Hate to be that guy, but an ox is a castrated male bovine so can neither produce actual milk or “milk”, which...I haven’t seen Kingpin in a few years but...yeah
Maybe I missed some joke/reference but I’m gonna go ahead and be pedantic and you can up me or down me or non-react as you see fit
I recently bought a new house and some land with my gf in a land co-op started by a bunch of hippies back in the early 70s that somehow still exists and thrives. It’s beautiful and pretty awesome and my neighbors are a bunch of retired former and current longhairs who are just the nicest. Only reason I bring this up is because several of the road names are Beatles-related (Abbey Rd, Imaginary Rd), including mine: Long and Winding Rd (which is indeed long and winding as well as a (dirt) road). So pretty much every time I leave or come home and see the street sign (hand carved and oh-so paisley) I always sing the opening line of the song in my head. I never liked the song, still don’t, and never understood how it was a number one during such a fruitful musical time, but I’m stuck with it now and will probably continue singing the opening line in my head once or twice a day as long as I’m there. We’ll see if my relationship with it ever evolves beyond that.
Ok that’s all I’ve got. Otherwise, good work Beatles.
I can’t really rank songs so I’ll just list some that I liked a lot:
Adrianne Lenker - Symbol
Babygirl - Soft
Cigs After Sex - Sesame Syrup
Cut Worms - Coward’s Confidence
Dirty Projectors - What is the Time? (best bridge of 2018)
DJ Snake - Magenta Riddim
Father JM - Hangout at the Gallows
Gang Gang Dance - Kazuashita
Gia Margaret - Groceries
Gus Dapperton - Prune, You Talk Funny
Jackie Cohen - Maddy
Kanye et al - Ghost Town
Kurt Vile - Loading Zones
Mark Kozelek - Weed Whacker
MGMT - When You Die
Mothers - Pink
Mountain Man -AGT
Mr Twin Sister - Power of Two
Nicole Dollanganger - Uncle
Soccer Mommy - Your Dog
Sun kil Moon - Linda Blair
Tirzah - Holding On
Tomberlin - Seventeen
US Girls - Incidental Boogie
Valee - Womp Womp
Wooden Shjips - Staring At the Sun
Yung Lean - Red Bottom Sky
Absolutely. Dave is a gd national treasure. Just watched the new Tiny Desk Concert. Sooo good. I’m still baffled this album was essentially given a universal “eh”, but one day people will come around. So many jams.
I’d strongly recommend Jackie Cohen’s 2 EPs from this year (https://jackiecohen.bandcamp.com/album/tacoma-night-terror-part-1-ive-got-the-blues-2)
The songs Maddy and Darlin’ from the first EP especially. She has ties to Foxygen and Lemon Twigs (and is currently much more promising than either given their recent output). The Gum is sleeping on this lady.
Also, Babygirl (who the Gum introduced me to) made a stellar EP of super chill pop songs (https://babygirl1994.bandcamp.com/album/lovers-fevers)
1. Dirty Projectors - Lamp Lit Prose
2. Mark Kozelek - s/t
3. U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited
4. Soccer Mommy - Clean
5. Tirzah - Devotion
6. Cut Worms - Hollow Ground
7. Father John Misty - God’s Fave
8. Gang Gang Dance - Kazuashita
9. Kurt Vile - Bottle it in
10. Adrienne Lenker - abysskiss
Others:
Jackie Cohen - Tacoma Night Terror 1&2
Wooden Shjips -V
Tomberlin- At Weddings
Gia Margaret - There’s Always Glimmer
Kanye West - ye
Babygirl - Lovers Fevers
Mr Twin Sister - Salt
Nicole Dollanganger - Heart Shaped Bed
Mountain Man - Magic Ship
Sun kil Moon - This is My Dinner
The problem is, no song is purely “heart” from any of the albums. They all contain some level of profundity and deep human understanding, but there is also a lot of rambling to get to that point sometimes, but a lot of time the payoff is huge. I personally don’t find his other more recent output THAT different from Benji. All that said, I agree with the guy above about Perils from the Sea. You can’t go wrong with “God Bless Ohio” or “You Are Me and I Am You” based on what you’re asking, but there is gold everywhere, you just have to give it a chance if you’re up to the task. I think Common As Light... is his greatest album, though there are some less than good moments. I guess if you’re looking for traditional songs/hooks, they are few and far between, though they’re there on all of his albums. I really liked Weed Whacker on the self-titled, but it is ridiculous.
