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^^ THAT SAID... There's nothing on A Seat at the Table that comes close to the perfection of "All Night," which is without question Lemonade's highlight (as I've been saying since the album came out.) "All Night" is a tremendous, powerful, soulful pop song with a timeless quality to it that transcends trends and topical references. It's almost like a "Let it Be," or a "You Can't Always Get What You Want" in that sense.
It's classy, it's happy, it's sad, there's a universality to it that isn't present on most of Lemonade's songs. It throws back to Motwown, to Phil Spectre, to Tina Turner, to fucking Outkast for christ's sake! It's the most perfect pop song of 2016. Funny (and infuriating) that out of all the tracks on the album, it has probably received the least attention. I don't think I've read any reviews of Lemonade that even mention "All Night" specifically, except to note how the album ends on a reconciliatory note. Meanwhile, "Hold Up" and "Formation" and "Freedom" are fucking everywhere. That's sad, and it kinda posses me off. I feel like you'd be an idiot not to think "All Night" was the high point of Lemonade, and yet the rest of the world barely seems to have noticed the song even exists. |
AAAAAnyway. I'm not pissed that Lemonade got more attention than A Seat... Solange was selected as NPR's album of the year, and was at or near the top of pretty much every list, right next to her sister. They're very different albums, but I'm not attached enough to either of them to be mad about which one gets more attention.
Ultimately, both records are really just timepieces for modern R&B production and songwriting teams. Neither Beyoncé nor Solange was the primary artistic force behind their respective albums. They were just the face, the voice, and provided inspiration for the storytellers. When it comes to music like that, music that is so removed or detached from the "artist," I can only get so attached. Here's nothing wrong with letting other people produce, record, engineer and mostly write your songs... but it results in a less personal form of music. I would hesitate to attribute any of ASATT's observations directly to Solange Knowles, and it's not super appropriate to treat her as the source of the intellectual properties of the music. To say "Solange made a protest album" is only partially accurate. In truth, Solange participated in the creation of a "protest" product, which she put her name on. Sorry to be that guy, but there is a certain part of the artistic puzzle that is missing from BOTH releases. This is not John Lennon sitting at a piano writing "Imagine" here. It's something much different. I'm not saying that what it is is BAD... as long as the music sounds good to you/me/us, who cares, right? But I will say that its missing a layer of from-the-gut, personal artistic expression. |
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Honestly, so is The Ecstatic. That was a major turnaround after The New Danger and True Magic. I barely remember those albums really, but I feel the urge to hear Ecstatic fairly regularly. I never put that one on the shelf like I did with Black Star and BOBS. If I remember correctly it was, like, my #3 Album of '09? No present access to my list archives (lol) but I'm fairly sure it was too 5. Fuckin' "Auditorium" y'all! |
people hated The New Danger and True Magic, but I seriously listened to the heck out of those albums. I mean - kind of gimmicky. TND was like his "rock" album. (Basically what Weezy did w/ Rebirth) And TM was basically just a major label mixtape. But I dare say I loved them both at the time, and at least still like them a lot. They were kind of ballsy moves at the time. Even if they weren't classics.
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Also, fucking "Priority."
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I bought and played both of them to death too. Honestly, I thought the New Danger was good at the time. True Magic I don't remember much, but I would not have played it if I didn't like it. It was kind of weird though that these two albums were distributed so heavily. At the time you had to go to a well-stocked Best Buy AT LEAST to find Black Star or BOBS, but there were copies of TNG and TM at, like, Fred Meyer and shit. I thoight that was odd. Anyway, I haven't listened to either album in forever, but I doubt they deserve the bad rap they generally received. |
Re: Black Star - that album is a fucking masterpiece and it's a shame they didn't do more albums like that. The beats and their flows compliment each other so perfectly. Verse after verse I'm always like "there'a no way the other one can follow that" but they always do. They were hungry as fuck. Thieves in the Night is my favorite track by far. Every time it's on I have no choice but to sit and listen to what they have to say.
