If you too have heard Ys, what do you think of orchestral Joanna? How does it stack up to Milk-Eyed? Hypothetically, you know, ’cause it’s not in stores yet.
P.S. It’s enchanting, poetic, and everything you’d expect. Basically, the audio equivalent of the album cover.
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It’s amazing.
got a hold if it last night, then it got a hold of me all through the night as i just listened over and over. simply brilliant.
couldn’t get over her vocals for much of Milk Eyed, LOVE this one however…
a lot less voice cracking and Lisa Simpson-esque wails
gorgeous stuff
Now we know why it took two and a half years since Milk-Eyed came out.
This is quite enchanting, “Only Skin” has like 5 different movements.
YSI, Sendspace, ANYTHING!
or at least point me in the right direction
YSI, Sendspace, ANYTHING please!!?
or at least point me in the right direction. I must hear this.
:-X
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HAXV7GJQ
I’m not sure I like it all that much. I think Joanna is in good form, but whereas the first record was sort of undefinable, the songs on this one are much more genre-ish. Also, while Song Cycle is the most unappreciated album of the 60′s, I’m not too into Van Dyke Park’s stuff on this record. It’s like these jarring stabs of string chords that don’t follow the rhythm or texture of the song. They’re both great on their own, but the combination is sort of campy and overdone.
i think the more interesting story is how the album leaked. Apparently pitchfork mistakenly made it available on it’s public server.
i love how it is all pitchfork’s fault that this leaked.
nice one, guys.
I don’t know what to make of it yet.. I have to admit that on first listen I was sort of baffled, and disappointed (there’s so much going on, and it’s so dense, but not much seemed to stick).. but it’s growing and growing as I listen to it more. It’s more like narratives set to music than ‘songs’ as such. The one I like most, at the moment, is actually the one with no arrangements, Sawdust and Diamonds. It seems odd to me that she’s reacted against any accusations of childlike naievity in her music, yet this album (especially Monkey & Bear) seems to be more unashamedly twee or gauche than The Milkeyed Mender, like an old children’s book turned into songs. It certainly feels like a cult record, the kind that a small bunch of people are going to fervently love and the majority are going to say “what the fuck?!”… At the moment I’m finding it hard to get used to, I think I might like the poppier, minimalist Joanna over the sprawling orchestra-leader Joanna, but it’s definately the kind of album that’s going to take quite a lot of listening to fully get into.
It’d be so cool if somebody throws a bottle at her head during her next show and knocks her out cold.
Ho ho, DA.. it’d be cool if a meteorite landed on you next time you left your house, maybe.
thanks for the link nick!!!
i think she did the skeleton–>fleshed out sound just right, when it couldve gone wrong in so many ways
and her voice does sound a lot “better” than on milkeyed mender
Wow.. This music is meaty and thick. It’s going to take several months for digestion: this is how music should be. It’s homework for the eager.
I never got over her voice and I never ever ever will.
Ever.
God, I hope it gets better after the first song. This is like a textbook case of “wow, Van Dyke Parks sure made that interesting almost all by himself.”
it sounds gorgeous. the orchestration is perfectly matched to her idiosyncratic style, doing on the album what can’t be done live. love it.
yay! Harold and the Purple Crayon soundtrack!
I have to agree that this album does represent a big shift away from her simpler stripped down folksy music from Mender. I can also see how it could be a disappointment to many people because of said shift. However, I appreciate the fact that she is attempting to evolve her sound a bit. I think this a very interesting album with very thick (sometimes a bit too thick) layers of instrumentals. All in all I am excited to see Joanna making new interesting music. That said, I have to say I am somewhat more in the middle as to hating it or loving it. It seems to be an album that is a crossroads or a path toward something rather than an album that is perfect.
thanks so much for the link, it isn’t up anywhere else anymore. if anyone knows where to find ANY of the other albums that leaked, get at me, stat! i missed all of this until right now.
“Ho ho, DA.. it’d be cool if a meteorite landed on you next time you left your house, maybe.”
- i think you mean a meteoroid. by the time it hit his house, it would surely be cold and devoid of the fire that propelled it to him
possibly the best album i’ve heard this year
love Y’s.
should be the album of the year hands down.
love Y’s.
should be the album of the year hands down.
It is an amazing album. Lyrically it rivals Dylan, Waits and Cohen. I may be talk out of my hat but I think Newsom’s lyrics are comparable to Nabokov.
I note that the Rolling Stone gave the album 2 or 2.5 stars, they obviously have no one on staff who can listen to something longer than 5mins without getting distracted. Like Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplae Over the Sea, I am sure Ys will not make too many ripples on release but over time it will creep up Rolling Stone and NME’s nausiating “best of” lists.
No one can write music like this.Best album this year, potentially the album of the decade, but time will judge that.
This is one of the best albums i have heard up to now, it’s definitely in my top 10 list. She just knows create a very personal and secluded atmosphere, with music and seemingly carefully chosen words. For some reason she also reminds me of Randy Newman: lyrics and arrangement.
Ys is More Vocaly illustrated audiobook, but less albumbling squierrel than Milk.Eyed.Mender
i love this album so much. I first heard it and i wont lie i didnt know what to think. I think it was a lot to grasp because of the huge difference between this one and milk eyed mender. but i found myself listening to it on repeat getting completly lost in the music,and in her lyrics. I love it i love it i love it. I don’t know the names of them but track 4 could be one of the most incredable songs i’ve ever heard. I appreciate everything about joanna newsom i think shes absolutly brilliant. As a musician, songwriting is so freakin hard, and to create something as complex and beautiful as y’s is just mind blowing to me. But on the other hand, i can see a fan being dissapointed, it’s most definatly unlike anything i’ve ever heard before, i think it will grow on a lot of people if they give it a chance. PEACE