What MUSIC are you listening to?

I bought Smile when Brian Wilson released it in 2004, and it was a powerful musical experience for me. I was like 21 at the time, so it ended up being rather formative. I still don't think there have been many albums that have existed as a whole for me in quite the same way.

We have a few Arcade Fire fans around here, don't we? What have been the thoughts on Everything Now? I've gone on something of a strange journey with this album in just a few days. First of all I've listened to it a LOT. Whatever other issues it has it's an extremely listenable album. I think Arcade Fire has nailed down the electronic sounds of Reflektor into something much smoother.

Secondly I don't think I've ever heard an Arcade Fire album with so much variance in quality. There are about five or six songs on here that I absolutely love, and a couple that I think are as runty as anything else they've come up with in their history. I don't know if this is really THAT different from their other albums (Funeral has a couple songs that fall flat for me, for example), but some songs, like "Peter Pan" and "Good God Damn" seem intentionally slight, as if they were intended to make a commentary on vacuous songs. It all comes back to that whole idea of needing "everything now" and wanting "infinite content," which is kind of clever in an abstract way. But that kind of irony, if that is indeed the intent, begins to feel less ironic when the songs aren't very good in the first place. Less time being clever, more time writing good songs please.

That said, there are songs like "Chemistry" that have grown on me, and even the two songs I mentioned have been running through my head over the last couple days. And like I said, there is a lot here that I really like. I think the more disco-influenced sound is lots of fun, and I do find some poignancy in the idea of needing "everything now." When I have access to everything all the time it usually ends up that I have a cluttered life without any actual fulfillment. I do feel like they capture that theme here. There's also this theme through a couple songs that touch on male entitlement, where the narrator is proclaiming his love to someone who clearly is not interested in it and has told them to back off. It's an interesting counterpoint to a lot of love songs that actually are kind of selfish.

So yeah, it's working for me. I know that Arcade Fire is insufferable for a lot of people, and this probably won't help, but I'm not disappointed by it at all.

Unicron wrote: @Cranberries

Is that a Christgau review?

YES

His RS review: www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cdrev/wilson-rs.php

cranberries wrote: YES

His RS review: www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cdrev/wilson-rs.php

It is very ballsy to keep one’s reviews on a database for posterity. I have always been fortunate enough to see my dubious musical opinions perish in print. The only exception is a blog from a decade ago where I and some associates reviewed Pitchfork reviews.

I've been pretty addicted to this song for the last two days. Very creepy and a complete outlier for the genre at that time. It's been covered by a bunch of different people over the years but the original has a creepiness that is countered by the country style and really added to by the dobro.



Here's the lyrics...

Can Mary fry some fish, Mama
I'm as hungry as can be
Oh lordy, how I wish, Mama
You could keep the baby quiet 'cause my head is killing
Me

I've seen my ex last night, Mama
At a dance at Miller's store
She was with that Jackie White, Mama
I killed them both, and they're buried
Under Jenkins sycamore.

Don't you think I'm psycho, Mama
You can pour me a cup
If you think I'm psycho, Mama
You better let 'em lock me up

Don't hand the george to me, Mama
I might squeeze him too tight
And I'm as nervous as can be, Mama
So let me tell you 'bout last night

I woke up in Johnny's room, Mama
Standing right by the bed
With my hands near his throat, Mama
Wishing both of us were dead

You think I'm psycho don't you, Mama
I just killed Johnny's pup
You think I'm psycho don't you, Mama
You'd better let 'em lock me up

You know the little girl next door, Mama
I think her name is Betty Clark
Oh, don't tell me that she's dead, Mama
Why I just seen It in the park

She was sitting on a bench, Mama
Thinking of a game to play
Seems I was holding a wrench, Mama
Then my mind walked away

You think I'm psycho don't you, Mama
I didn't mean to break your cup
You think I'm psycho don't you, Mama
Mama, Mama why don't you get up?

Say something Mama

Is there a more fun summer tune than this little mix?

san il defanso wrote: We have a few Arcade Fire fans around here, don't we? What have been the thoughts on Everything Now?

I've listened through it once so far (bought it yesterday) and quite enjoyed it but, yeah, definitely some songs grabbed me a lot more than others. Like you, I'm really digging the heavy disco influence. My favourite track right now is Signs of Life.

What music am I listening to? Oh, nothing much, just 1,000 musicians playing Smells Like Teen Spirit:

All Carpenter Brut, all the time. My friend took me to a Carpenter Brut & Magic Sword concert about six months ago and it's pretty much all I've listened to since then.

I happened to see this video at the HPL Film Festival several years ago, and this song is still one of my favorites:

Been a Spacemen 3 fan for many years. This is one of my favourite songs:



Also been a long time Velvet Underground Fan. Velvet Underground and Nico is one of the absolute top ten albums ever made, IMO. I'm not, though, very keen on Lou Reed's solo work. Then, today, a random playlist served me up this:



*Mind Blown*

Just got Wilco's A Ghost is Born at the library surplus sale. Track 11, "Less than You Think" was confusing because it's a piano ballad followed by 10 minutes of noise. We thought at first it was Wilco being edgy, then thought maybe the CD was scratched.

New Model by Perturbator. It's alright, but sounds and feels like a lot of muted re-hashings of ideas from The Uncanny Valley, to lesser effect. TUV plays like a Wayne-esque musical, with narrative, recurring themes and a sense of progression through the tracks. New Model plays more like the soundtrack of the movie adaptation, with enough familiarity to leave a lingering disappointment that it's just not as good. There is one vocal track on the list, but it's nothing close to Venger or Sentient from the earlier album.

I'm on another deep dive for music that I haven't heard before, and found this beautiful and strange gem:

bfkiller wrote:

san il defanso wrote: We have a few Arcade Fire fans around here, don't we? What have been the thoughts on Everything Now?

I've listened through it once so far (bought it yesterday) and quite enjoyed it but, yeah, definitely some songs grabbed me a lot more than others. Like you, I'm really digging the heavy disco influence. My favourite track right now is Signs of Life.

Lately, 80% of what I've been listening to is Everything Now. It took me a while to come around to the haunting disco sound but then I saw Arcade Fire in concert Sunday night in Philly and it all clicked. Favorites right now are Put Your Money on Me, Everything Now and Infinite Content. On the previous albums I use to skip over the songs where Régine Chassagne sang lead because her voice was a little disturbing. But on Everything Now, I'm even digging the songs she sings lead like Electric Blue.

I'm digging the Menzingers. This is also a funny video.

Came across this on Sunday. I wasn't cool enough to have heard about them 40 years ago, but I enjoy it now. "Freakin' out" and "Politicians in my eyes" are my favorite two tracks... out of 7. Ha, kind of funny to try to break down an album that's so short.