[Genteel Death]

Here comes trouble.

[choc e-Claire]

Originally Posted by Genteel Death

I'm not being a dick, but what's your narrative when you compare the two records? 13 came out in 1999 and Kid A in 2000. Both records are by white as fuck British pop bands. Both bands are arty in their own way. One of them hugely successful throughout the world, even amongst non-whites, one could say. The other mainly a parochial concern, but still quite popular with European audiences. Just curious.

1999 and 2000 are literally just a year apart.
Both bands were originally hugely different in style just two albums before - Radiohead as conventional alt-rock (The Bends) and Blur as tongue-in-cheek pop (The Great Escape).
Both made an unusual, but well-received transitional record - OK Computer vs Blur's self-titled.
Both feature plenty of electronica, something largely unexpected.
Both may have alienated an old fanbase, but attracted a new one that greatly prefers this (see Severian's dismissal of Parklife*).

*No offense intended; just using you as an example.

[Kuhb]

Originally Posted by choc e-Claire

1999 and 2000 are literally just a year apart.
Both bands were originally hugely different in style just two albums before - Radiohead as conventional alt-rock (The Bends) and Blur as tongue-in-cheek pop (The Great Escape).
Both made an unusual, but well-received transitional record - OK Computer vs Blur's self-titled.
Both feature plenty of electronica, something largely unexpected.
Both may have alienated an old fanbase, but attracted a new one that greatly prefers this (see Severian's dismissal of Parklife*).

*No offense intended; just using you as an example.

I mentioned in an earlier comment that both Kid A and 13, as well as a handful of other albums from a 2-3 year span, have similar themes of disintegration, alienation, anxiety in the face of increased individualism, at the same time a loss of identity in an increasingly mechanised and computerised world, a general kicking against Fukuyama's 'end of history', even a sense of a lost utopian era as conceived by Derrida and Mark Fisher. That's why some have suggested that Kid A captures the zeitgeist of the post 9/11 world, even though it came out beforehand... this stuff was in the air well beforehand.

[Peterpuff]

Originally Posted by Genteel Death

Both records are by white as fuck British pop bands. Both bands are arty in their own way.

Would I be uncouth to bring up Gomez in this thread and get some opinions? Kinda curious to this forum's thoughts on them, especially in the comparison contexts in this discussion, ha. I always thought Bring it On was an outstanding debut.

[Genteel Death]

What about Madonna then?

[Severian]

Originally Posted by Genteel Death

What about Madonna then?

What...

What about Madonna?

[Severian]

Originally Posted by Kuhb

I mentioned in an earlier comment that both Kid A and 13, as well as a handful of other albums from a 2-3 year span, have similar themes of disintegration, alienation, anxiety in the face of increased individualism, at the same time a loss of identity in an increasingly mechanised and computerised world, a general kicking against Fukuyama's 'end of history', even a sense of a lost utopian era as conceived by Derrida and Mark Fisher. That's why some have suggested that Kid A captures the zeitgeist of the post 9/11 world, even though it came out beforehand... this stuff was in the air well beforehand.

I think Kid A and 13 are similar only in that they’re hard-left pivots by established British rock bands. Both records kind of challenge you to like them, and don’t make it easy on people looking for more of what the bands had done before.

I do think 13 is up there with the Kid As of the world.

Paranoiac meditations on electronic era tensions, rendered in song. But what Kid A owed to Aphex Twin, Autechre and Brian Eno, 13 owes to DJ Shadow, Iggy Pop and Spiritualized. (Shrug)

[Kuhb]

Originally Posted by Severian

I think Kid A and 13 are similar only in that they’re hard-left pivots by established British rock bands. Both records kind of challenge you to like them, and don’t make it easy on people looking for more of what the bands had done before.

I do think 13 is up there with the Kid As of the world.

Paranoiac meditations on electronic era tensions, rendered in song. But what Kid A owed to Aphex Twin, Autechre and Brian Eno, 13 owes to DJ Shadow, Iggy Pop and Spiritualized. (Shrug)

They certainly are derivative albums, but I always find it interesting to hear great instrumentalists like Coxon or Greenwood try to deal with non-guitar genres and ideas.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by Kuhb

They certainly are derivative albums, but I always find it interesting to hear great instrumentalists like Coxon or Greenwood try to deal with non-guitar genres and ideas.

I wasn’t really pointing out that they’re derivative. I was more contrasting the influences behind Kid A and 13, respectively.

I don’t know that I’d use derivative as a main descriptor for either, actually. Enough of both bands personalities shine through to make the records greater than the sum of their influences.