New Arcade Fire

[SlingeroGuitaro]

Most awesome arcade fire side project

Citizens on Patrol - Yes you can turn on the siren.


I worked with them in evanston. Will is a tool.

[soniclovenoize]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

yeah i'll say that this album has enough great songs on it like The title track, modern man, roccoco and mountains beyond mountains (which really brings to mind FM 1960 in Houston as well as the "hell strip" of I-10 on the east side of that festering pit) to really keep coming back and looking at it but Sprawl I is intensely bad and it's the end of a very trying, lengthy, soundalike pack of songs. I know dogfucker thinks he has to keep calling this a great album but I really have doubts starting with his list that he really has a very good definition of "great." The Suburbs is a good album, not great. That's all.

album's long, the concept is old and tired (haven't we said all we can possibly say about the suburbs already?) and that's that. There's no rule about things over an hour are going to be bad. Fact is, if it's boring at all, at any point, no matter what the total run time is it's "long."

Funeral is a good example of the opposite, it's so good it keeps you wanting more and at 10 tracks it's just right. Keeping people wanting more is much better than dropping a double album on them, like Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness for example.

Yeah, exactly. What happened to "less is more"? I have no problem with double albums, but on MCIS the material warranted it. Would have Kid A been a good double-album? No, not at all. And the last three Soundgarden albums could have been shorter by 10-15 minutes.

Speaking of, I've actually named this phenomenon: The Badmotorfinger Effect ... when an album is just too fucking long to enjoy and by 2/3rds through, you're like "Yeah, this is good, but I gotta go mow the lawn" or whatever.

[Trotskilicious]

Kid A/Amnesiac is kind of a double, and i know it's kind of heresy but I'm not a big fan of Amnesiac.

[slunken]

Originally Posted by soniclovenoize

Y when an album is just too fucking long to enjoy and by 2/3rds through, you're like "Yeah, this is good, but I gotta go mow the lawn" or whatever.

Or like every rap cd ever made ever.

[soniclovenoize]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

Kid A/Amnesiac is kind of a double, and i know it's kind of heresy but I'm not a big fan of Amnesiac.

No man, it's OK. I'm one of the assholes who think they should have just taken the 12 best songs from both Kid A and Amnesiac and made one solid in-fucking-credible follow-up to OK Computer....

I call it Kid Amnesiac
Radiohead - Kid Amnesiac.zip

Originally Posted by slunken

Or like every rap cd ever made ever.

d00d what about all the tight skitz?

[Eulogy]

Originally Posted by soniclovenoize

No man, it's OK. I'm one of the assholes who think they should have just taken the 12 best songs from both Kid A and Amnesiac and made one solid in-fucking-credible follow-up to OK Computer....

I call it Kid Amnesiac
Radiohead - Kid Amnesiac.zip

I'm not downloading that, but what'd you take out? Amnesiac might not be the best thing ever, but I can't really think of what I'd take out aside from Hunting Bears and Morning Bell.

[Trotskilicious]

Originally Posted by slunken

Or like every rap cd ever made ever.

are you trolling

i mean yeah the vast vast majority

[I'm Hardcore]

Amnesiac is my favorite Radiohead record. cool story.

as for "or like every rap cd ever made"...... there are dozens of 'rap' albums that fly in the face of such claims

[slunken]

I'm sure there are, Matt, but I'm talking about your run-of-the-mill bought-it-at-the-mall saw-the-video-on-mtv rap cd.

And no, I'm not trolling. I just really really dislike hip-hop and what it stands for (in most cases - see above).

[I'm Hardcore]

Originally Posted by slunken

run-of-the-mill bought-it-at-the-mall saw-the-video-on-mtv rap cd.

the difference between this, and GOOD hip hop, is pretty much immeasurable.

[Eulogy]

Originally Posted by slunken

And no, I'm not trolling. I just really really dislike hip-hop and what it stands for (in most cases - see above).

....what does hip-hop "stand for?"

[Trotskilicious]

he's just racist.

[slunken]

Originally Posted by Eulogy

....what does hip-hop "stand for?"

it generally promotes a negative-to-ridiculous image/lifestyle let's be honest.

Originally Posted by I'm Hardcore

the difference between this, and GOOD hip hop, is pretty much immeasurable.

true but for me this is a case where all the bad outweighs the good. gotta draw lines somewhere.

