me the most of are Kate Bush or Bjork, I don’t feel like it’s fair or its intention to be pinned to a particular genre.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 8 November 2019 19:24 (four years ago) link
It’s being allowed discussion by mods on the subreddits of popheads, indieheads and hiphopheads which is a honestly a big tell of how hard it is to pin down. I don’t remember when was the last time that all 3 subreddits allowed discussion on one album.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 8 November 2019 19:48 (four years ago) link
lol at an album disrupting the reddit ecosystem
― quinn morgendorffer stan account (morrisp), Friday, 8 November 2019 19:51 (four years ago) link
it's not like there hasn't been r&b in her musical dna before but i agree she's more in the kate bush/bjork etc. art pop lineage, and this album feels like the balance has shifted even more towards the latter. the closest r&b reference point i can think of is janet's most outre moments like "empty" as brad said and that's something i'm very into
― ufo, Friday, 8 November 2019 19:55 (four years ago) link
yeah I wouldn't classify this album as R&B; it's more akin to Bat for Lashes to me.
― akm, Friday, 8 November 2019 20:01 (four years ago) link
I have seen Twigs perform 3 times and I think she is one of the greatest live acts of the 2010s. I always try to catch her shows when I can. That said, I rarely listen to her records in their entirety even though I think she is a fantastic musician. Talent like hers doesn't need a specific genre, much like Bjork and Kate Bush.
― Chantilly Bass, Friday, 8 November 2019 20:07 (four years ago) link
Love this so far
― change display name (Jordan), Friday, 8 November 2019 20:08 (four years ago) link
Not to be too narcissistic but 'mary magdalene' made me go put on this track that I put out four years ago, in which I was more or less imagining I was making a Twigs song.
― change display name (Jordan), Friday, 8 November 2019 20:31 (four years ago) link
Fallen Alien is sick, def a nice change of pace
― change display name (Jordan), Friday, 8 November 2019 20:35 (four years ago) link
I like hearing her try a little different vocal approach
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, 8 November 2019 20:49 (four years ago) link
Wish this was as exciting as the first LP :(
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Friday, 8 November 2019 21:46 (four years ago) link
oh my god, the cover
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Friday, 8 November 2019 21:57 (four years ago) link
beautiful record. can't wait to continue listening to it over the weekend.
― winters (josh), Saturday, 9 November 2019 02:19 (four years ago) link
Am a fan of Twigs but am hugely turned off by the trend of distorted face covers ie St. Vincent, Juana Molina. Not a productive comment, I know.
― Yelploaf, Saturday, 9 November 2019 04:02 (four years ago) link
I have seen Twigs perform 3 times and I think she is one of the greatest live acts of the 2010s. I always try to catch her shows when I can.
Do you like Pink?
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Saturday, 9 November 2019 11:41 (four years ago) link
xpost
i like the distorted face covers. i can see how they're offputting to some, but i like that they're pushing back against expectations of how a female pop star should present themselves. we often tend to see the male equivalent as adventurous or artistic or mischievous (the peter gabriel facemelt, richard d james smile + a million other things he's done), whereas the female version as just grotesque. plus it also pushes against the trend from the past few several years of covers featuring close-ups of the artist looking up and 3/4 to the side, as if they had just seen the face of god (and often with the celestial light shining across their perfect features). it's cool to take that as a starting point and then work against it, i think.
― at home in the alternate future, (Karl Malone), Saturday, 9 November 2019 15:40 (four years ago) link
I really do not like this styling of singing. Nails on a chalkboard.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Saturday, 9 November 2019 17:10 (four years ago) link
The cover(s) are great! Also fit in with the bjork references earlier.
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Saturday, 9 November 2019 22:19 (four years ago) link
heard the whole thing. unsurprisingly i think it's not so great (for example 'home with you' and 'cellophane' are kinda radiohead and not in a way i enjoy). surprisingly i really like 'fallen alien' though.
― imago, Sunday, 10 November 2019 15:03 (four years ago) link
heard the whole thing. surprisingly i think it's not so great too! sorta uninspired tori amos retread. I expected holy terrain to be my least favorite track but it might be the best thing on the album!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Sunday, 10 November 2019 15:29 (four years ago) link
maybe i need to relisten a few more times. fallen alien isn't terrible either. First three tracks just sound bad!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Sunday, 10 November 2019 15:30 (four years ago) link
This album bangs and I really like the different shades she brings out in her voice across the various songs
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Sunday, 10 November 2019 15:58 (four years ago) link
That first pair of EPs was something else. It's been mostly downhill ever since.
The Radiohead-ishness of it all is obviously fine in my book and I mostly enjoy the album while it's on but none of its songs stick.
