Malkmus makes one barely-derisive remark on "Range Life," as an album track released in 1994 when Smashing Pumpkins were one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Billy Corgan to this day cannot forget this. It is like that time in 7th grade when that girl told me I had hair on my mole, which launched me into a fit of insecurity about my birth mark that lasts until this day at age 26.
This is, I think, reductionist. Instrumental music has a long history and calling a genre out for its lack of lyrics is myopic. There is so much experimental, forward-looking EDM out there and for the most part, the genre is not focused on lyrics at all. If he wants to hear EDM and substantive lyrics, he should get out there and find it, or if it can't be found, make it.
It's not somehow a failing if music isn't focused on the things that you care about. We try to evaluate music in its context and for its features, not for some imagined possible context or features. That's not set in stone, but I think Keating here is projecting (his personality onto music that's not his).
To me, complaining that EDM lacks lyrical substance is like complaining that Sibelius lacks dope samples, or that Slayer didn't use enough banjo. You shouldn't expect that musical styles should just carry every feature you like about the music you like most. If you want those things to be present, then go add them.
It's strange to see such a youthfully tempestuous album "grow up" with us. I remember when every AIM away message (itself probably archaic now) was a quote from this album. I think it's unfair in some ways to compare Dylan and Oberst, because Dylan was always a little aloof. Dylan was elder statesman from day one and he never seemed so vulnerable (actually, he grew more vulnerable as his songwriting voice changed). Either way, Oberst was touching on something maybe a little embarrassing now, like old troves of high school poetry. All of his work is a direct connection to the Oberst psyche and sometimes that can be even more difficult to put out than a work of arms-length beauty.
I'm going to get some downvotes here, but I'm going to say I just don't much care for Def Leppard. Shocking, controversial opinion on Stereogum, I know.
That would be cool, but I feel like the terrific string of EVOL, Sister, Daydream Nation would take the top three spots and the rest of their discography would be the challenge.
What the fuck are you talking about? That Diplo song about dancing? Maybe there's some double entendre but I don't think the song is about rape, I think it's about dancing.
I am confused... you're saying this should have vacillated between major and minor keys? Or that the entire thing should have been in a minor key? Or should have just had a different tonality?
Also, I do have ProTools and Ableton, and I do wanna make a shit beat, put on an oversized tee (hard to find in a size billion) and a bunch of stupid shit that isn't jewelry and make a cheap video. People will be all "who is this fat hipster asshole?" until Pitchfork crowns it as BNT and then everyone's like "well, he's quite a personality."
I really liked Visions, and I was not particularly into Geidi Primes or Halfaxa. That being said, Grimes is clearly going to be one of those artists with no God damned filter and if you want to enjoy her music, you'll have to wade through a lot of muck. This is muck, no doubt. Kreayshawn is muck and always has been and has shown no signs of being anything but. But still, I don't wanna write Grimes off as worthless.
I don't know what Nespresso is, but I feel like it might be the end result of a decades-long attempt by corporate America to coalesce what White People Like into one single product.
My list would not include Sleigh Bells or Death Grips. Kaylen Hann describes it thusly:
"In one Japanese fishing/sea-to-table practice, it is one of the fishermen’s jobs to insert a thin bamboo piece into a fish’s anus and feed it through until it ruptures the swim bladder and breaks the air sac, ideally without harming the inside of the fish... And what a small—like, impossibly minute—space, the fish anus, to be the whole crux of one’s career/routine...It is with both mammoth, bullheaded velocity and a fish-asshole-narrow precision that Death Grips approach their preternatural blend of highly charged and viscous music."
It's a bamboo stick inserted into a fish's anus. If that doesn't describe it, then I don't know what does.
I did one of these on my Facebook. I will post the list, sans writing so you can read it right quick.
