“Cups” is at least a 9, y’all!

(PS, life has gotten crazy busy, but I still lurk here like all the time.)

I, for one, am extremely excited for a Wilco country album. This song is nice.

i want to buy this disc, make a 128kbps mp3 rip, and share it on kazaa

I hope I’m the first one here to offer an overwhelming surplus of Diggity.

Am I crazy or is music really strong this year? Hardly have time to listen to all the music, and there are albums I really really like that are already safely outside my top 10? In April? In this economy?

wayback machine for Stereoyum https://web.archive.org/web/20170802012220/http://stereoyum.com/072217/arcade-fire-premature-evaluation-everything-now/review/ 🤙

They should never have taken away the downvote…

aaaaaaaahhhh indie rock

I miss you so much

And Now For Something Completely Different: I knew that Cake were something special when I first heard “Rock and Roll Lifestyle” in early 1995, but I wasn’t sure if they were just a one-trick pony or if they’d really go the distance until I heard “The Distance.” In many ways, the song sounds even better now than it did in 1996; in all the “90s revivalism” going around today, I haven’t heard anyone try to revive this sound, although I’d love to hear those fantastic trumpet bits in more songs today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_HoMkkRHv8

I teared up reading about Bill Withers and Grandma’s Hands. That reflects on Tom’s writing and how much that song connected to my life.

And for Blackstreet to create a 180 degree change from that song and make it 10/10 seems impossible.

So much love in this column.

There’s a subtle beauty in the subplot of Win and Regine wanting a kid. In “The Suburbs” it was “I want a daughter while I’m still young” and Win had to change the end of that verse from “then send me a son” to “send me a perfect son” in live renditions after they had their kid. And now said kid is the inspiration for what sounds like some incredibly sweet and earnest tracks about growth, love and connection.

I have enjoyed most of what I’ve heard of this record (The Lightnings and live performances of Age of Anxiety, Rabbit Hole and Lookout Kid) and that’s because, even though Win’s lyrical content is at its schmaltziest and corniest, the songs still defiantly work because of the sheer effort, enthusiasm and joy present in the songmaking process.

I’ve seen Arcade Fire six times since they were my guiding light in high school; no other band has properly soundtracked the various phases of my life. I’ve strengthened lifelong friendships on the support of their music and they even played an indirect role in my discovery of the heart condition that changed my life in the mid-2010s. (Fun fact: If you ever jump to your feet at a show only to black out and topple over the next row of seats, go see a doctor. It may not just be that you’re cross-faded.)

I’ve been a little apprehensive about WE; “Reflektor” was the first album I ever pre-ordered and I felt burned by its weak first side, and while I’m an Everything Now defender, it took the live show and some creative Spotify playlisting to get to that point. I’ve aged, and other impulses have taken my musical heart down other roads, to the various Deads, the more resigned and cynical optimism of the Rosenstocks and PUPs of the world, and of course my latent King Gizz addiction.

But, deep down, I know AF can pull it off again, and I’m saving them the space in my heart they’ve filled with hope, love and joy so many times.