A kung fu fighter in a disco

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.

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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!

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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.

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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".

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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.

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Oh sure she probably is - I don't hear a "classic soul voice" in there AT ALL but I don't know what the Lex would mean by that.

But in my critique it isn't the distance between aspiration and ability that matters really.

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let's say this is Pleasant Pop as opposed to Perfect Pop or whatever. and if there's a space in your life for Pleasant Pop (as opposed to listening to pop connected to Poptimism i.e. 'can't wait to play this/dance to this' and albums by artists who fit that bill more readily) what do you listen to?

thinking of this sort of music/artist as performing a specific function and fulfilling a specific need. Commuter Pop? Office Disco?

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I guess that kind of function would be more often filled in my life by comfortable old favourites, though some of the old 80s club pop and soul Roisin's drawing on would certainly fit the bill too. (Though a lot of the time there I'm thinking "wow I wish enough people cared about this for me to play it at poptimism")

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'wow I wish enough people cared about this for me to play it at poptimism'

my sympathies :(

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Oh and from this year the Studio record! Balearic = pleasant pop num num

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I have a feeling that I will find the Studio album kinda meh, but I'm not quite sure why (oh wait i am a contary fuxx).

The Kylie remix is just okay...I could not get excited about that kind of music myself. Again it's just very pleasant.

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I think I like Studio because it takes the concept of "pleasant" to such an extreme, it's quite decadent. cf Sade. veritably Ballardian.

Re: Listening to the album

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chezghost.livejournal.com - Date: 2007-11-29 03:07 pm (UTC) - Expand

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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.

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'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"'

this is dead right altho it does actually highlights my slight gripe with this album which is that i'm not sure Roisin Goes Disco is really that interesting. it's certainly pleasant, well executed and vaguely fun but i can't think of it as better than Ruby Blue.

and i was never that big a fan of 'Sing It Back' to be honest!

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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.

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Oh I always forget The Knife are Swedish, I certainly don't class them with the dreadful Robyn/Shapiro/BWO brigade.

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lockedintheatti.livejournal.com

The Knife produced one of the songs on Robyn's album.

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mooxyjoo.livejournal.com

they're a little bit... too comforting? i was going to say predictable, but that's not quite it. are they playable in a coffeeshop, is a telling question. and maybe not in several coffeeshops, but in plenty of others, which is why it's unclear how tasteful they are.

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'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.

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

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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.

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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.

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

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katstevens.livejournal.com

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

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