[tpdirorg]

Your assessments (of Ys especially) seem dismissive for the sake of it.

"didn't listen all the way through" + "not brilliant songs by any logical standards" ≠ "critical thoughts"

("some of you think that Joanna can't do wrong" = red herring)

[Smittoh]

Maybe you should stick to 3 minute pop songs filled with melodic pop hooks?

Lolz indeed. Reading comprehension. You really need it.

The only reason I question your dismissal of the remainder of Ys/three quarters of HOOM is because the songs that you DO connect with are not on some different planet than her other songs that you claim are bad/lacking melodies. I would think that someone who likes "Emily" would connect to a song like "Autumn" and someone who likes a song like "Kingfisher" would really connect to the themes in "Only Skin".

I went and listened to Autumn and I actually do like it a lot. I haven't listened to most of HOOM in awhile, so that's where my criticism comes from. Most of it hasn't stuck with me. I don't find HOOM to be a bad album, it just that some of it (Baby Birch mainly) really bothers me. Overall, it has a few stellar tracks (IMO) and the rest kind of blends together nicely. It’s the kind of music I’m usually not in the mood for.

I'm listening to "Only Skin" now and it's nice. I really like the part where the male voice comes in (I never got that far in the song before). Now I’m on Cosmia and it’s better than I remember.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t find most of her music bad at all, it‘s just not the sort of thing I’d listen to most of the time. Though, I guess I’m in a Joanna mood today, because I’m enjoying these Ys songs I couldn’t listen to before!

I listened to Tori Amos' last album about 5 times before I decided I hated it. It took me a lot more listens than that for me to start even liking it. But she's my favorite artist, so I tend to give her albums more time. Now I (mostly) love it.

(Unless you’re talking about Midwinter Graces, which I don’t listen to much at all. Not a Christmas music fan here.)

[denSmumbSes]

Lolz indeed. Reading comprehension. You really need it.

Yes, obviously I do. :r

I went and listened to Autumn and I actually do like it a lot. I haven't listened to most of HOOM in awhile, so that's where my criticism comes from. Most of it hasn't stuck with me. I don't find HOOM to be a bad album, it just that some of it (Baby Birch mainly) really bothers me. Overall, it has a few stellar tracks (IMO) and the rest kind of blends together nicely. It’s the kind of music I’m usually not in the mood for.

I'm listening to "Only Skin" now and it's nice. I really like the part where the male voice comes in (I never got that far in the song before). Now I’m on Cosmia and it’s better than I remember. Oh, so when you actually went and listened to the songs you previously were saying you "didn't find compelling enough to listen all the way through, because they are not brilliant songs by any logical standards", you now actually like them!

*clap clap*

[Smittoh]

Oh, so when you actually went and listened to the songs you previously were saying you "didn't find compelling enough to listen all the way through, because they are not brilliant songs by any logical standards", you now actually like them!

I like them, but I wouldn't call them "brilliant."

Emily, Go Long, and Kingfisher are the ones I'd call brilliant.

[Anykeylo]

So what were those logical standards you were talking about.

I am curious you see.

[XYTommy]

As someone else said, this is a truly magical album. It takes me to another time and place. Emily is a fantastic song, my second favorite... behind Only Skin.

Speaking of not being able to get through the songs, a friend of mine was telling me about this one Joanna Newsom song that she just couldnt get into. In her words: "I kept waiting and waiting for something to happen... but it just wasnt going any where." I played Only Skin, asking if that was the song she was talking about... and it was.

The first time I listened to Ys, I fell asleep probably shortly after the first song. But I remember suddenly waking up during Only Skin, where it really picks up at the end and the male voice comes in. I was blown away. So I listened to the track over again. It's long, yes... but, as I told my friend, is has one of the best pay-offs E.V.E.R. Absolutely amazing. And it's not too short... she really digs into it at the end, and it's completely satisfying.

Have One On Me is a great album. But Ys still takes the cake...

[Anykeylo]

It really is quite like classical music, you have to pay attention while you listen to really enjoy it properly. Just sit and don't do anything else, close your eyes and pay attention to what you are hearing!

