I mean, if you can't trust a band named Diarrhea Planet, who CAN you trust?
(Seriously, they're super awesome and I'm sad they're no more, or almost no more...or maybe not no more...)
What a bunch of even-keeled, level-headed comments from the band members. I'm sure there were tantrums & whatnot behind the scenes, but all of the comments paint the picture of a group of mostly self-aware adults assessing where they are and where they may or may not go.
And to be frank, the money's in the show. Why on Earth would they go into the studio, literally burning money in a pile (because sales will never materialize into a profit), and re-engage with the personality conflicts? They can schedule a handful of shows here & there, pack the house, and make their mortgage payments for another year or two. If they have their artistic outlets in their side projects (Serj was just photographed this week in the studio with three-quarters of Dethklok plus Bear McCreary) then why not "pay the bills" with friends playing shows? Sounds like a win-win...except, of course, for the fans wanting new SOAD material.
The production is perfect; it's got the Weezer low/mid kick oomph, has that glassy 80's Toto vibe to it, the vocals shimmer. More compression than a lycra tube top. I love it.
We should produce a reality TV show where we put Moz & Jesse Hughes in a car for a road trip across Southeast Asia. We'll call it "Foot In Mouth Disease" and we'll make a million dollars if our heads don't explode first.
Numero Group makes many great points.
Is RSD marketing & fluff and gimmicks? Yeah, there's a lot of that.
Is there more hype than substance? Almost certainly.
How many "classic" albums have been released on RSD? You can probably count them on one hand.
But all that is besides the point: the point is in the name. RECORD STORE Day. It's not Indie Music Day, it's not Fight The Capitalist Machine Day. It's not Underground Artist Day. It's RECORD STORE Day, meaning as long as the hype generates foot traffic and interest in buying stuff that allows a situation where, as Numero Group put it, "stores make their nut and keep the lights on for another year," it's working.
Isn't that the whole point? To keep record stores in business?
Yes, it would be GREAT if every day was record store day, but it's also time to face facts that a lot of record & CD stores went under while waiting for that cultural shift to happen. Spoiler alert: it's probably not going to happen (unless you live in NYC or SF or LA or wherever). So let's just reconcile the fact that this is the modern retail music marketplace. This is what your average store has to do in order to survive just a little bit longer. Quit being a precious little indie warrior and realize that, ugly as it may be, that commercialism is helping to save a lot of stores from turning out the lights.
I don't like anything Lou did after, say, 1971, but to lead the article off by calling Lou "the guy who made Lulu with Metallica" is pretty cheesy.
Also, Lou being an uncouth asshole is hardly newsworthy...he was pretty famous for being full of himself.
The aluminum neck influence may also have come from Ty hanging out with John Dwyer from Thee Oh Sees as well...especially considering that he's also pairing it with a Super Reverb.
Christ, can we stop pretending this fruit loop has anything relevant to say? Just because she dresses up like the Architect from Holy Mountain doesn't mean she's "deep" or is on a "higher moral plane" (gag) than a carpenter bee. Artist != intellectual.
"Sketches" was my favorite album of the year. If Poly sticks with the "Crumbling Castles" style, it'll be right up there with Mind Fuzz.
Honestly, people can NOT be a fan of the music, per se, but damn...you really cannot deny their work ethic and momentum. With all their touring I have no idea how they even have time to do one album, let alone four.
(I don't think they'll hit the 5 album mark, though...try again next year?)
AJFA doesn't sound as bad as St. Anger. There's no excuse for what they did on that.
I think Metallica thinks they have to do a "shitty mix" album every time they get a new bassist.
"Sonic marker"? As in, the most Rubinesque sounding album?
Probably wither RHCP's BSSM, the first Danzig album, or Petty's Wallflowers; e.g. the "not-very-produced" sound. Maybe also (don't laugh) Slayer's Seasons in the Abyss.
However since probably '99 that distinctive sound has all but disappeared.
Perhaps fifteen years ago this Rubin/Strokes news would be great news. Now it's just...interesting.
I'm seeing Roger Waters this weekend. I love his music, and I'm looking forward to the show, but damn...when he opens his mouth he can be an insufferable blowhard (see: the interviews in Live from Pompeii, for example).
I get what Roger's saying. And I agree that it's an apartheid-like system; if it was truly a democratic scene in Israel, the Palestinians would soon be running the show because their population growth is rapidly outpacing Israel's.
But Thom is right, too. There has to be a dialog and a cultural embargo does not work (there were many other far more important factors in the South Africa example). Culture helps tear down walls and spread ideas. Keeping those lines of communication open are vital for progress.
