Grimes | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Combining dream pop, R&B;, electronic, and hip-hop influences into futuristic yet familiar-sounding songs, Grimes Claire Boucher became one of the most distinctive artists of the 2010s. The ethereal sonics that surrounded her unmistakable soprano on early releases such as 2010s Halfaxa became crisper and more diverse on 2012s widely acclaimed Visions and 2015s Art Angels, which incorporated touches of country and metal into its freewheeling sounds. As the decade drew to a close, Grimes was an in-demand collaborator with artists as wide-ranging as Janelle Monáe and Bring Me the Horizon. Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Boucher moved to Montreal in 2006 to study neuroscience at McGill University. She began making music as Grimes a year later, using the layered structures of Panda Bears Person Pitch as an inspiration for her own approach to songwriting. During this time, she and her friends staged shows at an old textile factory that they dubbed Lab Synthèse. The scene that spawned Lab Synthèse also founded Arbutus Records, the label that released Bouchers early work. Two songs released under her own name appeared on a 2009 sampler from the label; her first two albums as Grimes, Geidi Primes (which was inspired by Frank Herberts series of Dune books) and Halfaxa, were released in 2010. The following year, Boucher left McGill, collaborated on a split EP with dEon that was co-released by Arbutus and the like-minded Hippos in Tanks, and appeared on Lykke Lis North American tour before signing to 4AD in late 2011. Her debut for the label, Visions, arrived in early 2012. Its mix of bright pop and dark atmospheres earned instant critical acclaim: the album appeared on many year-end lists and earned a Juno Award for Electronic Album of the Year. Grimes signed to Jay-Zs Roc Nation management company in 2013, and released the single "Go" in 2014. As she continued to work on her fourth album, she collaborated with Bleachers in 2015 on the song "Entropy" for the HBO TV series Girls and released another single, "REALiTi," which featured a video directed by Boucher. Art Angels, featuring contributions from Janelle Monáe and Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes, arrived late that year. The album topped Billboards Alternative Album Chart and reached number two on the Billboard Top Independent Album Chart. In 2016, Grimes collaborated with singer/songwriter HANA on The Ac!d Reign Chronicles, a series of self-produced videos for their songs that they filmed while touring Europe. Two years later, Grimes appeared on Monáes album Dirty Computer and also worked with LOONA yyxy and Mindless Self Indulgence frontman Jimmy Urines solo project Euringer. She also contributed the song "thats what the drugs are for" to an Apple commercial and appeared on Poppys album Am I a Girl? In November 2018, Grimes released the industrial-tinged single "We Appreciate Power," a song inspired by the North Korean propaganda girl group Moranbong Band that reunited her with HANA. Early in 2019, she appeared on the U.K. metalcore outfit Bring Me the Horizons album amo. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 7 Title: Geidi Primes Released: 2010-01-10 Tracks: 11 Duration: 31:11 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Caladan (02:25) 2 Sardaukar Levenbrech (02:05) 3 Zoal, Face Dancer (02:36) 4 Rosa (03:12) 5 Avi (02:35) 6 Feyd Rautha Dark Heart (03:41) 7 Gambang (01:34) 8 Venus in Fleurs (02:43) 9 Grisgris (03:22) 10 Shadout Mapes (04:32) 11 Beast Infection (02:21) |
 | Album: 2 of 7 Title: Halfaxa Released: 2010-10-05 Tracks: 14 Duration: 50:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Outer (01:11) 2 Intor / Flowers (02:49) 3 Weregild (05:13) 4 Sagrad Прекрасный (05:12) 5 Dragvandil (01:38) 6 Devon (04:30) 7 Dream Fortress (05:00) 8 World ♡ Princess (04:40) 9 † River † (01:56) 10 Swan Song (03:05) 11 ≈Ω≈Ω≈Ω≈Ω≈Ω≈Ω≈Ω≈Ω≈ (02:13) 12 My Sister Says the Saddest Things (04:11) 13 Hallways (05:43) 14 Favriel (02:35) |
 | Album: 3 of 7 Title: Darkbloom Released: 2011-04-18 Tracks: 5 Duration: 17:42 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Orphia (01:09) 2 Vanessa (05:24) 3 Crystal Ball (03:16) 4 Urban Twilight (04:15) 5 Hedra (03:38) |
 | Album: 4 of 7 Title: The Tender, Smokey Whispers of the Dance Floor: Daytrotter Studio, Rock Island, IL, USA Released: 2011-07-27 Tracks: 4 Duration: 16:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Welcome to Daytrotter (00:07) 2 Crystal Ball (05:31) 3 Heart Beats (05:13) 4 Vanessa (05:28) |
 | Album: 5 of 7 Title: Visions Released: 2012-02-20 Tracks: 18 Duration: 1:05:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Infinite ♡ Without Fulfillment (01:34) 2 Genesis (04:15) 3 Oblivion (04:11) 4 Eight (01:47) 5 Circumambient (03:43) 6 Vowels = Space and Time (04:21) 7 Visiting Statue (01:58) 8 Be a Body (侘寂) (04:20) 9 Colour of Moonlight (Antiochus) (03:59) 10 Symphonia IX (My Wait Is U) (04:52) 11 Nightmusic (05:03) 12 Skin (06:09) 13 Know the Way (outro) (01:45) 1 Ambrosia (03:31) 2 Christmas Song (02:59) 3 Genesis (remixed by Skip) (04:01) 4 Song for Ric (03:24) 5 Be a Body (Baarsden rework) (03:24) |