Re: Beyoncé and Solange - I was in love with Lemonade at first but it didn't hold up (lol) for me. I watched the video once and haven't thought about it since. There are a batch of songs (The country one, the one with The Weeknd, the jack white song, sorry I'm bad with names) that I can't get all the way through any more. I agree with whoever said the anger was "theatrical" and honestly it's a little hard to take seriously sometime. Another difference between the two is I feel Solange's album comes straight from her. It sounds like she's singing to you and not at you like a lot of Lemonade. When I hear Lemonade I hear a great pop record but it's not coming from a singular voice. It really does sound like an album a lot of people worked on, which of course it is, and it leaves me feeling like I'm being tRicked in a way (I'm not sure if that makes any sense i hope y'all can see where I'm getting at). Solange's album sounds a lot more honest to me, like I'm hearing someone creating music from their heart and telling the truth. I think a look at songwriting credits for the Solange record proves that. Also her performance on SNL was the shit. |
Anthony Fantano reviewed Trout Mask Replica! couldn't tell if he liked or loved it. somewhere inbetween. don't no why im posting this. maybe because he reviews a lot of modern hip hop and then he throws something like this in the mix. what a great way to turn ignorant people on to the Captain. TMR is one of the best albums ever. of fucking course. Safe as Milk and Lick is close behind.
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still absorbing Black Star. like it but hasn't quite soaked in. it's classic material no doubt. very 90's very Nas like.
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Glad you're enjoying it. I thought I recommended this to you years ago, when you were using a different username. It's weird, but all along I was sure you knew of and liked this record. Kind of a trip to learn I was mistaken. |
oh yea dawg. it grooves and bangs like a classic. should have came across that I was still absorbing the lyrics. the hooks and catchiness gets me first then i play catch up with the rhymes. but, yea enjoying it.
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Yeah, catchy as hell. "One, two, three! Mos Def and Talib Kweli! Black star shine eternally! Best alliance in hip-hop, right ooooon" Lolz |
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New Lupe Fiasco album, DROGAS Light coming out Feb. 10.
 It's Lupe, so I will buy. Loved Tetsuo & Youth. Here's hoping it doesn't suck. |
good to know
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Anderson .Paak announced an album of his band (The Free Nationals) in 2017. I guess it's gonna be an "Anderson .Paak & the Free Nationals" project, in the same vein as "Bob Marley & the Wailers" and "Prince & the Revolution". Excited.
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He's gonna be featured on Flying Lotus' upcoming album too. And him and Pharrell said they're planning to get in the studio together. This year is gonna be huge for the dude, happy for him.
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New Sampha and Syd (of The Internet) albums in February 3rd. And Big Sean is dropping the same day too.
Listen to Syd's dope lead single: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNIOrsxsa0A Quote:
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New SZA single is finally here too (listen on Apple Music),
Loved it. She seems to have progressed a lot since 'Z'. |
When Kanye met Alejandro Jodorowsky:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7Qdc2ggPHc Quote:
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ha! what did he really want anyway? for him to direct something or just to meet him? he gave him idea about what exactly? I had a hard understanding Jodorowsky.
I know he met with Lynch at one time to direct a video. kanye is always too hip for his brain. EDIT: I see you have it written out there. |
Wow. That is some freakishly hilarious shit if you just read it straight through.
Speaking of Lynch, that ^ Kanye/Jodorowsky conversation feels like something out of and Agent Cooper dream. |
I fucking love Jodorowsky man. He's 87 but his mind is very lucid. I watched some bits off the "Jodorowsky's Dune" documentary on YouTube and it already inspired me so much, I'd like to see the entire thing eventually.
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I'd like to see Kanye make the score for a movie by some A list director one day. Even if it's all instrumental. That would be so exciting.
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I hate Lynch and his claptrap dream logic babble nonsense more than I hate any other filmmaker. rubbish for fuckers who think he is deep. Complete waste of celluloid. a total fart stain on the history of storytelling through visual and audio media. His shit movies will be forgotten and no one will be the worse for it. |
Eraserhead - only good on drugs, and even the it is like hearing someone retell their nightmare. Boring, stupid, and utterly meaningless.
