Without getting into the tedious specifics of our balloting process, that is basically 100 fucking percent what happened. I get turned on to so much good music by our commenters. So yeah, Incendiary owe Carson a beer for that one. Hell, I owe Carson a beer, too. That record is a bone-breaker. I love it.
Just wanted to register my appreciation for a list that has Ruins Of Beverast "by a mile" at #1 followed by Kendrick at #2 and War On Drugs at #3. You can't fake that shit. Stereogum commenters are the best music fans, for real.
I would have written the blurb if it had been assigned to me, but I was pretty relieved when I saw Ryan's name on that one, because I had no idea how I was gonna condense that thing into the space allotted. Even the blurbs I DID write were 300% longer than everybody else's and had to be edited down to a sane length. That said, War On Drugs got my #1 vote, followed by Counterparts at #2 and Pallbearer at #3 I think. Idk if we're gonna publish individual lists but we are doing individual song lists, which should give you a pretty good idea of our respective taste profiles (to the extent anybody could want such a thing).
I never really liked the music of U2, but I LOVE the podcast U Talkin' U2 To Me?, and I would just like to use this forum to say the following:
The Songs Of Experience ep of U Talkin' U2 To Me? is easily THE WORST ep in the show's history, entirely because of the band U2, who managed to convince the Scotts (Adam & Aukerman) to use their podcast as part of the album's promotional cycle. It was legitimately 1000% more intrusive and unwelcome than whatever they did to everybody's iPhones a few years ago.
So I now fucking hate U2 and I REALLY hate this album. (I still love U Talkin' U2 To Me and it was still a solid ep.)
Dude I am dying over here. THANK YOU for filling in these crucial details. I still haven't even made it through "Songs Of Experience" a full time and now I gotta go back to "Staind Glass."
Man, you just made my day. Fwiw, if the podcast I described above sounds like something you'd sorta-maybe like, you'll probably really fucking love the actual podcast, because my description does not even remotely do justice to the genuine article. In any case, I appreciate you reading my long-winded description of the entire premise. I feel dumb explaining jokes (esp. somebody else's jokes) but I feel way worse for dismissively leaving other people out of the jokes. If nothing else, now ya know the deal. If you check out the show, enjoy!
I'll explain it, but I gotta warn you in advance, it's an insanely complicated path to the heart of a non-joke that is basically intentionally pointless and unfunny. Also, I'm pretty sure my explanation will primarily serve to make you hate the joke, the podcast, and me. But I feel like a dick leaving people out of stuff, especially stuff that I love, so:
The two guys who host UTU2TM (Scott Aukerman and Adam Scott) are legitimate U2 superfans who know EVERYTHING about the band and they'll geek out on, like, stray feedback echoes on Joshua Tree. They started the podcast just so they'd have a place/excuse to talk about U2 for hours on end. But foremost, UTU2TM is a 3rd-gen spinoff of Scotty Auks' main show, Comedy Bang Bang, which is a large and self-contained universe of inane in-jokes and obscure recurring characters who, over time, evolve into fully realized super-oddities. Best example of this: the characters from the John Mulaney/Nick Kroll Broadway show "Oh Hello" were initially introduced in a throwaway CBB skit, kinda like how The Simpsons started as an interstitial thing on the old Tracey Ullman show. (Scott A. used to write for Mr. Show, which did this kind of surrealist comedy on a smaller scale.)
Anyway, the first two eps of UTU2TM were basically a funny but loving and straightforward U2-themed podcast with tons of research and trivia. But on ep 3 - "The Joshua Tree" which featured tha god Harris Wittels (RIP) as a special guest - shit just went off the rails. They just got really weird and random, and every stupid thing they said became canon and spiraled off into its own alternate reality, sometimes growing to absurd proportions.
So ANYWAY before I get to the "lads from Liverpool" thing, I'll break down a different joke so you can get a feel for the whole enterprise. At the top of these comments, @jethro bob mcgee mentioned "reverb and live drums." So here's where that comes from:
- When this podcast was new, they were recording a few eps a week and releasing them on a once-per-week schedule. So Scott A. would ironically start by saying, "It's been awhile" since the last podcast.
- Pretty soon, immediately after him saying, "It's been awhile," both guys would automatically (and inaccurately) sing the first line of the Staind song "It's Been Awhile."
