"(Great album, excellent fusion of orchestral tracks and neo-soul tracks with UK hip hop. This album is inspired and inspiring and its lush and its real and, yeah, you may have heard its good. I am just gonna come out and say it: it IS good and you should listen to it asap!) This album has capture...""(Great album, excellent fusion of orchestral tracks and neo-soul tracks with UK hip hop. This album is inspired and inspiring and its lush and its real and, yeah, you may have heard its good. I am just gonna come out and say it: it IS good and you should listen to it asap!)
This album has captured the hearts of so many music fans. Widely heralded as an important modern classic, the greatest UK Hip Hop album ever, the best and most brilliant hip hop album album since TPAB, the greatest neo-soul/Hip Hop record since The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – or, dare it be said – better than Lauryn’s Great Work, etc. And with that, all those external hyperbolic opinions, I listened to this a few times over the last 13 days (as of writing this, 13 days of hype and love have passed) and came away each time with almost completely positive feelings toward SIMBI. I don’t, however, personally feel this is the best album ever or one of them, I don’t think this can touch The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill or Late Registration or TPAB (although, this is so different from TPAB I think it should never be compared). As for if it is the greatest UK Hip Hop album ever…fuck if I know. I have heard like 6 of em lol. Of those 6, this and Grey Area are the best and this is the better of the 2.
That paragraph was a bit too long. Apologies. This album is dope. Simz is such a dynamic and charming rapper and lyricist and vocalist that even on bars that I think are unremarkable I find myself listening closely and with a loving smile on my face. While sometimes her lyrics and delivery can be a bit TOO earnest and wide-eyed for my taste, it is damn refreshing hearing a young artist of her caliber so effusively and unabashedly radiate positivity and good vibes. This album has its edges, not saying it doesn’t, but generally this is a earnestly positive voyage of self-discovery and the sheer number of positive, influential messages here is touching and I love that.
The production, much lauded as boundary-pushing, is consistently very very good, although, it isn’t all that. I mean the orchestral bits are gorgeous and super well arranged but I think the Late Registration production is a clear influence on that aspect of the sound and I think Ye did it better 16 years ago. And a lot of the other production is intricately crafted neo-soul sounds and these sounds have been around and sounding just as crisp for almost 30 years, and again, I am a fanboy of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and I think of SIMBI as a modern little sister to that masterpiece. Not its 2.0 by any means.
The stitched-together story of this album is probably what is making people compare it to GKMC and TPAB (I hope so, because sonically this is not remotely the same) and that comparison is apt I’d say. The interludes that hold this story together are hit-and-miss for me. Some are uncomfortably forced and corny, like when she is talking to her fairy god mother or something and is amping herself up, or when she is being spoken to by some haughty aristocratic character and being told how to act in front of the extroverts… not a fan of those bits. Some though, holy shit. The interlude connected to “I Love You, I Hate You” (or maybe its just a spoken word last bit…?) is stunning. As is “Little Q Pt. 1 Interlude” or even that over the top “Never Make Promises” is excellent and I love it and I don’t know why… and of course there is “The Garden” which is weirdly like half an example of one of these corny interludes and half an example of just a killer brilliant one, but really the hummed melody on that song/interlude is so spiritual and uplifting I have to put it in the Good Category…Again, hit-or-miss.
