AOTW - H2H Week 1 - She Keeps Bees - Nests

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AOTW - H2H Week 1 - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by basejumper »

Hello listeners,

this week I have selected a glorious work by She Keeps Bees which is comprised of Jessica Larrabee on guitar and vocals and drummer Andy LaPlant. Sit back, grab yourself a nice sipping alcoholic beverage, and enjoy the sultry, bluesy sounds of She Keeps Bees and their 2008 release, Nests.

She Keeps Bees - Nests


Reviews:
The Guardian said that "they're like the White Stripes in reverse." Drowned in Sound said of Larrabee that "she has amazing control over her vocals, able to simultaneously be fiery and reserved, seductive and vaguely crude", and fellow Brooklyn musician Sharon Van Etten said "she has one of the best voices I have ever heard and she has more soul in one finger than most female singers have in our scene." The New York Times's ArtsBeat compared her to PJ Harvey, but added that "far from Ms. Harvey’s theatrical poise, Ms. Larrabee is loose, vehement and unchoreographed, jittering around the stage." The Quietus said of "Nests" that "the album does its duty, forms a songbook for the pissed off, the heavy-lidded and the sultry." The Observer said it was "sparse, soulful and defiantly retro." Contact Music argued that "in some parts the album isn’t an easy listen but once you’re in to it, it’s very rewarding." from Wiki

Image

If you are felling a good buzz from the short album Nests then 'Dig On' to their most recent, slightly longer, 2011 release. Enjoy :)
Last edited by Kittaan on Tue Mar 11, 2014 4:48 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by not tyson »

You're suppose to pick one album.
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by basejumper »

Not Tyson wrote:You're suppose to pick one album.
I did. Your choice to go to the other one.
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

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Pfft you expect me to read?
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by hellboy »

I don't see why we should pick. It's up to the person who submits the album.
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by not tyson »

hellboy wrote:I don't see why we should pick. It's up to the person who submits the album.
I see you're not a fan of reading either.
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by hellboy »

Not Tyson wrote:
hellboy wrote:I don't see why we should pick. It's up to the person who submits the album.
I see you're not a fan of reading either.
I do enjoy reading, but I'm pretty confused right now - is Nests the album of the week, or is it Dig On? The post doesn't seem overly clear to me.
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by not tyson »

"this week I have selected a glorious work by She Keeps Bees which is comprised of Jessica Larrabee on guitar and vocals and drummer Andy LaPlant. Sit back, grab yourself a nice sipping alcoholic beverage, and enjoy the sultry, bluesy sounds of She Keeps Bees and their 2008 release, Nests. "
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by basejumper »

Holy shit... for real :roll:

WTF is the title of this thread?
Last edited by basejumper on Tue Mar 11, 2014 2:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by hellboy »

Well, I've changed the OP, I don't see any reason why two album need to be so prominent in the post.
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by basejumper »

hellboy wrote:Well, I've changed the OP, I don't see any reason why two album need to be so prominent in the post.
Whatever floats your boat man....
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by The Boss »

Format for the albums will be the usual, e.g. "AOTW - Titus Andronicus: The Monitor".
Pretty average start, BJ. Not sure what a review from Wikipedia is supposed to do for us.

Probably best to keep it as simple as possible from now on. A YouTube video of the album (if possible) and a short explanation as to why you've chosen it.

Regardless, this seems fine, and I'll give it the attention it deserves once Kittaan posts his. Then I can listen to both choices back-to-back and decide who is the OMG ALBUM OF THE WEEK *DRAMATIC MUSIC*(TM).
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by basejumper »

I think everyone wants to bitch about something tonight... Is the photo ok and in the right place or should I move it somewhere else. Jeez.
Maybe we should just privately submit them so you guys can hash out the details of what is a perfect submission in your eyes, then post it yourself.
Just listen to the fucking album!
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by not tyson »

Which one?
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by The Boss »

basejumper wrote:I think everyone wants to bitch about something tonight... Is the photo ok and in the right place or should I move it somewhere else. Jeez.
Maybe we should just privately submit them so you guys can hash out the details of what is a perfect submission in your eyes, then post it yourself.
Just listen to the fucking album!
LOL, it's fine, just a little idiosyncratic.

