 | Tracklist:
1. I Wrote The Book
2. Good Night Good Morning
3. Open Heart Surgery
4. Do You Need Someone
Release Date: 01/01/2011 | |
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On 1 Lists
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| Summary: Are you listening very carefully? |
Of course Beth Ditto made a dance-pop record. What with her high-pitched and able set of pipes, scrappy cool, and gay iconicity, this was an inevitability. The sheer panache of EP, though, isn't something to be taken for granted - oh, no. The four songs on Ditto's debut solo effort are uniformly irresistible, their production (courtesy of Simian Mobile Disco) serving as a basic sonic constant. These beats thump proudly in all their analog glory while synth lines plink their way into your ears - only to remain there for days. It's telling that this record sounds best in its longer, floor-friendly iteration; the cuts on the wider release are more efficient and hook-centric, sure, but Ditto's earworms are most successful when they've a luxurious space to breathe in. Compared to its eight-minute incarnation, the single-ready version of "Goodnight, Good Morning" feels almost slight. Almost - because Ditto's vocal performance is at once both bracing and fragile enough to uncannily capture hazy late-night dubiety, and because the song's got a melody that Madonna circa "Like a Virgin" would kill for.
For its obvious melodic strengths, though, EP is a tease, slowly removing one layer at a time until its heart is revealed - ice-cold but definitely beating. "Don't leave me hanging," Ditto intones, only to later instruct, "just take it slow." It's just one of the many coy come-ons found here, which would prove frustrating were it not for Ditto's effortless sultriness. It's initially strange that this disc finds Mary Beth Patterson in a soft-edged, seductive mode, given that her work with Gossip is more philosophically in line with riot grrrl, but artificiality proves an able vehicle for Ditto's fierce perspective. The methodology behind that worldview is conveniently summed up on the record's lone single: "I wrote the book on it, don't test me." Dogmatic? Sure, but endearingly so - and besides, Ditto's delivery is impressively convincing. She boldly challenges ("the run-around will wear you out / you'll break it off, I'll break you down") and detachedly advises ("the world is full of good intentions / paradise is full of lies") in equal measure, neatly embodying the yin and yang of hookups, relationships, whatever. That all this is done with razor-sharp, almost dead-eyed precision is all the more remarkable.
That's what's most interesting about Ditto's voice: in its feathery slightness, it displays just how short the distance is between confidence and uncertainty. "Do You Need Someone" is my favorite song here because of how easily it flits between the passive braggadocio of its verses and the frosty almost-compassion of its chorus. Listening to it, I'm never entirely sure if the "she" Ditto keeps referring to is herself, a rival, or some combination of the two; the resultant tension is utterly intoxicating. And what better setting for such emotional pussyfooting than the club, forever the smoky meeting point for lonely souls and hungry ones? Indeed, those aforementioned analog pops are the perfect soundtrack to that place "where the evening comes undone", where the promise of a lengthened evening always lingers, and where emptiness relentlessly threatens to be a bedfellow. Ditto is the enigmatic temptress standing at the door, and it's a crying shame that she's indicated that EP is a one-off - the role suits her magnificently.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Album Rating: 4.5
"I Wrote The Book": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UECeJzd-G30
"Do You Need Someone": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_Ztnivn1Wk
Hey, y'all.
Digging: Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It | | |
Nice review. Bjork and Araabmuzik in the RECs ... should probably check this out.
Digging: Laurel Halo - Quarantine Digging: Laurel Halo - Quarantine
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Great review Conrad. Mindpos!
Also, I am interested to know what your top albums of 2011 were. Do you have a list hanging around somewhere? Or better yet - make a Staff blog! =)
Digging: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless Digging: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Yeah this is great. I like the last Gossip album a tad more though.
Digging: Animal Collective - Honeycomb/Gotham Digging: Animal Collective - Honeycomb/Gotham | | |
Woah there Conrad
good review
Digging: Walknut - Graveforests And Their Shadows Digging: Walknut - Graveforests And Their Shadows
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Freaky. I was just listening to this yesterday & today, and when I saw that you had rated it Conrad, I was surprised that you hadn't reviewed it.
Was a bit meh about the EP at first & then I began humming two of the songs & couldn't get them out of my head. Solid stuff & the lyrics are above-average too.
I think 'Open Heart Surgery' & 'I Wrote the Book' are the 2 best, but it's fairly consistent.
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mmm interesting. I love her voice and I'm partial to a bit of Simian so I guess I should get on this
Digging: El-P - Cancer For Cure
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Awesome review, Conrad. Checking this out today.
Digging: Mount Eerie - Clear Moon Digging: Mount Eerie - Clear Moon | | | Album Rating: 4.5
Irving: http://www.sputnikmusic.com/list.php?memberid=431708
I'm also hoping to do a sort of pop-centric feature/blog entry about 2011. If all goes well, it will annoy people! : )
Haven't written in a while. This was a nice record to return to as it was on constant replay for the latter half of 2011.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
Helping with filling out the blanks.
Should've stayed with gossip
Digging: Swarms - Low Sun EP Digging: Swarms - Low Sun EP | | | Album Rating: 2
yea
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This is incredible, Conrad (review and EP).
Digging: Between the Buried and Me - Colors Digging: Between the Buried and Me - Colors
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gyro messing everything up.
great review as always.
Digging: Bee Gees - Their Greatest Hits: The Record
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Damn it, you write well.
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Also, it's good you can hear this woman and not instantly be aurally assaulted by STANDING IN THE WAY OF CONTROOOOOL ODOHOWHWHOHWOHOWHODHWDOHOW
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
^ That tune is awesome, c'mon
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I always enjoy reading your reviews conrad, even if I don't listen to the music you just write so well. Ace review.
Digging: Meshuggah - Koloss
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skinny bitches always at war with beth ditto!
gonna check this out though. always thought she might be less annoying without The Gossip.
Digging: Author & Punisher - Ursus Americanus Digging: Author & Punisher - Ursus Americanus
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She's fat.
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And her songwriting is meh
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