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Okay, I guess it did work!
I cannot seem to get the post picture function to work, so I'll have to do this the clunky, but, I assure you, completely SFW, way. I think we can all agree that we must always respect http://www.youknowyouloveit.com/products/bluebox/~/media/YouKnowYouLoveIt/com/Images/v2_bluebox_thecheesiest.png
I've known two people who have committed suicide, one of them was a very close and very dear friend whose death makes me sad every time that I think of it. Suicide isn't funny. There is no "funny thing about suicide," and I'm really disappointed to see that, ten comments into what I do think is probably the best online music commentariat, no one else has pointed this out. That's a horribly inconsiderate and inhumane lede into an article about an important record that should be commemorated. I expect better from this site.
"If you’ve never sung along to “Supernova” while locking eyes with a significant other, I feel sorry for you and your sad-ass love life." Christ, how does inane stuff like this get through the editing stages? My love life is just fine, thanks. And I think my wife appreciates the fact that Liz Phair isn't a part of it.
Hum were great. You will like them.
My thoughts on this article are mostly disconnected and anecdotal, so I apologize if I don't offer a linear response. It seems to me that Amazon has to be in this conversation. I worked at UPS for a long time, before Amazon had a contract with UPS and while they had (and still have) a contract with UPS. Amazon is *huge* business for that company. Believe me, the amount of Amazon packages that move through UPS hubs at Christmas time is nothing short of amazing. Now, it's my understanding--anecdotally--that Amazon, in the myriad ways that it has contracted its services to smaller sellers, also ships with FedEx and the USPS. I don't know the details of those contracts, but I do know that I've ordered some music and some DVDs--_Mad Men_, in particular--that are merely "fulfilled by Amazon." Those packages almost always come to me via the USPS. I've noticed that there are a whole lot of indie labels out there that do not sell on Amazon (or who do not sell on Amazon with regularity). Captured Tracks comes to mind. A few years back, I bought Wild Nothing's _Gemini_ on Amazon, but then I had to purchase the _Golden Haze_ EP, as well as some Beach Fossils records and the Medicine remasters directly from the label because they weren't available on Amazon (though they seem to be now). That's fine with me. No problem. *However*, shouldn't we be asking what kind of picture we get when we piece all of these parts together? Could contracting with Amazon be a cheaper and more efficient option than standard mail order? Perhaps the answer is just a blatant, "no." That would be fine. It just seems like we should be talking about that question.
I was really disappointed with _Waiting for the Sirens' Call_, the record. However, I'll go to bat for "Waiting for the Sirens' Call," the song, until my dying day. Sublimely heartbreaking it is, and I think it could have made this list.
I believe in my heart that what I'm about to say actually happened. However, the mists of time have suggested to me that I could have imagined the whole thing. Back when tears were perpetually flooding heaven, I was in a record store. I owned a copy of _Pablo Honey_ at the time. I remember looking in the CD singles bin. ("CD" is short for compact disc, by the way.) Every ounce of me has a recollection of staring at a copy of Radiohead's _Drill_ EP and noticing that three of the EP's four songs were already on _PH_. Therefore, I recall putting it down and purchasing something else. Since that time, I have repeatedly thought that I made one of my dumbest decisions that day. I don't think I made that decision on a Friday, but still. I know that _Drill_ was severely limited, so again, I might be imagining this whole thing. However, the record store I patronized on that day specialized in all kinds of import stuff. Eventually, they would stock all 20 versions of the _Dissident_ EP, as well as Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of the _March of Pigs_ single. Therefore, I really do think this event happened. I spent the better part of the 90s trying to track down "Stupid Car," a song that I wouldn't have known existed had I not seen it somewhere. Eventually, I heard the song, further proving my apparent misguided move. "Stupid Car" is not very good, so I could have sold the EP for much more than I would have paid for it, had I paid for it. Alas.
The merits of their music aside, no one! abuses! exclamation marks! like this band!
