this sounds just like typical radiohead. the dubstep infulence is so slight…the ending of feral and bloom…thats the only dubstepy parts on the album.

this sounds nothing like the eraser. feral, lotus and littlebylittle, a bit

this is better than amnesiac. if there we’re a more rocky, Dollars and Cents like the live version than maybe i’d say different…but we didnt need another Morning Bell..and that pointless Hunting Bears.

this album has 5 best of worthy songs, Bloom, Lotus Flower, Codex, Give Up The Ghost, Seperator

amnesiac has Pyramid Song, Knives Out and I might Be Wrong

i agree with the commenter comparing this to hail to the theif. httf has too many songs, this one too little. they don’t feel like cohesive works…just compilations…amnesiac sounds like a compilation as well. our minds dont get it after very clear start to finish statements of Kid A and Ok Computer

to those who say this is boring? most music doesnt hold much surprises. flying lotus can produce but can’t write a memorable hook to save his life…im rambing….tkol is perfectly good, if not smack u in the face wonderful
..last time I though “whoa i havent heard something quite like this” was Brothersport

Brandon is pretty much spot on, but I think there’s a point about the Suburbs that everyone is skipping is the lack of interesting flourishes. Funeral had the tempo changes, the steel drum sounds, the snappy guitar and xylophone on Neighborhood 3. Yes the tempo changes are gimmicky but they added some much needed drama. This album has nothing going on. Guitars, bass, drums, strings and thats about it., except for Sprawl, the best song on the album precisely because it doesn’t sound like anything they’ve done.

The Suburbs just doesnt work going smaller, more intimate scale yet strip away any sort of interesting details, sonically or lyrically, and then making it longer than all their other albums. With that all you have is the songs, which range from meh to ok to wonderful. Lyrically it can hit some cheesy notes, more so than past albums, too generic to really strike an emotional chord. Once again the utter lack of specific details makes this album sort of vague. I’ve heard plenty of songs about the suburbs, but not any about Win’s specific suburb in the certain time he was there. What were these places called, what we’re the names of these people you grew up with now, what does it look like now etc. Thats what would lend his lyrics more heft.. I think it was a great example bringing up The National as more interesting lyricisits. For example

Stay out super late tonight
picking apples, making pies
put a little something in our lemonade and take it with us

We get real personified details. Butler might write this as

stay out super late tonight
picking fruit, making dessert
put some drugs in a drink and take it with us

The Suburbs DOES feel emotionally detached. Theme-wise the lyrics work as a metaphor for the faceless suburbs, but don’t make for a truly visceral listen. And yeah, its way too long. Like MAYA there’s a wonderful EP hidden inside.

And none of this means its a horrible album, its actually pretty good at some points. But they’ve given us better.

just a random spur of the moment response. I look forward to reading more of these. Those of you calling for the site to make a stand, you must be totally boring to talk to. If your not malleable than what is even the point of interacting with you? The contrarian stance is always a useful one, even if it is is done in an ugly way, just for the sake of balance. And to those who don’t get it Stereogum is not just one person. and its fucking free! As a writer for the Austin Chronicle I can say that i’m pretty sure no one gets paid shit for doing this blog, which is practically a public service. so quit hating!

it seems your all a bunch of pussies. this is hardly shocking. big deal. what is this the 50′s?

bla bla the video bla..theyre a band. the music is what matters. and when it comes down to it, they have a distinct, signature sound which is hard to come by these days. they have very complex electronics/drum programming. every song sounds different. they are prolific. they are good live. they have good melodies. strip all the fluff away and theyre are good songs underneath. jamie is a good singer. theyre all talented.

we’ve all felt what he’s singing before.

this is art…everything is. you all are putting more thought into the video than the band probably did. they needed a video, she has this hidden talent, its cheap to make, it matched the song, done!

xiu xiu = great!

the new mgmt is a bunch of cracker hoakum hoosteroo

this list is very mor adult contemporary, but good 1st choice

liars should be up there

contra is unlistenable mostly

heligoland sucks

this list gets one big MEH

quit bringing up whos shes married to

you cant help who your parents are, or who you love….they have a baby for fucks sake

i love m.i.a….the song is ok….i like suicide….thers just no hook

we hold m.i.a…..like thom yorke….to an impossible standard…shes not fucking mother teresa….

in this britney bieber age take what you can get people

i am a big MIA fan, and a fan of some Gaga singles.

its kinda lame picking on Gaga. she is by no means revolutionary but does anyone remember Jessica Simpson? Willa Ford? Mandy Moore? all this shitty girl pop from the start of the decade. Lady Gaga far surpasses even Britney, and this being as ugly as she is. the music itself is not anything new, but as of late Gaga’s lyrical content is a cut above pop music lyrics in general.

MIA is right, Gaga is by no means as wierd as she thinks she is, but shes pulling an Andy Warhol, exploiting pop music, and i wouldnt be surprised if this was all the groundwork for what she really wants to do. All pop stars have to make the label’s album, maybe even twice, before they can truly make their own statements. and lets not forget that Gaga can sing, and would out sing MIA anyday.

and this whole product placement thing….selling out bla bla. this dumb attitude that attatching yourself or your work to any product is selling out. lets remember the golden days of tv and how commercials work. it would be one person, talking into the camera, telling your they endorse a product. its the same thing with commercials today. so, for example, im MIA, and i drink coke, and genuinely enjoy coke, so I appear or my music appears in a coke commercial. no selling out has occured becuse nothing dishonest has occured. selling out is compromising your morals,or standards for money.