Seventeen is a very impressive song, and this is from a somewhat weary Sharon Van Etten listener who hasn't been very impressed by any of her supposedly higher stakes releases since Epic, an album I loved unreservedly. The other two songs released thus far are okay. I'm feeling really optimistic about it on the strength of Seventeen, though. Fingers crossed for Friday.
By far my favorite cover of this perfect song is by Sun Kil Moon, pre-Among the Leaves / Benji speak-singing turn. Sad to see it go unmentioned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1LxcxKwrPY
Adam G. and his erstwhile pal Kurt vile are both so annoying - ever since Kurt left the War on Drugs it's been like a competition to see who can make the blander version of their identical sounding music. The tie goes to Kurt for not having a fake name (even though it sounds like it).
Interestingly -- and it shows how pointless this kind of statement is, regardless of which way it skews -- The Ringer would have us believe that, contra this article, MPP is actually "the North Star for pop’s present-day trippy auteurs"
https://www.theringer.com/music/2019/1/4/18167715/animal-collective-merriweather-post-pavilion-10th-anniversary-panda-bear-avey-tare
This is still a perfect album. Not much to say otherwise, except that unlike Ornette Coleman or Refused, AC never asked to be seen as musical prophets. This was just -- and I don't mean that diminutively -- the Pet Sounds of the 2000s, inheritor to the mantle of The Soft Bulletin, Hounds of Love, and What's Going On. That makes it not an album of its time or our time but of all time. I'm not sure what record -- if any -- from this decade has earned that lofty distinction.
I remember all the annoying hoop-jumping that went on regarding this line -- mostly about how "status" relates to capital, historical "materialism," yada yada yada. This manner of thinking was later reprised when Kanye put out "Black Skinhead" -- 'uh, actually, 300 in Roman numerals is CCC, which stands for 'cool calm and collected', so in fact it makes sense that he's talking about the Romans instead of the Spartans--"
That 10,000 Maniacs & Michael Stipe cover was my favorite song growing up. It's included on the Campfire Songs box set, disc 2 (Rarities), which I listened to literally hundreds of times.
Another one-- the hook comes from a line of poetry in Berman's astounding collection "Actual Air," from '99.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXosbtarVNY
Those last two albums were amazing, especially All Are Saved. I hope this one gives him the push that he deserves; it sounds a little more hi-fi than before.
Treats? Really? I thought we were all on the same page about Sleigh Bells being the dictionary image for "flash in the pan one note 2010 buzzband trash"
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