I just listened to and occasionally watched the whole thing - fucking awesome! I'm stoked for "Bad Decisions" and "The Adults Are Talking", the energy was great, Julian was endlessly amusing and mostly in great voice (he didn't sound like he gave a fuck about "Hard to Explain"), and this is still somehow a hot-shit rock and roll band.
I hope you're right. I voted for Bernie last time and assume I will again this time (I DO still like Liz a lot, too, though...). I think he's as close to a "good politician" as we ever get. I believe in the guy.
But he does have some toxic-ass supporters who talk a seriously scary game about not supporting other Dems who might get the nomination. I hope it's just bluster this time. Fight the greater evil empire next time if Pete or Biden gets the nom. Do NOT allow Trump to get 4 more years of judges including at least one more now-liberal Supreme Court seat. Do NOT give Trump 4 years of foreign policy control. No matter how much it might have to suck it up and vote for a milquetoast establishment scrub.
Very cool - Glasper as Artist in Residence has lots of potential, Khurangbin, Comet is Coming, Norah (I fucks with some Norah Jones), Remain in Light, Soul Rebels...I'd go.
Oh, s-word! The Slow Rush is finally arriving....that's going to make for some interesting discussion.
Last week was the first "big week" of the year for me on new releases - the Macaya McCraven/Gil Scott-Heron, the Leon Bridges/Khruangbin, and the A.A.L. all have received my attention. I love the first two, still figuring out how I feel about 2017-2019.
I don't care about the Oscars and see where they clearly have disappointed/underrepresented contributions from women and black people this year...but a South Korean movie did clean up this year, so there's at least one promotion of diversity.
#2 or #3 for me (I may well prefer it to Cuban Linx, which would put it at #2 to Liquid Swords), but no I will not fight you about it.
Best Wu anything of the 21st Century, in any case.
So funny because they never would have toured together in the 1990s (even assuming their timelines aligned a bit...I guess it would have had to hypothetically happened after Siamese Dream & Spaghetti Incident), but now it doesn't even seem like that odd of a pairing.
That has annoyed me for some time, because I have definitely wanted to stream it or use songs on playlists in the last few years. I think it's the last worthwhile thing BC has done, really. "Jesus, I/Mary Star of the Sea" is an all-time Corgan-Chamberlain masterpiece.
The touring they did behind it was also killer.
It's the right take...or my take, too, at least. It's the closest thing we have to a second Siamese Dream, but it's super weird. Siamese Dream is obviously way more personal, but it's constructed to be. Pisces as a collection feels very honest and unheard in a way SD can't be.
Not that Siamese isn't very safely #1.
Season 2 gets a worse shake than 5, I've always thought. People are always ready to rag on it and make it sound like they just completely abandoned everything from the rest of the series or something. I thought it was compelling AF and Frank Sobotka is one of the titan characters of the show, certainly among those who only get a limited run of appearances.
But I also like Season 5. Flawed? Maybe, but still riveting TV with all the hallmarks of why The Wire is the best TV drama ever.
I was just looking through the comments to see if anyone mentioned that yet.
Both clearly love collaborating in general (especially Khruangbin) and the couple tracks I've heard have both been perfect marriages of their sound. This seems like a nice, low-key chance for Bridges to get back on track after that spotty second album.
Shakira's portion of the show was a lot better than J Lo's, for sure. Shakira's had a reasonably dynamic, energetic feel to it and even some songs I kind of like. J Lo had the spectacle down I guess, but yeah her music stinks stank stunk.
God, what a horribly perfect day to have put this on Spotify - Murkowski won't support calling witnesses, Brexit is going down, coronavirus freaking everyone out...
Not that you couldn't pull headlines from any time in the last few years to make a similar point. But I wasn't at work listening to "Exterminator" while browsing The Guardian's homepage on those days.
Great write up, and I don't say that a whole lot. But really, you nailed it all - the perfect mirror-image dichotomy of this and their other defining release, the scary renewed relevance, the blistering sounds achieved, etc.
I don't think I heard this until 2001 or 2002 when my high school journalism teacher burned me avcopy (along with Is This It, Luna's Bewitched, and Fun House - thanks, Mr. Smith!) and I'm kind of amazed I was able to get into this at the time. I really hadn't done much more than lightly dabble in electronic stuff (unless, of course, an alternative rock band I was into incorporated it into their sound circa Garbage 2.0 or '97-'98 Pumpkins), and I was just on the verge of getting politically engaged. But then again, I did love overdriven guitars....
Anyway, I agree that it's their best album and a masterpiece. It hits hard AF and does still sound totally fresh. "Shoot Speed Kill Light" is a mindblower.
That song is so many googles of light years superior to the stuff we've heard from the last year I can scarcely convey it.
And while I do think the new songs are disappointing and flat (though not awful), that statement is more because "Mind Mischief" is Top 5 Tame to me.
I got into them when Lonerism came out and became my favorite rock album since like....Z.
I also love Currents, no disclaimers or caveats needed.
But somehow this ghastly release process - 5 pleasant but unremarkable songs over the course of a year after what was already a 4-year wait - has really sapped my enthusiasm for something that, based on every album they've previously released, I should be drooling over
I have more personal affection for Bernie, but she still might be the best choice if she can get some public momentum again (and she's the only other one who will make me happy in more than a "at least it's not Trump" way).
Yeah people like that are what make the Bernie thing a little scary. But of course, the idea of Biden representing the party and debating Trump in front of the whole country is scary. Mayor Pete being unable to connect with minority voters or energize young voters is scary.
Everything is scary post-2016!
I worry about what happens when the GOP and their evil machine start to truly focus on him and releasing commercials of every hard left stance he's ever taken or looked to be supportive of on camera and going hard on the whole "socialist" thing, etc. Mind you, he has my primary vote this year just like he did last time.
It is a bit interesting, though - you imagine they'll want to paint him as some friend of the Soviet Union and blah blah blah, but how do they really do that when Trump is basically a blowjob machine for the guy who called the collapse of the USSR the greatest geopolitical tragedy (or whatever Putin called it) of the 20th Century?
"They are operating at a level that often matches their early output" - if by early output you mean the first era of releases ending prior to Propellor, sure no problem there.
But if, as I fear, you mean Propellor - Under the Bushes, Under the Stars....well that is the enthusiastic talk of a coke party.
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