- Soon after THAT, they joked that there was a method to this particular bit of madness: They said they were gonna do a side podcast dedicated to Staind, with comedian Todd Glass guest-hosting, and they were gonna call that show "Staind Glass." Just totally ridiculous spontaneous wordplay for wordplay's sake. Not even sorta serious.
- Once they introduced that idiotic contrivance, it took on its own existence and they had to give it oxygen, so eventually they did an ep of UTU2TM called "Staind Glass," with Todd Glass, who'd never even heard of Staind and literally couldn't identify a U2 song out of a lineup. (They tested him on this, it was amazing.)
- In apologizing for being so unfamiliar with individual musical acts, Glass said he was nonetheless a great lover of music, and by way of example, he talked about (iirc) these backyard barbecues he'd throw where a live band would play and Todd would crank the reverb on the PA because he loved the sound of reverb. And Adam and Scott were DYING listening to his description, fascinated by his obsession with reverb.
- Etc.
Make sense? They're really borrowing these crazy abstract concepts from Buddhist philosophy and quantum physics, and using them in the service of the dumbest shit of all time. And if you listen from the beginning, it can take on this pretty electrifying Waking Life-style collective dream-consciousness sensation. Also it's just a blast to track these jokes from accidental conception to whatever distorted shapes they take on over time. At its most frenetic (the special "commentary" episode), the hyper-references are so densely layered, emerging and disappearing so quickly, it can feel like you're tripping balls on Space Mountain and hallucinating the birth of the universe or something.
But the fun part, for me anyway, isn't trainspotting the references; it's just the feeling of hanging around with these two super-fast, super-funny, super-smart goofballs. I think that's especially true if you grew up with nerdy stoner kids like that, because it takes you back to a time and feeling you really can't recreate. I laugh like a 13-year-old when I listen to this show, and that's a rare form of laughter. And THEN, listeners (like me) will occasionally throw out incongruous references in online forums (like this one), and every once in a while, other listeners will catch one of those references and throw it back, which ever-so-slightly expands that parallel universe to include those listeners as residents rather than merely tourists. That's the other fun part (again, for me): calling back and stupidly giggling at esoteric in-jokes with strangers online, who aren't entirely strangers anymore.
OK so now that I've over-explained the layout, here's what the "lads from Liverpool" thing is: In one ep, Scott A. momentarily took on the affect of a snooty know-it-all dick who blatantly bungles the simplest facts but does so with this arrogant authority that makes him truly insufferable. In this case, that "character" was idiotically conflating the Beatles and U2 in the tone of, like, James Lipton.
So, because that alternate reality had been introduced into our reality, from that moment forward, in the UTU2TM universe, U2 were the "lads from Liverpool."
That's the whole show and it goes on forever like a Pynchon novel. I'm truly sorry. "The Aristocrats!"
If you start me up ... I will be here all night doing this. And on another night I would! Alas, not this night. However before I shut down I just wanna say that I truly appreciate each and every ridiculous micro-reference that you guys throw into these comments, and I sincerely apologize to everyone else to whom all of this is utter fucking nonsense. You are not wrong about that.
I listened to the first 10 minutes on the subway and was holding back tears the whole time, so I figured I'd pause and save it for a situation where I could laugh-out-loud without public embarassment. I was melting down by the time they got to the Wham! dramatic recreation which was maybe the 45-second mark? It was so fuckin' goofy and insane and hilarious. For real, there are few pleasures in life like this.
I wish they would do an R.E.M. series, but I dunno if it would work, bc Scott Aukerman only kinda likes R.E.M. while they are Adam Scott's favorite band of all time. It would have to be more like an Analyze Phish concept. (RIP Harris.)
As for that Huey Lewis show, if memory serves, they've been recording it real-time concurrently with UTU2TM? so that should drop any day now!
I just went back and listened to a little bit of that ep to confirm my recollection and it's even worse than I described because it seems like he's randomly adding and cutting the reverb, and then he's got like a real junky live trumpet-bongos-drum trio that inexplicably jumps in and out like a goddamn nightmare. If you can listen to a half-hour of that ep without pausing to give your ears a rest, I'd consider it an impressive display of endurance. If you just skip to the 25-minute mark, you'll hear Eddie say some nonsense shit and then Todd say, "Put some reverb in his mic. Say that again with reverb." And then Eddie just free-associates for a minute while the trumpet-bongos-drums rattle behind him, all run through the same fucking mic with the reverb cranked to 12. Then, I shit you not, at the 28:55 mark, Todd says, "Put some reverb on our voices!" And they do it AGAIN. I have no idea what happens after that because I can't listen for the full hour and forty minutes.