And of course I would misspell "its" while typing that comment. Extra awesome, Joe. Extra awesome.
This song would be extra awesome if it were sung in the subjunctive, as it's lyrics suggest that it should be.
"But there was nothing challenging about plenty of the stuff that blew up on modern rock radio in the years immediately after Nevermind: Counting Crows, World Party, Spin Doctors, Cracker, Belly." I think it's about time that you back up for a moment to take back that nasty thing you said about Belly. The rest of the sentence is fine.
Forgive me for asking, but what Nirvana song isn't "not just any Nirvana song!"?
You are officially the tallest, and quite possibly the largest, cat on the planet, plb102.
I know that I've got a whole lot of Debbie Downer in me, but I have to say that I'm concerned about how much revisionism is going to surround this reunion. I can't count the amount of magazines, blogs, websites, etc. that, lately, have been calling the band's second record "underrated." I'm not sure that it was. Five years of fermentation didn't make it any good. I suspect that an additional eighteen haven't made it any better--unless, of course, new pressings of it are coming drenched in some kind of scotch. Then it might interest me.
I always suspected that Samus Aran was the true Mother Brain behind the Radiohead operation.
Wow! This is more money than one man, or one rock star, can count. That shouldn't be a problem, though, because Bono can't count: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98W9QuMq-2k&ob=av2n
Okay, I've strapped in for what should be a roller coaster comment thread. May the best RubberJohnny win.
One minor technicality that might merely be a devil's advocate kind of thing. I've got a copy of _Lazer Guided Melodies_ on CD, and it's a grueling, almost joyless, listen because the CD maintains the four song cycle, even though each song contains multiple parts--to the point where each discrete part is separated from the previous one by silence. I get the whole space-rock-floating-in-space-taking-drugs-to-make-music-to-take-drugs-to-listen-to and all, but I always wanted a little more freedom to float through _LGM_, well, a little more freely--to be able to skip from part to part with a bit more ease. I've never heard the record on vinyl (I've never even seen a copy in person, actually), so that medium might present a different experience. I also know that, apparently, some CD versions allow for skipping around (I've never seen or heard one of those, either). I'm just pointing out that my copy of _LGM_ is a bit tough-going.
Grrrr . . . Any other place where I can watch Explosions in the Sky? Preemptive strike: please don't tell me "in the sky," unless that happens to be true.
Can we please stop parroting the modifier "boomer-approved"? It's lazy, and it says next to nothing. Stick a (pitch)fork in it already. It's dun. I also don't know a whole lot of musicians who say things like, "No, can't come over to jam. I haven't yet mastered my instrument. 'The Temples of Syrinx' is still throwing me off a bit, even though I can play 'By-Tor & the Snow Dog' note-for-note." I'm all for Rush getting recognized, but the blurb on them is about as overblown as "YYZ," but with much less ride cymbal.
A good friend of mine saw Faith No More perform way back in the early '90s. He claimed--and I have no confirmation of this--that they played one song (I can't remember which one) over and over and over again, each time concluding by asking the crowd if they wanted to hear it again. As the crowd got more irritated, the band only continued to play. The gag sounded kind of funny, kind of like this "My Sharona" thing does. *However*, I say that as someone who was not at either show, so I really don't know how I'd feel if I had to stand through this kind of thing. Downvotes aside, I can't help but earnestly wish that Cox would just settle down, get disciplined, and do one thing really well. He's not a convincing shapeshifter--and his endless contortions just make me long for the days where he sounds like he does on "Cryptograms" or "Heatherwood." Or, like, all of _Weird Era Cont._.
Sloth, I'm quite aware of this blog's many traditions. I'm also quite aware that misconstruing snark for anger is, unfortunately, one of those traditions.
I meant "wrap." Though, depending on what you're into, I suppose "warp" could work, too.
