Don't forget how they're putting little labels out of business by backing up their record orders for months on end for a stupid promotional day rather than letting the little guy get the stock that they need in order to actually put out that record by the small band and actually make a profit. *gets off soap box*
I had the same initial reaction to this album as the last one, which was at first underwhelming, but recognizing that there were some really good things going on. Then they both kind of grew on me as I started to relate to the records more and more and putting myself in that headspace. What makes Waxahatchee really good to me is that I don't relate all that well to what she's singing about, but she makes it really easy to understand and relate. (The Mountain Goats do this very well, too.) And the music is just different enough from your normal guitar bass drums setup that it catches your attention because of the bare bones structure that makes it apparent that there was more thought put into it than just thinking about a chord progression.
Contrast the Mountain Goat's very positive 6.6 to the very negative 6.4 that they gave to Liturgy. It also reminds me of the time they panned a Ted Leo record and then said, "Well, this is still so much better than anything else, so I guess we have to give it a 7.0." They should really just get rid of the numbers. I get it, though, the numbers are a way to get more site traffic so people can just be lazy and not even read the reviews.
What I'm really saying is thanks for writing reviews that actually force us to read and think rather than be lazy.
I mean, have you looked at the artwork for the last couple albums? And the live album announced today? It's just par for the course. I mean, the cover for "I'm your man" is a picture of Leonard Cohen holding a banana!
I was wondering about that wrt "Word Crimes", as well. My guess is that it's kind of like a chain. Weird Al pays Pharrell whatever they agreed on and that's just part of Pharrell's earnings.
I feel like with the internet the way it is, you have to be prepared that something like this could in fact happen, no matter how small the chances. Furthermore, I fail to see how you could expect a symbol for one of the most recognizable figures in the world and expect no one to know what it is.
I mean, in my opinion, no one is ever going to beat the sound of vinyl (say an original press of Harvest) being pumped through an all tube stereo with some high quality speakers. Hell, even terrestrial radio sounds good that way.
Exactly. You can definitely tell the difference, but you need to have the proper equipment to really be able to do that, and most people just don't care enough. (See: McDonald's, still in business.)
Something else that should really be taken into account is the inherent positive bias that most people have towards mp3s now. What I mean is that most people have gotten used to the sound of compression and, for example, actually seem to prefer compressed cymbals to uncompressed. Now, I'm not trying to fight for Pono, either. I still listen to vinyl and willingly admit that there are times that I can't hear the difference between the digital and vinyl versions. (I know there are a myriad of factors here that aren't worth getting into).
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the only time I am going to be exceedingly worried about the best quality is when I'm at home. And at that point, portability is moot.
Now that I've read this. Besides all the fantastic music, which I have no need to comment on more than has already been done. All I can really say is that (I'm sorry) any time anyone uses the phrase "It's good to be [the] king," I just think of Mel Brooks.
I just saw Windhand a couple of weeks ago and holy shit, that band plays incredibly loud. Like so loud that they're an earthquake and your body is just trying to have enough balance just to stand up. And her voice still cuts through. It's just absolutely amazing. It's really nice to hear that she can come down in volume and show some more nuanced singing.
On a side note, High on Fire played that aforementioned show as well. It was a dream come true and probably would have been for you, as well.
If you reverse Rolling Stone's list, Yob is the album of the year! Which, I think they totally deserve. I'm more on the fence about Pallbearer. It's a good record for sure and I recognize what it's done for metal recently, but something about it just doesn't connect about for me.
This list has a lot of good metal. A couple things I need to check out (Nux Vomica). That Horrendous album didn't do much for me, though. I do know that Primordial just came out, but I think that record is fantastic and will probably end up on my best of list. I'd also include Winterfylleth, Mare Cognitum, and Tombs. And an honorable mention to Mantar.
This album is absolutely fantastic. So glad to see some metal make its way here... Not to mention see you write about it on the same day that you guys post Black Market. I'm a kid in a really fucking scary candy store.
Adam Pfahler runs their social media. He's made several posts that indicate this such as his involvement in the band California and his running of Blackball Records.
Glad to see you covering this band. I'm stoked to get to listen to this early. And super happy that they actually have a label willing to do 2xLP rather than only being able to put out half of their last album on LP.
Fans are just consumers who have invested more. Nothing is "killing" the industry. The industry is just changed. I think the best example of the music industry being "not dead" is that there are more concerts to go to and more bands to see than ever before.
If you want to be in a band that makes a living off of music, you have to recognize that album sales make up very little of what you're going to earn. Instead, you make a large portion of your money by playing shows. How do people know if they want to go to your show? Well they have to be able to listen to your music. Now, Stereogum listed more than 30+ albums of note that were released this week. If I'm in a band, I want to make sure that my music is available in a convenient manner because I already know for sure that at least 90% of those other albums are available, as well. And yeah, the sad reality is that most bands will never even be lucky enough to go on tour and actually make a living of it, but most start up companies fail, too. So what's the difference? This is true for 99.99% of bands out there. Now, Taylor Swift is one of the 0.01%. She can do whatever she wants because she has enough fans who are so deeply invested in her product that they'll pay for it without hearing it first. Her fans will pay for tickets to the game without knowing the score.
But for the rest of the pack, why should I pay to invest in an unknown commodity? If I can listen first and then decide later, then I'm going to do that. The bottom line is that above all else, music is just a business. You and I are the consumer and we can take advantage of the current market. If you're running that business, you need to adapt with the market. And every once in a while, you'll find something that can transcend the market.
Taylor Swift still doesn’t seem to understand that there’s no such thing as scarcity in music anymore thanks to the internet. While she can get away with this because of how big her brand is, she doesn’t understand that smaller artists can't. People have infinite access to everything, so why would they pay more for something they don't have access to? Not many people are going to pony up $14 for something they have no idea how good it would be. This is where Spotify makes it really great for the consumer. Now that I can listen to random small band, I have a better chance of actually buying their album.
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