The Album Review Club - Week #195 (page 1310) - A New World Record - ELO

mrbelfry said:
What's missing for you? Lyrics, delivery, music, bit of everything?
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Decisiveness and conviction. A bit of clarity maybe.

Musially, rather than lyrically. I get that this style is not my thing, and maybe he is trying to push boundaries. But it feels a lot of low level stuff thrown at it, and it feels like it is disguising weaknesses. I'd rather less but with some depth.

For an R&B album, it has very little R. Or B. For gospel, it has a bit too much r&b. Not quite rap, but has a rap attitude. He has a pleasant voice. He could do more with it, and I was surprised how quickly it started to bore. But I think that's more to do with the backing tracks maybe. 'Slow Syrup' indeed.

Maybe it is just too complex for me.

I am only midway through my second listen mind.
 
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Coatigan said:
At the moment, that's the part that is missing here for me. It is what isn't there with it, rather than what is, that I'm finding my issue is.
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Careful, you’ll be sounding like me soon!

But you are spot on here, musically, there’s almost nothing for me to grasp on to. It’s like Craig David (musically, that is, not subject matter).
 
RobMCFC said:
Careful, you’ll be sounding like me soon!

But you are spot on here, musically, there’s almost nothing for me to grasp on to. It’s like Craig David (musically, that is, not subject matter).
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I was going to say if Ne-Yo or Jason Derullo had a love child with Michael Jackson.

Obviously, if I liked those artists, I'd probably like this. Hence I keep reminding there is an inherent style issue here.

It was a bold choice, let's not fail to acknowledge that though
 
Coatigan said:
It was a bold choice, let's not fail to acknowledge that though
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Want to highlight this point when some really jump in with OTT criticism (which is of course welcome and amusing at times) I just hope it doesn’t deter posters from nominating different styles and genres. Whilst it’s nice on the ear to listen to the likes of JJ Cale, Rod and co. We need a variety and to hear stuff we’ve not been accustomed too.
 
BlueHammer85 said:
Want to highlight this point when some really jump in with OTT criticism (which is of course welcome and amusing at times) I just hope it doesn’t deter posters from nominating different styles and genres. Whilst it’s nice on the ear to listen to the likes of JJ Cale, Rod and co. We need a variety and to hear stuff we’ve not been accustomed too.
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Absolutely. I enjoy being challenged.
 
BlueHammer85 said:
Want to highlight this point when some really jump in with OTT criticism (which is of course welcome and amusing at times) I just hope it doesn’t deter posters from nominating different styles and genres. Whilst it’s nice on the ear to listen to the likes of JJ Cale, Rod and co. We need a variety and to hear stuff we’ve not been accustomed too.
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Completely agree with this. This whole thread has stretched me over the last few years and I hoped to drag folks into the popular music of today with my CR pick earlier, though I picked it primarily because I enjoy it. Same here with @mrbelfry. That said, the relative diversity of tastes and experiences here I think will always mean we have new and interesting music to hear — I trust this crew!
 
The thing i keep thinking about it is that it is not hitting it's potential.
It's got a bit of a misfire.

A little too much and too little of everything.
 
BlueHammer85 said:
Want to highlight this point when some really jump in with OTT criticism (which is of course welcome and amusing at times) I just hope it doesn’t deter posters from nominating different styles and genres. Whilst it’s nice on the ear to listen to the likes of JJ Cale, Rod and co. We need a variety and to hear stuff we’ve not been accustomed too.
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I'm happy to nominate stuff that I like that's different. Also happy for people to stomp on it as long as they give it a chance
 
Mr Grumpy said:
Point to self. Stay true.
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Think you meant...Stay humble

One and a bit listens in and if last week was a challenge then this ramps the challenge up even further. Sadly I think its a challenge that I am simply going to be unable to rise to.
For me it lacks almost all musical hook. Perhaps the only one that held me for any length of time was "Cherubim". Save for that I found it grating R&B attempt with a Mariah Carey wannabe warbling away.
I think on my next listen I will have to try and focus more on the lyrics to see if they draw me in at all.
 
