GIRLS - ALBUM

i'd be super surprised if this thread doesn't exist, but it's a tough one to search for.

anyway, this album is amazing and obviously gonna be huge. thoughts?

Er, not much to post really, but saw them do the album release show at Amoeba on Tuesday. Also for how much they've kinda seemed like the main big thing in SF for awhile now, I'm surprised that few people I know outside of the city have heard of them.
And yeah, the album is supposed to get big isn't it?

i'm on the fence with this one. on the one hand i find the guy's voice a bit obnoxious but on the other hand i really enjoy the lyrics for their twee/naïve perspective on things

i mean honestly, who doesn't want a pizza and a bottle of wine?

i was actually quite turned off by some of the lyrics at first because of the tweeness, but when it comes down to it i appreciate the honesty. it's heartfelt, and he's a great songwriter. here's an awesome interview, btw:

http://www.faqmagazine.org/ChristopherGirls.htm

dude has a crazy backstory...cults, drugs, etc.

some videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuoTjYYqe4c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcqwfFKagH4

Just can't get past the dude's freaking VOICE.

They seem to bear out my meme that any band with the word "girl" or "girls" in their name who do not have any actual *girls* in the band = invariably shite.

that was a meme?

lol

dig this

after a few listens his voice has really grown on me. I'm liking this.

that interview is just..

that interview explains a lot about why his music sounds the way it does...

really enjoying this. there are a couple of songs where the voice gets a little grating, but he really is a great songwriter and that interview only makes me appreciate it more.

lust for life is one of the best songs of the year imo

worth nothing that he played in holy shit with ariel pink and matt fishbeck.

i like this album, his personality really comes through in the songs & they're all pretty good songs.

this sounds very good. finally some fucking dynamic range!

Those videos are annoying we're-young-beautiful-and-invincible type videos. Totally rub me the wrong way.

But I like this guy and I wanna hear his album so I'm gonna buy it, stupid SF advertisement vids or not.

i listened to the first half of the album last night, and at one point i was like "hey they changed the lyrics to hellhole ratrace, that's weird" but then i checked it out and it's just a different song with the exact same melody and chord progression. fine album, though, but imo not worthy of all the hype it will invariable get.

i think the song is called "ghost mouth" or maybe the one after that...

or already has got, i guess: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13477-album/

ppl really want to listen to this guy whine over "classic pop" chord changes?

^^^^^^^
My question exactly. This band has one good song ("Solitude") that they didn't even put on the album. Sooooo boring.

"lust for life" is just ridiculously great i think but man a lot of this really doesn't hit me. the longer songs with the exception of "hellhole ratrace" sound like they totally meander to me ("laura", "lauren marie" etc) but i like some of the shorter songs okay ("big bad mean motherfucker" is dope). i like these guys based on what i've read about them, but i just don't see how someone could think that this was more than just kinda good.

like, i appreciate the production and they really hit that about right on the mark, just don't think that the songs are there

i think it's interesting that the front dude is obsessed with the beyonce song "halo" (believe this was in the fader) because his songs-- like ryan tedder's-- are really simple and direct, i could totally see him being taken with the lyric "baby you're my halo/ you're my saving grace". i hate the beyonce song but i think it's kinda sweet & endearing

i do agree the production is excellent, but like--i read the interview upthread and he seems like a really interesting dude with a lot of stories to tell, and he just comes up with the most trite, dull, dreadful lyrics i can think of. if he could say something more interesting or if he could do something more musically than just rip off early pop, i could live with the voice. as it is i just don't really think he has anything special.

"solitude" is actually their one song i can't take. way too much bright eyes emo going on.

I like the production (it sounds full, and with some separation and contrast, instead of the solid-wall-of-sound you sometimes get) and the doo-wop touches. And I think I like the songs, too. The lyrics certainly don't strike me as profound, and I'm not sure how much of the lead singer's compelling backstory is factoring into my assessment. I imagine it's going to be hard for many people to separate the backstory from the music, in this case.

I heard Hellhole Ratrace when it was on an eMusic compilation early this year. I still think it takes too long to get going, but it's okay when it finally begins to rumble and move.

i dont think the lyrics are supposed to strike u as profound. just a chill bro singin about life man

Would I like this?

i'm not asking for profundity just someone who sounds a little less pathetic

i like that its just a dude makin genuine music about his life n stuff. not really too much to it. imho the hype for artists like xx for example is a lil weirder, cuz like they get points just for having this different style of production that doesnt per se result in better songwriting or whatever.

maybe this is totally in nabisco's thing of being mainstream indie but if this is what mainstream indie is im on board with that, just dude writin songs with memorable lyrics ... i made that 'i just want a pizza and a bottle of wine' my facebook status the other day & it got tons of responses & "x likes this" from people, its just evocatively underwritten & perfect that way

i dunno i think its a pretty sweet record

i've heard the pizza/wine line a couple times but does he have many more lines like that? laura and lauren marie are kinda unlistenable because they seem to be written entirely in cliches.

