Comments

I could listen to the first ~30 seconds on repeat for the rest of the year I think. SO GOOD.
Yeah especially there at the end, oof.
Yeah, "Factory" and "Laredo" are both great songs. I could take or leave the rest, I think.
I like this a looooot. I didn't think they were capable of eliciting that response in me anymore.
Er....? According to The Verge, Tidal says they will have it exclusively "in perpetuity." Posturing? Fact? LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENS. http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/23/11496422/beyonce-lemonade-streaming-tidal-exclusive-apple-music-spotify
Shoutout to Frankie Broyle's pre-Deerhunter band, Balkans. Their 2011 self-titled is a jangly minor masterpiece. Also, this song is tight as hell.
Can he just do a full VU covers album already? These have been so good.
Hear, hear! JV is incredible, and possibly my favorite lyricist. He's got one of the lushest and most varied set of records around, and hardly anyone knows him, which blows my mind. Super nice dude, too. I've seen him live a few times and he's just great all around. Also, as far as his "sloppy hi-fi" production goes---man, talk about influencing a genre of music. Basically everyone's favorite indie band owes a debt to the work they do at Tiny Telephone.
Matt Helders on drums?? That dude is an animal. 2016, this is the beginning of an appropriate apology. Keep it coming.
Gimme Fiction is my fav Spoon album, too! Cheers. I assume they'll do one for Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga; I think, overall, people have remembered that as their OTHER all-time classic (with Kill The Moonlight), as well as the commercial breakthrough (top-10 on Billboard, I think?) we all knew was coming. Fucking Spoon, man. What a great band.
OH! I guess it's been 5 years since I read that feature, ha. I'd've found it later this week anyway, cause I'd queued up all of the articles you linked for later reading. Thanks! I assumed JC had, at one point, the sense to excise 15 Minutes, On the Other Side, and Fear of Sleep. Those draaaaag. He could never have cut Razorblade! It's so good! (Though if I remember correctly P4K derided it somewhere for being a "Mandy" ripoff, which always puzzled the shit out of me.)
Yeah it's pretty telling that one of the songs the Voidz regularly play(ed) is "Ize of the World".
Also, I remember reading somewhere---no idea where, which drives me nuts---that right before the album was mastered Julian took 3-4 songs off (so it would have been 10-11 tracks), but then at literally the last minute overthought it and put them back on the album. I think, sometimes, about the album that could have been, and would have been, had JC not second-guessed himself. Wish I knew the interview/article this was originally brought up in!
Yeah, I thought this was one of the best things I've ever read about the band. "You Only Live Once" is, IMO, a perfect song, and to me is the album's real legacy. ("Razorblade," "Electricityscape," "Ize of the World," and "Red Light" are the other gems for me.) Surprised there was no mention of the B-Sides---tweak the song order a bit and swap out a couple of the second-half snoozers for "Hawaii" and you've got a pretty great record.
GODDAMNIT 2015
Just when you think there isn't any room left for 2015 to do something crazy, LCD Soundsystem drops a new song. Miracles! They happen!
Great, great article, Michael. Thanks for writing this.
I've seen Deerhunter four times over the years, and they've been incredible each of those times. So....don't miss out, meat. Don't meat out.
"Flesh Without Blood" is STELLAR. Possibly the song of the year for me right now.
I mean, shit, the TAKE that look from off your face / 'Cause YOU ain't ever gonna burn my heeeaaart oooouuuuut bit from "Don't Look Back In Anger" is fucking transcendent.
Noel Gallagher is one of my favorite people associated with music, in general, ever. I think he's aged into a pretty wonderful place of acerbic wisdom---I could read/listen to his interviews for hours (and have). That aside, the dude was an untouchable songwriter in the first half of the 90s. Absolutely untouchable.
Thank you. It's so sing-songy and catchy. So damn FUN.
Yes, Balkans! Man, that self-titled album is seriously so good, one of my go-to summer driving records. Broyles absolutely BELTS those songs.
Definitely reminds me of a sadder Hot Chip. Still poppy/catchy, but with some more melancholy. I like it. "Pop music for the night bus" is a great description
Reminds me of Sean O'Neal at The AV Club. Hilarious
on 
Shogun's voice is one of the best out there right now. I am really looking forward to this record---their debut is a go-to driving album for me.
Agreed. It's probably my favorite album of his (or, it's the one I put on most), though I get how Odelay/Sea Change are basically untouchable (and great!).
I thought they were from Memphis, not Florida?
So goddamn excited. Got into this band HARD in 2012 and haven't looked back.
Shit, even Do You could be a great intro to the band.
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb and I Summon You, definitely. Maybe Jonathan Fisk, since the guitars chug along so gloriously?
I'll be honest, I heard this on the radio last week sans context (no idea who it was) and it sounded like any other generic country song on the radio, which is to say Not Very Good. I like some of the stuff this guy does, but I don't get what makes this particular song better than anything else on country radio. But Sturgill Simpson.... I can get behind that guy.
Ambulance LTD <3 -- so good, so underrated, so unknown. Great list and retrospective!
"Pretty Machines" is INCREDIBLE. That guitar line would make Julian Casablancas jealous. And the saxophones? Yep. Yep.
*applause* Thanks for this. Sad that it even needs to be said, but it needs to be fucking said.