my friend's dad used to call them "the shitty beatles" back in 2004 and we used to laaaaugh and laugh. but even he came around on them and this was the album that did it. boomers, amirite???
we're finally here...the number one song on the day of my birth. ironically, my cousin penned one of her biggest hits. hint: it was done for the soundtrack of the comedy flop Thank God It’s Friday, which starred Summer alongside Jeff Goldblum and Debra Winger.
picturing barry curled up on the couch in a pair of slippers with a cup of tea and some good headphones quietly rocking big thief through a haze of tears. i am 'not' buying it.
idk - i love all that stuff about them too. i just feel like they were on to something special but went all kings of leon on our asses instead. like i said above, their new songs are fine, they just don't inspire me the way the older stuff did. pearl jam lost me too after awhile. i still have love for them, i just don't listen anymore (unless they're playing msg!)
the first two were sick, but it was that dirty we-don't-give-a-fuck vibe that made them stand out from everyone else. if i heard the newer albums first, i wouldn't think twice about them. strokes-lite fluff, imo. i honestly think their longevity as a band took a huge hit the minute they made that shift. time will tell...
a band's success does not affect my feelings towards them. my favorite band is radiohead for fuck's sake. we talked these guys up incessantly around here back when they just had a few hundred monthly spotify listeners. we WANTED them to be huge. but not like this. we're not talking shit, we're just genuinely disappointed about a band we had high hopes for.
oh, and fuck you too, dickhead.
god, i loved these guys. 'white reaper does it again' is still one of my favorite albums of the decade (the album sleeve is hanging on my wall), but now they make songs that belong in 'american pie' party montages. whyyyyyyy???
i chatted with a few of them at a show back in 14' and i was "that guy" who begged them not to sell out and polish their sound. i'm glad they're blowing up. the kids are into it. they're opening for pearl jam - a childhood dream of mine. their new songs are pleasant, i guess. but they officially lost their biggest fanboy. such is life.
not from 2019, but i still feel i was robbed last year. get out of your twitter bubble echo chamber "stereogum"
https://twitter.com/therealmeat69/status/1035161121009926144
EXT. H&M PARKING LOT KIRUNA SWEDEN - EVENING
Sven and Jonas slowly pull their navy blue, 2004 Volvo V40 up to a stop sign at the exit of the department store parking lot. 'Dancing Queen' plays quietly on the car radio.
SVEN: I wish the radio stations here in our beloved country would switch things up once in awhile. I feel like discovering new music is quite difficult. One has to visit Olaf at the local music emporium if one wants to expand their horizons. And Olaf has questionable taste. Please, put one of the CD's from your great collection into our new compact disc player and let us begin our journey, friend.
Jonas frowns, pensively.
SVEN: What's wrong, Jonas?
JONAS: Alas, Sven. My compact disc booklet containing the music collection I've spent years curating was left at home on the trulstorp.
The two friends stare at each other in dismay, doomed to another long drive, soundtracked by their national heroes. They turn from each other, each looking out their respective window. After a few seconds, Sven begins to speak slowly, softly, almost to himself...
SVEN: I wish music was like these wretched rays of sunlight pouring into our practical yet stylish autokart. There. Just...always...there.
JONAS: Yes, Sven, that would be ideal. Yet unlike those rays of sunlight, the music would stream into our ear holes, rather than our ocular organs?
SVEN: Yes, Jonas. Yes. *smiling* Jonas...I have an idea.
JONAS: I believe I may be having the same idea, brother.
The two friends look at each other knowingly. Then, with the speed of Thor's hammer, Jonas lifts his hand and smacks Sven on the forehead.
SVEN: Jonas! What reason could you possibly have for hitting me, your oldest friend?
JONAS: Sorry, Sven. It's my natural instinct to swat, when I spot a fly.
The two friends turn to the camera and stare directly into our souls.
READER LIST TOP 10
1. inter arma - sulphur english
2. witch vomit - buried deep in a bottomless grave
3. tomb mold - planetary clairvoyance
4. blood incantation – hidden history of the human race
5. lord mantis - universal death church
6. esoteric - a pyrrhic existence
7. teitanblood - the baneful choir
8. forest of tygers - i will die of violence
9. mizmor - cairn
10. murg - stravan
i feel like torche is a different genre, so i left them off the list. otherwise they'd be top 3. that album gets me.
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