Kimbra - Primal Heart ALBUM REVIEW 

this album really makes me wish Kimbra was a more popular artist. i really liked the production and her performances here even if the project as a whole isn't perfectly consistent.

The Golden Echo is a masterpiece but yall aren't ready to talk about that yet

kimbra is an icon pass it on

tbh i kinda disagree that kimbra doesn't have a signature sound or that her previous two albums were a mish-mash. she is fairly eclectic for sure, but i found Vows and Golden Echo both had a strong narrative arc that tied everything together well. perhaps its easier to tell on the live sessions where everything is played with similar instrumentation, but i do think there is a consistent artistic voice through it all, despite how much the style changes

I highly anticipated this album, I wasn't let down.

I love Kimbra's work, honestly I think she's kinda underrated. Enjoyed the review, really fair cristism.

I don't hear as many references as Anthony does on this, and I think some of them are actually quite forced. Primal Heart sounds a lot like I would expect a Kimbra record to sound after years of following her studio and live performances. I don't think for example that the little dragon vocal reference stands as Kimbra has always had that signature squeezed nasal tone, even before the Nabuma Rubberband album, and I honestly don't think that the golden echo sounded anything like trying to emulate Lorde. Having seen how she performs live with her TC Helicon and various tech I don't actually even see the James Blake reference, as those little vocal interludes have also been her signature for some time. I just disagree on this. I give the album a decent 8 :)

Kimbra is criminally underrated. this and Dirty Computer are my fav albums of 2018 so far. The Good War has gotta be one of the best pop opening tracks I've heard in the past 5 years

Vows was my 2011 aoty, still think that record is super solid. Glad this got a review. What kinda bothered me was the amount of tracks released before the album, just kinda killed the excitement a bit while listening. That aside it was a nice listen, always dig the style she brings.

It’s fascinating to watch his stains slowly evaporate from his shirt

“The Golden Hour” -wrongthany wrongtano

Disclaimer: There's more comments about Jordan Peterson than Kimbra.

“some of the best art pop you’ll hear this year” 7/10 guess art pop sucks

I'd personally give it at least an 8, thought it was amazing. I reckon it's as good as all of the defining pop albums from the last couple of years - Melodrama, Lemonade, Emotion. I hope this album eventually gets the recognition it deserves.

MELON SAYS HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT KANYE, MAKES A 20 MINUTE VIDEO ABOUT HIM EVERY WEEK....

This album is pretty cool, probably one of my top 10 favorites of the year.

Anthony review my depression

Watching melon's progressively drying shirt is a e s t h e t i c

0:18 Cal’s laugh is godly

This is the album I've been listening to the most recently. I fucking love it.

Did you know melon was atheist? So did everyone else

To everyone complaining about Anthony slipping in this "political commentary" intro, you've missed the point. This was not an opinion piece. Saying that only religious people can truly be artists is objectively an overtly ridiculous statement and should rightfully be ridiculed.

I saw her live last week! She was electric. Her music in the studio is fine at best to me but a great performer.

Coming back two years later. I unsubscribed after this review concluded that “Primal Heart” was a 7. I still think about this a couple times a week. Mind blowing. It was at the very least an 8.

Fell in love with Vows (among my top favorite albums of all time) but was kind of turned off by the brash sound on a lot of the tracks on The Golden Echo. Primal Heart feels a good point in-between experimentation and a more jazzy, poppy sound. Glad you finally shouted out Kimbra, she's such a raw talent.

I never understood why people want artists to sound the same all the time, especially on different albums. The reason I love Kimbra so much is because she works with so many sounds/genres, and every time she comes out with something new it isn't something I've already heard from her. On The Golden Echo it goes from hip-hop track "Goldmine" to the upbeat disco tune "Miracle" right after; I love it.

Hey guys, I don't have enough time to watch the video, is there anybody who can timestamp the times where Melon says the n-word.

