Thanks for sharing this list. I'll give Elbow's Takeoff and Landing... and Bombay Bicycle Club's So Long, See You Tomorrow a shout-out. The latter especially is vibrant and moving.
I had a discussion a few weeks back with a few friends about what makes some music justifiably "White Music". "Euphorically fake" was the phrase I needed. I appreciate LDR's candor though.
As a mid20s American man, I'm slowly getting out of the phase where witnessing young people with extreme talent made me existentially irritated, like, say, Blake Griffin did four years ago. Porter is 21 and awesome. I imagine Porter Robinson's Worlds will be to EDM what Good Kid Maad City was to modern rap. Both elevated the artists into super stardom by meticulously critiquing what their respective genres had succumbed to in ways that weren't self-important or self-reverential. It's exciting. It makes me excited for the electronic releases in 2015. I love this.
The Friendly Fires track Before Your Eyes is sensational. Probably my favorite song released so far in 2014. They're easy to lump into a genre of modern indiepop UK music but they deserve a lot of credit. It's an ambitious track that's easy to embrace. Second, seeing Bombay Bicycle Club in NY's Webster Hall made me a big fan of their new material.
In the Premature Evaluation comments for the new Coldplay album, someone argued that music critics are disproportionately celebrating pop music to compensate for rejecting so much of it. Agree or disagree, I can imagine a similar wave happening as we enter this "PostEDM" phase. Fans of electronic music are expecting Porter Robinson to lead to a similar shift. He's a phenom. Regardless of his genre, that a 21 year old from North Carolina demonstrates such a compelling musical vision is worth celebrating. A few years ago, patrons and supporters of music websites like Stereogum weren't ready for arguments posing "In defense of Skrillex". That could change. Frankly I hope it does. There are producers like Robinson ready to wake us out of our chillwave, Washed Out limbo. At least, they deserve an equal place in the conversation.
Adventurous in light of their contemporaries. Elbow is the most esteemed British rock band in ten years. Songs from Asleep in the Back could have been sequenced in Takeoff and Landing. They're sound is incredible but their sound hasn't changed. Adventurous they are not. Muse makes apocalyptic songs. Snow Patrol writes weepy rock. In terms of UK rock, Coldplay easily shakes up their sound more than bands who fill the same stadiums they do. No reason not to acknowledge that.
Despite how loaded Radiohead's discography is, screaming "She's.... running out the door" with ten thousand people would be trascendent. Whether they should play it isn't my business. Would I want them to? Of course. As for your last question, I'd trade Idioteque (which is great) to hear Exit Music... and then Let Down. The latter is criminally underappreciated.
One or two summers ago, the Guggenheim had an exhibit called Picasso: Black and White. Conceptually, the pieces were all curated because they were works done in... black and white. Picasso's thought being that the two colors celebrate the structures and forms of his pieces and that they could carry the themes he needed without the distractions that adding color posed. Giving this album my first listen reminded me of that exhibit. On the surface, all of the songs are entirely mellow electropop songs. But from the twinkle in Ink that made Strawberry Swing whimsically saudade to the slightly offkilter, Burtonesque lullabye in True Love and the sheer brilliance of Always in My Head, this album uses very similar colors in a lot of various ways in tight, succinct way. Great collection of music.
I'm not arguing if the song is good or not. Whether or not you or anyone likes this is an entirely unnecessary conversation. But to argue that bands like Coldplay shouldn't make a song like this is strange. That's what confused me about the comments thus far.
Sensational track. Sequenced with the rest of the album, the euphoria will be well-earned and well-received. It's current. The remixes will be amazing. I'm not sure how the modern music fan can exist without learning to appreciate EDM music. The festival experience demands you enjoy it. Nights out demand you enjoy it. If the enlightened music fan thought Coldplay had gone Parachuting with Ghost Stories, they were mistaken. Coldplay's music compass isn't guided by indie blogs. They make passionate music that's relevant in the conversation of contemporary pop music. On that standard, this is a total winner.
I learned to love Coldplay and Keane (now up to five straight #1 albums in the UK is actually impossible to imagine) when I started buying music in high school. And then Snow Patrol. Basically any UK band that had any sort of presence in America/Grey's Anatomy. (Athlete deserves a shoutout in this article). Since then, I've learned to love Elbow and more mainstream UK pop bands. But I've never been able to get into Britpop music. Perhaps the occasional Oasis hit. But this week really did reaffirm how inexplicable it could be that my musical foundation was built on bands who idolized bands you all have discussed this week, but I can't really enjoy their songs. It all sounds so (almost comically) British to me. The songs just sound like round Lennonesque specs. That said, I read every article Stereogum staff penned this week. Incredible work. Learned a lot.
