the magnificent miss murphy

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I went to see Róisín Murphy last night (review in Grau tomorrow). She was WONDERFUL and her hats were FABULOUS. I know she's a long-time poptimist favourite but I don't think we've actually talked about her much, so shall we? Her album is one of the best of the year - my favourite is 'Tell Everybody', omg that was so good last night, she did it as the encore. And there are so many parallels with Gwen Stefani: platinum blonde MILF ex-frontwomen of 'alternative' acts who hit big late in their career, now embracing pop and offbeat couture for their solo careers.

Comments

Listening to the album

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Overpowered - I know this one and it's good - science metaphor works intellectually but not emotionally: I don't FEEL her desire at all, this is because she has a very detached voice, bit like Sophie E-B

You Know Me Better - cold, vaporous, tedious.

Checkin On Me - better beat for sure, I remember now from Moloko that I really hate her mid-atlantic accent - she sounds like someone deciding to perform being a disco vocalist, rather than a disco vocalist.

Let Me Know - boring ersatz disco, gruesome cod-funkiness on the chorus "lick" betrays a career spent hanging out with ex-member of Chakk. Very tasteful, as ever.

JESUS CHRIST 9 TRACKS TO GO?? Do something under 4 minutes for once!

Movie Star - like the pumping electronics and the chorus is OK, Roisin detached as ever but her high register is a lot nicer.

Sorry Lex I can't get any further with this - it's SO FUCKING BORING, it sounds like every move is really tightly designed to make sure Roisin never risks doing anything tasteless or vulgar. 5 tracks in and I'm desperate to hear, I dunno, Infernal or the Cheeky Girls or ANYONE who doesn't sound quite so superior and BLOODLESS.

Re: Listening to the album

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think I'm probably in the wrong mood for this though today - I'm feeling quite up and energetic.

I am sure also she has a lot of star presence live - she has more on video than on record.

Re: Listening to the album

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

did you hear Ruby Blue?

i think she has a nice 'souly' voice with some sort of character. i suppose you could accuse Goldfrapp of sounding superior and bloodless too but i never feel this with these types (probably cos i am the same ha ha).

Re: Listening to the album

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Hmm not quite, I don't like Goldfrapp's music terribly much and I think she's imprisoned by an aesthetic a bit but her voice has more menace and gumption in it.

Re: Listening to the album

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'it sounds like every move is really tightly designed to make sure Roisin never risks doing anything tasteless or vulgar'

this is a criticism i've heard a lot over the years regarding numerous artists but i've never felt it myself. i mean why is it such a bad thing to try and aspire to quality or cleanliness in this way? 'because humans are flawed and we should accept or even celebrate that' yeah but tastelessness and vulgarity over-rated in pop perhaps! are we talking intentional vulgarity or non-intentional (is this even possible now?) tho. interesting talking point.

Re: Listening to the album

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Well I think it's a personal preference - I am a messy, scruffy, cluttered person and generally the art I like is also messy and cluttered and prone to splurging - in other words I don't agree with or relate to definitions of tastefulness in eg. design (don't like "white space") or in this case pop. To an extent these definitions are projections, though!

With Roisin her visual style - judging from eg the album cover - seems a lot more surprising than her pop style.

Re: Listening to the album

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I am v much against vulgarity in pop this week after the complete horror which is Girls Aloud's 'Fling'. I've made the "too tasteful" criticism myself in the past: I think it really shows when the artist in question is using tastefulness, or an idea of it, as a substitute for personality; Roisin adds it as another facet to her personality (ditto Sade who is like the epitome of tastefulness and who I adore).

Re: Listening to the album

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I was going to say what Steve said - I love her voice because it's such a naturally great soul voice. I don't see how she's any more focused on tastefulness or that smooth veneer of sophistication than Annie, and she's no colder - actually the way she uses cold and warmth is v similar to Annie, the warmth is quite unexpected and subtle when it arrives in the middle of all the glam detachment. It's a pity you didn't get to the 'Dear Miami'/'Cry Baby'/'Tell Everybody' axis, which is my favourite, or 'Primitive', which is her big soul ballad, though then again 'You Know Me Better' is one of my favourites so that is no guarantee of anything. fwiw I basically agree re 'Let Me Know'.

Alison Goldfrapp's voice is a terrific sound in itself but I'm not convinced it's a good instrument for songs, it's better for just going "oooh-ooohh-ooohh" in the background. Luckily her songs tend to sound like this anyway because she doesn't enunciate.

Re: Listening to the album

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Well I'm not as big a fan of Annie as many are* - most of the album passes me by, but on the big celebrated songs she's more vulnerable and funnier than the Roisin I've heard.

I don't think Roisin's tastefulness is exactly a smooth veneer of sophistication - I'm not trying to use it as an anti-bourgie diss. It's more the tastefulness of the connoisseur or minor artist: she knows her craft, knows how to get to "good" and never shows any interest in risking moving beyond that. It's the attention to unsurprising detail that bugs me.

*Though I'd reverse yr criticism to say that if this record was by someone called, I dunno, Rosa Murfisson and came from the hit factories of the frozen north you'd probably hate it!

