For one who seemingly claims a moral high ground of being tolerant of people of all political persuasions, she impugns an awful lot of bad intentions to people who disagree with her without much supporting evidence to back up her claims.
The term "hipster" is such a catch-all, amorphous bogeyman that it has absolutely no meaning to me. I'm much more annoyed by the people who incessantly rail against "hipsters" than anything else.
But wasn't "Illinois" already another "Michigan"?
That's how I view it, at least. For the life of me I can't decide which one is better, it just seems "Illinois" is held in higher regard because that's when he started gaining more attention.
These bands have already been mentioned, but these are the songs I'd go with by them:
Bright Eyes-"Nothing Gets Crossed Out"
Radiohead-"Motion Picture Soundtrack
Elliott Smith-"Waltz #1"
I saw them in Boston and enjoyed the Jacko medley for what it was, but I still can't shake the feeling of disappointment that they didn't close with one of their own songs.
I agree that they're both equally great, but I personally don't think "balls to the wall rock" is why "Pinkerton" is a great album. It's quirky pop-rock that delves deep into Rivers' neuroses in a way that is rather jarring, sort of like the emotional impact of "Pet Sounds." At times you feel bad for Rivers, other times he seems like a jerk, but throughout he's brutally honest--and all this written at a time when he presumably is at his most vulnerable. That's a great act of artistic courage if you ask me (unlike balls to the walls rock in the vein of, say, ACDC), on the part of a great songwriter who could easily have written a record on autopilot, and that's why it's a great record.
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Come Together" are two of my least favorite (real--thus, I'm excluding "Revolution #9") Beatles songs, with "While My Guitar..." also being perhaps their most overrated. I just hate that goddamn piano and don't find Clapton's guitar playing on it anything special.
And nothing from "Revolver"?!?!
But I guess if you had to pick one, "A Day in the Life" is a good one to put at #1.
Album name bought by a sneaker co. or not, honest or not, I don't think anyone should support anything Rivers Cuomo does at this point. Least of all that cynical ploy that is a Blue Album/Pinkerton tour. Those are great albums, but not THAT great that I would support his terrible enterprise of a band, and willingly sit through the encore sets of new material that they're certain to play.
I don't think I'm as disappointed as yourself, but I do think that this is nowhere near as good as "Skeletal Lamping" or "Hissing Fauna." Like yourself, I vehemently disagree with the apparent consensus that "Skeletal Lamping" was a weak album which this one easily surpasses.
"Plastis Wafers" in particular is brilliant. I don't see how anyone could claim THAT song lacks heart, or that the jarring changes are a bad thing in that context.
I'd consider this a masterpiece if it really is more consistently enjoyable than "Skeletal Lamping," but I get the feeling that that isn't as much a compliment to this reviewer as it is to myself.
To me, Panda Bear sort of stole the show on "Merriweather Post Pavillion." "Summertime Clothes" is an excellent song, and the rest of Avey's contributions are solid, but none of them really stick out to me as much as Panda's.
I would personally rank "Daily Routine," "My Girls," "Guys Eyes" and "Brothersport" up there with those Avey Tare songs you mentioned (though I think you missed "Water Curses" and "Street Flash").
Going by the interviews I've read, M. Ward plays a pretty role in the production and arrangement of the songs in the studio. Although his guitar parts may not particularly stand out, I think he has a pretty significant impact on the group's sound.
They've actually already scheduled a North American tour in October (with one date on September 30 in NY). I know 'cause I'm going to the Oct. 15 show in Boston!
Here's the schedule: http://www.belleandsebastian.com/tour.php
Overall this post is pretty inept, but I will say that D'arcy and James Iha seemed to contribute more to the Pumpkins' image than their sound, so you could make the case that they were "dead weight."
But on the other hand, there's no way you could reasonably claim that Jimmy Chamberlin was dead weight.
I'm a little disappointed that this song isn't that funky or R&B-oriented (as he says the new album will be in his interviews), probably the most straightforward rock thing Kevin's done in a while, but excited about all the news about the new album!
But yeah, to me, straightforward rock with live-ish production quality and real drums aren't really Kevin's strong suit. I miss the tons of overdubs and studio bells and whistles of the last few albums.
Meh. Nothing they're done since "Chunk of Change" has really excited me. It's not like they've burned out, but they're sort of fading away .... (At least to my ears.)
Wow, this looks like it'll be a spectacular disaster. I really might actually watch this when they air it.
My personal favorite quote: "I don't wanna be hated--I just don't mind being a bitch!"
And this "I'm-the-only-chick-standing" crap? I'm pretty sure Kathleen Hanna would beg to differ, but I'm sure she's got better thing to think about. I'd take being punched in the face by Courtney as a compliment. And she was right to call her out on her trashiness, since she DID do heroine while pregnant and all ...
Oh, and the NIN thing, really? That's not just incredibly cunty of her, but ignorant as well.
Oh, and I mean come on: the combination of this song and that picture--how can you NOT love this man?!
Every time he does something ridiculous, I just have to grin, shake my head a little and be like, "Ohh Kanye ..."
Oh wow, I just looked it up and apparently I know nothing about food. I didn't even realize that a truffle was a type of fungus. I was imagining a chocolate-flavored french fry or something.
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