Actress - AZD

[Sally Vingoe]

i too put actress onto my "idontgetit" playlist

maybe one day

[dr lopez]

I'll try again I guess: do you have any thoughts, inclinations, theories about actress and his music? What's his goal or "thesis" of his tracks and albums, including this one. It's obvious from his interviews that he's clearly considering the conceptual thrust of his music. I can't quite figure out what he's getting at- and at this point I'm beginning to think there's a certain amount of intellectual obfuscating to hide boring music, but given the positive response of people here I'm curious what other people think. so are you going to share your opinions on music on a music opinion forum or are you going to say "people have music opinions" on a music opinion forum, I mean dang dude

[sweepstakes]

autism intensifies

[keanu reeves]

i can't even begin to comprehend what people see in this guy. 

[QQQ]

please fuck off, lopez. you take every opportunity to shit on Actress and you take other people's enjoyment of his music so offensively lmao

 

i don't think you need to explain why you like an artist and music can be much more subtle, not everything will conjure powerful emotions and images but i'll try to play your game anyway

 

for me his music is just the right side of unusual. it's loopy and repetitive enough to be hypnotic but adventurous enough to be interesting and he has definitely defined a 'sound' for himself. for me there's a distinct british and urban vibe i get from the music in the same way as an artist like Burial (who's probably his closest contemporary). the music reminds me of getting hella blunted with friends and listening to music in cars as a teen, listening to the music through a thick haze both literally (h0t bOxiNg daT sHiT faM) and mentally. the dude himself is very odd which gives some interest and mystique to the music as well. he clearly has strong concepts and ideas for his albums and as pieces his albums hold together well both together and separately. unity in albums is something important when it comes to me liking an artist and he achieves it well, even though his music is so fractured and variable.

 

on a basic level his music has a lot of things i enjoy hearing; noise, 4x4 kicks, vocal samples, buried sounds and melodies etc.

 

like i said a page back or so he's only just clicked for me recently. i thought he was decent but overrated, nothing more. sometimes you just don't see what others do in music (or any art form) and sometimes you do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edited April 18, 2017 by QQQ

[gnarlybog]

R.I.P hooked me because of the atmospherics, textural subtlety, hypnotic repetition. Some tracks sound like huge sections of the composition have been muted and all you are left with is a hollow skeleton or vapour. 

 

I am not sure he is pushing the sound into new places here, but its enjoyable, if a little underwhelming.

 

Also, his shiny robot gear comment... i love hate-reading the promo for this release cycle!!

[xox]

His music reflexes to many different styles and many Ppl like him cause his music sounds like everybody could make such music. He makes everybody feel like theyre just step away to become famous, only if they buy gear..and thats why the industry loves him and similar artists and music/gear portals are paid by that industry...so...yes. Hez smart enough to sing-along but itz also evident that he dances to his own music.

Edit: We like him for other reasons, i hope ;)

Edited April 18, 2017 by xox

[Ivan Ooze]

i never read any article or interviews from actress and i don't even know how he looks like, i don't give a damn, all i know is that splazsh and rip are fuckin amazing records

people hating cause they are too lazy to put an effort into listening/understanding an album and because something is rightfully hyped

[joshuatxuk]

its better than that last machinedrum album tho amirite!?

 

*dodges brick*

 

*jetpacks out*

[joshuatxuk]

This is one of those album that was intriguing enough for me to revisit and has that "grower" vibe but not one that was immediately clicking with me, especially compared to albums I've dug in the last few weeks and months.

 

i never read any article or interviews from actress and i don't even know how he looks like, i don't give a damn, all i know is that splazsh and rip are fuckin amazing records

people hating cause they are too lazy to put an effort into listening/understanding an album and because something is rightfully hyped

 

 

That goes both ways, a lot of people are too lazy to put effort in questioning whether something is really good and worthwhile.

 

Hype is a tricky thing - I feel like forums are one of the last places to really debate the merits of music. Very few music review sites bother too. In fact music journalism is now focused on PR collaboration and new music tastemaking, hype, and news coverage site clicks. The writing and reviews are secondary.

There's such a resistance to completely slag off an album in the press, especially when it's someone of past acclaim and extensive PR work. For better or worse there were no sacred cows in the music press in the past. 20+ years ago NME, Rolling Stone, Spin, etc. could wreck band careers. That doesn't happen anymore which is good but the consequence is that there's very little room for harsh debate and discussion of albums and much. I rarely see releases with "mixed reception anymore" it's usually one of the big tastemaker outlets (pfork or with electronic music RA or FACT) lauding an album and every other fucking music journalism site following through. The short shelf-life of press makes it hard for recent but older albums (months old or last year) to be re-evaluated. So we now have this era with instant "classics" and flash-in-the pan hype but very few truly played out and organically and widespread acclaimed releases.

