[rainbowdash]

After posting about her in the "Voices" thread I realized that there wasn't one about here and I felt that there needed to be,
especially because I only just found Please Leave Quietly on Youtube and was hit again by the realization that she is quite possibly the most brilliant person of our time.

If you don't listen to her, these fantastic pink outfits should convince you to.


Combined with her voodoo workin'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmiyZl_85fo

[rainbowdash]

Nobody else has posted but I just wanted to add that my new favorite thing is the dance she's been doing during Pocket Knife on the current tour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sa9wfBAEfM

[Eirik]

I saw her show in Oslo this past November. Amazing stuff. Totally worth the 16 hour drive to get there.

She wore the black outfit that day!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5L4LtJYRfQ
(recorded with my HD camera)

[rainbowdash]

I saw her show in Oslo this past November. Amazing stuff. Totally worth the 16 hour drive to get there.

She wore the black outfit that day!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5L4LtJYRfQ
(recorded with my HD camera)

Ah, that's so awesome!
Sadly, I missed her this time around ... I would have loved to see her play Pocket Knife with that dress and her dance, along with everything else

[Andrew]

I feel a bit uncool as I only have LES. It's really enjoyable though, dark, catchy, well-written.

I dunno. From what I've seen of it, White Chalk seems really interesting, but I don't have it. Any reccommendations?

[queenofnerds]

I've been listening to a few of her tracks, ultra sexy . Love her.

[rainbowdash]

I feel a bit uncool as I only have LES. It's really enjoyable though, dark, catchy, well-written.

I dunno. From what I've seen of it, White Chalk seems really interesting, but I don't have it. Any reccommendations?

Don't feel uncool, you're already cool for having it.

WARNING: HERE BEGINS ANOTHER ONE OF MY PJ-HARVEY-IS-AWESOME-AND-I-CAN'T-STOP-TALKING EPISODES

White Chalk is indeed interesting, though I wouldn't put it in my top 5 albums by her,
it is hard to recommend just one though because I love every single one, they're all so different and great.
quick rundown:
1. Dry - debut album so it's got that rough sound but some experimentation with styles
2. Rid of Me - really loud and harsh, guitar and drums, she says "Good Lord" a lot
3. To Bring You My Love - first one without the "trio", bluesy, dark, also this was my intro to her
4. Is This Desire? - my absolute favorite, more experimental, dark atmosphere, gorgeous
5. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea - her "pop" album, really lush sounds, NYC inspired
6. Uh Huh Her - kinda sums up (or exaggerates) her image, all recorded and produced by herself kinda has a "demo" sound, I really love this one too
7. White Chalk - totally abandons the UHH image, piano yay

If you like LES, though, I'd say to go with Is This Desire?, LES is kind of like some combination of ITD and White Chalk ("Hanging in the Wire" = White Chalk type song with ITD atmosphere).
ITD's really dark and moody and has the greatest songs I think she's ever written, see
Catherine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Nyoy9Q0Gc
A Perfect Day Elise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3tD9EPOEik&ob=av2n
Joy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnpbRDPPZIE

[LawnsOfDawns]

Thanks for the post rainbowdash! I have just recently learned of my love for PJ. My first by her was White Chalk, which was pretty fucking cool; but it was LES that converted me to PJism. It's probably my second favorite album that came out in 2011 (after the Beach Boys's 'Smile') and I decided to go through her music carefully and thoroughly. Have been listening to 'To Bring You My Love' for a few months now, and I just keep getting more and more excited about her.

I can't fucking wait to listen to 'Is This Desire?'

[Andrew]

Wow thanks RD, I decided to get Is This Desire?. Joy really jumped out at me, I'm gonna give that a few plays~

My favourites from LES are England, The Last Living Rose, and The Words That Maketh Murder if that's any help btw.

[rainbowdash]

Thanks for the post rainbowdash! I have just recently learned of my love for PJ. My first by her was White Chalk, which was pretty fucking cool; but it was LES that converted me to PJism. It's probably my second favorite album that came out in 2011 (after the Beach Boys's 'Smile') and I decided to go through her music carefully and thoroughly. Have been listening to 'To Bring You My Love' for a few months now, and I just keep getting more and more excited about her.

I can't fucking wait to listen to 'Is This Desire?'

Woohoo
White Chalk was also the first PJ album that I heard, but TBYML was the one that got me into her.

I think she's said that Is This Desire? is her favorite record she's done, but I've seen people's reactions to it kind of polarized? I hope you do like it.

