They've really worked out how to simulate Zep's early-career drubbing from the critics.
― saddest kamancheh (bendy), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 11:36 (five years ago) link
Is that the first hardcore high profile Fork takedown since Jet?
Brothers Jake and Sam Kiszka, on guitar and bass, are both wearing hippie costumes they 3D-printed off the internet.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 12:08 (five years ago) link
OK, this is bullshit hedging:
They make music that sounds exactly like Led Zeppelin and demand very little other than forgetting how good Led Zeppelin often were.
Often were? GTFO. ALWAYS were!
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 12:09 (five years ago) link
Just had a listen to this band, they aren't bad exactly, incredibly derivative for sure, but competently performed genre music there's a market for. I don't think we need to have a problem with heritage genre music (it's like if people want to play trad jazz as a hobby, that's their call of course) but yes, a bit more self-awareness and a bit less arrogance would be very welcome.
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 12:15 (five years ago) link
"We had what I would call a vinyl playground growing up," explains singer Josh Kiszka, 21, about the immense record collection the kids got their hands on early and wore out thanks to their bass-playing dad. "We had these little record players and we would slow them down and speed them up and I was listening to people like Wilson Pickett, Joe Cocker, Sam & Dave, but we also listened to all kinds of other stuff, like John Denver."
― niels, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 12:27 (five years ago) link
What's the minimum score pitchfork gives an album when they're not trying to make a point? I feel like I don't often see anything scored below a 5.
That review is a fun read, but I definitely can't point any fingers at people getting excited about new bands that sound like modern copies of bands they grew up with, cuz that's my jam.
So when the Greta Van Fleet of your favorite artist finally lands on your morning playlist, spark up a bowl of nostalgia and enjoy the self-satisfied buzz of recognizing something you already know. It’s the cheapest high in music.
― enochroot, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 12:37 (five years ago) link
I refer to that as the Waterworld Property. Waterworld (the time I saw it) is not a good movie, but it's so similar to the The Road Warrior that it can only be so bad.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 12:55 (five years ago) link
This review reads exactly like an early-2000s pitchfork review and demands very little other than forgetting how good early 2000s pitchfork reviews often were.
― Benjamin-, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 13:09 (five years ago) link
hot take: they were not good very often
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 13:11 (five years ago) link
yeah what?
― You like queer? I like queer. Still like queer. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 13:16 (five years ago) link
Pitchfork in taking down bland whiteboy cosplay rock band shockah
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 13:21 (five years ago) link
this turned out pretty well for me wrt silversun pickups
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 13:27 (five years ago) link
they reviewed ed sheeran last year iirc
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 13:28 (five years ago) link
Thing is, I’d be surprised if many actual Zep fans liked these guys... as opposed to folks with just a vague idea of ’70s hard rock as a concept. Maybe I’m wrong.
― a neon light ablaze in this green smoky haze (morrisp), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 14:11 (five years ago) link
i have and will always find takedowns really boring but ymmv
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:01 (five years ago) link
like, not even specifically this one, just the entire concept, especially when applied to music crit
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:02 (five years ago) link
Is there evidence that their popularity is as algorithm-driven as this review suggests?
― jmm, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:06 (five years ago) link
someone somewhere is raking in cash for creating an algorithm that figured out that people like Led Zeppelin
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:17 (five years ago) link
okay i'll listen to these guys...first song "Age of Man" sounds a lot more like early Rush than Led Zep
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:35 (five years ago) link
there are some really Zeppy elements that make it difficult not to laugh at these songs
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:42 (five years ago) link
the most objectionable thing about this band is that the rhythm section are complete stiffs
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:43 (five years ago) link
i feel like these band's fundamentally don't understand what made zeppelin great, like when they say "Zep" i feel like they basically mean a subset of songs on Led Zeppelin II
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:46 (five years ago) link
yup
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:46 (five years ago) link
this has all happened before and will happen again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DZfgzNc0QE
― omar little, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:48 (five years ago) link
Courtesy of YouTube's comment section for 'Highway Tune': 'I'm a classical guitarist, so I don't keep up with the latest rock or metal, but these young guys are the first thing to catch my ear in a long time with high energy, well written and well played infectious licks. The Kiszka boys have got it going.'
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:51 (five years ago) link
i think maybe that was Esteban
― omar little, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:53 (five years ago) link
The Greta Van Fleet album is bad. (I listened to it front to back this morning, so I know.) But the Pitchfork review is not about whether the album is good or bad. It's about social positioning. Greta Van Fleet are Not Our Kind, and their music is for Those Other People.
― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:59 (five years ago) link
Oh, mama!
No stopping at the red light, girl'Cause I want to get your signalNo going at the green light, girl'Cause I want to be with you nowYou are my special, you are my specialYou are my midnight, midnight, yeah
So sweet, so fine, so niceOh my, my-my, my-my, oh
No stopping on the highway, girl'Cause I want to burn my gasThere's one girl that I knowI'm never gonna passShe is my special, she is my specialShe is my midnight, midnight, yeah
Guitar Solo
Oh, yeah!
