Interesting conversation. But it doesn't seem to address the real problems in the US today, in my opinion. The gripes about mainstream media are probably a lot less relevant now than any time in the past several decades. The idea that corporate media hides "the truth" might have merit, but now with the internet, we can flee to shadowy corners far from the corporate media and even further from the truth.
Also I don't know about the knee-jerk certainty that the US has overthrown the Venezuelan government for the sake of corporate profits. If that was their goal, they didn't think it through very well. I doubt US corporations are very keen to invest in the absolute mess that is the Venezuelan economy today.
CL's solo stuff has never been my favorite- I think Hyuna has the charisma to pull off tracks like this better. Still, the chorus is catchy (remind's me of GD and TOP's Zutter, which is amazing)
Hey don't forget John Green and Paul Newman! But yeah, Walk the Moon aren't the kind of band I'd normally like too much, but they played at Kenyon when I was there, and now I can't disassociate them from that- and I thought they were good live!
I know, I wish they got more attention these days! They never fail to be interesting and creative. I'm still getting into the new album, but I'm already finding a lot of cool moments in it.
Sounds like a fun concert- I just got into their album Level 3 a couple weeks ago. Yasutaka Nakata is almost incapable of writing a song that isn't catchy.
Yeah, it's one thing to have so much Taylor Swift coverage here, but do we have to pretend to like her now too? She's had a few catchy songs, but "Welcome to New York" is simply an incredibly vapid pop song that should merit no discussion, much less the notoriety of the "divisive" label.
I've had those two pretty much tied in first for a while, though I'd probably give the edge to Hissing Fauna now. Hissing Fauna is definitely more emotionally powerful, but, to it's credit, Satanic Panic has more melodic prettiness than any other record of theirs. Listening to it on one of the first days of spring is such a happy experience.
I'm surprised to see Sunlandic Twins so high on the list, but of Montreal really is a different band to different people, and that's one of the things I love about them. There are weaker and stronger albums, but more than anything, their albums are just plain different from each other. I have no idea how to rank something like Sylvianbriar against albums like False Priest and Coquelicot. They're so radically different and yet all effective in their own ways.
I am very happy with Sylvianbriar though. I think it's a great new direction, and one that makes a lot of sense as a counter to their past few albums.
It's not an easy listen, but if you can treat it almost like some sort of 20th century avant grade classical music work (Kevin Barnes did claim Penderecki as an influence), I think it's extremely rewarding. I never understood why the reviews weren't better.
That Phoenix video is pretty awesome- Bankrupt as a whole is underrated in my opinion. As far as the new Janelle Monáe song, it is growing on me a bit, but so far neither of her two new singles have really captured that slick, sic-fi sound of her last album. She probably isn't even going for that anymore though.
The 2ne1 video is as entertaining as any YG-produced video- I don't love the song though.
I think part of the thing with K-pop vs J-pop is that the K-pop is a lot more of a cohesive, accessible, packaged product. J-pop is a lot more diverse and diffuse, so it can be harder to discover outside of Japan.
I would replace New York City Cops with Under Control (Julian's best vocal performance in my opinion), and then I would find a spot for Under Cover of Darkness and/or Taken For a Fool, both of which I prefer over Someday, regardless of how it's sort of a classic.
I feel like I'm reading the comment section through a cloud of fog without having rankings. But maybe it is really that the fog has at last parted, and my eyes are truly free...
How nice to see Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga at number 1. It has a higher density of great Spoon songs than most of their albums, even if the quality of its best tracks is high enough to make the merely good tracks sound a bit worse than otherwise. The only thing I would change would be to move Girls Can Tell ahead of Kill the Moonlight. Maybe the latter is more minimally artistic, but Girls Can Tell has some stronger, weightier tunes. Everything Hits at Once is still one of the best Spoon songs.
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