Robyn

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it's very silly cutty. it's a good gauge of how comfortable you are with your silly listening around other people.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Monday, 3 October 2005 23:51 (twenty years ago)

Who's That Girl.. but probably only that track, and robotboy.

The rest is compressed brilliance

I heard Surfjan for the first time today. It was as underwhelming as I'd expected.

― fandango (fandango), Monday, 3 October 2005 23:52 (twenty years ago)

(I like Sufjan...)

(perhaps not coincidentally, I've lived my entire life in either Michigan or Illinois.)

― scott pl. (scott pl.), Monday, 3 October 2005 23:58 (twenty years ago)

i was listening to it by myself and had to look over my shoulder during "konichiwa bitches"

― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 3 October 2005 23:58 (twenty years ago)

my ULTRA-SCIENTIFIC RATINGS METHOD involved typing an 8 and then a random number after the decimal point.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 00:00 (twenty years ago)

i subjected my officemate to george michael today so perhaps i am not who to turn to regarding shame

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 00:01 (twenty years ago)

Oh, Jess, I wasn't accusing you of being a Snoozans fan or anything, no worries. I just brought him up cos I am baffled by his good press.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 01:08 (twenty years ago)

actually i think i did hear the album before i moved, when i was still working at the record store...and if i did hear it, what i am remembering was kind of pleasant, but yeah, the hosannas baffle me too.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 01:10 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, exactly. At first I was thinking that it was like one of those posters they used to sell in malls, the kind where if you look just right, there's a 3d boat or something. I tried with that record, and I swear to God, there's NO BOAT.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 01:15 (twenty years ago)

well i liked the NMH record too, but i am still kinda baffled by the 10.0! we must review a random spanish reissue! reception it gets.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

(perhaps not coincidentally, I've lived my entire life in either Michigan or Illinois.)

Uh, me too, but I'd like to think that that's not the only reason I like Sufjan so much. Robyn has some really good songs ("Be Mine" is the clear standout here), but sorry, Illinois > Robyn.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

maybe i need to put patches on the elbows of my jacket

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 01:19 (twenty years ago)

You should, anyway.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 01:21 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, but Extraordinary Machine >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Illinois

Actually, there's a lot more >'s to go, I just got a little tired of leaning on that key.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 01:25 (twenty years ago)

Ha, you can file that last post under "Everybody Get Random!"

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 01:26 (twenty years ago)

So wait, are you guys trying to tell me that I might like Sufjan by the time he starts writing songs set in Ossining and Poughkeepsie?

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 01:27 (twenty years ago)

"ha, I'd be plesantly surprised if it made the top 50!"

oh scottpl, today's issue makes me cry!

― marc h. (marc h.), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 01:29 (twenty years ago)

Robyn's record is definitely much better than Illinoise -- Sufjan hasn't figured out how to make a good album with his terrific songs. You might find him boring or cringeworthy or whatever, but a song like "Seven Swans" or "Casimir Pulaski Day" or "Concerning the UFO Sighting..." is defensibly great.

The new Fiona Apple CD is crap, though, Matthew.

But anyway, ROBYN -- 8.2 was definitely too low. And it's a serious issue, because Pitchfork readers only seem to flock to mega-ratings -- and WHY DID THIS NOT GET A MEGA-RATING. While I'm content to yell about this album to an indie-rock brick wall, veryone would love this album if it was hip.

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 06:14 (twenty years ago)

Hey, I don't understand this. Why is it so important whether Pfork gives a 7.6 or a 8.7 for it? Though I don't think it would be that good. Not bad, I'd give 7.2, it's still good :)

― zeus (zeus), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 06:37 (twenty years ago)

I GIVE IT A 10.0 FOR EFFORT

― Googley Asearch (Toaster), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 06:52 (twenty years ago)

It's not actually important, zeus, I am just trying to make meat of something small. Like krill.

PFM gives out a gazillion reviews in the 7-8.4 range. Thus, if an album is in a genre you don't normally listen to (eg: pop), and it gets one of those generic 'pretty good' ratings, I can't imagine someone going out of their way to hear it. If it rates a 9.7, say, there's something compelling there - "maybe this is actually good and worth hearing, even if I don't normally like that stuff".

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 07:11 (twenty years ago)

sean, it will be on my year-end list! and ff won't! (i didn't actually cry, though)

― marc h. (marc h.), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 10:50 (twenty years ago)

Wow, Sean, you surprise me. I am certain that no one made a record as good as Extraordinary Machine this year. Well, Robyn, MIA, and the New Pornos come close, but not very.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 11:35 (twenty years ago)

Gah, Matthew, sometimes you and me live on such different planes. I had less time than I expected for the original EM mix, but I was through with the new one before I had even listened to the whole thing once. Fiona's delivery is pretty great (love the rubicon line [hi MIA!]), but the songs plod for me, going in circles, and none of the production after the opening track zings at all. The new version of that "Love" song whose title I don't remember (you posted the original at Flux) really sucks.

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 11:48 (twenty years ago)

ooh, if this thread keeps going until tomorrow it can double as the place to complain about the pfm fiona apple review

― scott pl. (scott pl.), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 12:20 (twenty years ago)

fwiw, sean, 8.2 is supposed to mean more than just "pretty good," though obv how readers use it is up to them.

