Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Friday Music: Some Year

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 24 Dec 2013 12:08:43 +1300

In a way, Lorde in 2014 will be far more interesting than Lorde in 2013.

Yup – being a one hit/album wonder is (relatively) easy, up to a point. Sustaining it is harder. And doing that without eventually turning into a self-parodying tax exile? That's damn near impossible.

Robyn Gallagher

Tue, 24 Dec 2013 10:37:26 +1300

Read the teenage girls' tweets about her – she's shifted ideals of beauty in pop culture. It is quite a thing to carry.

Tweets are one big difference between Lorde and Gotye. When Lorde tweets anything, there will be a large number of responses simply saying "Queen". This is the…

Caleb D'Anvers

Tue, 24 Dec 2013 02:16:05 +1300

A pretty good year for music? I'd say so. I haven't gone to as many gigs this year as I'd like to have (curse you, Deerhunter, for cancelling your European tour!), but I managed Esben and the Witch and Thought Forms:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5fJp1Qa1hM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLB1x4cmxuw
Plus Veronica Falls and the Kristin Hersh/Throwing…

Pete

Mon, 23 Dec 2013 00:53:09 +1300

Leaving aside those already mentioned, my year had these
Chvrches – Recover
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JyqemIbjcfg
Savages – She Will
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kebq-cENNn0
Sleigh Bells’ Bitter Rivals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Cr-ahiFDkts

Volcano Choir,Rhye,Neko Case,Mt Kimbie

So much good music

This pic is North American Twitter when Bey’s album dropped

Alan P

Sun, 22 Dec 2013 11:34:39 +1300

Not normally a fan of Christmas songs, but
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNvZqpa-7Q "White Wine in the Sun" by Tim Minchin really affected me.
I see he is donating all proceeds from downloads of this song over Xmas to the (I assume Australian) National Autistic Society.

mark taslov

Sun, 22 Dec 2013 08:52:54 +1300

I think you might be over thinking it. Just a little bit.

Hehe, I was lying in bed unable to nod off, mulling over why the spokesman for a generation is always white and a musician…yeah for sure PJ. Nice pics, cool to see in the deep of winter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Our3FplUqI…

JacksonP

Sun, 22 Dec 2013 08:22:21 +1300

Part deux.

Then I flipped over to Whammy to catch a short but sweet set by the Hallelujah Picassos. Having a merry old dance to Rewind was another highlight of the evening.

And home by midnight. Old dudes have to sleep you know.

Get amongst it.

Happy daze.

JacksonP

Sun, 22 Dec 2013 08:19:03 +1300

Guys, guys, I think you might be over thinking it. Just a little bit.

Anyhoo, last night I ventured to two summer solstice concerts of considerable contrast.

The first, as above, Finn Family Christmas, which reminded me that Neil, Tim and their broods (SWIDT?) have a huge legacy in New…

mark taslov

Sun, 22 Dec 2013 01:04:17 +1300

I guess the question there is Sacha do you sincerely believe that I am saying that pop culture and pop music are two facets of Lorde, or would it be more likely that the way she looks and the way she sounds are the two facets of Lorde being referred…

Sacha

Sun, 22 Dec 2013 00:33:40 +1300

Stevie Wonder gets to appreciate one of these two facets of Lorde

blind people aren't ignorant of pop culture, if that's what you're saying.

Sacha

Sun, 22 Dec 2013 00:32:05 +1300

The style that Joel and Ella have wrought as Lorde is influential in their industry both in content and production.

mark taslov

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 23:33:15 +1300

Again?

is absolutely massive, no question about it, both in terms of pop music and western pop culture.

As Russell later said:

She looks different

pop culture

and she sounds different

pop music.

