"further proof that kanye is a no talent loser!"
really? man, we all have tastes, but you cannot say that kanye west doesn't have talent. the guy's production in unprecedented--from his pre-college dropout days, through each album he's done himself. he takes risks that no one else in mainstream hip-hop is willing to take. also his lyrics can be awkward but are often fantastic.
he may have an over-the-top public persona, but you can't really argue that he doesn't have talent.
1) What "studio gimmickery" are you talking about? Delay pedals?
2) And there is "literally nothing worthwhile to say about it"? Though your comment seems to support this assertion, I would have to disagree.
3) Please review to/too and there/their, as well as your use of quotation marks--there will be a quiz.
I was pretty bummed out to read this and the comments. Then I finally heard that album and kind of don't get why everyone thinks its so bad. Then again, I really liked their last one, which seems to take a beating by a lot of the commenters here. Which is weird. That first Interpol record was pretty great, but I think Antics was better. The third one was different, but fantastic--they progressed, tried new things (bigger production--more lush), stayed moody, did some great poppy stuff that maintained the brooding feel. And with this one, it seems they intentionally dialed back the pop a bit and focused on atmosphere more. For me, it works. Great record. These guys are clearly very skilled, very tight, very controlled. I hope more people give it a fair chance.
One of the biggest disappointments of the past ten years in music!? Damn. I really enjoyed Our Love To Admire. Quite a lot. I guess I'm listening wrong.
Weird. I think Lisbon is more "explosive" than You & Me. And to say that All My Great Designs sounds like a solo song is confusing...the drum part is prominent, and the back up vocals are the strongest they've ever been for this band. Same with Torch Song. Those back up vocals are a big step for the band. Agree to disagree, I guess.
Being desperate for someone to say whether it's good or not is much different than what I was trying to get out. If something is claiming to evaluate an album, it should probably do that. Or at least use complete sentences and avoid cliches. The trend with these posts is to use many words and not really say anything. It kind of acts like a compilation of previous posts on the album, rather than mentioning anything new about the album. It's not about needing to know someone's personal opinion on the album, but it would be nice to read something with a bit of substance and a bit of accurate, concrete description, which these posts seem to lack. Thanks for the response, Scott. Good to know you're interested in readers' opinions. My only real recommendation would be to wait another day or two, rather than rushing out the post. Everyone knows when it leaks, sooner or later, and being the first to post on it is worth much less than putting out quality writing that might include some insight.
It's not even: "We like this album."
It's more like: "This is an album."
But I agree, I'm constantly amazed at how little they are able to say with so many words. If you go back and look through them, most of the time they play it as safe as possible so they can't possible end up on the wrong side. They might hint at something they see as a short coming, but never "evaluate" it at all. Like I said before, this is just a string of quotes--event the part about "Blue As Your Blood" is basically copied/pasted from a separate Stereogum post about the song, itself. It's a strange approach. I guess most of their posts are like that. But then again, most of their posts don't claim to be an evaluation.
I agree that these Premature Evaluations never really say much. They are mostly a string of quotes out of context, forced adjectives, inaccurate musical terms (a shuffle and a waltz are different things, guys), some song titles, and incomplete sentences. Not too helpful. This reads like someones notes for an article.
This album probably sounds more like its predecessor than any other Walkmen album. Which is to say they are always taking steps somewhere. And they do here, too, just not as drastically as they have in the past. The overall mix is really similar to You & Me (bright, clean electric guitars, roomy drums, vocals up in the mix), as is the woozy, laid-back feeling. Not too many "hooks," necessarily, but the songs are pretty catchy. "Angela Surf City," after its initial minute or so, sounds the most like Bows + Arrows-era Walkmen (fast strumming, uptempo, quick snare rolls) and it's GREAT. It provides a solid contrast to songs like "Stranded." I love "Victory," which is somewhere between their earlier cathartic stuff and the looser "In The New Year." "All My Great Designs" has really great group harmonies, and a muted slapback guitar sound--which might be a bit of the Sun Records influence they've mentioned. That influence is most prevalent on "Torch Song," though. It has a classic 50s sound in the chord progression and the shuffle, and the back-up vocals really nail a do-wop/early rock 'n' roll feel, but it's solid and doesn't sound like pastiche. Success. "Woe Is Me" has a surf feel and real sing-songy melody. Kind of the weak point of a very strong album for me.
I love it, but would also love to hear all the songs they supposedly cut--more horn-heavy like the best parts of their last album and "Stranded." Hopefully they find an excuse to release those too.
Those songs are so good, though! "Rococo" builds subtly, "Modern Man" has that 5/4 bar and the reverb sounds great, "Suburban War" does the coda thing with the tempo shift they did so well on Funeral. Anyway. We don't have to agree, but I hear their confidence so much in those songs, specifically.
I think if anything, "Empty Room" should have been cut because there's really no dynamic shift in it. Or "Ready To Start," which sounds more like a Neon Bible holdover, with how heavy and dark it feels. But I really wouldn't cut anything here, it's all great to me.
I was just thinking that his voice has gotten less affected over the years. He seems to have found a lot of confidence in it. There were a few Oberstian moments on Funeral, but I grew to love them. Here, he seems pretty straight-forward in comparison.
Shit gets really confusing when you get into the fourth level of the dream. But the "kick" will be when Radiohead drops their new album on a weeks notice.
"i have a blast picking at the thin skin of people i don’t have the time or energy to respect."
what a sad, sad life you must lead. besides bethoven, whom you mentioned earlier, is there any music that you do enjoy?
Arcade Fire are now 3/3.