Agreed. There is a lot of complexity in all of his post-2011 output and it does take some serious patience to appreciate all that’s going on and being said. Sure, there are some clunkers here and there, but I think there is a lot of value on every album. I always enjoy things increasingly with repeated listens, I never trust my first impression on a Koz album anymore. I think I’m one of the very few that doesn’t particularly care for any of his work prior to Among the Leaves and much prefer the slice of life storytelling and even the banal diaristic elements because there’s universality to all of it and he is a damn intersting guy. To me, he’s the most exciting artist working today, despite his obvious flaws. The way he conflates Ignatius from a Confederacy of Dunces’ experience in the workplace with his own at the end of this year’s self-titled was just brilliant to me. Guy is a national treasure, but I do understand that it’s not for everyone. He is so generous with his output and I really hope he keeps up the pace. Can’t wait to listen to this. I did read “This is my Dinner” is a reference to a statement by a homeless person or something about having to eat absolute trash. It makes an otherwise what I suspected as a self-aware, funny jab at himself and his tendency of boringly telling you what he ate that day into something much more sad and profound. Love it.
I’m excited for this after hearing the preview tracks earlier this year. I think Ode to Dawn Weiner has some incredibly affecting songs and beautiful melodies. I wasn’t into the heavy distortion introduced on Natural Born Losers at all and am glad it’s taking a backseat on the new one. I get the idea and it seems like it would be cool live, but I prefer what she does with less noise and more beauty. Good write up.
Great interview. After hearing these new singles (which I really liked), I checked out Hours Were the Birds and I think it is a super solid album. Very excited for abysskiss. I may be in the minority, but I’ve found the solo material to be a lot more consistent and to my liking than Big Thief. Having said that, Mythological Beauty was one of my favorite songs from last year and I replay it often. The imagery in the song is excellent and this part, just the way it’s sung and the sonics and lyrics always makes me tear up:
You held me in the backseat with a dishrag, soaking up blood with your eyes
I was just five and you were twenty-seven
Praying “don’t let my baby die”
Excited to hear abysskiss and future Big Thief. Adrianne sounds like an awesome lady.
It’s phenomenal. Way different from s/t (which I think was one of last year’s best as well), but so good in its own way. The Rostam/Robin feature is def the most chill/downbeat song on the album but it’s really pretty. They are honestly hardly noticeable tho and none of the collaborators are given much space to shine, but they’re all tastefully utilized. Syd’s small, repeated contribution to the opener is beautiful. I have a feeling people will not judge the new album very objectively or fairly (like the last one) due to Dave’s dirty laundry airing transgressions, but it is truly great pop music as only Dave can do and I think it is his highest achievement personally as a songwriter/arranger/vocalist.
Another snub for Dirty Projectors. Soooo much better and more accomplished than anything on this list both musically and lyrically. And the best song still hasn’t been released. Dave is a legit genius and this album is his high point thus far. AOTY
All you fucking prude dudes acting like you wouldn’t do exactly the same thing when you hit 46 are completely full of shit. A woman of 30 is an adult with some serious agency. You think you’re being progressive but are just further infantilizing grown ass women. Ew.
The first time I heard it I kinda thought “I like this and am glad I listened to it but will probably never listen again”. But a couple more spins and I realized how dense of an album it is and also that some these songs fucking rock. I thought it was criminally underrated, but Koz kinda set himself up for it with the critical landscape the way it is these days. Ian Cohen’s writeup for Stereogum on the album is one my favorite album reviews of all time. I hope he has more like these in him. Can’t wait to hear how he renders this year’s events into song.
I really liked Leaves as well. So many good songs. I personally think his most underrated is probably the album leaf collaboration (though it’s not my absolute favorite). I too, despite many efforts, could never get into Admiral. Guy’s gonna have a Dylan/Young kind of catalogue if he keeps up the pace. I think if he died today his more recent work would be seen in a new light and would get the recognition it deserves.
