Just a heads up in case you haven't already heard it, that reissue of Since I Left You doesn't have the original version of Frontier Psychiatrist that we all know and love. It has some shitty alternate version with re-recorded samples that just sounds off due to (what else) sample clearance issues.
They did a reissue last year that I picked up that has the real Frontier Psychiatrist and sounds great. Check it out if you're interested, still going for a reasonable price on Discogs:
https://www.discogs.com/The-Avalanches-Since-I-Left-You/release/8827979
This is cool, loving the beat. I hope Grimes does more production work in the future. The production is probably my favorite thing about Art Angels. "California" in particular is absolutely masterful.
Thank you! I really appreciate that and enjoy your commentary as well. (Also I am a big fan of the The Avalanches so I really like your avatar).
I agree with your points overall, I would just resist labeling liberals as "intolerant" of different views when it amounts to "you're intolerant of my intolerance so really you're the intolerant one." Though the response to that nonsense from liberals shouldn't be some holier than thou bullshit either, and there are situations where it doesn't always apply.
Basically, yes, people need to stop treating their political parties like they are a fucking homer fan of a sports team.
The issue here though is one side (conservatives) use liberals overreacting as a major criticism against them and their beliefs. There isn't the same stereotype or larger cultural perception that conservatives are special snowflakes who overreact to stuff they don't agree with, despite a lot of conservatives doing the exact same thing. This is really the main point of doboba's comments. If conservatives are going to (rightly, to a degree) complain about liberals overreacting to shit, they need to acknowledge that in their own base as well. Even if its a vocal minority on both sides, people need to take ownership of it happening on both sides.
And I agree with you regarding liberals overreacting to anything that doesn't fall directly in line with their views or narrative. The last 3 or 4 years on various pop culture sites I saw a lot of that kind of attitude and felt like it was part of the problem more than it was solving anything. The inability to handle any kind of criticism and refusal to try to appeal to people who don't already agree with you doesn't help anything.
However, that doesn't excuse the people who will hide behind being victimized for "opposing political views" in response to any form of criticism for saying something racist/sexist/etc. I've seen that a lot lately as an attempt to shut down discourse without any kind of critical thinking, and while I think there is definitely a lot of room for far left leaning people to be open to ideas that aren't 100% in line with their views, that kind of bullshit needs to go.
People don't listen to pop music like "I Gotta Feeling" for the deep, insightful lyrics. This is party music. The lyrics aren't really the point.
That still doesn't make "I Gotta Feeling" or most of the musical stylings of the Black Eyed Peas worth listening to though.
Radiohead - The National Anthem has gotta be my number one.
Nico Jaar - The Governor uses the saxophone to a similar effect and is also a great song.
If we're counting samples, T.R.O.Y. by Pete Rock & CL Smooth. One of the greatest beats ever made.
I haven't heard Agharta or Pangaea, but will check them out because Miles Davis does not do wrong. Lately I've been a big fan of Nefertiti and Sketches of Spain.
Very happy this column is happening. I have been trying to listen to more jazz lately, so this is good timing. Most of the stuff I listen to is from the 70's or earlier, and have been wanting to find out about more current music besides Kamasi Washington's The Epic, which is absolutely amazing, definitely in my top 5 albums for 2015.
I always love listening to jazz on Sunday afternoons and evenings. I'm not sure why exactly, but it always feels perfect for the mood of a Sunday. Lately I have been getting into late 60's/early 70's avant garde/experimental jazz, especially Alice Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders. The title track on Alice Coltrane's Journey in Satchidananda has one of the greatest basslines I have heard in a long time.
Gotta say your comments recently about Pharaoh Sanders made me give "The Creator Has a Master Plan" another listen....which led to me checking out a bunch of his stuff from around the time he released Karma , and man I have absolutely fallen in love with his music. I think Elevation is my current favorite, but Thembi is up there as well. "Greeting to Saud" off of Elevation is incredibly beautiful, the piano on that track is heavenly.
