Ha ha. No, this just confirms my belief that AF are making very middle-of-the-road music, music for fans of the Grammy Awards. They can now stand proudly beside Celine Dion, post-relevance Carlos Santana, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, and River: The Joni Letters
You started by saying I have a tendency toward difficult music, right? I wanted to point out that that’s not necessarily the case. As far as the rest of your comment, you’re suspicious of the “music is subjective” argument — which you think is “bullshit” — but then go on to say that the National and Arcade Fire “reach the same parts of (your) brain… ” That’s pretty personal/subjective, no? Unless we all share your brain. Ditto this: “I honestly think that there is good music, bad music, and music in between. I think this album is clearly good music. And if you don’t like it, it’s because of some other reason, not because of the songs.” You’re arguing against your own point. Are you saying there’s some sort of objective math equation or formula out there that helps us decide if music’s “good” or “bad” or “in between”?
Or if you want to view something more recent, go to my Haunting The Chapel Top 50 of 2010 and type search "non-metal": http://stereogum.com/596411/haunting-the-chapels-top-50-albums-of-2010/franchises/haunting-the-chapel/ .... Antony, Perfume Genius, Glasser, Titus, Emeralds, Oneohtrix Point Never, Tamaryn, jj, Joanna Newsom, etc.
Hey jtl, I made a comment regarding all of this above. I don't just listen to "difficult" music. I have a tendency to love that stuff, true, but ... For the hell of it, here's my Top 25 of 2005, which included Agalloch, Prurient, Scott Walker, Celtic Frost, Brightblack Morning Light, Blut Aus Nord, The Knife, and Sunset Rubdown: http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/6511-2006-individual-albums-lists/
I appreciate your thoughts on this. Thanks. I plan to dig backwards a bit, definitely. A lot of weird things happened with blogs around 2005: Records that were hyped to the heavens are forgotten now, sort of like bad or embarrassing memories. There's definitely something worth investigating in all of that.
Well, he *is* from the brutal north....
The thing is, I do listen to a lot of non-metal. (I listed a bunch of my favorite 2010 non-metal albums at the end of my Haunting The Chapel Top 50.) Or, to look backwards: In 2003 I reviewed Sufjan Stevens' Michigan at Pitchfork, pushed for it to be Best New Music. I pitched that review, I wasn't assigned it. I knew nothing about the guy at the time, just liked the music. I also did Pitchfork's first National review in 2003. Again, I pitched this one because I liked the record a lot. That same year other favorites included Drudkh's Forgotten Legends, Opeth's Damnation, Xasthur's The Funeral Of Being, a ton of Jewelled Antler releases, plenty of Wolf Eyes, the self-titled Comets On Fire album. Then in early 2004 I did the site's first Joanna Newsom review (for Milk-Eyed Mender). Again, I knew little about her at the time, just liked the music a lot.
I like music I like. It's simple as that.
"Slacker Rock" was something folks called Pavement, Archers Of Loaf, etc. back in the day. People called everything "slacker" back then, I guess. Richard Linklater was king. The "Slacker Generation," aka Generation X, etc. So it's not that I couldn't do better, it's that the '90s couldn't do better.
"Sweat Rock"'s not bad, but it it reminds me of Richard Simmons's sweat socks.
...humming them all at once, as we speak. I'm not, but I am very familiar w/ the 50 -- I listen to music a lot, listened to these a bunch. Death and birth both resulted in modified schedules (more time sorting and figuring). Surprisingly, I listened to more music in 2010 than in any year past: I visited fewer bars, had more control over the stereo/what I heard. (Also, I often wake up at 6AM w/ the kid to give Jane a break ... lots of time for meditating on DsO.)
I never really took to the Les Discrets. I like the Man's Gin, for sure. That falls into a weird space genre-wise. (I kept Swans separate, for instance.) I guess its "metal-ness" would shift list-by-list? I agree re: Winterfylleth and Ash Pool, of course. I was surprised more people haven't mentioned those albums.
Thanks. I knew I'd get shit for Immolation, but that's where it fell. Ausserwelt, too. Lots of good stuff this year! (Shining did make the Honorable Mentions -- otherwise, some good suggestions. [Though I really can't stand the Sword.])
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