Yo P&J, I'm really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but ILX had the greatest 2009 poll of all time! All time! (2009 ILX Trax Poll Results: TOP TEN TODAY)

oh ok i just listend to that one

The dif between Phoenix and Interpol/The Killers, though, is that they don't seem aggressively fame hungry. They're more concerned with making perfect-sounding records (something I'm sure was considered by Air when they brought them all together as a backing band).

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, February 2, 2010 3:43 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

don't see how a lack of fame hunger has any effect on how they come across to me (other than that they sure are a lot more faceless than the Killers, for better or worse)

Oh, it probably shouldn't. I just appreciate bands who are total studio rats and only go play live out of obligation.

btw as someone who has been experiencing phoenix's old records for the first time in the last two weeks or so, i'd strongly encourage people to give them a chance as they're quite different from the newer stuff.

i loved when noz tweeted after pazz & jop "i youtubed some 'indie rock' songs i didn't recognize from the p&j list but it turns out that i already do know them from tv commercials."

Joanna Newsom vs Dirty Projectors is amazing BTW

also the DP singing is not nearly as off-putting next to JN

its never been like that>united>alphabetical>wolfgang amadeus imo

i'm kind of with kitchen on this; I don't want to do the old "I liked their first album better" schtick but, well....

dp newsom is kinda shaggsy i spose

I just appreciate bands who are total studio rats and only go play live out of obligation.

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, February 2, 2010 3:51 PM (43 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i understand this with, like, Steely Dan, but in the ProTools era hearing spotless antiseptic car commercial rock doesn't really fill me with appreciation for the band's sense of studio craft

are people trying to use the fact that "1901" is in a car commercial as a dig against phoenix? like who cares? also i'd kind of guess that whatever phoenix album you heard first is gonna be your favorite--if you've heard one...

if you've heard one you've heard em all that is

eh i heard them in order and i don't think thats right at all

United was the first one I heard, but I like each successive album better than the one before it.

tbh it's only a dig w/ me because it sounds like a car commercial (i.e. if I had no idea that it was a real song by a critically acclaimed band I'd assume it was just some ad agency hackwork)

I get the impression I would like Phoenix's early stuff better, it's just that their new stuff doesn't make me interested in hearing it.

― The Reverend, Tuesday, February 2, 2010 2:46 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

you would dig "if i ever feel better" and "everything is everything" and "too young"

too young and rally are their best songs

much more indebted to soul & disco then car commercial indie rock

I brought up the commercial thing and it wasn't a dig at all, it was an "oh, THAT song! I like that song!" reaction followed by an observation on how I actually hear all of this stuff since I never listen to alt radio anymore.

yeah "rally" makes me so happy

i think ppl are making the case that phoenix SOUNDS like it was made for car commercials but the lyrics/vocals are willfully eccentric and kind of blow that up imo

I liked their first album better isn't a schtick w/phoenix, just how it is
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01442/jamie-hector_1442541c.jpg

car commercial music sounds like a compliment wrt phoenix and their album before this is one of my favourite of the 00s

Television is alt radio now. Hipster twenty-somethings at ad agencies read music blogs too, have favorite bands, and slip them work if the opportunity arises.

yeah 'it's never been like that' is just about the perfect guitar pop record

btw this thread is inspiring me to finally check out Grizzly Bear and my initial reaction is "...really?"

Starting to think that "Daniel" will make the list and "Heads Will Roll" or possibly "My Girls" will get the shaft... just a hunch (er... hope?).

the little drum break in consolation prizes is so perfect it made me lol 1st time i heard it

much more indebted to soul & disco then car commercial indie rock

― big hoos state of mind (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 3:57 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

talking about a band's non-indie rock influences when defending their indie rock-sounding stuff is a weird dead end (see also: Dirty Projectors upthread)

If I'd voted, I would have voted for "Daniel" or "Pearl's Dream".

i'd be stunned if my girls got cut. and don't we have our YYY quota yet?

The first two Phoenix albums really are different than the last two, though. It's a legit point of contention.