― pomenitul, Sunday, 10 November 2019 17:03 (four years ago) link
I’ve tried to appreciate the first two EPs multiple times but I cannot get into them at all
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Sunday, 10 November 2019 19:13 (four years ago) link
yeah i'm the same, that 2014 post of mine up thread still stands - it wasn't until "two weeks" that things clicked for me.
new album is great, "sad day", "cellophane" and "mirrored heart" in particular
― monotony, Sunday, 10 November 2019 23:33 (four years ago) link
i certainly hear the Tori Amos comparison but it's hardly a retread - even at its weirdest From the Choirgirl Hotel is still a keys-playing-singer-songwriter-with-a-band record while this is much more electronic obviously. it's very much a modern take on that sort of gloomy late 90s sound
don't really hear Radiohead beyond "cellophane" being vaguely similar to the sort of piano ballad with cool sound design they've done occasionally
― ufo, Monday, 11 November 2019 02:04 (four years ago) link
it's more the "performative vulnerability" aspect than the instrumentation, for me
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Monday, 11 November 2019 02:16 (four years ago) link
three spins, i'm tapping out. loved the EPs, this is not my jam.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 11 November 2019 05:39 (four years ago) link
"home with you" may be my favorite thing she's done to date
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Monday, 11 November 2019 13:50 (four years ago) link
also she is a fucking stunning singer as evidenced by the version of "home with you" in the link ufo posted
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Monday, 11 November 2019 13:59 (four years ago) link
I don't know what the people who dislike this are hearing but I can only assume they are listening to some other album because this album is great.
― akm, Tuesday, 12 November 2019 22:13 (four years ago) link
It's only getting better for me. Wasn't totally sure about Cellophane as a first single, but it's an amazing closer.
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 22:24 (four years ago) link
it's not 100 percent my thing but i like it much better than lp1, many stunning moments
― american bradass (BradNelson), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 22:27 (four years ago) link
everyone is correct about "fallen alien"
And I wouldn't want a whole record that sounds like Holy Terrain, but it works in the album
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 22:28 (four years ago) link
This. I need a few more spins but this is AOTY material imo
― Roz, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 03:23 (four years ago) link
what i'm hearing is uninspired production, trite lyrics, painfully sing-song delivery and heavily manufactured attempts at emotional resonance that feel disjointed and clumsy. what i'm not hearing is the pensive, mysterious R&B from the first two EPs or m3ll155x. I mean, all credit to you that you're enjoying this, but it's not impossible to imagine it not resonating with any number of listeners.last album that i had this severe a break with popular opinion may have been arca, which this sounds a bit like i suppose.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 03:34 (four years ago) link
i don't love this to the degree some do but there's a lot to like about it and i don't hear any sort of drastic falloff from her previous work at all - "cellophane" and "sad day" are career highs
― ufo, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 03:59 (four years ago) link
I’m having trouble digesting the album as a whole, but tbh I’m still stuck over how precious Cellophane is.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 07:51 (four years ago) link
fyi, the entire artwork on the album cover is a strong, strong argument for buying physical media
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 13:16 (four years ago) link
"painfully sing-song delivery" uh, ok.
― akm, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 17:52 (four years ago) link
TIL forks/ulysses doesn't like singing
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 18:05 (four years ago) link
lol, okay man.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 18:20 (four years ago) link
Well, what does "sing-song delivery" mean?
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 18:24 (four years ago) link
Because, in the context of describing someone's singing/chanting in a song, it reads as "singing". She's not talking on the phone on this album.
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 18:25 (four years ago) link
like she's reading a nursery rhyme over a metronome. or, more accurately, freestyle vamping along to the sophomore classical guitar dude's noodling in the quad.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 18:27 (four years ago) link
It's a weird af pop record, not surprised it's not everyone's cup of tea. But the specific critiques of "uninspired production" and "heavily manufactured attempts at emotional resonance" are quite silly imo. Production is pretty incredible, and the lyrics sound as genuine as I've ever heard from her. Yes it's the opposite of how she's presented herself in the past, but not any less effective. Seeing her in person perform these songs certainly emphasizes this, especially when she sequences shit like Two Weeks and Cellophane back to back to close a show.
On the mastering front, this album has more dynamic range than any pop record released this year that I've heard, and just sounds utterly gorgeous on a great system. Production is immaculate.
― octobeard, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 18:28 (four years ago) link
I am going to need you to point me to an example of what you are referencing, forks, because right now I am concerned that you're having a stroke and it's impairing your faculties
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 18:33 (four years ago) link
don't know what to tell you! I've now gone through it four times and the production bores the hell out of me. "Thousand Eyes" lyrics wouldn't be particularly revealing in a high school yearbook.
it's okay that you love it and want to defend it but "silly" isn't any sort of insight.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 18:34 (four years ago) link