(Two potential reasons for Elbow's emerging popularity: 1. Coldplay brought them on a few tours. Most really invested Coldplay fans really respect Guy Garvey and the band's influence on Chris Martin. 2. The London Olympics gave a few UK acts a great platform. Open Arms was the perfect closing anthem for the games.)
Thanks for sharing this article. It's weirdly refreshing to read an article about music circa 2003 that doesn't reference the OC. I learned a lot here.
Interesting article. Couple thoughts. This phenomenon could be a UK thing. I'd have to think Sheeran looks up to Gary Lightbody as a songwriter and Snow Patrol released some dancy singles that floundered. Keane put out an EP with collaborations with K'naan and other nonKeanian sounding tracks. Obviously Coldplay did their Mylo Xyloto thing. Coldplay, I'd argue, though succeeded only in that they try to find a new way to essentially deliver the same message they've tried four other times to do with their music (feel empowered by friendship, music and just being yourself). I think that's the key for popular acts. Rihanna's seven albums are pretty diverse but they all amplify fundamental perceptions of what we'd imagine her to be. Princess of China is a different kind of Coldplay song but it works for her and works for Chris Martin. This Ed Sheeran song doesn't reaffirm anything we'd imagine about him as an artist. It fails. Definitely a talented guy with a good future but a strange choice.
I enjoyed reading this. My parents were super religious and wanted to vet every piece of music I brought into the house. Which was extreme and I rebelled as much as could. I forced my CDs to play Anne Frank in the most random parts of my bedroom. I have to believe that I liked the song Float On from Yahoo radio or something and so I bought this album. But upon reading some of the other lyrics, I knew it was way too dangerous to have in the house. I brought the CD with me and gave to a random girl in my painting class. Really boring story. That says so much about my past lol.
As for songs that stick out? The View. Great, great song. "If it takes shit to make bliss then I feel pretty blissfully." That and the Killers' "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier" where my anthems in high school.
Nelson, the first season of the Sing Off was a revelation. No question. But as you keep watching in subsequent seasons it's clear Ben Folds isn't THAT good. Breaking down the tonal nuances of a group singing Macklemore and Ryan Lewis loses its appeal in the midst of holiday season. The show isn't that consistently entertaining. Lil Mama on America's Best Dance Crew is probably a better judge. Nigel is good. Maybe the dance judges are better than singing judges.
re: Akon's "cash out" line. I enjoy Lady Gaga's music and respect her as a cultural personality. I find the fallout from Artpop fascinating and really surprising. She's been good to Interscope. She's been good to Akon. Why have both let her own #artflop by herself? Very strange. I'm not crazy about the songs and I think Lady Gaga will remember her music is best when accountable to her fans not pleasing Marina Abramovic. But I'm not sure when Lady Gaga's career merits any critiques of her as anything but a world-class performer.
The best thing about the conventional Coldplay narratives is that it made Coldplay really appreciate their fans and reward them for sticking around. Which, in turned, helped their longevity. Pop bands survive when the fans feel like a priority. They give out songs and whole albums for free. They have concerts for free. They create additional ways for the band to engage in their music even when they aren't touring or recording, whether through creating silly comic books or playing festivals. They handed out souvenirs to their concertgoers. They don't sell the first rows of their concerts to have attendants find crazeball fans in the rafters and give them a great seat. They've always wanted to be the biggest band in the world but weren't afraid to collaborate and have others join the process, like a Hopkins or Eno. They've written great songs for 15 years but they're getting better at fulfilling their mission: bringing passionate music to the mainstream. There's just a lot to like about Coldplay and dozens of reasons it's great being a fan.
I love Elbow's music but I haven't given the new album much a proper swirl yet. What exactly does "proggy" mean though? Were their other albums proggy? I've genuinely never heard that term before. Just curious.
The internet isn't a place where people can acknowledge and respect the nuance in other people's choices. Everyone is an expert on how somebody else out to be living. It's unnecessary though. Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore are accountable to each other. Not writers who compose their thoughts in listicle form. To even have an opinion on their situation is a gross miscalculation of my relevance as a music fan.
One thing objectively worse than Coldplay's music is commentary about Coldplay's music. As we begin, consider following a few ground rules.
1. If you feel compelled to reference another artist, actually say why that's relevant. "Coldplay sounds like (x), therefore (y)."
2. Explain why, after 15 years as a band but you still don't have enough evidence to decide your feelings for Coldplay, why you're still trying?
3. Enjoy.
This song screamed for a bombastic breakdown but they refrained. That's intriguing. It's arranged perfectly for the EDM remixes to be poppin'. So in a way, everybody wins. Very good song.
Your site, your rules. I get that. But I don't get how a music site for adults in 2014 had an actual conversation about whether parents can use marijuana and how that's symptomatic of unhealthy management of mental illness. Being "good" is one thing. But _'s more of an unwanted distraction than anything else.