04 -- Animal Collective - My Girls (21 votes, 243.5 points, 1 #1 vote/s) (3 in P&J, 1 in p4k)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zol2MJf6XNE

For me, this song is like one of those action movies that only gets good about half-way through itself, and so that’s where you always start it when you pop in the DVD. Mid-way through “My Girls” the strong melody and howling vocals start harmonizing wonderfully with the rhythms and peripheral sounds, and Noah Lennox’s spiritual or pharmaceutically-induced contentment about life and family becomes piercing. The Beach Boys-Animal Collective comparisons aren’t too far off, either. Aside from the sonic similarities and holding nature in worshipful awe, there is from Lennox that innocent, maybe naïve, philosophy about contentment that Brian Wilson had. “I don’t care about social status/I just want four walls and adobe slacks for my girls” isn’t too far from “then we’ll be married and then we’ll be happy/oh wouldn’t it be nice.” -Cunga

for as much AnCo irritates the tits off of me, "My Girls" is one song where they got it right

lol actually an xpost

"heads will roll" being top 4 would be mind-boggling to me. "1901" wouldn't but i don't think it deserves it at all

talking about a band's non-indie rock influences when defending their indie rock-sounding stuff is a weird dead end (see also: Dirty Projectors upthread)

well their early albums sound way different than their other two -- the albums are spotty as hell but the singles are classic and definitely not indie rock in the classic sense

i don't hate "my girls" even tho "brother sport" is way better

i hate the lyrics but can basically see the appeal of my girls

well thank fucking christ it wasn't top 3, at least

NEXT

also massive lol at "adobe slacks"

(massive xposts) I get the impression that a lot of critics praised Phoenix last year for "coming into their own," "confidently refining their sound," etc. -- but to me, that refinement went too far, like they seized upon a formula and just repeated it over 10 tracks. Which was disappointing in part because the eclecticism they once exhibited had always struck me as a virtue. They do the indie guitar pop thing really well, but I liked when it was mixed with disco, lounge, soft rock, etc.

united has pretty high highs, but i think it's clearly the least consistent of phoenix's albums.

i can see how the ilm contingent would prefer the united->alphabetical aesthetic over the INBLT->WAP aesthetic, but whatever, agreed that INBLT is the perfect guitar pop record.

hahahaha "adobe slacks"

at some point in the future all u anco h8rs will wonder what u were getting so worked up abt. MPP is nowhere near their strongest work, but it does a pretty good job of showing off a lot of the cool little tricks they've picked up along the way, and it is pretty great the way it brings itself to the boil

reposting for anyone who didn't catch it at the time: the singles jukebox on "my girls" http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=1715

much more indebted to soul & disco then car commercial indie rock

― big hoos state of mind (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 3:57 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

talking about a band's non-indie rock influences when defending their indie rock-sounding stuff is a weird dead end (see also: Dirty Projectors upthread)

― PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! (some dude), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 9:01 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the diff, for me personally, is that their influences (on the recs jordan's referring to) are at least audible in the music and not just some touchstone (I'm not sure who is supposed to have influenced DP exactly according to their own account but they just sound like some particularly tuneful math rock to me, there's no audible R&B influence despite their best protestations)

the sad thing is that "adobe slacks" doesn't make it any worse of a lyric (i like this song fine though ftr)

Phoenix's lead singer bothers me. The GAPDY bands all have irritating voices, I just realized. or rather: they're doing things with their voices that I haven't fully appreciated.

(massive xposts) I get the impression that a lot of critics praised Phoenix last year for "coming into their own," "confidently refining their sound," etc. -- but to me, that refinement went too far, like they seized upon a formula and just repeated it over 10 tracks. Which was disappointing in part because the eclecticism they once exhibited had always struck me as a virtue. They do the indie guitar pop thing really well, but I liked when it was mixed with disco, lounge, soft rock, etc.

― Hoisin Murphy (jaymc), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 3:04 PM (21 seconds ago) Bookmark

i can buy this sentiment, although i don't agree with it at all. it's possible because 'it's never been like that' was the first album of theirs i heard, but i like that they have these lithe, 80s soft rock kinda singles that are just incredible & then two albums of guitar pop with no fat on them at all

I actually like MPP more than any other Animal Collective album, probably because Noah took a more dominant role. It's more like a Panda Bear album in that regard, and he's the only member who caters to my tastes.