Wait, are you saying that doesn't seem accurate?
The description of "a sense of calculated disaffection", a combination of words that makes me imagine the shittiest band of all time, followed by "recommended" was repellant for me. I guess I like my disaffection to be natural, not carefully planned, so I would never recommend something like that.
Then again, I've never heard it so what do I know and so on.
― Z S, Thursday, 1 November 2007 20:29 (sixteen years ago) link
b-but someone at pfork said "hm, how can we get people to read this review? I know! we'll mention the artist's impeccable influences and calculated disaffection! that'll reel 'em in!"
RIP satire etc
― lukas, Thursday, 1 November 2007 20:34 (sixteen years ago) link
they could have collaged+mis-used _anything_ from the article, and they collaged+mis-used that
― lukas, Thursday, 1 November 2007 20:35 (sixteen years ago) link
The White Williams album reminds me much more of late 10cc and Bread than of Roxy Music. That bit was like the classic "Let's over-hip our influences" review.
― I eat cannibals, Thursday, 1 November 2007 20:54 (sixteen years ago) link
The description of "a sense of calculated disaffection", a combination of words that makes me imagine the shittiest band of all time, followed by "recommended" was repellant for me.
See, this sounds like the blurb WORKED for you -- i.e., efficiently let you know you would probably not like this act.
I agree, though, it looks kind of weird to have such a neutral-to-disparaging summary blurb on a recommended album.
― nabisco, Thursday, 1 November 2007 22:04 (sixteen years ago) link
I like how they gave the new Babyshambles, which is actually tuneful and a good all around album, a 4.0, but gave the first one, which is dreadful and hard to listen to / bloated, a 7.3,
Yeah, it was definitely TWICE as good as the new one. Fuckin' morons.
― Erock Zombie, Friday, 2 November 2007 18:30 (sixteen years ago) link
ugh, "impeccable influences" is really repulsive.
― Hurting 2, Friday, 2 November 2007 18:46 (sixteen years ago) link
(xpost) was that a parody or are you really getting worked up about an internet score for babyshambles
― dmr, Friday, 2 November 2007 18:47 (sixteen years ago) link
He was worked up?
― roxymuzak, Friday, 2 November 2007 18:49 (sixteen years ago) link
wait, i thought the grading scale was logarithmic. like 5 is twice as good as 4. somebody email ryan schreiber to find out.
― elan, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:14 (sixteen years ago) link
shit, now i need to reevaluate all my purchases of the last five years.
― elan, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:16 (sixteen years ago) link
It's actually modelled after the Richter Scale, hence the superlative designations of various well-reviewed albums as either "Reccomended," "Best New Music," or "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On."
― Alex in Baltimore, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:24 (sixteen years ago) link
"White Williams issues a debut album layered with impeccable influences-- including Roxy Music, Beck, and T. Rex-- and a sense of calculated disaffection."
if anything, that reads like a good reason not to check out the album....
― stephen, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:28 (sixteen years ago) link
richter scale is logarithmic xpost
but kudos nonetheless
― elan, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:42 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah sorry the "actually" sounded like I was disagreeing when it more of an "yeah and" thing
― Alex in Baltimore, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:43 (sixteen years ago) link
No band has marked indie's prog revival more definitively than Battles: Their debut, Mirrored, took rock for a set of puzzle pieces, but was ultimately defined by its pictorial sensibility-- each song felt like a cartoon soundtrack-- and the incorporation of jokes into the most historically humorless music in the known world.
― latebloomer, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:43 (sixteen years ago) link
wtf, wtf -- wtf? -- wtf!
― Hurting 2, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:45 (sixteen years ago) link
the incorporation of JOKES
― s1ocki, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:46 (sixteen years ago) link
ya i saw that too... pretty lazy writing
How can you get paid to write if you don't know what "but" means?
― HI DERE, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:51 (sixteen years ago) link
jokes?!?!? has dude ever read the back of a don cab/a minor forest/whoever cd?
― YGS, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:53 (sixteen years ago) link
That bothers me more in a semantic sense: I think the album has a sense of humor, sure, but I don't know what "jokes" refers to in a largely instrumental piece of work.
― jaymc, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:56 (sixteen years ago) link
joeks, bruv
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:56 (sixteen years ago) link
You can here an interpolation of classic knock-knock jokes in "Atlas".
― HI DERE, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:06 (sixteen years ago) link
<i>jokes?!?!? has dude ever read the back of a don cab/a minor forest/whoever cd?
-- YGS, Friday, 2 November 2007 19:53 (10 minutes ago) Link</i>
"jokes" was horrible word choice on my part--john is right--but come on, do you really think that having a punny song title is the same as making music that is formally and sonically <i>humorous</i>? eh. don cab always struck me as definitively unfunny, they just tried to compensate with SURREAL HEADLINES.
― mike powell, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:08 (sixteen years ago) link
Ha, I didn't even read the review, so I didn't know it was you, Mike.
― jaymc, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:11 (sixteen years ago) link
There is a strong semantic difference between "humor" and "jokes"; they shouldn't be used interchangeably and, based on your followup here, you definitely meant the former.