Common as Light was my favorite of 2017. So much humor mixed with depth and still very experimental and genuinely beautiful and catchy in many places. I also thought the Jesu collaboration had a lot going for it. Kind of a shame everything else was so throwaway and cheapened what would have still been a very impressive output if only limited to those two. Excited to hear new stuff as always.
1. Sun Kil Moon - common as light...
2. Dirty Projectors - s/t
3. Cigarettes after sex - s/t
4. Lana del Rey - lust for life
5. Night lands - I can feel the night...
6. Hand Habits - wildly idle
7. Jesse - Hard Sky
8. Fever Ray - Plunge
9. Bedouine- s/t
10. Sun Kil Moon/Jesu - 30 seconds...
11. Thundercat - drunk
12. Ariel Pink - Dedicated...
13. Ducktails - Jersey Devil
14. Destroyer - ken
New album is by far his best (heard it about 2 days before everything blew up, not that it would sway my opinion one way or the other). Not sure if it would've gotten him anything new career-wise had all of this not gone down, but...ya blew it bruh.
The album is just too lackluster for me. Love some of the jazzy, loungey sounds but other than the first three songs I still find this very boring after a few spins. It is definitely original, but where are the songs? Dum Surfer is a total banger tho
Not a single mention of his side project Cat's Eyes with Rachel Zeffira? That's possibly the most underrated band of the decade. Such classically beautiful music with 2 diametrically opposite but gorgeous voices in their own right. Treasure House was my favorite album of last year and I really hope they make more. "You're the best person I know" from their debut is the ultimate song to put on for a first kiss or admission of love to a new partner. So good
Fuuuck yes. Untogether was such an excellent album that absolutely still holds up. I thought they were done for good, so this is very exciting news. His production is amazing and she is one of my favorite vocalists of the decade. Awesome news!
I don't think anyone is forced to back up or defend anything and certainly don't think that because they failed to (while being white and male) that they got a "pass". Koz and Ariel simply double down when confronted with their offensive words/views and that's their right as artists/humans. They are also about as indie as it gets these days with that level of success/exposure and their reputations among many have been irreparably damaged because of their words and their refusal to back down and play nice to save face, which to me hardly makes them invincible like you imply. I definitely agree with Ariel's statements basically saying isolated groupings of words by themselves put into print without all that goes along with what put them out there being used as a basis for demonization is very flawed and susceptible to misrepresentation/misinterpretation. Good for him if he feels no need to apologize when a dickhead quote among thousands of words becomes the sole focus of discussion. If he suffers and doesn't care then he's doing things on his terms. If you really think these white men get a pass where others don't just because they refuse to suck it up and give a bullshit, disingenuous pr apology because their manager told them how much it'd cost them so they cave, I would respectfully disagree. No one gets a pass these days from what I see.
For the record I found the interview pretty boring but it gives me a little more respect for Ariel, who I've never really given much thought to. The album has some great songs (esp Do Yourself A Favor) but also a bunch of throwaway nonsense like most of his albums, so it's pretty par for the course for me, and he definitely remains consistent and unchanging like he says, so good for him.
Thought Born to Die was straight up bad. Thought Ultraviolence was just short of a masterpiece. Thought Honeymoon had some missteps but was overall very good. So far think this is just ok. Some really terrible songs on the first half but the second half has some nice stuff. Gonna need a few more spins.
There is plenty of melody and dynamics on Common as Light and 30 seconds. Yellow Kitchen though is absolutely awful and devoid of anything redeeming. Hoping this one is worthwhile and sounds like it might be
Glad he's getting the recognition. This is an instant classic to my ears, and this kind of music isn't even really my bread and butter. I can't tell if all the lyrics are a joke or not. Some are comically cheesy/bad. It kind of makes it more endearing to me honestly.
Am I blind or was Cigarettes After Sex not even mentioned as a new release last week? That is the most gorgeous album I've heard in years. Easily my AOTY so far.
I'm glad she's tasting success, even if I haven't liked anything since the "S" ep. A great voice and (at least on her first 2 eps) a refreshingly weird and enigmatic/somewhat sinister persona with great song after great song. She deserves all the hype. Just wish See.sza.run especially had gotten more love because it's a classic. I'll give this a shot but so far not very excited based on the singles
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