When we came home from The Decemberists show at Hammerstein during CMJ last week, we couldn’t help but feel Colin’s admittedly hammy enthusiasm for the space and his crowd to be genuine and touching, all while underlying the band’s performance of one of the year’s best albums. The Village Voice? Not so much. Scribe Chris Ott has been known to gleefully lay into acts that’ve attained some form of critical mass in the past, but we’re thinking Colin may have said something about his momma. From The Voice‘s review of the Hammerstein show:
Inside, dozens of trend-spotting writers, bloggers, and shills are buzzing about the best CMJ performances of 2006, particularly the Knife, a Depeche Mode throwback whose sadly asexual black-lit glow-stick pantomime at Webster Hall was so impenetrable it just had to be art. Tonight demarcates the other side of the hipster spectrum: the familiar world of self-pitying white people looking for reasons to be unhappy, or at least suspicious, despite incalculable birthright advantages. The Decemberists look down from the top of this mountain, trying to make a living off of blasé malaise.“We’re going to try to pretend we’re at the Mercury Lounge,” pleads leader Colin Meloy after a few rote numbers from the band’s back catalog. It’s a strategic ploy, setting up the midsized Ballroom as a straw man for the Big Time (the band’s latest, The Crane Wife, is their first for major label Capitol), when in reality there are probably less than 2,000 people here. Regardless, Meloy’s foot-shuffling apology assumes that large portions of the crowd believe they are in on a secret, that the Decemberists are an untainted troupe of backwoods poets we should expect to be seeing in a much smaller, more intimate setting. This is what Meloy needs to believe.
…
Who could be embarrassed to play the Hammerstein Ballroom, and of all people, Colin Meloy? This guy couldn’t wait for success to validate his ego, powering half a decade of dilettante dalliances spanning Civil War period costume, Japanese folk tales, Irish solidarity poses, and his recent declaration that the Decemberists are “a wartime band.” Right, Colin, America’s iPods are burning. But more confounding than any contradictory professionalism is Meloy’s core conceit: He believes he is a gifted and entitled writer, fit to tackle and retranslate whatever mythologies interest him.
…
In addition to indulging his Anglophile streak (solo acoustic Morrissey and Shirley Collins cover EPs), the Decemberists released The Tain (2003), inspired by the Ulster cycle, the centerpiece of pre-Christian Celtic mythology. Just as Meloy flubbed “pleased tea” for “greased tea” from the Mozzer’s “Everyday Is Like Sunday,” he mouthed off about the impact the “tay-n” cycle had on him. It’s pronounced “torn.”
In the past, the Decemberists’ 17th-century laments were merely soaked in solecism?coy cunning from a clever aesthete with a woodcut fetish who’d seen Rushmore too many times. But Meloy is increasingly emboldened by success, becoming more and more literal. You get the sense he scans encyclopedias for his cautionary chides, casually selecting tales famous as the boogeyman in their native lilt and fashioning them into cuddly Wes Anderson pirouettes, an indefensible, objectifying condescension born of bravado and ignorance. Meloy is so embarrassed to be from Helena?and America generally?that he wraps himself in pasts and cultures he could never understand, in an effort to co-opt their dramatic import. I’m sure somebody in his family is Irish, but it’s the predefined, tidy, and glorified certainty of this history that’s Meloy’s inspiration, not his ostensible, however distant, roots. He’s overreaching?at best, he could gradually improve and evolve into our generation’s Andy Partridge.
Did you catch that surreptitious stab at The Knife, too? Sly dog. And not only isn’t Ott buying the humility — he’s even after Colin’s pronunciation! But at least he ends with a compliment, backhanded as it is. Being Andy Partridge would be pretty awesome. Well maybe not from a performance perspective. Wait, was that even a backhanded compliment? Maybe it was a damning wish! Ahh, so tricksy.
UPDATE: As some of you have pointed out, the debate raged on into the reader comments (as it tends to), with Chris chiming in and defending himself — to Colin’s girlfriend!
carson on Sun Nov 12, 13:53, 2006, says:
Dear Chris,Why is this review so spiteful and weirdly personal? You’re lucky nobody wants to write a piece about you and the inferiority complex/unrequited romantic obsessions/high school ass-kickings/unrealized dreams that undoubtedly led you, presumably a music fan, to make a career writing bitterly hateful music reviews. I’m sure every other time you write one, the girlfriend of a band member sends a disgusted letter to your editor. Hopefully this letter will be the one that finally makes you realize you suck.
Carson Ellis, Colin Meloy’s girlfriend
chris-ott on Mon Nov 13, 14:36, 2006, says:
So let’s see. Colin emails me within three hours of this posting online – it hasn’t even printed – with a similar message, telling me I should keep his anger about the piece “between us.” A laughable appeal to chivalry on its own – which I planned to ignore entirely – but then his girlfriend blows through the next day with a similarly spiteful, sadly stereotypical “mean rock critic” missive. Apparently you didn’t get Colin’s memo about “keeping it off the message boards,” Carson…So to you Colin, and your girlfriend, waiting under some cathedral spire for your heroic return: Making and promoting music – art of any kind – is a proposition, one necessarily followed by debate. Whether it’s the PTA, your suite-mates, or Rolling Stone, you are offering perspectives and talking points. The better and more unique your art, the greater and more impassioned the response. That this escapes you as a point of pride – that it is surprising enough to upset you – is disheartening in light of your music’s reliance on cleverness, history, and not least make-believe.
