OB1
Well-Known Member
If I am going to listen to Rap / Hip Hop, it needs to have an American accent.
This was horrific. I couldn’t finish a single track.
1/10
This was horrific. I couldn’t finish a single track.
1/10
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The Album Review Club - Week #144 - (page 1893) - XO - Elliot Smith
- Thread starter RobMCFC
- Start date
RobMCFC
Well-Known Member
Maybe. Preferably in a homemade cake.Was it you that kept nicking them and eating them?
On a similar subject, there was something on the radio this morning about storing wine under the sea. Apparently it will taste better. Of course, they said, they will have to charge customers more for this type of wine. To my mind, this shows two things (which definitely apply to art as well):-
1. Some people (in this case the wine producers) have far too much time on their hands.
2. Some people will fall for any gimmick and be happy to pay for it (and the wine producers, or the marketing men advising them) know that.
I'm sure there will be some science behind it and the wine may taste better (5% better? 1% better? Better in some way that is only detectable by some scientific measuring device?)
threespires
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Maybe. Preferably in a homemade cake.
On a similar subject, there was something on the radio this morning about storing wine under the sea. Apparently it will
taste better. Of course, they said, they will have to charge customers more for this type of wine. To my mind, this shows two things (which definitely apply to art as well):-
1. Some people (in this case the wine producers) have far too much time on their hands.
2. Some people will fall for any gimmick and be happy to pay for it (and the wine producers, or the marketing men advising them) know that.
I'm sure there will be some science behind it and the wine may taste better (5% better? 1% better? Better in some way that is only detectable by some scientific measuring device?)
Did they detail which varietals store better under the sea? I'll obviously be coughing up to follow this excellent new innovation but only if it works with sangiovese.
threespires
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If I am going to listen to Rap / Hip Hop, it needs to have an American accent.
This was horrific. I couldn’t finish a single track.
1/10
Should have stuck with it mate, in the second half of each song he drops the fake Brummie accent and alternates between East and West coast.
Last edited:
journolud
Well-Known Member
@threespires has done a fantastic job of advocating for this album and giving it much more context than I'd got from my first listen. If indeed the suggestion is true that that Mike Skinner is somehow "writing down" to inhabit the world of his protagonist then he is setting himself a tricky balancing act. I listened to a bit more of the Streets to test the comparison, it was pretty random selection though as chosen by Spotify "top tracks", around half of which came from this album which suggest, I think, that this is his most played or most popular piece of work.
For what it's worth I did think there was a higher level of sophistication on the tracks not from this album but that isn't really saying that much. He has musical moments where there is a snatch of melody or counterpoint (or whatever, what the fuck do I know) that is quite affecting. I don't know if this is even from the same musical genre as Kanye West but it's the only artist I can make a comparison to having been exposed to a fair bit of his work in the days I was ferrying my son back and to to University. West seemed capable of some sublime musical moments (although my favourite thing about listening to him was being able to say to my son, oh that's King Crimson he's sampling or that's Gil Scott-Heron or that's the Wombles (or whatever, what the fuck do I know).
Anyway we're coming to the nub. My initial response to this was about the nursery rhyme lyrics and that is a sweeping generalisation I make of all this hip-hop or rap or whatever the fuck it is. Sometimes it's clever wordplay but usually it's just finding as many words that rhyme as they can and then strangling the English language to get them at the end of the line. The Streets, whether it's this album or his other stuff fall into the same category.
Although, there were some phrases I thought, in my limited knowledge of the demographic being portrayed that I thought were pretty authentic and even made me laugh, well smile. Dry Your Eyes is to be fair a very good track, capturing as it does the shallow and transient heartbreak of so many young loves. Equally there were moments that made me cringe and one in particular, I can't remember which track, where I thought for a minute I was listening to a Flight of the Conchords pastiche.
First time I had it on my son was in the other room and we were agreeing amongst ourselves of the not very goodness of it. This was the country loving son though, not the older Kanye West fan. I asked him if he was familiar with the Streets and what he thought but it seems it's only black American rappers he identifies with (to be fair his musical tastes have expanded nicely but I still here some, erm, shite coming from his room).
How to score this. I do get that it's clever but would his audience know how clever it is? I'm guessing that threespires has given it more thought than his target audience who could probably quote all the sweary bits and emphasise with the drug references (of course I'm also being clever playing the part of a reactionary old fart here, me and my wife had to laugh at ourselves for falling into the "do they call that music" trap in reaction to something my older son was playing to psyche himself up for his football).
