i don't mean to be a dick either, but if you read the entire thread, both Jimmy Eat World and a Get Up Kids reunion were mentioned before i brought up the Popes. no matter which of these bands you like more or you think are better, they're all purveyors of the same genre of music. and like i said, not trying to derail thread. let's talk about thorns of life by all means! i think i made my point -- also, lol @ work for their label. can i just like them and want them to do well without having a personal stake in it? i guess that's why i write a music blog, too -- so bands can pay me to go on stereogum and talk about them in the comments section. gg.
I apologize to Brandon...I really don't want to derail your blog posting or this thread, and I mean all due respect to Blake. I'm thrilled he's still making records & this new project is great.
But Smoking Popes' record has been a consistent go-to record for me stretching all the way back to early summer. I played it over and over and over again for weeks. It makes my stomach churn when I see some of the things being written about (not Thorns of Life mind you, I just thought this entry would make an apropo segue-way for my argument). Maybe if some people come out of the woodwork and champion it the way it deserves to be championed, the album doesn't die an undeserved regional death.
May I suggest to Midlake that you simply make a record that makes you happy. Disavowing a sound that has brought you success in an attempt to make yourself into the antithesis of that sound makes for great press, but people who really love your music will love you no matter what record you make. Your perceived credibility as artists isn't about disavowing a sound, it's about putting music out into the world.
Rock stars show contempt for their fans. The music you make is in no danger of demonstrating contempt for anyone, and that's why people love you.
Thorns of Life are quite good. Jawbreaker, influential and phenom. Schwarzenbach, one of the best of the 3-chord punk masters. Mad respect. I take nothing away from them with this comment.
BUT...
...how does Thorns of Life get a big splash in a world where Smoking Popes first new album in 10 years, which came out earlier this year, has been totally overlooked? I'm just asking. I'll bet good money your a chunk of your readers have no idea Smoking Popes even put out a new album or, if they did know, haven't heard it. Anyone?
You know, on the other hand, I've reviewed the audition piece of Paula Goodspeed. Her obsession with Paula Abdul is incredibly obvious. This poor girl didn't need to go on American Idol: she needed a mental evaluation and psychological help. Nothing like taking someone who is clearly mentally ill, putting them in front of their obsession and filming the fallout of rejection -- like Robert DeNiro's Rupert Pupkin character in the film The King of Comedy.
That makes me even sicker.
This kind of thing articulates the fallout of what happens when you take naive, innocent kids who simply believe that they are, or want to become, big stars, fill their head with "cult of celebrity" garbage, chew them up and spit them out into this process. How sad. My sympathies to her friends & family.
On the upside, Cy Cernin now has an influx of cash to restart that CyWear line of hats referred to in his 2005 VH-1 interview. Oh wait, you can get bracelets now too.
http://www.cycurnin.com/?page_id=54
Look, I love KanYe. Some of the songs on this album are pretty good.
But um...the only thing amazin' about this track is that people are listening to it.
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