I guess the mistake I make – that so many music writers make – is in presuming our subjects are at least half as clever as they would have their audience believe. I write under the assumption that my peers in the music world are smart enough to know that what they do is at best a good time shared by all, one that should be enjoyed while it lasts and taken as seriously as a pie-eating contest on a cloudy day. I don’t care if you’re Slowdive or Sigue Sigue Sputnik: you will regret every minute you didn’t spend laughing. Lighten up.
It’s uncommon that anyone ascends to the level the Decemberists have, but your band has not gotten here for lack of trying. You are no more sacrosanct than Nickelback. Don’t delude yourselves that this piece or my distaste is somehow a “personal” thing – my disbelief in your act is shared by a lot of people, many less invested in the music world than I am. Is it that you’re pissed I used “solecism” before you could work it into your next EP? Or did Capitol already send you the pink slip? I thought they were waiting until March to clean house…
Sincerely,
Bartholomew Teeling IV
Damn, maybe if we were mean in our review Colin would email us, too! Hey, you suck, Meloy. (tips at stereogum dot com)
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Mr. Ott continued his diatribe in the comments too. What does he think the internet is? Some sort of debate?
finally, someone encapsulates how i feel about the decembershits. thanks, ott.
My girlfriend, who had never seen them live, mentioned much the same sentiment. She felt that Meloy was far too full of himself for his own good. I thought it was just showmanship, but I’m a biased fan who’s been with them for four years or so. It’s interesting how widepread the backlash has become. Is it because so many fans knew them before they “hit the bigtime”, and now we’ve all got our Music Snob hats on?
nah, “castaways and cutouts” was mildly interesting, and everything since then has seemed like pap.
Well, clearly this “review” (I think “inexplicable raving lunacy” would be a more accurate description) was written by a monkey.
Oh no, not even a trained one. Just a complete farking idiot who has no business writing about anything, least of all music.
Thank god for user comments.
My music snob hat is a Shriner’s fez with the phrase “ab irato” emblazoned in glitter.
how embarassing. why does this bother him so much? just enjoy the music for what it is, douchebag.
Blasé malaise? Did I see the same show Ott did? Much of his argument here is based on the remark made by Meloy early on in the show – “We’re going to try to pretend we’re at the Mercury Lounge.” Ott misinterprets the comment as some sort of apology for being successful. For the less jaundiced, however, the comment was understood as an assurance that the band was going to try to make the show as intimate as possible given the large audience.
No mention of the band’s actual performance, of course.
I’m beginning to lose my patience with these music critics that have no interest in critiquing MUSIC.
“You get the sense he scans encyclopedias for his cautionary chides…”
Wow, did this guy read my mind? Granted I like some of their stuff.
Does anybody like this band for the music or is it all about the lyrics? As far as I’m concerned, the music is generic.
I, for one, agree with everything the reviewer says. He definitely should have mentioned more about the performance, particularly of the band, but when you have a frontman so oppressively irritating as Meloy, so wince-inducingly ironi-precious and egotistical, without any hint of genuine self-effacing humour (such as Morrissey’s), it is difficult to pay due attention to anything else. I first heard — and loved — “Here, I Dreamed was an Architect,” (I could be flubbing that title) but since then, I haven’t been able to listen to more than ten seconds of this band. And it IS true that Decemberists fans — perhaps more than any other band’s fans — love to pretend they are in on a secret. In D.C., they sold out two nights at the 1,400-or-so capacity 9:30 club and everyone was acting absolutely SHOCKED, going around talking about “I didn’t think anyone knew about this band!”…of course, to all their friends who know this band, and have been peer-pressured into hyping up the literary lyrics, which truly are straight from a thesaurus and/or some crappy maritime novel Meloy picked up five years ago because there was a nice and old-timey picture of a whale on the cover, and he could leave it around his apartment and come across as a cool dude to all the girls who wouldn’t normally give a second-thought to an ugly potato head with a crappy comparative literature degree and about 50 pounds of extra flesh.
Oh, their old “intimate” shows SUCKED. I mean, really, really sucked. I don’t think anyone besides maybe Dave Eggers or Helen Keller would argue otherwise.
I don’t read the Village Voice, but I just realized I hate it. They trashed The Decemberists and Happy Feet on the same day, and praised the umpteenth bajillion James Bond? I thought that paper was supposed to be all cool and subversive.
Are Meloy’s humility and literary aspirations a put-on? Yes. They are performers. It’s all a put-on.
And did that bastard just attack Meloy’s pretentiousness with phrases like “dilettante dalliances” and “Wes Anderson pirouettes?”
I think this guy really misinterpreted a lot of the banter Colin Meloy displayed during the Hammerstein show. Personally, I thought he comes through with one of the strongest audience/artist connections I’ve seen in a live show. Him mentioning the Mercury Lounge was a way of allowing the audience in to the private intimate setting he set in a much larger venue (by the way, which rules.) The sound that night from the center of the balcony was amazing… which it should be, however I felt this crtic did much more personal attacking than listening. I had a great time that night, and so did everyone I was with.
I don’t know about everybody else, but I go to Decemberists concerts to get sad. My life is so miserable that only lit rock can help me feel anything.
