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It all makes sense now!
For all that social technologies have pretended to bring us closer together, they've really only served to keep us farther apart. It's kinda like what Arcade Fire were saying in "Deep Blue": Hey Put the cellphone down for a while In the night there's something wild Can you hear it breathing? And hey Put the laptop down for a while In the night there is something wild I feel it, it's leaving me
If that's his point, it's dumb. I can't get into rap. I've tried, it's just not my thing. That doesn't make me a bigot.
Really. It's not possible for rock's elder statesmen to continue recording good music? That's ridiculous.
Man, I just don't know what to think about eels' new stuff. E is probably my favorite songwriter; I really think some of his stuff is just genius. But I couldn't get into Tomorrow Morning (to be fair, I didn't really give it a chance), and this song seems quite literally no deeper than opening the window to smell the peach blossoms. I realize that not every song a guy writes needs to be as gut-wrenching as "Dead of Winter," and the girl in this video is adorable as hell, so that's good. I'm glad E has found a brighter place, too, so more power to him...
Why the hell would it "void" the list? It's an opinion; it's as valid as yours, which clearly believes Apple belongs on a list. This shit drives me crazy every year - remind me why we all need to have the same list?
No. Pitchfork and Stereogum didn't "discover" this band in 2010 because they weren't playing chillwave. From what I've heard (because I don't actually listen to them), M&S isn't sufficiently hip, they don't have enough reverb, and they don't have random blips and whorls. If M&S weren't an earnest folk-pop band and instead sounded more like...the King of Limbs...they'd have been "discovered" by the tastemaking music blogs. I read Stereogum every day, and every day I wish people would break away from the fucking groupthink that leads one person to pick a popular band (maybe next week will be Dave Matthews Band), and a legion of followers to click thumbs up and say, "Yes, I too am so much better than people who like DMB." Let's have a little perspective and self-reflection, and not just do the whole mutually masturbatory bitch-sessions, okay?
It's always interesting to see how a community that prides itself on being different from the mainstream can also be so single-mindedly smug.
We should do a list of Stereogum lists...
Exactly. The kind of person who's talking (and talking and talking) while you're thinking, "If only I had two nails...I could press them into my temples...right here...and this would all be over."
I'll probably get vilified for this, but I have never been able to get into "Poor Places." It just takes too long to get interesting, and then it's not even THAT interesting to be worth the 3-4 minute wait. I'm actually a little bewildered that it gets so much love. I keep wondering whether my copy of YHF is mislabeled and everyone's really talking about a different song...
What is it about "Best [whatever]" lists that brings out the smugness?
29 is probably Adams' most misunderstood album. I'd say it's right where it should be in this list, or possibly belongs above Easy Tiger. That being said, I hated it in 2005 and mostly ignored it for about 4 years. One day it just "clicked," and now it's one of my favorite Ryan Adams records. Here's my list (which is subject to change at any moment in time): 1. Cold Roses 2. Jacksonville City Nights 3. 29 4. Easy Tiger 5. Love is Hell 6. Demolition 7. III/IV 8. Gold 9. Ashes & Fire 10. Heartbreaker 11. Cardinology 12. Rock N Roll
I get what you're saying, but sometimes (okay, most of the time) I wish Albarn would just sing some sad bastard tunes like "Out of Time" or the refrain in "Feel Good Inc" (windmill, windmill for the land...). His voice is perfect for that stuff.
Pretty sure the Gorillaz reference was being used as a way to take a shot at Del Rey... I thought it was clever.
"- All this over-the-top political correctness is retarded." You're being a dick. It's not "over-the-top" and it's not "political correctness." The fact is, "retarded" is a word that has a history of being used as a derogatory term, and is highly offensive to people with mental retardation, Down syndrome, and other disabilities. I'm not just pulling this out of nowhere; all you have to do is say the word around people with these conditions and they'll tell you how they feel about it. "Political correctness" is just a phrase that people use to whine about being criticized for being a dick. You're free to say what you want and be a dick about it, but you're still being one, and the rest of us are free to call you out on it.
Ryan Adams, 2005: any or all of Cold Roses, Jacksonville City Nights, and 29. (Whiskeytown's Faithless Street came out in 1995).
I think the fear people have with the Black Keys is not that they'll become the next Nickelback, but that they'll become the next Kings of Leon.
There were several good indie rock bands that emerged in 2011: Yuck, City Reign, and the Whiskey Saints (the LA band, not the cover band from the Midwest) were some of my favorites. Wilco's new record had about 5 rock songs on it, as well. They're not "indie," but Foo Fighters and the Get Up Kids put out guitar-driven rock albums in 2011. I love the Black Keys, but they don't own a monopoly on good modern rock music. Rock is far from dying; you just have to look for it.
