Comments

My Siamese Dream "moment" is probably Rocket. That riff is just wonderful, and the moment that Billy drops that "ah" or whatever and the bass and drums kick in is bliss. Other contenders for the crown would be the intro for Cherub Rock and all of Spaceboy, which is a beautifully realized song. Billy wrote it for his brother, who was disabled. My sister is autistic, and Spaceboy is a song that just... gets it. It knows what it is like for the person who is disabled and the people who love that person. Finally, the guitar outro for Hummer is pretty much perfect. The list is good overall. I LOVE Adore and would bump it right up behind Mellon Collie, maybe even ahead of it. I would also divide the Machinas. Otherwise, I mostly agree with the order and the author's reasonings for that order.
Siamese Dream is a better record than MCIS. I like the production better, I like the song craft better... I like pretty much everything better. "Hummer", "Rocket", "Mayonaise" and "Spaceboy" are still hair raising songs and I have been listening to them for like... 12 to 13 years now. MCIS and I have a weird relationship. It suffers from a lot of the same issues that almost all double albums do, but there is an albums' worth of absolutely pristine material. I respect how creative it is and how musically interesting it is. Adore is my second favorite SP album though, so you might be asking the wrong person for Siamese vs. MCIS Siamese>Adore>MCIS>Gish>Pisces>Machina II>Machina>Oceania>Zeitgeist Stereogum, I will write this list. I promise, it will be glorious.
Also, as a skateboarder, I am happy to see Brian Anderson getting some love. He is a damn legend.
"Daddy was a Real Good Dancer" is a wonderful song. I really disliked the album on first listen, mostly because it struck me as being too upbeat and jokey. On repeated listens, I have grown to appreciate that Travis and the rest of the Plan are happy and are not going to try and make upsetting music just because that is what is expected. The second half of the album is really, really strong. My love of the old Plan clouded my opinions of the new Plan. Also, I grew to appreciate the arrangements on these songs, which are mostly pretty great.
He was absolutely vile to his first wife and never did right to Julian, even in his later years. People probably think that I am the Stereogum commentor that hates John Lennon, even though nothing could be further from the truth. I just acknowledge that he was a deeply, deeply flawed man.
A super duper rich guy telling us to "imagine if there was no possessions" and was well known for getting into spats about money while with the Beatles (and after) doesn't really ring true to me, either. "Imagine" is my least favorite song by my favorite artist too, and it isn't just because I am trying to be contrarian.
John Lennon was on a better level than Kanye from a maturity stand point... mostly. I am a huge fan of Lennon and the Beatles as a whole, but it is hard to deny the fact that he was a titanic asshole to pretty much everyone up until the last five years of his life. He hit women, neglected his first born son, once said the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus" (which was arguably true at the time, but it is still an egomaniacal thing to say). If Twitter existed in 1966, John Lennon would have gone on at least one gigantic Twitter rampage about something. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind and a platform like Twitter would have gotten him in trouble at least once. I do agree though that Lennon at least stood for something (anti-war, peace, etc.) besides himself, which is definitely more than anyone can say about Kanye.
I first saw La Dispute about five years ago when they were touring Vancouver. Holy shit, they burned that place to the ground. They might play the most furious, life affirming live show I have ever seen. I was instantly a fan. However, I will admit to rarely listening to their records, simply because the records can't compete with the experience of seeing them live.
When Deja is good, it is really really good. I like when Jesse gets into his dark "I'm a manipulative asshole" phase and writes songs like "Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis". Also, "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot" is the track that convinced me they could be more than a mall punk band. There are a couple of tracks that I think are duds, but I can listen to the record as a 25 year old and feel as good about it as I did at 15. That is more than I can say for a lot of albums.
All Y'all is good, and I am not ashamed of thinking that way at all. But yeah. P4K was fun for a while, but when they realized the power the wielded over people who like indie music, became tastemakers, is when things got really bad. For a while, they were hype men for certain trendy bands and simply murdered everything else, especially if it was even a hint "mainstream". They crushed bands for being too different from their old work, not different enough, changed scores... it was an ugly time to like anything not Pitchfork approved. They are getting much, much better, although they are still far from perfect. They at least seem to be a little more aware of the consequences of their power.
The Devil and God is a goddamn classic. So much fury, so much pain, so much good songwriting.
What Pitchfork did to Travis Morrison was shameful. Travistan was not a very good record, but they effectively destroyed the man. That infamous review is the whole reason he dropped out of music altogether for a while.
"Gushing like a teenage girl" isn't the same as someone sending someone an unsolicited message saying that you are going to anally rape someone. Mayberry is their meal ticket partially because of her beauty, but also (primarily) she is pretty talented. The record is really good, and frankly, I didn't even know what she looked like until after I had heard their music.
Quite possibly the raddest thing I have ever read.
The amount of overdubs in "Ex-Girl Collection" are overwhelming. It seems like they add another guitar sound with every verse.
I don't think so. For the most part, people love the song. I love the song, anyway.
I love, LOVE, Viva La Vida. I do not feel like I have to apologize for liking that record at all.
I know that Black Hole Sun was their big single, but it is not ridiculous to think that the band had ten better songs. Shit, I could argue that Soundgarden had 10 better songs on Superunknown alone. As far as the list, "Fresh Tendrils" alone made me happy with it.
I would probably put This Year's Model over Armed Forces, but it is close. Other than that, I basically agree with this list, which is remarkable considering how much... stuff Elvis has put out.
Oh, and this song is really fantastic. I liked, but didn't love, "Demons". I love this.
The National are a band that I enjoy because they don't change their sound drastically from album to album; they just refine it. Radiohead, Animal Collective, et. al. have put us into this mindset that every album needs to cover new ground. There is something to be said about finding a signature sound and refining it. Whether that is with different instrumentation, different recording techniques or even just a simple change in approach to songcraft. The National's sound is not played out. I adore it. They could make 10 albums that sound exactly like Boxer and I would be ecstatic.
I was so, so happy to see "Spanish Bombs" as the top pick.
It is really difficult to get into the Mountain Goats, but it is extremely rewarding when you get into it.
Photo Album. That thing is un-fuckwithable.