[Severian]

 

Hey guest...


....


Fuck you.

[_tunic_]

 

there is a stunning new live set of MOTHERFUCKER for streaming audio or downloading on the southern shelter site. And here's a video of that same set, with the same excellent motherfucking awesome sounding sound

I nearly bought their T-shirt if the shipping to Europe wasn't like 4 times more expensive then the price of the shirt itself

[guest]

Originally Posted by Severian

 

Hey guest...


....


Fuck you.

that's not very nice!

[Severian]

Originally Posted by guest

that's not very nice!

I know. Guess I'm a hypocrite

I'm just kidding... trolling you about that Pitchfork comment. Because I do indeed glance at Pitchfork at least every other day (almost never read a review or story though) I saw that this album, which I like, was getting the gush. Thought of you.

About ⅓ of the songs sound really good to my silly little ears. In a sad and apocalyptic way. The others sound a bit purposeless and boring; just disco beats and shouting. But it's early. I'll keep listening and give it a fair shake.

[Severian]

Currently:

 

This record is really freaking good, and manages to sound both like a tribute and like a proper Xiu Xiu album. I didn't give t nearly enough play in 2016.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Severian

I know. Guess I'm a hypocrite

I'm just kidding... trolling you about that Pitchfork comment. Because I do indeed glance at Pitchfork at least every other day (almost never read a review or story though) I saw that this album, which I like, was getting the gush. Thought of you.

About ⅓ of the songs sound really good to my silly little ears. In a sad and apocalyptic way. The others sound a bit purposeless and boring; just disco beats and shouting. But it's early. I'll keep listening and give it a fair shake.

the metacritic score is quite high xD

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

the metacritic score is quite high xD

Aw snap!

Yeah, see, I anticipate this album getting pretty much nothing but good reviews. It's not revolutionary (none of LCD's stuff has been — it's been nostalgic and retro and meta by design) but it is not at all unsatisfying, like some of the recent albums by LCD's contemporaries (Animal Clllective and Arcade Fire and so on).

However, I'm not sure it will be a favorite for the people who actually grew up with LCD Soundsystem. Those people are just entering that know-it-all phase of emerging adulthood. Social media comments (from fans!) like "I liked this better when it was called [PiL, Suicide, New Order]" abound because those folks are now discovering the music that LCD Soundsystem existed to celebrate. And they think they're elite because they've outgrown the intro course and are now into the "deep" stuff ... forgetting, I suppose, that the rest of the world has known about for 30+ years.

So I think this is a good example of how critics loving something doesn't really affect public opinion as much as that dude in the WSJ interview in that other thread suggested.

Me, I can enjoy it because I viewed LCD as a nostalgic endeavor from the beginning, and to me, this sounds like more nice nostalgia after a 9-year break. To the kids who played "All My Friends" in high school, it's probably going to feel a bit dated. Which is funny, because it's supposed to sound dated. Haha.

Yeah, the good songs are good. He touches on some bitter truths about growing old and becoming a fucking shadow of your own adolescent idealistic dreams on "American Dream." "Oh Baby" is just a really well-crafted, epic synth song.

It's not my favorite anything, but it's good. For me.

[noisereductions]

Bush
Sixteen Stone
1994, Supposedly Dave Grohl once said or joked that Bush were the most Nirvana sounding post-Nirvana band. I was never sure if that was a putdown or a complement. But Sixteen Stone was one of those albums that it felt like everyone in my high school owned. Don't get me wrong, the Nirvana (and Pixies) influence was obvious, but yeah this was definitely also aimed a lot more towards radio. But whatever, the songs here are certainly catchy enough. All the big singles: "Everything Zen," "Little Things," Machinehead," "Come Down" and of course "Glycerine" were obviously hits for a reason. There's nothing new here; certainly nothing challenging. If anything this is an album playing it safe. But dammit if there aren't a bunch of hummable hooks. And even if the lyrics can come off a bit nonsense, they still remain highly quotable in a post-Nirvana 90's kind of way. I'm sure that Bush feels less cool in retrospect, but I can't deny that this is a damn catchy record. I still like it.

The Lemonheads
It's A Shame About Ray
1992, I saw the video for the title track on 120 Minutes back in the day and was just in love with this band. I spent much of high school tracking down all their albums and singles and t-shirts and guitar tab books and stickers and anything else I could find. Maybe living so close to Boston made that slightly easier. They certainly weren't the most popular band in the world. But my obsession began with this album right here. It's one of those albums that I know every word of. It's fun and poppy and slightly rocky but mostly mellow. It's got a gorgeous ballad about drugs sang with Juliana Hatfield ("My Drug Buddy"). It's got a song with no rhymes from Hair ("Frank Mills"). It for a second looks back to the transitional punk-to-pop era of Creator or Lick on "Alison's Starting To Happen." Yeah yeah, that cover of "Mrs. Robinson" was later tacked on as a bonus track. But this album is way better than that. I love it.