Tried listening to twice already.Hope it picks up.Fell asleep twice.
Will try and listen to again.
Starting from the second half this time.
 
I've kind of said everything I have to say on this already, in increments. The additional listens don't really change anything.

Ultimately, the music just doesn't do it for me. And as a consequence of that, the themes don't really engage me nor draw a reaction, one way or the other. I recognise some clever metaphors and deeper struggles with opposing religious guidelines, or maybr even society's prisms, but I honestly find myself feeling just not that bothered.

I can't relate to being a black kid growing up in south central LA. But I CAN enjoy music about it. I find the thought of domestic violence abhorrent, but I can let songs about it move me. I can somewhat understand experiences of stillbirth, and a song about it, while it destroys me, will hit emotions to resonate with. Ditto for lots of other themes, suicide, slavery, poverty, wealth, opression, bitches and bling, sexuality, rebellion etc etc.

So the detachment here, is not the theme. I have already used an example of an album I love with somewhat similar topics, but the musical delivery is quite different, and more my thing (notice I didn't say better there).

One or two songs are fine. Decent voice, a bit of a play with mixing backgrounds in. But a whole album, feels like a musical version of the windows 95 default screensaver, if anyone remembers those. I think it would be dishonest of me to score this anything more than a 3, based on my experience of it, so I'll go with that.
 
soil - serpentwithfeet

Another album that’s not my thing and never will be.

I echo Coatigan’s sentiments about the subject matter: whilst this is stuff I haven’t lived, that doesn’t matter. The lyrics of 99% of all popular music from the 50s onwards focus on love and relationships, and with a few exceptions, the words to these songs are just something to sing along to with the music being the real draw.

I haven’t fought in a war and come home struggling to adapt to civilian life, I haven’t been on the run from the police after a drug store hold-up, and I haven’t had my farm foreclosed on me, but songs with lyrics covering these subjects will always be more interesting that another set of “I loves yous” or “I miss yous”.

The real problem, again echoing Coatigan, is the lack of music.

Electronic textures, whilst they can be powerful amongst an otherwise real-world band sound, are not appreciated when they make up the entire soundscape. All of the tracks merge into each other in an Ambrosia custard world of soft edges, but that’s clearly intentional. Not that I listen to a lot of modern R & B, but I think this is par for the course (R & B without any rhythm or blues, there’s a condundrum!) Where in the past, artists such as Otis Redding and Aretha Franklyn would have been backed by proper bands with guitar lines, big brass and Hammond fills, it does all seem to be textured nonsense these days. I remember when Craig David’s “7 Days” came out and people were falling over themselves in gushing praise, but there’s nothing in there for me instruments wise. This is the same, no better no worse.

Reading reviews, there’s the suggestion of a church organ in there but at lot of the time, it’s just for a few bars at the start of the song (e.g. “wrong tree”), and once the song got going, I was certainly hard-pressed to hear it above the murky soundscapes. There’s definitely a piano at the start of “bless ur heart” and “messy” contains the hint of something acoustic being strummed, but that really is it for real instruments.

I didn’t find his vocals any more weird than your average modern, pop/R & B song. It’s drenched in all the knob-twiddling (I won’t step away from that description for serpentwithfeet because of the gay subject matter – if it’s a good enough description for the production on some Beck albums, it’s good enough here) and it’s far more palatable than the sound of The Fall.

I am considering knocking off a point for having an artist, album name and all track names beginning with lower-case letters. Why? Just why do people do this?

However, I could quite easily have this on in the background and listen to it several times, which is more than can be said for The Fall, and yes, IDLES. Anybody who’s not shouting at me, whether that be Maria Carey, Whitney Houston, Craig David or James Blunt can have a place as easy background listening and is far more preferable to shouty old rubbish, so serpentwithfeet can go in the same category with 4/10.
 