This whole back & forth does nothing...*nothing* for the "BDS picket line" or for Radiohead's ticket sales. All it does is paint two multimillionaire rock stars as a couple of guys bitching about stuff that they seriously have zero impact on.
But hey...they're both on tour now, so it's like free publicity, right? I guess this is all worth it if it keeps their names in the headlines and sells those tickets. They'll have a great laugh about it backstage at some mega festival.
Yeah, but it got everybody here to "READ WHAT MAYNARD SAID...IT'LL SHOCK YOU!"
Stereogum is about eight months away from being a slightly musically concerned Buzzfeed...
Clearly we need to mandate that every single musician give their political opinions online so we know who to shun and who is OK. We have to identify ALL these people so we know who is appropriate and who should be sent to the cultural gulag.
We must to be sure that everybody thinks EXACTLY the same way we all do, or else something is very wrong. Free speech is good & all, but really, in times like these, we need to make sure everybody is in line or else they need to be silenced, right? Jokes must never "punch down". All humor must fall into appropriate categories. If not, the joke-teller or opinionista will be re-educated into the appropriate ways for expressing themselves. Your political support must fall neatly into one of two categories: centrist left, or progressive left. Green is too "kooky" unless you're a singer-songwriter.
Right, guys? Let's get started...as soon as these 55 year-old thrash musicians are straightened out.
Don't like it? Don't watch it. Complaining about something just makes it more popular. If people ignore it, it will LITERALLY go away (as if Trump isn't enough of a lesson in this).
Twitter, BTW, should be off-limits to anyone who isn't a comedian or a musician.
No mention of Ty Segall. Seriously? New one comes out Jan. 27.
You guys get your pants all tight over some LCD Snoozesystem nonsense but forget the guy who released one of the best albums last year. At least you remembered King Gizzard, I guess.
Huh...one delusional, egomaniacal, talentless douchebag with a plastic wife admires another delusional, egomaniacal, talentless douchebag with a plastic wife . Go figure.
I see you've got your Marin/Portland-to-English phrasebook out by your use of "privilege" & "marginalized people". Are you sure you don't work for the store.
It's clear the store is run by giant sellouts who only cry foul when they're not reaping enough of a benefit. It took them five years to figure out that it wasn't going to work out? Now, I don't want to make a crack about women being bad at math, but holy hell...if they couldn't figure out after the first encounter with the IFC crew that it wasn't going to work, then this "poor us" stuff is just nonsense.
They've been ok with being the butt of the jokes as long as the illusion of money (through "free" publicity from the store being featured in the show)...but when that money never materialized because SURPRISE...the market for "lit for womyn" is a little anemic, they decided to pull the rip cord and make a stink about it.
I personally don't care for the show anymore...the past couple of seasons have been tired and unfunny. But this store is validating every single stereotype that they find hurtful. They're hurting themselves and their "community" by acting like the very people they despise. Don't you see that?
Obviously they can do whatever they want with their store, but this little e-tantrum that they're throwing hurts them more than showing that they have "principles" or whatever they think they have.
Nothing is holy...or, at least, SHOULD be holy. Free expression is vitally important to societal progress and to the creation of art (no matter what form it takes). Either get on board or get out of the way, but take your "hurt feelings" somewhere else. People have stuff to create and we can't pull over the progress train every time there's a kid with a skinned knee.
The only thing missing on the "Complete Experience" video is a voice over stating "Talk to your doctor before taking Coachelocash. Side effects may include floppy hats on menopausal women, bike riding in slow motion, and some guy in a ringer-T who has never held a guitar in his life."
Dusk is a masterpiece from the mid-90's musical wilderness. Black Foliage is also great, but it stands on the shoulders of a giant in Cubist Castle.
OTC's lack of a breakthrough wasn't for a lack of genuine effort; I saw them open for Beck on his Odelay tour...so they were *there*, front and center. It's just that their audience wasn't (I wasn't a fan until a song into their set...and then I became a zealot). They seem to me to be a band that was better suited for today's massively fragmented online musical marketplace than a traditional music retail model.
So...wait...he's right about the fluff stories, but he's being a "huge dick"?
Of course it's time consuming to produce at a high level...but people (supposedly) come to SG for actual content, not old reposts of crap that's marginally related to music. It takes just as much time to write a half-hearted recap of an Ellen segment as it does to write up a quick blurb about a new & emerging artist.
And saying it's not really any of his business is...well...curiously stupid.
Some idiot got their feelings hurt by a white reggae artist...I don't even know where to begin to stop caring about any of it.
Hint: if you put a picture of your child on social media, be prepared for some people to not like your spawn. Just FYI.
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