Kacey Musgraves - 2013 Anticipation

there are songs that are pretty melodically reminiscent of golden hour, like "cherry blossom" and "if this was a movie", but golden hour really lets its songs breathe, while as aixtc said, the tracks on this one largely end before doing anything. like, "cherry blossom" could surely use a bridge to elevate it etc. instead of just looping the chorus for two minutes

To me, her previous work had such strong songwriting displaying her gift for great melodies and hooks (for instance "Butterflies" is marvelous) that this one is disappointing.
It's not bad but, yeah, the melodies don't... blossom !

“good wife” is sophistipop

enticement or incitement?

waiting to get my copy later today but twitter is not making me excited about playing it:

a lot of this kacey album sounds like the soundtrack to a 2001 jennifer aniston vehicle

— Natalie Weiner (@natalieweiner) September 10, 2021

new kacey album is not good. it’s not solar power level bad but uh nah

— metaltxt (@metaltxt) September 10, 2021

these ppl are full of shit

"simple times" is the worst track on the album, really stilted melodically & has all of this album's flaws in one place

also bizarre to me, great song tastefully arranged

Nothing really works in this album, and certainly not the Jethro Tull moment, it kinda hurts.
On the side of exceptions I have Simple Times, Justified and Keep lookin' up.

do y’all not love “easier said”??????

i’m not sure how i feel about this as an album sequence yet but if anything i think her melodic sensibility is more finely tuned than ever

“camera roll” is also devastating

amazing that the ppl trashing this record mention nothing from the second half at all

flute solo goes, turn the beat around

“good wife” is sophistipop

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, September 10, 2021 8:29 AM (thirty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is a sophistipop album

Need to listen to this a few more times but agree with Brad about the second half and he didn't even mention "hookup scene"

I agree about the second half.

(pronouns are they/she btw, working on the latter half of that) xp

god "hookup scene" is so good

Apologies and noted!

Seems like some of the criticism I've read has focused on the lyrics being too plain, lacking in the witty double-entendres and playful cliches she's deployed across her work. The cosmic, sunbathed, iridescent sound of Golden Hour was also innovative and fresh and felt like a new space for both pop and country...I don't think this is different in kind but clearly "radiance" was not what they were going for on her divorce record.

Personally, while I truly adore those first three records, I found the cute cliches were wearing thin with writers like Musgraves, Luke Laird, Shane McAnally, and Brandy Clark leaning into them too often. I like how writers like Emily Scott Robinson and Katie Pruitt are writing searing personal stories with plain spoken words from distinct POVs and was hoping to hear more Kacey in this record. Going to have to give it another spin but the melodies seemed perfectly strong to me...

I'm not a fan, but thought I'd listen in light of these comments. I agree with those saying the songs feel more like sketches or almost-songs that could have used fleshing-out.

(The lyrics are also awful, IMO, and she is not a good singer)

this album rules, brad otm. 'there is a light' is balearic af, her audience doesn't deserve her

nb my only previous exp with kacey musgraves is enjoying slow burn and high horse and not getting into the rest of the album

“good wife” is sophistipop

specifically it really reminds me of the last natalie prass album and i wish the album as a whole pushed more in that direction. i am a big fan of the sophisti-pop & balearic touches across the album just wish they were stronger if anything

the first 4 songs leave me pretty cold but this really kicks into gear right around "justified". "breadwinner" in particular is awesome -- it's really the inverse of "high horse" in that she's on her's but also bcuz the production feels organic and detailed as opposed to sounding like she opened up a 99 cent can of something labeled "disco." from "camera roll" on i think the songs start to map along the contours of her past music in a way that feels familiar and comfortable. "easier said" and "hookup scene" have an ease of motion between sections that feels trademark her even if the arrangements and lyrics are going somewhere new, a bit more broad.

that initial section it feels like they're spinning their wheels in terms of the production but as the album goes on it does take on a distinct form that is different from golden hour imo, it's more layered, a bit knottier, but also i think they got better at what they're trying to do in several places. "breadwinner" and "there is a light" (practically a todd terje song!) stand out as tracks that actually make golden hour feel like a prelude to something richer, which i didn't think was going to be possible going into this album.

there's a tiny bit of the flute solo in "there is a light" that sounds like it's referencing the flute riff in "down under". thankfully not the part they got sued over though, hope men at work don't sue her either.

i want to be clear that i do quite like this album, just have probably been a little harsh bc it's following up a masterpiece & there's so many ways this one could have been much greater instead of just merely good. i really miss the bridges & instrumental breaks that gave the songs on golden hour more room to breathe & more of that would have fit so well with the vibe she's going for here. "there is a light" is one of the few moments where it really goes for that & it's a real highlight as a result. "good wife", "if this was a movie", "angel", "camera roll", "easier said" and "hookup scene" are all really good too.

i still really dislike "simple times" though it's so plodding & stilted it makes me think of weezer at their most mediocre

metaltxt is an ILXOR, right? who is it?

I honestly didn't even know she *was* married

for whatever it's worth, her ex's last two albums are *excellent* if you have any interest in hooky Americana/rock songs about being a major fuck-up and feeling bad about being a major fuck-up and trying to move past being a major fuck-up. both are among my most-played albums of the past few years:

Dying Star (2018): http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_myPyJ2Mth_R-_RXKOgIfs3OHYnkA_CCn8

Shape & Destroy (2020): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1byb4iuVdwKRYTfnB8RVR6qCDLV0hHwt

He has not yet made a divorce record ... I assume that is coming next, or he'll just push it all down and continue to write about what he's been writing about.

Cool, will listen! I should have expected better of Musgraves, but I just figured he was some bro-country Blake Shelton type or something. Of course, now she us dating some marketer/model/influencer or something, right? That's a business card I can't get behind.