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/7172/strafecominfromanotherp.jpg

i think both deej and cad are right - "lust for life" is a brilliantly written song both for the almost unanimously universal "pizza and a bottle of wine" lyric and the real crushing stuff like "i wish i had a father". but i agree with cad that some of the lyrics are kind of bad and cross the line from "expertly universal and applicable" to "underwritten trite cliche". i don't think that tom did any favors in his pfork review by citing for instance this lyric "'You've been a bitch, I've been an ass/ I don't wanna point the finger; I just know I don't like this, I don't wanna do this.'"

it's not a coincident i guess then that i think "hellohole ratrace" is their second best song because the chorus is amazing

and i dont want to cry my whole life through,
i want to do some laughing too.
so come on, come on, come on, come on, laugh with me.
and i dont want to die without shaking up a thing or two,
yeah, i want to do some dancing too.
so come on, come on, come on, come on, dance with me.

but on the other hand he kind of falls into the thing he does up there with the "bitch" & "ass" line where he takes a very elementary approach to analyzing opposites and thus conflict

this stanza from "hellhole ratrace" is a good example of where it's bad

sometimes youve just gotta make it for yourself.
sometimes sugar, it just takes someone else.
sometimes youve just gotta make it for yourself.
sometimes baby, you just need someone else.

he's basically at points one step away from singing "i was dark as night/ you were bright as day"

Not unanimously universal. I don't ever want a bottle of wine. I'm not always craving pizza.

ha yeah, "lust for life" is one of those songs that i really wish i had written but i don't drink wine so i've been trying to come up with a different lyric but i can't really think of one

That guy's lyrics are kind of dumb and sometimes smart and maybe teetering between being intentionally ironic/reflexive and inadvertently ironic/reflexive—or kind of dumb and kind of smart and kind of ironic like 99.9% of all good pop music. On a good day I would ignore that! On a bad day I would just listen to Bach or something. Pop music is this numbers game, particularly since our culture since the Beatles has expected certain kinds of singers to write their own songs for the sake of authenticity, and then all of the singers eat this up and write their own crummy songs.

this is boring

as far as "jus' a dude writin' some songs" albums go, i like it. i'd rather the lyrics try to be simple and relatable and sometimes succeed than try to be complex and profound and sometimes succeed

Man I plugged my speakers in and listened to those youtube videos and my leg hairs stood up. Why are people complaining about his voice like he's John Frusciante or somebody?

He's doing the singer-as-actor thing and I think he's knowingly playing "himself," both in performance and in the writing stage.

otm

i dunno, i think that contrast is pretty awesome. like deej said, he's just a chill bro talking about whats going on in his life. sometimes it's pretty profound and other times it's a little simple. but always he sounds genuine and i really feel like i know the guy; especially since he gives such a free and uninhibited interview. i guess i'm just pleased to hear something that seems spontaneous and honest, even if it is in fact laboured over.
xxxxxxpost

something that seems spontaneous and honest, even if it is in fact laboured over.

Some of the best art ever?

not really interested in honesty/authenticity, myself. or "chill bros", which sounds like a horrifying jamband descriptor.

I dunno maybe the rest of the album is better. But people are saying Lust for Life is the best thing on there...? sounds like any number of 90s janglepop songs to me

What I hear is alright but I think this thing is getting selling points for the back story the same way Bon Iver did (The whole cabin thing). Marketing is fun.

I'm not gonna cast aspersions on why other people like things, but from a press angle ... yeah his backstory explains the press.

as noted videos are pointless "oh we are young and beautiful and CRAZY!" silliness, would be nice if there were some actual ideas involved.

I just get riled up over this kind of lifestyle porn. They're not too different from teeth-whitening commercials, just more aestheticized.

I think it is the seeming honest, not honesty. Honesty and truth do not necessarily belong in art.

oh

no that's the best song! xp

"Honey Bunny" is. What an opener. "Magic" and "Vomit" are too.

"love like a river" is definitely my favorite vocal performance of his

'house bunny' and 'love like a river' are the two tracks i really like

I like the Manfred Mann "Blinded By The Light" references on "Vomit".

you're right! I missed this. I was going to say ELO.

house bunny!

haha i know!

Heard "Vomit" earlier today, kinda liked the first three minutes of it then everything went completely off the rails with bombast and WOO BACKING VOCALS. Haven't heard the rest of the album. Does it manage to avoid those pitfalls?

love 'Alex', love 'My Ma', like 'Honey Bunny'.

