Has The NME Got Good?

He moved on. progressed His latest 2 albums are the best things he's done in the past 20 odd years, after being in a dadrock rut in the mid-late 90s. And all credit to him for that, even if his vox aren't that great.

Discussing the merits or lack of them of Paul Weller is a bit like discussing the merits of a table. He's just there, just a bit dull.

96.BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB < HOWL >2005

loooooooooooool

His latest 2 albums may have been more interesting in a way, but he is still standing still in terms of songwriting. Plus I cannot stand the overcompressed sound he seems to like these days. The songs may be better on the last two albums, but the production was much better on "Stanley Road" with its clear sound and extreme Ocean Colour Scene-like stereo separatation.

the further ocean colour scene are separated from my stereo the better

damn right, so glad he moved away from that shite

Ledge, I am totally putting a pint in the post for you right now.

Well, the best thing about OCS is their production, although they too have become more compressed and less stereo-friendly lately.

Can I get a coke?
xp

I'm not buying a fucking round here.

http://www.photosight.org/up/2007/06/06/60633.jpg

Can a mod maybe linkify that picture please? Don't think anybody at work wants to see a bottle of Coke being pissed on.

I thought it was an erect penis made of ice but fair do's.

Don't think anybody at work wants to see a bottle of Coke being pissed on.

If they work for Pepsi, they do. :)

LOL

Compare the "100 albums you never heard" with Q Mag's "100 albums voted for by our readers, i.e. 100 albums you have heard"...

ronsons page was good. yeah mobb deep isnt exactly non canonical but its not exactly talked about much in the nme is it? and though i do get that hes trying to 'move on' past his hip hop background, its not like hes ever totally abandoned it. hes just playing the media/industry game. plus him selecting hip hop is more likely to get nme readers (whoever they may be these days) to check brand nubian, smif n wessun etc out than say, dizzee or someone (though dizzee would never have picked those groups).

weller for my money started getting really dull and worthy in the early/mid 90s. when he started getting treated like an elder statesmen/national treasure, that just made it worse. that aside, i like hearing what he has to say, esp in that julian temple documentary last year, even if it is a bit 'we need a revolution maaaan' though at least that has a bit of optimism to it, whereas a lot of modern musicians are too cynical to say something like that.

Is The Blueprint, Life After Death, All Eyez On Me or Raising Hell talked about more in NME? NO BECAUSE THEY DON'T COVER ANY HIP-HOP.

I can't even remember what I was really pissed off about anymore. Everything I guess.

17 year olds are more interested in Tinie Tempah than Mumford & Sons. Cover some black people, yo.

life and times of shawn carter, ready to die, and me against the world are all better though. :P

they shouldnt cover tinie tempah, but they should cover tempa t. cover some black people is a good policy, just not crap ones.

ok yes but you know what i mean

xpost

Has The NME Got Game?

17 year olds are more interested in Tinie Tempah than Mumford & Sons.

Maybe in London.

Anyway, we now have something to say NO!! to the thread question but will warm the norwegian cockles of Geir's heart.
http://www.magazinesdirect.com/NME-magazine-subscription?utm_content=Magazine+Page+Mag+Image

There must be 10 different covers as the one I saw in the supermarket had a different cover.

http://www.nme.com/layout/magImage.php

Only Two different.

2 covers I mean

We’re beginning 2011 in style with our legendary New Music Issue, the essential guide to the 10 brightest and best bands to get on before anyone else this year. One of the big stories already developing is, The Welcome Return of British Guitar Bands, and as such we’ve got two different covers featuring the two leading lights of that: The Vaccines and Brother.

The Welcome Return of British Guitar Bands

did they have a weekend off?

was going to use the other thread but this one will do.

DIE.

the other cover is a lot worse. The most punchable band I've seen in a long long time. And i bet the music is just as shit.

oh wtf, when did this section start?
http://www.nme.com/metal

Do they have a metal section in the actual mag now?

got a strong 'second coming of Northern Uproar' vibe from the NME's interview with that Brother band a few weeks back (not heard their music) which I'm down w/ for amusement value as long as it doesn't actually involve them being successful

http://akamai-static.nme.com/images/article/BrotherRS050111.jpg
Brother

Oh good grief, Brother look like the worst band ever. "Brother! You know what else had brothers... Oasis. Do you see????"

The lead singer is called Lee um

Gig U Missed:

Meanwhile, the Slough-based newcomers are playing the This Feeling club night at the Vibe Bar in London tonight (December 31).

Also on the bill are Life In Film, former Seahorses frontman Chris Helme and a string quartet playing songs by the likes of Oasis, Kasabian and The Verve.

Haha if those guys showed up at your party you'd be like *sigh*

oh my god they're REAL?

hahahahahahahahaha I somehow stumbled across them already but thought it was parody, may have been festively merry...

omg chris helme? the worst singer in the history of music LOLOLOLOL

Yes Brother seem unusually dire from what I somewhere read on them, somewhere that took them and the Vaccines seriously - I know, it was the Friday Guardian! I was a bit shocked.

not shocked (now)

Chris Helme basically turns up on the top floors of various London pubs to busk for money now doesn't he?

that brother photo is used (bigger version) on the other NME cover btw. Hopefully someone will find the actual cover so you can all see it in its full horror

Anyway it seems pretty obvious that the NME are hoping that 2011=2001 and The Vaccines are the new Strokes that will usher in a new era of stuff that might actually sell magazines, but the general climate doesn't feel right for that just now.

Compare the "100 albums you never heard" with Q Mag's "100 albums voted for by our readers, i.e. 100 albums you have heard"...

The NME and Q readership is not strictly the same. Q readers are probably more familiar with older stuff from the 60s-80s whereas, on the other hand, they are considerably more sceptical towards whatever NME tout as the "next big thing" (and also more faithful to it if they like it, i.e. not hating the "next big thing" half a year later when it has actually become big).

No, but upthread the point was made that NME's list was fulfilling a similar need for people too young for Q. I dispute that point, Q is just doing the comfortable "yes, we all like these records don't we?"

h8 the vaccines just because their name makes me think of the vaselines who i love and i dunno that makes me hold them to an even higher standard of contempt than the one i am already holding them to.

don't think i'm ever going to actively listen to another new british indie band again in my life.*

*most probably a lie, unfortunately. or the scene decides that the cocteau twins are the only influence worth having and i go :D

xpost The Friday Guardian piece didn't take Brother seriously, but did the Vaccines.

No, but upthread the point was made that NME's list was fulfilling a similar need for people too young for Q

I'd say it partly does. Not least because it contains hardly no recent albums at all. But sure, rebellious youngsters may not want to have a lot of Beatles albums recommended to them. Not now.

Um, does the Q list have loads of Beatles albums in it?

Actually I can answer that: The list is only of albums issued since Q first started...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/27/38450127_5b10ff1006.jpg