Any/All
Come on, it's easily one of the best tracks on the record.
St. Vincent - Masseduction
- Thread starter LE0Night
- Start date
Come on, it's easily one of the best tracks on the record.
he/him
This album is honestly perfect. How dare she come for my roots like this?
Mess.
This record is an all out assault on the senses. Love!
The title track is very Erotica era Madonna circa the year 2037.
A
A former member
Really impressed by this album. It really stands on its own as a body of work despite me knowing little about her.
Has anyone else noticed this album pretty much requires good headphones to sink in? Made a huge difference between my first & second listen to really appreciate the snarls, growls and crunches of the album's production. I really like how the textures interplay with the melodies the whole way through.
Personal highlights include
- the gritty crunchy guitars on "Pills", the title track, and "Fear the Future"
- the repeated melody of pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease on "Savior"
Has anyone else noticed this album pretty much requires good headphones to sink in? Made a huge difference between my first & second listen to really appreciate the snarls, growls and crunches of the album's production. I really like how the textures interplay with the melodies the whole way through.
Personal highlights include
- the gritty crunchy guitars on "Pills", the title track, and "Fear the Future"
- the repeated melody of pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease on "Savior"
I've never been into her but let me try this.
He/Him
I've been busy as hell following this release but I still managed to give it multiple listens and let me tell you, I loved every minute of it. I knew Annie was going to bring it with this album but I just wasn't ready for how damn good it is. While all the tracks are winners in their own ways, they continue to open up and develop with repeated listens. Maybe it was the fact that I was listening to Prince Johnny on repeat a couple days before the release but Happy Birthday, Johnny is the song I've listened to the most and it is definitely emotional peak of the album for me. It's a perfect example of how the simplest songs can end up being the most powerful. I'm grateful to her for sharing such a personal story and deciding to keep the lyrics so honest and direct. Those final lyrics in particular just cut straight to the heart and take the song to a whole different level of sadness.
Finally got round to listening to this and I don’t think I was quite ready for how much of an impact this had and how strong each track is on just one listen.
I was a big fan of her last album and Stange Mercy but this album has dare I say it trumped the predecessors and I think she just gets better and better with every album.
Los Ageless is the stand out track for me and track of the year for me maybe even track of the last few years.
I was a big fan of her last album and Stange Mercy but this album has dare I say it trumped the predecessors and I think she just gets better and better with every album.
Los Ageless is the stand out track for me and track of the year for me maybe even track of the last few years.
This album has got its claws in me and won't let go.
I've always wanted to love her and even though I enjoyed her I was never fully there but this is a pop masterpiece for the ages.
It's a record that has its' inspirations firmly on its' sleeve and that just adds to the charm.
Well that and the fact that they're all bangers and bops.
I've always wanted to love her and even though I enjoyed her I was never fully there but this is a pop masterpiece for the ages.
It's a record that has its' inspirations firmly on its' sleeve and that just adds to the charm.
Well that and the fact that they're all bangers and bops.
How the hell am I going to choose between this and Melodrama for my album of the year.
She/Her
I've been keeping this album in mind throughout the last couple months. I just gave it two listens through and wow, I love it. Los Ageless made me deceased. I'll be giving it a more thorough listen on headphones tomorrow before working, assuming I can get away from Muna's About U
Make the correct choice.
All amazing choices honestly. I'm having a very hard time choosing between, CTRL, About U, Take Me Apart, Masseduction, and Melodrama for AOTY.
I'll admit I was expecting a higher score, but the review is well written (Katherine is a good writer and always has been, in my opinion) and hard to disagree with too vehemently.
I will say that it's practically a guarantee that a pop album (or an album with pop "sensibilities") made by a woman or non binary person receives at the most a 7.something at Pitchfork these days. The exceptions are pretty rare. Perhaps it's a conversation for another thread and perhaps it's not something that's worth expending any energy on at all, but it does seem that pop music, particularly femme iterations of it, are held to standards by Pitchfork that certain other genres aren't - there are too many examples to cite for it to be mere coincidence anymore.
I will say that it's practically a guarantee that a pop album (or an album with pop "sensibilities") made by a woman or non binary person receives at the most a 7.something at Pitchfork these days. The exceptions are pretty rare. Perhaps it's a conversation for another thread and perhaps it's not something that's worth expending any energy on at all, but it does seem that pop music, particularly femme iterations of it, are held to standards by Pitchfork that certain other genres aren't - there are too many examples to cite for it to be mere coincidence anymore.
A
A former member
I almost didn't continue reading this after the first 2 paragraphs about Bowie comparisons & male producers, but it's surprisingly well-written. She's not wrong about a lot of it, like the point about rock stars making "unsubtle commentary on the problems of today." I'll admit I was skeptical about that element of "Los Ageless" when I first watched it. But after a few days, the melody (and melo-drama) of the chorus had lodged itself in my head and I knew there was something more to this project than that.
I think what makes these tracks so effective is they begin with a sense of place, an image or two, then cut RIGHT to a personal, vulnerable core.
"I can't even swim in these waves I made"
"I hold you like a weapon"
"Got a crush on tragedy"
"How can anybody have you and lose you and not lose their mind too?"
"PLEEEEEASE"
"I have lost a hero"
"Just give me the answer"
"I'm so glad I came, but I can't wait to leave"
These songs aren't just about "oh wow, shallow capitalist world" or "omg pills are bad!" (She's said as much: "I don’t think it works to write finger-wagging songs, because it’s condescending to the audience and just a bummer to listen to.") They're about how the dramas of our lives are affected by the larger settings / affective structures in which they play out.
In other words: Here's the frame of reference --> here's how it touches the personal.
We're not outside these problems, observing; we are embedded in them.
"I guess that's just me, honey, I guess that's how I'm built. I try to tell you I love you and it comes out all sick."