Comment Archives: stories: Music: Features
Re: “Top 25 Albums of 2010”
for me Titus Andronicus "No Future Part III: Escape From No Future" is track of the year. Nice list.
Re: “Music Gifts for Music Lovers”
I'm making mixtapes off the radio for everyone this year. Your ideas are better.
http://mrshuffleupagus.blogspot.com/2010/1…
Re: “Kanye West's Imperfect Masterpiece”
"a triumph—of studio wizardry, of musical curiosity, of crowd-sourcing and of careful, constant curation?" You gotta be fucking kidding me. 808's was the shit. Up until 808s all of his albums were arguably his best. This one is ok, but it stays out of that argument.
And as for the whole "short-film" thing that yall dickheads see as sooooo inovative and fresh, Snoop Dogg has been dropping actual movies for his albums since Rhythm & Gangsta, (the album that had Beautiful ft. Pharrell.) That's Snoop's way of making his music visual and on top of that, the story always makes sense.
His latest one, Malice 'n' Wonderland, was the most confusing one he ever did (also the shortest), but unlike Kanye, Snoop Dogg appeared on several media venues explaining the plot, the ideas, and the overall story of his mini-movie.
Yall ppl r like idiots. If something doesn't make sense, and the creator doesn't explain it, you chalk it up to be artistic and exquisit. Yall make me sick. This album was ok and doesn't deserve the amount of neck u just gave it.
Btw, Teflon Don is a way better album. The proof to that is that I hated rick ross, but after I heard the album from start to finish, I became a fan. Kanye's album is simple, perverse and poorly written. Imean really, wth was Runaway about anyway? NOBODY KNOWS!!! Also, why is the second track titled "Gorgeous?" Da shit don't make sense and the music lacks genuine soul, feeling, and par-lyrics.
Re: “Kanye West's Imperfect Masterpiece”
Great review! Perfectly expresses how I feel about the hyperbole surrounding Kanye West in most media. There's a difference between a genius and someone who just tries really (too) hard to be viewed as such.
Re: “Rivers Hated It. A Generation of Bands Loved It: Reflections on Weezer's Pinkerton”
Why Bother?
/thread
Jeff - DS
Re: “The Hardest Working Band In New York (Happens to be from New Jersey)”
love, love, love them!!! need more passion driven bands!!! so amazing.....aaaand, they rock my face off.
Re: “The Hardest Working Band In New York (Happens to be from New Jersey)”
I love this band! I'm so glad to see they're being appreciated by others!! love love love them! can't wait for for another round in DC or Baltimore!
Re: “8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear”
What the hell is this post-punk dribble? most of these bands sound like passion pit, mgmt, or a mix of both. None have anything distinguishing from them, except the first band Ava Luna, which offers us a side of funk with the mundaneness. Nothing ROCKS anymore. That makes me sad.
Re: “8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear”
jesus morons...this is just some list that two "writers" put together...it really has no actual value.
Re: “Your Guide to the Next Wave of 90s Nostalgia”
Oh, also, I'm not rooting for this per se, but what are the odds that someone goes back to really itchy trip-hop, like Tricky's "Christiansands"? That one sounds great, still.
Re: “Your Guide to the Next Wave of 90s Nostalgia”
Man, I can't stand Fugazi. If we had a crop of "integrity" obsessed Brooklyn bands, bleeeearghing about squatter's rights or whatever the fuck, my eyes would strain from rolling. Which probably means, that yup, it is right around the corner.
Re: “Your Guide to the Next Wave of 90s Nostalgia”
It's a sorry state of affairs that these backward-looking "surfer"/"stoner"/"rock"/"punk" bands that are currently all the rage seriously under-appreciate Fugazi et al, at best, and frequently these babies of 1990 don't even know who they are.
Meanwhile: this...right hurr...is my...swag.
Re: “Your Guide to the Next Wave of 90s Nostalgia”
terrible
Re: “Your Guide to the Next Wave of 90s Nostalgia”
Jawbreaker, Karate, and The Promise Ring in one post: so excellent. If any of these bands played a straight week in Central Park (especially the latter two), I would definitely buy tickets for multiple nights.
Re: “Your Guide to the Next Wave of 90s Nostalgia”
Yes! My old favorites!
Re: “Many Rivers Still to Cross”
This is so far the album of the year!
Re: “8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear”
apparently women are actually out working and making a living these days, as opposed to screwing off with their buddies in some obscure, go-nowhere band...
signed
dad
Re: “What Did We Ever Do to These Guys?”
