Random Music Talk CXI: W Sellin' VW To Me?

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Rolling Stone and PopMatters mean fuck all to me, to be honest. Two of the most self-important and, in the case of PopMatters, trend-chasing review sites out there. The Pitchfork reviews are strange to me in that they praise VW where they lacerate other acts on the grounds of banality: like holy shit, they wrote a song about questioning one's religion, how incredibly original and insightful. Or they referenced Peter Gabriel in a song and put it over an Afro beat pastiche, what a delightfully quirky thing to do.
 
Vampire Weekend write three or four good songs per album, but always manage to sabotage the rest with obnoxious crap.
 
Spiritualized live was absolutely astonishing. Towering, beautiful music. Pacing was great. Wouldn't change a thing. I saw fantastic sets from Run the Jewels, BADBADNOTGOOD and Kanye, but that might have been the bar to clear.
 
"The writer"? It finished #1 in their year-end poll. #3 on Stereogum, #1 on Rolling Stone, #1 on PopMatters, and #2 on Pazz & Jopp.

That's not one person smoking something, that's called consensus. You two are in a small minority.

The Dean is a big fan too, BTW. MVOTC got an A+.

Robert Christgau: CG: Vampire weekend


Suck on that.

Another reason why I don't trust Christgau's judgement.

Seriously, I think there is maybe one artist/band I respect that he does also; Sleater Kinney.
 
The 200 Best Songs of the 1980s | Pitchfork

Liked this a lot. If anyone ever shat on the 80s again you just show them this list. And so great to see an 80s list that doesn't fucking ignore hip-hop.

Of course there are only two U2 entries though. Sunday Bloody Sunday at 161 and With or Without You at 93. How you can not put fucking Streets in there is beyond me.
 
Kind of lame they couldn't make room for anything from TUF on there. All I Want Is You shoulda been a contender, too.

More than 1 song per album is prob overkill, though (unless you're MJ or Prince, I'm guessing). And WOWY was a real curveball of a single that has more mainstream relevance than Streets. So not a surprise there.

That Whitney Houston song does not deserve a spot in the Top 20. Or Top 50, for that matter.
 
Also, when Prince edges out MJ for #1 and New Order places ahead of Joy Division (even if it should have been with Bizarre Love Triangle), I'm a happy camper and can live with everything else.
 
Man there are lots of 80's bands I've never heard of.

I also fully expected The Smiths to be number 1 for whatever reason.

Streets not being on there is baffling indeed.
 
That looks like a good list. It will be fun to listen to it over the course of the week.

I have my issues with Vampire Weekend, but Modern Vampires is a great album in my opinion. Yes, there are a few duds there, and the second half is weaker. But Obvious Bycicle, Step, Diane Young Hannah Hunt and Ya Hey all range from very good to fantastic.
 
I've been hearing a hell of lot of Vampire Weekend lately, and I'm coming to the conclusion that they suck. For so long I was thinking I would grow to appreciate them, that there must be something there to justify the effusive praise. But all I'm finding is that every one of their songs is unbearably precious.

Yes, this is correct.
 
The 200 Best Songs of the 1980s | Pitchfork

Liked this a lot. If anyone ever shat on the 80s again you just show them this list. And so great to see an 80s list that doesn't fucking ignore hip-hop.

Of course there are only two U2 entries though. Sunday Bloody Sunday at 161 and With or Without You at 93. How you can not put fucking Streets in there is beyond me.

This list is pretty good.

Blue Monday is great and all, but putting it above Love Will Tear Us Apart? Naaaaaaah.
 
Stoned & Dethroned is probably my favorite, though it's pretty damned far from their trademark sound. Mostly acoustic, or more to the point distortion-and-feedback-free. Still a fair number of solos.

Like the debut, it's fairly homogenous, but the difference is that there's a bit more sophistication.

Munki is one of the best and most underrated swan songs I've ever heard. It's classic JAMC for the most part but there's also some fresh sounds. They definitely didn't limp out the door.

Sweet, thanks for the information going in. I'm gonna listen to S&D today, I'll let you know what I think.


Is that the guy from Deftones?


:up: Looking forward to that album. Also, who does backing vocals now that the bassist has left?


What guy from Deftones?

So that's not the original bassist? I knew a couple people left, but I actually commented to Travis that the backing vocals sounded EXACTLY the same as the album version and assumed it was the same guy. Now I wonder if the was lip-syncing them or something :ohmy:. But, yeah, the bassist is still the person doing backing.

Also so jealous you're seeing D'Angelo. He's amazing live but Black Messiah wasn't out when I saw him.

Untitled live is guhhhhhhhhh :heart:

He did not play Untitled, but his set was fucking phenomenal.


As was Spiritualized. I don't even know what to say about Spiritualized. That was on another level. Like, I kinda just sat their jaw-dropped the entire time.