You ever listen to Todd Glass' podcast? I never did till like a month ago, randomly, and IT WAS ALL FUCKING REVERB. It was like being at a dub show in a small basement except unlistenable because, like, you don't need to hear Eddie Pepitone's off-the-cuff jokes run through ANY reverb never mind THAT MUCH REVERB. And VOLUME. I mean, maybe they're not all like that -- I honestly couldn't make it through the one ep -- but I truly could not believe the amount of reverb. He was not exaggerating about that shit. I wonder if he has hearing problems or something.
You have an irrational hatred for Tribulation so I feel like you'd say the same thing even if it were their best work. That said, this is not their best work.
They absolutely do and the reason for this is so fucking badass. Rather than rely on my memory, I will quote Wikipedia:
A commonly repeated legend claims that the two-fingered salute or V sign derives from a gesture made by longbowmen fighting in the English and Welsh archers at the Battle of Agincourt (1415) during the Hundred Years' War, but no historical primary sources support this contention. This origin legend dictates that the English and Welsh archers who were captured by the French had their index and middle fingers cut off so that they could no longer operate their longbows, and that the V Sign was used by uncaptured and victorious archers in a display of defiance against the enemy.
I'd take issue with calling it "soft," but otherwise, most of what you dislike in their sound now is the stuff I love about it. Arson (the new album) is INSANELY catchy. Like, almost every second of every song is just a massive fucking hook. It's really like Maiden but with blastbeats and Neige/Godspeed guitar climaxes and Nergal-style vox. I get why fans of the first two records might not connect with it the same way, but for me this stuff is like drugs.
I concede all of this, and should also note that I have written extensively about my appreciation for such themes in black metal, so I'm not only off-base but a little hypocritical here. Point taken. That said, it sometimes seems like a little bit of a dodge to me when bands focus so intently on "nature" as lyrical subject matter. It's like, they know Satan and Odin are too dumb to actually think about, but they don't want to rankle the hegemony by writing about human suffering or fragility, so they find a safe midpoint that sometimes feels (to me) like filler: just white noise to serve the guitars. It doesn't really bother me, and when it's done right, it can be really impressive, but it always feels (again, to me) a little clinical, which is at odds with the performances themselves. But I won't argue any further. Consider "Cascadian wilderness" stricken from my list of "dumbass garbage" metal themes.
Nah man, they put out the Prelapsarian LP after Ygg Huur and Hyperion.
https://www.stereogum.com/1917335/stream-krallice-prelapsarian/music/album-stream/
PLUS all the side projects AND Marston's production/engineering work. I'm not being entirely hyperbolic when I say I don't understand how they can generate such output in such a timespan. These aren't like Bob Pollard throwaways here; they're insanely complicated songs and fairly diverse when you look at the entire spectrum of the work. Just constant Beast Mode.
Dimensional Bleedthrough my favorite too! This one sounds more like recent Krallice, that kinda Zorn/Gorguts style rather than the heavy ambient black metal stuff from the first few. Still kicks ass though.
Even if you do believe Tori Amos (I kinda do, but only bc I've edited some Tori Amos interview raw copy) AND Rita Ora (I do not, as she was the host of America's Next Top Model ffs), saying this stuff now leaves a lot of other artists hung out to dry. Lady Gaga did a fucking book and a movie with Terry Richardson. He's photographed Rihanna a billion times for huge mags. He photographed Barack fucking Obama. Is every other celebrity in America gonna make some fake statement denouncing him now? He's shot them all. His reputation is not an industry "open secret" like Harvey Weinstein or whoever - it is his fucking reputation PUBLICLY EVERYWHERE. Check out this list of random Terry Richardson factoids from Complex a few years ago. You'll know when you get to the salient item. http://www.complex.com/style/2013/04/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-terry-richardson/terry-10
Sinister by light years, and I say that as someone who adores Tigermilk, DCW, and Life Pursuit. DCW is pretty close to perfect, though, and it dwarfs most bands' best work.