You talk about a lack of continuity and attribute that to the disparate production and style on some of the tracks. But what if it’s inherently in someone’s nature to be self-contradictory or varied in nature? Perhaps the lack of uniformity in a sonic sense is what helps define Kimbra as an artist. As you say, she’s sort of an artistic chameleon, and thus you don’t know what you’re going to get from her on each track (some could sound more 80s-like, some more futuristic). So in a sense, this album did have an overarching theme that you were able to glean from it: that she’s diverse. What I’m basically trying to ask is: Can an album be all over the place and tap into a lot of different genres and still have continuity? Or do all the tracks have to kind of follow the same sonic pallet/instrument selection (ie “Currents” by tame impala or “Pinata” by Freddie Gibbs/Madlib)?

Thank You. I thought you forgot Kimmy -- This felt and sounded a better than her previous album, instantly liked most of the tracks

"forever 21 shopping spree in the year 3000" CLASSIC!

Kimbikini Kimunderwear Kimpanties Kimjeans

This review has some good soundbites Throbbing Orgasmic Squeezes out

This album is a 7 so it could either be an interesting and well put together album or one long drawn out bore fest

The bald man makes way too many references to other artists/albums. Talk about Kimbra’s album not literally everyone elses geez

Honestly became a huge fan of hers recently, a real unique voice and incredible talented artist. First two albums I thought were maybe a bit more inspired and experimental and "fun". There were some standouts on Primal Heart (which I waited eagerly for the release of) but I felt overall it sounded a bit more akin to the general pop landscape I'd usually hear on the radio and skip through. So definitely a mixed bag though she does remain a true talent - would love to hear perhaps some slightly more eccentric and eclectic sounds from her again. "Top Of The World" felt like 2018's "The Dreaming" by Kate Bush.

I completely forgot Kimbra existed after Settle Down came out 7 years ago

A fantano music review? I’d rather watch spit water dry on a red shirt

THROUGH SILVER IN BLOOD CLASSIC REVIEW

Loving this album, Past Love and Version of Me in particular. I recommend looking up her stripped-down solo performance of Past Love (somewhere on RU-vid) as it's even better than the studio track. In general I think Kimbra's vocal talent often has trouble shining through the production process, but her live sets are incredible.

I don’t think consistency should be something that people take into account at all unless it is consistency in quality. I can see consistency being an issue for listeners who are just not actual music fans and only want the occasional pop banger to enjoy, but anthony has more experience and knowledge and this criticism makes no sense to me. It makes me feel like he felt there was something he did not like about the album but could not quite put his finger on it and attributed it to that. I find that I have days where music just does not hit me the same as other days.Anthony goes through too much music to revisit albums that he only thought were just ok, so he will never be able to find out if this record is really as bad as he feels it is. Most of what I’m saying here relies on a lot of assumption, but I just disagree with this review.

Noam Chomsky here

kimthony bratano

Fantano is a postmodernist, and jealous he doesn’t get $500,000 a year in donations alone.

this is the homogenic of her career. no one can tell me otherwise, amazing iconic album.

I may be biased but this album deserves the same recognition as CRJ's Emotion

WOW FINALLY, glad you liked it Melon. Pitchfork snuffed this thing, best Art-Pop album since Artangels

Kimbra is fucking AMAZING. Lorde can’t even compare she’s awful

Vows was a dope album. it told a coherent story through different styles of music. i always felt that was her trademark as opposed to having a defining sound

jordan peterson: not good

How much money do I need to donate during a livestream to get you to massage my shoulders bro

Primalthany heartano

Anthony doesn't do bonus tracks, does he? I'd like to hear his thoughts on "Sugar Lies" from Golden Echo. It's the one song I genuinely, consistently enjoy from that album. The rest I don't care for. It seems like it belongs somewhere between Vows and Golden Echo, which is why it's a bonus track I guess?

This record goes hard in the bedroom with my lady. Tried it last night and it worked! Definitely some good grooves to groove to if you catch my drift.

