Random Music Thread - CXII Mofo, it's Halloween, Change your avatar plz.

[iron yuppie]

Yeah it's a fine album. It doesn't have anything as insanely catchy as Latch, but it's more consistent than the debut. My favorite tracks are the ones with Lorde and Lion Babe.

 

[liamcool]

Anyone into For Against? Dreamy, Chameleons like post-punk, but it's a predecessor to bands like Ride and Lush?

 

[lazarus]

This is one of the better music stories I've read in a while:

Prince serenades Madonna at late-night Paisley Park gig | Local Current Blog | The Current from Minnesota Public Radio

 

[bono_212]

Yeah it's a fine album. It doesn't have anything as insanely catchy as Latch, but it's more consistent than the debut. My favorite tracks are the ones with Lorde and Lion Babe.

I feel like almost everything is a sequel to the tracks on the first album, but they're improved sequels. Just generally a better album. IMO.

 

[Axver]

Anyone into For Against? Dreamy, Chameleons like post-punk, but it's a predecessor to bands like Ride and Lush?

Damn consistent band who never quite made one album more exceptional than the others, at least of those I've heard. Even the late career stuff holds up really well.

 

[martha]

Holy cow. Less than an hour to get to the Music Center. My record is 40 minutes.

Pelican's last album was their best. I hope they keep going in that direction for the next one.

And I like the new Dungen quite a bit. Super excited to see them in a few weeks!

 

[iron yuppie]

Don't know if any of you have heard of the band Weekend, but their 2010 album Sports is a damn fine bunch of noise rock songs with a post-punk edge. Jinx from a few years later is good too.

 

[david]

Sad to hear that Camera Obscura's Carey Lander passed away today.


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[bono_212]

I fucking hate Spotify. Why is there a giant SHUFFLE PLAY button on the App? This is the second album that's been ruined by my accidentally pressing the big green button at the top of the page that says PLAY on it.

Well, even without any kind of musical structure, I'm greatly enjoying Talking Head's Speaking in Tongues.

 

[djerdap]

Because people don't give a shit about albums anymore.

 

[bono_212]

But on the web app it's a regular play button. That's what really throws me off.

 

[iron yuppie]

This is TV related but fuck it, I want to vent.

The Wire. Most frustrating TV show ever. Half brilliant and half fucking awful. I've never seen a case in my life of something over-thinking itself so thoroughly.

 

[LemonMelon]

I don't think I've seen an awful episode of The Wire. Maybe the season 5 opener.

 

[lazarus]

This is TV related but fuck it, I want to vent.

The Wire. Most frustrating TV show ever. Half brilliant and half fucking awful. I've never seen a case in my life of something over-thinking itself so thoroughly.

I feel like I'm back in one of the Rolling Stone poll threads.

 

[iron yuppie]

If any of you can give me a cogent defense of seasons 2 or 5, I'm all fucking ears.

 

[martha]

You wouldn't think a guy with a Ph.D in Chinese Architecture could swear like that, but it's kind of hot.

 

[LemonMelon]

Season 5 will have to be left to someone else. There is a great deal of recent discussion about it in the TV thread.

"Fucking horrible" is not how I would describe season 2 at all. It takes some time to get rolling and has a handful of useless characters (Ziggy ), but it has some very sympathetic ones too. The ending is also very strong. I'm glad I stuck with it. Part of the problem is that the plot is too convoluted and it takes three quarters of the season to get anywhere, but it does resolve itself satisfactorily.

Seasons 1, 3 and 4 make the show 60% brilliant btw, not half brilliant.

 

[iron yuppie]

Here's the specific thing irking me

Spoiler

Omar's death. What an utterly moronic and senseless way to take out an iconic character. The flippancy of it is astonishing. And I'm sure the writers were like "we're so iconoclastic to deny the show its big climactic showdown between Omar and Marlo," but all they end up doing is ridding themselves of the only compelling story point remaining in the whole damn show. I struggle to think of a more bullshit plot twist in anything I've ever seen.

Also fuck every last one of those longshoremen from season 2. And yeah I'll go to the TV thread now.

 

[cobl04]

Hmm the HIMYM finale was a pretty bullshit plot twist, as much as it made me cry.

 

[lazarus]

Season 5 will have to be left to someone else. There is a great deal of recent discussion about it in the TV thread.

"Fucking horrible" is not how I would describe season 2 at all. It takes some time to get rolling and has a handful of useless characters (Ziggy ), but it has some very sympathetic ones too. The ending is also very strong. I'm glad I stuck with it. Part of the problem is that the plot is too convoluted and it takes three quarters of the season to get anywhere, but it does resolve itself satisfactorily.

