herb4 said:

Noodled24 said:

Messy in what way?

Overproduced with no real song structure behind it or a hook to draw you in. Meaning just a collection of studio effects. Could you play this bastard on an acoustic guitar or a piano?

*I* couldn't... but i'm sure someone could take an instrument and do their interpretation of it.

There is a guy on youtube who takes a lot of Skrillex tracks and performs them solo on a piano. They're incredible. Search Youtube for "skrillex piano" if you're interested.

The hook I would say is the guitar intro since it appears a few times in the song. The song itself is fairly short and evolves from the beat into a bassy synth solo/dance segment which IMO ends all too soon. It's begging to be compared to Daft Punk, but nobody makes a guitar squeal like Prince.

[Edited 9/20/14 17:26pm]

....meh. It's probably just me, but I hate it when Prince tries to sound like everybody else. It ends up sounding so artificial. I love Prince when he sounds like Prince. For example, when I listen to Woodkid's "The Golden Age" CD, I LOVE IT! Nobody sounds like Woodkid. His style of music is 100% his own. I listen to a Prince dance track like Housequake, and can jam, because it's not only funky, but nothing else sounds like it. I'm not hating, I hope these two albums are a great success, but I'm not feeling a couple of tracks I've heard from it so far.

Noodled24 said:

databank said:

On a first listen I'd say it's a mess, a complete, total, unlistenable mess and I think Mr. Welton has a lot to do with it.

It's rare that I think such a thing of a new track, I may like 'em more or less, but I don't recall thinking one was a mess since Purple & Gold.

On the other hand, because it's so very messy, it's very possible that I somehow "missed" it. It may grow on me with time, or not, we'll c

Messy in what way? It's fairly stripped down for a dance track. Even managing to sound drum&bass like in parts. The guitars are crisp and sharp. The drums sound big. His vocals are clear.

Granted if dance music isn't your thing then fair play. It's unlikely you'd get much from it. But messy implies cluttered, too much going on - and that isn't the case at all.

For the first time in a long time I'd love to hear an extended version of this song where he gets REALLY messy.

I listen to dance music all day. Dance music is mostly about efficiency and being catchy on a first listen.

Like herb4 said I meant messy in the way that it lacks structure and sounds like a collection of sound effects, hence my comment that maybe I missed it because the structure is not so obvious. It reminds me of Kanye West's last album: ambitious concepts but too messy to make any sense, + I don't believe (in bith West and this one song's case) that current dance "sounds" are very compatible with experimental structures, but that's only a personal opinion.

Meanwhile, love it or hate it, the FUNKNROLL audio video is just over of 65,000 views after three days (from 42,000 early yesterday).

It has only 42 Dislikes to over 900 Likes.

Sounds like a good chunk of those 42 people post on the Org.

Some of the comments on the Youtube page do sound like WB staffers posting every hour but by and large I don't see any revulsion other than here on the Org.

The song is HOT! You may not like it, but it's still hot, you may hate it, but it's still hot! If you can't stand the heat, then get the funk outta da kitchen:)

Great song. Particularly like all the shifts and changes. The last minute or so is heavenly.

Prince sounds fresh and energised. This version of FUNKNROLL and U Know bring more contemporary elements without losing Prince's sound.

This sounds like Camille would (and should) in 2014. An entire album of these kind of cuts would please me no end.

[Edited 9/21/14 6:15am]

Noodled24 said:

databank said:

On a first listen I'd say it's a mess, a complete, total, unlistenable mess and I think Mr. Welton has a lot to do with it.

It's rare that I think such a thing of a new track, I may like 'em more or less, but I don't recall thinking one was a mess since Purple & Gold.

On the other hand, because it's so very messy, it's very possible that I somehow "missed" it. It may grow on me with time, or not, we'll c

Messy in what way? It's fairly stripped down for a dance track. Even managing to sound drum&bass like in parts. The guitars are crisp and sharp. The drums sound big. His vocals are clear.