Coming back to this, while I agree with some points Anthony makes, I think he completely over blows the degree of these influences on Kimbra. Kimbra has quite the eclectic taste and not to mention is just as much a producer as she is performer - much more so than someone like Lorde who has Jack Antonoff lead the way - Kimbra bosses all her own shit. You're more likely to hear Kimbra list some random jazz artist as an influence than the likes of whichever average ass bands anthony listed. I actually saw Kimbra's tour of this album and its extremely clear that her talent for mixing, improvising and programming synths etc is on another level. I could go on but I'll stop myself there.

cal vs the people

You bring up some great points here. I was completely obsessed with Kimbra's debut record Vows - particularly the original AUS/NZ release with slower tracks like Wandering Limbs, and without all the American release-commissioned Foster the People/Mark Ronson-y stuff like "Warrior." It was one of my favorite albums of this decade. I was pretty disappointed by The Golden Echo when it came out, and I've kind of been at a loss since then to articulate exactly why. She's clearly a massive music nerd, so there was so much about it to be excited about. Her move to LA and the shift toward neo-soul was clear, the eclecticism was on full-blast, the collaborator list was insane (Omar Rodriguez Lopez? Rich Costey? Matt Bellamy? WTF?), and the much higher production budget were all great news, but somehow I just felt kind of left behind. It didn't have the same appeal. All the things that made Vows work really well didn't have the same impact on The Golden Echo. I said, "Well, maybe it's just cause this is the sophomore curse. It's much faster turnaround than the debut, she's given a limitless roster of people and places to work with, it's just bloated and a bit conceptually undercooked." I also acknowledged that while I enjoy the musical influences of that record, like Bruno Mars and Brainfeeder collective stuff, it didn't hit for me like what fed into Vows - classic jazz singers like Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald, Tears for Fears ("Old Flame" is a blatant rip-off and it's so so fucking good), so on and so forth. But that mood continued upon reflecting from my first listen to Primal Heart. I was still mega stoked that there was a new Kimbra record to sink my teeth into, but it still didn't hit like Vows did. The eclecticism is a clear priority for her. She's not harnessing that eclecticism as a strength - she's just so excited that she's so stoked on getting into the nitty-gritty production and engineering details of the sounds that she's going after (which I have even less of a relationship to on this record - I've never listened to Fever Ray and only a little bit of The Knife, for instance) that she's leaving behind that monstrous virtuoso singing she's spent a lifetime mastering and there are no killer moments that come anywhere close to the level of a "Settle Down" or a "Cameo Lover." It's fun watching her journey but I think she's gotten a bit lost and isn't playing to her strengths like she did on her debut record anymore.

why does cal have the same receding hairline as you melon?

Hey! If you were interested, you should consider checking out Arc Iris, the band that supported Kimbra on her tour. They have released a couple new songs from an upcoming album that they haven't announced yet. I actually booked them for our college radio station's spring concert and they were really sweet and down-to-earth, despite their success and our somewhat limited resources. I know that RU-vid comments probably don't work for this sort of thing haha but I thought it would be worth a shot! I think you would make a really interesting review of one of their albums (or their upcoming album) and that fans would be interested!

As someone who's favorite artist is Kimbra, I don't really think she's particularly all that eclectic -- I mean sure, songs like 90s Music, Real Life, and Top of the World are different than most of her discography, but I feel like she still manages to have an identity. Like in my head, it's pretty much Little Dragon, but like, if I never got bored. Also I love eclecitism; we need more of it, not less. Plastic Beach is a jam after all, and so few artists attempt something like that.

Evaporation in action

I think what make her trademark is the jazz and 80 music influence. Then she add a twist of modern stuff.

I know you probably wouldn't, but I would love to see a retrospective analysis of this album. A 7 is a fair score, but I feel like you discredit some of the best tracks like Everybody Knows, Past Love, and Like They Do on the TV. You definitely raise some valid points. The album could have been more sonically cohesive, and the way it ended on Real Life was lame. That track should have been cut, and Version of Me should have been the outro.

i absolutely love Kimbra's work. very unique look at pop

I’m gonna give it a 9.5. It would have been a 10 if it had a banger like miracle, but still a great album! Definitely my fav so far.

Just listened to this one for the first time today, so this review is impeccably well-timed! I also found it to be incredibly 'listenable' and am feeling a solid 7, if only because I enjoy Kimbra's voice and there are some undeniable highs on this record in that department.

It's going to be hard to top The Golden Echo for me but Primal Heart is a decent cut.