Finally, the songs, this is what its all about and some of these songs are truly brilliant. I feel “Introvert” is a potential song of the year and one that, much like The Blacker The Berry in 2015, I can look back at years later and remember where I was when I first heard it and can look back and feel that it is beautifully representative of the times. “Woman” is good overall, not top tier except the Cleo Sol vocal is so sweet that it elevates the whole song from good to great on its own. “Two Worlds Apart” is just a laid back, smooth as silk, banger. I can listen to that and chill and bask in the glory of life and music. “I Love You, I Hate You” is perhaps the best track here (there are several in contention for that title)… its gorgeous, touching, heartbreaking, real, measured, wise, fiery, and holy shit the way that sample – that simple short sample – is played off of and melded into the song and its story… genius. “Standing Ovation” makes me wanna get up and go – go with the wind at my back – and fucking change the world all by myself if I need to. It’s a goddamn epic, cinematic beast of a track with these lively rhythms and these big horns, its just larger-than-life and has one of the smoothest fucking switch ups imaginable. “I See You” is the most peaceful and lovely and romantic song that comes in at exactly the right time on the album. “Rollin Stone” isn’t getting enough love… that beat is vicious and filthy and its probably the most hardcore track on the album. I think maybe it doesn’t fit as perfectly in the album as all the previous tracks do, and perhaps that is why its being a bit overlooked? Idk, all I do know is its solid. “Protect My Energy” has a ridiculous electro-funk beat and it is infectious and, uh, its great and I like it. Then the album closes with 2 great tunes, both low key and introspective, with “How Did You Get Here” and “Miss Understood”. These 2 songs really save the back third of this album because “Point and Kill” and “Fear No Man” are album lowlights for me and these 2 closing tracks just close this album off with a very sweet taste. Although “How Did You Get Here” is a bit too much on the sincerely mawkish side, still solid but not a total stand out. “Miss Understood” is a great closer and one of the best songs here.
Okay, I have rambled enough. In closing, this is a great record and Little Simz is a force of Nature and I am ecstatic that, god willing, I get to see her and listen to her develop for years to come. While not to these 2 ears a total 10/10 world-shaking masterpiece, I do feel like it probably will be an album that lives on and stays relevant for years to come. And that is understandable and exciting."Reply
"I'm at the point where I hate to make very obvious comparisons to older bands, I did that a lot with black midi when Schlagenheim came out. With this band, I actually find it a lot harder to pin down the influences like I was able to with black midi. I listened to all the singles just before this...""I'm at the point where I hate to make very obvious comparisons to older bands, I did that a lot with black midi when Schlagenheim came out. With this band, I actually find it a lot harder to pin down the influences like I was able to with black midi.
I listened to all the singles just before this album came out, mostly because I only just heard about this band two days before this album released and I wanted to see if it was worth listening to the album. What I can say is that I was somewhat disappointed when I saw there would only be six songs on this album, and two-thirds of them were already released in some form. That is why I must say that I am not disappointed in this album, but a little underwhelmed compared to the hype. Not to mention that I believe that the album version of "Sunglasses" is inferior to the single. This is why it is probably a good idea not to spoil yourself with singles when the album isn't out yet. However, I still think this is a very good album and I think it will probably be top 5 for the year. My biggest gripe is just that I think more material would have been better. "Opus" and "Science Fair" are bangers tho."Reply
"(47 minutes of minimalist spiritual jazz-meets-classical-meets subtle electronic touches. I, at first, honestly thought this would probably be something that made me think I just didn't "get it" but by the end of the 1st listen and certainly by the end of the 2nd, I did feel a certain calm come o...""(47 minutes of minimalist spiritual jazz-meets-classical-meets subtle electronic touches. I, at first, honestly thought this would probably be something that made me think I just didn't "get it" but by the end of the 1st listen and certainly by the end of the 2nd, I did feel a certain calm come over me and a certain wonder at the beauty of the music and life in general. Its a delicate, stirring, touching album that I highly recommend.)
I am so set on listening to music in search of hooks, interesting riffs, drum fills, showy bite-sized solos, lyrical snippets, word plays, melodic bits, walls of sound, and many many other ear-catching and immediate and tangible things. I listen to most music and it provides what it is quick and there is something distinct and bright and loud and up front to latch on to. Very rarely does an album come along that stops me and slows me and makes me just BE. Occasionally an ambient or new age album will do it, or a more minimalist jazz album, but I listen to those albums so rarely sometimes I forget what it's like to be given a gentle "shhhh" by an album. Obviously, as I am commenting on Promises - this recent collab between electronic artist Floating Points (who I had zero previous experience with), jazz legend Pharaoh Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra - I must be indicating that this was one of those rare albums that made me stop overthinking and stop bloody fidgeting and just experience music. And, yes, you figured me out. That is exactly what I am getting at.
