The Album Review Club - Week #191 (page 1286) - Harlequin Dream - Boy & Bear

GornikDaze said:
Just wondering whether @BimboBob will go big tomorrow and claim a few firsts… most recent album, album with the best lyrics, best silent banjo solo etc… On a serious note I’m fully behind the reasons this has been done. Keep those artificially grubby fingers off our music!!

Artists release silent album in protest at AI copyright proposals https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyd3r62kp5o
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I wouldn't say I am 'not' behind it. But I am not sure I fully agree with their logic either.

In what way is it different, from us as humans doing it, in our own heads. I.e using someone else's work to teach ourselves, to influence us, to react to etc.

There are whole discussions going on about its application in various fields, but the underlying point of logic generally stays the same. As do the reactions in various industries.
 
Serpentfeet - Soil

Better with repeated listens, I like the production on this - It's big, heavy and quite dark at times.
His voice is very very good, I likened it to Will Young - he can simply hit a range of notes in a controlled warbling way.
Not to keen on the lyrical theme as don't feel any connection- last track 'bless ur heart' is a good track and showcases his vocals the most but seemed to have also a nice melodic feel all the way through, 'whisper', 'seedless' and 'mourning song' i liked also. Other tracks seemed to be a bit misdirected and felt some were being made up as they went along. Overall it was ok. Good pick!

5/10
 
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Coatigan said:
I wouldn't say I am 'not' behind it. But I am not sure I fully agree with their logic either.

In what way is it different, from us as humans doing it, in our own heads. I.e using someone else's work to teach ourselves, to influence us, to react to etc.

There are whole discussions going on about its application in various fields, but the underlying point of logic generally stays the same. As do the reactions in various industries.
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I would suggest the primary difference is in scale and concentration of control and therefore macro level impacts such as, but not exclusively, the risk of homogeneity. Because I'm deeply suspicious/possibly a nutter, I'd go further and say that because art has a huge semiotic dimension the risks go up to and include elements of societal control in the hands of the unelected.

Anyway back on topic, I think one of the challenges that this week's pick has faced is it's one of those where it does need multiple listens to appreciate some of it's virtues something that is challenging if you don't provide any compromises in your work to provide some of those hooks for people to latch onto. It's an artistic choice and I think a brave one (which he seems to have backpedalled on in his next album) but one for which he'll now have to suffer the consequences in the court of BM!!
 
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threespires said:
I would suggest the primary difference is in scale and concentration of control and therefore macro level impacts such as, but not exclusively, the risk of homogeneity. Because I'm deeply suspicious/possibly a nutter, I'd go further and say that because art has a huge semiotic dimension the risks go up to and include elements of societal control in the hands of the unelected.

Anyway back on topic, I think one of the challenges that this week's pick has faced is it's one of those where it does need multiple listens to appreciate some of it's virtues something that is challenging if you don't provide any compromises in your work to provide some of those hooks for people to latch onto. It's an artistic choice and I think a brave one (which he seems to have backpedalled on in his next album) but one he'll now have to suffer the consequences in the court of BM!!
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Any homogenity, would possibly be only be as a result of scale and pace, as I think that's where we are naturally heading anyway. It is also arguable that becsuse of the scale and pace AI would have at its disposal, what it uses to learn might be broader, more random, than what we do as humans, guided by reachabme social contexts and timings.
 
GornikDaze said:
Just wondering whether @BimboBob will go big tomorrow and claim a few firsts… most recent album, album with the best lyrics, best silent banjo solo etc… On a serious note I’m fully behind the reasons this has been done. Keep those artificially grubby fingers off our music!!

Artists release silent album in protest at AI copyright proposals https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyd3r62kp5o
Click to expand...
I've dm'd @BimboBob and there's been no reply yet, so there's a good possibility we'll have to call somebody off the subs bench tomorrow.

Stand by: @Mancitydoogle @southamptonblue @Black&White&BlueMoon Town
 
Is this a budget Frank Ocean asked my son. I had no idea what he meant but I could have guessed or just listened to some Frank Ocean to see if he was a better version of whatever this is. That's what I'm doing now and it's left me strangely relieved. Not because it's better than serpentwithfeet but because it's sort of as, erm, sorry bad.