Like I said, I look forward to listening to it. I'm very curious as to what Kittaan has for us . . .
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by hellboy »

I'm listening to the album now (hopefully the right one). It'll be interesting to see if Kittaan picks one less interesting than this album. I'll have a full review a little later though.

For what it's worth, I believe the competing albums should be released simultaneously.
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by The Boss »

hellboy wrote:I'm listening to the album now (hopefully the right one). It'll be interesting to see if Kittaan picks one less interesting than this album. I'll have a full review a little later though.

For what it's worth, I believe the competing should be released simultaneously.
Yeah, I was hoping by having dates to go by, we'd not be more than a day out of each other posting.

Of course, apparently Kittaan is seeing some hip new emo band in concert, so no doubt that's fucking things up quite a bit.

Tyson and I will be able to release our choices at the exact same time, if everyone wants.
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by not tyson »

That's tomorrow night.
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by The Boss »

He said something about being offline for the next 24 hours or something wait I don't give a fuck.
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by hellboy »

So my full review is that this album is dead boring. About 4 tracks in I was hanging out for it to finish so I could go back to listening to Slayer. Jazz fusion is looking pretty good right now. Needless to say, I didn't make it to the second album...

4/10
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Re: AOTW - Week 1 - head to head - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by Specter »

Last notes just rang out.
Songs are short but sweet. Larrabee has a voice that fits nicely into the music. She sails over the instruments in a Joplin-esque ship. I quite enjoyed this album while sipping a few beers tonight.
Thanks for sharing.

6.5 out of 10
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Re: Re: AOTW - H2H Week 1 - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by Kittaan »

I changed the title of the post to start with "Re: AOTW - H2H Week 1 - " so they sort together all nice & neat...

On to the review: I didn't hate it, but I wouldn't seek it out again. It is a little too raw both in performance and definitely in production for my tastes. Sounded very DIY. I have a feeling if it had a better overall sound I would have gotten into it more.
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Re: AOTW - H2H Week 1 - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by not tyson »

Boring, uninspired, middle of the road rock.

Something that would be even too bland to be played at starbucks, their job is to perk people up, not put them to sleep.

Suffers of sleep apnea would do well to listen to this.

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Re: AOTW - H2H Week 1 - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by liz »

I got past track 4 and I have to say that was the first track that got my fingers tapping. I didn't mind it and honestly it engaged me for longer that Kittaans pick but I agree with him on this one I would have liked a lot more production instead of the, sitting around after dinner with a guitar, sound.
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Re: AOTW - H2H Week 1 - She Keeps Bees - Nests

Post by The Boss »

This was an interesting album, in that it clearly shows a band finding its feet. All the pieces are waaaaaaay too short, as if each individual idea they had was chopped up and given its own song. At times it felt like several of the songs could've been combined to make a more deliberate and interesting album.

The vocals are far from original. Many times I felt like I was listening to a bored CAT POWER or THE PACK A.D. while they were using opiates. That said, you really can't fuck up this genre with regard to vocals. You sing a little bluesy, a little sharp, a tiny bit adventurous, and you're good to go.

The instrumentation was about as good as what I can come up with and play. A few actually sounded exactly like some of the drunken blues stuff me and my buddies in Korea used to come up with. Take that as you see fit.

Yet despite what seems to be me finding nothing but faults, I really enjoyed this. It helps that I like this style and genre anyway, but I found it quite easy to listen to, and very enjoyable. The "Release/Gimmie/Get Gone" trio of songs was the absolute highlight, as all of those songs were great and showed glimpses of what this group is likely to look like in a few years. I think they show great potential.

I'll personally be keeping an eye on SHE KEEPS BEES. This was the whole point of AOTW, and it's succeeded. Well done basejumper!

7/10
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