Underrated band among the critical crowd - I think they get lumped into the Mumford & Sons Americana folk revival, and some songs can be very "same-y" ("Love Like Ghost" represents legitimately like 10 of their songs) - but their albums are usually solid all the way through, great summer patio listening, and Vide Noir was a real step forward sonically. Also, I saw the group live in 2019 and it was a surprisingly great show (also, Bully opened and I met Alice B in an alley after her set and I think mildly offended her by asking why the set was so short. They played like 4 songs!)
OK let's do this.
1) OK Computer
2) Kid A
3) In Rainbows
4) Amnesiac
5) The Bends (tough one for me, I adore this album but compared to the rest of their catalogue it sounds like pretty straightforward 90s guitar rock by now)
6) A Moon Shaped Pool
7) TKOL
8) HTTT
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100) Pablo Honey
That's the criticism I've never understood about KOL - I love how nebulous, how ungraspably skeletal these songs sound. To me it's what the band was trying to achieve (and did) and it makes the record sound like nothing else, thin and skittering but with real moments of warmth poking through. I do agree, though, that the Basement Tapes versions are the best versions.
I will stand firm on my position that if this album was 2-3 songs longer it would be closer in reputation to Radiohead's other classics. "Lotus Flower," "Give Up the Ghost" and especially "Bloom" and "Separator" belong in any best-of RH list.
I'm all in on music in the vein of Hand Habits, Lomelda, Florist, etc. but I'm worried that the market of very talented women making sad indie folk music might be a little oversaturated at this point. Not a judgment, I'll take all of it I can get, just an observation.
On the flip side, we haven't had a breakout lush synth indie record in a while and I've been hearing overwhelmingly positive things about the new Wild Pink from a number of people I respect for literally like 8 months now so I'm pretty excited to hear that one. I'll also obviously give the new Hold Steady some spins but I'm wondering if it'll lack some teeth since we're stuck at home and NOT drinking with the townies at the local dive.
I tend to think anyone who lives in the Suburbs of LA a) is from a pretty wealthy family and b) almost automatically has some kind of connection in the entertainment industry, but at least from what I've seen the former is not the case, and the latter has more to do with her own proximity to famous people than her family's. Also, from what she talked about on the Pete Holmes podcast, it sounds like she really just started going out there and performing with the support of her mother at a young age. The real advantage, then, is really just her proximity to the industry; it's certainly easier to "make it" when your mom can just drop you off at popular venues right down the road that are frequented by agents, scouts and well-connected people. Again, certainly not her fault, and anyone in that position still needs talent to rise to the top (mostly).
Didn't bother me, but pre-planning to smash a guitar and having a fake amp brought in to smash it on and then failing to smash it anyways is not the opposite of nerdery. If anything, it's what nerds think they should do to be cool. Either smash it in a fit of rage/passion or don't, anything else is theater-nerd bullshit, which is the 2nd worst type of nerdery behind red-pill incel nerds.
"Bridgers hasn't been very well liked by many independent artists because they believe she is 1) privileged 2) comes from a wealthy background that has enabled her to succeed and have a career that continues to financially benefit even during the pandemic and not touring and 3) gets a large amount of press coverage as well as acclaim they likely wish they got as well."
TBF, as far as I know, all of those things are true, and I totally get it. I have a lot of cognitive dissonance about artists I like who come from privileged, well-connected families (see Bridgers, The Strokes, Haim, many others) in the same way I resented the students at the posh boarding school I worked at, but at the end of the day it's not their fault so we should probably turn our ire to the systems that create such gaps in privilege to begin with?
Anyways, I thought the guitar smashing was a lame bit because she looked like an old maid trying to chop wood but it's hardly anything to get upset about. I was more upset about the shitty sound mixing, TBH, but the performance was fine.
That was my first thought. She finally got it out at the end of "Kyoto" but she was pretty quiet for most of it - definitely sounded like a nerves thing but the mix could've been set up to do her a few favors.
Hadn't heard of these guys until I was doing my weekly dumpster diving on Metacritic and saw that the album has a 90+ score. Sounds pretty awesome to me. I've also heard great things about the new Weather Station album, and The Staves are always on my radar. Getting back to the grind of good music every week!
Also I listened to all of the Reel Big Fish album "Why Do They Rock So Hard?" today and not only does it holdup incredibly well, I knew every single word to every song. Great album people.
Quick shout to the Shame album, which will 100% be in my top 5 AOTY hold me to that. The new Rhye is wildly inconsistent but man the good songs are good.
Apropos, I bought a keyboard a few years back and this was the first and only song I taught myself. For a glorious two week period I felt like a true 80s cheese pop master.
Honestly that could've and should've been "Count to Five" or "Phoenix" because those songs KILL. Agreed with beans above, I actually never got into Woman but Blood just really connected with me (and still does).
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