Pixies
Bossanova
1990, Never a band to stay in one place for too long, Bossanova gets way more into surf rock than the Pixies had before. Opener "Cecilia Ann" is a great instrumental take on The Surftones. "Veloria" is a gorgeously epic piece that feels like a power ballad filtered through the ears of this crazy band. "Ana" by contrast is a pretty straight forward surf ballad about a surfer girl. I mean... that's pretty damn Beach Boys, at least on paper. I guess "Dig For Fire" would be the big single here. It's still catchy as hell. Then there's "Is She Weird" which I've always loved, but like much of the material from this album that was re-recorded during BBC sessions, I really prefer those recordings over the album cuts. But still there's some great stuff here. "The Happening" is kind of a weird droney thing about an alien sighting, and then the closing of "Stormy Weather" and "Havalina" really keep to the surf theme. It's a good beach day album I guess. It's not quite the top tier that is most Pixies albums. But even the worst Pixies album is really damn good.

Red Hot Chili Peppers
Mother's Milk
1989, The first Chili Peppers album with John Frusciante is a step in an awesome direction. It's a definite bridge between the overly funky early work, and the more rhythmic material that would follow. Their take on Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" was really the first time many mainstream ears were introduced to the band - and for good reason. All these years later it still rocks hard. Likewise for their cover of Hendrix's "Fire." But the originals here have plenty of personality as well. "Knock Me Down" and "Sexy Mexican Maid" are certainly standouts, as is the instrumental "Pretty Little Ditty." My one complaint would be that there is still a bit too much of Anthony's overdone hyper-fast rapping style of songs here, but the stuff that steps outside of that box points to some very awesome new directions.

Red Hot Chili Peppers
Blood Sugar Sex Magik
1991, After Mother's Milk the band was smart enough to keep Frusciante around. They hired Rick Rubin and moved into a haunted mansion where they'd manage to assemble their masterpiece. Blood Sugar Sex Magik - silly title and all - is kind of the third album in this sort of 1991 trilogy in my mind. Thinking back, it's incredible that this, Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten were all released in the stretch of about a month. Those are three very different albums from three very different bands, but these three albums ruled MTV and defined 1991 to a certain demographic. Blood Sugar finds a band that is far more comfortable together than Mother's Milk. These songs feel lived in. Of course there's the big singles: the glorious "Under The Bridge," the bouncy "Give It A Way," the rocking "Suck My Kiss" and the acoustic cacophony of "Breaking The Girl." But there's so much more great stuff here. Fans of the funk will be happy with the likes of "Funky Monks," "The Power Of Equality," "Sir Sexy Psycho" and so on. But then you've got moments as diverse as a frantic run through Robert Johnson's "They're Red Hot," and the absolutely stunning ballad of loss that is "I Could Have Lied." This is really a great album.

The Smashing Pumpkins
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
1995, This was another one of those albums that felt like standard issue in my high school. To my memory it must have been my first double album. And it's crazy to hear the giant leaps and bounds from Siamese Dream to this album. And while it's a double, there was still plenty of self-editing considering the amount of material that was actually recorded. This is certainly the most over-produced, well known and played (on radio) SP albums, but none of that can seem to diminish how good it actually is. Somehow even under all those layers of strings on "Tonight Tonight" there's some solid guitar playing and insane drumming going on. And I can't pretend that "1979" isn't still one of my favorite Pumpkins' songs. But like any good double album this gives the band license to stretch out; to revisit their heavier side on "Zero" or "Bullet With Butterfly Wings;" to get super twee on "Stumbline" or proggy on "We Only Come Out At Night." This is one of those albums where you're hit with so many well written songs that you forget how many there are. I'm still taken aback by "Muzzle" and lulled by "Thru The Eyes Of Ruby."

Weezer
The Blue Album
1994, What an introduction! Weezer's first of many self-titled albums is no doubt a classic. And one that never stops feeling fresh to me. Right from the acoustic picking of "My Name Is Jonas" through the masochistic torture of "The World Has Turned And Left Me Here;" the hipster-embrace of "Buddy Holly;" or the boredom with the status quo on "Undone," Weezer manages to channel equal parts math geek and Kiss cover band. There's so much confidence in this record that it's hard to believe it's a debut album. Taking the lyrical content of "Say It Ain't So" and deciding to fit it to a somewhat reggae influenced rhythm guitar - such an interesting choice. This is a band who one minute is only happy when they are literally hiding from the world "In The Garage" one minute, but then ending the album on what is truly meant to be performed in front of an audience with "Only In Dreams" a few songs later. It's almost as if they knew that this was too big to keep a secret for too long.

[evollove]

...And Justice For All

If this album wasn't so good, it would be pretty bad. Know what I mean?

[Severian]

Originally Posted by evollove

...And Justice For All

If this album wasn't so good, it would be pretty bad. Know what I mean?

Bahahaha. I do. I was just thinking about this album yesterday actually.

