Random Music Talk CXXX: The AFL Finally Gets Revenge on Meat Loaf

[LemonMelon]

I just think a lot of the albums they're picking in an attempt to diversify are worse than what they had before lol

Sure I'm one of the minority that likes Live Through This more than Nevermind but who are we kidding here

Exile in Guyville being #4 almost makes this awkward/craven shift they're experiencing worthwhile though

 

[Salome]

Pitchfork at its prime was bloody terrible, now it's fucking awful.
Can't wait what the next part of the journey will bring.

 

[iron yuppie]

there's a certain Condé Nast normie filter that permeates many of their choices.

This seems a pretty accurate assessment. There's a remark one of the writers made that stuck with me re: the ethos of the site. It was in a blurb for their very high-end placement of Olivia Rodrigo's record on last year's album list. Something about "turns out sad girl feelings are all our feelings." Seems like something of a mission statement to me. Looking to appeal to the kind of person who buys 5 vinyl variants of Phoebe Bridgers' Punisher.

 

[lazarus]

I just think a lot of the albums they're picking in an attempt to diversify are worse than what they had before lol


Exile in Guyville being #4 almost makes this awkward/craven shift they're experiencing worthwhile though

Yes to both of these.

They tried to course-correct, and it threw them further off course.

But I do like seeing Liz maintain her position as the queen of indie rock.

 

[namkcuR]

It's like they just put the names of 150 great albums from the 90s in a hat and drew them out in random order. It just doesn't seem to make much sense. I could say a lot, but I won't, it's not worth it, and no one will read it, so just a few short things.

1. I'm glad Ray Of Light got a relatively high placement at 51. Easily Madonna's best album, and taken with "Beautiful Stranger" from the following year, that's easily the era of hers I go back to the most.

2. If I had to have a Hole album represented on the list, I'd pick the second one..."Celebrity Skin" and "Malibu" were pretty huge singles.

3. I'm doing my RHCP fan duty: The fact that they made a list of the 150 best albums of the 90s without BloodSugarSexMagik on it is the one thing that makes me genuinely upset about the list.

4. No Alice In Chains?

And yeah, Achtung should've been higher. So should the Bends.

Alright that's enough.

 

[mikal]

It's like they just put the names of 150 great albums from the 90s in a hat and drew them out in random order. It just doesn't seem to make much sense. I could say a lot, but I won't, it's not worth it, and no one will read it, so just a few short things.

1. I'm glad Ray Of Light got a relatively high placement at 51. Easily Madonna's best album, and taken with "Beautiful Stranger" from the following year, that's easily the era of hers I go back to the most.

2. If I had to have a Hole album represented on the list, I'd pick the second one..."Celebrity Skin" and "Malibu" were pretty huge singles.

3. I'm doing my RHCP fan duty: The fact that they made a list of the 150 best albums of the 90s without BloodSugarSexMagik on it is the one thing that makes me genuinely upset about the list.

4. No Alice In Chains?

And yeah, Achtung should've been higher. So should the Bends.

Alright that's enough.

Yeah Alice In Chains Dirt is always spoken of so highly, but I would have equally supported their debut making the list as well.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Hey, guys. Just popping in to say that I've been lucky to see more than my fair share of live music in this strange year, but the absolute, most unexpected, highlight was Jack White playing Love is Blindness. Crying at a Jack White show was nowhere in my consciousness as even a remote possibility, but, there you have it. And it made me think of all of you.
I hope everyone is hanging in there with all you've got going on.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Saw him a few months back and that was the highlight of the set for me as well.

 

[Joey788]

I'm immensely saddened and disappointed to report that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs new album is....really boring to me. It's got no energy except for a couple of songs and it's nearly all washy ballads. Maybe the songs will translate better live. But otherwise, I'm keeping "Burning" and "Wolf" and can lose the rest.

 

[LemonMelon]

I like it, actually! Spitting off the Edge of the World, Wolf, Burning and Different Today are the best ones to me, and while the others aren't bad by any means, it could have been a really killer EP rather than a good but not amazing album. Regardless, it's better than Mosquito.

 

[bono_212]

I love it. So much better than Mosquito, also, yeah.

 

[cobl04]

Crying listening to Quadrophenia this morning.

 

[cobl04]

Anyone seen them in recent years? This sounds fucking amazing

 

[DaveC]

my buddy saw the who just last night. he had a great time, said they were amazing and just as energetic and exciting as a lot of much younger bands. i wish i had been able to go.

 

[cobl04]

Thinking about getting really into Lambchop.

 

[Salome]

Latest Lambchop album is superb.
I still sort of miss the "How I quit smoking" - "Is a woman" years though.

 

[LemonMelon]

Thinking about getting really into Lambchop.

Do it. What Another Man Spills is my personal favorite but you can't go wrong with anything they put out in the 90s or 2000s.

 

[lazarus]

Depeche Mode Announce First New Album and Tour in 5 Years

 

[phanan]

Nice. Crazy that it’s been five years.

 

[prbiker15]

Looking forward to it. Short North American tour though, maybe they’ll do another round later on.

