Who's the Best Band on Earth?

[Rit]

and this:

Its gotten to the point where many of their reviews don't discuss the album or even a single song.

not that i'm going to be the token posterboy for defending Pitchfork, but this comment is kinda superfluous, Zorn. It's a severe generalization, no?

And to also address that time Luke said that the writers there are all nobodies and interchangeable... hmm.

Their news items are clearly one style.. often jokey and quick with the small puns. Probably some over-anxious intern(s).

Their reviews can range from overly cerebral to scattered and anecdotal. But there's some awesome basic standards requirement that pleases me greatly. Most of the reviews seem to have done their homework, and tap into the bottom line about the band. True, some reviews are overly snotty or dismissive or arrogant.... but i find that the background is always done. They'll lay out the premise behind the band, showing evidence of an understanding of where the band is coming from, and what kind of bullshit they're trying to pull.

The amazing thing is how this seems to be standard with almost all the reviews, as i said.

You don't know how good you got it. Sorry to harp like a broken CD on Stylus, but i really hate them, for the very reasons most of you hate Pitchfork. They talk with a weighty (metaphsyical) vocabulary, but with NONE of the vision and insight that Pitchfork (miraculously) forces on all their writers. Stylus reviews are often wordy, flashy, pretentious platitudes about the writer's insecurity and obsessive compulsive disorders.

To repeat: you goofs have no idea how good you got it with Pitchfork. The reality could be much much worse. And when i say goofs, i mean that in the best possible sense

[luke]

jllm said:

Arcade Fire and Interpol are both great young bands - amongst the best around. Nearly as good as Muse, in fact.

Arcade Fire get drooled all over by critics, whereas Interpol get a lukewarm critical response.

The reason for this is that Arcade Fire sound indie and Canadian, so luckily for them they're really tapped into the Pitchfork indie zeitgeist. Interpol sound a little tiny bit like Joy Division, so they apparently shouldn't be taken seriously.

Fuck critics.

Jesus, this post got me to thinking. About what a crock of shit it is.

Interpol get rave reviews and idol worship just about everywhere they go.

If you’re from Canada, and you’re not big in Toronto or have any members of your band in Broken Social Scene, you are non-existent to the mainstream indie community. Go to Pitchfork (and I’m not bashing them here; it’s a common attitude in the mainstream indie community, and they’re the ones I’m most familiar with here) and try to find some rave reviews for Joel Plaskett, Novillero, C’mon, Tricky Woo. You won’t find shit but maybe some dated stuff, even though these are acts that get huge exposure on XM and get name-dropped all over the place on ChartAttack. Watch as Pitchfork calls Sloan the “quintessential inessential band”, or whines about how Metric don’t sound enough like “Anthems of a Seventeen Year-Old Girl”, or ream Holy Fuck. It’s like that in any of these ‘zines, really. They know fuck-all about Canadian indie, and just hype whatever’s fashionable in Toronto right now.

Meanwhile, there’s a picture of Oasis on P’fork’s main page right now.

On a side note, Muse deserve more credit, but they won't get it until they stop with the whiny ass unlisenable segues between all their rockin' good songs.

[Rit]

meh. pitchfork's equal parts shitty and equal parts good.
they bore me now.

[melon1]

Yep, bought the BSS album, saw the fag song, broke the CD, and burned the case to it. Just kiddin' I've only listened to it twice so it's really hard to say what exactly I think of it just yet. But I still think The Shins and Muse are MUCH better unless You Forgot It In People grows on me like a fungus . I've never said it on the boards before but I actually consider Radiohead to be the best band in the world between '95 and '01. Absolution came out in '03 and is head and shoulders above HTTT, if you ask me. The best albums this decade:

1. Kid A
2. Absolution
3. Amnesiac
4. A Ghost Is Born
5. All That You Can't Leave Behind
6. Chutes Too Narrow
7. Hail To The Theif


The Shins, now there's a band that deserves more praise around here.


Amen brutha

[luke]

Meh, I tried not to turn that into a Pitchfork post, as I was talking about the mainstream indie community as a whole. I’m done with that dead horse…

Absolution’s highs are some of the highest I’ve ever heard, but it’s lows are completely unlistenable. Which is over a third of the album. Origin of Symmetry wipes the floor with it, regardless.

The Shins, though, like I’ve said in other threads…I really don’t see what those guys bring to the table that tons of other, less disposable bands don’t. They’re just another Death Cab in the scheme of things, IMO.

[Rit]

my only exposure to the Shins came from a movie.

[Rit]

i seen JLLM talk about Muse a few times, but i've not heard much by them.

[melon1]

I dunno why I thought I purchased You Forgot It In People. I thought for the longest time that that was the title to the album cover that is currently Rit's avatar, and has been a few other posters avatar at times. So, turns out, I bought the self-titled one. Don't tell me YFIP is much better or I'll cut off a limb. Not an arm, mind you, or I wouldn't be able to type. ;D

[Galactus]

It really is better.

[melon1]

Ahh! AHHHHHHHH!!!

So this is what Kill Bill was like!!!

[melon1]

On a side note, Muse deserve more credit, but they won't get it until they stop with the whiny ass unlisenable segues between all their rockin' good songs.

Havta know, luke: Do you consider "Blackout" to be one of those "whiny ass unlistenable segues"? It's only the best song they ever wrote.

[zorndeslammes]

Wire is an "indie" mag only in that they don't primarily work with major labels. They've gone from Sunn 0))) and Darkthrone to MF Doom to Sonic Youth for covers in the span of 3 months. To their credit, they divy up the various genres and report on them each on their own page; 2-step gets one, free jazz gets one, experimental gets one, hip hop gets one, et al. The source of many of their primary/feature reviews come not from "indie rock", but free jazz, psychedelia, noise, etc. Silly anecdotes are only good when used sparingly and aren't excuses not to write about the band in question.

[luke]

Sorry, Melon, but I indeed do. "Endlessly" is the only "slower" track I can really take on that album.

But I like them better when they're copping the Pumpkins than when they're copping Radiohead. Of course, I've also never been a fan of slower Radiohead, and it baffles me to see something like "Pyramid Song" dominate a "best of Radiohead" list. So that could have something to do with it.

Regardless, the critics seem to agree with me, and bash Muse most when they slow down. It's a complete waste of guitar talent, imo.

[riley]

Matt Belamy is the best guitarist in modern music.

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

I love "Blackout". Other than that, the slow tracks only really work on Origin of Symmetry - "Screenager", "Micro Cuts" and "Megalomania".

luke - It's true that the Muse mix I nearly sent you and Riley all those years ago had 17 tracks on, and "Micro Cuts" was about the only slow one - and that's a magnificent faux-operatic slab of melodrama, rather than a ballad..

You said you were curious about that mix. Well, I can't remember the track order, but I remember the tracks by album:

Sunburn
Muscle Museum
Showbiz
Cave
Uno

Dead Star

Newborn
Bliss
Hyper Music
Plug In Baby
Citizen Erased
Micro Cuts

Time Is Running Out
Absolution
Stockholm Syndrome
Hysteria
Butterflies & Hurricanes

Just look at the strength of that bastard...