Northern State calls for "More Cowbell"

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whatever happened to daphne & celeste, anyway?

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:13 (nineteen years ago) link

and shampoo.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:13 (nineteen years ago) link

and l'trimm.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:13 (nineteen years ago) link

and the wee papa girl rappers.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:13 (nineteen years ago) link

and the cookie crew.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:14 (nineteen years ago) link

and monie love.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:14 (nineteen years ago) link

and the fat girls.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:14 (nineteen years ago) link

and jj fad.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:14 (nineteen years ago) link

strike that. i never liked jj fad. or the oaktown ho's.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:15 (nineteen years ago) link

preemptive: whatever happened to that group who did that camel toe song/

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:16 (nineteen years ago) link

Chuck has them all locked away in his basement.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:17 (nineteen years ago) link

scott you professional psychotic how could you not like jj fad??

― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:18 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm extremely disappointed by the new Northern State -- Can't figure out where all their hooks and punchlines went.

I had absolutely no expectations for the album. Yes they rhymes are crap, but occasionally something funny sneaks through and sometimes what i found funny probably wasn't a joke. The Har Mar track is hilarious (and by shortening his name I don't mean to imply I am a fan). I don't really get the worst thing ever thing. Name me reasons why they are so bad and hated. Unless its some vendetta against xgau for loving them up so much. I'd much rather listen to this than the new Beastie Boys album.

― artdamages (artdamages), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:19 (nineteen years ago) link

I remember when it was a JJ Fad vs. Salt n Pepa world, and people somehow thought they could not love both.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:19 (nineteen years ago) link

just y'all want to know that we muthafuckin rocked the *cowbell* on "push It" where Fad were all hamma lamma dooma lamma sima lama whatever bullshit "freestyle" they were speakin on "supersonic"

― Salt N' Pepa, Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:23 (nineteen years ago) link

I still remember the devastating "Shante Uprising" that to this day gives people the shakes.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:25 (nineteen years ago) link

artdamaged chris, that e.p. made my top ten that year, so i don't hate them, but i can believe that the new album is sucky. cuz lots of things are sucky.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:27 (nineteen years ago) link

Fuck UTFO and their crippled "Roxanne"

― The Real Roxanne, Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:29 (nineteen years ago) link

I don't get the "ironic indie pop record" thing, myself. (Unless that had something to do with Le Tigre.) (Though actually I don't get what it has to do with them, either.)

― chuck, Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:32 (nineteen years ago) link

I wonder what Saul Williams thinks of all this.

― artdamages (artdamages), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:33 (nineteen years ago) link

The first EP (second EP too) was a great record, period.

Re the "worst thing ever" thing:

Is everybody who writes for Pitchfork this stupid????

― chuck, Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:35 (nineteen years ago) link

i have the last post on that thread:

Ha Ha! This thread was great. It should be bronzed. I liked the Northern State e.p. I thought it was really funny.

-- scott seward (skotro...), April 5th, 2004.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:37 (nineteen years ago) link

see how consistent i am.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:38 (nineteen years ago) link

indie pop thing directed to har mar superstar (and "gravy train" et al)

i have never knowingly heard northern state but i suspect i'd hate them

― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:38 (nineteen years ago) link

unless yer like me and you just hate them cuz you've never heard them but you've heard so much about them.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:42 (nineteen years ago) link

That's almost about how I feel about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at this point (though I suspect I'll like them anyway).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:42 (nineteen years ago) link

Gravy Train!!! aren't bad at all (esp. the parts that sound exactly like Debbie Deb.) And they're not indie-rock; they're B-52s-style new wave fag-hag dance music. (Jess is OTM about Har Mar, though.)

― chuck, Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:42 (nineteen years ago) link

(You all know nothing about cowbells.)

― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:45 (nineteen years ago) link

you aren't missing anything, ned.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:45 (nineteen years ago) link

"(You all know nothing about cowbells.)"

i know 'em when i see 'em.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:46 (nineteen years ago) link

you aren't missing anything, ned.

No, both Dan and Spencer like them, as does good friend Stripey, so for me that's usually a good sign. (If all I get is a half-hearted Banshees revival with a worse drummer, though...)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:49 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, Scott's right -- I mean, Yeah Yeah Yeahs are, what, the 300th or 400th best band to come out on an indie label in the last couple years? And they made the same record twice, except the second time it wasn't anywhere near as good as the first time (though oh yeah, it had a ballad on it apparently.) They sort of sound like the early Pretenders with worse songwriting, more or less. (Except not as bad as when PJ Harvey sounds like the early Pretenders with worse songwriting, which is at least better than when she makes "cabaret records," yuck.) So definitely nothing to lose sleep over.