 

[cobl04]

Latest Lambchop album is superb.
I still sort of miss the "How I quit smoking" - "Is a woman" years though.

Do it. What Another Man Spills is my personal favorite but you can't go wrong with anything they put out in the 90s or 2000s.

They came into my awareness in 2012, when Mr M came out, I found the style of music and the singing quite interesting, although it was never able to really seep in and become a favourite of mine. The music is a bit inaccessible. But they've stuck in my head ever since, and I keep listening in little snippets here and there. They have a new record out, The Bible, and I am really enjoying it.

He also featured on one of my fav albums ever, in a stunning track

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

I'm gonna try to make it to that Depeche Mode tour. I have no idea what their setlists generally look like since I've only become a big fan in the last 3 or 4 years.

 

[lazarus]

I had heard of BADBADNOTGOOD but never any of their music. Spontaneously decided to check out their set at Desert Daze over the weekend and goddamn that shit was great. Did not expect to see a legit jazz show; the drummer and saxophonist/guitarist are fantastic.

Also really enjoyed Aldous Harding, another artist I wasn’t familiar with, as well as headliners Beach House and Tame Impala. And the debut performance of Deap Vally side project Heads Are Heavy, a theatrical affair with a choir, synchronized dancing, and costumes.

The act I was most excited about was Nilüfer Yanya, but I think she’s way more effective on recordings. Or maybe it was more suited to a more intimate venue, and not in the daytime. Not a bad performance but didn’t blow me away.

Last, apparently this was the final performance of Kikagaku Moyo as they had announced their breakup. Didn’t see the whole set but they sounded very good.

Another great DD festival weekend.

 

[cobl04]

Gives me a new appreciation for why LC! won't ever tour down under again. From Animal Collective:

Friends, we are absolutely gutted to announce today that we are making the decision to cancel our UK/EU dates for this November. We love playing music for you and truly wish we could be there. It has been a wild year for us trying to push through a mountain of touring obstacles related to COVID and the economy. Three of us got bad cases of Covid. We were forced to cancel shows and lost large amounts of the income that sustains us and our families. The one constant has been that we have had an incredible time playing music in front of our fans at every show. You are all amazing. We chose to push through because we love to do it. But preparing for this tour we were looking at an economic reality that simply does not work and is not sustainable. From inflation, to currency devaluation, to bloated shipping and transportation costs, and much much more, we simply could not make a budget for this tour that did not lose money even if everything went as well as it could. We have always been the kind of people to persevere through the difficult times and get on stage unless our health prevented it. We are choosing not to take the risk to our mental and physical health with the economic reality of what that tour would have been. We hope you understand and that you know we would not make a choice like this lightly. We truly want nothing more than to make it out there again. Thank you so much to our team, the promoters and venues who worked so hard on this tour for us. We look forward to getting back out to play for all of you and hope you will be there with us when we do.

 

[lazarus]

A fair number of mid-sized bands have been coming forward with statements like these. Consider also that in the case of LC!, where you have like 7 members of the band (two with children together), it makes it even harder to turn a profit.

I barely go to shows anymore due to inflated prices + the charges of shitbag companies like LiveNation/Ticketmaster.

Luckily, a friend of mine won tix to tomorrow's Afghan Whigs show, so I'm getting to do that at least. Which reminds me, Cobbler, you never reported back on checking out more of their stuff.

 

[cobl04]

I haven't checked it out yet! I will...

This is awesome news. Listening to the self-titled in honour of it, and I am reminded that it is an all-timer. So good.

blink-182's classic line-up has reformed and will tour Australia in February 2024

 

[gump]

Yeah, the landscape for touring looks pretty bleak right now. And if artists can’t make money off touring, I don’t know what else they can do to keep going.

 

[lazarus]

If less bands are touring, doesn't it affect the promoters and ticket sellers, as well as the venues? Something else will have to give. Though I suppose companies like Live Nation and Ticketmaster will be fine because they will still make money off the bigger artists who are able to tour and charge a lot to do so.

 

[monkeyskin]

I haven't checked it out yet! I will...

This is awesome news. Listening to the self-titled in honour of it, and I am reminded that it is an all-timer. So good.

blink-182's classic line-up has reformed and will tour Australia in February 2024

Love untitled, especially because my UK copy has Not Now at the end. You going to the Melbourne show in 2024?

New album coming soon too! Hope this reunion is better than the last when Tom couldn’t even be bothered to record in the same building as Mark and Travis or apparently sing properly on stage.

Funny timing as I’d been listening to Dude Ranch and Neighborhoods recently, two albums either side of their classic run I’d never took the time to give a fair shake before. Dude Ranch is fun and still has a punk edge that Enema shined off. Neighborhoods has 3 songs that would have been great untitled b-sides. Cannot bring myself to listen to the Skiba / Goldfinger era.

 

[cobl04]

My copy has Anthem Part Two Live From Chicago at the end, one of their punk thrashers, with an adlib at the start about a kid in his high school PE class getting a boner. it's completely incongruous haha. Definitely gonna go to the 2024 show. Not too interested in new music though. The self-titled and the hits (of which there's at least a dozen bangers) is all I need.