― marc h. (marc h.), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 12:28 (twenty years ago)

Oh no no! You must indoctrinate teh kids! These liberal policies are getting us nowhere!

― vinegar (Koens), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 12:43 (twenty years ago)

Oh my God, Pfork dropped the ball on Fiona too? WTF?

ALL HAIL EMPEROR SNOOZANS!

Sean, "Tymps" is actually probably the best argument in favor of Elizondo's version, and the relative flatness of Brion's arrangement!

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 13:10 (twenty years ago)

Let's see, "Best New Music" -

Broken Social Scene
Franz Ferdinand
Wolf Parade
Devendra Banhart
Serena Maneesh
Kanye West
Super Furry Animals
The New Pornographers
Sufjan Snoozans
Wilderness
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Isolee
Art Brut
Sleater-Kinney
Stephen Malkmus
The Hold Steady
Architecture In Helsinki
Rosebuds
Sigur Ros
Jóhann Jóhannsson
Jason Forrest
Blood on the Wall
Bloc Party
Bell Orchestre
Kalikak Family
Kompakt 6
Part Chimp
Field Music

Well, I guess I shouldn't be very shocked by any of this.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 13:16 (twenty years ago)

Sean Gramophone: OK, I understand. But if Robyn is 9.7, than the Franz album should be 10.0

― zeus (zeus), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

And if that Franz album is a 10.0, then it's time for me to start writing reviews of office supplies instead.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 17:21 (twenty years ago)

N., I liked your review of the album but thought 8.3 was too high for what you describe.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 17:21 (twenty years ago)

technically, the last third or so of what Matthew listed isn't 'best new music'

― scott pl. (scott pl.), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)

J: That rating takes into account the fact that their first album got a 9.1. Possibly that was not very cool and fiercely-independent of me. But I figure the ratings are for the ratings-heads, and I didn't want to send the message that "Pitchfork" thought there'd been some big decline in quality. (And to be honest, I can't imagine how I would have rated this in some sort of vacuum; I imagine if I'd rated both I'd have put them both in the same 8.0-8.5 range. Which higher? Well, this is why I'm uncomfortable about ratings -- I'd probably put the new one higher for being "more interesting," and then feel guilty, public-service-wise, knowing that the first one was the one more people would actually love.)

I think there was originally some conflicted half-assed "I have reservations" stuff in that review, too, but they weren't clear and precise enough to survive editing.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 19:00 (twenty years ago)

I'm posting this here (inappropriately) because I didn't want to just post a snarky "this song sucks" comment on your blog, Matthew, but although I haven't given Extraordinary Machine any more time since this conversation here, I did just relisten to "Red Red Red" and golly do I find it dull. It's exciting when it crests so early (vocally), but then I don't feel it at all when she breaks and stops. The vocal performance feels really tossed-off, like Apple's trying to remember "to do what I did when I sang this song at home and sounded so right". And the tune isn't good enough to carry things with a sheen of fakeness - the melody vanishes in the second minute, the upright bass sounds terrible, and it never gathers its disparate parts.

Come to think of it, it sounds like an Eels cover, which isn't really a plus or minus either way.

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 15:51 (twenty years ago)

So this isn't getting a UK bonus track extravaganza style release now?

― fandango (fandango), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 19:25 (twenty years ago)

Crazy pills, Sean!

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 20:03 (twenty years ago)

I'm warming up to this A LOT.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 October 2005 20:34 (twenty years ago)

So, how cold *are* you, John? :)

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 14 October 2005 20:45 (twenty years ago)

If only it had been written by Xenomania/Richard X eh?

― fandango (fandango), Friday, 14 October 2005 20:47 (twenty years ago)

MFG, I think the first couple of times I sort of had it on but wasn't really listening to it. It's so solid, though.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 October 2005 20:49 (twenty years ago)

it is still GREAT

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Friday, 14 October 2005 21:10 (twenty years ago)

"Be Mine" = still one of the greatest but I'm burning out on it rather quickly. Haha its so DESIGNED to be loved by ILM tho.

― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 14 October 2005 21:50 (twenty years ago)

Be Mine sounds a lot like Kate Bush's Hounds Of Love.

Heh, didn't notice this, BUT "Anytime You Like" (ie the last track) sounds REALLY Bush-like to me – both in the voice (incl the stereoed refrain-thing) and especially the instrumental backing, which (at least at the start) is some sort of twin of "Watching You Without Me" from The Ninth Wave.

― The Vintner's Lipogram (OleM), Monday, 24 October 2005 15:16 (twenty years ago)

the good news: i finally tracked down the full album

the bad news: apart from the stuff i'd already heard (and i had reservations about 'konichiwa bitches' anyway), it basically sucks. thoughts here

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 24 October 2005 15:33 (twenty years ago)

(i still think 'be mine' and 'who's that girl?' are two of the best pop songs i've heard this year though)

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 24 October 2005 15:34 (twenty years ago)

I've really gone off her cos of the voice. O fickle me.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 24 October 2005 15:35 (twenty years ago)

Wow, talk about overanalysing the fun right out.

― login name (fandango), Monday, 24 October 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

tom otm

― strongo hulkington's ghost (dubplatestyle), Monday, 24 October 2005 16:34 (twenty years ago)

it might also be because i was driving incessantly for the two weeks i really fell in love with it

― strongo hulkington's ghost (dubplatestyle), Monday, 24 October 2005 16:35 (twenty years ago)

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