trailing edge - episode 014 - april-june 2019 (VIDEO)

Okay, long time overdue to get this done, but I'm happy it's here.

Next up... probably handling Thom Yorke if I don't put him on the Trailing Edge, and then Dreamville - stay tuned!

video review: 'froot' by marina and the diamonds

Dear god, that took way too long to get online. Frustrating as hell, I have to say.

Next up... oh, hell, you all know what's coming. Stay tuned!

album review: 'froot' by marina and the diamonds

This might be my most requested record ever. Not the new Kendrick Lamar, not the new Modest Mouse or Of Montreal or AWOLNATION, this album. And I want to make this clear: I've been getting requests to cover Marina and the Diamonds since 2013 back when I started this channel. This has been a pop act I have been so inundated with requests that I talk about that it's been a struggle for me not to immediately drop into backlash mode. Because let's be blunt: when I get this many requests for an album, it's either massively popular - in this case it's not - it's incredibly good - that needed to be seen - or it's massively overrated with a diehard fanbase that won't stop even when I've said I'll cover it multiple times.

So now that time has come: Marina and the Diamonds, not a band but the solo project of Marina Diamandis, English pop singer-songwriter who made her big debut in 2010 with The Family Jewels. And as a debut in an era where UK pop was finally starting to make a splash stateside, it was a wildly varied, genuinely interesting pop album that crossed a lot of styles, featured Marina's unique vocal range, and had some genuinely intelligent lyrics. A lot of critics made comparisons of her as a cross between Lady Gaga and Kesha, but I'd argue there's a much easier comparison point in sound and style: Natalia Kills, but while Kills was more driven by icy hip-hop styles, Marina was more inspired by the garish, more theatrical indie baroque pop scene of the late-2000s from acts like mid-period Sia and Lily Allen. But the Natalia Kills comparison works - they're both playing a similar blend of rough-edged glam, they both have a theatrical presence in lyrics and delivery, and they both were better writers than your average pop starlet.

But here's the thing: Natalia Kills stuck to her guns, and even though her sophomore album Trouble sold terribly it was still an improvement across the board and probably an album I underrated when I first reviewed it. Marina and the Diamonds, on the other hand, got on board with Dr. Luke, Cirkut, Diplo, and Greg Kurstin and suddenly all of the personality and lyrical flavor I liked about her seemed to evaporate. Sure, the femme fatale persona could have worked, she's got the voice for it, but the self-awareness in the songwriting and the painfully generic electropop production did nothing for it. Yeah, there were moments that clawed back some of that personality, but not enough to save Electra Heart from being painfully generic for me.

So I'll admit to being a little interested when I heard that her newest album FROOT was going to be pitching all of the big name producers for something much more self-controlled with only a single producer besides Marina working on it. Would this mean more of her unique personality and songwriting skill returning to the forefront?