Art design in this is pretty shitty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZWC6gaYIaU
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 23 May 2012 17:17 (twelve years ago) link
oh come on it's great!
― caulk the wagon and float it, Wednesday, 23 May 2012 17:18 (twelve years ago) link
http://futureoftheleftv2now.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/based-on-novel-of-same-name.html
― Mr. Que, Thursday, 31 May 2012 14:23 (twelve years ago) link
man responding to a review like that is jut not a good look
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Thursday, 31 May 2012 16:56 (twelve years ago) link
nah its funny
― Mr. Que, Thursday, 31 May 2012 16:59 (twelve years ago) link
i skimmed it, but there was also the fleet foxes dude who got offended because of a generally positive pfork review a few weeks ago, because it misused some music terms and dared to be slightly critical. actually that was pretty hilarious.
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:04 (twelve years ago) link
unreadable
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:05 (twelve years ago) link
you're unreadable
― Mr. Que, Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:08 (twelve years ago) link
I don't mind these when they are funny, as this one is.
As for the cover, well, there’s a penguin on it you stupid cunt.
Also, I did kinda like him calling Pitchfork on the "corporate" name-calling thing.
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:18 (twelve years ago) link
i always enjoy reading Ian Cohen takedowns of bands i've never heard, and that Future Of The Left review was the rare one that actually made me want to hear the band's (other) records because he sold their merits pretty convincingly. and then i tried to read the FOTL guy's pointless nitpicking response and lost the desire to listen to them again.
― some dude, Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:21 (twelve years ago) link
also he admits it's a dumb idea in the first sentence
― Mr. Que, Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:21 (twelve years ago) link
bands stay getting butthurt
― fapper don (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:26 (twelve years ago) link
Many things occurred to me on reading your review of the new future of the left record 'the plot against common sense' and I would like to take this opportunity to debate with you some of the points you raise in the piece, although of course by 'debate' I mean 'shut up and listen to me'.
^^this kind of thing doesn't come off as butthurt so much as fucking hilarious
― Mr. Que, Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:32 (twelve years ago) link
yeah maybe -- tbf i haven't read it yet
― fapper don (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:32 (twelve years ago) link
the fleet foxes dude thing was remarkable in its butthurtedness
― fapper don (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:33 (twelve years ago) link
falkous' whole thing is being perpetually outraged in hilarious fashion so this is more "in character" than "butthurt"
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:33 (twelve years ago) link
on the other hand, i am a huge FOTL fan and could not make it through that whole thing
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:34 (twelve years ago) link
the fact that the whole thing kind of winds down with "wahhh, you like my old band more than my current band" makes it all seem pretty butthurt imo
― some dude, Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:34 (twelve years ago) link
let's parse out the many degrees and shades of butthurtedness
― Mr. Que, Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:35 (twelve years ago) link
i believe there are 50 shades
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:35 (twelve years ago) link
hehe
― fapper don (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:37 (twelve years ago) link
i love mcclusky, haven't heard much FOTL, but i laughed out a lot when i read the piece. i wasn't rolling on the floor laughing but it was laughing nevertheless
― Mr. Que, Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:37 (twelve years ago) link
hahaha n/a
fotlmao
― omar little, Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:39 (twelve years ago) link
yeah this was pretty funny and IMO well-deserved
when the subject of the review doesn't even understand the references used in it nor the interpretations of the lyrics, something's wrong
― frogbs, Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:41 (twelve years ago) link
when the subject of the review isn't from the same country as the reviewer it's pretty inevitable, isn't it?
― some dude, Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:43 (twelve years ago) link
As we approach the bottom of your first paragraph you refer to the 'corporate slick production on future of the left's third album' (*1) - a question, my dear friend - would this be the kind of corporate slickness you get through recording an album in 16 days (using the same methods as ever) over a six month period in studio downtime and friend-financed to the tune of £2,000 (whilst we work in temporary jobs and with credit, when available, to support our habit) or instead the kind of corporate-slickness (since, as tone indicates, we’re using the term pejoratively) a person could get from writing for a site which has run the adverts of a variety of corporations, big and small, for many years? I may not be wearing my eyeglasses at this particular moment, but I can definitely see a lovely shiny one sitting atop your review at this very moment
this is very, very OTM
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:46 (twelve years ago) link
exactly, but IMO things like dropping a John Stossel reference for no reason somehow seem even worse when the artist himself doesn't know who that is (dunno if anyone else here does?)
― frogbs, Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:47 (twelve years ago) link
my issue with cohen's review is that he's pulling out all these things to try and make it seem like the new FOTL album is different/lesser than the previous albums (eg the "corporate slickness," subject matter, etc.) when it actually sounds exactly like their other albums. falkous' bands pretty much do one thing, they don't do stylistic or production shifts. on one listen, i do think the new album isn't as good as the other FOTL albums but it's a songwriting problem, not a production or subject matter problem.
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:50 (twelve years ago) link
If he'd stopped at Following your lead, I’m going to let that one ‘sink in’ this would have been A+
― da croupier, Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:55 (twelve years ago) link
actually, this still would have been awesome if it kept going through the subject-matter corrections and shitting in pitchfork's cave. After that it gets pretty ad hominem itself
― da croupier, Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:58 (twelve years ago) link
i've found that no matter how idiotically or non-sensically a critic states an issue, there's usually some grain of truth in there. i mean, they didn't like it, you can't semantically argue someone into liking something.