Blue Velvet - Tedious, slow, depravity on screen to excite the sick abusers in the crowd and those that like to see pointless melodrama disguised as a art-house whodunnit. fucking stupid shit, "oohhh look how creeeeeeepy he is sucking on that nitrous...." fucking crap. Wild At Heart - hesus fuck what boring bullshit. do white people really like this shit? Twin Peaks - the obsession of every wanna-be hipster back in the day who thougt it was the coolest shit ever. fucking show sucked SHIT and the fucking fire walk with me movie? I shit on it. Fuck twin Peaks. fuck all this shit. Lost Highway - yet more pointless dream logic disguised as a story about very very insipid boring rich white people and their perceived debaucheries and the whole fucking time I know Lynch is sitting there stroking his withered pecker to it. what a fucking shit stpid fuckin movie. There is a reason no one wants to hear anyones dream retellings! They are pointless, meaningless,a nd completely self-absorbed crap! Thats why! fuck Lynch and his fucking stupid shit. Mulholland Drive - BORING. I fell asleep twice. so boring. so fucking boring. you know how boring your dream logic has to be to put others to sleep? UTTERLY BORING. Like a fucking torture. Lynch is to filmmaking what Freud is to psychoanalysis. Originally titillating, exciting the boring white folks who love seemingly perverse and interesting imagery only to be show to be a total fraud asshole who used his medium to further his own neurosis and obvious racisms and sexisms. Fuck that shit and all his fucking movies. |
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I wish he would release all of his albums in instrumental format. He's been around long enough now (almost 13 years as a recording artist) that a reissue series would be appropriate. Each album in deluxe edition, with a bonus disc containing 1.) Non-album tracks from that period and demos/remixes, and 2.) An instrumental version of the full album. That would be so-so-so fucking great. Also, I'd LOVE to have a hard copy of the GOOD Friday tracks that didn't make it onto the albums. You really can't get that shit in a format other than YouTube or SoundCloud anymore without pirating (which I've sworn off for the time being). Seriously, I want it all. "Christian Dior Denim Flow," "Don't Look Down," "Lord Lord Lord," "Looking for Trouble," "Chain Heavy," "Christmas in Harlem," "Don't Stop" ... Shit, there's all the makings of a dope rarities compilation there, seriously. Anyway, yeah, he'd be excellent at score-writing. Or even just Soundtrack curating. |
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That's clearly not going to be true. At all. What will be forgotten is your review/whine on him |
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Agreed. I think I mentioned somewhere on SYG that just last year Mulholland Drive was voted "Best Movie of the 21st Century" in a major critics poll from BBC Culture. Not only that, but it was also voted Best Horror Movie of all time, though I forget who exactly assembled that list. In fact, shit... walk into any independent record store or movie store (hell, type in "best movies" in google) and you'll see Eraserhead. Maybe it's a list item, maybe it's a t-shirt, but it will probably be quite prominently displayed. That was his FIRST movie. You think people are going to forget about Twin Peaks? It's been off the air for 25 years, and it never went out of style. It's return is anticipated with a fervor that makes Game of Thrones look like the next throwaway Transformers movie. Rob, it all makes sense now. Despite the subjectivity of art, our culture has come as close as possible to PROVING that some things are not shit, and those are the things you hate. Shakespeare must really get your goat. And the Beatles. And don't get you started on that Beethoven wanker. Right? Right. |
Though in fairness to Rob, I think we'd all love to forget Dune.