There are gonna be like five regular commenters who get this reference, but I got a kick out of Ray's concluding sentiment: "It took a while to truly grasp what the album had to say." Friends, here we have proof positive that we ALWAYS need to accept the possibility of a record so excellent we don’t understand it yet.
An old friend of mine used to write a food-criticism column where he worked in all these obscure historical facts, philosophical and metaphysical concepts, and scientific terminology, and his core intent was to describe the fact of "eating" in the most grotesque, tactile language, while also praising the meal itself. We would sit around cracking ourselves up thinking about how readers might react. "I dunno, Margaret. It seems like he loved the meal, and yet, I find myself ill after having read this." Of course he truly loved EVERY meal. He would write a positive review of curdled milk if somebody served it to him. He just deeply appreciated every morsel of food he ingested, because it had required the sacrifices of others to keep HIM alive. For obvious reasons, that column is no longer being published, but I think we would all find greater happiness in life if we paid such careful attention to our bounty.
http://archive.longislandpress.com/2010/10/28/chris-lunchbox-syosset-thai-nirvana/
Holy shit. Is this too many characters for a Twitter bio? I'm humbled. Is there a stronger word than "humbled"? Whatever that word is, that's what I am. "Thankful"? Something like that. Thankful. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing! I never saw this clip before, but this is exactly what I was talking about. He took all these structural limitations and unanticipated, unavoidable challenges and used them to make the performance more exciting, more intimate, and frankly BETTER. But he wasn't stunting, just, like, delivering. It was very warm and charming while also being incredibly fucking badass while ALSO having no pretense or affect either way. He's a rare breed. And also his new album is fantastic.
I cannot possibly accept this obscenely generous compliment, but I CAN say this is quite literally the nicest thing anybody has ever said about me, and it's also the nicest thing anybody ever COULD say about me. You are truly, TRULY far too kind. So I can't accept, but I appreciate it so very much just the same.
Well, even if you don't comment again, I'm glad you did, and I hope you'll read my reply. Which is: I totally agree with what you're saying, but that goes to my point. For all we know, Taylor Swift and Kanye West talked at length about this line well in advance of the song's release. Even if they didn't, it makes no difference. If Taylor Swift (the artist) wants to comment on Kanye West (the artist), that's her right. And honestly I think her intent was to be funny rather than mean. "Don't like your tilted stage"? That sounds like something an 8-year-old would say. "I'm a jerk? Well, I don't even like your, um ... shirt!" I think that's how she intended it to play, but again, who knows.
HOWEVER, for me, it's a question of optics and response. There's a darker tone that I think is UNINTENDED, but one she should have accounted for. Taylor Swift has been championed by the alt-right as their Aryan Goddess or whatever. Breitbart is tweeting out every lyric of "LWYMMD" in an effort to claim it for their own hateful ends. When she leans into that, even on a micro level, it furthers feelings of separatism, and I think emboldens people to view their own hatred as acceptable. I don't think it's hard to imagine lines of thought like, for example: "I never liked that Kanye West or his awful wife [whose father was O.J. Simpson's lawyer] and I'm glad Taylor is finally giving it back to him. She's always been a smart, sweet, successful, very pretty young woman and a good role model. Kanye West can rot in prison for all I care." Etc. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I hope that at least conveys what I was THINKING.
Well it sounds slightly less cool than "the Autechre of extreme metal," but I'm very flattered just the same. (I'm really more of an Analyze Phish fan than anything else.) Thanks man!
Fwiw I was gonna cut that little "major label office chatter" skit from my WOD manifesto but it tested through the roof with my focus group aka my wife, whose first-read feedback has consistently elevated my work from "bad" to "not bad." You should see what DID get cut. Yikes!
You're absolutely right about the clumsy tonal shift, and for that I offer no excuses. If I'd had another day with this I woulda softened that, and looking at it now, I wish I had. But these takes only stay hot for so long!
I think your question is a good one, but any answer I offer is gonna be an extended variation on this from above:
Her songs are not simply based on real-life events; they are — to borrow a phrase from one of Swift’s favorite TV shows — “ripped from the headlines.” This is a deliberate innovation on Swift’s part, and she uses it because, by doing so, people relate to the work even more.
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