I think it's better than I first gave it credit for. But not much. Or it's a genre that I just don't get anything out of. I can't go higher than a 5
For what it's worth I did think there was a higher level of sophistication on the tracks not from this album but that isn't really saying that much. He has musical moments where there is a snatch of melody or counterpoint (or whatever, what the fuck do I know) that is quite affecting. I don't know if this is even from the same musical genre as Kanye West but it's the only artist I can make a comparison to having been exposed to a fair bit of his work in the days I was ferrying my son back and to to University. West seemed capable of some sublime musical moments (although my favourite thing about listening to him was being able to say to my son, oh that's King Crimson he's sampling or that's Gil Scott-Heron or that's the Wombles (or whatever, what the fuck do I know).
Anyway we're coming to the nub. My initial response to this was about the nursery rhyme lyrics and that is a sweeping generalisation I make of all this hip-hop or rap or whatever the fuck it is. Sometimes it's clever wordplay but usually it's just finding as many words that rhyme as they can and then strangling the English language to get them at the end of the line. The Streets, whether it's this album or his other stuff fall into the same category.
Although, there were some phrases I thought, in my limited knowledge of the demographic being portrayed that I thought were pretty authentic and even made me laugh, well smile. Dry Your Eyes is to be fair a very good track, capturing as it does the shallow and transient heartbreak of so many young loves. Equally there were moments that made me cringe and one in particular, I can't remember which track, where I thought for a minute I was listening to a Flight of the Conchords pastiche.
First time I had it on my son was in the other room and we were agreeing amongst ourselves of the not very goodness of it. This was the country loving son though, not the older Kanye West fan. I asked him if he was familiar with the Streets and what he thought but it seems it's only black American rappers he identifies with (to be fair his musical tastes have expanded nicely but I still here some, erm, shite coming from his room).
How to score this. I do get that it's clever but would his audience know how clever it is? I'm guessing that threespires has given it more thought than his target audience who could probably quote all the sweary bits and emphasise with the drug references (of course I'm also being clever playing the part of a reactionary old fart here, me and my wife had to laugh at ourselves for falling into the "do they call that music" trap in reaction to something my older son was playing to psyche himself up for his football).
I think it's better than I first gave it credit for. But not much. Or it's a genre that I just don't get anything out of. I can't go higher than a 5
While this one seems to have taken a pounding, as maybe threespires would have partly expected, he has managed to inadvertently create something else this week, for us all.
And that is, a bit of a safety net.
We can now feel a bit more comfortable with putting forward those less conventional possibly divisive albums that mean something to us but are perhaps not for the collective norm here. Something provocative and risky, that can have a bad week, with still a safe 10 point gap to the relegation places.
No offence spires!
And that is, a bit of a safety net.
We can now feel a bit more comfortable with putting forward those less conventional possibly divisive albums that mean something to us but are perhaps not for the collective norm here. Something provocative and risky, that can have a bad week, with still a safe 10 point gap to the relegation places.
No offence spires!
OB1
Well-Known Member
Should have stuck with it mate, in the second half of each song he drops the fake Brummie accent and alternates between East and West coast.
LOL - I did fast forward some bits...
GornikDaze
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You’ve just convinced me to go with my random choice next time!!While this one seems to have taken a pounding, as maybe threespires would have partly expected, he has managed to inadvertently create something else this week, for us all.
And that is, a bit of a safety net.
We can now feel a bit more comfortable with putting forward those less conventional possibly divisive albums that mean something to us but are perhaps not for the collective norm here. Something provocative and risky, that can have a bad week, with still a safe 10 point gap to the relegation places.
No offence spires!
BimboBob
Well-Known Member
You shouldn't need convincing. This thread isn't about a popularity contest but more of a way of opening our collective ears to other sounds.You’ve just convinced me to go with my random choice next time!!
Now...dry your eyes mate.
threespires
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While this one seems to have taken a pounding, as maybe threespires would have partly expected, he has managed to inadvertently create something else this week, for us all.
And that is, a bit of a safety net.
We can now feel a bit more comfortable with putting forward those less conventional possibly divisive albums that mean something to us but are perhaps not for the collective norm here. Something provocative and risky, that can have a bad week, with still a safe 10 point gap to the relegation places.
No offence spires!
You’ve just convinced me to go with my random choice next time!!
Now hang on boys. I said this was a hill I was prepared to die on and that's fine but I'm not taking a joint enterprise rap if Gornik or whoever decides to offer up Papua New Guinean Doom Metal or some such. I can hear it now, "it's not my fault m'lud, I was led astray by spires".
Anyway you seem to think I've plumbed the depths with this one, but I haven't yet shared my love of the Finnish variant of Schlager music; something for you all to look forward too. Though doubtless being the bunch of weirdos you lot clearly are, you'd prefer it to this ;-)