Terrific album, feels like the culmination of every style he's worked on so far. Every song is distinct, unique and so listenable. Admittedly my history of rap knowledge is very limited but the last song "Safari" reminds me most of MF DOOM (at least the beat). We know Tyler's a fan so it makes sense.
I'm too far gone in my Modest Mouse fandom to not like this album, but it still makes me happy when critics and others reaffirm my feeling. The first 2 singles have really grown on me. I still wish they were a little more stripped down, but what are you gonna do.
I gotta say, I was singing along to Good News the other day with my daughter she loved when I barked along. So thanks Isaac for some family bonding!
I've been listening to StO a lot in the run up to the new one and really finally get it. I still don't like the carnival music at the beginning of Sugar Boats, and some other stuff but damn it's not that bad.
DC 2018 was a phenomenal show, one of my favorites (they even did "Interstate 8"). But DC 2005 was awful. Granted it was a bad venue, but they had no life. Though they did play a really extended jam version of Tiny Cities.
I like how version doesn't have the overdubs in the chorus, makes it more impactful. The guitars sound like old Modest Mouse too. This song like their other singles have been real growers for me.
Besides Modest Mouse I'm most excited for the new Squirrel Flower album. I've really liked the songs she's released so far, especially "Flames and Flat Tires". Still trying to see if I can find a ticket to see her when she opens for Soccer Mommy in the fall.
Same here. Between singing/rapping along with Tyler (or Earl) songs or just quoting South Park all of us millennials are really lucky we didn't have social media like we do now.
Other than the conspiracy theories that interview was really interesting to read about the new album since it sounds like Isaac is moving away from guitar and trying to do a "Get Behind Me Satan" or "Kid A" left turn kinda thing. I'm not sure it'll turn out as great as those two, but new Modest Mouse is always welcome to me.
Are Pop Smoke's verses simply a cobbling together of what he made before he died? With voice technology as it is, could we expect that some writer could just synthesize "new" verses out of the sounds he spoke? Like he must have been prolific but how much longer can we expect his features to continue?
Liked it a lot more than their other albums and still ran out of steam about halfway through. "Avalanche" is pretty great, though it did really just make me listen to Temptations and funk instead.
I feel like I'm missing something with these guys. I love Future, Young Thug and some others in the Atlanta scene but Migos albums always seem like one big midtempo slog to me. Even their hit songs don't strike me on an individual level. Anyone got a specific "way in" to really listen to them?
I haven't heard of most of the albums from this list, and the ones on my list to check out haven't blown me away (the usual dependable Clark and Andy Stott albums are good but not great IMO). Maybe it's COVID but the really big name acts have mainly stayed away from releases, and so I've just spent this time luxuriating in a high school nostalgia of Radiohead, Modest Mouse and Interpol.
Based on this list maybe I've just been waiting for the wrong artists though.
All my old stories revolved around Kazaa, but did anyone else download what they thought was "Cuttooth" but was actually a song by Muse? It took me a few years (and finally buying a Knives Out CD single) before learning I had never really heard this song. It's a great song, but maybe I'm just too accustomed to the sequencing to even begin to think where it could slot it.
I remember I first discovered John Mayer, at like 12, when I was trying to download Radiohead songs on Kazaa and saw that a song called "Kid A" had the artist "John Mayer". Not really knowing that he wasn't Radiohead's singer led me to download it. I actually really liked Mayer's acoustic take on that song. So I bought this CD and it was in constant rotation in my mom's car. She hated Radiohead so there was only a little bit of overlap between us then.
I never really learned there was such a backlash against John Mayer, or that when I saw him in concert (with Maroon 5 opening) it wasn't something to brag about! I haven't listened to this album in a really long time but these songs do have some real nostalgic power over me.
> Couldn't it be a collaborative effort?
Isn't that what like reddit or other services are for? We come to Stereogum to get opinions from real critics and writers. And then we come to the comment section to learn even more!
As an American I think it's my duty to ask "who is this?"
But seriously, to think this bastard woudn't show for the AFC Richmond benefit to help underprivileged kids!
The Mao bio I'm talking about is "Mao: The Unknown Story" by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. I also just watched the movie "The Blue Kite" and it covers from early 50s to mid 60s China, but from one family's POV (it was banned in China before release, and IIRC still is there). But I'm also just getting into this history and would love to hear any more recs you or others have.
I actually just finished her fascinating biography of Mao (hence the rabbit hole) and they didn't mention cannibalism either (IIRC). From the wiki it seems like there wasn't even widespread knowledge of all of this until the 90s and later.
Weird I was just reading about the Guangxi Massacre (don't ask) and there the leaders got to feast on the class enemies' hearts. So all hail Chairman Phoebe I guess
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