This album on first 2 tries was rejected by me. I was up and about and getting ready for work and I put this on, and it was like my whole body and mind just said "nope" and I couldn't do it and I stopped it and put on probably a loud Grindcore or Post Punk album instead. Then a week or so later I tried again and yet again I felt like I just couldn't give this piece the time and peace it deserved. Finally today, Monday the 12th of April, after a long and stressful weekend of work, I woke up and played this album and almost the same response happened. I heard those same 7 notes played over and over and 4 minutes in I was close to just writing it off as something I just personally "don't get" or "it's not made for me". Then something happened. I told myself to just shut up, be still for a bit and just experience the music. Don't check twitter, don't play some stupid game on your phone, don't do it. Don't look online at other reviews, don't read news stories, don't start reviewing the album track by track, etc. Instead, just be still and listen to the music, the minimal and repetitive electric piano, the soulful and sad and yet peaceful and perfect saxophone "speeches" from Sanders, listen to the subtle orchestral bits swelling and waxing and waning underneath the 2 main musical instruments, listen and observe those subtle changes and the way they slowly grow and then shrink and then grow again. As I did this, I admit I started feeling myself relax and enjoy not just the music more but also I started to appreciate my current situation, I started smelling the proverbial roses. And when the album ended I enjoyed the silence for a few moments and I thought about what I had heard. I started writing this and pushed play again on Promises.
My experience perhaps will be mirrored or at least similar for many other music fanatics that generally don't listen to this type of cerebral, slow and building music. There are no major pay offs in terms of large walls of sound and fury like you'll hear on many other jazz and classical and post rock pieces/albums. The start of the piece may seem familiar for many music fans, but outside of some increased intensity on Movement 6, this album isn't one to build and build until an inevitable loud and intense resolution. This work seems more to be a rumination all the way through. It takes these subtle, minimal elements and themes and rides with them and creates a quiet chamber where the listener can simply Be with the music and think of promises, life, future, past, people you know and people you may yet come to know. It's, for me anyway, a 47 minute piece of music I can put on to gather myself.
That's not say that one can't also listen to this and hear some vibrant and tangible details. Because, there are dozens of moments when I was listening when I heard a particular saxophone melody that was gorgeous and clear, there are moments when the subtle electronic synth part sticks its head out and plays about with something, there are symphonic swells that can make you misty-eyed and inspired, and those are excellent moments. In the main, however, for me anyway, this is an album less involved in moment-to-moment highlights and more involved in creating its own space in this wild world we live in, a space where we can take stock, relax, ruminate and Be ourselves. It does this near-flawlessly and all musicians involved in Promises contribute what they have to creating this atmosphere with no one (not even the legend Pharaoh Sanders) ever seeming to be showy or stealing the show intentionally. Every note and little detail is there to create the atmosphere of the music.