Listening to the earlier EP now and prefer this to the bombast littering the album. His country stuff is good- leave the rock alone Chris.

Heard "Vomit" earlier today, kinda liked the first three minutes of it then everything went completely off the rails with bombast and WOO BACKING VOCALS. Haven't heard the rest of the album. Does it manage to avoid those pitfalls?

― Matt M., Saturday, September 17, 2011 12:46 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

ummm, sort of, but also not really. i thought the backing vocals + gospel undertones of "vomit" were a bit much the first few times i heard it, but i think it makes a lot more sense in the frame of the album, and i've grown to appreciate it in that context

Is no-one else picking up on the similarities to Richard Hawley on this album? How Can I Say I Love You and Love Like a River could be songs on any of his albums.

I just wish there were more songs on the album like Honey Bunny, it's by far the best song on here and I really think the second side could do with some more short pop songs like that. The only song on the second side that isn't a ballad is Magic which I find quite annoying.

Not trying to pick on you, J0rdan, but that's the first time I've heard someone refer to a single in the context of an album in the last ten years. I may give the whole thing a spin when I get a chance.

well, i wouldn't even really call it a single? i mean i guess it is, in the sense that it's the first song they released from the album, but it also isn't in the sense that a single girls song has no impact on the music world writ large. it's not like a single that you hear 300 times on the radio or something -- there's no other context for "vomit" for me outside of the album. it's a song that i listened to a few times, thought it was good but flawed, but when i listened to the album it clicked for me

the thing about "vomit" is that it functions as (theoretically) as the "epic side one closer" a la "i want you (she's so heavy)" or something. it serves a purpose on the album and thru that lens i was able to understand & embrace the things about it that i thought were over the top when i heard it as a standalone mp3

Yeah this is a really good album. Despite the annoying blog hype i actually quite liked the debut as it reminded me of Jonathan Richman. New LP is completely different but a lot better.

"epic side one closer" a la "i want you (she's so heavy)"

good analogy!

kind of surprised more people arent into this, otoh mostly the only ppl to have weighed in are tedious ilm randoms mb the tides will turn once more show up

I think I prefer the first one so far, mostly because I think "Hellhole Ratrace" is one of the best songs of the decade and nothing on this one, after two and a half spins, seems to come close. Then again, this album has 'grower' written all over it, so I'm anxious to spend more time with it.

Love this band.

just spent 30 minutes in record store. in that time saw maybe 12-15 other patrons. clerk put on girls LP, sold three copies during first side.

wtf it's not even good!

three LPs no less

Okay, now that makes sense. Just weird to hear about songs as parts of albums and not just this thing you consume on its own is all.

might have sold more had she put on the second side

lots of people are into this in california ... i was actually more surprised that there were three people who hadn't heard of girls in the record shop at the same time

"tedious ilm randoms"

What a friendly thing to say.

sometimes you just wanna talk about an indie rock album its weird

Why is rock weirder than anything else?

I'm feeling this record man.

bought this over the weekend, really liking it so far. my copy came with a bonus track on a flexi-disc but i haven't listened to that yet

like this record.

Yeah, this really is great.

this song is a lot of fun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxuDoYhQI2o

First track on the album really sounds like The Undertones to me, esp the vocals.

The one Bee posted.

This band is just so insanely irritating visually, that I kind of love the fact that they're actually pretty great. It's more punk than punk.

My enthusiasm has waned but it's still a pretty good record.

this album is expensive and i am a cheapskate. see also: new sun araw record.

vomit is an honest-to-god epic rock song. this last album was great; shame this band split up.

Yes. Haven't heard his solo record. Is it good?

what i've heard is "meh." he apparently needed the band to kick him into a higher gear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLDk4SxbDRw

70s-ish classic rock-type jam. lots of people onstage. that band was big enough to be its own cult.

I wasn't a big fan of the last album but Vomit has become one of my favourite songs of the last few years. I've watched that performance many times. The vocals at the end give me shivers.

my wife watched it with me, and she took special note when the female backing singer stepped to the front of the stage to carry the vocals. the performance was already good, but she elevated it.

Yeah she totally steals the show.

Just watched it again. Incredible stuff.

I liked these guys. They always sounded a lot like "Golden Grimes"-era Further to me.

Golden Grimes is one of my favorite EPs. I don't like Girls though. I'm surprised you made that connection!

RIP Chet "JR" White, one half of Girls.

https://www.stereogum.com/2103041/girls-chet-jr-white-has-died/news/

Christopher Owens posted a really scary video on his youtube channel the other day. Hope he has people looking out for him

It's incredibly sad and grim reading the first post of this thread followed by the last two.