Has The NME Got Good?

The Strange Boys are dope though real talk

I do wonder if "young people" really do want an Ian Curtis tribute issue, though?

Lots of "young people" listen to Joy Division.

Ian Curtis' 'stock' is probably as high now as it was in the early 80s. Just count the number of people you see wearing JD T-shirts at gigs.

didn't they run a cover not even 18 months ago with vampire weekend on the cover that was all AMERICA IS COOL AGAIN & then listed 20 american bands

I think Hermann still thinks it's 1995.

lolling at animal collective being buried there in b/w avi buffalo & the dum dum girls

cover is kinda cool visually tho -- whole redesign has gone a long way towards making the magazine look less like a music tabloid & instead like an actual journalistic endeavor

ok so it was about 18 mons ago - lol @ lil wayne

http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2008/08/nme-top_25_bands_making_america_cool.jpg

Yeah that old cover style was appalling, I think a lot of the recent covers have been a lot better.

'how twilight scored the coolest soundtrack ever' is a bold claim!

but it does seem (from the covers n e way) to be better than under conor mack.

has nme forgot that someone made a famous movie about ian curtis

'Joe Lean - Why I canned my debut album'

A nation holds it's breath while we await it's appearance.

I do wonder if "young people" really do want an Ian Curtis tribute issue, though?

― djh, Monday, May 31, 2010 9:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Lots of "young people" listen to Joy Division.

― billstevejim, Monday, May 31, 2010 9:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Ian Curtis' 'stock' is probably as high now as it was in the early 80s. Just count the number of people you see wearing JD T-shirts at gigs.

― Duran (Doran), Tuesday, June 1, 2010 11:01 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^ truth

the thing about young people is that Joy Division is still a novel thing to them

the Miami Dance Conference

is this still a thing?

http://www.nme.com/images/10524_115720_nmemagpageusindie240510.jpg

^^ I like that they picked Colorado to fill in the west

I can't read what any of those are (except possible The National in New York?). Is there a link?

IN FACTS WE TRUST

NME is logical positivists now, u c.

You've changed, Pacific Northwest. You used to be cool.

http://altreport.hipsterrunoff.com/2010/06/avey-tare-escalates-personal-brand-named-alt-american-icon-by-nme.html

I guess those ass holes across the ocean are trying to ‘take over’ the indie brand. Guess they can have it since it is irrelevant/dead n e ways. USA is rlly conceptcore/chillwave/bleep bloopy these days, so I am not sure if we are into ‘ghey bands’ like The Muse of The Kings of Leon [via the Lion Kings]. h8 u NME for trying to act like the USA doesn’t produce the best music in the world. AnCo is gonna take yall down in the World Cup of post-indie bands.

WORST WORLD CUP EVER.

I love that even in 2010 the NME cover still features both the Stone Roses and Liam Gallagher

Don't forget the Beatles!

Geir will never let you forget, don't worry ilxor!

Was going to be snarky and post this in the worst NME cover ever, but I'm feeling charitable and think that on balance it's a good thing that NME are looking at acts that try to push the envelope rather than the usual Oasis/Pete Doherty/Arctic Monkeys stuff.

http://www.nme.com/images/1068_105439_kelenmecover070610.jpg

KELE

BOLDLY GOING WHERE BLOC PARTY NEVER DARED

Cover still features Oasis = yep, it's still the NME.

Baby steps.

On first glance, I thought that the cover above listing the American bands said "Warrant" instead of "Warpaint."

I dunno if it's a good thing or not that a 50+ Paul Weller is making more risky and interesting music than most NME approved "indie bands" have been doing in recent years. Hopefully things will improve in UK indie though. I did think his days of NME coverage was gone though.

j3ff I thought the exact same as you when I first saw it!

what a weird cover

KELE

BEATING BLOC PARTY AT A GAME THEY WEREN'T EVEN BOLD ENOUGH TO PLAY

lol

it looks terrific, which is a huge step up from the past couple years. all they need to do now is... cover decent acts?

terrific is not etc.

That Kele single would be pretty good if it wasn't for his direction-free vocal.

for a second i thought it was Lethal Bizzle on the cover

Grindie Revival

oh for the halcyon days of grindie

Today I saw the NME with a whole issue on THE 100 BEST ALBUMS YOU'VE NEVER HEARD.

I looked through it. I had heard some of them, heard of others, didn't want to hear of some.

But the whole exercise seems to be admirable. Yes, I really think that the NME has improved. In a virtually impossible media climate, they are trying, in their way, to be more serious about pop and its history, than they have been in the past decade, even though probably none of what's left of their demographic cares much about it.

They even had a para on The Bodines and 'Therese'!

NME aiming for the "not old enough to read Mojo, not rockist enough to read Q" demographic?

xpost I agree. For the first time since 2002, I have found the NME to be worth reading again, if only from time to time. Broader scope, sharper reviews, noticeably higher number of female writers (perhaps not surprisingly), more sincere in its enthusiasms, less desperate in its flogging of worthless dead horses, and generally more trustworthy. Although I'm not in its intended demographic, I no longer feel alienated by its ethos.

I've not picked up a physical copy yet since the new editor took over, but everything I've seen suggests I will agree with Mike when I eventually do.

some discussion of that nme list on this thread — I agree that it's p.cool (reminds me of the sort of weird eclectic lists pitchfork used to do, like, a decade ago), but maybe a bit too... easy? hard to explain exactly what I mean, but it sorta feels like tokenism stretched out over an entire list — like, yeah okay, you guys are professional music critics, I certainly hope there are 2 or 3 obscure cool jazz/psychrock/country/whatever albums that you know and love! but that doesn't mean you should slap them all on a list and pretend it means something!!
(related concern: who exactly is the audience for this piece?)

(I am basing this assessment totally on that one piece — and not even the actual writing, just the list of albums — so grain of salt, of course)

I actually bought this issue today. I bought the Albums Of Year issue (the only one I buy each year)and I was disappointed with it. But I figured this issue looked interesting enough to pick up and read. I just hope it is worth reading.

Most of the list was chosen by 'celebs', Mark Ronson chose 5 hiphop albums, Friendly Fires picked some electronica, James Dean Bradfield picked Thomas Dolby and ABC! Hence the rather ramshackle nature of it, but in spite of that it looked more interesting than I expected.

I bet paul weller chose the zombies. He's been banging on about it for a good few years now every chance he gets.

Yes he did. And even I heard most of that LP 10 years ago.

My take on this list etc would be: yes it's daft, flawed, shallow etc from all kinds of angles. But attacking a worthy NME piece for that would be breaking a butterfly on a wheel. It's just remarkable that they've done it at all - for the kids, not seasoned pop listeners like ILM; after the drastic, radical decline of the magazine; and in a world where it must be nigh impossible to make a quality print magazine, or maybe any print magazine, anymore. It's in that very limited context that I find it such an admirable swim against the tide.

But the whole exercise seems to be admirable. Yes, I really think that the NME has improved. In a virtually impossible media climate, they are trying, in their way, to be more serious about pop and its history, than they have been in the past decade, even though probably none of what's left of their demographic cares much about it.

NME doesn't need to write about pop as long as its demographic isn't interested. Or, if it does, it should write about pop that its demographic may be interested in hearing about. That is, male guitar pop from the UK.

No geir, the NME should write about good music.