@djfreshie Stereogum won't allow a comment on your response below, but anyway, it's an interesting question. I suppose people make lists for a variety of reasons: Fun, tradition, history/posterity, the need to create order in a chaotic world...
Loved "Wolves at the Door," too. I struggled to get into the rest of the album, but that song was great.
Pitbull may have something to say about that.
And then there's the counterpoint that if KoL was written by anyone else, no one would have paid it any attention at all. Or, let's say if KoL had been written by that other KoL (of the Leon variety), it would have received a very different reception... I'm just saying...as someone who normally likes Radiohead a bunch, I found KoL completely underwhelming, and it had nothing to do with Radiohead itself. But I'm also not really a Kid A/Amnesiac fan, and I think KoL resonated much more with fans of those two albums. And I don't really get this "folks were dying to hate a Radiohead album" thing, either. In general, I don't think people think that way about music; usually we either like something or we don't. If anything, it seems like some Radiohead fans will love whatever the band does, not the reverse. There is a definite vocal diehard set of the fanbase that seemingly will never be disappointed with a Radiohead release.
The thing is, if you actually spend some time reading the comments on these lists (including places like Stereogum, which makes it really easy by linking to all the big sites' lists), you'll see stuff like: "No Wye Oak makes this list invalid." "No Kaputt? Worthless." So with that kind of environment, what do you expect? It's not all the list-makers' fault. We readers create an environment where bloggers are penalized for not including Band X, and that's got to have a big influence on the trend of all these lists looking exactly the same. (Of course, as someone else already pointed out, some of this doesn't apply to the Gummy Awards, which are an aggregate listing and thus isn't written by any one person.)
Actually, I think it has a lot more to do with SEO. Maybe it doesn't matter for a big site like Stereogum, but those of us with little blogs pretty much have to call our lists "best of" or people won't find them. Most blog traffic comes from Google or other search engines, and bloggers can pretty easily track what people are searching for in order to reach their sites. And guess what? The common search term around this time of year is "best albums of 2011." You're not going to get as many hits if you call your lists "a list of a bunch of albums djfreshie liked in 2011." That being said, I actually agree. Last year I called my list Favorite Albums of 2010, and I waited until March to publish it because I felt like I needed more time to listen to everything I wanted to hear. Unfortunately, no one read it. So this year I'll probably be calling mine Best Albums of 2011 and will try to get it done by the end of the month.
Is it someone who trains horses?
I'll admit, I'm not very familiar with the Decemberists (they just weren't my thing), but I can't think of a single one of their songs in which Meloy sings in a fake British accent. Perhaps it's so fake you can't even tell it's British?
Yeah...thing is, it was not intended to be a factual statement. Too subtle?
Heh... I read that as "Every year this list is totally different" and gave you a thumbs up for that witty insight.
It's because the saxophone is the worst instrument in the history of instruments.
A Creature I Don't Know was one of the best albums of the year.
What? The virulent pogonophobia in the UK is well-documented.
Has anyone else noticed that the way she sings "I will love you until the end of time" sounds just like it came from a Chris Isaak song?
The Brits are afraid of facial hair.
That makes sense. Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like a prick. (Which is what I always think every time I read something a day after I've written it.)
Tom, you've been ignoring Adams because your critical peers have been dismissive of it? That's...unfortunate, but actually somewhat illuminating, so thank you for being honest. It explains why so many blogs basically sound like they're all just copying each other (and why everyone's annual Best Of lists all look exactly the same). If you're still interested in his back catalog, I'd recommend checking out 29. It was mostly ignored or dismissed by critics, but there are some real gems on that record. Start with "Carolina Rain," "Starlite Diner," "Blue Sky Blues," or "Elizabeth." The whole thing is great, but it takes a while to get into.
"providing its released before the fall" Album is due October 11. Anyway, I am really encouraged by this song. It doesn't sound like anything he's done recently, especially if we're counting III/IV or Orion (although both of those albums were originally recorded around the same time as Easy Tiger). And I think the biggest reason for that is the vocals - this is the best he's sounded in a long time. I remember reading about a year ago, when he first started to record the songs for Ashes & Fire, that he quit smoking. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why the vocals sound so good here.
I never really gave Hospice much attention, but Burst Apart sounds really, really good. I think I just had one of those moments where a record just "clicks," you know?
Hmm... I usually love Dan Boeckner's stuff, especially in Wolf Parade. But I don't think I'm feeling this right now.