I'd be lying if I said this was 100% my style, or if I said this album alone has sold me on the virtues of minimalism and this sort of slow building atmospheric music. I doubt I will listen to this for a week non-stop or come to the conclusion this is my favorite album of the year. I doubt I will go and do one of those funny music nerd things where I research everything I can on this style and listen to almost exclusively this sort of music for months. I still prefer, given 2 or 3 options before me, a wild and loud and hook-filled album over a slow work of minimalist Third Stream or whatever this is. I will say though, that my expectations were surpassed by this and I have been enriched by having listened to this album a couple times. And, yes, its one of the better albums I've heard this year. And I suspect I will be coming back to it for years to come,
If the genre description or the way this album is spoken of is possibly turning you off or making you think its an abstract and perhaps pretentious album and so you are thinking to avoid it, I recommend going ahead and clearing out 47 minutes of your life and listening. I was in the same boat as those of you who thought it wouldn't connect, and yet it did as you can see from this rambling and pointless little write up. If you finish the album and you don't feel at least a little more at peace and a little more enriched, well, 1.) I will be surprised and 2.) you can move on from the album and listen to your usual jams whatever those may be (There is nothing wrong with that either.)."Reply
"Well what I thought was going to be one of my favorite post punk albums of the year turned out to be some of the greatest progressive rock in a long time."Reply
"(Total masterpiece. Genres to describe this I guess would be post-industrial, Noise, with some kind of gospel spirituality mixed in. Anyway, that doesn’t really describe this album. Not very well, anyway.) What can I possibly say that will do this album justice? I don’t think I am capable. This a...""(Total masterpiece. Genres to describe this I guess would be post-industrial, Noise, with some kind of gospel spirituality mixed in. Anyway, that doesn’t really describe this album. Not very well, anyway.)
What can I possibly say that will do this album justice? I don’t think I am capable. This album is special. When I listen to HEY WHAT, it is an out-of-body experience. The detail contained within the “noise”, the way the sheer volume of the album rolls over me like waves, I feel like I am thrown into a storm in the middle of the ocean, and for a few seconds I fight it and I panic and I start to scream and cry. But then a voice reassures me that these tidal waves won’t cause me harm – not truly and not truly me -, and I am told to breathe and embrace the immensity of this place and this experience. I relax and I breathe and … I am fine, I am calm, I am free. The rest of the album is like a massive, Pacific-sized epic about modern life and spirituality. And unlike so many other unapologetically gloomy, bitter, and hopeless epics that seem to tackle this struggle, with HEY WHAT I feel love and I feel hope and I glimpse a way through this mess I find myself in.
Musically, production-wise, this album makes me laugh lovingly and in awe, because I just can’t understand how humans being of flesh and blood can go and create this. Like, how? This could be called “Noisy” and “Staticy” and “Loud” but I can’t really say that those words fit to describe even the most inhuman and loud and most intense moments in this album. These scratchy, buzzing, sonically overwhelming sounds never sound harsh or hard to listen to. Again, like I said at the beginning, I have no clue how to express what this sounds like to me. The machines present on this album are simply communicating, meshing, corresponding with the human voices and harmonies. When the harmonies and the machine sounds come together, in these artist’s genius hands, what you get is transcendent music of the highest caliber.
Just yesterday I was trading comments with the excellent fellow-BEA user buzzdainer. Buzzdainer mentioned about Chris Stapleton’s 2020 album Starting Over: “…for me it's the quintessential album for coping with the cruel realities of our current decade.” This description was excellent and I can see how Starting Over would have that effect. However, when I took a look and thought about what album for ME truly had such a significance in this current decade… I couldn’t think of one. The music I have loved from this decade thus far has been mostly powerful and cathartic in very different ways or, in some cases, very escapist. But no album as of yesterday had I heard that really uplifted me and helped me cope and find meaning and stabilized me in this current crazy world we live in.
Then just a couple hours later I pushed play on Low’s latest. By the time I finished listening the very first time I felt emotionally satiated, understood, fulfilled. And I felt spiritually uplifted and enlightened. This is probably the most uplifting piece of music I have heard this decade so far. It for sure is.
To list the specific tracks on here that I love or want to shout out seems like a silly activity. It is only silly for me because the whole album, start to finish, is the perfect example of a cohesive album experience. For example, I can point out (and – lol - I am about to) that the back-to-back majesty of the track “Hey” followed by “Days Like These” makes me legitimately weep with joy and some emotional mixing I still don’t understand. And that is true, I think Hey/Days Like These is some of the greatest music I have ever heard full stop. BUT I had heard “Days Like These” as a single and when I heard it in that out-of-context way, I thought it was a pretty song and it made me excited for the new album… and that is all I thought of it. But when I hear it now on the heals of “Hey” and also after the absolutely stunning build up to this middle portion of the album, it is cathartic, life-changing, inspiring and perfect. Every song here is special on its own but transcendent as part of the entire sweep of the album.