I'm a Ride the Lightning/Master of Puppets kind of Metallica guy, but Justice is the last album that made any godforsaken sense in my opinion. I look back and I think, "Why did they choose to shorten and clean-up and classic rockify everything for the album they knew was going to be their biggest (Black)?" I hate that album. What if they'd kept all the things that made their bad music not bad and actually good? Why if instead of going pop, they did a Pink Floyd thing and just did weird and long harder and longer and weirder? Maybe they'd have gone down a different path. The path of something other than perpetual disappointment for the remainder of their career.

[evollove]

Yeah, one of the few bands that could probably pull off an interesting thirty minute track. I love how their long songs that don't feel that long. I can feel the time passing with, like, Yes.

It really sounds like shit, though. Some interesting re-masters on youtube.

Wish to god I could get into LULU. Maybe I'll give that another go.

[dirty bunny]

It's a Shame About Ray is the only Lemonheads album I've ever heard, but it is indeed a good'un.

The Blue Album by Weezer still rocks, and I wish they had managed to keep the sound of the blue, green & maladroit albums. They went off the rails with make believe, in my opinion.

Bossanova is probably the Pixies album that gets the least love. I've always liked it too.

Fun fact: I saw Weezer & The Pixies in concert together!

[noisereductions]

Make Believe sucks but you would probably dig more recent stuff. The White Album is great.

Definitely get more Lemonheads. If you liked Ray check out Come On Feel as it's mostly leftovers from the same period.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by evollove

Yeah, one of the few bands that could probably pull off an interesting thirty minute track. I love how their long songs that don't feel that long. I can feel the time passing with, like, Yes.

It really sounds like shit, though. Some interesting re-masters on youtube.

Wish to god I could get into LULU. Maybe I'll give that another go.

LULU is a sore subject for me. Especially because it's one of the last things Lou Reed did. I wish he'd gone out with a Blackstar kind of thing. And I don't think we should talk able LULU. I'm never going to like it. You're probably never going to like it. Best not rape our ears over it.

[dirty bunny]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

Make Believe sucks but you would probably dig more recent stuff. The White Album is great.

Definitely get more Lemonheads. If you liked Ray check out Come On Feel as it's mostly leftovers from the same period.

OK! I will definitely try both suggestions. Thankya.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by dirty bunny

OK! I will definitely try both suggestions. Thankya.

Don't listen to him! He's trying to hypnotize you with his pretty words. There's straight up nothing going on with these albums!!! (Sorry, NR.)

From my experience the only post-Pinkerton album worth owning is Everything will be Alright in the End. And even that one, I don't necessarily like. But I think it has a little something-something to it at times that makes it worth my time as a curio.

Then again, I guess they've gone beyond they're original reputation (first as pop-punk messiahs, then as unequivocal losers in life, then as the model for what not to do as a band. Now they seem to have loyal fans everywhere who don't give a shit about anything and just dig the tunes. So it's a success story, if a rough one. I guess I am happy for them in that respect.

Everything will be Alright in the End isn't the kind of album I'd listen to unless I was trying to convince myself Weezer didn't lose everything in 2001. But it's still better than the rest of their stuff.

Says this guy.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by dirty bunny

OK! I will definitely try both suggestions. Thankya.

Don't listen to him! He's trying to hypnotize you with his pretty words. There's straight up nothing going on with these albums!!! (Sorry, NR.)

From my experience the only post-Pinkerton album worth owning is Everything will be Alright in the End. And even that one, I don't necessarily like. But I think it has a little something-something to it at times that makes it worth my time as a curio.

Then again, I guess they've gone beyond they're original reputation (first as pop-punk messiahs, then as unequivocal losers in life, then as the model for what not to do as a band. Now they seem to have loyal fans everywhere who don't give a shit about anything and just dig the tunes. So it's a success story, if a rough one. I guess I am happy for them in that respect.

Everything will be Alright in the End isn't the kind of album I'd listen to unless I was trying to convince myself Weezer didn't lose everything in 2001. But it's still better than the rest of their stuff.

Says this guy.

[dirty bunny]

lol I already listened to Weezer's White album and I think it sounds OK.

I haven't listened to any more Lemonheads yet though.

As for right now I'm listening to:

Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want- The Smiths

[noisereductions]

Sev you still haven't heard White Album though. You thought you did, but misremembered that you had listened to Red Album instead.
The White Album is so good (insert Beatles joke). Seriously their best of the 2010's.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

Sev you still haven't heard White Album though. You thought you did, but misremembered that you had listened to Red Album instead.
The White Album is so good (insert Beatles joke). Seriously their best of the 2010's.

No I listened to the White one and no go buddy.

Yes, originally I was mistaken. When I understood I was thinking about red not white, I listened to white shortly thereafter.

I admire what they've done. Honestly. They have fans who are not children or idiots, and they've evolved (after devolving like crazy). But it's not for me dude. Sorry.