Man, you're gonna hate hip hop then. I know I demand authenticity from artists like Rick Ross before I can enjoy their music. In fact I heard that Dre isn't even a doctor!
"...because Lorne Michaels." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHA!! That's some hilarious syntax! Where's the beef?!!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...*wipes tear* Oh, I've fallen and I can't get up!! Remember that?!
Seriously, stop it.
Well, there are good pop ideas and bad ones. The Flaming Lips have been serving up a lot of bad ones. And let's face it, it's not like your reward for getting into the gummy skull is a USB drive with great tunes on it.
I know it's dumb to debate these subjective lists, but this subjective list is way off. The Bazooka/Fast Cars/NoneShallPass/Mallon sweet spot is the tops, and the rest cascades behind it.
There's more to be said about 'Smash' than how it got here. Sure, it cemented something that Epitaph had been building, but at the same time it almost destroyed Bad Religion and Mr.Brett. He split from the band and went missing on a drug-fueled bender. There was the 'Hate You' Daredevils single directed towards Jay Bentley. This was the influence of 'Smash' on the independent label that released it. And why isn't there a sexy 20th anniversary re-release? Because there was long-time animosity between the band and the label. Why would a guy who signed his own flagship to a major label stress about Offspring's decision to do the same? It was no small thing to see Bad Religion and Offspring on the same bill recently. Yes, there's more to write about when it comes to 'Smash'...
If there's a 'Rick Rubin/Anton Corbijn Classic Artist Makeover' for live performances, Fleetwood Mac should do that. I saw their show in 2003 and the music was great, but the show was corny as hell.
If you don't like Converse, then don't take their money and play their shows. This whole 'throw it back in their faces!"-type statement is a bunch of hot air to make the band seem less complicit, and it's become a fairly standard indie trope. If No Age, or LCD Soundsystem, or whomever want to do something different that matters, then get to doing it. But don't make me funnel the dollars through the system just so you can waste stage time making a statement about it.
I worked at a corporate record store when The Chronic came out, and I'm pretty sure I personally rang up a million copies myself. I had heard some of it, but by and large it wasn't something I was into. That summer I went to a party that was fairly divided by cultures and cliques, until somebody threw on The Chronic. I saw that record single-handedly break down interpersonal barriers for precisely the reasons written about here: it's fun to listen and dance to. Dr. Dre's The Chronic is the Bob Marley's 'Legend' of the hip-hop era.
Do we have to let them co-opt the term 'evangelical?' I love music, I love Jesus, and I wholeheartedly find the American religio-political institution called 'Evangelicals' to be quite off the mark and distasteful. But living life with an enthusiasm that is compelling and attributable to having experienced forgiveness? That's evangelism to me and in that sense I'm happy to be known as such.
The detail about praise bands and The Edge is hilariously spot-on. Whenever I visit a church with a praise band, I always think about that. Then again, I suspect 100% of the praise band members out there consider The Edge to be the guitar player for the biggest Christian praise band on the planet, hence the influence.
Why wouldn't GB have any knowledge of a Dave Fridmann-produced Juno Award-winning band big enough to open for McCartney and has been on Letterman? They're not exactly "off the grid" just because they're from Nova Scotia.
The chorus of this song is remedied by the chorus of The Vaccines' new 'Teenage Icon' single.
Also, yes to Wintersleep. 'Hello Hum' keeps finding its way back into my headphones.
I'm not suggesting that dude isn't a worthy writer, just that overall this site doesn't have any affinity for LDR, and yet they persist in attempts to keep her or her music in the news. I saw a high school band play 'Batdance' and 'Achy Breaky Heart' (for real) and no national indie music sites are covering it, nor should they. If the consensus of Stereogum is that LDR is musically or culturally irrelevant, then I don't understand the need to print her name or anything tangentially-related to her music. That is all.
Why is this a news item if nobody likes LDR? Just stop covering her already, rather than cover her and act like it's a burden to find nice things to say about it.
It seems that folks are demanding an authenticity from LDR that they don't from countless other pop chicks and rappers. Stereogum is trying to play coy and say it's because the record is "really, really bad," but c'mon, I'm listening to it and the album tracks are not remarkably removed from the singles. There are hooks all over the place.
If this artist doesn't belong in the same category as some other, then sites like this should probably stop covering her. They black out countless other terrible artists, so let this be that. She's either good and deserves coverage, or she's not and doesn't. That we get to read her name on this site with frequency says that Stereogum is just having fun with her.
Ok, I've listened to it twice now. This album is great. I don't think it's going to change the world or anything, but I find it entirely entertaining. I've read up on her a little bit and it seems the biggest problem is that her daddy has money and now she's got a higher profile than people expect from an artist at this stage. I don't recall this being a deal-breaker when it was The Strokes back in 2001. Rich people have different resources for making records. Big deal. I can't imagine letting that get in the way of hearing and enjoying music.
I don't get this review (and admittedly have missed all the front/back-lashings and SNL). I'm 5 tracks in and this record is awesome so far. 'Off to the Races' is especially great.
I don't feel marketed to and have no idea who this record is aimed at. But what's coming out of my speakers right now is highly enjoyable.
I'm pretty sure this dude could walk into any mall in the world and not be recognized. I'm pretty sure he could walk into a Fleet Foxes audience and not be recognized.
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