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Album Rating: 3.0
Bolt from the Blue, Sorry, Numb, Desire, and Jealous Sea most likely comprise my top 5 songs from her, but I don't have a firm enough grasp on this new one yet to say where any of these place.
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aaaaaaaand BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABYYYYYYYYY
iiiii just wannnnna be wiith you
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Still kind of unsure about this, can't decide if it's going to grow or not but for now I enjoy it with some key reservations. Feels like a slight missed opportunity, like if she could have harnessed all these sounds in a more cohesive and memorable way then it easily would've been her best. There's some good moments here regardless, made even better by the fact that it feels so weird and authentically her. I feel like if I keep talking about it I'm going to make it a 3.5, so maybe that's a sign of things to come lol.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
@ Willie: I hope the Meg Myers concerts aren't pre-recorded tracks, that would be disappointing! There are quite a few videos of her concerts available on Youtube and they seem to be quite intense (for example the 2018 live at Mercury Lounge, Lollapalooza 2014 or Riot Room 2014 and 2018). I also think that the raw, acoustic versions of her songs are very good, the Cellar Sessions for example,..I find these versions more vibrant, emotional than the studio versions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1i4zZQtbBo&ab_channel=ONEONONE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpkX42xhdeY&ab_channel=ROCKparaENTENDIDOS
I generally think that the sound of her albums is a bit too artificial, flashy, overproduced, it drowns out her voice a bit, maybe it's the electro side of her music, the "drum machine" sound for example, that gives me this impression. My favorite song from her is probably "Motel", for the captivating voice, music and lyrics too, it's the song that made me want to listen to her albums. Also: "Constant", "Last laugh", "The morning after", "Feather", "Numb", "Some people", "Funeral", "Little black death", "Monster", "Heart heart head", "The underground". Even when she has dull, average songs her expressive, strong voice still commands attention.
| | | Album Rating: 3.3 | Sound Off
@Sowing: From this album, my favorites are "My Mirror", "I Just Wanna Touch Somebody", "Searching for the Truth", and "ElevenEleven".
I have a feeling the next album will be better for a lot of reasons. This new lifestyle won't be so new and dominating, so the lyrics won't be so tunnel visioned. Also, if her life does improve (which hopefully it does) she can hopefully streamline this new direction. I have faith.
@Guillaume: I've never heard her live, even on YouTube, so thank you for the links. Also, I don't know if she does anything pre-recorded, I just not a lot of pop artists do. You're right, though, her voice does shine through on the acoustic songs. I also caught a couple songs from Live @ Riot Room 2014 and she has clearly always been intense, and the live instruments do sound better than the programmed studio stuff. I love that she was playing bass on the songs instead of the typical pop choreography. They neutered her songs severely in the studio. Nothing fake or pre-recorded on that 2014 live show
Desire Live 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeKSw0dNLBk
Desire from 2015 is no less intense and barely sounds like the poppy album version at all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9MbI_UCqoE
| | | Album Rating: 3.3 | Sound Off
This performance of Heart Heart Head makes it look like she would have rather been something similar to Bjork or Aurora than the slick pop artist the label turned her into. She''s freaking out. She's screaming and screeching.I mean, it's on the EP version, too, but live is so much more intense. Seeing stuff like this makes the new album so much less surprising. I should have labeled the review: Meg Myers is back to the sound she always wanted.
https://youtu.be/Ma_XWC_HElI?t=2268
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@Willie: Yeah it's been a while tho I still pop by from time to time!. I think Numb is the best track simply because it's a well written song that has a clear and strong structure - a clear hook, easily followed melody etc - which is like, exactly what the rest of the albums lacks! It's also what Sorry had too. Agree with your review in general tho - this is someone trying different things out to see what sticks. Result's not particularly convincing.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
heart heart head is the goat meg song
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Might be the happy airplane pills talking but A New Society kinda slaps
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There is enough salvageable material in here for me to continiuw to have hope for her future music. It would be a shame if there wasn’t.
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Numb is the perfect example of how Meg is both an incredible singer and also sometimes just tries way too hard and ruins it spectacularly. But if you really want to question how great she really is at singing, take a break from her recorded music and just go watch her piano and vocal renditions and acapella renditions on instagram
Holy fuck they are painful
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https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqPQnJlj4p8/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CehaRtSJMKJ/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqPUamDDDzH/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CepWG7IJ-rV/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Aaaand then there is this shit:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkfEJtGjksC/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
It is precisely her voice, her way of singing, that made me interested in her songs, even before the music and the lyrics, in the live and acoustic versions in particular. Even when she seems to be overdoing it with her voice, I have the impression that it's her, that she seems to believe and live what she sings, with her great moments and her weaknesses.
I LOVE for example the track "Constant" on the album TAKE ME TO THE DISCO and this live version where she plays it just with her electric guitar gives me chills every time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePw_havKF-0&ab_channel=PasteMagazine
Here you don't seem to like too much the "Teenagers" song but i think her voice on this solo live version is quite vibrant, emotional:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVAG-1BgCJ0&ab_channel=TheRealConcertKing
Also her raw piano/voice version of "Children of light pt II" is better than the TZIA album version i think:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sedpgv796BM&ab_channel=EmWhite
and this nice Malibu concert with cool versions of "Desire", "Grizzly", "Teenagers", etc:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eYgk7Z9Xok&t=1310s&ab_channel=utherjohn
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
@Willie:
"I have a feeling the next album will be better for a lot of reasons. This new lifestyle won't be so new and dominating, so the lyrics won't be so tunnel visioned. Also, if her life does improve (which hopefully it does) she can hopefully streamline this new direction. I have faith."
