Metalheads Respond to Pistol Annies

Alfred might not know that I am George, Kerr

anyways yeah anybody who wants to listen to Uncle acid and Windhand can be directed to the Poptimist listens to Metal thread

La Lechera, I don't want to single you out because you liked the record; I had a problem with some of the assumptions made about country. I'll be the first to admit that I really didn't start listening to modern country until eight or nine years ago, and I had to train myself to accept genre conventions.

you are def not a heartless robot, Amanda. also, i often feel like a robot these days and i love this album, so.

the new Lambert isn't that good, alas (xhuxk will disagree). Four or five good songs though.

well i cant speak for LL but my read on it is that theres something to be said about the invasion of overglossed pop production into the country market but thats a whole other topic kinda - ie my feelings that miranda (again judging from a few songs on both sides) seems to have been heavily sanitized as a singer on the pistol annies production end, and thats a shame

many xposts to alfred

or maybe not!

I'll be the first to admit that I really didn't start listening to modern country until eight or nine years ago, and I had to train myself to accept genre conventions.

my life is far too short and precious to waste any of it training myself to like Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift

however it is not too short and precious to spend time on this thread, apparently

george i just want to see if Alfred or others dismiss metal in the same way he dislikes it happening to country. (though everyone might dismiss it completely by not reading or posting )

your guys' take on this record is like the exact opposite of mine: "Baggage Claim" seems way more like sanitized fanservice than anything off of Hell on Heels

I don't! Metal is The Great Undiscovered Country.

xpost

maybe Kellie Pickler should cut a metal record

(the new Kellie Pickler btw is pretty good).

that's a good point about girl groups, lex. maybe the performance of femininity is automatically more foregrounded with them?

yeah - i think there's something inherently theatrical rather than personal about the format, so it's both easy to "play around with" archetypes without becoming/being seen as that archetype yourself - particularly if those archetypes are dislikeable or transgressive. people are much more accepting of the idea that women can inhabit characters and roles in girl groups, i guess.

to return to a point someone made earlier: the title track wouldn't work if it was revved up like Gretchen Wilson. I like its ominous midtempo swag, as if the women wanted the Hell on Heels archetype to sink in with listeners before deconstructing it on other songs.

i like the title track as cartoonisly sociopathic overture before the rest of the album looks at how they got there (or how they got to fantasizing about being there)

yeah that seems otm to me, both dlh and Alfred

it is a creepy ass song for sure

listening to the rest of the album really does throw the title track into a different light - it almost feels like the album's conclusion, like the album's a story being told in flashback

infinite annies

eternal annies

dreamboat annies

the long-awaited collabo between doug boatgorilla and miranda lambert.

please lex and co have a listen to the youtubes on george's thread when you have a chance. I'd love to see what you think.

top 10 along with uncle acid!

gonna listen to the actual pistol annies album brb

this is ok i guess, kinda rootsy for modern country

i don't think the songs are that great

the jessica lea mayfield record from this year is way better than this

^^^

the new McGraw record might be better than this.

really? because i've definitely tried to get into McGraw before and thought it was mostly awful.

He can be maudlin but he's singing better than ever. He's got a duet with Ne-Yo!

I like this one – a guy's take on "Famous in a Small Town."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfZW3xZ8O0Q

I don't really think this record is overproduced or too glossy. It basically sounds like a real band playing with real people singing. So it's pretty traditional in that sense.

I've also been trying to puzzle out the significance of the opening track. I guess it's not too uncommon in genres where role-playing is more accepted, such as hip-hop, to have a track bragging about wealth, success, and status lay comfortably alongside tracks about a hardscrabble struggle for survival.

they're not really bragging about wealth/success/status on the opening track; they're bragging about preying on those who have it as a fantasy solution to the problem of hardscrabble survival.

the songs aren't that great

i got into country in the 90s quite a bit, some kinda low level mainstream-ish dudes were pretty good, like gary allen, charlie robeson (i saw once live) and chris knight, they seemed to go for this kinda thing, like a first album steve earle thing, but better than this

Not sure Chris Knight and Gary Allen (not to mention Earle) sound at all like Pistol Annies tbh.

no they don't but they kinda have the same vibe of being kinda "old school" or rootsy but felt like they were trying to be a commercial nashville thing and not fit into the No Depression thing, is what i meant

I've a buddy who pretty much only listens to Dwight Yoakam among country artists. And I love Yoakam -- especially his early nineties period! But you (not you specifically) can't dismiss Lee Ann Womack for not sounding like Yoakam.

btw if you want a good hard rockin' country dude, try Eric Church!

i wanted to, but that "homeboy" song kinda turned me off

lol country music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP2MKYGggd8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R03Xakd91Xw

Can't stand Eric Church. I haven't listened to those youtubes, but the album of his that I heard - Sinners Like Me - was really strident.

Current country dudes I've heard that I can deal with, part or most of the time:

Jason Aldean
Josh Turner
Rodney Atkins (part of the time)
Brad Paisley (guitar solos and maybe 1/4 of his songs)
Charlie Robison (probably my favorite of these, but I've only heard Good Times)

jessica lea mayfield?? i don't see the comparison..

i don't know what it is about tim mcgraw but hearing his music almost always triggers some hyperspecific childhood memory of boredom.. like having bubblegum-flavored fluoride trays wedged tightly into my mouth and a suction hose droning dryly away as i stare up at the speckles on the ceiling of my pediatric dentist's office

Jason Aldean has highs and lowws but I really really love Amarillo Sky

I like the most recent Justin Townes Earle album - not sure how mainstream of country that is.

I liked metal more (and more metal) than country last year, but this was my Nashville Scene ballot; i.e., the country I liked most:

Rolling Country 2012

Ha xhuxk, Sunny Sweeney's "From a Table Away" was top 3 in my singles ballot this year

I voted for that single in Pazz & Jop in 2010. Liked the album okay, but thought it was really spotty -- especially its second half.

yeah I agree about the album; best songs were the first three for sure

An entire thread and no mention of the way Lambert sings "shit" in "Trailer For Rent" like she's savoring every last drop?

Anyway I agree w/ Alfred; a slight album that was far and away my favorite thing to listen to last year. Much better than Lambert's solo output, give or take a "Dear Diamond" (which would fit in beautifully as PA track) or some of the ones she didn't write.

lol country music

― the parable is the parable of the (Lamp), Thursday, February 2, 2012 5:58 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

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