Well in that case I'll take it as a compliment!
Trust me I'm aware enough to know a fully 100% all "indie rock" site would crash and burn these days, and probably be quite boring. Stereogum does it right, covering pretty much (almost) everything, so that when I see a band like Spoon get the top honor of the coveted PE it actually feels special, since it's not a foregone conclusion (well....ya know). Or those times Shearwater and The Horros got AOTW. An "indie only" site would be highlighting that shit all the time, it would lose its impact. At least, that's my take.
But yes, every now and then I'll still gripe if one of "MY" bands gets snubbed (::cough:: Night Moves ::cough::) :-D
Yep, didn't even review the latest one, which was fucking great. That's a whole other list: acts they reviewed every release, some/most even positive and over 8, and then.... just stopped, as if they didn't exist. I know they can't review every single release, but when they never miss reviewing a giganto pop act, gotta wonder who decides what albums they skip, hmmm....
Oh you. Spoon is the only act that would spark this kind of ire from me (if mot my #1 personal fave band, then who?). I mean, we've all noticed the other site turning to shit over the past 10 years and their laughably low scores, but don't worry, I won't have a post like this every time an indie act gets the shaft from them. When would I sleep??
For me, it started around the Twilight Sad's 2014 album, Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave, getting a laughable 5.8 from the King himself, Ian Cohen. 5.8 is insultingly low for that beautiful album, one of the first (of many) "wtf are they even doing here anymore?" moments for me. So around 2013/14 is accurate. I'm pretty sure throughout the last decade they started giving the lowest career scores ever to newest albums of previously highly scored acts. Spoon, for example, 7.4 career low. Real Estate, Arcade Fire, Cut Copy as mentioned, Field Music, Dodos, Wolf Parade, Foals, Beirut, Ought, Woods, Modest Mouse, Mikal Cronin, Wild Nothing, DIIV, Grizzly Bear, etc etc the list goes on. Other site's a joke.
Well, they have an entire section for "8.0+ Albums" (and obviously on top of that the "BNM" label), so by their own design, they're making a line between high-quality records worth your time and... everything else. I just have a really hard time swallowing they now feel FOUR Spoon records fall into sub-8 category, with 3 of those 4 being from their 4 most recent. So they're basically saying modern-day Spoon just isn't BNM material anymore, with the (in hindsight now surprising) exception of They Want My Soul. I'm still on the fence which I prefer over TWMS and LOTS, but at worst they're equally as good, and I might even prefer LOTS over it. Time will tell.
*WARNING: RANT ALERT - UNRELATED TO TODAY'S AOTW*
Anyone else read that crap-tacular word salad review of Spoon’s new album on the other site? 7.4 my ass. They give out 8+ BNM’s like candy on Halloween all month (another album just got one today!) but decide SPOON is the unworthy one. And the fact that it’s 7.4, same exact as Hot Thoughts, makes me think they’d have gone even lower if they could, but they just weren’t willing to go there and rate it lower than an album they know it’s damn well better than. And I like Hot Thoughts! I think 7.4 is too low for that too, but Lucifer is definitely superior when comparing the two head-to-head.
So they didn’t like Spoon’s “experimental” electronic album, they don’t like their “back-to-basics” rock album (they also weren’t crazy about their other experimental album Transference), so basically there’s nothing modern-day Spoon can do anymore to make the pretentious clowns over there think they’re worthy of an 8+/BNM review. Now I know I’m biased AF since Spoon is my #1, but I just don’t know what more you could want from music than something like Lucifer on the Sofa. To call yourselves “tHe MoSt trUsTeD vOiCE iN MuSiC” while saying a group like Spoon is just an average band is laughable to me.
Also, this little gem, straight from the review: “Whether, ick, remarking on “God walking in the room softly” on “Astral Jacket,” or, ugh, toying with conventionality on “My Babe,” he’s like a candidate for public office taking a position; he’s passionate about coming across as passionate.”
Did he just “ick” and “ugh” Astral Jacket AND My Babe? Who is this clown?? This is why Stereogum is #1. They appreciated the singles and the album as something worth celebrating, the other site just shrugged them all off. Fuck outta here.
Methyl Ethel’s Are You Haunted?
Hello! I love this band and their androgynous vocals. Bring it on.
Also, I was lied to last week, NO new Vundabar on Friday! Looks like it's actually due in April. Oh well, plenty of shit just came out, and will be coming out the rest of this month and March to tide me over.
Amen to EE. With Wild Beats disbanded and Dutch Uncles MIA (come back soon!), I only have EE to count on for weird-ass vocal acrobatic indie rock from the UK. We need more bands like them!
I mean, yeah, it's a 10 perfect song ("all killer no filler" as they say) album. Def better than Hot Thoughts, which I still love (but I'm biased af) but felt it was missing a certain... something (and they should never do instrumentals again and deprive us of Britt's voice, sorry "Us" but no).
It's too early to say, but I think it's also better than They Want My Soul. As far as covers included on an album go, I think we can all agree "Held" > "I Just Don't Understand."
And then we get to the "classics" (they'll all be classics once they get enough years under their belt) from Transference and their other flawless 2000's output. It's very hard to rank it amongst them, so I won't, I'll just enjoy 10 new flawless songs added to a near-flawless catalog. I'll say it again: FLAWLESS!
Were all 3 Spoon singles #1 on the 5 Best Songs of the Week list...? That's gotta be a record. And all 3 were well-deserved, excellent choice of singles. Although, now having heard all 10 songs, really any of them would have been #1 any week as well. LONG LIVE SPOON
As much as my own personal Top 5/10 current bands has changed over the years, moving some acts up or down spots, removing/replacing altogether etc, there has been one constant for the past 10 years: Spoon at #1. I made it official in 2012, FEBRUARY of 2012 actually, so literally 10 years ago, and they've never been replaced since. Who would even replace them?? They're in a league of their own.
Some others that have made the cut, since I'm sure you're all wondering... The National, Deerhunter, The Sea and Cake, Night Moves, The Antlers, The Horrors, Wild Beasts, Everything Everything, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Grizzly Bear, Okkervil River...
Yeah, I figured. I know it got a lot of love around here, I'm in the minority I know I know. I guess "Snow Globes" is alright.... but not 9+ minutes of my time alright. And "Basketball Shoes".... I already forget what that sounds like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I haaated (Ok I don't hate it. I just don't like it at all and it's terrible) their first album. Just 6 songs. One was instrumental, the others were too long, formless, meandering, underwhelming. Just didn't get all the praise.
But Ants From Up There, I don't even know why I checked it out, but I did, and I'm glad I did. "The Place Where He Inserted the Blade" has been my obsession all week. "Chaos Space Marine" is great. Really love tracks 2 thru 6 and of course "Blade."
But yeah, last 2 tracks: pass. 22 minutes to listen to those two formless songs after you just showed me how awesome you can sound with 3:36 on "Chaos Space Marine"!?
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