Also, only got to see about 7 Morrissey tracks because FYF is the stupidest fucking festival ever, but anyways, Morrissey was actually not so bad, and he played a decent set. I could've gone to my grave without ever hearing Meat is Murder live, but beyond that, I enjoyed it. The Bullfighter Dies is also one of the dumbest f'ing songs I've ever heard. But I found it hilarious that he was trying to start some shit with security because he thought there were too many guards along the rail, and not two songs later, someone rushed the stage. I mean, you really asked for that, Moz.
 
Rolling Stone and PopMatters mean fuck all to me, to be honest. Two of the most self-important and, in the case of PopMatters, trend-chasing review sites out there. The Pitchfork reviews are strange to me in that they praise VW where they lacerate other acts on the grounds of banality: like holy shit, they wrote a song about questioning one's religion, how incredibly original and insightful. Or they referenced Peter Gabriel in a song and put it over an Afro beat pastiche, what a delightfully quirky thing to do.


Listing both of those was to show that the huge mainstream website and the more indie website rated it high.

Bottom line is always Pazz & Jop, though. They poll a lot of critics across the U.S. from publications/sites of varying sizes so you get a very broad consensus.

The only thing I'm trying to prove is that the reaction to this album in particular shouldn't be "haha these critics are crazy this sucks" but more "it's very well-respected but just not my thing".
 
I really don't know why the critics fell for Vampire Weekend. It's affected meme music for college students and has been since day 1. No substance in sight. This is the kind of chaff that critics should be weeding out, not praising to the heavens. But hey, that's just one guy's opinion, not a broad consensus or anything.
 
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His lyrics are pretty damn substantial, imo, and they're making music that's wholly original to themselves. You might not enjoy them, I hated them for a long time, but I have always realized I was in the minority on that.

In time of course I've come to love them, but, yeah, they're fate is kinda sealed to be a love em or hate em act.
 
A friend gave me a wristband free for Sunday, so I went to my first ever FYF Fest. I love Expo Park and the Coliseum, but yeah, not a great festival venue. Having the main stage on a parking lot was hard on my legs. That said, I did LOVE all the real bathrooms.

Spiritualized was my favorite set of the day. They were incredible, and the arena setting worked so well for them.
Really enjoyed Toro y Moi as well as Belle and Sebastian. Having Belle and Sebastian play before Morrissey was fucking hilarious as the tone of their music couldn't be any more different. Was planning to hit Deangelo, but the walk... oh the walk. I'm so spoiled by Coachella with regards to distance between stages. Moz sounded good, there was a girl who rushed the stage, I got to hear Suedehead and left before Meat is Murder (had to work early).

All in all, it was a fun day, but weirdly enough, I like it better when I have to travel to a festival. It feels more special.
 
My God. Is he the fussiest person alive or what.

He really is. I was so excited when I saw Spicy Pie pizza was there, until I heard they weren't serving pizza with meat at the request of Morrissey. Luckily, other vendors didn't give a fuck. I should have gone with a bacon wrapped hotdog, but they were charging $8 for one and that is just ridiculous.
 
Are you even a fan, Laz? I didn't peg you as one.

Yes, I enjoy all three albums a lot.

I really don't know why the critics fell for Vampire Weekend. It's affected meme music for college students and has been since day 1. No substance in sight. This is the kind of chaff that critics should be weeding out, not praising to the heavens. But hey, that's just one guy's opinion, not a broad consensus or anything.

If that many people are finding substance, from kids to old guard critics, then it's there. You not hearing it isn't a shortcoming on your part, but your implication that the perception of substance is phony is disingenuous. It seemed to me that a lot of the hate they attracted was because of their erudition, not due to a lack of it. As I said before, chalk it up to simply not liking their sound and/or lyrics and beg to differ without trying to find a naked emperor.

You want to talk about cheap thrills with no substance that many people raved about, try The Strokes.
 
I say that VW lacks substance not because Ezra's lyrics aren't densely packed with cultural references, puns and other witticisms, but because what's underneath all of that isn't very interesting. His lyrics seem geared towards proving that he's well read, which just gets in the way of the personal revelations that seem to be there but can't quite surface. Erudition is not inherently substantial.

Granted, he's improved since namedropping Lil Jon and chapstick in the same chorus (though he's still hasn't grown beyond namedropping Jandek and Modest Mouse in a lyric meant to argue his growth as a man, which works primarily on an ironic level), but I hope one day he drops the artifice. Even Beck knew when to set non sequitur aside.
 
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Ashley fucked up intensely yesterday and made a Ke$ha shirt at FYF's free shirt tent instead of a Jack Nicholson Party shirt. I was too busy watching Mac DeMarco to prevent this.
 
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