Sugar
― voodoo chili, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 15:59 (five years ago) link
The worst crime rockcrit ever committed was introducing the term “infectious” to the general public.
― a neon light ablaze in this green smoky haze (morrisp), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:00 (five years ago) link
personally what i'd like to read is a review engaging with how good the new twenty one pilots album is
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:01 (five years ago) link
Currently listening to this and yes, it is pretty boring.
― gbx, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:01 (five years ago) link
the Pitchfork review is not about whether the album is good or bad. It's about social positioning. Greta Van Fleet are Not Our Kind, and their music is for Those Other People.
v otm but this makes up a lot of high profile music crit, for various reasons
― the Warnock of Clodhop Mountain (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:05 (five years ago) link
the most insightful thing about the review is pointing out that the incentives for being Retro are different in 2018. it's financially lucrative because of streaming algorithms.
"They are a new kind of vampiric band who’s there to catch the runoff of original classic rock using streaming services’ data-driven business model. Greta Van Fleet exist to be swallowed into the algorithm’s churn and rack up plays, of which they already have hundreds of millions."
"But for as retro as Anthem of the Peaceful Army may seem, in actuality, it is the future. It’s proof of concept that in the streaming and algorithm economy, a band doesn’t need to really capture the past, it just needs to come close enough so that a computer can assign it to its definite article. The more unique it sounds, the less chance it has to be placed alongside what you already love."
that may already be clear to the forward thinking listeners on ILM, but it's worth stating bluntly and is probably something that many pitchfork readers haven't considered. i think it also raises interesting questions about what kinds of previous pop music are easily emulated by modern musicians and identifiable by algorithms, and which aren't
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:07 (five years ago) link
no stopping on the highway, girlcause i wanna burn my gas
― voodoo chili, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:09 (five years ago) link
'I'm a classical guitarist, so I don't keep up with the latest rock or metal, but these young guys are the first thing to catch my ear in a long time with high energy, well written and well played infectious licks. The Kiszka boys have got it going.'
a mix between Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin with the swagger of Led Zeppelin
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:09 (five years ago) link
The p4k review doesn't seem to want to believe that there could be a corny derivative band that happens to be successful due to algorithms, it must be that they were designed with the algorithms in mind as a clever marketing strategy.
I mean, I feel like a lot of pop rock acts are probably focus grouped and meticulously groomed by marketing teams, but the narrative in this case seems much more conspiratorial. Plausible I guess?
― Evan, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:09 (five years ago) link
xxxpost this algorithm thing is a bit of a weird read to me. There's tons of dance and electronic and metal, etc. that sounds almost exactly like a bunch of other music and fits nicely onto playlists alongside it. Maybe the crime is in emulating a sound that was never successfully copied, or that LZ was Original and therefore must not be copied.
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:11 (five years ago) link
Someone is eventually going to use the word "authenticity" and then ILM will get very upset
― Evan, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:13 (five years ago) link
if anything the review doesn't take the algorithm thing to its conclusion which is that i'm guessing the industry is full-force behind these guys because it is something they can conceivably sell to boomers who are sick of buying reissues of neil young's catalog for the 15th time.
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:15 (five years ago) link
― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, October 23, 2018 11:59 AM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
100% otm
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:15 (five years ago) link
good to know that both of you are not like those other people who sneer at Those Other People
― voodoo chili, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:20 (five years ago) link
Ha, I was thinking of posting "so I'm clear, the problem with this popular band is that they are commercial and inauthentic?".
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:21 (five years ago) link
I guess the idea is that blues rock itself places such great importance on authenticity, so it’s fair to judge them by those standards.
― Siegbran, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:28 (five years ago) link
blues rock also places a lot of importance on sounding pretty much the same as your heroes
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:29 (five years ago) link
idk i just finished a listen-through and based on 'anthem' alone i think it's fair to conclude that, authenticity aside, these dudes are just fuckin corny
― gbx, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:30 (five years ago) link
Fair enough, I’ve never heard GVF. Are they anything like this Joe Bonamassa dude that the Youtube algorithms insist on inserting in my feeds?
― Siegbran, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:33 (five years ago) link
I honestly do not get why, in 2018, anyone would expect a self-styled retro classic rock band to be anything other than this. Nobody is coming to this group expecting any sort of exciting innovation.
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:41 (five years ago) link
The Pfork review is good (IMO) because it talks specifically about aspects of their music (and "presentation") that are bad, and details why they are bad. It's not hyperbolic and ad hominem like an early-2000s Pfork takedown (opening paragraph aside, maybe).
― a neon light ablaze in this green smoky haze (morrisp), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:46 (five years ago) link
I also like how the writer spends a paragraph contrasting GVF w/The Darkness, because I have also been thinking about The Darkness as a reference point, and trying to pin down how/why they were different and "worked" (this writer nails it, I think).
― a neon light ablaze in this green smoky haze (morrisp), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:47 (five years ago) link
JFC yes
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 17:03 (five years ago) link