Wow…I got hacked.

^I found that by Googling “hobbit funny”…but realize now that maybe this dude doesn’t know he’s posted at ratchetmess.com…soooo i’m sorry, if that’s the case.

cool comment. you seem like you think of original ideas and funny stuff often.

I watched the interview…where’s the performance?

So does loud=deep? Tell us more about your amazing psychologies and abilities to judge groups of people with absurdly broad strokes. You seem to have an amazing understanding of all music, especially ones you don’t listen to because you need lyrics and musical ideas blared at you for them to seem interesting. Talk about irony.

Music is like food in that one should take in a steady diet of variety. I can tell you that I don’t fall into your well-researched sample set of people that quickly laud anything, and I certainly don’t
mostly listen to “folky” or “soft electronic” music.

That being said, Give Up was a great album for its balanced and seamless blend of IDM and “indie rock” sensibilities. Others have tried beforehand and many have been influenced since…it’s rare to hear it come together without sounding contrived or corny. Give Up has its moments of trite lyrics and sing songy sappiness, but the overall delivery quickly gets you over the squirmy parts and there are so many subtle characteristics that grow in time. It’s full of creative samples, it’s got some tasteful guitar tones, plenty of manipulated synths, distorted drum sequences…and there’s so much going on between the obvious. It’s crafted far beyond some sugary auto-tuned bubblegum electro-pop record a kid can throw together in his parents’ basement with presets from plug-ins and cheeseball references to fireflies and oceans…it’ more organic than that, while maintaining a special grit and that uniquely happens when artists like Tamborello mess with audio. coombine that with the Ben Gibbard of that time, and you have a special album. It may not be for you but you can’t say it has no value. I don’t like Rush but I realize why they’re important.

Do me a favor and please spread this story to as many people as possible. Then, report back and let me know how it went over.

At that point, I’ll decide whether to tell you I was totally kidding or not. And if I do tell you I was kidding, I’ll get to find out if you knew that already.

This is going to be so much fun.

Broken Social Scene – no doubt, one of the most important bands of the past 10 years for me. Some of their songs are so simple but it’s their combination of raw energy, diverse moods, juxtaposition of weird noisiness and ambient beauty, etc. It may be safe to say they released some throw-aways but the good stuff is so good, it makes up for all.

I’ll also agree that This is Happening wasn’t really happening for me. I’ve been into LCD since way back and actually think This Is Happening may be their (his) most boring offering. I like that it may be more Talking Heads-ish in ways but it lacks the genuine wound-up excitement I feel in the Heads…it’s fun live and I had a blast at the farewell show but it’s too repetitive without the repetitiveness acting as a device that actually builds and brings you somewhere…it just gets boring. Sound of Silver was solid gold.

“The Chronic was almost certainly the best-sounding rap album of all time, and it might still be.”

Of course, your statement is at least partially subjective but I still have to say – no way. There’s no doubt this album was/is a big deal and one that I would consider one of the Top 20 in regard to how influential it was, but “best- sounding rap album of all time” is off base unless you’re only including albums that were mainstream smashes. I (and I bet, so do many others) consider a couple that DJ Premier was involved in (Gang Starr’s “Moment Of Truth”, Nas’ “Illmatic”) better than the Chronic in regard to how good it sounded. Once again, it’s subjective at least in how your favorite hip hop styles may influence your decision – me being a New Yorker my whole life may have something to do with it. I’d probably put Tribe’s “Midnight Marauders” and Mobb Deep’s “The Infamous” in front of it for “sound”, as well.

The fidelity of “The Chronic” is up there, it cemented that low-riding, west coast funk twang for that era and years to come, it brought Snoop to the next level, and it has a few all-time classic songs, but one can argue that it doesn’t musically venture much beyond heavy usage of Parliament “Mothership Connection” samples and tired lyrical themes. Still a dope album, and one that instantly brings me back to that time.

-Chreezy J

I try to avoid seeing pictures of shit…but this is the funniest shit-related post i’ve seen since the last time someone mentioned Sleigh Bells

Deconstructing: Deconstruction.
http://www.amazon.com/Deconstruction/dp/B000002MPL

Can we keep the “Counting Down” feature to only artists that have been putting out albums for at least a decade?

Seems kinda weird doing this for Kanye…maybe I’m alone…so alone…

What is this “Bombtrack” video you’re pointing to? It seems “official” but that is not the song from the album…album version is way better. Weird…

Elijah Wood was dropped by Bushmills, guys. Sad week in blog history.