Jeez. I meet alot of happy people at their concerts, and the music never gets me down. Its always a fun time for me. I mean sure, there are lots of hipsters who want you to look at them and see them there, but oh well. Can’t he go be angry about the new emo or something? We’re all so sorry Colin isn’t “real” enough for you.
Hey, the New Yorker likes the new James Bond…
I think this guy really misinterpreted a lot of the banter Colin Meloy displayed during the Hammerstein show. Personally, I thought he comes through with one of the strongest audience/artist connections I’ve seen in a live show. Him mentioning the Mercury Lounge was a way of allowing the audience in to the private intimate setting he set in a much larger venue (by the way, which rules.) The sound that night from the center of the balcony was amazing… which it should be, however I felt this crtic did much more personal attacking than listening. I had a great time that night, and so did everyone I was with.
All music reviewers need a copy of the hemmingway novel of their choice and a framed sign saying “you’re not lester bangs so noone cares what you feel”. take this man’s thesarus away, I was throwing up in my mouth after the first french loanword. what an ass.
I’m torn. I really dislike music crit that doesn’t address the music, but I also hate the Decembrists. I hate the very timbre of their music. Their sound makes me angry; don’t get me started on the lyrics. How many puppies do I have to sacrifice to Rob Halford to eradicate this music? Do I have to move to mullet country? I’m black; will I be accepted in mullet country?
Almost everything this Chris Ott guy writes is over the top negative. Go check out some of the reviews he wrote while at Pitchfork. Even his positive reviews are oddly negative and full of backhanded compliments. I don’t think its personal so much as he is just an insecure prick. By the way, he evidently put out a couple records with a band called The Grace Period. Anyone heard it?
Uh, take away Colin Meloy’s thesaurus first, please. Also, please buy yourself some grammar guide — perhaps the ones they give you in kindergarten — so can learn to capitalize the first words in your sentences. I know it will take you an extra .00001 second to do it, but it will definitely be nice for your readers — particularly those throwing up in their mouths already from Mr. Meloy’s cutesy mispronunciations and language bastardizations.
As for Hemmingway, he’s a real hack. A misogynistic no-talent writer, only held in the esteem of those unwilling to be challenged by the slightest innovations in prose, and only assigned in college courses so that the frat boys don’t feel alienated by someone with an actual vocab, or respect for women. I thought everyone knew that already?
And for all you penises who think that Mr. Meloy is a super-showman for “acting” like a prissy little prick, have you ever considered that maybe that is what music reviewers do, too? Play up certain traits in their own personalities, and the expectations or their audience, to entertain?
since when is trying such a bad thing? i don’t fault nickelback for “trying” to be successful — i fault them for making crapping music. the issue of effort on the part of the decemberists should have no bearing on how their music is received. shit, do people really have to pretend to not try (or not care) to be accepted by hipster critics? gee, working hard => success — what a novel concept! and i love how dude took colin’s lament for not playing smaller venues as a sign that he was lamenting the band’s success as well. bro, i hate it when bands move to big venues too — but only because smaller venues tend to make more intimate shows. don’t let your success=bad ethos lead you to misinterpret what other people are saying.
gee. bus.
Ummm…”tain” as used in the Decemberists’ song is pronaounced “ta-yn.” It’s the silver backing that reflects stuff put in front of a mirror. Meloy’s pronunciation is right on.
I like how the Decemberists write songs that adress something different than the usual “oh, I’m a guy and it’s so hard liking girls” themes of rock, even indie-rock. What’s wrong with that?
I cannot believe writers are still doing this over-the-top backlash schtick. It was already old and dead when the target was the Fiery Furnaces, and now it’s just embarrassing for everyone that anyone still tries it.
He and Tom Breihan need to just hold each other and cry about the mean old indie rockers for a few hours, then look for jobs in minimally verbal fields.
And for all you penises who think that Mr. Meloy is a super-showman for “acting” like a prissy little prick, have you ever considered that maybe that is what music reviewers do, too? Play up certain traits in their own personalities, and the expectations or their audience, to entertain?
And for all you penises who think that Mr. Meloy is a super-showman for “acting” like a prissy little prick, have you ever considered that maybe that is what music reviewers do, too? Play up certain traits in their own personalities, and the expectations or their audience, to entertain?
And for all you penises who think that Mr. Meloy is a super-showman for “acting” like a prissy little prick, have you ever considered that maybe that is what music reviewers do, too? Play up certain traits in their own personalities, and the expectations or their audience, to entertain?
And for all you penises who think that Mr. Meloy is a super-showman for “acting” like a prissy little prick, have you ever considered that maybe that is what music reviewers do, too? Play up certain traits in their own personalities, and the expectations or their audience, to entertain?
most “indie” music sucks. regurgitating the same fey, ironic, no-talent, generic crap under the guise of being “smart music for smart people” when in reality it’s boring middle of the road, forgettable poo.
Negative or positive, a concert review should give the reader an idea of what the show was like. The only thing I got out of this review is that the writer hates Colin Meloy and the Decemberists. Fair enough, but how was the show? What songs were played? Instrumentation, sound, crowd reaction … anything?
Wow, sorry about that quadruple post! I have no idea how that happened. Really, I am sorry.
Ott is consistently on the money in his criticisms, in my view, and it goes without saying but some people need reminding that many of his reviews are positive.
Rock criticism like this is so unbelievably boring.