― chuck, Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:50 (nineteen years ago) link

Heheh. I'll keep all this in mind. (And Chuck, I will actually honest to god have a proper pitch about something to e-mail you in a bit. I think.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:51 (nineteen years ago) link

there is no way 300 or 400 bands on indie labels over the last couple years are better than the early Pretenders with worse songwriting.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:54 (nineteen years ago) link

anthony, do you like sahara hotnights? i can't remember. they have better songs than YYY's.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:56 (nineteen years ago) link

by the way the stooges were the Rolling Stones with worse songwriting

what I think of the Sahara Hotnights and the fuck they have better songs than the YYYs.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:58 (nineteen years ago) link

by the way the stooges were the Rolling Stones with worse songwriting

Well yeah, that's why the Stooges were so great.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:59 (nineteen years ago) link

MY POINT

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:59 (nineteen years ago) link

Then we're all happy!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:00 (nineteen years ago) link

the best sahara hotnights songs are basically the half of the songs on a go-go's comp nobody remembers. good but not comparable to gonzo pretenders.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:02 (nineteen years ago) link

though their cover of "Rockaway Beach" is the foxiest thing I've heard all year and reaffirms they shouldn't be writing their own lyrics.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:03 (nineteen years ago) link

chuck sort of reads like early lester bangs with worse ideas, more or less.

I mean COME ON, the YYYs guitars sound *nothing* like the Pretenders.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:03 (nineteen years ago) link

they're "worse"

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:05 (nineteen years ago) link

wow, i must be psi-kik. here i bring up sahara hotnight's songwriting and here you address their songwriting in a very well-written and cogent review of sahara hotnights. it's like syncronicity or something. i'd still rather listen to sahara hotnights though. and i don't even really listen to sahara hotnights.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:09 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, but just cuz the YYY's are worse than the pretenders doesn't make them the stooges.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:10 (nineteen years ago) link

no but it implies a precedent in which being "worse" than your influences doesn't necessarily mean you're devoid of value.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:17 (nineteen years ago) link

but thanks for the complimentary adjectives about my review!

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:18 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh sure, anthony. and your premise is sound. i'm a much bigger paul revere & the raiders fan than i am a stones fan.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:22 (nineteen years ago) link

http://www.metageek.com/archives/2004_05.html

― Ian c=====8 (orion), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:23 (nineteen years ago) link

oh man YOU are psychic! I've been bringing up Paul Revere & The Raiders on all the Franz Ferdinandy nu-wave threads (basically I like any band that I can imagine being Paul Revere & The Raiders)! Though I do like the Stones more.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:24 (nineteen years ago) link

Skipping 17 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

>damn catchy for college shit and more spazzoid than what gets on the radio.<

I agree with this. (Than the *rock* that gets on the radio, anyway.)

And yeah, Scott likes more "real" metal than I do, probably -- stuff that strikes me as gratuitiously ugly and not sad or beautiful or rock'n'rolling enough. (Though he is right about that Das Oath CD!) (Though I think he calls them "punk," so maybe they don't count.)

― chuck, Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:50 (nineteen years ago) link

anthony, i definitely think if i were 20 or 21 that the YYY's would be on my hit parade for sure. there is something to the "jaded" argument. although i'm still blown away by new stuff all the time, so it is only part of the argument.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:50 (nineteen years ago) link

doesn't that Das Oath album make you wanna jump around the room!!! I love that thing.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:51 (nineteen years ago) link

Plus, I do like tons of music that doesn't strike me as "weird" at all, obviously; I am hardly a weirdness fetishist, I don't think. I just like some normal sounds more than other normal sounds, I guess.

― chuck, Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:54 (nineteen years ago) link

nah, you aren't JUST a weirdness fetishist, but when I think about the ends of the spectrum you guys seem to dance around, stuff like the YYYs kinda falls too far in the middle. Add universal acclaim and the contrarian jones is bound to build.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:56 (nineteen years ago) link

For me, foxy noise pop is a big hole-in-one.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:57 (nineteen years ago) link

i like pop a whole lot though. big shiny brassy pop.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:59 (nineteen years ago) link

i should really listen to the radio more though. i'm so out of it where the top 40 is concerned.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 22:59 (nineteen years ago) link

Is amy grant still on the charts?