| Visions : Allmusic album Review : Though the term "witch house" is often thrown around too loosely (and often derisively), Grimes wispy vocals and four-on-the-floor beats are probably the closest to what the style would sound like if its name were taken literally. On Visions, Claire Boucher develops the unmistakable sound she forged on Geidi Primes and Halfaxa, where her songs hovered in space one moment and hit the dancefloor in the next. The baby-ghost vocalizing that was so distinctive and divisive there is here as well, and Boucher sounds especially like an alien pop princess on sparkly tracks like "Infinite Love Without Fulfillment," "Genesis," and "Eight," where shes shadowed by robotic backing vocals. While Visions songs are still largely free from obvious structures -- "Symphonia IX (My Wait Is U)" segues into a minor-key passage like a dream turning dark -- Boucher has learned the values of space and control, and gives more focus to her ethereal whimsy. While the glowing, sensuous "Skin" and "Know the Way" are fine examples of 2010s dream pop, unlike many of her contemporaries, Grimes most danceable songs are her most unique, and allow her to draw on many different influences and sounds. "Be a Body" boasts a surprisingly funky bassline, and on "Circumambient," the songs shadowy R&B leanings are only heightened when Boucher busts out a super-soprano trill that would do Syreeta or Minnie Riperton proud. Similarly, her nods to 80s pop never feel too slavishly indebted to that decade, even when she uses stiff synth string stabs on "Oblivion" or frosty Casios on "Vowels = Space and Time," or lets "Colour of Moonlight (Antiochus)" ride on a beat that sounds borrowed from "When Doves Cry." Instead, these retro winks end up bringing out the darkly rhapsodic, kinetic heart of Grimes music as much as the Asian-tinged melodies, harps, and operatic samples she uses elsewhere. Fresh and surprisingly accessible despite its quirks, Visions is bewitching. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 7 Title: Closed Eyes to See: Echo Mountain, Asheville, NC, USA Released: 2013-05-23 Tracks: 4 Duration: 19:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Welcome to Daytrotter (00:05) 2 Be a Body (06:36) 3 Genesis (06:30) 4 Nightmusic (06:03) |
 | Album: 7 of 7 Title: Art Angels Released: 2015-11-06 Tracks: 13 Duration: 44:31 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 laughing and not being normal (01:47) 2 California (03:18) 3 SCREAM (02:20) 4 Flesh without Blood (04:24) 5 Belly of the beat (03:25) 6 Kill V. Maim (04:06) 7 Artangels (04:07) 8 Easily (03:03) 9 Pin (03:32) 10 World Princess, part II (05:05) 11 Venus Fly (03:45) 12 Life in the Vivid Dream (01:27) 13 Butterfly (04:12) |
| Art Angels : Allmusic album Review : Grimes already defied easy classification on Visions, a collection of dreamy electronic collages that resembled pop just enough to make it one of 2012s most acclaimed albums. When she returned three years later with Art Angels, her music was even more paradoxical; Claire Bouchers fourth album is wilder, more ambitious, and -- at least on the surface -- more accessible than her breakthrough. This time, Bouchers production draws attention to all the sounds and styles shes juggling: "laughing and not being normal" begins things with symphonic pomp, its trilling vocals, piano filigrees, and pizzicato strings signaling that this album is an event. "SCREAM," a fiery duet with Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes, incorporates drumline-tinged beats -- as well as Bouchers spine-tingling howls -- into its iconoclastic feminine power, while "Easily" and "Artangels" touch on different but equally shiny flavors of late-90s pop without a trace of irony. Elsewhere, "World Princess, Pt. 2" and "Venus Fly," which features Janelle Monáe -- one of the few artists who rivals Grimes when it comes to high-concept, utterly catchy music -- bring Visions R&B leanings to the fore. It could all lead to sonic whiplash, but Bouchers staunchly independent viewpoint is the glue that holds together Art Angels. She matches the albums bolder sounds with songwriting thats more daring and, at times, more aggressive. On "Kill V. Maim," she combines her perkiest vocals and angriest lyrics, topping beats that land like bombs with cheerleader-like chanting. A reworked version of "Realiti" underscores how driven she sounds here; her declarations of independence are catchier than ever, blending the cute and the formidable until theyre one and the same. Similarly, Boucher explores how destruction and creation are joined at the hip in vivid, hooky songs like "Flesh Without Blood," where ending a relationship means self-preservation, and the standout "California," where bliss and disaster meet ("When the ocean rises above the ground/Maybe Ill drown") with an unexpected but very welcome twang. "Ill never be your dream girl," Boucher sings on "Butterfly," but she adds "you could be anything," making the connection between honoring yourself and ignoring others expectations clear. She does both consistently -- and consistently well -- with Art Angels truly independent pop. | ||