Who’s got the mega ego in this case? Rock star or critic? You don’t need to be in the FBI to get a very accurate profile of what makes this Ott guy tick. I think Ms. Ellis’ response was totally on the money.
i thought Ott was dead on. I hate it when fans think a thoughtful (and it was) and largely accurate critique of a band that generally has received across the board praise, is somehow “not enjoying music” —once you release an album you allow it to be judged, mr. meloy should know that. No village voice review, damning or not is going to hurt his career, he’s already made it much further than most bands can even dream of. The fact that he and and his girlfriend write the writer, simply indicates that Ott hit a nerve, one that clearly meloy is a bit insecure about.
I praise Ott for this piece, because it was only time before somebody could put this band in it’s place. When I say band, I mean “meloy”
And for all you penises who think that Mr. Meloy is a super-showman for “acting” like a prissy little prick, have you ever considered that maybe that is what music reviewers do, too? Play up certain traits in their own personalities, and the expectations or their audience, to entertain?
So the fact that this Ott a-hole used to be a writer for Pitchfork explains so much. It explains his need to call someone out for their pretentiousness while being completely pretentious himself. Take this sentence (if you can call it that) for example:
“You get the sense he scans encyclopedias for his cautionary chides, casually selecting tales famous as the boogeyman in their native lilt and fashioning them into cuddly Wes Anderson pirouettes, an indefensible, objectifying condescension born of bravado and ignorance.”
How many $5 words does this douche need to use in one sentence? Does he feel like it makes him come off so much better by going on a personal (and it completely is) diatribe about Colin? I just want to know how I can write in to the Village Voice to get this guy fired. Anyone?
Also I completely agree with the person who commented about the fact that The Decemberists catch shit for being a band that isn’t so formulaic in their music. It’s not like I feel like I’m smarter than anyone because I listen to songs about Japanese folk tales and such but I’m glad there is something more than cliched trashed about a girl who left you.
i got beef with whoever said colin meloy is a potato head. COLIN MELOY IS SUPER HOT, people!
I bet Hemingway would be able to use the comments section of a blog correctly. Also, you might want to try spelling his name correctly. It’s a little tough to take your literary criticism seriously when you misspell the writer’s name.
So the fact that this Ott a-hole used to be a writer for Pitchfork explains so much. It explains his need to call someone out for their pretentiousness while being completely pretentious himself. Take this sentence (if you can call it that) for example:
“You get the sense he scans encyclopedias for his cautionary chides, casually selecting tales famous as the boogeyman in their native lilt and fashioning them into cuddly Wes Anderson pirouettes, an indefensible, objectifying condescension born of bravado and ignorance.”
How many $5 words does this douche need to use in one sentence? Does he feel like it makes him come off so much better by going on a personal (and it completely is) diatribe about Colin? I just want to know how I can write in to the Village Voice to get this guy fired. Anyone?
Also I completely agree with the person who commented about the fact that The Decemberists catch shit for being a band that isn’t so formulaic in their music. It’s not like I feel like I’m smarter than anyone because I listen to songs about Japanese folk tales and such but I’m glad there is something more than cliched trashed about a girl who left you.
the village voice and their writer is entitled to their opinion- i don’t like the decemberists, either. just the fact that “indie blogger nation” is a target is an achievment.
Well, of course Mr. Meloy has to research, use tools (even thesauruses, encyclopedias). Why not use available tools? Why not use the maritime novel you pick up because the cover looks great?
Mr Ott, denaturalize your precepts. You’re looking your age! Eew.- Be a little more post-modern. We no longer believe in natural genius, remember?
There is a fundamental flaw in Mr. Ott’s reasoning. Mr. Ott, explore the idea of distributed cognitions. Perhaps you’ll become a better writer.
My favorite bit in this is his critique of the pronunciation of “Tain”. I took a class in Celtic literature, and our professor, who specialized in Celtic studies, pronounced it “Toy-n”.
So they’re both wrong, but the reviewer can get off his bleeding high horse.
Dynasty by The Grace Period:
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #377,080 in Music
The Crane Wife by The Decemberists:
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #93 in Music
Joe, that comment is DEAD-ON: Hemingway truly would know how to use a blog’s comment section. You nailed me on that count! But, on your other dagger, you prove yourself dense outside the sphere of author time travel speculation: my comment was replying to the last person — who misspelled “Hemmingway” while piping his virtues. Get it? That Colin Meloy would. And if Hemingway were alive, he would support me by posting on a blog (So would D.H. Lawrence, maybe even Wharton, surely Muriel Spark).
And in that quoted sentence loaded with “five dollar words” (hey guys — let’s retire that phrase, right?), I count zero. Actually, which of these would a ten-year old even have to look up: pirouttes, cautionary, chides, indefensible, objectifying, ignorance. I would say ONE.
Of course, I take that back in the likely case that you are indeed ten years old, and have problems with those words. If so, you are certainly welcome to listen to the Decemberists and think that there is anything good about this band.
I was under the impression that “Tain” is pronounced “Doy-n”, though it work as “torn” (I don’t actually speak celt). Regardless, Tim, it has nothing to do with mirrors, it refers to the Tain Bo Cualnge: a fantastic Irish epic with cows and wolves and killer little children and such. I feel like Mr. Meloy gets some of the details of the story confused in his own rendering of the work, though it is easily my favorite work of The Decemberists.