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 23:00 (nineteen years ago) link

I think the Yeah Yeah Yeahs not only aren't weird enough; they're not pop enough*, either! Which is how I feel about a lot of artsy bands trying to be pop bands, obviously. Though I guess that was Anthony's point. (And though my relative ambivalence about them has *nothing* to do with being contrarian, being *vocal* about it might. Though I've never been vocal about it at all until this thread, I should note; I've barely mentioned them one way or another before this.)

― chuck, Thursday, 26 August 2004 23:02 (nineteen years ago) link

I haven't either, i don't think.

(chuck, check out that Tarentel album if you get it in the mail)

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 23:04 (nineteen years ago) link

Amy Grant is not on the charts, but Ashlee Simpson is. Skye Sweetnam may or may not be (my Billboard subscription ran out, dammit.) (Almost all the other pop I love these days is on the country charts.)

― chuck, Thursday, 26 August 2004 23:04 (nineteen years ago) link

I remained respectfully silent when Nina Simone died too.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 23:04 (nineteen years ago) link

I stay off of Soft Bulletin AND Smashing Punpkins threads out of respect for others.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 23:06 (nineteen years ago) link

I leave GBV fans in peace.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 23:07 (nineteen years ago) link

I mean, I don't really care too much about Jay-Z OR Nas, but you won't hear a peep out of me.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 23:08 (nineteen years ago) link

Scott, you are a much better man than me, as I have said many times.

― chuck, Thursday, 26 August 2004 23:20 (nineteen years ago) link

But if anyone messes with one of my favorite bands!! Ooh, brother, I'll let them have it!

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 26 August 2004 23:28 (nineteen years ago) link

They can mess with my fave bands all the time! You get exercise patience. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 August 2004 23:38 (nineteen years ago) link

I've never understood the "Maps" love either - it always sounds like it's missing a bridge or another verse or something. One of these days I'm just going to burn "Black Tongue" onto a mix CD, and sell Fever to Tell back.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 26 August 2004 23:40 (nineteen years ago) link

I feel ya scott. I put on the new Ghostface and this dude I know said "rap has really fallen a long way since de la soul" and I got this serious intense look in my eyes like I imagine CeCe's friend had and said "Dude, this is Ghostface. What the fuck are you on about?" and he looked sorta freaked out.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 27 August 2004 02:59 (nineteen years ago) link

"Maps" love is easily explained:

Bombastic drums + open fifths + arpeggio-heavy melody = HEAVEN.

It is missing a verse but hey put that fantastic false instrumental verse in there instead.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:06 (nineteen years ago) link

I like "Maps" a lot, but part of my ectasy over the new "Y Control" video is based on the fact that I don't want people to think that song sums up the YYYs.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:16 (nineteen years ago) link

btw I would like to amend my YYYs description to "foxy noise pop-rock" lest people who bothered to read my AC Newman review point out that I used pop as a noun rather than a prefix.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:18 (nineteen years ago) link

I actually did see the video but to the soundtrack of the new Bark Psychosis album. It's a lovely contrast!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 August 2004 04:35 (nineteen years ago) link

Ha, nice try Cece. Too late, the pop-suffix jig is up.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 27 August 2004 15:04 (nineteen years ago) link

hahaha. my second excuse is that while I said that "pop as prefix" is MORE interesting than as noun, I never said that all pop-as-noun was bad.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 27 August 2004 15:12 (nineteen years ago) link

Northern State are unbearable.

I enjoyed the YYY's pretty much and when I heard "Maps" right after the album came out I knew it was going to be big...its got the yearning melody etc. I don't care much for the rest of the record aside from "Y Control" probably for the same reasons Chuck doesn't like the group as a whole - except I think Maps and Y Control are exceptions.

― djdee2005, Friday, 27 August 2004 17:07 (nineteen years ago) link

I wish I liked Sahara Hotnights more, too. My favorite song of theirs is on their debut record and sounds like 80s Heart or romantic UK Lita Ford. ("Quite A Feeling.")

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:54 (nineteen years ago) link

As for Northern State, I liked them, thought they were funny ("I'm Italian like my mother, skin that eggplant like no other"), but I'm not dying to hear the new album. I'm just like "meh, I'll get around to it I'm sure."

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:58 (nineteen years ago) link

three years pass...

If you got a sweat-suit, and you're dripping with diamonds
Tell me are you a rapper, or a mom from Long Island?

looool

― gabbneb, Thursday, 15 November 2007 20:06 (sixteen years ago) link

six years pass...

Had a weird urge to revisit their music. They are definitely wince-inducing.

― avant-sarsgaard (litel), Sunday, 19 October 2014 03:38 (nine years ago) link

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