He's definitely not bro-country. He's also not exactly endearing in a warm and fuzzy cutesy faux-indie Kacey Musgraves sort of way. He seems like he's been through some tough stuff and he has a chip on his shoulder.

He may not be for you, of course. I just think he's got a lot of great melodic ideas and his lyrics are good enough for me.

The first half of Dying Star is particularly strong, imo. Shape & Destroy doesn't reach quite the same heights, but is more consistent.

On the latter in particular, you can hear his love of punk and emo coming through loud and clear in places. And in between the albums, he released an EP of covers: Dashboard, Saves the Day, Blink-182, "Teenage Dirtbag" ... and he did a good (faithful) job w/ Taylor's "All Too Well" ... they're all in this playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1byb4iuVdwKBZcinPCnjaOwL8ENS5GS3

i do think he released one of the 15ish best albums of 2018, but not even the best album to come out of his household at the time.

anyway, back to Kacey. maybe someday there will be a Ruston Kelly thread...

“If this was a movie” sounds like Lori Carson

So I was right about "Justified," I was happy for it to show up in the run of the album. That chorus is a kicker. I like the album overall, I would love for it to be more space disco. Maybe there will be remixes.

Finally listening to this, it's ... fine. I think "Camera Roll" (playing now) is the only that's kind of clicked with me so far. I agree the songs sounds too weirdly underdeveloped. I think it intriguing that Alfred brought up Low, because those songs on the new album are super spare and simple yet the group found novel ways to expand them and make them interesting. Here it all feels kind of abrupt.

Anyway, my wife's hot take (especially after meh reactions to Waxahatchee and Faye Webster yesterday): "why does everyone have to be so quiet and boring?"

BTW, my fave overlooked country break-up album is Allison Moorer's "The Hardest Part."

You at Pitchfork, Josh? I'm at a loss wondering how Big Thief, Phoebe Bridgers, and Angel Olsen were the late afternoon/early evening acts.

I was there for a few hours Friday and a couple of hours yesterday, but I think I'm staying home today, as much as it would be nice to connect with any of you folks who are there. Those more chill acts did draw audiences, maybe to my surprise, though Bridgers is against all odds a star. I didn't stick around, but I heard lots of good things about St Vincent last night.

Josh's wife otm. I wasn't sure if it's a phase I am in or if everyone is getting softer and slower (and, in most cases, more boring).

IMO, quiet(er) and focused/intense has sounded good this year (Billie, Olivia, Lambert & co)… but I know “boring” can be relative.

I like boring, and boring can be great to listen to. But it's a lot easier to sing along with something when it's not boring, because boring also lends itself well to background, at which point it's competing with everything else in the background too.

I don’t love everything on this album but I do love the flute jam

"Easier Said" feels like an instant modern standard in the same way "Butterflies" did by the second listen.

This is an extremely rare case where an artist's preceding album hit me so hard (after already deeply enjoying her first two albums) that I fully expected this one to be a letdown on some level. Aside from the opening track being the weakest, damn near everything here is astounding: the crystalline production (the guitars!), brief earwormy snippets (e.g. the spoken refrain in "There is a Light"), evocative yet more universal lyricism (anyone else enjoy contrasting the Beijing line in "Slow Burn" to the Tokyo reference in "Cherry Blossom"?), thematic consistency/the genuinely earned sense of melancholy, & her incomparably godhead voice.

Was odd seeing her interviewed by Stephen Colbert on Thursday only b/c she didn't play a song afterward. She was charming like always though. Doubt that playing the title track at the VMAs earned her the new fans she deserves. And it doesn't look like her winter tour is selling well, but playing NBA arenas was probably a bit of a reach. So it goes.

Anyone pick it up on vinyl yet? Releasing it on four different colors is silly. Nonetheless, hoping to grab a copy tomorrow.

My anecdotal take is that one's reaction to this one is directly related to one's reaction to the last one. If someone thought Golden Hour was the Best Album Ever, they will probably love this as more of the same. If they thought Golden Hour was a step down (or away) from the first two, then they may not like this one that much, either. I wonder if this fits with the first album theory, that one's take on an act often depends on which album in the discography they heard first?

it doesn't look like her winter tour is selling well

You mean because they haven't instantly sold out? Could also be because she is charging superstar prices, $150 (plus fees) for modest seats in an arena (even more for better). Could also be covid, but it's probably the big leap up in venue size plus the high price.

who thought Golden Hour the Best Album Ever?

I dunno, I got the feeling the album received a ton of love and was at least considered by many to be a breakthrough, minting a bunch of Kacey Musgraves fans that weren't necessarily there for the first albums, winning the Grammy for Album of the Year, made her a style icon and/or star, etc. I assume it's why she is touring arenas and not clubs (or even theatres). Last place I saw her was behind Pageant Material, and it was ... 1500 seats?

$150 for arena seats? I love Kacey but even with COVID out of the equation I wouldn't pay that much to see her.

And those are the mid, 200 level seats and far back floor! United Center nosebleeds are closer to $70 each, before fees.

I mean, good for her, but I guess I didn't realize she was at that level quite yet.

She played the Chicago Theatre in March 2019. I totally forgot she was a Lollapalooza headliner that summer. Regardless, ever since bands like the Arcade Fire and Black Keys and Bon Iver started playing the United Center I have no idea what even constitutes an arena act anymore.

That's nuts. Seen her a few times and don't think I ever paid more than $30, albeit pre-Golden Hour.

I mean ... she's probably 5X bigger now than she was pre-Golden Hour. Maybe more.

$150 is obviously a lot for a ticket, but considering what some second- and third-tier acts charge in my city, I ain't even blinking at $70 (before fees) just to get in the room.

the issue here tho is that shes just... not very good live