Edgthany Athiestano

Man, that melon really doesn't like Jordan Peterson 🤣😂🤣

New to this channel, liking all of the content so far and your editing style is pretty clean with the cuts disregarding the random words that get thrown out with some audio edits. You're just really entertaining in general. I guess as I'm writing this I can recommend some albums for fun :) Angra - Holy Land and literally any Blind Guardian albums would be cool.

The Good War, Black Sky and Everybody Knows (also Version of Me) are my favorite songs on the album. The legitimate highlights of the album. I love their reimagined versions just as much too.

Totally agree with everything. You always hit some good points, i couldn't put my finger on how just what i thought about altogether. Good stuff

I was anticipating she would have a huge breakout back in 2013 like Lorde but she still is great. I just don't think she'll be able to break into the US market like Lorde did.

REview the speed at which water dries from 90% cotton polo shirts

the singles that dropped before the album are still the best/ most stand out tracks

Her early acoustic performances around the time of her first album were incredible. I kinda wish she went in more of that direction, but overall I agree with your sentiments about her trajectory. She has so much talent and potential but I think she needs to start from square one again and find what really makes her unique.

Interesting, Gotye also had a scattershot approach to genre on his big record. A culture among friends?

Also Melon you should review the new Sectioned album, it's some of the most visceral intense metal I've heard all year and it's fucking amazing. Love you

Make sure you review - A Laughing Death In Meatspace - Tropical Fuck Storm ( A The Drones Offshoot).

IM SO HAPPY IM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO GOT LITTLE DRAGON VIBES. As soon as Recovery played, I was like "LITTLE DRAGON?" lol but I love this album! Can't wait to see Kimbra next weekend!

I feel like it would have been better as an EP with the best songs from the album. The initial singles were my favorite but the other ones weren't amazing. It felt like it was kind of rushed

i recommend you listen to the live version of 'version of me' it's more electronic than the studio version and makes more sense in the context of the album. i'm actually a bit confused kimbra didn't have the studio version sound more similar to the live version.

Past Love is a great track

Meh I really like the way she is not continuously sounding the same I guess. To me it’s refreshing. And it keeps you listening. But yeah lyrically this new album is okay.

Anthony, when are you going to review Jack Ladder and the Dreamlanders - Blue Poles? Come on, catch up, Bud.

Tbh I’ve been sleeping hard on Kimbra but all the descriptions of her music you’ve given sounds cool as hell

What's up Anthony. You should check out "Flamingo and Koval" by Bobby Feeno (Ex NFL running back Arian Foster). I encourage you to listen to it before you write it off. The production is amazing, the flow is tight, and there is a lot of substance. Do yourself a favor on this one, you won't be disappointed.

I can't get enough of Top of the world gosh

Anthony doing Australian/NZ music I'm shocked. Has only missed basically everything from this continent so far this year

Kimbra is easily one of the best, most underrated pop artists of this generation. I don't see why she gets so much hate from critics when she's better than nearly all of her contemporaries. She's the Kiwi Janelle Monáe: they both cover multiple sounds and styles, but Kimbra is yet to master it. She has all the talent, but Kimbra will shine when she finds a particular sound.

loveeee this. would really like to see her live soon

I saw her open for ODESZA last night and she was great. One of the best opening acts I've seen.

01:21 THE GOLDEN ECHO*

Lovely review Anthony! Can't wait to hear your thoughts and Jon Hopkins Singularity. .. It's peeerty solid stuff, imho :)

I really liked her previous two albums and the song Sweet Relief which sounded super inspired by St. Vincent, however, I haven't really gotten into this new album yet which is a little disappointing. Maybe it'll grow on me, but it just sounds too... trendy.

inlove itt and i can actually hear kimbras “trademark” sound? esp in the golden echo album... idk i think idk much music ppl

SHIRTHONY DRIEDTANO

You got alot to review on the weekly track review. Royce Da 5'9" and Em, Joyner Lucas and even Bloc Boy JB (I don't think he really deserves a album review but THE BOOK OF RYAN SURELY DOES)

I’m surprised you didn’t catch the Kendrick Lamar impression on “top of the world”

The album is a solid 8.75/10. Very good!

Fun fact: Kimbra is on Party Smasher which is owned by Ben Weinman of Dillinger Escape Plan, who also is Kimbra’s tour manager.