10 Unrelated Thoughts Because I Am Tired
1. I have never been less excited about the idea of a new Radiohead album than I am now. Wouldn’t it be cool if this actually was a ‘unifying event?’ Or maybe it is and I just can’t get excited about it. Not to spoil the surprise, but it’ll probably sound like In Rainbows and everyone I know (and, let’s be honest, me too) will probably like it and it will be the only music anyone wants to talk about for the next six months. I like Radiohead, but sometimes I wish they couldn’t conquer music conversations quite so easily.
2. Does anyone else think the new Dum Dum Girls song is like the modern offspring of early Hole and “Walking on Sunshine?” In an awesome way that kinda redeems those two things?
3. If I might, I’d like to present without explicit comment two reviews of The Strokes’ “Under Cover of Darkness,” one by Pitchfork’s Paul Thompson and one by, uh, me. These were published on the same day and (I can only speak for mine, but I assume this is true of Thompson’s too) written the day before when the song came out. Notice any…similarities?
4. I keep confusing the new albums by Cut Copy and Fujiya & Miyagi in my head. I
waited with moderate interest for both, both came out around the same time, and I haven’t listened to either one nearly as much as I planned. That Zonoscope cover art is pretty cool, though.
5. I didn’t mention it when I put it on this week’s Monday Mix Tape because I was busy talking about awards, but this Broadcast cover (featuring Benoit Pioulard) came out just shortly after Trish Keenan died and yeah, it’s pretty moving. Something about the cadence and reverence of it reminds me of how the “Mad World” remake for Donnie Darko worked, taking on this weird sense of having its own cultural presence outside of the movie or the Tears for Fears original.
6. Have you ever found your own stubborn preferences butting up against something that’s sort of critically indefensible? It might not be quote-unquote bad, but there’s no way to complement it without resorting to thinly-veiled ‘this-just-makes-me-feel-good’ statements. Bass Drum of Death is like that sometimes. A grimy garage band that sounds like The Stooges doesn’t really beg for analysis, y’know?
7. On the subject of critical indefensibility: say what you want about Beulah, they had some nice songs. However, if you were going to make the argument that the only reason I (still!) like this song is because I came of age (and ‘discovered’ indie rock) in the early-mid 2000s, I wouldn’t quarrel with you on it.
8. The voice-over part at the bookends of this song (Outer Limits Records / The Sweethearts’ “Burnin’ Through the Nite”) makes me wish that instead of a real job I just had a late-night radio show that only insomniacs listened to. If anyone wants to start up one of those newfangled low-frequency radio stations to facilitate this for me, I’d love to hear from you.
9. Holy crap, Electrelane is reuniting for shows this summer! Too bad it’s on the other side of the pond (sad face!). Their last album was great, and although I’m sure they’re a tight live band, I particularly love the way their recordings sound—drums that fill a room and voices that crack and yowl in such subtle ways.
10. After reading more blogs and talking to more real-life people, I have concluded that the Arcade Fire Grammy Win and Subsequent Hilarious Reactions are probably significant and tell us a lot about where our culture stands as far as what words like ‘indie’ and ‘mainstream’ actually mean. But the main thing it probably tells us is that this is all kinda stupid.
