I’ll save my comment for when Lana Del Rey cancels her Israel show.

I guess I’m just doing a really poor job of saying what I mean to say. I am not arguing that it’s raw talent that got her on SNL. My point, basically, is — why aren’t Blonds getting constant coverage? Why haven’t they been shot to superstardom? On the flipside, why doesn’t Katy Perry get written about on Stereogum or Pitchfork? LDR is a case of a pop singer whose label did an immaculate job of selling her to the indie kids. As such, she got shot to the highest of heights way before she was ready. Way before she toured in a van for years like every other indie band, or way before she had to crank out hit singles like every other pop star. And now she’s being crucified for being popular before she might deserve it, as though she should have decided to hide in a cave and scorn all the praise she was getting. Of course it’s her decision to be on SNL, but if you were in her shoes would you turn down the chance out of fear that you weren’t ready? Maybe you would. I probably would. But it’s not so deplorable that she didn’t. She is an artist whose marketing exceeds her know-how. All I’m saying is that I don’t think she’s necessarily to blame. If you’re upset that better bands aren’t getting more coverage, blame the people covering worse bands/artists, not the worse artists for getting covered.

Ya know, people are being so fucking cruel about this performance. I’ll be the first to admit it was not good. At all. And I’m sure she’d admit the same upon watching back. But the truly valid criticism made here by Brian Williams is that she is wholly inexperienced, and for that she is not to blame — the internet is. We have a habit of skyrocketing green talent to absurd heights far before they’re ready, and as a result they come crashing down. As a musician, nerves have caused me to bomb even tiny shows. I can’t fathom being thrown on SNL with so little performing experience. I hope she’s around long enough to see if she can do better with a tour under her belt, unless the internet that created her decides that this totally botched performance should mark the end for her. Either way, I don’t hold her responsible for being booked on SNL “based on the strength of her TWO SONG web EP” — one doesn’t turn that opportunity down in the hopes that it comes along again tomorrow. Next time maybe folks should have a little patience and be a little less hyperbolic before an artist has time to develop.

Ya know, not that my opinion on this matter is particularly important, but I just can’t get into Drake and can’t get into this record. The frustrating part of it is that I SHOULD love this record because it fits right in with other stuff that I love, but something about Drake’s content just always falls flat and doesn’t resonate with me. I guess I’ll keep giving it a shot for a little while, but thusfar I have consistently felt that the worst part of every Drake song and album is Drake himself.

Just a thought. It’s your blog, not mine : )

I had heard of The Wrens but never heard their music when I went to go see them super late at the Mercury Lounge a few years back at CMJ. It was one of the only times in my life that I was utterly blown away by a band in a live setting without knowing a single song going in. It was such an amazing and moving performance. I’ll forever have the utmost respect for this band, and I can’t wait for a new record.

Except that Eric is the bass player. Travis Morrison is the frontman.

I guess arguing with somebody about whether or not they should like an album feels silly to me. I agree that music and music journalism suffer from Group Think, but I happen to think this is a fantastic album, and I tend to think that it has a LOT of heart — which I find to be missing from most music these days, whether it’s pop or indie or whatever. So yeah, I wholeheartedly disagree that it’s all style or that it’s hollow, and I disagree with the sentiment that people overreacted and inaccurately praised it. But I guess at the end of the day I love this album and you don’t, so that’s about all there is to it! Free country and all that.

I can definitely understand having a problem with his persona, though I personally think there’s something so genuine about it that it doesn’t bother me. But to discredit sampling in 2010? Seems like an outdated argument. He has definitely created new music with the samples that is both creative and original, and it’s definitely worthy of its praise. If sampling this well and this creatively is so easy then everybody would be creating albums this good, but the fact is that they’re not.

Ha I know, I just wanted to provide a counter-comment to all the annoying “WHAT?! GLASSER SHOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH HIGHER!” comments that are going to come in. As long as the good stuff is on there somewhere I’m happy.

This is amazing, but am I the only person who thinks that the idea of Pitchfork throwing a three day #Offline Festival in New York while CMJ is going on is really lame? It just kind of seems like to a chump move to throw a “We’re going to have our OWN festival” Festival…when there is already a Pitchfork Festival! CMJ Should throw a #BlowMe festival in one of the Pitchfork Tents next year.

Surprisingly nice! Kinda funny that she needs two guitarists to accompany her for this. Also kinda funny that this is on Stereogum? Anyhoo. Sounds good!

I am going to copy and paste an email I sent to Amrit in December of 2008:

“This is going to seem totally random, but I figure if there’s anybody I should tell who will certainly end up seeing this come to fruitiion it’s you, but I have a prediction: my prediction is that sometime in the near future, Phil Collins/Phil Collins-era Genesis will be the next hipster touchstone ala Bruce Springsteen, Paul SImon’s Graceland, etc.

Mark my words. I dunno if it’ll be the next trend, but it’s coming. And let me say now, pre-”It’s Cool To Like Phil Collins,” that I really really like Phil Collins. So when it all goes down you can say “Alex emailed me about this like a year and a half ago. Weird!”