20. Blue Thunder – Galaxie 500
19. Waiting Room – Fugazi
18. It’s Tricky – Run-DMC
17. In Between Days – The Cure
16. Academy Fight Song – Mission of Burma
15. Petty Persuasion – R.E.M.
14. Running Up That Hill – Kate Bush
13. Rip it Up – Orange Juice
12. Ashes to Ashes – David Bowie
11. Hey Ladies – Beastie Boys
10. Where the Streets Have No Names – U2
9. Where is My Mind? – Pixies
8. C.R.E.E.P. – The Fall
7. Me Myself & I – De La Soul
6. Sweet Child O' Mine – Guns N’ Roses
5. Blue Monday – New Order
4. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
3. Teen Age Riot – Sonic Youth
2. Once in a Lifetime – Talking Heads
1. Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
No, that feature was Brandon Stosuy's baby and he left to become a big fancy editor at Pitchfork. He wrote for PFork for a long time before working here and they've recently taken on a better focus of metal, with writers like with Grayson Currin and Brandon. Brandon keeps up a feature called Show No Mercy on Pitchfork, which is similar to HTC. That being said, I'd love to see something on Stereogum take the place of Haunting the Chapel.
Oh, and don't stop posting just because you left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. I think as long as you keep the rants to strictly musical, people will listen. I'd rather get into arguments over the merits of the music than the merits of the individual writers. I mean, let's face it, being a critic in the first place rubs some people the wrong way.
I feel really fucking sad I missed this entire thing. And it's not like I was doing something better, or working out for ten hours (check my facebook for the evidence). Michael_, if I may be serious for a second (I don't even know if you'll read this), you don't do yourself any favors in the whole blogo-tainment industry by angrily dismissing other writers. Yeah, Raptorjesus didn't write a dissertation; there's room for different styles of writing and reporting and it shows a serious lack of respect when you piss all over everyone. I'm a music writer myself, and though I haven't contributed anything of merit to the blogo-sphere for a while, I try to maintain a standard of professionalism and respect even at my stupidest moments. The best writers are secure in the knowledge that what they write is individual and has an audience. There's no need to angrily put others down to feel happy with your own pieces.
How dare you, Steve Winwwod? How dare you ask that question. "Which one provided the uterus?" I find it offensive (I guess) and I'm down voting it for a very real reason. Totally uncalled for (maybe).
There is something mysteriously comforting about seeing a verbose Fiona Apple album title. It used to be kind of annoying but now it's like "alas, some refuge in this e'er changing world."
"As a rule, I prefer the kick-your-gut stuff over the smart stuff in just about any genre of music."
This sort of bothers me, for a handful of reasons:
1) There's no dichotomy between smart music and "kick-your-gut" music. Granted, a lot of groups may push in one direction or another, but there are plenty of smart groups who also write visceral, direct music: Sonic Youth comes to mind as a band that exists in both arenas.
2) I think too many "smart" groups are overlooked, either because they are "pretentious," or because of fears of the listener.
3) Sometimes you need to spend time with complicated music to really appreciate it. This doesn't make it better than a three-chord pop song, it simply makes it different.
I don't mean to single out Tom, I just want to defend "smart" music, because so many people will never give Henry Cow (as an example) a chance. I think the main point you're making is give everything a chance and forget the baggage. Well, I agree and I hope that when you brush aside a band as too cerebral or what have you, that you also give it a second chance.
I don't think this is somehow a product of the "blogosphere." Indie rock has ALWAYS been about a rapidly changing landscape. If you look back to the nineties, and I'll just take Touch and Go as an example, who really remembers The Delta 72? Urge Overkill, anyone? I'm not dropping obscure names to seem hip, but at any given time there are hundreds of bands gestating and reconstituting. The question is which ones will survive the test of time and be remembered and which ones will be a footnote. We can try to speculate, but if you had told me after Here Comes the Indian came out (which I know is already AC's third album or so) that Animal Collective would be an institution I might have said you were nuts and pointed to The Stills or something. And I would have been wrong (and dumb).
Sometimes I wonder about the posterity of the Beatles (and everything else for that matter). How will we feel about The Beatles in a hundred years? Imagine your reaction today to "Maple Leaf Rag." Maybe you can appreciate it for what it is, but I doubt you'd spend a lot of time with it on iTunes (nor do I). Of course there are a bunch of long-dead guys who still fill theaters to this day, but Classical music is a different species altogether. What do you think? Will the Beatles still play in 2112 or will they seem too quaint for anyone but scholars?
Mark Hollis of the always-venerable Talk Talk was a very devout Christian. David Tibet (Current 93) seems to have taken up the mantle of Christianity but his is a very esoteric version of that religion.
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