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wow! Rob really went on a tantrum there!
don't love everything Lynch has done but I can tell he treats film as an art form. no matter how kooky or pointless it is. never thought he was trying to be deep either. just trying to evoke something uncomfortable or surreal. it works for me. he does creepiness well and sometimes I like to indulge in creepiness. |
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Yeah, he is not "trying to be deep." Fucker said himself he didn't know what Mulholland Drive was really about, or what "really" happened in it. He just created an experience, and a hell of an experience at that. He's not trying to unravel the mysteries of the universe. Frankly, I think only a very closed-minded person would watch his films and assume he was going for some elite academic or philosophical message. He's a curator of terror, and he's fascinated by the visceral response we have to extreme discomfort and our assumption that a lack of summary explanation is unnatural. Who says it's unnatural? Things don't get definitive explanations in real life, why should he treat us to an easy gift-wrapped package? |
^^ the perfect way I feel about Lynch.
Blue Velvet makes me nervous and excited and feel kinda blissful at the end. hell, I even love Lost Highway and The Straight Story. he picks beautiful actors too, that know how to reel you in sensually. what's not to love? he got Dennis Hopper to play one of his most fucked scary as shit roles. |
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I am physically incapable of taking my eyes off Naomi Watts when she's on the screen. Physically fucking incapable. She mesmerizes me. So, excellent pick for Mulholland. And if you're into brunettes, well, there's plenty of good stuff there too. Hah! His lavish, gorgeous sets really draw me in. Especially in Mullholand and Blue Velvet. Such gorgeous architecture, such brutal behavior taking place within. It is an effective way to get you uncomfortable close and feeling a bit too snug in the film's environment. |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK7dDAm3NAk
you can't tell me this doesn't captivate any movie lover? |
Naomi Watts rules.
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Oh god man, absolutely. Not even the most captivating scene in the film, but I just watched that clip and I wanted to see the entire damn movie again! I also wanted to see Lost Highway on account of that last shot. I think you and I are mos def on the same page with the ol' Blue Velvet. But let me ask you this — and pardon me if we already went over this in the movie thread, because I recently brought this up there and didn't get a ton of agreement — but do you find yourself laughing out loud at Blue Velvet? I mean, I know it's nothing short of a goddamn nightmare, and that it has some of the absolute most disturbing and unsettling moments and themes probably in the history of cinema, but ... in addition to being horrifying, don't you find it somewhat hilarious? Don't think I'm some kind of sick asshole. I'm legitimately unsettled by that movie every time I see it, or even think about it. But, as with pretty much all Lynch films, he sprinkles his horror with blacker-than-black humor, and when Blue Velvet isn't paralyzing me with its horrors, it's making me literally LOL. Even in that scene you posted there's plenty of examples of what I'm talking about. Like, when they walk into "Suave" Ben's. Who the live-long fuck are those bored-looking, overweight nobodies sitting against the wall? It's like... what? It makes me laugh every time. Of course, they're probably "mafia wives" or something... except for the guy. But they don't fit in with the scenery at all, and they do t say a fucking word. They're obviously taking "care" of the kid, and when I start to think about it I wonder if the women are previous versions of Dorothy. Women he's conned or blackmailed into being his mistresses in the past, who have been cast aside. Then that makes me not LOL, because I think if that's the case, what happened to their families? Why are they still there? And then I snap back to the horror of it all. But hell, that's all just speculation. They're just weird ass people — drug addicts I suppose — who happen to look like bloated housewives from Edward Scissorhands. And that shit makes me laugh. Also in that scene: Frank to Ben: "Suave, you are one suave motherfucker!" (Zing!) Frank to Raymond: "Raymond where's the fuckin' beer man" Raymond: "It's right here Frank. Do you want me to pour it?" Frank: "No I want you to FUCK it! Shit yes, pour the fuckin' BEER!" (Zing!) Frank to Ben: "Let's drunk to fucking. Say, 'Here's to your fuck, Frank'" (Zing!) Ben: "If you like, Frank. Here's to your fuck. Cheers. Frank: "'Cheers.' Wow, suave man. You are so FUCKIN' suave!" (Zing!) Oh, and from elsewhere in the film: Sandy to Jeffery: "I can't tell if you're a detective or a pervert." Jeffery: "Well, that's for me to know and you to find out." Hahaha! WTF? (Zing, Zing!) Tell me I'm not crazy. |
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