[Trotskilicious]

yeah aren't any examples of rock music promoting a negative to ridiculous image or lifestyle

[Sonic Johnny]

Originally Posted by Eulogy

I can't really think of what I'd take out aside from Hunting Bears and Morning Bell.

Hunting Bears is the shit.

my final word on The Suburbs is this:

Yes, as an album it's too long, and it suffers for it.

But I also think that it's very different to the last two records in its tendency not to rely on short, punchy riffs and motifs (ala Power Out, Wake Up, Keep The Car Running, etc.) to make each song easy to identify, which lends it quite a bit of repeat listening value: i'm still exploring the disc, finding little nuances of each song that i'd missed before, and as I do so it's growing on me more and more. Funeral, as amazing as that album is, I pretty much had memorized by the tenth spin.

I'm not saying there's not filler on this record, or that some judicious editing wouldn't have helped it a lot, but i'll definitely say that it's a great album.

[cocksure]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

Kid A/Amnesiac is kind of a double, and i know it's kind of heresy but I'm not a big fan of Amnesiac.

i'm so sick of statements like this.

btw amnesiac has aged really well. i wouldn't even say it's worse than kid a.

also i think most "intellectual" hiphop is worse than the run-of-the-mill stuff

[Eulogy]

Originally Posted by slunken

it generally promotes a negative-to-ridiculous image/lifestyle let's be honest.

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so does pop music. and rock music. and everything else. what are you talking about?

[I'm Hardcore]

Originally Posted by cocksure

also i think most "intellectual" hiphop is worse than the run-of-the-mill stuff

please elaborate on this

i know you know a shitload about music, but how much "intellectual" hip hop have you really heard?

[soniclovenoize]

Originally Posted by cocksure

i'm so sick of statements like this.

btw amnesiac has aged really well. i wouldn't even say it's worse than kid a.

also i think most "intellectual" hiphop is worse than the run-of-the-mill stuff

Oh, yeah, Amnesiac is great... for an album of b-side-worthy songs.

Originally Posted by Eulogy

I'm not downloading that, but what'd you take out? Amnesiac might not be the best thing ever, but I can't really think of what I'd take out aside from Hunting Bears and Morning Bell.

1. Everything In It's Right Place
2. Pyramid Song
3. National Anthem
4. How To Disappear
5. I Might Be Wrong
6. Optimistic
7. In Limbo
8. Knives Out
9. Morning Bell (Kid A version)
10. You and Whose Army?
11. Dollars and Cents
12. Life in a Glass House

[Eulogy]

Originally Posted by soniclovenoize

Oh, yeah, Amnesiac is great... for an album of b-side-worthy songs.



1. Everything In It's Right Place
2. Pyramid Song
3. National Anthem
4. How To Disappear
5. I Might Be Wrong
6. Optimistic
7. In Limbo
8. Knives Out
9. Morning Bell (Kid A version)
10. You and Whose Army?
11. Dollars and Cents
12. Life in a Glass House

No Kid A, Motion Picture Soundtrack, Treefingers, Idioteque, Sardines, Revolving Doors? Failure!

[Astur]

Originally Posted by soniclovenoize

Oh, yeah, Amnesiac is great... for an album of b-side-worthy songs.



1. Everything In It's Right Place
2. Pyramid Song
3. National Anthem
4. How To Disappear
5. I Might Be Wrong
6. Optimistic
7. In Limbo
8. Knives Out
9. Morning Bell (Kid A version)
10. You and Whose Army?
11. Dollars and Cents
12. Life in a Glass House

don't you think is just better to have 2 different and rather amazing albums

[slunken]

I can't believe how shocked some of you are acting. Breaking news: by and large rap music promotes drugs and violence and shallow values. And I don't think it's a stretch of the imagination to say that hiphop/rap is more socially acceptable than it's ever been. Hell, you got Wyclef selling Ritz crackers and TI hawking Axe body spray.

Last time T.I. visited my city people got shot.

Originally Posted by I'm Hardcore

please elaborate on this

i know you know a shitload about music, but how much "intellectual" hip hop have you really heard?