Re: Listening to the album

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I'd say it's actually quite an achievement that Roisin manages to give you that impression, that she's so settled in this style, because this album is basically unlike anything she's done before (which basically = flirting with pop, getting distracted by experimental electronics, playing hard to get) - apart from 'The Time Is Now' she's never done anything so sleek and streamlined

No one in Sweden makes beats which hit as hard as these.

Re: Listening to the album

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Maybe that's it though - it's like when the Pipettes etc make "perfect pop", that place they're coming from where there's a perfectable pop aesthetic to be approached. The Roisin album is like that except the aesthetic is up to date (with nods to early-80s funk). Which would make total sense in re. "attention to unsurprising detail".

Re: Listening to the album

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

I think Lex and I are just appreciating Roisin as a talented artist in her own right, regardless of what mode she's operating in, whether it's pastiche or her impersonating 'perfect pop' rather than just being it.

Nobody think The Pipettes are really talented artists, I mean Roisin is surely a class or three above in all respects.

Re: Listening to the album

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Yeah I think both Steve and I are listening to Overpowered in the context of Roisin's career arc, where it can both be seen as "the album where she finally stops fiddling around and makes proper straightforward disco pop" or "R Murphy 'does' disco in the same way that she previously 'did' jazz/electronica/etc".

Though tbh maybe the 'pop' of the album is overstated: it's there but she's always used conventional song structures for the most part; what is surprising is how straightforward the beats are. It's like she's gone back to her 90s house roots.

Re: Listening to the album

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

well The Knife beats hit hard but their range is more limited. i wonder if anyone would describe them as too tasteful based on the incredible sound of 'Silent Shout' or whether the weirdness cancels this out.

Re: Listening to the album

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'Ruby Blue' probably has more 'vulgarity' e.g. the title track itself, the robotic zaniness of 'Ramalama (Bang Bang)'. Roisin's done a more warped kooky thing in the past with some Moloko stuff but not the same thing i know.

Re: Listening to the album

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I think Tom would like 'Ramalama (Bang Bang)'! Though I also thought he'd like Overpowered. That song was awesome last night.

Re: Listening to the album

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

I'd certainly agree with Primitive - I think it's the album's highlight and the one where she sounds least superior and bloodless (not that I mind her when she's doing that). I also think Scarlet Ribbons works surprisingly well on that score too, and stands out as well for its gentle reggae sound.

Re: Listening to the album

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

i'm intrigued to hear Alison's new stuff as P Robinson is going mad over it but at the same time warning everyone how it won't be what they want. Sounds like a return to 'Felt Mountain' basically but probably less electronic hrrrrm.

Re: Listening to the album

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I am v heartened by the "not what people want" rumblings if "what people want" = reprisal of boring Supernature

Primitive

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

The lyrics are kind of boggling on this one: "take me into your caaaaaave" OO-ER MISSUS

Re: Primitive

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

it was mind-blowing last night - built up into this great big slow crescendo with Róisín hollering "I wanna let you out of your CAGE, man" over and over again.

Re: Listening to the album

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

The album is very inoffensive, isn't it? I guess she's going for coffee table types who do cocaine at dinner parties (odd drug reference here and there is sole claim to edgyness). However the production is very pleasing for the most part (varied, surprising changes in structure/tempo/banging-ness).

I really, really, really like Overpowered but I think this has grown out of being entranced by the video. Whilst Let Me Know has similar video style I agree that it's a really weak choice for 2nd single (definitely sub-Bextor).

BUT something I pinned down the other day is that the lyrical patterns (verse chorus etc) are VERY unsettling - they don't quite fit with the hi-tech dance music underneath. Nearly every song has a middle 8 that seems, well, out of place: eg a totally different melody after a big disco build-up where it really should have gone back into the chorus but BIGGER (or dropped out to a tiny whisper) - instead it's like they've shoved a leftover tune from another song into the slot as they weren't quite sure how to fill it.

I can't quite explain it properly as I don't have the album to hand, but compare to Sophie E-B: her 'pop' songs are definitely pop (slower, less of the bosh and more 'cosy' piano & harmonies) but her dance songs are actually DANCEABLE (eg all the bits of China Heart fit together very well yet still manage to build up from spooky beginnings to overblown mentalism by the end).

Arrgh I'm not quite sure what I'm getting at here.

Re: Listening to the album

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'The album is very inoffensive, isn't it?'

couldn't you say this about SEB too? maybe this is a given and people expect Roisin to shock more i dunno.

i haven't noticed anything unusual or off about the lyrical patterns but will listen again. most if not all of the songs actually have conventional structure don't they? when i think of each one the first thing i get is the chorus which is usually big enough (Primitive, Footprints, the singles). and the danceable stuff on here seems perfectly danceable.

Re: Listening to the album

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

> most if not all of the songs actually have conventional structure don't they

That might be what I meant :) Overpowered really isn't though - it's much more of a floaty dance anthem that uses Roisin's voice as an instrument rather than the song merely being a vehicle for Roisin's voice.

And I don't think her voice is OMG AMAZING enough to pull that off - however it is definitely un-annoying (hi dere TashBed). Ha - Inoffensive! SEB's voice has much more character (a posh character maybe, but it's there); Roisin only occasionally dips into the 'Brrrraaargh' noise that she does (much more apparent in the Moloko stuff) which is how I'd normally recognise her.

Re: Listening to the album

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

but Overpowered is still verse/chorus/verse/chorus/middle8/chorus innit