This album expresses to me; Humanity, Human Goodness, True Affection and Love and Unity winning and triumphing in the face of inhumanity, materialism, and the bleak ubiquity of the utterly unfeeling. This album is a treasure. I actually feel a deep appreciation and an immeasurable respect for and to Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk and BJ Burton for creating this album. It’s just what I needed to hear in days like these.
Now I know I have not really said much of anything in this “review”/rambling comment – I haven’t touched much upon the songs and the lyrics and the harmonies and the industrial manipulations and genres and all that. Well, sorry. But this album, more than any other this year (outside of perhaps By the Time I Get To Phoenix), really transcends words and clear description.
"Reply
"(Consistent and cohesive debut LP from Magdalena Bay. Some top-tier synthpop - creative, catchy and quite beautiful.) I am a fan of this album. The things I love about great synthpop are here in droves. Those being a charming childlike wonderousness that is infectious when you listen, lots of cat...""(Consistent and cohesive debut LP from Magdalena Bay. Some top-tier synthpop - creative, catchy and quite beautiful.)
I am a fan of this album. The things I love about great synthpop are here in droves. Those being a charming childlike wonderousness that is infectious when you listen, lots of catchy melodies, vocals that float along over the tracks like some sort of fairy spirit, and of course lots of tracks that can be danced around to like a wild person or can be enjoyed while sitting and dreaming about whatever it is you dream about. Synthpop isn't one of my go-to genres by any means, but this is being an exceptional version of the genre, I can say that I am enough of a fan of what this duo is doing with this style to consider this one of the better albums of the year.
The album is indeed pretty consistent. That said the opening run of tracks from the opener "The End" through track 7 "Chaeri" is a good deal more excellent and catchy to me than the last half. Note: This may be due to the simple fact that I listened to the first half of this 3 times and got interrupted each time, so I only have heard the album in its entirety twice, but that opening half 5 times. Idk, that is probably contributing to my current take that the first half is superior. Still, even now, I can say that the 1-2 punch that ends the album is just as good as anything at the start (except maybe "Secrets (Your Fire)" which is song of the year material to my ears).
The music here is dreamy and somewhat osychedelic, its got moments to inspire dancing and moments to inspire quasi-philosophical contemplation. And each track is stitched to the others in a smooth and seamless way. The album works really well as an album and not just a series of seperate tracks with occasional total standouts.
I don't have much of great intelligence to say about this one (go figure) but I think its really quite beautiful and its recommended to everyone but ESPECIALLY to those of you craving a great pop album. This is perhaps the best and most bubbly and gorgeous pop album of any variety I have heard this year. Stellar debut album as well. This is a super impressive way to start your LP career."Reply
"I’ve listened to this twice now and I love it so far. Rivers is actually delivering some very deep and personal lyrics and the strings SLAP. And look it’s nothing like Blue or Pinkerton but the execution on this album far excels Black and Pacific Daydream and I have a feeling will enjoy this albu...""I’ve listened to this twice now and I love it so far. Rivers is actually delivering some very deep and personal lyrics and the strings SLAP.
And look it’s nothing like Blue or Pinkerton but the execution on this album far excels Black and Pacific Daydream and I have a feeling will enjoy this album even more as time goes on.
And man Bird With a Broken Wing hits different *sheds a tear. Numbers and Grapes of Wrath are also some early standouts.
Anyways those are my early, scattered thoughts. As soon as I fully wrap my head around this album I will comment some more. Please listen to this with an open mind and expect the best because this album is a short and pleasant listen."Reply
Mercury | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 8
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AvalancheGrips | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 4
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teague | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 6
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pjohnsongolf | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 8
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