That's what always stopped me from liking it. I have a soft spot for musicals, and people were going on and on about how regardless of what you thought of it, the music was at least "great." But I do not understand that compliment at all.
Remember going to a listening party for that album before release at Other Music, which was a fantastic little store that no longer exists, and now I'm very sad!
Honestly, if Stereogum had a Patreon or some kind of equivalent (different medium but Giant Bomb has premium subscriptions like you mentioned), I would absolutely sign up for one. Obviously, it's hard to make stuff for premium users or whatever--and you don't want to lock out regular content--but I'd definitely sign up!
Already very late to this, but extremely happy to help. This is like the only website left on the internet I actually like. Also, where would I be without blochead in my life. Wait, don't tell me that.
That was the case for me for a long time, and Jack White's solo career, sad to say, made me doubt what I ever liked about them in the first place. When the lockdown first started, I started going through older favorites that I hadn't visited in a long time and goddamn if their whole run doesn't hold up. Lot of imitators at the time but none of them came close.
I should give Trouble Will Find Me some more spins. For whatever reason, that's the one that's bounced off of me the most. It's not a bad album or anything, but I had that odd reaction of their prior albums meaning so much to me and then that one sorta just being there.
But I also would say that I found I Am Easy to Find to be the surprise expansion of sound that they marketed Sleep Well Beast as, and for me I think I'd rank it higher. Though, in honestly, I do not know how much of this is me weighing "Rylan" so heavily.
I recall people were VERY upset with the production on "Terrible Love" at the time, partially due to the Fallon performance. I always thought the "(Alternate Version)" on the Expanded Edition did a good job capturing it though.
I feel like The National is a band I've never actively thought of as my favorite--though I quite like them--that somehow ended up being so integral to so many odd moments in my life, especially while I was in college. Remembering listening to Boxer while everyone filed out of the dorm first semester, not sure if I'd be coming back. Then this album came out right when my first long relationship was intensely disintegrating, and I found myself effectively homeless, squatting in a room of the architecture building until a friend realized and let me stay on their couch, hopping to another couch, working trying to pull money together, generally feeling like a failure and that everything had fallen out from under me.
Anyways, I love this album.
Alicia Keys's entire hosting performance gave off extreme "last worship of church camp" vibes and was just giving me secondhand embarrassment throughout.
Definitely felt a sort of doomed vibe by the time the Eilish sweep was clear. Something about that many Grammy wins for a debut album by such a young artist feels like the kind of thing that precedes the chapter before the rough times. On the other hand, she may be chill enough to be able to shrug it all off, so here's hoping.
The Handlers won't let me divulge all the info, but suffice to say, that there is a very different world out there that diverged from a 2014 where LOSE was a much bigger album.
Saw this awhile back at NYFF and can't wait to rewatch it. Favorite of the year, and am desperately waiting for the score to be released. It fucking rules and, of all things, reminds me of Akira.
In case anyone is curious, I made a list comparing the top ten of years past to their decade list (I initially missed Kamasi at first but corrected it). Interesting to see what changed/what got dropped, I thought. May go back and add the initial scores but eh.
https://twitter.com/coopercooperco/status/1181593266787106817
I like it but find myself rather cool on it overall. I hope it opens up more for me. I agree with another comment I saw that described it as a little more skeletal, but I imagine the whole album itself was an exercise in recording something and getting it out the door, to avoid the over tweaking of Dear Tommy.
Also, though I love the cover of "Sound of Silence," am I alone in finding their reliance on covers somewhat disappointing as of late? I can't pinpoint why--and I wouldn't go as far as saying I'm even making a critique--but I just get bummed out how much they lean on them I guess. Saw them in May, and three of the songs, including the closer, were covers. And they were good! Still. Feel letdown somehow.
Anyways, gonna listen to this some more and see if it clicks more.
Also, still wish Chromatics would rerelease "In Films."
Not bad, exactly, but just sort of trudges along. Felt like I was waiting for some kind of shift in the song that never came.
Anyone read the NYT piece on them this morning? I can't look at it because I'm out of free articles or whatever, but saw some tweets going around about Brownstein tearing up because “I just realize that there’s nothing that feels like this band. I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to do it.”
LOLing at the whole "She was super excited about the direction and it was all her idea in the first place, actually" direction. Even if true, hard to shake the way that comes off. Still hoping for the best.
Walter Benjamin wrote about the Futurists embracing fascism due to viewing the end of the world (ie, world war 2) as an aesthetic marvel and process of transformation into something completely New. This is basically that but with climate change.
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