OT: New Music?

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:44 am

pk500 wrote:
Spooky wrote:Am I crazy or is the new album by "Feist" (not sure if that is the womans name or a band) pretty incredible!?!?

She is the chick singing on that new iPod Nano commercial that kind of sounds like Bjork. I decided to preview the whole thing and I think I may have found a true gem here. Am I late to the party on this one or did she (they) come out of nowhere? It's a great recording and really neat songs.
You're right: Feist is excellent. You're a bit late to the party, as her 2004 breakthrough album, "Let It Die," received critical acclaim and solid sales. If you like "The Reminder," grab "Let It Die." I think the sounds on both records are pretty similar, and they're both excellent albums.

"Brandy Alexander" from "The Reminder" is one of my favorite tunes this year. I LOVE that song.

P.S.: Feist is her last name. She was born as Leslie Feist, from Calgary.

Take care,
PK

Ahhhhh...

Cool to know. Thanks for the info!

Blublub · Post by **Blublub** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 11:13 am

Fans of trippy, druggy, ethereal stuff like Spacemen 3 and GYBE! should check out "The Sun Awakens" by Six Organs of Admittance. Best album in this vein I've heard in a long time.

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 5:02 pm

Saw M Ward, Yo La Tengo, and Bright Eyes at the Hollywood Bowl last night. Great stuff. Highlight of the night: some dude was heckling Connor. Connor said 'you think this is so easy, YOU do it' and threw a water bottle at the guy... Good times!

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:02 pm

Hey Radiohead is selling their new album via 'Pay what u think it's worth'. Basically, u can download the album & enter however much u want to pay for it. Interesting...

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/n ... aaaaaaahhh

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:06 pm

greggsand wrote:Hey Radiohead is selling their new album via 'Pay what u think it's worth'. Basically, u can download the album & enter however much u want to pay for it. Interesting...

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/n ... aaaaaaahhh

Is the band willing to give us money for downloading it if that's what we think it's worth?

P.S.: I swear, Radiohead could release a CD of dogs squealing while their nuts were in a Vise-Grip, and the tiresome, elitist Pitchfork would call it the Album of the Decade.

Take care,
PK

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 4:30 pm

Pitchfork has ridden Radiohead's nuts a little too much, but the band has put out some amazing CDs. The Bends and OK Computer are bona fide classics, and I think Kid A was a very interesting, creative departure from their normal sound. Hail to the Thief was somewhat uneven, but still good.

Of course, it's all subjective, and God knows I have my share of "classic" albums I can't stand.

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 8:16 pm

Gotta defend Pitchfork a little (being a former pitchfork writer). They do love Radiohead (I don't personally), but so does Rolling Stone, Spin, CMJ, NME, the concert-going-public, etc... Radiohead has never been Pitchfork's Album of the Year (that usually goes some band that 3% of the population has heard before).

Might not be your 'cup o tea', but a lot people seem to dig those knukleheads.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:47 pm

greggsand wrote:Gotta defend Pitchfork a little (being a former pitchfork writer). They do love Radiohead (I don't personally), but so does Rolling Stone, Spin, CMJ, NME, the concert-going-public, etc... Radiohead has never been Pitchfork's Album of the Year (that usually goes some band that 3% of the population has heard before).

Might not be your 'cup o tea', but a lot people seem to dig those knukleheads.

You're right, Gregg. I know I'm in the vast minority who just doesn't "get" or like Radiohead. Man, I've tried. I must have downloaded "OK Computer" and "Kid A" a couple of times, listening through each a few times and then ditching them, only to download and listen again with the same results.

Odd, because I have a lot of electronic, experimental, ambient, alternative, you-name-it in my collection, so it's not like I'm a Kenny Chesney freak trying to understand Radiohead.

I'm glad you are able to poke fun at Pitchfork, too, despite your past writing stint. It's a good read, but I always take it with a grain of salt because of its hilarious arrogance, which has become cliche for the site.

Pitchfork's entire mojo is: "We're going to tell you the bands to listen to, and if you've never heard of them, then we're much smarter and musically savvy than you, a f*cking idiot who's not worth our time or the privilege of the literature that we write."

Problem is, 97.8 percent of the public hasn't heard of about 95 percent of the bands Pitchfork pimps. So I guess they're really smart. I'm overwhelmed with envy.

P.S.: Pitchfork was close with its choice of No. 1 album of the year last year, "Silent Shout" by The Knife. I liked that album, turned on to it by a best-of list at a music Web blog written by DSP's own EZSnappin. But it wasn't my fave of last year. Very solid record, though, as I love the techno vibe throughout!

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:34 am

Another example of fawning Radiohead worship that I just don't get, from a post at the music blog The Rawking Never Stops:

"As for the music itself - whoa. Judging by the tracklist, the album's going to be another classic, but we can all reserve judgement until October 10."

Huh? How the F*CK can you tell an album is going to be a classic just by looking at the track list?

These people aren't fans; they're members of a cult.