When did Stereogum have so many commenters anyway? This site was much better at the Mercury Lounge as well.
Can we all just agree that Hemingway would beat the living sh*t out of Colin Meloy? That’s one thing to like about the guy…
>>When did Stereogum have so many commenters anyway
People are very passionate about proper Celtic pronunciation. [I myself pronounce the band, "Leh Dehs-awhm-bayr-ees'-tahs"] Just wait will the Hold Steady post comes latter today; then we’ll *really* have a discussion.
Well let me just say that I don’t like the Decemberists, but Chris Ott sounds like one of the biggest asshole critics out there. And in this age of pitchfork fueled hipster music cynicism, that is saying alot. Don’t take anything that paper says seriously though. They are like that in their film reviews as well.
I’m kind of old fashioned, but for me to really get into a band I’ve got to like their frontman/woman’s voice. They also need to write catchy melodies, lyrics that can be complex as long as they fit the song, and obviously good arrangements/instrumentation.
Now, I really don’t like Meloy’s voice. It is just incredibly annoying to me. It just sounds so uninviting and snide. His sense of melody might be alright, but his lyrics are so damn pretencious. We know that he knows his history, that he was a creatibe writing major, blah blah. So freaking impersonal. So there, it’s me against the countless indie music fans and I’m explaining my dislike for the Decemberists. Please don’t attack me, guys.
Oh, and Voxtrot sucks too.
“Is it that you’re pissed I used “solecism” before you could work it into your next EP?”
hahaha, that’s amazing. I do like the Decemberists, but I find Colin Meloy pretty arrogant, and this line was hilarious.
Well let me just say that I don’t like the Decemberists, but Chris Ott sounds like one of the biggest asshole critics out there. And in this age of pitchfork fueled hipster music cynicism, that is saying alot. Don’t take anything that paper says seriously though. They are like that in their film reviews as well.
I’m kind of old fashioned, but for me to really get into a band I’ve got to like their frontman/woman’s voice. They also need to write catchy melodies, lyrics that can be complex as long as they fit the song, and obviously good arrangements/instrumentation.
Now, I really don’t like Meloy’s voice. It is just incredibly annoying to me. It just sounds so uninviting and snide. His sense of melody might be alright, but his lyrics are so damn pretencious. We know that he knows his history, that he was a creatibe writing major, blah blah. So freaking impersonal. So there, it’s me against the countless indie music fans and I’m explaining my dislike for the Decemberists. Please don’t attack me, guys.
Oh, and Voxtrot sucks too.
Luckily for ott, he doesn’t have to talk about what his version of what “good” music, live performances, et. al. would be….because he doesn’t know, and wouldn’t be able to defend it in the face of asshole critics taking ridiculous potshots that deserve no defensing if he did. Is he threatened in losing some sort of intelligentsia cock of the roost fantasy he had invented for himself? Does he see Colin Meloy strolling along using his big words and appropriated folk tales and fear he will lose his place among the alpha males of the literati? One can only guess. Suffice it say Ott is a leech, a low lifeform that adds nothing to discussion of music, and is only satisfied in tearing down that which has been widely recognized as substantive and worthwhile. What an absolute ass.
Particularly when he could have been tearing down someone who deserves it, like any one of the seemingly thousands of bands you (and you) (and you) are too lowbrow to get.
WHO GIVES A CRAP HOW YOU PRONOUNCE TAIN??!!
and by the way, everyone knows that celtic is pronounced “s-el-ti-c.” remember that larry bird? he was one awesome whiteboy baller.
and that reviewer is doing what reviewers or any other opportunistic, hack “entertainers” do. trying to make a buck by stirring up a ruckus. well played, hack writer. well played.
Also, the Carters pronounce flower wrong in Wildwood Flower. I hate them now.
And everyword Mo Tucker ever said in I’m sticking with you and After Hours was pronounced in a new york accent rather than standard american english. That bitch.
So — Stereogum is *so incredulous* about a review that makes some spot-fucking-on assessments about Meloy’s preciousness, and just yesterday made the unqualified statement that ALL hip hop has no melody. Way to fulfill the cliche that indie-rockers profess to love music, yet really only love the hand wringing, affected ‘aural equivalent of a cold, flaccid weiner on their thigh’ kind of music and are pretty much ignorant on the rest of it til someone else tells them they care about something like MIA. (Yes that was a run-on sentence but then, poor writing is getting to be the norm here.) Officially out of love with this blog.
An astounding amount of complete fucking assholes apparently read stereogum. Just sayin.
Meh. The review is too abrasive and nasty to be taken seriously. I *do* like The Decemberists and Meloy, but I’d say the same if it were a review of just about any act. Frankly, it’s generous calling it a “review” in the first place.
Now I’m gonna go listen to The Crane Wife again. Thanks for the nudge, Chris.
thank god this guy wrote this review.
the decemberists music is COMPLETELY generic, and the lyrics are beyond pretentious.
granted, the reviewer comes off sounding almost equally pretentious.
thank god this guy wrote this review.
the decemberists music is COMPLETELY generic, and the lyrics are beyond pretentious.
granted, the reviewer comes off sounding almost equally pretentious.
thank god this guy wrote this review.
the decemberists music is COMPLETELY generic, and the lyrics are beyond pretentious.
granted, the reviewer comes off sounding almost equally pretentious.