On the plus side, the album (or rather the clues) have reminded me how much I love the St.Pierre Snake Invasion, which I am currently bobbing along to.

(Not for you Rob ;))
 
Quite an intriguing pick. I've done two listens and I've not got anywhere close to listening to the actual lyrics which is very atypical for me.

It's unusual and I think quite brave in that he seems to be deliberately trying to do something different from the mainstream, whether it comes off all the time is debatable but you know 'the man in the arena' and all that. If I'd have bothered to read about him first I probably would have saved some time trying to work out what he was up to.

Quite often it's got a quasi liturgical feel which is understandable given his background. Foggy(?) mentioned it brought to mind monks and if it doesn't exactly match the forms of plainchant you definitely get the vibe at times. If you shifted the choral components away from the main vocal you'd get something resembling a responsorial psalm too at times and he certainly sounds a bit like a Cantor at various points. I've yet to take any notice of the lyrics but some people have said they are overtly sexual so whether that jars with the overall musical tone remains to be seen. That said the Bible has a book of sensual poetry within its pages so maybe not.

Either way I'm not finding his voice annoying or substandard. I think he's got good control of it though I think he does try to interleave techniques and ideas a bit too much for his own good.

The soundscapey accompaniment is ok for me too though it unnerves me slightly that I have been able to listen to it just sonically whilst completing ignoring the lyrics, as I'm not sure what that implies for how well this hangs together as a collection of actual songs. It is as some have pointed out fairly mono tempoed but again I think that's a deliberate choice to create a more reflective response to the album.

I'll be doing at least a couple more listens so we shall see. I might have a bit more of a read about him because he's making an effort to do something different so it seems only fair to put the effort in to understand it.
 
mrbelfry said:
how did you first come across this soil by serpentwithfeet?
there was a period in my life when all I listened to was robbers & cowards by cold war kids so i had become a little bored of my musical choice. i was hunting for some new music to listen to and happened across some internet list of 2018's best albums. soil by serpentwithfeet was mentioned so i listened in the hope that it would be a palette cleanser.
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Soil - serpentwithfeet

I saw the lists this was noted in the Top of 2018 online, but none are ones I typically follow. I perused a few lists including Rolling Stone's 2018 (this didn't make that), and there were of course few and far between that I like or have heard of, as I expected.

I was relieved however to see familiar favourites such as Kacey Musgraves, Brandi Carlile, John Prine, Kurt Vile, Father John Misty, and Lucy Dacus at least listed.

My first thought on this by track 2 was:

What if you took the gospel smooth vocals of Boys II Men and put them together with the electro-music experiment of Radiohead-era Amnesiac?

I think that's what we'd have here - "messy" indeed as those two influences most heard on that song.

The first two songs and the last "bless ur heart" were the highlights for me, as Jonathan Josiah Wise certainly has the vocal chops.

The problem I mostly had wasn't the lyrics, it was the lack of music cohesiveness of what was backing him. I know his genre is R&B, gospel, classical, and electronic, but it to me was too much of the non-rhythm of music and mostly about the sound of the vocals, which after a while, sounded too samey.

Did the lyrics or subject matter bother me? Nope, although I think 2 songs that mention the scent of a man is probably how I'd feel hearing the same about the scent of a woman - repetitive. Old Spice or Secret - I didn't care.

And is that the sound of his stomach growling in "mourning song"? I know it's not, but I'll ask because it was unique.

I can also see how this would be a popular slow sound to be played at clubs too. The album contains lots of songs to slow groove to, but I didn't find myself tapping my foot through it. And club songs are not my scene (any club for that matter) or what I'll want to listen to either. Overall, I did feel a palette cleanser was needed, but this wasn't it for me and became the reason. For me, this was a 3/10 for the songs I liked that I thought stood out and the overall vocals of the artist. I just wish there was more music behind it that I found as moving as the vocals. Am I glad I heard this? Sure, it's different and unique and I can honestly say it was something I'd not heard prior. Kudos to @mrbelfry for that.
 
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