Why Rolling Stone Magazine’s Album Reviews Suck
First off let me start by saying I could really care less about how many stars Rolling Stone gives certain records. They are horrible reviews with little substance. The little thing that does annoy me about Rolling Stone’s record reviews is their issuing of 5 star albums. This is the maximum amount of stars a record can receive and when Rolling Stone gives an album 5 stars, it is designating this album as a “classic album.” I definitely don’t loose sleep over this issue, but today after realizing Rolling Stone had given Bruce Springsteen’s new album 5 stars, I felt obligated to write something about this.
Continue Reading after the jump….
The 5 Most Overhyped Bands in Music Today
The internet has not only changed the way people listen to music and discover new music; it has become a platform for millions of people to share what music they like and what music they don’t like. Through the rise of music blogs like the one you are reading right now, the internet has become an influential medium in which bands are blasted into the spotlight or shot down into the ground. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, one of the first bands to gain widespread popularity through the internet, can not only thank the web for its success, but can also thank it for the ultimate backlash they received after their initial internet driven hype got too overblown.
There has always been hype and with hype always comes a backlash, but in the age of the internet, ideas are more outspoken and spread faster. A band like Vampire Weekend went from being the most talked about band on music blogs to the band that was “cool to hate.” Just as hype can be driven by a collective mass all agreeing with each other and all wanting to believe in something, backlash can as well. It can be trendy to like things and trendy to hate things. It is unfortunate that something as amazing as music can get caught up in this game but it is hard to avoid. Sometimes we find ourselves getting too wrapped up in the overhyping or overhating of musical acts. I am guilty. We are all guilty. A certain music review website might publish a review for an album and put it in its “best new music” section and we will find ourselves listening to it more than if it didn’t receive this acclaim. When I start to get wrapped up in some of this nonsense, I repeat a phrase that I first said to myself sometime back in early high school. “Listen to what makes your ears happy.” This has been my music listening motto ever since.
I am going to go ahead and say something right now. I dig Sheryl Crow. I think she writes great catchy pop songs. There is not one Sheryl Crow song on the radio that I don’t like. I wish I could say I celebrate her whole catalog, but I don’t have any of her albums. Perhaps I should buy one. But I am too scared to “buy Sheryl Crow.” Almost as if it will taint my iTunes music library forever. No matter if is Celine Dion or The Beatles, Marroon 5 or Arcade Fire, Limp Biskit or The Strokes, “listen to what makes your ears happy.”
I know I am slightly contradicting myself by preaching to be completely non-influenced by outside forces when listening to music and condemning getting wrapped up in the overhyping of bands when I am creating a list about overhyped bands all at the same time. But part of what is fun being an avid music listener is being passionate about your likes and dislikes. Music is a passion and there is nothing more enjoyable than spending an hour with a friend debating whether The Beatles Revolver is the best album of all time or if it is Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan. I was pretty obsessed with the Strokes back when I was in college and I remember coming back to the dorms after a night of college fun and getting really really pissed at my friend Christi because she didn’t think the Strokes were amazing. I really had no argument other than playing Strokes songs on repeat and then scolding her for not thinking they were great. Its what music does to you.
Without further ado, the follow is a list of the 5 most overhyped bands in music today. When I say “overhyped” I don’t mean “overrated.” Lots of bands are overhyped for a reason. THEY ARE GOOD. I love a lot of bands on this list. But there comes a time where even if the band is good, the hype becomes a little too much. Every music website you go to, you can’t escape reading something about them. The question I ask but don’t answer in this post is, what makes bands get so much hype? Obviously its because most of the time they are pretty good, but there are a lot of great bands out there. What is the little extra thing that propels them to super hype in this internet fueled blogtastic age of music? Is it little things like their image, their band name, how they conduct themselves in interviews? If Pitchfork Media gave an album containing only the sounds of a man pooping into a bathtub while playing a fiddle a perfect 10 out of 10, would the masses join together and declare the album a triumph in the avant garde? I think it could possibly happen…..
See the list after the jump……
The 10 Catchiest Hooks of the Last Ten Years
Songs and melodies have the power to get stuck in our heads. Some for better and some for worse. The following songs have what I consider some of the catchiest hooks of the last ten years, for the better. I probably could make a whole separate list of the catchiest hooks of the last ten years, for the worse, but lets focus on the positives shall we? There are many catchy hooks out there by bands like Nickelback and Maroon 5, but we don’t want to have to shoot ourselves in the head. I am probably missing some songs that deserve to be on here, but theses are the ones that came to me off the bat. A few of these you will disagree with, arguing that they are not for the better because in college you rushed a frat and got locked in a closet for 24 hours while “Hey Ya” played on full volume, but that is what purely subjective music lists on blogs are for, right?
“Viva la Vida” - Coldplay
“i use to have it all….” “awhoo oo ooo……”
Do we thank Coldplay for this hook or Joe Satriani? In case your wondering what I am talking about, Joe Satriani claims Coldplay plagiarized his song If I Could Fly. All I can say is I don’t think Coldplay sat around rocking out to a washed up 1990’s guitar shredder. Joe Satriani’s song If I Could Fly is inspiring though. That is, if you are on top of a mountain wearing leather pants with a V shaped guitar and have wind blowing in your face. Perhaps you just spent 5 hours at Guitar Center as well, ripping it with fellow shredders. Do they have Guitar Centers on top of mountains? I am not sure.
Continued after the jump…..
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Top 10 Favorite Albums of 2008
Hey look, its another end of the year list. I am not sure if there is a difference between “best” album of the year and “favorite” album of the year, but I am pretty sure I could make another list that covers what I think were the best albums of the year, even if they weren’t my favorites. Anyways, in no particular order, the following are my favorite albums of 2008. Favorite meaning I found myself listening to these albums the most.