@ Celtic Wizard:
I know that the Decemberists’ song uses the “Tain Bo Cualnge” as its main source. I get that “tain” has another pronunciation in Irish (celtic? proto-gaelic?).
But the line in question in the song puns on that word using its english definition. The line goes “and now stricken with pangs/ that tear at our backs like thistle down/ the mirror’s soft silver tain/ reflects our last and birthing hour”
So Meloy’s singing the ENGLISH word, and correctly.
Like most jokes/puns this is much more tedious when explained!
That IS funny! Really, really funny!
dear chris ott,
since it seems the word “review” and “evisceration” are synonymous in your world, why don’t you try focusing your sublimated insecurities on a musician with more ‘tude and less originality?
in re: yesterday’s stereogum post, might i suggest sean lennon?
yours,
briana
p.s. lest “synonymous,” “evisceration,” and “sublimated” brand me a meloy-caliber aesthete, i’ll end on a more plebeian note: you’re a twatwaffle.
Whether or not he mispronounced “tain,” Meloy definitely did fuck up the lyrics to “Everyday Is Like Sunday.” And that’s unforgivable.
Chris Ott is a total buttsnake. This is evident after reading ANY of his reviews. It seems to be a common practice to shit on any band that openly admits to being educated. Reviewers like Ott will deconstruct everything about said band, then accuse them of Iron-Maiden-esque literary retardation. Personally, I think it’s assholish to speak of words and ideas as if they are golden decoder rings required for participation in illuminati-esque-elitist-asshole-clubs. Language and mythology are meant to be bastardized for the sake of art. I’m not entirely sure Meloy is guilty of this, but he certainly has a right to be.
The Decemberists fill a niche in music, as Ott fills a niche in writing like he’s warming up for poetry battle night at the local coffee shop. It is stupid for Meloy or his lady friend to try to stop a douche from squirting his doucheness in their direction. If I were Meloy I would wait until asked about it, then give the thumbs down and make a loud fart noise.
Why, exactly, are the Decemberists lyrics pretentious? I read Ott’s takedown, and, although I dig The Decemberists, I could see where he is coming from. Meloy wants to be someone gigantic.
not only did he go on needlessly trashing meloy, he never even addressed the musical ability of the band. prior to this tour the decemberists could easily get away with bad timing and generally sloppy musicianship (though they never did and always pushed to put on an amazing show). this new tour has really required them to be more than just a jukebox, they need to be prog performers, they do more instrumentation change ups than ever before… never once does Ott mention this.
when seeing a band in concert that has gained an extremely loyal and dedicated fan base, one must understand they are interfacing with their loved one in the crowd who only get to see the band when they are in town, its not for the music critics… so you must understand the history before interpretting the present.
ugh and trashing the knife like that, again so little appreciation for something different that questions the means of live performance vs. machine performance… so closed minded for a man who can use so many uncommonly used phrases and french words. as much as i’ve loved the decemberists for a long time now, i was so much more impressed by the knife shows on the west coast.
Meloy is someone gigantic already. I mean, that dude must have some serious chest cellulite.
I don’t quite understand Ott’s argument of all the fans and whatnot feeling special because they’re “in on the secret”. While it may not be the primary reason, isn’t that a residual effect of listening to underground music in general?
‘Sides, is he really saying that The Decembs are THAT popular?
Anyway, regardless of whether or not you like the Decemberists, you gotta admit that that “review” was nothing more than a personal attack on Meloy, if anything. I’m a huge Decemberists fan, but I can take criticisms of the band; if Ott actually wrote a concert review in which he blasted Meloy’s showmanship and said that the Decemberists lack of crowd involvement (which is more or less never evident) was why the show sucked, fair enough.
The way it is, it just sounds like an eighth-grader wrote a letter to the editor of The New Yorker and, in an attempt to sound grown-up, stuffed it full of as many impressive and ambiguously insulting words he could find in the thesaurus.
Meh, you’re always gonna have these sorta guys in this music community, so no worries. I’m sure we’ve all sounded or acted like this guy at one point or another.
it’s kinda funny. i was actually standing next to the village voice photographer at the hammerstein for a good duration of the show and he seemed to be having a great time. pity he didn’t write the article.
Whether you like the Decemberists or not, this article really doesn’t add much to the discussion. It’s not even about the band; it’s about Colin Meloy.
And I have to say, I saw the Decemberists live in San Francisco last month, and it was a really great experience. Almost everyone in the Warfield (which was sold out both nights, I believe) was singing along, even with the ‘Crane Wife’ selections, and there were really young kids dancing and lots of stage banter and goofy crowd-interaction and everything. There wasn’t anything pretentious about it all, and I don’t see how you could harbour such weirdly personal spite about a band that probably won’t get much bigger than this — unless, of course, you spend all your time reading other people’s glowing reviews and want to feel ‘original’.
Whether you like the Decemberists or not, this article really doesn’t add much to the discussion. It’s not even about the band; it’s about Colin Meloy.
And I have to say, I saw the Decemberists live in San Francisco last month, and it was a really great experience. Almost everyone in the Warfield (which was sold out both nights, I believe) was singing along, even with the ‘Crane Wife’ selections, and there were really young kids dancing and lots of stage banter and goofy crowd-interaction and everything. There wasn’t anything pretentious about it all, and I don’t see how you could harbour such weirdly personal spite about a band that probably won’t get much bigger than this — unless, of course, you spend all your time reading other people’s glowing reviews and want to feel ‘original’.