Well, that's actually an apt comparison, because while I'm not expert in Barenaked Ladies (finding them mostly kind of cutesy and/or boring) or "fucking" Weird Al (just not having really gotten into him at the right age/ever, although I think he is kind of awesome), I do tend to think when rock critics think a band is joking or messing about, whether they are or not, they get super-huffy about it, and react less to what the piece is trying to accomplish and how well it accomplishes than whether they approve of the musicians making the joke they think they're trying to make or whatever. They Might Be Giants and Ben Folds have gotten this at various points in their career, too. And I think that's related to the Weezer thing: it violates a sense of coolness ("oh my god, they think we're dorky enough to enjoy this?!").
But let me see if I can better spell out hyperbole, though I think I actually did this pretty well on the Pavement thread: My dislike of Make Believe as compared to other Weezer albums is so high that it creates a sense of disbelief when someone says one of the others is worse. For me, it's like someone saying that among Spielberg movies, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is way worse than Always. I just wouldn't trust that opinion very much, and I might wonder, as is, get this, allowed, *why* that person thinks that, if there might be some kind of outside factor apart from their simple wisdom. (Similar to how, as mentioned, if a group ranked "Drive My Car" as the #1 best song of the sixties, I would wonder if maybe, JUST MAYBE, there's something going on there apart from an extremely deep and abiding love of "Drive My Car.")
Do I LITERALLY believe every single person who hates "Pork and Beans" is being too self-conscious? Hey, I guess I don't! You got me! But nor do I believe everyone in the world hates or loves things for absolutely pure reasons and I don't think that speculating about that is the worst fucking thing in the world to do on a fucking blog comment.
Would it be a lot more friendly if I said: if you think those later Weezer records are worse than Make Believe, you are dead fucking wrong? I mean, I guess so, but it seems like splitting hairs to me. So maybe it's also splitting hairs for me to complain that instead of saying "here's why this thing you're maligning/praising is actually so great/terrible," you just get super-offended about my "psychological profiling."
Re: “What Did We Ever Do to These Guys?”
critics are self-conscious if they don't like weezer's "silly" and "more fun" material? it's not possible that they simply have no more use for their "silly" and "more fun" material than they do for the "silly" and "more fun" material by, like, the barenaked ladies or fucking weird al? between this and your assertion from yesterday that a critic is not only wrong, but actually *lying* if he/she has a different favorite pavement song than you, the psychological profiling of people who disagree with you is a bit much.
Re: “What Did We Ever Do to These Guys?”
I think you hit on something pretty interesting here, that weird feeling of *offense* that so many Weezer fans or ex-fans seem to take with the release of albums that simply aren't great (and I would say that's the average of their post-2000 career; some good, some okay, and Make Believe is just terrible; but "not great" would sum it up for me) -- and the ongoing debate about whether Cuomo is just messing around or whether his innermost creative thoughts really are as banal as he sometimes makes them seem. I think you're right, though: I think he's trying to reflect his experiences. Around the release of Raditude last year, he tweeted something to the effect of: "FYI, Weezer doesn't do anything to intentionally piss off our audience. That would be stupid." I tend to take their songs at face value. I don't think he's writing cliches, generic rhymes, or embarrassing sentiments as a lark; I tend to think he's moving quickly as a songwriter and doesn't really consider how dull and generic some of his lyrics sound at first pass.
But at least that quickness is there. I'd rather have three albums like Red/Rad/Hurley come out in quick succession than have a three-year wait resulting in Make Believe, easily their most listless and uninspired record (the fact that anything but Make Believe will get tagged as their worst says more to me about critics' or fans' self-consciousness about the sillier stuff on the later albums that is nonetheless far more fun, and in fact the fact that more people weren't talking about how completely great "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" was last year makes me sadder than Weezer no longer reflecting my own feelings).
Also, I'd say that musically, Hurley is pretty strong. I mean, we can pretend that it's way more pop and polished than the Blue Album, but there's a reason so many teenagers connected with that record, and it's not because it's an arty rough-hewn masterpiece (well, except the masterpiece part). It sounds big but not too polished, and those two acousticky songs you mention are particularly strong... though even those have pretty weak words. I really just wish Rivers would learn to be a little more specific; "Memories" and "Want You To" and some of their other better recent songs have actual details in them instead of referring to the nebulous "this" (as in "Unspoken," which I do enjoy for its melody and sound).