I don't like doing bad reviews but neither did I want to use the cop out of well it's not really my thing. Partly because I didn't know what this thing was but a few tracks in to Spotify playing Frank's top tracks I'm getting an idea of what this thing is. And isn't.

Frank to be fair has a bit more variety than serpent but neither holds my attention.

I found myself getting irritated by this week's pick. It's not the lyrics or even the (self) obsession with his sexuality. Although it is a bit boring. I'll happily defer to those who find variety and things to like in his voice, I found it whingy and cringy. There were odd moments when I thought the album might break out of it's torpor but like a cat stirring, licking it's balls and then settling down for another nap this was just an illusion of action.

The general paucity of ideas was emphasised for me by the attempts to sing, or whatever it is, in different keys and tones and the efforts to impart soul and deeper meaning into what are some pretty mundane lyrics.

Ultimately it's a relationship album or an album about love and sex. I don't mind this as a source of material, after all as Rob pointed out it makes up about 75% or more of all recorded pop songs. Probably.

It seems to be Frank Ocean's obsession too and I'm getting equally bored and irritated by him. If it's music for lovers I want I'll stick to Gregory Isaacs.

For the serpent I'm very sorry to say it's a 4
 
He is indeed.

SerpentWithFeet - Soil

I suppose I felt a little let down that we were not getting the American rock band Soil, especially as their ex lead singer, who left and went onto join Drowning Pool, is someone I quite like.

So, Serpentwithfeet. The album starts with quite a nice song, Whisper, very Stevie Wonder like, with some interesting textures in the background. I like the soft way it builds up with everything coming to a crescendo at the end. Messy once again has some background noises that I quite like but his voice seems to doing stuff that I don't like. Up and down, start off high, drop it, go back up in the same note, then doing his own scales. It's an album filler. An after thought. Or so I thought as it would appear that the rest of the album is also filler.

It goes on. And on. Some nice background stuff and then him weirdly singing over the top. Reminds me a bit of Bjork. But with no real tune. I suppose it would be called avantgarde, or playing with textures, or trying to break down the walls of what we think music is...but it just doesn't work for me.

I'm not really bothered by the themes, we had similar with Chappell Roan, and the lyrics don't really make me blanche. In our modern and progressive society people can sing about what the hell they like.

Scoring wise?

Probably a 4. And that's for the background stuff going on and Whispers.
 
RobMCFC said:
BimboBob is OK for tomorrow so that standbys can rest easy.
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Good, I already got 1966 from him, so it would have seemed a shame to pile on both, all within a week. ;-)

But I was ready, either way, and I'll gladly take an Album Review Club with BimboBob over one without as the Colour of Spring is soon upon us.
 
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BimboBob said:
He is indeed.

SerpentWithFeet - Soil

I suppose I felt a little let down that we were not getting the American rock band Soil, especially as their ex lead singer, who left and went onto join Drowning Pool, is someone I quite like.

So, Serpentwithfeet. The album starts with quite a nice song, Whisper, very Stevie Wonder like, with some interesting textures in the background. I like the soft way it builds up with everything coming to a crescendo at the end. Messy once again has some background noises that I quite like but his voice seems to doing stuff that I don't like. Up and down, start off high, drop it, go back up in the same note, then doing his own scales. It's an album filler. An after thought. Or so I thought as it would appear that the rest of the album is also filler.

It goes on. And on. Some nice background stuff and then him weirdly singing over the top. Reminds me a bit of Bjork. But with no real tune. I suppose it would be called avantgarde, or playing with textures, or trying to break down the walls of what we think music is...but it just doesn't work for me.

I'm not really bothered by the themes, we had similar with Chappell Roan, and the lyrics don't really make me blanche. In our modern and progressive society people can sing about what the hell they like.

Scoring wise?

Probably a 4. And that's for the background stuff going on and Whispers.
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I think some of the producers on this album also worked with Bjork so that's an astute observation
 
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