I believe she has written enough songs to release two albums, it seems that she announced on Patreon one or two years ago that she would be releasing a fourth album soon after TZIA. If TZIA seems disjointed, lacking musical coherence, it is in my opinion because it was written in difficult conditions, her life seems quite complicated/turbulent indeed and let's not forget also the recent dramas (cancellation of concerts, lockdown days) in 2020/2021 due to COVID which probably had to play on the writing and production of the album.
Following the discussion on this site yesterday, I translated the lyrics from her album TZIA and apart from a few songs that refer to light, darkness, divinity/God, enlightenment, I didn't get feeling like the "spiritual" "awakening" side of her life was so obvious and awkward in the lyrics. There are still some songs on TZIA whose lyrics are down to earth, accessible, which can touch us, send us back to universal thoughts and emotions: "My mirror", 'Bluebird", "Waste of confetti", "Me ", etc.
My favourite songs on TZIA are the title track (musically very catchy and dynamic), the touching "Bluebird", "Waste of confetti" but the best song is probably "My mirror" because here everything clicks: the simple but effective music, the simple production/sound and of course Meg's beautiful vocals and lyrics. "Ovaries speak" and "I just wanna touch somebody" are pretty good too, for the music and/or the lyrics.
"The live instruments do sound better than the programmed studio stuff."
Absolutely. I hope that in the future she will rely a little less on production on her albums, that she will have a more organic, natural sound. I also hope that she will collaborate again with her cellist Ken Oak, he brought/brings something positive to her music, guitarist Josh Rheault is not bad too, that is/was maybe the best setting/ formation of her band this trio.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
@StreetlightRock:
"I think Numb is the best track simply because it's a well written song that has a clear and strong structure - a clear hook, easily followed melody etc - which is like, exactly what the rest of the albums lacks!"
A lot of people don't seem to like the TAKE ME TO THE DISCO album and much prefer SORRY and the first two EPs. However, I find that TAKE ME TO THE DISCO is an album that improves with listening.
| | | Album Rating: 3.3 | Sound Off
@StreetlightRock: This album feels like it's the first time she's had free reign since the initial EPs, and those things were all over the place too. I think that's the sound she would prefer when given the choice. I don't know if she's too concerned with accessibility as much as 'artistry'. Spending an hour or so watching her live interpretations of some of the songs from the first two albums, she definitely goes for a more gritty rock feel and is way less concerned about hitting all the notes just right.
@PotsyTater: Good to hear you haven't had to totally give up on her just yet. As far as the Instagram videos go, that's her literally singing through a laptop mic so it's going to sound like shit from the start. Having said that, there's also no doubt that she would rather 'go big' than maintain total control over her voice... and the dance party video... the girl is just trying to live her best life, ha ha.
@Guillaume: I really hope she doesn't have enough for two albums. I would prefer she take what she did hear and work on a little bit of restraint and direction. Although, again, after seeing live renditions of some of her studio tracks, this sound seems like it is much more what she would prefer over the slick pop of the first two releases. Also, I definitely prefer Take Me to the Disco over Sorry. Sorry has a few songs that are at the top of her discography, but Disco is the better, more consistent, album.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
"Adelaide" acoustic live 2014/2015?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4-pmun-f_8&ab_channel=102.9TheBuzz
"Little black death" live 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUYoO8D6hmA&ab_channel=Parallaxus
"Monster" live 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1WAGq6xqWo&ab_channel=bd007h%28BrettHurley%29
"Take me to the disco" live 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdnxjsioVSs&ab_channel=iwaseasymeat
@Willie:
"This album feels like it's the first time she's had free reign since the initial EPs, and those things were all over the place too. I think that's the sound she would prefer when given the choice."
TZIA is her first album where she is a co-producer so it's probably the first time she had control over the sound she wanted to achieve. A few months ago on her Patreon she said that she wanted to do a solo acoustic live tour, and I thought it was a project that may have been born in part from the positive comments that we could read here and there about her stripped down, acoustic versions of her songs. On SORRY and TAKE ME TO THE DISCO the lyrics of her songs are co-written with her producers, I don't know which songs she wrote on her own, on TAKE ME TO THE DISCO for example there is only "Constant" written completely by herself. There's something that I find curious about TZIA, it's that there are a lot of short songs that end a little abruptly, while we're waiting for a climax, or a build/construction that would last. But maybe she thought of those songs that way. I really like her shortest track, "Last laugh", but again the super short length of this track is a bit surprising.
"she definitely goes for a more gritty rock feel and is way less concerned about hitting all the notes just right.
Yes there is this intense raw side in her concerts, I don't think she seems to care about the technical perfection of her voice live, she aims at naked emotion, she seems quite spontaneous on stage.
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I’m just sayin’
Gurl cringey af
| | | Album Rating: 3.3 | Sound Off
There's no doubt there's a lot of live videos of her being very eccentric ;)
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
That jabbed to unjabbed lyric stuck out like a sore thumb on 2nd listen. Up until that physical cringe the album was actually pretty enjoyable, although over-produced in part, I agree.
My Mirror belongs right along other great Meg Myers songs
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