High Society!
― cajunsunday, Thursday, 2 March 2017 14:38 (seven years ago) link
I remember the High Society material being pretty good the couple of times I heard it. Sharpen Your Teeth is great imho, or at least 1/2 to 2/3 great. Effectively the last great Modest Mouse record (though it's a different band - folksy/bluegrassy) and imho if he'd saved some of those songs, Good News... would have been a lot stronger. "Parasites," "Hotcha Girls," "Things I Don't Remember," "Smoke Like Ribbons".... I should pull this out again.
― tales of a scorched-earth nothing (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 2 March 2017 14:38 (seven years ago) link
yeah I still keep things I don't remember in rotation, good tune
― johnny crunch, Thursday, 2 March 2017 14:41 (seven years ago) link
weird Pinetop Seven choice (it's an odds-and-sodds comp including some soundtrack work), but I never get a chance to vote for them and they're one of my all-time faves sooo
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, 2 March 2017 14:45 (seven years ago) link
calling Last Broadcast or Shine a Light overlooked is a bit suspect
Souljacker at least half sucks
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, 2 March 2017 14:46 (seven years ago) link
Coincidentally something prompted me to search ILX earlier this week for Stellastar* threads -- seems they were largely disliked around here but I really loved that first album at the time even while acknowledging that most of the criticism was valid. Can't remember hearing anything from their next two records. Think I was a bit disappointed with Missisuaga Goddam after the The Smell of Our Own but still play it now and then along with the rest of HC's albums.
― early rejecter, Thursday, 2 March 2017 14:54 (seven years ago) link
I guess I stopped caring abt "college rock" right around Y2K, cuz while I know earlier stuff by a couple of these bands/artists, i've never knowingly heard anything on this list. Maybe the Constantines album? I remember seeing it around, anyway...
― “Remember,” he says, “Noddy Holder is a gangster.” (contenderizer), Thursday, 2 March 2017 15:08 (seven years ago) link
The Fire Theft. Which is Sunny Day Real Estate minus guitar player Dan Hoerner. Nice tie-in with the Emo Poll thread.
― Marty8501 (Marty Innerlogic), Thursday, 2 March 2017 15:18 (seven years ago) link
schmersal should just call his next band "criminally overlooked" and save everyone the trouble
― increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Thursday, 2 March 2017 15:39 (seven years ago) link
doubt I've listened to that Black Heart Procession album in ten years but I'd be confident it still holds up
― Vlogs from other credible bands such as Shed Seven (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 2 March 2017 16:13 (seven years ago) link
I love love love the Doves' Last Broadcast.
True to the poll, I had forgotten about it and haven't listened to it in years. Putting it on now...
― LimbsKing, Thursday, 2 March 2017 16:21 (seven years ago) link
Black Heart Procession tho I do like the ugly casanova album and elf power
the constantines album rings a bell. I maybe bought that on cd was it on sub pop?
― Odysseus, Thursday, 2 March 2017 16:24 (seven years ago) link
I remember liking STELLASTARR* and PINBACK at the time (saw the former in concert when the band played next door to the record store I worked in at the time; the later's Rob Crow is still doing Goblin Cock, a doom metal side project of some renown amongst us heshers) but haven't listened to either in ages. I like some EELS stuff but not sure about that album without looking it up (they're very hit or miss with me).
ENON came from the ashes of Brainiac who I liked but I don't recall if I listened to the album at the time.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Thursday, 2 March 2017 16:24 (seven years ago) link
I was more into the previous Enon album, Believo!, which has some great, weird groovy songs ("Rubber Car") and some understated hooks ("Get the Letter Out"). They're both good, tho! High Society just has a bit more polish, feels more keyboardy in a way that at the time felt like where indie rock was headed generally (see Metric, Ladytron, etc.). I saw Enon in late 02 and they were great fwiw.
― tales of a scorched-earth nothing (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 2 March 2017 16:45 (seven years ago) link
don't know if it's criminal that these are overlooked, but this feels like a pretty representative cross section of things that made CMJ top 20 without getting major critical love. Voted Enon's High Society, which was a solid record.
― intheblanks, Thursday, 2 March 2017 22:28 (seven years ago) link
Elf Power was always a decent listen, they always struck me as being better than a tier 2 Elephant 6 band named Elf Power should be.
― intheblanks, Thursday, 2 March 2017 22:29 (seven years ago) link
i really liked the vertical scratchers (schmersal post-enon) record. nobody else seems to have paid it any attention.
― increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Thursday, 2 March 2017 22:34 (seven years ago) link
of this lot i only have doves and constantines.i have a different album by mates of states, but its buried deep.have always wanted the stellastarr* album as i remember hearing a track off it and loving it.
what a strange random list ..
― mark e, Thursday, 2 March 2017 22:43 (seven years ago) link
yeah weird list. i know maybe half this stuff and none of it is related?
will prob take the second-best cons record over the third-best pinback record.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 2 March 2017 22:54 (seven years ago) link
Huh. Though I'm no longer the audience, it seems pretty tightly clustered.
