Ys

Ys:
1. A mythical city built on the coast of Brittany and then swollowed up by the om nom nom-ing ocean. British legends are pretty lame, so I assume the stories about Ys follow this trend also.

2. A video game series that's like Zelda except no one gives a shit about except for Japanese people. It's also kinda like Dragon Quest in which one mirrion different games have been released in the series in Japan but like one has made it to Australia. Apparently they are quite good games, but like, cbf to play through an RPG that's in Japanese so I won't have any idea what to do.

3. A spectacular record by Joanna Newsom. It's like progressive folk because there are 5 songs in the 55-minute record but it's not really progressive because it's not wanky like Yes or Rush. Wanky, wanky bands (even though I quite like Yes, especially "Close To The Edge", it's radical).



She's got a pretty wacky voice. I mean she can't really sing and kinda sounds like Julia Stone. Except she's better. And is good. And is pretty damn smokin' too. The album has amazing orchestral parts that make the songs exponentially better and more interesting than the songs on her debut "The Milk-Eyed Mender". Her debut is like a Devendra Banhart album because they're both minimalist folk-y and both just try to sing into the mic. Ys is like if Devendra played his guitar along to a Stravinsky piece because Strav rules and so do the orchestral arrangements in Ys. Also, it's pretty good how a 9-minute + folk song can maintain interest. This is because the music is so great and because Joanna's lyrics are all stories and interesting and just in general great. This bitch can write a song, lemmetellyathis.

Does it sound like I'm raving on about this album? Yes? Yes! because it's that damn fucking great. Do yourself a favour and have an ear to what folk music can hold dear to them. It's Joanna and old Dylan / Young / Drake records. And Leonard Cohen. He's sick.

FIVE OUTTA FIVE, YO!

Joanna Newsom - Monkey and Bear