Kacey Musgraves - 2013 Anticipation

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

She's good enough, but (go figure) pretty chill. The first time I saw her, in a tiny club in 2013, she covered Weezer. Could not imagine her in an arena, but if I've learned anything over the years it's that good, bad or indifferent live, once a band clicks with a big block of fans they'll react to you like you're the Beatles no matter how you do on stage.

If it was the Milwaukee show, I was there, too. (Don't remember her playing Chicago that tour?)

Caramanica review:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/arts/music/kacey-musgraves-star-crossed-review.html

i can't believe anyone thinks "butterflies" is this classic masterpiece of a song

xpost She played Joe's Pub here. I won a poster!

"butterflies" is easily one of the weakest on golden hour yeah but it's still fine

“butterflies” is kinda the skeleton key of sorts to golden hour for me in that it really should be a chintzy, grating song but there’s all these little production flourishes and an overall grace and lightness of touch throughout that make it not just tolerable but enjoyable for me. it’s still prob in the bottom 3 or 4 on the album if i was ranking but it’s the one i look at and say “i should hate this but they were so locked in that it really works”

yeah i agree with that

"Love Is a Wild Thing" is the best

we could poll the album(s)

Butterflies is a bright blissful moment and rather in the top 4-5 for me - if it makes any sense to rank songs here. I think it takes talent to make a song so simple and striking, and you really need the voice if you bring it in the spotlight with so light an instrumentation. A little bit like Newsom's having Easy and '81 to open HOOM.

There was a good Switched on Pop about "Butterflies" that talked about how the production mirrored the lyrics in a bunch of subtle and creative ways.

@Josh, don't know how I missed that...we (and probably half of the audience) got to do the meet and greet in Milwaukee, which is a fun little time capsule to look back on.

lol not "Joe's Pub," here it's just "Joe's on Weed," iirc, my bad. Only time I've been there. Right by Improv Olympics (I think?) and a few gentlemen's clubs.

Yeah, I knew what you meant :)

i saw her at the Apollo. Good show!
i do not like this album at all unfortunately.

i like this album and think it's probably one of her better ones (not that any of them are awful)

She's on SNL tomorrow night, FYI.

After a few more listens this is easily my least favorite of her albums (the others are all As in my book), but I very much like a lot of the second half from "Breadwinner" on and appreciate that she had the opportunity to really step out into a bigger pop star role and do something much bigger and bolder and gave us a fairly understated record.

Bigger! Bolder! Boring!

i keep getting asked in interviews if selling out still exists and i think we can definitively say: it does not. pic.twitter.com/fpFqqsj1UD

— Dan Ozzi (@danozzi) November 16, 2021

To be fair, Willie Nelson did one of these a decade ago. Did Ozzi call him a sell out too?

can't believe Kacey defied her strongly-stated anti-capitalist values