Seeing as how Colin was a creative writing major, I think he has the abilities to use words that have some substance. Really, who cares if he uses obscure historical references or words culled from the SATs? The man just wants to sing about things he likes, things that interest him. And if its embittered mariners, battle-ill privateers and all things 19th century,then by God let him. Its about time someone wrote something interesting. This Chris Ott fellow doesn’t need to bother himself with it. But one has to wonder: what the hell did Colin say to this guy to make him so pissed?
finally, a music feud not involving hip-hop!
only thing that one can safely surmise, is that, somehow, Colin Meloy raped Chris Ott’s childhood!
next Decemberists album title…”Chris Ott(er) Tain(t) Fit to Lick Our Bootstaps”.
Ott’s a storyteller, just like Meloy, but playing the role of the hater, the embittered, highbrow critic ready to slice up whatever music gains general appreciation. He even shares the same elevated diction as Meloy. Chris Ott is a very articulate lightning rod, nothing more. Look how many goddam comments there are here! Think there would be half as many — agreeing or dissenting — if this was a glowing review? Sadly, such an angry, ad-hominem attack won’t actually change anyone’s perception of the Decemberists; as these comments show, it only polarizes the fans and the haters even more, which isn’t helpful to anyone. If this piece was meant to be a discussion that furthers the quality of music in general (as Ott purports it to be in his email response), it’s failed terribly.
DAMN. Nail on the head.
Perfectly elucidates the ambivalence-to-distaste I had for this band.
The whole girlfriend-on-the-message-board thing is too lame – this reminds me of that time the My Chemical Romance’s girlfriend got into a LiveJournal fight with a bunch of kids from ohnotheydidnt.
I’m a big Decemberists fan, but I respect that some people don’t like the music. But that’s what it should come down to: the music, not anything else. Ott spends all this time bitching like the self- absorbed, obnoxious rock star he’s trying to criticize and he never mentions the music. The lyrics, yes. Virtually every aspect of the character of the band, yes and in exhaustive detail. But the way the music sounds and feels? Nothing.
But whatever, he’s got his opinion and I’ve got mine. But the personal attacks? Dude. Calm the fuck down and remember that you’re just a critic. And that whole “Oh well I guess you aren’t mature enough to handle my crazy off the wall critic style sorry for thinking we’re all adults here” thing in the comments? Please just shut your face now. He seems to have some wierd knee- jerk hate for Colin Meloy and he lets that get in the way of every other aspect of the band. It makes for an interesting story, but not a very good review. As far as the Decemberists live, I saw them about 2 weeks ago and the crowd was with them all the way. The fact that they can do that says more about what kind of band they are then a legion of music writers.
What’s so terribly wrong about feeling like you’re in on a secret?
What’s so terribly wrong about feeling like you’re in on a secret? This is a stupid argument.
What’s so terribly wrong about feeling like you’re in on a secret? This is a stupid argument.
Strange thing I’ve noticed. Recent Decemberists threads on Stereogum (and some other places) that are started by positive articles about the band are filled with positive comments by people who are fans. But if one starts a thread by posting about something like this bizarre troll of a concert review (as others have pointed out, an actual concert review would be more concerned with the actual concert and music), you get lots of negative comments about the band.
Discuss.
Or don’t.
corey’s three point plan on how everyone wins in this situation…..:
music critic: people that don’t like decemberists are gonna be on his side, make him feel like he’s not as shitty of a music critic as he really is, and like the band less.
decemberists: no one that really likes meloy and the band is gonna burn all they’re cd’s because of this review, if anything they get all hipster pissed off and toss the cd on out of spite.
fans: None of the crowd has to worry about the decemberists shows getting packed and or sold out and being “less intimate”, because anyone who doesn’t already like the decemberists or anyone who doesn’t know about them still doesn’t give a shit and isn’t gonna see they’re show anyways.
This debate is a waste, everyone wins.
I personally can’t wait for his review of chinese democracy. hhahaha chinese democracy.
peace out.
I’m inevitably biased in favor of the Decemberists, so I found Ott’s review gleefully sadistic, as most harsh reviews turn out to be. If anything, I see Ott’s review reflecting things that Ott himself seems to struggle with. Dilettante tendencies? Check. Using showy, artistically motivated ploys to score some cash? Check: the Voice pays, and this article is clearly getting blog attention. Overstretching one’s limits to establish an authoritative–if not altogether deserved–position? Check.
Nevertheless, everyone has the right to their own opinions and especially to their own strong opinions about music. For that reason, I’m glad that there’s a certain karma that balances out my love for the band. Nothing less objective and more personal than the relation between listener and music, and, for that reason, I’m glad Ott can at least write it as he perceives it.
Actually, I should reword my post. Posts about bands started around positive mentions of the band lead to positive comments, and negative to negative.
Strange pile ons! Though there are exceptions.
Tain is pronounced “Tahn”, with an Ahh sound instead of an Ahey sound, like many Irish words that contain the letter A. Furthermore, that A should really have an accent on it like so: á
So Meloy says it “wrong”. Do you say Pahreee like you have a mouthful of phlegm every time you refer to the French capital? No, you call it Paris cause it sounds pretentious and annoying to do otherwise if you’re an English speaker.
This is so true.