Stevie Wonder gets to appreciate one of these two facets of Lorde, it's the Friday music post,…

Sacha

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 23:25:29 +1300

just music

can't escape context, dude :)

mark taslov

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 22:29:59 +1300

Do go on, genuinely. I’m not at all clear on what you’re saying there Danielle. After all, the only reason I responded is that you were quoting directly from my post

Danielle

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 20:44:48 +1300

I... OK. That really doesn't have anything to do with "cissexual assumptions". It's been used for a while as a shorthand for the way in which pop culture develops these schisms: young girls tend to "get" the great things about pop music while older guys tend not to. (I first…

mark taslov

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 19:58:48 +1300

I can see that you might not exactly agree with the comment you quoted Mark

Yeah, I have no clue, that comment was just something I encountered and is obviously (mis)informed by ambiguity in the way Lorde has been marketed – speculation fueled. This emphasis on Ella as child prodigy…

Russell Brown

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 19:24:00 +1300

Her music was all written by her co-writer, a 30 year old named Joel Little, and her lyrics are likely mostly his work as well.

Except for the part where that’s total fucking bullshit.

She wrote her lyrics, for god’s sake. She was diagnosed gifted at the age of six…

mark taslov

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 18:57:23 +1300

Most cynically expounded on in this comment under the Ann Powers piece:

You’re correct in thinking that Lorde is more like Alanis Morrissette than Kurt Cobain, but unfortunately not for the reason you probably intended. Morrissette was as much a manufactured record industry creation as Lorde is. Alanis was also…

mark taslov

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 18:05:46 +1300

Elton John/Bernie Taupin partnership

Sorry I was busy – And yes, that shoe does fit a lot more comfortably Ian, it does appear to be Ella’s brand which isn’t a great departure from what I mentioned earlier:

The solo artist via team, filling the charts with commercials for their moniker…

Peter Darlington

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 17:12:27 +1300

This is Lana Del Rey's Ride remixed by Paul Woolford aka Special Request, in a proper early 90s jungliest hardcore style. It's a banger!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJmNlM2pSm8

mark taslov

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 16:50:58 +1300

Read the teenage girls’ tweets

That doesn’t sound like something I’d be too keen on truth be told ;)

“The men don’t know, but the little girls understand.”

Maybe it’s just me but I don’t find cissexual assumption helpful or particularly relevant. perhaps best left in the 1940s – the…

mark taslov

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 16:45:49 +1300

– Ella does the words and vocals and Joel Little does the music,

Yeah, despite the marketing angle, It's hard to be quite sure how cut and dried that is since this quote that Russell posted:

She works with producer Joel Little whom she credits with turning her "pages and…

mark taslov

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 16:39:52 +1300

That would be a fair call. But I would strongly contend you’d pick ‘Royals’ out of any lineup too.

Certainly, no question about it.

But pop’s never been about “just the music…She looks different and she sounds different when she opens her mouth. When teenage girls respond to those things,…

Danielle

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 15:35:17 +1300

“F.U.” is a stand-out track, which The Corner accurately described as having a “Jim Steinman-goes-dubstep showtunes vibe”. Quality.

I really wish I liked that more, because it has many Elements of Awesomeness. I just wound up too exhausted by how hard it's trying. :)

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 15:29:15 +1300

symbiotic synergies ...
...from the get go Lorde has reminded me of something akin to the Eurythmics
Yeah, or sort of like an askew Elton John/Bernie Taupin partnership
– Ella does the words and vocals and Joel Little does the music,
but is Lorde, Ella's 'brand' or is it a…

Danielle

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 15:27:08 +1300

Craig I listened to the Janelle Monae album for the first time properly in the car last night. That woman has so many ideas I don't know how they all fit in one person. She is amazing.

Read the teenage girls’ tweets

That doesn’t sound like something I’d be too…

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 15:18:13 +1300

...read Chris Burke’s magisterial Blue Smoke

Chris Bourke is even more authoritative !

bmk

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 11:32:02 +1300

But pop's never been about "just the music". Part of what's interesting about Lorde is that she's no part of the Disney-trained world of Britney Spears and Selena Gomez. She looks different and she sounds different when she opens her mouth. When teenage girls respond to those things, it makes…

bmk

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 11:25:33 +1300

On reflection, I amended it to "slightly shifted the axis of pop music" to better reflect what I was saying. It's not a revolution, it's not the Beatles, but it is one of those records that recalibrates things a but.

Yep, that sounds about right to me.

And that article…

Russell Brown

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 10:38:15 +1300

Entertainment Weekly picks 'Royals' for best lyrics of the year.

