I was gonna say, this reminds me of the Evan Stephrns Hall statement in that I read it multiple times and my only takeaway was “…okay?” Either cop to whatever actually bad stuff you’re hoping to get in front of (if that’s the case, not saying I think it’s likely) or just bring this up with your therapist! You don’t handle breakups well?? Damn dude that’s crazy!
Total bummer! Although Hell Bent seems to be the more beloved album, SNAFU is a perfect 2004 pop punk major label debut. Sounds like it cost a million dollars to make, and the songs are there, man.
I’d be curious to know how many other people of a very specific age were introduced to TMBG through their collaborations with Homestar Runner:
https://youtu.be/ZUgMpG1I_o8
I always get gross vibes when some industry person uses the word "competitor" to describe another artist or label in any context (I know it's in the context of an awards show here and I don't care). Really offers a window into how dimly the entire major label system understands the art form they've built their business around.
Love this album, love the new track, increasingly wary of the relentless stream of expanded editions/demos/remix collections that seem to have been coming out this past year. I get why the streaming paradigm demands they do it, it's just already hard enough keeping up with actual new releases!
Neil's making it sound like it's just corporate venues and arena acts getting things going again just to pad their own bottom lines, and not the thousands of touring indie acts who have had to subsist on the pittances doled out from streaming for the last 18 months (not to mention the independent venues who've limped by on grants and bailouts if they even made it this far) and kiiiiinda need some money rolling in soon. Like literally everything surrounding Covid, this is not only a case of the rich getting richer but also the people on the margins doing what they need to do to survive! So many bands and venues have been bending over backwards to make these upcoming tours as safe as possible — maybe that isn't enough for some people, but I have a hard time blaming anyone who's just fucking out of options at this point and needs to make a living somehow.
It’s true that the actions in question happened when he was a minor, however as others have pointed out A. it’s some seriously heinous shit and B. the things he did were discussed in interviews he did as an adult, and he didn’t seem that regretful about it when it wasn’t threatening to affect his career! I’m not above giving the guy the benefit of the doubt that he’s taken the ensuing decades to reflect on his past actions and feels less glib about it now, and I’m sure it’s not fun to be publicly reminded of something terrible you did decades ago on the eve of a huge career milestone, but y’know what, your past decisions have consequences for your present situation! It happens literally all the time! I’m sure he does have regret, I’ll give him credit for being thorough in his apology and not pulling a “sorry you were offended”, that doesn’t change the fact that a critical mass of Japanese people and/or Olympic organizers don’t want him in that role anymore given what they now know.
Ah yes, RÜFÜS DU SOL, a band[?] we've all heard of prior to just now, and whom we definitely know as a headliner act on the level of someone like Lana Del Rey[???]
And those people (me) appreciate it, Sufjan! The Ascension just felt too sonically dense and impenetrable, and listening all the way through wore me out. He's obviously earned a lifetime pass to fuck around for the remainder of his career at this point, but this return to lighter, earthier realms is quite welcome. Love the sleigh bells on both these tracks.
C'mon is underrated imo. Alan did one of those Noisey rank your records interviews and he placed it last, which is insane to me. Some of their absolute best songs (Witches, Especially Me, Nothing But Heart perhaps my all-time favorite Low song), and covers a lot of ground from tenderness and reassurance to that classic barely-restrained Low fury.
They were coming off a couple albums that seemed regarded as B- material (not true) and it sort of seemed like a modest evolution in their sound (or even a throwback to the Great Destroyer era), rather than a harbinger of wilder things to come. I think it makes more sense now in the context of Double Negative, they definitely feel like part of the same world. And the songs are there - No Comprende, Into You, the final run of Lies->Landslide->DJ in particular.
Their back catalog is comparatively conventional sounding, but they are a great band with plenty of good entry points. I'd recommend either The Great Destroyer (the point at which they started experimenting with noise and dirt), Things We Lost in the Fire (for my money, their strongest set of songs), or Drums and Guns (their second-weirdest record, and closest in spirit to Double Negative).
Always fun to see the big waves of Funko Pop-ass bin-filler shit like this that come out every RSD, but especially this year as bands announce actual new albums with 6 month vinyl preorder windows.
I was gonna say, you wanna talk about tastefully composed well-executed and boring, there's been a glut of it on the charts over the last decade and it makes Sheryl Crow sound like Lightning Bolt.
Honestly, I love the E Street Band apery of this track and I wish more artists would model themselves after the loose jammy R&B-influenced sound of first two Springsteen albums. Leave the heartland bar rock to the Hold Steady.
Also side note, but major-label vinyl prices have gotten downright inexcusable. $29 for a single LP? Fuck off!!!! I can get 2 LPs shipped from Asian Man for that price!
I wonder if that rarities comp will just be the 7” tracks from the preorder for this album, or a continuation of Couple Tracks. If they did a comprehensive rarities comp I’d conservatively guess it would be a 4xLP set.
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