Wow thanks RD, I decided to get Is This Desire?. Joy really jumped out at me, I'm gonna give that a few plays~

My favourites from LES are England, The Last Living Rose, and The Words That Maketh Murder if that's any help btw.

I especially love that version of Joy, the guitar's like a relentless alarm.
That song's actually based on a Flannery O'Connor story (Good Country People), makes it even nicer, "Been believing in nothing since I was born, it never was a question."
I'm also almost completely sure A Perfect Day Elise is about J.D. Salinger's A Perfect Day for Bananafish (the reason I'm not totally sure is I don't see people talking about this connection more often ...)

I'm not very good at making suggestions based on single songs, just listen to everything, hah

Also, if you're interested, check out her collaborations with John Parish. Dance Hall at Louse Point is pretty weird but totally cool.
This is her playing Taut in 1998 (ITD era), one of my favorite tracks she's ever done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXijVjLBxsU
and a cover of Peggy Lee's song, Is That All There Is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDu4csohSqo

[Andrew]

I'm at four albums now, I'm like a proper aficionado

You have Taut lyrics as your signature!

[Andrew]

God damn I love ITD and TBYML. I'm really crushing on this music right now.

[rainbowdash]

God damn I love ITD and TBYML. I'm really crushing on this music right now.

TBYML performances are the most fun to watch, I wish I was old enough to see her play then. Apparently she even painted her teeth white to complete "the look" ... and I can't find the video but there was one I've seen where John Parish is using a knife as a slide on the guitar. Pretty cool.

[Andrew]

Yeah those performances are awesome. It's also the album that made me realise just how good a vocalist she is.

I'm getting Rid of Me soon, I've been humming and playing the title track and Man Size for the better part of two weeks so I reckon it'll be a favourite

[rainbowdash]

She's an incredible singer and it's great 'cause she doesn't always feel the need to show it off, there's a documentary "Reeling" (from the tour for Rid of Me, I believe), if it's still on Youtube I'll try to find it, but there are clips of her backstage preparing for shows singing opera exercises.

To be fair, every PJ album's a favorite, though.

[Andrew]

I don't doubt it. I admire so much the way she uses her voice like an instrument, finding the voice that best suits the song rather than using the voice as a vain extension of her personality that the song is forced to bear. It totally conflicts with the whole classic 'diva' image, 'the girl with the voice', where the entire basis of their career is public interest in their personality. She uses her voice in the most artistic way, and it leads to such interesting music. Comparing the things she achieves on the Mountain (WC) and I Think I'm a Mother (TBYML) is kind of mindblowing.

(I just made the comparison in my head, then listened to them to check, and it really is mindblowing)

[rainbowdash]

Aaaah, it's so totally crazy to think about it, she's such a small and polite and reserved person, then she can sing like ... a murderous prostitute or a spindly old widow.

[Andrew]

I dunno if Rid of Me is really for me, even though I totally love a few songs from it and I love loads of bands with the same sound (and Man-Size Sextet is WTF AMAZING)

ATM my rankings are

1. White Chalk
2. LES = ITD? = TBYML
5. Rid of Me

I think the coolest thing about PJ is that there really is an album for everyone, and the albums are so different from each other that they're kind of impossible to rank anyway. I mean, you rank White Chalk quite low, but I think it's one of the most interesting albums I've ever heard, i eat that kind of manic, psychotic, claustrophobic music right up (Daniel Johnston fan here). I also think it's awesome that she's experiencing basically a second artistic peak with WC / LES, when most of her contemporaries are in total slumps. It just shows how good her attitude towards making music is.

Dunno what to get next, pretty satisfied with this lot~

[rainbowdash]

When I first heard Rid of Me it was way too severe for me, it took a few listens to sink in... Actually this one performance of "Snake" from the White Chalk tour was so kick-ass that it convinced me to listen to it again.

White Chalk's probably lower on my list still because it's so off-putting BUT I still love it, it is very difficult to really rank her albums because it's like they're on this pedestal above the majority of all other music. And since they all have such different intents it's hard to say she was more successful at the same thing in a particular record over another.

Yeah, she's basically the best in her, erm, category (?) Like Tori Amos, Björk, Kate Bush, all made albums last year that weren't as good as they could be meanwhile Let England Shake is one of PJ's best ever, it's not just another album to appease the fans and it's already so many people's favorite!

[rainbowdash]

Welcoming in April
http://youtu.be/NW7ADEwIMUM