Not much. Or not enough to keep me hooked. When I tended bar the guy I shifted with was really into it (he DJ's it as well - like most hipster bartenders lol) but I just couldn't get into it. I just don't have the time to pick through a barrel of shit to find one shiny diamond.

The only way I can listen to rap music is to treat it like a stand-up comedy album: there's a lot of profanity and some of the jokes are repeatable.

[Eulogy]

Originally Posted by slunken

I can't believe how shocked some of you are acting. Breaking news: by and large rap music promotes drugs and violence and shallow values. And I don't think it's a stretch of the imagination to say that hiphop/rap is more socially acceptable than it's ever been. Hell, you got Wyclef selling Ritz crackers and TI hawking Axe body spray.

Last time T.I. visited my city people got shot.

Yes because rock and roll doesn't promote drug use and "shallow values." And the Rolling Stones hired The Hell's Angels as security guards and paid them in beer. To cite one example.

you really are just racist.

[Eulogy]

last time dimebag darrell performed somewhere he got shot

i mean seriously. wtf.

[slunken]

I love how just because I'm taking an anti-rap stance I MUST be some kind of bona-fide whitebread rocker or something. It must be obvious to you that because I don't care for Rick Ross that I have a Godsmack tattoo on my thigh.

That's a pretty black and white view of the world, Eulogy.

Why is there a laundry list of rappers currently incarcerated, Eulogy? Must be a racist system in place and they're wrongly accused, huh?

[slunken]

Originally Posted by Eulogy

And the Rolling Stones hired The Hell's Angels as security guards and paid them in beer.

OH NO THEY PAID THEM IN BEER??!!!???

[soniclovenoize]

Originally Posted by Eulogy

No Kid A, Motion Picture Soundtrack, Treefingers, Idioteque, Sardines, Revolving Doors? Failure!

They're all mediocre b-sides. Maquiladora and The Trickster > all those. WTF was Radiohead thinking?

Originally Posted by Astur

don't you think is just better to have 2 different and rather amazing albums

Yes, I agree. Too bad those two different and rather amazing albums are not Kid A and Amnesiac.

[soniclovenoize]

Originally Posted by slunken

I love how just because I'm taking an anti-rap stance I MUST be some kind of bona-fide whitebread rocker or something. It must be obvious to you that because I don't care for Rick Ross that I have a Godsmack tattoo on my thigh.

That's a pretty black and white view of the world, Eulogy.

Why is there a laundry list of rappers currently incarcerated, Eulogy? Must be a racist system in place and they're wrongly accused, huh?

OK. I have to back slunken up on this. While it's true there are some socially conscious rappers (Common, etc.) and some who attempt to push the bounderies for audio design (Kanye, etc.), they are of the vast minority. 80% of hip-hop is musicly and lyricly formuliac and totally contrived. Have you ever just sat and watched BET anytime? I understand that that's just the mainstream rap, but here's the deal: I've also sat and listened fucking HUNDREDS of dudes no one's heard of, thinking he's the next 50 Cent.

And it comes down to this: the overwelming ethos of rap/hip-hop is trying to make your game, to make your bones, to get your cash money on, or whatever you wanna call it. It's either that or slinging crack. Wait, didn't Biggy already say this? All these guys follow the heard and strive to construct hit singles, not art. That's why there's few long-lasting talents in rap music--they're all just come-and-go, no investing in long-term artistic accomplishments. They get a hit and then the audience moves on to the next big hit.

So what I'm saying is there are few real artists in rap, only entrepreneurs. Anytime you have the entrepreneurs making the music more so than the artists, you have a big problem. All these guys rap about the same things--drugs, violence and negative stereotypes, as slunken had said--because they know it will sell. If they start to rap about big issues or their inner-most feelings, it won't sell. So they don't do it (or that is literally all they know in their life, which is a whole 'nother topic. ). I saw an interview with 50 Cent, and they asked him "Why don't you rap about your kids?" His answer was something like "No, I know that's not what my audience wants to hear..." Fuck that shit.

Yeah, I already know what the retort is: a list of artistic/intilectual rappers to prove me wrong. Well save it; for every one of those, there's 200 entrepreneur-rappers. That's the reality of the genre.

[samuel redman]

god, slunken is absolutely correct. it's refreshing to hear someone else have the correct viewpoint on rap

[samuel redman]

i guess im also racist because i can see the forests for the trees