Simian Mobile Disco - Attack Decay Sustain Release

Strangely contrasting reviews from me and Jess today.

the feud continues!!!!

what is it with mid-8.s and functional 2007 pop-dance records?

there were so many, terrible, terrible statements on this thread.

"pop is not just some catchall where we throw everything with lyrics, choruses and headbands"

erm, yes, yes it is. pop = everything catchy

I didn't think there was a feud; I thought we were vaguelly in agreement.

i think we have hardly whit in common aesthetically nick, so i dunno why it would be so strange

xpost!

also i'm almost completely burned out on/lacking the attention span or energy for on any dance music that's NOT 3:30 BLAM-BLAM-BLAM chuck-all-the-hooks in shit, so grain of salt.

Haha; I agree on that totally, I just thought, on this thread, that there was vague consensus! By the time I wrote about it, another m onth on from this, I'd probably notched up the negativism a touch, but I'm surprised you came out so in favour.

xpost - Whereas I'm the other way around, and anything that's hyperactive and short screams at me "I'M EVIL".

Have you heard the second of this year's Two Lone Swordsmen albums?

i have not

You should. Have you heard the first?

The only SMD I've heard was a quite abominable remix of Muse's Knights Of Cydonia. I know you'd probably all blame this on the source material, but actually it sounded NOTHING LIKE the original, occasionally reminding us what it was meant to be remixing by stopping entirely and then playing wholesale a complete sample from the Muse version (whinnying horses, voices in harmony chanting "No-one's gonna take me away" etc). The rest of the time we had this boring, tuneless, sonically bereft pulse, which didn't even see fit to change its modulation/volume/pitch/anything which is generally the preserve of good dance music. The result, and I repeat, my sole experience of SMD, was truly some of the most wretched 5 minutes of music I've ever heard.

Oh wait a mo, I've already posted this exact same spiel about a month ago. To hell with it. It bears repeating.

There's nothing wrong with remixing something and making it sound nothing like the source material, dude. In fact, if it sounds too much like the source I tedn to feel short-changed.

I know there's nothing wrong with a remix being entirely different (in fact, I generally prefer remixes to bear a hefty original stamp), but I was emphasising how this car-wreck wasn't Muse's fault.

Good dance music being that which not only MAKES you want to dance, but that also provides a pleasurable experience, a musical journey through the evening's carousel.

"Knights of Cydonia" is about the worst-produced song ever. Bar the last track on the Bloc Party record.

^^^ ban these two

:(

Knights of Cydonia was Zane Lowe's single of the year, 2006.

I never liked KOC much anyway. It was an ill-advised choice.

You ever considered applying for Pitchfork, Louis?

i think ol' lou's more a stylus kinda guy

he still thinks online music reviews have the power to change the world

Nah, he's pretty much what Amy Phillips is screaming out for in her calls for the new journalism.

So do I! Hmmm.

i too hold a torch for the early days of music crit but it's more from the "dead by your early 30s from alcohol consumption" angle

lol at the idea that music journalists earn enough money to buy a fatal amount of alcohol

This is why I treat it strictly as a hobby.

christ how much does cheap booze cost in that socialist nightmare you call a country?

Arranging hi-fis on trolleys and managing circulation systems and creatig content for library plasma screens is buying me a house. Writing about music bought me some headphones.

damn u people i wanted to snigger at LJ's post re 'not liking KOC'

re fatal booze, bottle of Windowlene is only about £1.89

i never pegged dom for a booze snob

Wow. Non snobbier.

i'm surprised you got the whole KOC thing, stevem. it's mentioned once as an in-joke on a facebook group description, truly this is stalking internet knowledge retention at its most acute.

online music writing DOES occasionally change something, viz. NS' 65DOS revelation. plus, i wouldn't have half the music i do if it weren't for reviews!