Also, why did you use "but" as your conjunction? The second clause does not invert, negate, contradict or palpably change the meaning of the first clause (Mirrored being defined by pictoral sensibility and humor is not a condition that lies in opposition to it viewing rock as a set of puzzle pieces), so your sentence winds up not making any sense; you've either left out a critical piece of information or just flat-out used the wrong word.
― HI DERE, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:19 (sixteen years ago) link
-- HI DERE, Friday, November 2, 2007 8:19 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Link
you're right, 'but' wasn't a great choice. i think the idea was to say that though it had this puzzle-like quality--you could talk about how the parts fit together, like everyone does in a math-rock review--it was, for me, defined by these more abstract qualities: its sense of humor, its ability to be pictorally evocative. sure, i get what you're saying.
but seriously--human being here, willing to engage, bristles as asinine comments like the "knock-knock joke" one. furthermore--and i'd never slag scott or mark because i know they're incredibly busy guys--i think you bring the same charges to an editor. just saying.
― mike powell, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:28 (sixteen years ago) link
sorry, you *could* bring the same charges. lord i grow weary of life's endless ironies.
― mike powell, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:29 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm just glad you're writing regularly.
― jaymc, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:29 (sixteen years ago) link
I think I'm pretty much firmly on record as someone who thinks there are a lot of editors out there who aren't doing what they should. This mostly stems from a desire to be an editor (ha).
Also I think the egregious misspelling of "hear" is more offensive than the actual knock-knock joke comment (which was an allusion to a recently-revived ILE thread).
― HI DERE, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:35 (sixteen years ago) link
Joke: pretending "Atlas" has a different lyric when he is very clearly singing
people like to people like to eat a sandwich
― nabisco, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:37 (sixteen years ago) link
-- HI DERE, Friday, November 2, 2007 8:35 PM (44 seconds ago) Bookmark Link
and there i thought you were just aping my ignorance and carelessness.
― mike powell, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:37 (sixteen years ago) link
(xpost - that's not actually funny, of course: people do like them some sandwiches)
― nabisco, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:39 (sixteen years ago) link
i always heard the "eat a sandwich" bit as "penis terror"
― ciderpress, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:41 (sixteen years ago) link
though i think the sandwich lyric, in the context of the song's muscular schaffel, would basically make it a burger king commercial, which would be funny. sort of.
― mike powell, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:43 (sixteen years ago) link
lolol xpost
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:45 (sixteen years ago) link
I also first misheard the start of the chorus as "singing this hook, o-way-o," which made me imagine Battles as the Disney dwarves marching off to play songs -- hi-ho, hi-ho, singing this hook, playing this drum part, etc.
― nabisco, Friday, 2 November 2007 20:49 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, so not spot-on, as he admits, but what Mike said in that review is clear enough, and cogent (whether you agree with him or not, he says why the band are worth considering, what's distinctive about them). Although I'm prejudiced, because I happen to agree with him:Battles are actually funny, and all about making giddy, hyperacticulate sounds that aren't just a blur or overload; in that sense, they have pop-rock appeal, like Don Cab at their best, and much more so than most of what gets called math-rock--they have a deliberately goofy-seeming grace, like the Harlem Globetrotters [which also goes with the visuals the music evokes-]and yeah, most prog isn't actually funny, def including most of the stuff that tried to be funny---although Soft Machine had their moments, til they canned Wyatt).
― dow, Sunday, 4 November 2007 05:33 (sixteen years ago) link
I also thought it was "sing this hook, o-way-o", which was much better.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, 5 November 2007 00:05 (sixteen years ago) link
people who think prog wasn't whimsical/jokey have never been forced to sit through a gentle giant cd
― strongohulkington, Monday, 5 November 2007 02:28 (sixteen years ago) link
exception/rule.
― mike powell, Monday, 5 November 2007 03:37 (sixteen years ago) link
Gong as well.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 5 November 2007 03:40 (sixteen years ago) link
like I said, a lot of proggies *tried* to be funny (and some actually succeeded)(although whether it was as funny as the ones who didn't mean to be)
― dow, Monday, 5 November 2007 03:44 (sixteen years ago) link
perhaps this is old news.....Atlas' lyrics, courtesy of Battles' myspace: PEOPLE WONT BE PEOPLE WHEN THEY HEAR THIS SOUND THAT'S BEEN GLOWING IN THE DARK AT THE EDGE OF TOWN PEOPLE WONT BE PEOPLE, NO THE PEOPLE WONT BE PEOPLE WHEN THEY HEAR THIS SOUND WONT YOU SHOW ME WHAT BEGINS AT THE EDGE OF TOWN
THE SINGER IS A CROOK THE SINGER IS A CROOK THE SINGER IS A CROOK THE SINGER IS A CROOK THE KITCHEN IS THE COOK THE SCISSORS ARE THE BARBERS THE SINGER IS A CROOK THE CHORUS, FULL OF ACTORS
*THE CHORUS DOESN'T MATTER (LAST VERSE)
― Malcolm Money, Monday, 5 November 2007 04:04 (sixteen years ago) link
okay.....thisreview
an iTunes-only collection of songs meant for charity? why is this even worth reviewing? (much less as the headlining review of the day?)
granted, i've got basically zero interest in this collection or Natalie Portman's charitable acts, but still, i guess i'm not sure whether a thrown-together comp meant to raise money for a charity really calls for substantive musical criticism. there isn't anything more musically interesting that was released this week?