Take care,
PK

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:13 am

Now I love my art-rock as much as anyone (this morning's stroll into work was randomly soundtracked by Roxy Music's 'Virginia Plain', some Tortoise and the new CD from iLikeTrains, amongst others), but even I think that Radiohead are the band that put the 'wank' into 'art-wank'.

Probably doesn't help that Thom Yorke is one of the most irritating, know-it-all gobshites on the planet...I'd rather listen to 3 university undergraduates spouting off in the pub than read another interview with him, and that's saying something.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:49 am

pk500 wrote:Pitchfork's entire mojo is: "We're going to tell you the bands to listen to, and if you've never heard of them, then we're much smarter and musically savvy than you, a f*cking idiot who's not worth our time or the privilege of the literature that we write."

That's the mojo of 95% of music critics in the universe

My feelings on Pitchfork are that they are often in the right ballpark on the rating. And most of the reviews are actually fine, it's just the ones that are annoying are some of the most annoying reviews you'll ever read. But I tend to like quite a bit of the albums they give high ratings to. There are a few CDs like Trail of the Dead's Source Tags and Codes and Interpol's Turn out the Bright Lights that I would have ignored if not for their Pitchfork album of the year status. Those are now essential parts of my music collection. And they also turned me on to my favorite album of the 2000s, The Meadowlands by The Wrens.

So, on the whole, they've done more good than harm in my book.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:59 am

Good points, Brando. But I get WAY more out of allmusic.com and its reviews than I've ever gotten from Pitchfork.

Allmusic appears to have reviewers who want to help readers make a decision about albums with intelligent, straightforward reviews that focus on the music instead of reviews fit for an English lit dropout who is trying to impress us with his SAT vocabulary and rambling, "you better understand this" style.

Sure, every music review is guilty of this to some extent. But Pitchfork lays on the pretension heavier than butter at a pancake breakfast.

Plus I dig Allmusic's e-mail list of weekly new releases, with links to the page at allmusic about that album, including the review. I've discovered a TON of new music through that.

Take care,
PK

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:40 am

I am an allmusic.com junkie and agree that their reviews tend to be much better (and concise) than any other site. But they also are way too easy and fall into the pattern of almost always giving at least four stars to an artist's most well-known album or greatest hits compilation. When you're giving four Rick Springfield albums four-and-a-half stars, me thinks you may be setting the curve a tad too high

And yes, they actually give four Rick Springfield albums those ratings (two LPs and two compilations).

Metacritic.com to me has become my go-to site for getting a critical sense of an album -- not that I necessarily only buy what's rated highly, but I usually at least sample what's getting high praise. My personal favorite review site is The Onion AV club, which consistently delivers concise, thoughtful reviews -- the serious ying to The Onion's sarcastic yang.

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:10 pm

I have been getting back into listening to music lately, and this thread has been a great source. Thanks for all of the solid suggestions!

One of the mystery writers i read (John Connolly) is Irish but sets his main series in Maine, with some detours to the South. He has included "soundtrack" cds with 2 of his books that has some very good stuff on it. On one of them is a song by the band Hem. I have not been able to track any other songs down by them -and was considering just buying one of their CDs but wanted to see if anyone here listen to them. Connolly recommends both 'Eveningland' and 'Rabbit Songs'. Any thoughts?

Here is the track list of one of the compilation CDs he did. It was aptly titled "Voices from the Dark" It has some great stuff on it:

TRACK LIST

1. Good Morning - Lullaby for the Working Class
2. Summer Dress - Red House Painters
3. Hollow - Hem
4. Crawl Away - Lambchop
5. Ne T'En Fuis Pas- Kate Bush
6. Cattle and Cane - The Go-Betweens
7. Bordertown - The Walkabouts
8. Ponce de Leon Blues -Beachwood Sparks
9. Twist the Knife -Neko Case
10. Where Are You Now? - Thee More Shallows
11. November 4AM - Pinetop Seven
12. Blinder by the Hour - The Triffids
13. Rock of the Lake - Radar Brothers
14. Happiness - The Blue Nile

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:24 pm

I like Metacritic, too, Brando. Thanks for the tip on the Onion AV Club. I'll check it out!

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:29 pm

Kevin:

Hem is a good, mellow, folky band. "Sleepytime music," I like to call it. Very good mood music.

I got turned on to Hem through John Buccigross' NHL column at ESPN.com, of all places.

Bucci weaves in all sorts of musical references and lyrics into his weekly column, as he's a big-time music buff. Last year, if memory serves me, he compared shoveling fresh snow on his backyard rink to the experience of listening to Hem while driving to work at sunrise on an empty highway.

Hell, I had to check out the band after that analogy, so I grabbed Hem's "Funnel Cloud" album, the band's latest release. Good, mellow tunes.

Seeqpod pulls up 87 hits for Hem. So you can listen to a ton of Hem by following this link:

http://www.seeqpod.com/music/?q=Hem

Enjoy!

Take care,
PK

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:23 pm

pk500 wrote:
greggsand wrote:Gotta defend Pitchfork a little (being a former pitchfork writer). They do love Radiohead (I don't personally), but so does Rolling Stone, Spin, CMJ, NME, the concert-going-public, etc... Radiohead has never been Pitchfork's Album of the Year (that usually goes some band that 3% of the population has heard before).