Season 2 is certainly the most divisive next to 5, but I know a few fans who put it as their favorite. And while Ziggy is a useless tool, I have two words: BEADIE RUSSELL.

I could go on a long defense of 5 if I felt up to it, but in short I thought its sensationalism was intentionally ironic and fitting because that's what it was partially taking aim at that season w/r/t the press. Now with that approach you risk becoming exactly what you're satirizing, just like Natural Born Killers was gratuitous in its critique of gratuitous violence and the bloodlust of American audiences. It works for some, not for others. But I think Simon knew very well what he was doing.

 

[lazarus]

Here's the specific thing irking me

Spoiler

Omar's death. What an utterly moronic and senseless way to take out an iconic character. The flippancy of it is astonishing. And I'm sure the writers were like "we're so iconoclastic to deny the show its big climactic showdown between Omar and Marlo," but all they end up doing is ridding themselves of the only compelling story point remaining in the whole damn show. I struggle to think of a more bullshit plot twist in anything I've ever seen.

Also fuck every last one of those longshoremen from season 2. And yeah I'll go to the TV thread now.

To be honest you sound very typical and fanboyish here. The point was that Omar wasn't a hero and didn't deserve to go out in a blaze of glory, regardless of how compelling he was. Life is cheap in that setting, and what happened was perfectly in keeping with what the show was trying to say throughout its run. His wasn't the only anticlimactic death, that's for sure. If you can't see that, I don't know what to tell you.

 

[iron yuppie]

Yeah violence begets violence. That's really deep.

The thing about The Wire is it never earns its sense of importance the way something like Mad Men does. The premise that poverty and violence are cycles is presented unapologetically and sometimes movingly, but it's not exactly a revelatory point unless you're a boot-straps Republican type.

 

[LemonMelon]

I agreed with iYup the moment I saw it because I was pissed off, but I thought it over and decided it was a fitting choice in the end.

And I'm sorry, but Mad Men is nowhere near as sociologically important as The Wire (it's just a TV show either way, but still). There are some sweeping, resonant observations about happiness and human relationships, but it's first world problems by comparison. The circular nature of violence and poverty may not be "revelatory," but Mad Men sure as fuck doesn't unlock the secrets of the universe either.

 

[cobl04]

I mean, most people would agree Ted and Robin was the best couple the show ever had, Lily and Marshall aside of course. And whilst the fast-forward nature of those final few minutes did raise an interesting sociological point about the way in which we perceive real, emotional, human, adult moments, it perhaps was not revelatory, I will admit, as it did call back to the end of the first episode.

And yet, perhaps, that is the most revelatory thing - in a time where we have been told that only the unexpected can be truly appreciated in popular culture, perhaps the revelation was in not surprising the viewer, though it did, somewhat briefly, surprise me.

 

[LemonMelon]

Bojack Horseman is tremendous. It is the most sublime balance of existential concern and ribald humor that the animated genre has seen in quite some time. It reveals the selfishness in all of us through our empathy for a lost, alcoholic horse.

We need to recruit more people for the thread.

 

[monkeyskin]

I think we can all agree on the best death The Wire served up:

Spoiler

Slim Charles taking out motherfucking Cheese.

As for Omar:

Spoiler

His death defying leap from the balcony irked me far more than his death at the hands of Kernard. That was as sensationalist as the fake serial killer plot, regardless of whether they're both based on true events as Simon claims.

I actually appreciate the way the show dealt with Omar. Violence leading to more violence was always a theme, but they completely spelt it out back in season 3 when The Bunk had his sit down with Omar. There's even a shot of Kernard playing as Omar. Sure, he was a legend on the street, but as Avon found out the new generations weren't playing by the old rules. Kern saw an opportunity to take out Omar and took it, dirty as any other murders in the series.

And I like how beyond the street, no one else gave a fuck. Buried in the press, wrong toe tag in the morgue and McNulty himself was hazy on who he was. It's definitely not on the same level as say, Joffrey's death in GoT affected the rest of the characters.

BoJack S2 was a huge step up from its first, didn't see it getting that dark.

Rick and Morty S2 just wrapped up. All of you need to catch up on that already.

 

[LemonMelon]

I've seen about half a dozen episodes of Rick and Morty and it's terrific stuff. After a long drought, there are finally some decent adult cartoons again. For a while there, it was pretty much just Archer and Bob's Burgers with the occasional Venture Bros season.

 

[cobl04]

I watched about half of the pilot episode of Archer last night and enjoyed it. Kind of fucked hearing them say ISIS every three seconds but obviously it started well before those crazy kids started. And correct me if I'm wrong but is that Lucille Bluth's voice I hear?!

 

[IWasBored]

It is most certainly Lucille Bluth, and her son Coach McGuirk. It is fantastic.

 

[nielsgov]

Archer's fantastic.

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