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"They grew up in and came out of the brute strength of Long Island hardcore." 'The closest that Brand New ever came to the pop-punk that they would long be associated with was on Your Favorite Weapon." "They were sending up the whole scene with a knowing, winking nod, but no one really picked up on that at first." James, Thanks for the list. Brand New is a solid band whose sound matured well beyond what many people would give them credit for. A lot of great tunes. But, dude...you're clearly in some kind of pop-punk/emo denial. Your Favorite Weapon wasn't the "closest" they got to pop-punk, it was basically full-on bubble gum pop-punk. And that's OK. It may be pretty embarrassing stuff now, but they built on that, grew up, and accomplished great things like The Devil and God, so be it. Do you know what Long Island hardcore sounds like? You think their early stuff comes close to VoD, Kill Your Idols, or Glassjaw? You're kidding yourself. They may have loved listening to L.I. hardcore and WANTED to sound like that, but they didn't. But that's OK...because they eventually had their own thing going for them, and we have to give them credit for that. But "winking" at pop-punk/emo? Sounds more like a defense mechanism for realizing they became associated with an easily-digested, derivative pop genre that wasn't cool to anyone older than 15...they were associated with it because they were it. It's not like the press had some conspiracy against them. Taking Back Sunday was another Long Island band in a similar situation, fighting to be taken more seriously after their initial impression. Best, Chreezy

So links to JPGs don't appear as images anymore?

Oh, I know what it is: http://fistfuloftalent.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/no-one-likes-hr1.jpg

I'm almost positive the song "Delusional Skank" is about her.

Same here. It sounds like a thousand other late 70s/80's inspired guitar rock revival acts and there's not much about this tune that stands out from the pack.

After this kind of talk, "he’s working on Madonna’s follow-up to 2012′s MDNA" might soon mean "he WAS working..."

I pour maple syrup on my titcakes just to feel alive.

Wu-tooth

I wasn't referring to that quote. But there are plenty others, including the rant I personally experienced at a Summer Jam show years ago. http://www.nme.com/news/lauryn-hill/71134

It's because in real life, she has become quite pitchy. That isn't a play on words, I mean she's slightly out of tune for real.

I think Talib is right. I also think that while it's true that Lauren doesn't "owe" fans anything musically speaking, it reasonable to say that fans have a right to be turned off by the race hate that she spews.

Be Mean To Morrissey Or I'll Kill You - Everyone who isn't an asshole.

Lots of Jimmy Tamborello influence in this...and rightly so! Speaking of - am I the only one around here that wishes more people were praising the new Dntel?

Right?! Look at that pork cannon trying its best to not but through the front of those jeans. He probably ruled the bathhouses. Bathhouse Rules http://ilarge.listal.com/image/1615440/968full-the-cider-house-rules-screenshot.jpg

I assumed he was talking about my favorite board game: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ALz1-r5EL.jpg

HudLo... FlyMo?

Sick GSW reference, bropatine. Their Red was too overlooked.

I used to be a huge Phish head, got into them in '94. I still love a lot of their stuff and have a ton of respect for them, but my musical palate just can't get into anything they've done since Round Room (and even then, it was already becoming very hit or miss). For any phans here that may not be aware of All My Plastic Melon Dreams' existence, roll this super old, unfinished Phish documentary trailer around yo mouf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqs1_lmtagI More info here: http://www.allmyplasticmelondreams.info/Welcome.html

Just a friendly tip: apostrophes are for indicating possessive case, or the omission of letters (like in contractions)...but not for making words plural. I don't know why, but a large portion of people seem to think that a word ending in a vowel needs an apostrophe to be plural.

I'd love to see the research that led Mercedes' marketing department to believe that there was enough crossover appeal between their respective consumer bases for this to make sense. Every brand these days wants to align with musical artists to become hipper...and a large portion just don't get any hipper from it. Don't get me wrong, I'll take an SL65 AMG roadster any day, Benz peeps!

Do you know how Stereogum's comment section works? NAH!

“Do you know how Google works?” Do you know how eating shit works? I know you do.

"Do you know how Google works?" Do you know how eating shit works? I know you do.

Am I the only one that was blown away with "there are more rapes on men in the United States in every single year than on women"? Is that true? Are jails skewing the stats?

Dear Earl, Who is perpetuating the stereotypes and who is parodying them? Why no tweet for your girl Nikki? http://d971tz8b1pwbi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/tumblr_nal840FAz11qjqxmoo1_500.gif

I've had enough, too. I gave it a chance but it's nothing special. So Jack's girlfriend is Lena Dunham of Girls (the HBO show) fame...may that have something to do with the disproportionate hype?

because it was really predictable.

I hear ya, guys...but you know you can find ways of listening to the album before you actually buy it, right?! You don't even have to violate copyright laws if you borrow the album from a friend or what are those streaming things called again??

I smell and a complete breakdown coming on. What a clown show. Over/under on him pulling some Hasselhoff burger type shit before his next album comes out?

I love "lasat year"! It's my favorite year!

Wow. Any idiot with access to the internet can easily find out that Nirvana is on the Vans Warped Tour.

so so so true.

LDR is in the stall position, kinda no telling if it's going to rise or plummet. You haven't been paying attention, Davey.

Oh, ripping off Lizzy Grant happened to be after ripping off Madonna. Got it. There was some ripping off Warhol and MIA thrown in somewhere, too, right?

Which would? Who doesn't? If you're referring to Gaga, that woman gets way more credit than she deserves. I'm not a huge LDR fan either but all Gaga does is regurgitate pop culture references from the past 20 years and try to claim credit for it. She's a wannabe Modonna except Madonna actually had the vision to start trends and push boundaries in an original and captivating way. Gaga relies on easy shock value and hypocritical BS. If she wasn't wearing steaks, she'd be considered another cookie cutter pop singer (but happens to play more piano). Anytime people refer to how "arty" she is, they're just fools falling for the cheap blood and flames gimmicks. Surface over substance.

I'm with you, Whale. The message aside, the writing is just terrible in general. That being said, Gaga does suck bad.

Kidchair nailed it. There's too much assuming one way or the other. If was that calculated, it doesn't seem executed well enough. And if it wasn't calculated enough, should we really give that much of a shit? Do you like the way the album art looks? How much do you value how much you like the way the album art looks, compared to how much you like the music? I can name a handful of amazing albums with less-than-stellar art...and it doesn't matter much that the art's less-than-stellar. Thank goodness I didn't (pre)judge the band for it. Oh, they've never done a color photo or smiled in a photo? So what? Wisely and creatively used color (literally and figuratively speaking) and expression are more valuable than playing it safe with the standard blank play. Because they're music sounds like it does, they're too insecure or unoriginal to go anywhere visually beyond the above? Sounds like this band may try too hard to not try enough. Almost forgot - their music. It's decent. Probably wouldn't be talked about as much if the band wasn't comprised of attractive females. Kinda sounds like a mix of some pre-"Intimacy" Bloc Party moments and the cheese of mid-'80s Rush.

Suf - "Am I reading too much into this?" Us - "YES."

If I thumb you up, am I helping or hurting your cause?

Really? Are you now convincing yourself you need to find a "think piece" in the latest (typical) Kanye corporatization move? Come on, man...you're better than that. It's really simple - Yeezy was and will always be for sale. I'm not buying the hypocritikool aid.