#42

Side note: New Joanna Newsom album, please.

1 Like
#43

As far as I know she’s the only artist on the list who uses her platform to advocate for pit bulls and her earnings to save them from dying in shelters, so she’s automatically the coolest person we’ve ever done.

The world needs more people like her.

3 Likes
#44

Still find it incredible that she wrote the songs on Tidal when she was 17. At such a young age she was already lightyears ahead of her older contemporaries. Classically trained as a child, composing her own work from the age of 8 - I fear she’s not going to score that highly on here but she’s one of the most talented artists you’ll ever hear.

#45

Interesting take.

I think there is something somewhat adjacent to a musical theatre aspect in the way she performs and writes alongside maybe writers who use lyrics both in a playful but also very musical way.

We all react at a subjective level to music - there are plenty of artists who I have an almost visceral negative reaction to and generally there is no easily explained or objective reason for it.

I don’t think there is any point in forcing yourself to like or even understand those artists, there is so much music to take pleasure from.

#46

Get what you mean about that vocal style. I have to be in the right mood for it really and as such haven’t listened to much except for the new one when it came out, and when I did listen I enjoyed it a lot tbf. Will have to give the debut a go I reckon.

#47

I think you’ve put your finger on why parts of FTBC reminded me of Tom Waits. Like others I haven’t gone back to it much despite thinking it was very good at the time. I need to listen to another album or two before voting.

1 Like
#48

Listen to the song I posted

1 Like
#49

Only listened to the last two but I absolutely loathe them. Actively unpleasant to listen to, basically anti-music

#50

Only listened to FTBC before today, which is great but I think I would have hated 10 years ago.

Had The Idler Wheel on a few times today which is more melodic. Really like it. Think I need to delve more into the back catalogue!

A 3.5 at the moment, which might get rounded up because of the dog stuff.

#51

It didn’t get as much hype as Shameika or Cosmonauts at the time, but I think Ladies is low-key the best track on FTBC. Absolutely brilliant.

That or I want you to love me, at least

3 Likes
#52

Fine choices.

It’s such a perfect album I find it hard to choose a favourite but ‘For Her’ is remarkable.

The line ‘you raped me in the same bed your daughter was born in’ (sexual abuse warning) blew me away when I first heard it and still jolts me every time I hear it.

It’s such a zeitgeist album, capturing the claustrophobic feel of the first lockdown and, thematically, dealing with issues rooted in the #metoo movement and feminism as a whole. It’s such a pertinent piece of art.

#53

So don’t vote then?

#54

i sometimes wonder if i’m scarred from my sisters relentlessly watching Annie and The Sound of Music. so far as childhood traumas go that’s not too bad. that’s exactly one of the things i don’t like about it, that it sounds a bit like a musical. i have a similar reaction to Queen.

i guess i do find it interesting to think about and experiment with. we did Animal Collective the other day and I’m not into that, but mostly i just think its a bit boring, I can’t find anything to get my teeth into. whereas there are a few kinds of music that I actively dislike, which is a totally different thing.

1 Like
#55

one of my favourite artists of the last 25 years

it’s an easy 5

#56

I feel, more than know, that there is something very deep and of interest about her music. I have heard the first album, a long time ago, and clearly there is something deep there.

I should have made time to listen to more but I haven’t as yet. To be perhaps too honest, I’ve been put off by the major label sheen she had for what I have heard. There is some dark stuff going on but that felt weirdly wrapped in a Sony / Epic sheen and that felt wrong to me. I cannot quantify this, that’s just my gut instinct.

I’m not being, you need to be on on indie label to be cool , but I honestly feel that would have eased her away from some major sales push, which the art, which is so clear, does not need. I get every artist needs to make a living, but an artist so stark and open would / could perhaps benefit from being less seen as a Sony product.

Will listen over this week but as such should abstain for a score. I really feel Fiona Apple is an artist of potentially huge merit from friends in the past that get her, I’ve just never truly got round to it.

1 Like
#57

She’s great, 5 from me.
FTBC is a high watermark, but she’d be a 5 based on her work prior to this too.

#58

Interesting. I think albums 1, 2 and 3 are quite polished, but Idler Wheel and Bolt Cutters are definitely low fi, handmade, joyous perfection (Idler Wheel more so than Bolt Cutters).

God I love Idler Wheel.

Anyway, I’d start with that one if that’s what’s been putting you off.

2 Likes
#59

an artist that has never done much for me, that being said maybe i haven’t given a lot of her stuff a proper listen.
in light of all the great press towards fetch the bolt cutters i spent a fair bit of time with it last year but i found it really meh.
gonna spend some more time with her records before scoring.

1 Like
#60

Conversely, I can’t get into Idler Wheel at all. Nothing grabs me from that album, the whole thing just goes by in a bit clattery mess of nothing. Which put me off checking out FTBC initially, but I’m glad I went ahead. Went back to Idler Wheel again recently, and again… just found it pretty boring.

#61

I think she’s brilliant, a real maverick, and original. Had she died after her second album (as she almost did) I really believe she would have been venerated in the same manner as Amy Winehouse. But thankfully she still continues to make great albums. If I could compare to anyone it would actually be Scott Walker, in the sense that her early stuff was magnificently produced songs with a very dark lyrical undercurrent but then after a break she comes back every few years with difficult albums that require lots of repeats listens to fully get into it. I cant wait to see what she does next although it will probably be a few years before another album.

1 Like