I hate the hot take I see on this site sometimes that people who buy vinyl are only in it for the novelty or just dumb hipsters or whatever. I've been collecting vinyl for almost 10 years now, and thats such a dismissive attitude towards a hobby that has only helped me appreciate music more and find great new stuff I wouldn't seek out otherwise had I not stumbled across it in a record shop. I have formed friendships over a shared love of vinyl, and I have never met or heard of someone who just buys vinyl because its ironic or something.
People who buy vinyl tend to really care about the music they listen to, otherwise they wouldn't invest the time, money, and space in their home that a record collection requires. There's a lot more to it than the novelty.
Dilla's influence is interesting. It's not the same as Kanye, where he has released an album and within like 2-3 years you could point to stuff influenced by it. It's a bit more subtle and more like an underlying current in approaches to production, especially in hip hop. Most hip hop artists will cite him as an influence. Kanye himself is very much influenced by Dilla, especially in the beginning of his career. He hasn't changed the face of pop music, but his production style has quietly become more and more ubiquitous since his death in 2006.
But also I am a total J Dilla stan, so that's probably influencing my opinion here.
We've had this discussion, and I think Daft Punk is up there for sure. But I think you can argue Kanye, Dilla, Beyonce, or Radiohead as being more influential.
Of course this is all presupposing that Ja Rule is not included in this conversation because it wouldn't be fair to the rest of music.
Jimi Hendrix got me into rock music with Are You Experienced?
Kanye West got me into hip hop with College Dropout
Daft Punk got me into electronic music with Homework.
They're a couple of douchecanoes now, and RAM is a testament to mediocrity, but man Homework is great front to back. I've always felt Discovery falls off in the second half (though maybe just because that first half is freaking insane), whereas Homework is solid throughout.
I often think of "Phoenix" as like the perfect example of minimalism in electronic music. There's like 5 parts to the whole thing, and yet it works so goddamn well.
Have you heard Gas, the ambient project by Wolfgang Voigt? It's a different sound that Julianna Barwick, but the endless loops and airy, hazy kinda feeling is strong. Probably my favorite ambient electronic music, especially the last album Pop.
Man when Stylo first dropped I remember being reeeeeaaalllyy ambivalent about it and worried the album was going to be a trainwreck, and like everyone I talked to feeling the same way.
Then the album dropped and Stylo fit perfectly, and there was that glorious video for it with Bruce Willis. That song grew on me so much it's weird to think I didn't really like it at first.
Holy shit this is great. Gorillaz albums don't happen often and I'm really glad they always seem to be awesome. Plastic Beach had its share of detractors but I think that one has aged well for the most part.
3 Doors Down has probably not faced any backlash because that would first require them to have fans or at least people who halfway give a shit about them, so.
The whole "give him a chance to lead" thing is insidious. It kind of presupposes that Trump is just another politician acting in good faith, when he's not, he's not even a politician. He ran on a campaign disparaging many different groups of people, and has done exactly nothing to ease those groups' anxieties about his winning. To tell those people to shut up and give him a chance is complete bullshit.
Also, at least in my experience, like 99% of the people I meet who say that we need to give him a chance were nowhere to be found when Obama had to deal with all the bullshit before taking office, and Obama at least met the basic qualifications for the job.
I went to the saddest wedding of all time once. It was in Texas, in a giant church. Nobody seemed very enthusiastic about it, including the bride and groom (who got divorced less than 2 years later). The reception was held on the basketball court in the crappy gym adjacent to the church. My table was on the 3 point line. Because it was on the church's property, no alcohol was served. Best of all, the playlist for the reception was way too short, because I heard "Kryptonite" by America's finest several times that afternoon. I can only imagine their presence will be similarly disappointing on Jan 19.
Do you think Ed Sheeran will scream in horror and accuse James Corden of being an evil wizard working for Sauron when he is exposed to the advanced technology of a modern day car?
I wouldn't say they've always blown it, but I don't like any of their albums nearly as much as Nowhere, whereas the other big shoegaze bands I find to be more consistent across their discographies (especially My Bloody Valentine, whose output is pretty much uniformly great).
I've always loved all of the big 3 shoegaze albums, but Souvlaki was always ranked third for me (Loveless being 1 and Nowhere being 2). But this is sounding excellent, and gives me hope they can match the high watermark of shoegaze reunion albums set with mbv.
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