Russell Brown

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 10:32:20 +1300

But dealing specifically with just music if possible,

Russell Brown

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 10:22:14 +1300

Again I like Lorde but I just can’t believe she’s this massive game-changing phenomenon.

On reflection, I amended it to "slightly shifted the axis of pop music" to better reflect what I was saying. It's not a revolution, it's not the Beatles, but it is one of those records that…

Craig Ranapia

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 09:53:21 +1300

This part really struck home to me. The first time I hear NZ music it’s usually on the radio and it’s immediately clear to me that it’s NZ music – there’s just something about the sound.

Which I really don’t hear – seriously, not trolling for a fight but just…

bmk

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 09:21:33 +1300

Its greatest asset is not sounding like it came from anywhere that isn’t America.
This part really struck home to me. The first time I hear NZ music it's usually on the radio and it's immediately clear to me that it's NZ music – there's just something about the sound.…

mark taslov

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 00:21:22 +1300

Read the teenage girls’ tweets

That doesn’t sound like something I’d be too keen on truth be told ;) But dealing specifically with just music if possible, the big game changer there as I recall was Beck’s Loser in 1993, written and recorded by Beck and producer Carl Stephenson while…

Russell Brown

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 23:02:04 +1300

I don’t see how anyone who is interested in music could not find the whole phenomenon compelling. It’s a record that has shifted the axis of pop music.

That’s quite an interesting call, mammoth…and interesting. It’s undeniable that No 1 in ten territories (including the Euro digital Billboard chart) is…

mark taslov

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 21:19:43 +1300

Music, gee, what to say…

I don’t see how anyone who is interested in music could not find the whole phenomenon compelling. It’s a record that has shifted the axis of pop music.

That’s quite an interesting call, mammoth…and interesting. It’s undeniable that No 1 in ten territories (including the…

JacksonP

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 19:13:11 +1300

Seeing Broods sure gave me an appetite for more. :-)

Another I'd add to the year is Ophelia, also from The Audience camp. Think you covered them earlier on?

Their EP Face The Sea is on Bandcamp, and I very much like the break out track Not So Frightening,…

Mike O'Connell

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 18:29:52 +1300

And from that very album, here’s Ikarus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBN6figSEsQ

...and Shine On (with a spaceship that made me think of the Blake’s Seven Liberator)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AhcZOfyBSE

Russell Brown

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 18:08:51 +1300

Yikes. I kept feeling I'd left something out of my faves list and eventually realised I'd missed Ladi6's Automatic. Fixed now.

Mike O'Connell

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 16:02:30 +1300

A bit off topic but musical all the same, for those in and around Chch tonight, at a loose end and sick of Christmas/End-of year parties, why not check out the legendary Terminals playing the Darkroom tonight,

James Green

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 15:45:02 +1300

The Talking Head's remix was sounding a bit Thicke, but after I ran my lappy through my office stereo, I no longer hear this. Phew!

Peter Darlington

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 14:26:28 +1300

Anyway, this year I listened a lot to Yeezus by Kanye Kardashian-West. A lot of people h8 it – and the production is something of an acquired taste – but it's full of good songs with clever lyrics, though I had to top listening to it for a while because…

Ken Double

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 13:43:46 +1300

Chur, bro.

Pleasure. Loved what you did on "Call Your Girlfriend"!

Robyn Gallagher

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 13:32:24 +1300

I like her intelligence and love the way her hooks rise up unexpectedly, but until she's got drunk, got laid and fucked up like the rest of us she's not really talking to the likes of me. Not in the way that, say, Robyn does.

Chur, bro.

*ahem*

I miss…

BenWilson

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 13:25:49 +1300

LOL autotuned reggae to the tune of Royals!

My 4 year old picks Triangles and the Talking Heads remix as his favourites in a very eerie prediction of my own likes and dislikes.

Ken Double

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 13:06:43 +1300

Lorde is indeed a piece of work. On her Reddit the other day she said "I can sit down with basically the most intimidating people in the industry and not flinch." Peter Jackson has cojones like that. It's as important as her obvious talent.

That said, on a personal level…

Public Address

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 13:06:43 +1300

Discussion from blog post.