And they need to be applauded, not only for their great songs, but for their ability to create cohesive records. Each of their albums holds together so well, aesthetically, thematically, etc. This one is just fantastic and doesn't sound much like the two before. Most bands either rehash their early stuff or try to hard to do something different.
I'm shocked "Half Light" and "Half Light II" weren't mentioned. Those two, followed by "Suburban War" make one hell of a middle section. But I guess I could just list all the songs and rave and rave and rave, which wouldn't be very productive. All I can say is that clearly this band is and has always been the real deal.
Today, Stereogum is an enormous Colgate ad. And they still have the title wrong of the song they posted from a huge band. Seriously, friend, it isn't about me.
Yeah, great work SG. You'd that with all that ad revenue pouring in, you could correctly label year-old songs from huge bands. Shit, man--the words are IN THE SONG.
I agree that if not for the name, I'd probably never give these songs a second listen. The second song is much more interesting, but Tomboy sounds like a sleepy, boring demo/sketch of a song.
To me, she is clearly making fun of MIA--the production, the delivery, the shitty cover--which is awesome. I don't ever want to hear this again, but it's awesome for that.
Oh, ok. There's this site called Google and...well..
So they dropped the N-Bomb and went to ironic race-themed parties. Soooo...Vampire Weekend plays guitar parts that sound like Paul Simon (who was influenced by black people) and they are assholes (also because their grandparents were rich [?], but CocoRosie can use epithets as a part of their schtick that is very hard to take seriously and they are applauded?
So those are the "race issues" that Stewart is applauding? That's what he chose to point out about this band? In contrast to other artists "playing black?" Jamie, let's think these things through a bit more. And quit looking into poison gas clouds.
I guess I really really don't know my shit...but can someone please explain what Jamie Stewart is referring to when he talks about CocoRosie's race issues??
[And yeah, what a jackass--why does he need to call people racist?! Wasn't he supposed to talk about CocoRosie?? Yeah Jamie, we can all relate. It's beautiful like "when you look into a cloud of poison gas." Exactly. Nice LiveJournal post. Shut up, Xiu Xiu.]
But really, though. Am I missing something about race issues?
I stopped trying with this band a couple albums ago, but this is the most enjoyable thing I've heard from them in a long, long time.
They've become so overblown and theatrical that this is a breath of fresh air and a reminder for me that Barnes really is a great songwriter.
What a waste of time. Look at these people. If they didn't try so hard to look stupid, they would get better reviews, this is absolutely true...but the reviews wouldn't be THAT much better. This is my personal opinion about the music they make. There's some interesting production values and instrumentation and the occasional great melody. But it's just grating over time.
There's a lot of music out there that I don't care for. Made by men and women alike. It's sad to me when people try to explain the opinions of others by suggesting they are closed-minded. "We disagree, therefore YOU are crazy/sexist/incapable of GETTING it." How lazy and sad and self-righteous.
Divisive music (CR or Waves or Girls or mostly anything that appears to rely on something other than the music itself--be it dumb album art, intentionally shitty production, or an elaborate back story) becomes more divisive when it tries to be more than music. That's why there are a lot of bands that are a bit boring but have some followers and some middling reviews, but only certain bands provoke the vitriol of the masses. Look at Shout Out Louds (I could pick a hundred different examples)--quite a capable band: nothing groundbreaking, but nothing offensive or shocking or divisive about it, either. They might have some so-so reviews but I guarantee they would never provoke a discussion like this. Which, for me, is a good thing. There, Xiu Xiu, I said it. Sometimes being provocative is just plain annoying.
Look at that dumb fucking picture. I mean, really look at it. I've listened to them before but I feel like I have several better ways to spend my limited time on this planet than to keep giving these dummies my time. If you enjoy their music, cheers, keep enjoying it. I have no desire to convince you otherwise. Pitchfork has a lot of power--of course a great review will boost sales. But is that the same as a bad review hurting a band's potential? Who knows, there's a legitimate argument to be had there. But don't tell me I don't get it or I'm sexist or I'm not ready for it or it's the man's fault.
these are great.
it seems like they are making a concentrated effort to embrace restraint and subtlety, to consciously avoid the explosions they built their name upon. "we used to wait" seems to really get into the talking heads influence in that way. there's still a lot more dynamic shift than any talking heads song, but that's arcade fire being arcade fire.
and now to know that the record is 16 tracks, i've become even more intrigued about where this is going. and i usually prefer shorter albums and songs, so i'm nervous, but i trust these guys.
How can I disagree with you SO MUCH about songs, but still love the album?!
Call it A Ritual is a wonderful song and it's baffling that you could say it's the worst song Spencer Krug has written. That would never cross my mind (especially considering the first Sunset Rubdown record). Ever. I think Tuxedos is the weakest song on this album, and What Did My Lover Say is probably my favorite. It's so huge. Riffs. Guitars. Keys. Beats. Dissonance. Everything that makes Wolf Parade who they are. And it reminds me of Modest Mouse (mostly in the guitars)--but not in a derivative way. It's representative, I think, of the band that they've grown into, which is absolutely wonderful.
I disagree SO MUCH about Dan's songs. I really think he outshines Spencer here. I'm a Krug loyalist, but Dan's songs feel much more complete, whereas a couple of the Spencer songs feel like Sunset Rubdown leftovers ("Cloud Shadow..." and "Two Men...")
All in all, it's a great album. I still think At Mount Zoomer is incredibly underrated. It's an explosive album.
I still like "Lover" the best. The KEXP ones are GREAT, too, but it's becoming a bit more of the supergroup with they guy from Sunset Rubdown and the guy from Handsome Furs ("Cloud Shadow" could be on Dragonslayer and "Yulia" could be a beefed-up Face Control outtake).
That's fine. Any new music from these guys is warmly welcomed.
Comments