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Thursday, 31 May 2012 17:59 (twelve years ago) link
i don't think he's trying to argue someone into liking something, i think he's just being an amusingly argumentative dick, which again, is kind of his persona
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 31 May 2012 18:01 (twelve years ago) link
"you got these specific things wrong. Oh, and blow me." is basically as much as a musician should ever respond to a review if they feel the need. The "blow me" is important so that the critic wants be "hey i'm cool!" with the next review.
― da croupier, Thursday, 31 May 2012 18:02 (twelve years ago) link
who reviews the reviewers
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 31 May 2012 18:05 (twelve years ago) link
― some dude, Thursday, May 31, 2012 5:43 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
not really in this case at least
I think if there's a 'lesson' here it's to avoid trying to guess what the overarching topics of songs are when their lyrics are largely obtuse puns and non sequiturs, or at least not to make any value judgements off the back of them
― cissémanwhore (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 31 May 2012 18:06 (twelve years ago) link
On 'robocop 4 - fuck off robocop' (incidentally, for the cynical and/or interested reader I post a live video recorded at a guitar shop of the song near the end of this response, complete with full lyrics) we will simply have to agree to disagree. However, if it is truly amongst the worst songs of the year then I am a giant bat and Pitchfork a cave into which I will shit golden effigies of your face.
okay this is pretty funny
― that is a weird thing to bring up over lean cuisine (DJP), Thursday, 31 May 2012 18:08 (twelve years ago) link
Allow me to efuckidate in an easy-to-understand fuck-by-point manner
A+
― Get wolves (DL), Thursday, 31 May 2012 18:09 (twelve years ago) link
I can honestly say that, whatever you think of the music, that the lyrics on 'the plot against common sense' are the best I've written (and yes - in either band) by a factor of FUCK LOADS(*4).
okay I think I'm getting this album
― that is a weird thing to bring up over lean cuisine (DJP), Thursday, 31 May 2012 18:10 (twelve years ago) link
His response reads very much in line with the band's banter live, which is the funniest I've ever heard short of the Mekons.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 31 May 2012 18:44 (twelve years ago) link
So, a musician-- maybe not A. Falkous, but other musicians-- is just expected to tell a stranger to blow them? Affecting a cavalier attitude re: reviews is expected of musicians, sure, and it looks good on them to be all whatevs about it. But if you are, uh, "butthurt" that a widely-read blog would feature a review of your band's most recent album and fill the review with a) factual errors b) hyperbolic statements re its shittiness c) accusations of selling-out d) etc., I'd imagine that it'd be pretty hard to just say "blow me" and resist launching a defence of one's work.
I'm 100% against the idea of responding to criticism as a hard and fast rule, and I discourage artist friends from doing so-- even pointing out a factual error leads to over-expository non-apologetic corrections, i.e. "the musician in question has pointed out that it's a Gretsch guitar he plays", making the seeming inconsequence of whatever factual errors that Artist A took issue with will always end up reading as "that guy is butthurt".
But I can't really get all lol FOTL here; even when Kevin Barnes did his of Montreal/Of Montreal klaxon of embarrassment, it read depressing to me. At least Falkous had the good sense to swear a lot.
― poxen, Thursday, 31 May 2012 19:07 (twelve years ago) link
for posterity: http://www.ssgmusic.com/father-john-mistys-josh-tillman-rails-against-pitchfork-via-twitter/
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Thursday, 31 May 2012 19:11 (twelve years ago) link
Swearing is funny.
Falkous seems like the type who would write a screed in response to a positive review.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 31 May 2012 19:13 (twelve years ago) link
xpost: in fairness, that's not the smartest sentence
― that is a weird thing to bring up over lean cuisine (DJP), Thursday, 31 May 2012 19:14 (twelve years ago) link
wtf you guys
responding to a record review makes you a fucking amateur, nobody should do it. the authors of books maybe because they will sometimes get off a nice witty one-liner but rock musicians? don't read the reviews if they're going to cheese you off that hard, but if you must, at least don't publish a response AND LEAVE COMMENTS OPEN SO YOUR FANS CAN KISS YOUR ASS FOR YOU
retain 1 modicum of class for fuck's sake dudes imo
― cosi fan whitford (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 31 May 2012 19:17 (twelve years ago) link
fuckin a
― some dude, Thursday, 31 May 2012 19:18 (twelve years ago) link
even though I think aero is OTM I am still enjoying I can honestly say that, whatever you think of the music, that the lyrics on 'the plot against common sense' are the best I've written (and yes - in either band) by a factor of FUCK LOADS(*4).
― that is a weird thing to bring up over lean cuisine (DJP), Thursday, 31 May 2012 19:20 (twelve years ago) link
xp "Ombudsman" is pretty funny. In a perfect world Pitchfork would provide an ombudsman-cum-therapist for the musicians they scorn
― poxen, Thursday, 31 May 2012 19:20 (twelve years ago) link
wtf aero
read the first sentence, he acknowledged responding is stupid
it is stupid
it's still funny!
― Mr. Que, Thursday, 31 May 2012 19:20 (twelve years ago) link
i wouldn't exactly ever accuse the Mclusky/FOTL dude of "class" though. and, as far as witty one-liners go, I again point to:
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 31 May 2012 19:23 (twelve years ago) link