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Hehehe, somebody's been listening to a bit too much 1989 recently, I see.
Nahhhhh, the cover of Minor Threat is a picture of Ian's brother Alec (also a great part of the DC punk scene). My roommates ex grew up in DC and said she used to go to the Mackaye's house when she was a kid because her close friend was their younger sister. Ian and Alec apparently chased her and her friend around with rubber bands a lot when they were teens. That story had me wil'ing out for a while.
Krallice are just soooo good every time.
YESSSSS!!!! I've been refreshing all day for this. DS2 is soooooo good - the beat on "I Serve the Base" could soundtrack some alternate form of the ocarina of time shadow temple it's bonkers. <3
If you haven't given Same Trailer, Different Park a chance, you definitely should - it's a more varied and altogether more compelling work (though I like Pageant Material a lot too)
The Color of Pomegranates is a stunning all-time masterpiece and I can't believe I missed my chance to see it as soundtracked by Nico Jaar.
I really like Mitski and Ryan Hemsworth and "Biscuits" is probably one of my least favorite Kacey Musgraves songs (though I still like it a lot, sort of equivalent to saying something like "Communist Daughter" is one of my least favorite songs on Aeroplane or something), but I hate hate hate the way they talk about "Biscuits" like every other "too cool" indie kid talking about country. They not only clearly are ignoring the song to begin with as soon as they register it as country but they set up the annoying binary of cool, acceptable old-school country (good) and all other "pop-country" (I wonder where they'd classify like loretta lynn and lucinda williams if they heard that) since (bad). It's extremely reductive and feels like a veiled form of closed-mindedness. It strikes me as being effectively the same thing - that I'm sure Mitski/Ryan Hemsworth would find infuriating - as saying "I only listen to golden era hip hop - you know, Nas, Public Enemy, early Common" as if all rap outside of that mold is populist trash.
I'm curious what other instances of the Purple Rain/Sign O the Times (good kid/tpab) juxtaposition exist. Based on these two examples, I would identify with the Purple Rain crowd, for sure, but I wonder if that would be true for any given example. Possible nominees: Ziggy Stardust/Low, One Beat/The Woods, Repeater/Red Medicine, Sgt. Pepper's (or Abbey Road or Revolver)/The White Album, Arular/Kala, VU and Nico/White Light White Heat
Off the top of my head: 1) Sufjan - Carrie & Lowell 2) Surf 3) Waxahatchee - Ivy Tripp 4) Bell Witch - Four Phantoms 5) SremmLife 6) In Colour 7) Colleen Green - I Want to Grow Up 8) Girlpool - Before the World Was Big 9) Jlin - Dark Energy 10) Kamasi Washington - The Epic
:)))) Like a Rose is one of my favorite recent country albums and this is even better!
Ah fuck it, might as well (note going in, Fugazi are my favorite band so the margin between 1 and say 5 on this is pretty slim): 1) Repeater 2) Red Medicine 3) 13 Songs 4) The Argument 5) In on the Kill Taker 6) Steady Diet of Nothing 7) End Hits 8) Instrument Soundtrack
It's really nice to see Staples say, in response to all the hubbub about why Lindsey Graham is single, "Well, have you seen his policies against women? They're crazy"
The night before I graduated from college, my friend said he had a going away gift for me and then when I went to his room, he gave me his vinyl copies of Red Medicine, In on the Kill Taker, and Minor Threat. Still maybe the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me.
This album sounds like it's going to be pretty incredible.
Black Messiah is #1 on my 2014 list and would also be #1 on my 2015 list if I included it in 2015.
"I don’t think this song is going to be the answer to 50’s woes" - he should try running through the 6 with them. Seems to be working for Drake. (sorry, had to, I'll quietly exit now.)
I'd fux with a Shamir album entirely of Miranda Lambert covers. The one he did for Rookie was bonkers awesome.
The biggest instant classic rap album of the last few years is a concept record about a young man breaking out of his gang-banging environment by turning to God/Christianity so I'm kinda confused about where he's coming from.
My brother's name is Brian Adams and boy does he absolutely hate no talent ass-clown Bryan Adams.
As much as I love Illmatic and Ready to Die, I think I still prefer the sheer menace on The Infamous - probably my favorite non-Wu rap album of the 90s.
Girlpool are the best!
Also, 1989 is fire (tracks 2-9, with the exception of "Bad Blood" which I think is a little boring, are silly good) and St. Vincent is a really great guitarist who makes knotty, pretentious music that's much more critiquable than it is actually listenable. Seriously though, I'll listen to just about anything and couldn't make it through more than 2 songs of her last album.
He's been one of the most refreshing and exciting music writers to read for years and years. He also brought country to Stereogum so now I listen to Miranda Lambert (and Kacey Musgraves who's even more of a boss, but that's more indirectly related to Tom's work) :)! Helped legions of white, male fogey-ish indie kids (like me!) realize there's plenty of other great shit out there. I must, however, agree that the Mumfords are pretty vom-inducing.
My friend's ex started dating Jim James and neither of us ever really liked MMJ so for me, he's easy to shit on, but this makes him seem like a pretty chill dude.
They should bring back the boss battle mode from Guitar Hero 3 and have a battle where you have to play The War on Drugs song while Mark Kozelek incessantly boos, complains, and talks shit throughout.
I think i probably listened to this more than any other album throughout college. Excellent, excellent stuff - threw "Mr. November" on every party playlist I ever made
Did that Nozinja song come out this week? I can't claim to know anything about that song/scene other than that it was really fun.
Speedy Ortiz are from Western Mass not Boston. They're, alongside Potty Mouth, California X and many many hardcore greats, part of an awesome Pioneer Valley (Amherst/Northampton/etc) scene. Worth noting because that area is awesome (and way way cooler than Boston) and that scene gets mistakenly conflated with Boston's all the time.
Kind of disappointed to see House Arrest at #1 as opposed to all of them at #10
Only related in terms of general topic but did anyone check out that new Father tape that dropped? So many already established heavy hitters are doing big things this month that I feel like it might get drowned out of the conversation but it feels like a real moment for Awful Records.
Girlpool is my favorite new band of the last year or so. Personally, I think Chinatown and Ideal World are leaps and bounds better than that new Tame Impala song (but I also think Girlpool EP is leaps and bounds better than Lonerism and never really liked Tame Impala to begin with so what do I know). Love Grimes though! Lower Dens are cool to!
Oh wow, I saw Hop Along open for Waxahatchee last April and am seeing Girlpool opening for Waxahatchee this April. Both are wonderful!
Also concur with all those who've mentioned Last Flowers