[denSmumbSes]

It really is quite like classical music, you have to pay attention while you listen to really enjoy it properly. Just sit and don't do anything else, close your eyes and pay attention to what you are hearing!

Exactly! I had similar problems when I had to study Mahler symphonies - they were just so long compared to what I was used to listening to, even by Classical Music standards! We just not accustomed to listening to 20min long individual movements anymore. I mean, Mahler 2's 5th movement is about half an hour long by itself, let alone the other 4 movements! So I can understand how people found Ys challenging initially, as all the songs are long and complex and take some dedicated listening.

[Nekas48]

The first time I listened to Ys, I fell asleep probably shortly after the first song. But I remember suddenly waking up during Only Skin, where it really picks up at the end and the male voice comes in. I was blown away. So I listened to the track over again. It's long, yes... but, as I told my friend, is has one of the best pay-offs E.V.E.R. Absolutely amazing. And it's not too short... she really digs into it at the end, and it's completely satisfying.

It's funny, because Only Skin never feels like its 17 minutes long to me. I feel like it goes by so quickly! It's my favorite song by anyone ever, I think. I could just listen to it all day and never get sick of it.

[poonnassunlix]

I only fully got into Ys when I a) read along with the lyrics as I listened to the songs, and b) listened to it while I went for long runs out of doors. All I had to focus on was the music, and it grabbed me in a way that never happened when I was trying to listen to it in, like, the car. Though now, "Emily" is a favorite car ride sing-a-long in my household. XD

[Grainiary]

It's funny, because Only Skin never feels like its 17 minutes long to me. I feel like it goes by so quickly! It's my favorite song by anyone ever, I think. I could just listen to it all day and never get sick of it.

"Only Skin" is my favorite song on Ys, my favorite Newsom song, and one of my favorite songs by anyone. When you mentioned in another thread "melodies upon melodies upon melodies," "Only Skin" sprang to mind. The melodic progression of the song reminds me of so much classical music and even of Sondheim the way certain leitmotif melodies are repeated and subtly changed throughout the course of the song. I could write paragraphs and paragraphs on the song. And the way her voice becomes so unhinged at parts ("as the lightning has lately done," "the crops are all coming, we have everything," "in my doorway, we shucked and jived") is incredibly effective and disarming. It sounds very genuinely like she is gulping back tears. I missed her using her voice in that way in Have One On Me.

[denSmumbSes]

It's funny, because Only Skin never feels like its 17 minutes long to me. I feel like it goes by so quickly! It's my favorite song by anyone ever, I think. I could just listen to it all day and never get sick of it.

The thing I love about it, is that although that big climax is so thrilling, there's still so much beauty in the rest of the song, and it's filled with this gorgeous melodies that she switches between. With out that climax section, it would still be a great song, but with it, it's an AWESOME song.

[Misiotoagodia]

So what were those logical standards you were talking about.

I am curious you see.

Me too! Step up, sonny boy!

[Nekas48]

I missed her using her voice in that way in Have One On Me.

I think it was in part to the nodes, and in part due to the fact that the songwriting is much different on this record. Ys sounded like a prolonged anxiety attack at times, while HOOM is much more restrained in its emotional turmoil (weirdly effective - her voice in Go Long is sinister/sad to the point of almost creepy).

[ASSESTYTEAH]

Listened to Ys again last night while reading the lyrics and I'm more impressed each time. I agree that it's an album that works best if you give it proper concentration. I mean, I can listen to it in the background and enjoy it, but the experience is richer when you're giving it your full attention. (You could say that's true of all albums, but not necessarily!) I feel like I'm only really just skimming the surface with it, it's that dense and interesting. I feel like I want to listen to it again right now!

And also there's a lot of interesting, weird, unexpected things in the mix. Instruments you maybe didn't hear on first listen. In my listen last night, I heard plenty of those. Accordions etc.

[ambientambien]

^ Reading along with the lyrics definitely adds a lot. I used to love Only Skin. Then recently, I read the lyrics while I listened to it. And it damn near changed my life.

[Misiotoagodia]

Me too! Step up, sonny boy!

*crickets*

[Smittoh]

^ Logical standards = my standards.

I thought that was pretty obvious!

[Anykeylo]

That is not what logic means.