At the Decemberists show like a month ago at the Warfield in SF, people were taking pictures of the band with their cameraphones. Colin grabbed one of the phones during an unreleased track that I can’t remember the name of and started taking pictures of himself. Then when he got to the chorus, he speed dialed a number and sang it into the phone. That’s fucking showmanship.
And why is showmanship suddenly bad? Have we gotten to the post-everything point where the only acceptable method of conducting a live show consists of trudging out on stage, bored as hell, not even making eye contact with the audience, so as to prove how “real” you are? I personally don’t mind the fact that The Decemberists try to entertain you.
Celtic – not pronounced seltic, unless you mean the scottish football team. More like Keltic.
Tain – Táin Bó Cúalnge – Has what we paddies call a fada – that thing they stole from us to make french. So it’s pronounced like yawn, except it rises at the end, like thawing.
And any band that impersonates a whale with a big fat guitarist can never be accused of taking themselves too seriously.
He actually did the same thing with the cell phone in Tucson. Don’t think it was spontaneous.
my genuine problem with the review is that ott makes melow the punching bag for all his problems with the co-option of weirdness. he is a wes anderson movie blah blah blah. he is scanning the encyclopedia for cautionary tales blah blah blah. it’s fucking pop music! I find it odd that he suggests someone not take it so seriously after he writes such an intense and detailed diatribe against meloy as a songwriter. even as a person. not take it seriously?! how ’bout telling us SOMETHING about the show. and not going all pitchfork 101 on us and giving your grand opinion about the artist.
personal side note. ott does not check facts. he is loose with the goose. he slayed my friend’s group a few years ago on a pretty large wrong assumption. anyone seeing any glaring contradictions? outright mistakes?
how come no one can just review a show anymore? or an album for that matter?
indie rock kids are just too clever, wity and smart these days.
The guy really has issues. If he didn’t like the show, he should’ve made an articulate argument, not randomly bashed the artist.
Wow, I am late for this… *Runs.*
The guy really has issues. If he didn’t like the show, he should’ve made an articulate argument, not randomly bashed the artist.
Wow, I am late for this… *Runs.*
What Chris Ott doesnt seem to understand is that, yes, the Decemberists are putting on a show. Everyone knows this. Everyone knows they arent from jolly old England, didnt get swallowed by a whale, and dont turn tricks on the Portland bus mall.
Ott condemns the hipster, irony-toting crowd, but falls into the same description when he damns the Decemberists for putting on a SHOW and not just half-heartedly playing one. And for this, I am thankful to the Decemberists, and every band like them out there. However, I would like to argue that most of the fans that are really into them are definitely more on the level of band nerd rather than self-righteous hipster.
Also, did Chris cut into Meloy down for being overly literary and pretentious, and then use phrases like “dilettante dalliances”? I have a feeling that someone’s been diligently reading the dictionary and thesaurus in order to come up with clever quips to awe his audience with.
What Chris Ott doesnt seem to understand is that, yes, the Decemberists are putting on a show. Everyone knows this. Everyone knows they arent from jolly old England, didnt get swallowed by a whale, and dont turn tricks on the Portland bus mall.
Ott condemns the hipster, irony-toting crowd, but falls into the same description when he damns the Decemberists for putting on a SHOW and not just half-heartedly playing one. And for this, I am thankful to the Decemberists, and every band like them out there. However, I would like to argue that most of the fans that are really into them are definitely more on the level of band nerd rather than self-righteous hipster.
Also, did Chris cut into Meloy down for being overly literary and pretentious, and then use phrases like “dilettante dalliances”? I have a feeling that someone’s been diligently reading the dictionary and thesaurus in order to come up with clever quips to awe his audience with.
What Chris Ott doesnt seem to understand is that, yes, the Decemberists are putting on a show. Everyone knows this. Everyone knows they arent from jolly old England, didnt get swallowed by a whale, and dont turn tricks on the Portland bus mall.
Ott condemns the hipster, irony-toting crowd, but falls into the same description when he damns the Decemberists for putting on a SHOW and not just half-heartedly playing one. And for this, I am thankful to the Decemberists, and every band like them out there. However, I would like to argue that most of the fans that are really into them are definitely more on the level of band nerd rather than self-righteous hipster.
Also, did Chris cut into Meloy down for being overly literary and pretentious, and then use phrases like “dilettante dalliances”? I have a feeling that someone’s been diligently reading the dictionary and thesaurus in order to come up with clever quips to awe his audience with.
The Decemberists belong in a class with Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins, and the rest of the fat fucks who squeezed out indie’s death rattle. Congratulations, dipshits…it’s all cutesy now!
The O’Reilly/Limbaugh of rock crits!!! I like how he called Sandinista! by the Clash an “abject failure.” Gee Chris, I guess with words like that you’re criticism would be a fecal farce by comparison.
Regardless of your opinions on The Decemberists, that review was way out of line.
The Village Voice has Chris Ott and the Chicago Tribune has Greg Kot. I remember Kot describing Neil Peart’s drumming on the _Moving Pictures_ tour as “hyperkinetic thrashing”. He also described Genesis on the _…and then there were three…_ tour as “mannequins abandoned on a moor” for their use of a fog machine. I have not read more pretentious and bombastic language in a concert review since those early 80s. So, even though I like the Decemberists and think Ott is kind of an ass, his unabashed troll of a review made me laugh out loud. Lighten up people!