Might not be your 'cup o tea', but a lot people seem to dig those knukleheads.
You're right, Gregg. I know I'm in the vast minority who just doesn't "get" or like Radiohead. Man, I've tried. I must have downloaded "OK Computer" and "Kid A" a couple of times, listening through each a few times and then ditching them, only to download and listen again with the same results.

Odd, because I have a lot of electronic, experimental, ambient, alternative, you-name-it in my collection, so it's not like I'm a Kenny Chesney freak trying to understand Radiohead.

I'm glad you are able to poke fun at Pitchfork, too, despite your past writing stint. It's a good read, but I always take it with a grain of salt because of its hilarious arrogance, which has become cliche for the site.

Pitchfork's entire mojo is: "We're going to tell you the bands to listen to, and if you've never heard of them, then we're much smarter and musically savvy than you, a f*cking idiot who's not worth our time or the privilege of the literature that we write."

Problem is, 97.8 percent of the public hasn't heard of about 95 percent of the bands Pitchfork pimps. So I guess they're really smart. I'm overwhelmed with envy.

P.S.: Pitchfork was close with its choice of No. 1 album of the year last year, "Silent Shout" by The Knife. I liked that album, turned on to it by a best-of list at a music Web blog written by DSP's own EZSnappin. But it wasn't my fave of last year. Very solid record, though, as I love the techno vibe throughout!

Take care,
PK

The joke among a few of us was that one year Pitchfork was going declare a band that had yet to release an album as "album of the year". I actually like pitchfork's 'snottiness'. I'd take that any day over, say Rolling Stone, where EVERYTHING is a 3 or 4 star review.

The most amazing thing I've seen the pitchfork world, is the power of the "Best New Music" stamp for reviews. It's the new holy grail of rock. Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands, Girl Talk, Tapes and Tapes, Band of Horses, whoever... Some friends of mine, Dappled Cities Fly, received a positive review (no 'best new music' stamp), and had 50,000+ hits on their website that day alone. Crazy stuff for a website run out of a dude's apartment for years.

Years ago, I knew pitchfork was onto something when they bashed a little tour-only 7" by the Unicorns. That night I was at a Unicorns show & some roadie ran out on stage yelling "F**k you PITCHFORK" over & over. I looked at my buddy (and fellow writer) and said "wow"....

Best video ever:

http://whoasa.imeem.com/video/WJ9fXVyS/ ... ting_guru/

EDIT: saw some love thrown to allmusic.com. I love that site, but they have ZERO quality control. I tried to write for them (did one review) & bailed. Basically, ANYONE can write reviews for allmusic. That's fine & all, but u get a lot rabid fans writing review for bands they like. So as a buying guide, be careful. Case in point, go read all the reviews for Ringo Starr's solo albums (ignore the star rating). After reading these, you'll wonder how do I NOT own all of these albums!!!! lol....

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:37 pm

That's a VERY funny video, Gregg. Thanks for the link!

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:52 pm

Yeah, Allmusic makes me scratch my head at times. This might be the most infamous review on the site, in my opinion:

http://wm09.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=a ... fixqehld6e

Four and one-half stars for William Shatner's infamous "The Transformed Man," featuring his horrid versions of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

Those covers are so bad they hurt your gut from the laughter. Hernia-inducing music, for sure.

Take care,
PK

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 3:39 pm

pk500 wrote:That's a VERY funny video, Gregg. Thanks for the link!

Take care,
PK

Hilarious, the part with Rob Riggle in the Pitchfork office made me laugh out loud. "8.3!"

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 5:50 pm

Re: Hem

Thanks PK, I guessed that if anyone knew Hem it might be you!

I am working late and that gives me something to listen to while working on a incredibly boring project. I have been using Deezer.com (used to be Blogmusic.net) to check out music, but nobody has uploaded any Hem.

TheHiddenTrack · Post by **TheHiddenTrack** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 5:53 pm

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/pi ... _music_6_8

I love this article, pitchfork gives music a 6.8.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 6:11 pm

TheHiddenTrack wrote:http://www.theonion.com/content/news/pi ... _music_6_8

I love this article, pitchfork gives music a 6.8.

Awesome! That article is spot on.

grtwhtsk · Post by **grtwhtsk** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 4:15 pm

I guess this lady won't be chiming in on this thread anytime soon...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071005/ap_ ... ding_music

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 4:20 pm

She was a fool for making available 1,700 songs on her hard drive for uploading. That's a BIG strike one.

She used KaZaa. The record companies HATE KaZaa because its parent company, Sharman, has repeated told them to piss off. It even went to the trouble of incorporating in the South Pacific island of Vanuatu to escape prosecution by the record companies. So I think the record companies are trying to put the screws to KaZaa users first. Strike two.

She fought the record companies instead of settling out of court when IP tracing is almost indisputable evidence. Strike three, you're out, toots.

P.S.: She also swapped out her hard drive after the charges were filed. Brilliant.

Take care,
PK