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
What can I say? I got obsessed with these guys the first moment I heard them. I probably annoyed the crap out of my friends by preaching how good this album was. My typical line: “Can you believe this guy is only 21 years old and he is singing and writing songs like this?!?!?!” Definitely not over-rated. All the praise for this band is warranted. Robin Pecknold is the best young songwriter we have seen in years and I can’t wait to hear what they put out next.
YouTube: Two little swedish girls cover Tiger Peasant Mountain Song
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Cut Copy
In Ghost Colours
Ever since The Rapture’s Echoes
YouTube: Hearts on Fire Live
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Department of Eagles
In Ear Park
MP3: Department of Eagles: No One Does It Like You
This shouldn’t be viewed as a Grizzly Bear side project. In Ear Park is an insanely well produced album evoking the finest baroque pop of the 60’s.
YouTube: No One Does It Like You Live on Conan O’Brien
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Gang Gang Dance
Saint Dymphna
MP3: Gang Gang Dance: House Jam
I have only recently discovered this album in the last couple weeks but it has quickly grown as one of my favorites of the year. I don’t even know how to describe this music. At times it sounds like M.I.A singing over Out Hud. Warped sounds, strange synths, oddly plucked guitars and heady dance beats. Awesome.
YouTube: House Jam Live in Tokyo 08
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Grouper
Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
MP3: Grouper: Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping
This is a beautiful album. From start to finish, the album flows flawlessly in a relaxing haze. Perfect to take a nap to on a summer day. And I mean that in a good way.
YouTube: Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping Live 08
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Q-Tip
The Renaissance
YouTube: Q-Tip: Getting Up
It takes a lot for me to get into a Hip Hop album. I need the backing tracks to be catchy and the flow needs to make my head bounce. I actually have no idea what I am saying. This album is great.
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Tv On The Radio
Dear Science
YouTube: Tv On The Radio: Golden Age
I never really understood the whole TV on the Radio thing. I didn’t like their first album and I only liked some songs on Return to Cookie Mountain. Their production has always been too cluttered and messy and the combination of Kip Malone and Tunde Adebimpe’s vocals annoyed me. To top it off, I had seen them live twice which cemented them as one of the most overhyped live bands in my eyes. I then heard Dear Science and I thought to myself, “finally!!” Unlike their previous efforts, the production is dense but spaced out, allow room for each sound to be heard a la Talking Heads Remain in Light. Top that off with songwriting that is melodic and poppy and you have yourself an amazing album.
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The War On Drugs
Wagonwheel Blues
MP3: The War On Drugs: Taking the Farm
Is it just me or is this one of the most under-looked albums of the year? Hypnotic and catchy, Wagonwheel Blues chugs along in a pleasant bliss.
YouTube: The War On Drugs Live
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Okkervil River
The Stand Ins
MP3: Okkervil River: Lost Coastlines
I loved The Stage Names but I think The Stand Ins has become my favorite of the two. Good tunes, good lyrics, good times.
YouTube: A.C. Newman of the New Pornographers and Will Sheff (Okkervil River) Perform Lost Coastlines
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The Walkmen
You & Me
MP3: The Walkmen: In The New Year
You & Me was definitely a grower for me. It took multiple listens to start deciphering the melodies. This is a “feel” album. For some reason it reminds me of hanging around a fire in the winter. It is cozy music. Holiday music? Hamilton Leithauser has a “crooner voice” on this one. “In The New Year” is one the best songs I have heard in a long time.
YouTube: In the New Year Live 2008
Radiohead: Best Unreleased Songs
The following is a collection of the best unreleased songs by Radiohead, meaning songs that have never appeared on an album, as b-sides, etc. Over their career, Radiohead have always toyed around new songs ideas in their live shows. A lot of these songs became favorites among hardcore fans but for one reason or another, Radiohead never ended up recording any of them for release on a proper album.
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MP3: Radiohead: Follow Me Around (Live on BBC 2003- Acoustic)
“Follow Me Around” first debuted at the Canada Air Centre in Toronto on Oct 17 2000. It has been played a couple times live since.
MP3: Radiohead: I Promise (Live 1996)
“I Promise” appeared regularly on Radiohead’s 1996 tour but disappeared from their setlists and has yet to resurface.
MP3: Radiohead: Lift (Fast Version, Live 1996)
MP3: Radiohead: Lift (Slow Version, Live 2002)
“Lift” appeared frequently on Radiohead’s 1996 tour but never made it’s way onto an album. It was thought it would appear on OK Computer but never happened.
To quote Thom Yorke on why the song wasn’t rehearsed for Kid A:
“we havent lost the song. we played it too much in a certain way that didnt work in my opinion. it didnt feel right. so we need to approach it in a different way but at the time of OK Computer it was impossible to get into rearrAngeimng it becaose everyone had fixed ideas on what to play and wed all just got into a habit we couldnt break. like staRING TOo LONG AT STRANGERS know what i mean?”
A reworked slower version of the song appeared live in 2002.
MP3: Radiohead: Big Boots (Live 1995)
Played live frequently before the release of Ok Computer, “Big Boots” was written around the time of “The Bends.” The band had tried several times to record it including for the soundtrack to the film “The Avengers” in 1998, but they could never get it to their satisfaction.
MP3: Radiohead: Good Morning Mr. Magpie (From Webcast #4)
“Good Morning Mr. Magpie” is a nice quick little acoustic diddy performed for one of Radiohead’s infamous webcasts. It is also featured on the Radiohead TV DVD.
MP3: Radiohead: Super Collider (Live 2008)
Performed a couple times on Radiohead’s 2008 tour, “Super Collider” is a slow piano based number.