Granted if dance music isn't your thing then fair play. It's unlikely you'd get much from it. But messy implies cluttered, too much going on - and that isn't the case at all.

For the first time in a long time I'd love to hear an extended version of this song where he gets REALLY messy.

"Messy" also implies that the different elements do not interact with each other in a musical way, which is the case with this track.

That resonant "bottle" sound just doesn't work rhythmically with the melody of the song, no matter how "cool" people may think such things sound. There's no real continuity between the different sections either. I'm particularly irked myself by how out of the place the break from the original sounds when it appears here. Live drums are used on the break, but the rest of the drums on this version have electronic, synthesized ones. There's also grimey distortion from the band instruments present during the break, but none of that's present during the end section. The synths at the end are supposed to sound aggressive, but they sound very bland, in a software-generated way. As far as the selection of different sounds go, the track is a complete mess.

The last part is also "messy in a cluttered way" as it's just sounds getting stacked on top of each other without a proper arrangement being present. What's played on the synths do not complement Prince's vocals at all (at many points they drift away from the implied harmonies, which makes it obvious that this is just a remix). I think many people here that have done music themselves are able to recognize many elements present on this track as the type of stuff you may yourself try out when you're younger and don't really know what the fuck you are doing.

The entire track is messy and amateurish. I've borrowed the latter expression from violetblues and with this track I'm in agreement with that description. I think the amateurish quality is mostly due to Josh Welton being involved. Prince is a veteran musician himself. I don't think he would be even able to come up with this type of novice-level stuff anymore. "FunkNRoll" as such, the original version, I think is good stuff.

ya know what is messy? that song "guitar" the way prince fumbles over all his lyrics like he has marbles in his mouth .. this track is the best thing prince has done in a long while .. and Yeezus was the best record in almost a decade .. not cluttered at all .. in fact .. not dumbed down for the masses would be a better description .. most of prince music is like one chord .. no need to play a funk track on acoustic guitar .. the breakdown, that is your strum around the campfire song

V10LETBLUES said:

...meanwhile Taylor Swift, the very definition of white-bread is showing Prince how it's done with her 80's retro-vanity Six-ish style Shake It Off. A light dance number, while not deep at all, is somewhat personal and at least says something other than once again saying you are going to party like never before. When an artist like Prince NEEDS to start taking lessons from the likes of Taylor Swift, you know you as an artist have to pick up your game. ...also, Prince, take note of her professional sounding production as a refresher course.. [Edited 9/21/14 8:43am]

You are so trolling with this post. That Taylor Swift song is horrible. Nice try

This song is intersting. I dont' care for the beginning, but it gets better as the song progresses, then it ends great! I feel this will kick ass live!

[Edited 9/21/14 8:52am]

KingSausage said:

The song gets better every time I listen to it. September 30, hurry the fuck up.

I agree.

newpower99 said:

wonder505 said:

V10LETBLUES said:

wonder505 said:

You are so trolling with this post. That Taylor Swift song is horrible. Nice try

The entire world seems to disagree with you lol

Which explains the state of music today. Yeah yall could have that trash.

V10LETBLUES said:

newpower99 said:

I had a problem warming up to the first 2:30 minutes of the song on several first listens but I kept coming back for that amazing final minute and a half. Now I'm loving the song as a whole. Someone earlier referenced this is the WTF is this Batdance moment . I would agree

I agree that it gets better towards the end. It shows a spark of life and energy after the stale run of the mill 90's Prince first half.

Now that we can agree on. The first part reminded me of the 90's music I didnt care for.

V10LETBLUES said:

Aerogram said:

databank said:

Noodled24 said:

Messy in what way? It's fairly stripped down for a dance track. Even managing to sound drum&bass like in parts. The guitars are crisp and sharp. The drums sound big. His vocals are clear.