 

Actress is talented, interesting, notable, etc. and IIRC he was on the radar of many labels well before he got big. Mike P mentioned trying to get him to Planet Mu before he went to 4AD. That kind of reputation is a lot harder to shake off and question, rightfully or wrongly, because every soundcloud track and new music tease is scrutinized and hyped. In 2017 it's impossible to release a "bad" album and move on to another effort. Burial is the same boat. Same with RDJ.

 

fyi Here's the only interview i've seen from quite awhile back

 

Edited April 18, 2017 by joshuatx

[xox]

Ivan ooze! See that face! See it!

 

Oolo

[Ivan Ooze]

^ cool video, i didn't know he was a uk brother, tought he was murican asian or something

at 0:57 he describes the RIP album as it sounds to me and i guess that's what i like about actress, controlled digital stuff moving around that shakes your human natural feels

[Kavinsky]

why i love Actress
2:24

 

[auxien]

http://crackmagazine.net/article/music/actress-altered-identities/

 

Dunno if this has been posted but lol at his 'left a bag of minidiscs on a bus' story...and then there's his talking to people about building robots and robotics and AI to play synths for him...is he purposefully trying to cultivate the same audience as Richard, or just stealing his stories because he forgot they weren't his own?

[keanu reeves]

 

 

“I was in a particularly destructive mood at the time,” he says, pausing for a moment as the restaurant’s pianist begins another perfunctory recital. “But I’ve a tendency for that. I used to record to mini-disc a lot, and I remember once, during a particularly frustrating period where I was on the verge of finding a voice to carry my music, I just thought ‘fuck this’ and left a bag of them on the back of a bus.” The memory makes him laugh, and he wonders out loud who may have come across them.

 

 

i hate this. self mythologizing musicians are the worst. i can barely stomach it when richard does it but i tolerate that because his music is superior. just make music and get on with it.

[Auditor]

Welp, I loved Ghettoville but this didn't do anything for me on first listen. 

[Guest]

 

“I was in a particularly destructive mood at the time,” he says, pausing for a moment as the restaurant’s pianist begins another perfunctory recital. “But I’ve a tendency for that. I used to record to mini-disc a lot, and I remember once, during a particularly frustrating period where I was on the verge of finding a voice to carry my music, I just thought ‘fuck this’ and left a bag of them on the back of a bus.” The memory makes him laugh, and he wonders out loud who may have come across them.[/size]

 

i hate this. self mythologizing musicians are the worst. i can barely stomach it when richard does it but i tolerate that because his music is superior. just make music and get on with it.

it's odd but tbh maybe it's a sort of conceptual thing, building a weird fake narrative/persona..? Just acting it out.. otoh, probably the majority of his fans would take these stories at face value so dunno.. it's maybe a bit clever and may develop further in possibly interesting ways. or he's just a jackass

edit: essentially what auxien said

Edited April 20, 2017 by Guest

[ambermonk]

I only began listening to AZD yesterday but haven't finished. Nothing's jumped out at me yet, but there's no mistaking that 4/4 step minimalist ambient house style of his.

I will definitely listen to this multiple times to let it sink in. Splazsh is probably my favorite album so far, but I'm inclined to give this one patience.

[BoomTssPhace]

Hey speaking of actress, happy 20 of april every one

 

[kirm]

I like it.. not blown away by it but good stuff from him yet again and think it may be a grower

 

Also I think he come across as quite funny.. yeah its pretentious but he mostly sounds like he is taking the piss to me. 

[patternoverlap]

 

 

“I was in a particularly destructive mood at the time,” he says, pausing for a moment as the restaurant’s pianist begins another perfunctory recital. “But I’ve a tendency for that. I used to record to mini-disc a lot, and I remember once, during a particularly frustrating period where I was on the verge of finding a voice to carry my music, I just thought ‘fuck this’ and left a bag of them on the back of a bus.” The memory makes him laugh, and he wonders out loud who may have come across them.[/size]

 

i hate this. self mythologizing musicians are the worst. i can barely stomach it when richard does it but i tolerate that because his music is superior. just make music and get on with it.

it's odd but tbh maybe it's a sort of conceptual thing, building a weird fake narrative/persona..? Just acting it out.. otoh, probably the majority of his fans would take these stories at face value so dunno.. it's maybe a bit clever and may develop further in possibly interesting ways. or he's just a jackass

edit: essentially what auxien said

Actress...acting it out

[Richie Sombrero]

Have never liked his music. Will prob just skip this entirely.

[BoomTssPhace]

Can anyone spot what Rammellzee joint that is on CYN ?

[auxien]

Can anyone spot what Rammellzee joint that is on CYN ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1Y-hd0pleE

[BobDobalina]

No, but I like how this track morphs into phoenicia-like weirdness as it progresses!