Can I just ask how this evaluation is in any way premature? The tag "Lana Del Ray" brings up 4 pages of Sterogum posts, dating back to August of last year. Add all of those posts to all of the other Lana Del Ray coverage that's been splattered all over the Internets for what seems like an interminable amount of time, and I'd say that this evaluation of LDR is far from premature. Rather, it's about time that we just warp it up and go smoke a cigarette or take a shower or something.
It's worth noting that the word "special" is being rethought, too. I'm not issuing this comment in criticism. Rather, I'm furthering the discussion. Check the link: http://www.michaelberube.com/index.php/weblog/comments/1257/
This song is forever indebted to Moose's "The Only Man in Town." In fairness, though, the videos for the two songs appear to be nothing alike: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FmNP6qKpsw&feature=related
I know that I do not have enough friends--here, on this site, or elsewhere--to make statements like the one I'm about to make. Nevertheless, here it goes: I just wish _The Suburbs_ would go the hell away. It's the weakest of all the band's records (including their self-titled EP), and the whole suburban conceit is beyond lunkheaded. Words cannot describe how stupid it is, which probably explains why all the record's lyrics are so stupid. I'm tried of hearing about this damn record whenever I'm walking down the hall in a shopping mall in the middle of the sprawl with the kids in the hall who live at the end of the hall in the shopping mall in the middle of the sprawl . . . Barf. Okay, bring on the abuse . . . again.
Okay, Stereogum, and 2:54, you've got me paying attention. Now, forgive me for asking (particularly if this question is addressed elsewhere), but why aren't these columns titled "Band to Hear"?
I type this knowing that I am a bit of a grouch and that for some reason I've become increasingly grouchy about indie music despite the fact that I still listen to quite a bit of it, but anyway, when, exactly, did Mazzy Star qualify for "Iconic" status? That seems like a big bit of romantic revisionism.
Cut Copy's "Saturdays (Reprise)"
Correction: If My Bloody Valentine were ever to do anything ever again, we could probably refer to them as singular, because Kevin Shields would be the only person doing anything anyway.
Okay, the red pen is out. I actually think this grammar rule, like so many grammar rules, is deeply debatable. Fortuitously, the following website takes "Metallica" as an example: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/plurals.htm As expected, though, the example doesn't really address this question. If "turn" is an action verb, then the plural form should probably be used: "Here they go / up on the stage / Metallica turn the page." However, in this case, we're really talking about "turn" as a linking verb, in which case the aforementioned website, and Spikelee3000, arguably get it right: "Metallica turns 30." I'm of two minds on this. Conventionally, music scribes tend to use the plural form: "My Bloody Valentine promise to release a new album before Jesus comes." In that example, the plural form makes sense, because there is more than one person working on the record. The error is in printing such a story, because we all should know that there's no way MBV are ever doing a damn thing ever again. So in this case, whatevs. While we're at it, though, "Enter Sandman" should probably have a comma in it.
I sure hope it sounds like shit. It wouldn't be "classic" Guided by Voices if it didn't sound like shit. Notice, BTW, that the word *shit* is not in ironic quotation marks. Okay, Repliers, my neck is thoroughly stuck out. Get on with it.
Or maybe when Atlas Sound is not Bradford Cox he is Panda Bear? And when Panda Bear is not Panda Bear he is Animal Collective? Really, the mind boggles at all these shapeshifting musicians who are largely indistinguishable from each other.
I might very well be a fun killer, though I doubt that my humble comment on this little-known website will do much to derail Cox's pantomime. However, you must explain to me this Atlas Sound that you speak of. What you are saying is that when Deerhunter is not Deerhunter, he is Atlas Sound, correct? Is that sort of like when Miley Stewart is not Miley Stewart she is Hannah Montana? Really, the math confuses me on this one.
It would be nice if Bradford Cox would spend some time dressing like, and playing like, the frontman of Deerhunter, rather than attempting to look like, and sound like, all these other bands that came before him.
The big question is what the second hour looked like. Knowing MTV, it was just a rebroadcast of the first hour. The third? More of the same, probably.