― “Remember,” he says, “Noddy Holder is a gangster.” (contenderizer), Thursday, 2 March 2017 22:55 (seven years ago) link
the list would have been less random if they just called it "nostalgia trip by 35-year-olds who used to do college radio." i know most of these records, but it's only because i'm a 35-year-old who used to do college radio and i remember team clermont or whoever sending them to the station
― intheblanks, Thursday, 2 March 2017 23:17 (seven years ago) link
Weakerthans is a good record and it will get my vote here.
But when yer talking about Emperor X, ya gotta start with Western Teleport. What is this, amateur hour?
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 3 March 2017 00:22 (seven years ago) link
it's only because i'm a 35-year-old who used to do college radio and i remember team clermont or whoever sending them to the station
lol pretty sure i saw Enon at the 40 Watt. and Elf Power ofc.
feel like Black Heart Procession got ripped off by tons of popular bands in the 2000s, the vaguely Victorian indie rock chamber orchestra sound (Decemberists? Arcade Fire? i mostly know these acts from their press photos)
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 3 March 2017 00:32 (seven years ago) link
Weakerthans record is so good but gonna have to go for Ugly Casanova as "Hotcha Girls" is amazing
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Friday, 3 March 2017 00:33 (seven years ago) link
I still get down with some Constantines every now and then, particularly that album.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Friday, 3 March 2017 00:33 (seven years ago) link
Correction: the album after that one. But Shine a Light is okay.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Friday, 3 March 2017 00:35 (seven years ago) link
you are referring to tournament of hearts, which has one of the best 5-song sequences in indie rock
― call all destroyer, Friday, 3 March 2017 00:39 (seven years ago) link
Yep.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Friday, 3 March 2017 00:39 (seven years ago) link
"College rock?"
― Mr. Snrub, Friday, 3 March 2017 00:47 (seven years ago) link
Yeah man. Leave us old people alone with our college rock memories
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 3 March 2017 00:49 (seven years ago) link
Enon vs mates of state. Unsure.
― jjjusten, Friday, 3 March 2017 00:52 (seven years ago) link
Aren't stellarstar corporate ringers or something? Saw ads and shit for them EVERYWHERE at the time
― a but (brimstead), Friday, 3 March 2017 01:18 (seven years ago) link
yep i remember that too
― call all destroyer, Friday, 3 March 2017 01:43 (seven years ago) link
The college/indie rep for whatever label Stellasterisks were on was pushing them very hard in my store, FWIW.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Friday, 3 March 2017 02:51 (seven years ago) link
Although I was a college radio DJ myself at one time, these albums come from a period when I'd pretty much stopped listening to the stuff, and certainly to the 2nd-tier stuff, so to my knowledge I've never heard any of these albums. The Constantines were on a CD that came with the 2005 Believer magazine music issue that I listened to a bit that year, and which featured in places a similar vibe to many of these, as I'm listening to them now, though the freak-folk sound was by then in the ascendant.
― o. nate, Friday, 3 March 2017 03:12 (seven years ago) link
Enon vs Doves vs Black Heart Procession
Cloud Cult is still huge here and are fucking abysmal
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 3 March 2017 03:47 (seven years ago) link
@ AB - I only ever saw Enon at Tasty World, with Doll Farm opening. If they played 40 Watt too I'm sorry I missed it!
― tales of a scorched-earth nothing (Doctor Casino), Friday, 3 March 2017 04:50 (seven years ago) link
I'm a former college radio DJ in my 30s. Enon - High Society gets my vote, listening to that is like taking a time machine back to those days.
― larry appleton, Friday, 3 March 2017 04:52 (seven years ago) link
That Long Winters album has some very excellent power-pop on it. Constantines were great live, though I also think the album after is their best. Wasn't that Doves album pretty huge?
― Jalapeño Coladas, Friday, 3 March 2017 09:12 (seven years ago) link
Long Winters album is the best thing on this list by a decent margin
― alpine static, Friday, 3 March 2017 09:45 (seven years ago) link
which is not to say everything else sucks, it's just that When I Pretend To Fall is a classic, in my book.
next: Weakerthans, Pinback
― alpine static, Friday, 3 March 2017 09:46 (seven years ago) link
only one I know is Kashmir which is indeed a great Danish rock album
― niels, Friday, 3 March 2017 12:24 (seven years ago) link
Long Winters, followed by Weakerthans, with Pinback pretty high on the list too.
― husked, tonal wails (irrational), Friday, 3 March 2017 15:36 (seven years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Thursday, 16 March 2017 00:01 (seven years ago) link
I'm tempted to listen to the ones I haven't heard, but at the moment another vote for Enon. That was actually my #1 album in the year it came out.
― dlp9001, Thursday, 16 March 2017 01:43 (seven years ago) link
i own Stellastarr*, Doves, Constantines and Enon. voting Doves
― Bee OK, Thursday, 16 March 2017 01:54 (seven years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 17 March 2017 00:01 (seven years ago) link