― Mark Clemente, Monday, 5 November 2007 15:13 (sixteen years ago) link
It's a compilation with exclusive tracks from the Shins, Devendra Banhart, Beirut, M. Ward, and Rogue Wave and tracks by Antony, Vetiver, Thee More Shallows. That's relevant to our audience.
What else came out this week? Jay-Z, a Sigur Ros comp, a Grizzly Bear EP, Burial, a Tokyo Police Club EP, Citay, a Wire EP. A lot of records with little lead time between promos and release (burial, sigur ros), no promos (wire, jay-z), and some indie rock EPs.
That said, this isn't an ideal headliner to open a week. But expect a lot of compilations, reissues, and major-label releases as headliners for the next six weeks-- that's basically all that's being released.
― scottpl, Monday, 5 November 2007 15:39 (sixteen years ago) link
thanks, scott. sorry for the tone - i didn't mean to come off as pissy i did
― Mark Clemente, Monday, 5 November 2007 15:47 (sixteen years ago) link
nah, it's ok-- there's also a Nas best-of, etc. This time of year advances go out very close to release dates in many cases and we don't review based on listening parties/sessions-- we prefer to wait-- so scheduling reviews is a bit of a hassle in Nov/Dec. Like I hinted, when I first made this sched this wasn't the review for today. (Hell, when I first made this sched, this release wasn't annoucned!)
Less getting up on my hind legs, more coffee.
― scottpl, Monday, 5 November 2007 15:53 (sixteen years ago) link
November 6
Angels & Airwaves I-Empire Geffen Barenaked Ladies Talk to the Hand: Live in Michigan Shout! Factory Bright Eyes Motion Sickness: Live Recordings Team Love Chris Brown Exclusive Jive Dion Son of Skip James Verve Forecast Nick Drake Fruit Tree Island Dust Galaxy Dust Galaxy ESL Grizzly Bear Friends EP Warp Jay-Z American Gangster Roc-a-Fella Daniel Johnston various re-issues Eternal Yip Eye Van Morrison Still On Top Polydor The Mother Truckers Broke, Not Broken Funzalo Gram Parsons Flying Burrito Brothers Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969 Amoeba Sigur Ros Hvarf/Heim XL Soundtrack American Gangster Def Jam Tokyo Police Club Smith Paper Bag Stevie Ray Vaughan Solos, Sessions & Encores Epic
― stephen, Monday, 5 November 2007 15:54 (sixteen years ago) link
there exists on pitchfork an excellent review of its music
https://pitchfork.com/features/poptimist/6734-poptimist-10/
could have been an actual review. but maybe tom's column was the only way it was ever getting onto the site in 2007.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Sunday, 11 August 2024 00:03 (one month ago) link
Garvey's review does discuss the music, and how it makes sense in the context of the world that birthed it.
There's no such thing as context-free listening - everybody brings a background and a sense of taste to form their own experiences. There's no world where a song like "Free Nelson Mandela" or one of the big charity singles exists solely as a piece of music devoid of politics and social influence.
― boxedjoy, Sunday, 11 August 2024 08:37 (one month ago) link
Pretty good record, but there is no way in the world the Art Ensemble's Nice Guys is a 9.5
― Paul Ponzi, Sunday, 11 August 2024 12:45 (one month ago) link
excuse me pitchfork pic.twitter.com/bfJMtJq5FB— erin 𓆱 (@btwntwinpeaks) August 30, 2024
― There’s a Monster in my Vance (President Keyes), Saturday, 31 August 2024 03:42 (three weeks ago) link
prob shouldn't admit this, but I didn't get what was wrong with that. the Wikipedia article is titled "Israel-Hamas war."
― jaymc, Saturday, 31 August 2024 04:19 (three weeks ago) link
what happened to the GQ takeover?
― groovemaaan, Saturday, 31 August 2024 07:38 (three weeks ago) link
in practice it seems to have just meant budget cuts + they hired the no bells guy as editor
― ufo, Saturday, 31 August 2024 07:45 (three weeks ago) link
pitchfork is no longer going to be folded into gq, although that got 1% as much attention as the original announcement so people generally have no idea:https://exclaim.ca/music/article/pitchfork-will-continue-to-stand-alone-announces-new-leadership
― some dude, Saturday, 31 August 2024 20:49 (three weeks ago) link
awkward but funny that everyone wrote tearful elegies and oral histories of p4k and just kept going on. like george costanza quitting his job then showing up the next day
― flopson, Saturday, 31 August 2024 20:56 (three weeks ago) link
I mean half the staff still got laid off
― jaymc, Sunday, 1 September 2024 00:22 (three weeks ago) link
I'll never stop going to that site
― encino morricone (majorairbro), Sunday, 1 September 2024 10:53 (three weeks ago) link