I agree with your assessment; the novelty of a new band will always pull people into the music in a special way that later albums will struggle to replicate. I get nostalgic thinking about my days spent listening to Apologies fervently.
The complaints are likely coming from jaded listeners who are too burnt out on the band to give the tunes a chance, or they are people looking for instant-gratification.
I know that my love of Apologies was not instant either. I really liked what I heard and wanted to hear more of it, but the strong feelings that I developed for it occurred only after multiple listens.
Too "long and boring?" It sounds like you did not even give these songs a chance and that you were seeking immediate gratification. There is more to these songs than you will find with one single listen. This talk of post-AttQM Wolf Parade not doing anything as good as Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs is crazy, in my opinion.
"Kissing the Beehive," "California Dreamer," and "Language City" are all tracks that I can immediately point to and say that I enjoyed them more than or equally to the best of the other two bands (which are also great stuff). I love the dichotomy created on a Wolf Parade album. Two unique, talented songwriters somehow unify to form something bigger than either of them alone.
I'm surprised by the comments that say these are bland and have no spark. The guitar in "What Did My Lover Say" is awesome. Good stuff with a lot of potential to grown on me even more during repeat listens (judging by the battling melodies that are occurring all over the place).
This is why I should never review a track/album after two listens. I've given the record a dozen more spins and I now love "Siberian Breaks." I think it took me a while to find what was really going on in the song. It's certainly dense, but there are segments that I can't get out of my head. I'm glad to admit that I was 100% wrong about that track.
This video is disturbing - it literally made me cringe at parts. Yet, I love it. Why do we, as humans, take pleasure in watching such disturbing things?
Yeah, "Siberian Breaks" is practically a deal-breaker for me. Talk about meandering nowhere. And I am typically receptive to music that uses repetition effectively (Animal Collective, Liars, etc.).
Oracular Spectacular contained huge pop songs that demanded everyone in the room sing-along. This is album definitely neglects the big hook and immediate gratification. I'll give it a few spins as background music and see if it clicks. It does seem like it has potential to grow on me after a few listens, but I guess time will have to tell on that front. It does remind me of early Of Montreal as someone else pointed out.
Finally got around to checking out Oddblood this week. It started out fun, but it wore thin pretty quickly. Regardless, "Ambling Alp" is a fun song that I have not gotten sick of yet. The Pitchfork feature in which they showed them recording it was hilarious: when you hear the vocals being recorded without the music, you can't help but laugh at their over-the-top delivery. That voice is just too much to take except in small doses.
Haha, I hope my sarcasm detector is accurate right now. If so, I'm glad someone felt the same way about this video as me. So much hype for such a self-serving, bland, poorly constructed video. Meanwhile the Liars' beautiful video for "Scissor" is largely ignored.
How does Dan creep you out? He seems like the nicest guy out there and is the embodiment of rock and roll. As an aside, I enjoy Wolf Parade concerts more than Sunset Rubdown ones, although both are amazing experiences.
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