'Hey Ya!' is the absolute right choice, because it is the nexus of all music of the era. It married the up surge of "Indie" (via the O.C.), with the 2000's cultural hegemony of "urban".
Probably just means it isn't as "confrontational" as her previous releases. M.I.A's brand is that of a "bad girl". It becomes difficult to market if she doesn't fit that mould.
I saw them live a couple of times and to be honest Daniel was pretty lacklustre. Not to mention he was wearing a denim jumpsuit for both shows, incredibly distracting, haha.
This can only yield positivie results.
I had the exact same experience with The Strokes getting me into Television. Marquee Moon quickly became one of my favourite albums and is now probably my number one.
And I only found out last year, but Marquee Moon is also my fathers favourite album! Weird how we both came to it from separate paths.
Best thing Noel has done in a long while.
This guy used to fart out hits! The Masterplan was a fucking b-side!
And now what? It's so depressing.
I think Noel and Damon need to collaborate on something, for Noels sake.
Maybe they've waited too long since the last album to capture the buzz, but I feel like these guys will eventually end up being one of those huge stadium bands like Coldplay.
The music seems built for it, and I've never met a person who didn't like them.
> Oh the pain of trying to get people to think a little bit about the concept of “the album” in the iPod era…
Jeezuz, thanks for the condescension.
I still think that the first three songs feel fragmented from the rest of the album.
I don't hear it as three suites, but as three songs at the beginning, followed by a cohesive album.
Don't talk to me about "the album" in the iPod era motherfucker. It's only a minority of the time when I am NOT listening to albums in their entirety. So don't come here and try and tell me how I listen to music.
You don't know me! You don't know me!
No it's not.
Yes, it is a fucking great album. And will likely be in my top ten of the year; it's only February, so I'm not calling it just yet. HOWEVER, it's not classic. Those first three tracks just seem out of step, like leftovers from Loveless. This is not to say they are bad, but they take away from the sense that this is a singular statement of an album. It's really only on the fourth track when this album comes into it's own. From then on, it's amazing.
But no, it's not on par with the albums you've listed. I'm glad you've enjoyed it as much as you have, though I feel there'll be a bit of a comedown.
Really surprised by the dislike of Kiss Each Other Clean.
It's not my favourite Iron and Wine (that's Shepards Dog), but I thought it was a ballsy play that paid off.
This seems even ballsy-er! And it seems to be paying of just as much.
I think it's nostalgic fantasy to believe that people will ever buy CDs again. Vinyl, for sure, because it offers a different sound/experience to a digital format; but CDs? No.
Buying a CD only adds layers of complextiy to the listening process: Go to the store, buy the CD, rip off that annoying plastic, burn the cd to iTunes, plug in your iPod, upload the songs.
This, in contrast to the digital process: Tap on iTunes Store, Search, Download straight to your player.
I don't buy from iTunes for artwork or higher bitrate; I do it because it's easier than pirating, and you are funding the musicians and labels responsible for the music.
The solution must be two fold:
- Make pirating socially unacceptable, by creating a real emotional connection for consumers between the monetary transaction and the artist.
- Make buying music easier than pirating.
The latter is already becoming a reality. The former requires a real campaign, but it's do-able.
" A teenager who has only ever experienced music as a series of ones and zeros will not suddenly start buying physical product, no matter how persuasive the arguments or stringent the laws."
Perhaps I'm missing something here, but why does the debate have to be about physical vs digital?
I happily buy my music from iTunes and, as far as I am aware, the artist ends up getting a similar royalty to that of a cd sale.
Why can't this be framed as "How do we monetize downloads"? Because that certainly seems to be something that could be done. It'll require a shift in thinking from consumers, but it's do-able.
Downloading illegally needs to made culturally unpalatable, similar to the way drink driving or smoking was.
Totally agree. I enjoy Tame, but the acclaim they are getting just doesn't seem to make sense.
I put it down to overzealous tokenism on the part of the press, in an era where electronic music/hiphop/punk reign supreme.
I'm Australian too, and lyntonn is dead right.
Tame Impala are great, Triple J has gone to shit. But that doesn't mean they don't play good stuff here and there. And also, I bet you would find that the venn diagram of Triple J listeners and Tame fans will overlap quite a bit.
Agreed. The engagement happened, and then everything fizzled.
There seems to be no major narrative this season, beyond "Tom Gets a Small Business", which feels like more of a B story.
These albums would be hire if they were more fashionable.
The music media likes to hype up quality albums, sure, but it also helps to have a narrative. i.e. Hip-hop and RnB are coming up trumps, while Indie Rock is waning.
Just because iTunes/Amazon aren't "Real, man" doesn't mean that your purchase is in vain. The artist still gets income from it, and it's a hell of a lot more convenient than burning CDs. Look, I love record store culture and vinyl as much as anyone, but if I'm gonna be walking around with the iTunes store in my pocket all day anyway, I'm gonna use it to give artists money!
99% of bands never made a dollar from selling records.
Yes, but all that money went to the record company, who paid to have the album recorded, produced and marketed.
I'm sick of people saying "Don't buy the record, artists don't get money out of it". If the label isn't making money, bands can't get recorded and promoted.
This just seems like a list of justifications for consumers who don't want to pay for music.
If I like an artists work, I'll buy it on iTunes. Is this really such a crazy concept?
I totally agree with you.
With each successive album they have demonstrated their failure to live up to the early promise.
They often sound like a band who are struggling to find their identity, with a slew of scattershot ideas.
Though I am a fan of Room on Fire. 'More of the same' isn't necessarily bad, just ask The Ramones.
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