Granted if dance music isn't your thing then fair play. It's unlikely you'd get much from it. But messy implies cluttered, too much going on - and that isn't the case at all.

For the first time in a long time I'd love to hear an extended version of this song where he gets REALLY messy.

I listen to dance music all day. Dance music is mostly about efficiency and being catchy on a first listen.

Like herb4 said I meant messy in the way that it lacks structure and sounds like a collection of sound effects, hence my comment that maybe I missed it because the structure is not so obvious. It reminds me of Kanye West's last album: ambitious concepts but too messy to make any sense, + I don't believe (in bith West and this one song's case) that current dance "sounds" are very compatible with experimental structures, but that's only a personal opinion.

There is a fairly clear structure... Intro (which is a recuring theme) then a pharell like hiphop segment which prince delivers the verses. Then it goes into a frenetic dance keyboard section which echos his 90's dance music.

It may not be the classic intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/dancebreak/chorus/outro structure. But there is a very clear structure there. In terms of structure I wouldn't even say it was all that experimental.

What does Taylor Swift have to do with Prince?!

purplethunder3121 said:

What does Taylor Swift have to do with Prince?!

.

They're both pop artists?

nosajd said:

purplethunder3121 said:

What does Taylor Swift have to do with Prince?!

.

They're both pop artists?

My take.....

I knew this "FunknRoll" remix would divide the hardcore fans...lol....Hell, I was pretty much WTF when I first heard an early preview of that song back in Feb ...Didn't know what to think about Prince meets The Trap meets Hyphy...Still don't...But that last minute or so grabbed me by the fucking neck...Me and my boy looked at each other like, "WEIRDO PRINCE is alive and kickin'....

But a few things in this posts need to be addressed....

--First, the actual musical nods that Prince is giving has nothing to do with the '90s.......This is more of a mix of the Bay Area post '00 sound of maybe 3-4 years ago mixed with a little of the Trap-ish club music you would hear today...Some of the Orgers comparing this to '90s R&B/hip-hop production seem a little out-of-touch...There's nothing '90s about this....At all....

--In terms of style this is contemporary as Prince has ever gotten...much in the same way as he did with "Get Off" it still retains that curveball, weirdo Prince vibe....Still, I can see how the "FunkNRoll" remix would turn off longtime fans...

--I don't know about us old heads, but I'm quite surprised by the reaction to this song by the youngins....Twitter is the true barometer of these things. When you see teens and 20somethings post stuff like "I like this new Prince song" or "this is a club banger" it shows once again that the world is way bigger than the Org bubble....

--And I'm kinda perplexed with some folks bringing up Taylor Swift in the context of what Prince should be doing. I spit out my orange juice when I read that shit...lol...There's some major Trolling going on....

[Edited 9/21/14 10:26am]

V10LETBLUES said:

^ lol Mr out of touch himself.

Turn that troll down, homie....It's really loud....

And I wasn't directing my post to one person...It was about some of the comments I've been reading about the actual production values of the track on the Org....I even read how "FunkNRoll" was Prince doing Timbaland (not from u...but from others...)

Listen. I get it. U don't like me and I don't very much care for yo trolling ass either. But u have to have thicker skin than this; especially when I didn't even make it a point to respond to any of your posts in this thread or attack u in any way.

Let's keep it clean Violet. Trust. If I call u out I def. understand u going HAM. But my post up top wasn't the case....

[Edited 9/21/14 10:40am]

novabrkr said:

Noodled24 said:

Messy in what way? It's fairly stripped down for a dance track. Even managing to sound drum&bass like in parts. The guitars are crisp and sharp. The drums sound big. His vocals are clear.

Granted if dance music isn't your thing then fair play. It's unlikely you'd get much from it. But messy implies cluttered, too much going on - and that isn't the case at all.

For the first time in a long time I'd love to hear an extended version of this song where he gets REALLY messy.

"Messy" also implies that the different elements do not interact with each other in a musical way, which is the case with this track.