Huge American Idol fan. I'm biased toward the show. But declaring that a debut R&B album won't be culturally relevant is not a reflection of the show's popularity. It's a reflection of the genre itself. Maybe I'm wrong but R&B hasn't had a culturally powerhouse debut from an African American woman since Alicia Keyes.
That American Idol isn't the pervasive cultural force it once was. No question. But that observation doesn't speak to the realities that R&B is, by and large, a dead-end of American black artists on a massive scale.
Great article. Loved having this on a Tuesday morning. This is a slightly irrelevant point but this got me thinking. Somehow, and we know this about music in 2014, bands growing and developing their craft toward commercial viability is a motivation worth rejecting. But when I think about the author, he, in his mid-30s I think I read, is getting better and better at his craft. Writers don't command the form until they reach 40. Breihan can do this for another 30 years if he so chooses. This piece, like much of his recent work, suggest a future of just really insightful, meaningful writing I, as a fan, can get excited about. But with musicians, there's such less expectations for healthy growth. That's weird. That the narrative presented in this article exists says much more about patrons of music than the artists themselves.
What more of a hit can Foxes get than Clarity? That's a genuine smash. And I Need Your Love is the best thing Ellie Goulding's been connected with. I'm not sure what she's showcased that would make anyone anticipate any sort of compelling musical vision. But Goulding does make good singles. Her voice works well on dance tracks. That's her calling card to longevity.
I love the writing on Stereogum so I'm down for this. But I'm reminded of a tweet by Vice yesterday: Why pretending to enjoy rubbish bands is the new pretending to enjoy decent bands.
Muse had to share a day with Coldplay at Lollapalooza a few years back. If U2 hijacks their day at Coachella, they'll never play another festival in America again.
Maybe I'm wrong about this but Stereogum (or some likeminded publication) had SVIIB in studio to perform two songs, Conjur being one. I was hooked at first listen. I went to my school's radio station and was excited to see they had a copy of Alpinisms. I stole it. For me, college was a time to get into different styles of alternative/indie music and SVIIB were easily one of the more influential bands for me exploring newer sounds beyond the Killers or whatever I liked in high school. One summer I went to a free show at South Street Seaport (with the xx opening when they were a foursome) and recognized them before their set I remember eagerly telling BC, "Your album cover is the background of my computer!" He gave me a look as if to say, "Wow, are our fans this pathetic?" Haha, but they were friendly. Last year, I made a playlist with songs I want played at my funeral. After a string of anthems like All My Friends or Exit Music (for a film) or the YYY's Hysteric, it ends with The Wait. I always will prefer Alpinisms to DfD, but that song will stay with me forever. I'm not sure I've dealt with the death of an artist who's music I new really, really well. Strange feeling. Thoughts to his family.
I loved Yeezus and love that we both look at it very differently. For me, Yeezus was an exercise in amplifying his inner thoughts and deciding if his essence alone can be masterful art. The arrangements were sparse, the lyrics jumbled but that was the point. It wasn't thought out. He put his money that his totality alone is captivating enough to carry an album. Even his collaboration with Justin Vernon, a sort of nihilistic minimalist himself, shared that same mentality. I don't know if I'd call Yeezus an album about death or mortality. His posturing is more than just self-loathing bluster. He left the choirs and soul samples and other qualities that make him accessible behind and bet big that his totality was enough to carry a record. He was right. That's not fear that's maniacal confidence.
I think because I was convinced he was going to get better and had already began anticipating how special it'd be to see these guys again makes this harder for me as a fan. For now, thanks for the memories. Thoughts to his family.
Unrelated story: I went to a pre-release listening party for the Foals' album. I don't think the public was supposed to be invited but a lot of us showed up and they let us in one by one. By the time I got inside, the music was over but I got to literally rub shoulders with Yannis and there was an open bar. Unfortunately, I didn't have a dollar to tip my 15 dollar cocktail. I'm a disgrace. Safe to say, no one asked for my number.
I enjoyed reading this. It's a shame EDM is only discussed in sites like Stereogum when mentioning deaths due to MDMA. Many producers and their music deserve better. On that level, I wish the drug wasn't as culturally relevant. Still, this article does go to show the blending of genres into the monogenre, like you once wrote about. Artists of all colors and styles are hyping the same drug. It's interesting to think about.
Very cool. This list most closely mirrors my own personal list. Although did we all sort of forget the Yeah Yeah Yeahs released an album this year? While it didn't have the obvious singles like It's Blitz, it was strong. I'm reminded of the blogosphere ignoring of Bloc Party's Four last year. Given both of these band's legacies, they deserve way more of the benefit of the doubt with multiple listens.
I'm stoked for this. Money and music is all about perspective. 55 dollars in New York pays for a cover charge and maybe three drinks. Considering the nature of the event and the venue, this at least is a moment attendees won't ever forget.
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