Alt Pop 2020 Rate | #68 In Los Ageless, the winter never comes

Rina didn't sound like Rina on it, just like Girls Aloud wouldn't sound like Girls Aloud, without the production. The sound isn't there.

 

Cute as hell! And naturally I have a collection of Coco Morier songs I love that should have been in PJSC by now.

Spoiler

 

Totally, but I kind of appreciate the consistency of Coco's songwriting discography being full of songs that sound like that... or that I presume would sound like that by some of the artist/title combinations. Co-writing those Britney songs (and Trip to My Heart!) and Dirty Talk are very significant contributions to history though!

Bees & Honey is decidedly... not great and one of the other Coco cowrites Love Me 4 Me is another weak spot on the album for me. I think Fuck This World can stay a lot longer though and should certainly outlast the other bonus tracks - the wistful melodies and production remind me of 19-20-20 and the Through the Wire interlude on RINA. I really enjoy when she leans into that I guess, and for obvious reasons it was a lot more resonant than the self-empowerment tracks on the album last year nn.

 

I'm starting to feel sick (This is a hint).














































































91



HIGH 10 (@sfmartin), 9 (@Aester)
LOW 2 (@Hurricane Drunk), 3 (@Jonathan27)

Before the Fever is an interesting case, to me at least. Touted by its creator as a song that sounds like death itself, and particularly the psychological state of a villain that knows they are about to die. So perhaps it's fitting that it dies in this rate a measly five spots into it. The track holds an ambience in which drowned-out electric sections, a slow tempo and reverb are tied with Grimes' vocal pitched down about two semitones for that villainous, mysterious, life-flashing-before-your-eyes effect.

To me, it calls back to the guitar-heavy Rosa from her very first album, Geidi Primes, put through the filter of Halfaxa, her second. This means that, if taking bits and pieces from the best parts of these collections, Before the Fever could be claimed as one of my favorites. Yet, I can't really find love for it in me. @sfmartin can, however, saying (10): "A doomladen apocalyptic masterpiece. The sound of the end of the world has never sounded so sexy. An eclipsing cinematic experience you can literally hear the earth crumble and you are left floating in the void of space, Grimes vocals muffled by the debris. I don't know if a sexuality barrier is at play here, but I'm getting more villain laying on the floor and us listeners catching their last words with a pair of chronic smoker lungs, in between bloody coughing fits. But if people are into that I'm not one to judge! I mean it.

There's elements of greatness, but mainly I would say a glaring weakness is the unconventional structure of two verses followed by a breakdown and outro, because it feels as if the song was over two minutes into its runtime. Which can work -SOPHIE in heaven and Arca know I love their ambient forrays with a passion- but in this case I'm just wishing the full thing was as promising as the first minute and a half or so. Or do you all have no interest in any part of it? Seeing as it is holds the dishonorable mention of being the least streamed track of the album, I feel like that's the case.

Predictably, Before the Fever has zero performances, so enjoy the audio and maybe find a little more to like in the unpitched version below.

Spoiler: Audio

Spoiler: Unpitched Audio

 

Let's make it double shall we?














































































90



HIGH 10 (@Aester), 8.5 (@boombazookajoe @Cotton Park)
LOW 2 (@Hurricane Drunk @Trouble in Paradise), 4 (@Jonathan27 and Your Host)

A double hit landed on Grimes' extensions, as New Gods becomes our next casualty. This piano ballad has the purpose of being a theme of sorts about the next AI overlords taking over the world, yet you would probably be better off seeing it in simpler terms, about the speaker being disenchanted with what the world they've lived in has to offer. That can get as somber as you want to, with the omnipresent themes of different addictions and pitfalls of Miss Anthropocene being a test of that.

Whatever material there is that Grimes pulls her album themes from, @sfmartin (8) can piece it together: "A contemplative centrepiece that ties the loose themes of the album together. Singing about unfulfillment and impatience about a world moving faster than we can anticipate". When you put it that way it paints it in a sympathetic light, and that's a fear that's a lot more relatable.

Personally, I don't like the vocal performance here at all, plus it's made me discover that Grimes and a piano has to be one of the least exciting prospects I've heard from her. @Trouble in Paradise (2) might be inclined to agree, letting me close with a simple statement: "This left me cold". Unfortunately, the demo isn't all that different or better, mainly just having modified the drums and other instrumental details that don't change anything much.

Spoiler: Audio

 

A Grimes cull this early seems a bit much, I really hope it's just a small number of songs people weren't here for, not a sign the whole album's getting tanked.

 

I think for me the album landed more on certain stand out songs with the majority not connecting

 

Some of you are acting like YOU were the one locked in Elon Musk’s basement. Leave Grimes’ album alone!

 

Been there? Not physically.

 

Now one of these two should have been Grimes's first cut instead of robbed sensation Darkseid.

 

I find both of these songs so beautiful! Really did not expect to see them leave so early.

 

Enjoying this Grimes cull even if her worst songs have not been touched yet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

New Gods is at the bottom of her discography! Also you'll have to wait and see for how those alleged ones do

 

Uh no the right Grimes songs have left first. Everything else aside from IDORU is an 8+ and should be left alone for a while.

 

Same. I don't think I've been the low scorer for this many songs in a rate ever nn, but I swear my Grimes scores just alternate between high and low with basically no middle ground, such is the nature of my relationship with her work.

 

This is the first of the extras to fall...!














































































89



HIGH 9 (@Oleander @Trouble in Paradise), 8.25 (@BubblegumBoy)
LOW 4 (@godspeed @Ana Raquel), 5 (@boombazookajoe)

The first of its category, Lilacs was the second single from Alabama native Waxahatchee's fifth album, Saint Cloud. Personally, I cannot get entirely behind the slight twanginess but I guess that's a given with this take on the genre. @Attis (6) has a similar idea: "Waxahatchee is always hit or miss to me; this one kinda missed". The lyrics are very pretty though, in which observations by the countryside turn into a reflection of the narrator's own shifting moods. It's great to hear the delivery on lines such as I run it like the crop of kismet, I run it like a dilettante / I run it like I'm happy, baby, like I got everything I want. It sounds so natural.

@BubblegumBoy hears an underrated force in this (8.25): "I get Natasha Bedingfield vibes from her voice. I need to listen to this album again". I haven't heard either of them dd. Meanwhile, the music won't click for @godspeed (4): "No matter how many time I try, I’ll never get into this album".

Something that I saw coming was @Trouble in Paradise (9) coming to stan: "I really expected to adore this album given my love for Neko Case, Kathleen Edwards, Tift Merritt, and general adoration for alt country, but her vocals just don’t quite get there for me and I had a hard time connecting overall. BUT this song stood head and shoulders above the rest and really wowed me! It’s like a lost classic, the melodies are just phenomenal!". I'm laughing at how even the most positive comment here still dragged the album through the mud!

Waxahatchee performed this at many different occasions, so here's a few representative festival, TV and digital show outings for it.

Spoiler: Music Video

Spoiler: Jimmy Kimmel Performance

Spoiler: Live on KEXP

Spoiler: Live on Pitchfork 2021

 

Nothing very memorable to me. 7.5. Was it the bottom extra? Absolutely not.

 

I knew this wouldn’t click and given my commentary I’m not mad it didn’t make it too far but first extra out?! Ridiculous!!

 

a solid 10 with an 11 video? I agree!