The site is really gorgeous, and the words are OK too. This album deserves just as much attention as the new Fall Out Boy record. It’s a strikingly bold, thoroughly catchy hour of music, and I highly recommend giving it a bit of your time. (Key cuts: “Daydreaming,” “Last Hope,” “Still Into You,” “Hate to See Your Heart Break.”) Thanks to Steven for the opportunity.
I was fascinated today, with the album stream hitting the web, to see the generational appeal of Fall Out Boy in action. Apparently every 23-year-old writer I know loves them. When Infinity on High came out, I was already six or seven years deep into indie rock and graduating college; the emo-est record I loved that year was the Thrills’ Teenager, a should-be cult classic. I grew up in Southern California in the ’90s: you listened to all punk, all the time, whether you liked it or not, and by the time they blew up, FOB’s overly clever, heavily sanitized brand of rock sounded like a joke to me even next to my aging, relatively embarrassing New Found Glory and Saves the Day records. (More context: I also really hated that first Killers album.)
My tastes are considerably more shameless now, but I’m amused that the world has spun in such a way that they — and not Paramore, arguably the most consistent, progressive mainstream modern rock band of the last decade, fronted inarguably by mainstream modern rock’s most compelling young frontwoman — are this week’s default critics’ darling. Poptimism!
I maybe should’ve seen this coming. Pitchfork has written about Fall Out Boy exactly once, in a defensive, foreshadowy news item typed by Ryan Dombal in 2009:
Some may scoff at the notion of Weezer— untouchable high-school-nerd heroes!— lowering themselves to tour with the puerile likes of Blink and FOB but, in 2009, that sort of closed-mindedness seems silly. Simple fact is FOB’s last three albums crush Weezer’s last three albums in every single way. And who wouldn’t want to hear “Dammit” one more time in a huge arena?
The above paragraph would fit comfortably on MTV Buzzworthy, which I know because I write many like it for them. However, in 2010’s lone Paramore mention, Tom Breihan called the band “arguably the best of the MySpace emo wave, for whatever that’s worth.” So they’ve got that going for them. The site, and its dozens of peers, have been extremely hands-off of anything emo-associated until the recent run of emo bands in lo-fi clothing (hi, Japandroids), but I have to wonder if Paramore, one of the last decade’s true breakthrough acts, gets less coverage (or at least less goodwill) from indie sites/critics for the same reason Taylor Swift does: teen girl fanbases, not just their mainstream appeal. Frank Ocean’s music may be a lot more substantial than Justin Bieber’s, but let’s be honest: they top the same charts. It’s only how they get there — and the buying demographic’s cool factor/indie-website-reading likelihood — that’s different. It feels like a marketing choice rather than a critical one; Jon Caramanica, for one, has no trouble writing meaningfully about Swift and Ocean alike if the music warrants (it does!), and his is the lead to follow.
Anyway, Jamieson is the best and so is this Paramore album. Take them both seriously.
Listen up: our audio player just got super rad!
- Fancy new audio visualizer
- Bigger album art
- Click and drag to skip around
Hit play and happy listening!
Not sure if they’re on the EP, but Hunter Hunted’s current rhythm section used to play in the late, great Big Moves. I like this band, oh-oh-oh’s and all.
An archival photo from The New York Times shows news pictures being sorted in the newspaper’s photo “morgue,” which houses millions of images. Here they are — several each week — for you to see. Welcome to The Lively Morgue. Photo: The New York Times
A crucial follow. Looking forward to this one.
get off of there cat. this farmville obsession has gone two far. you’ve been on there for 48 hours straight. i want to check my email.
A necessary Tumblr.
Over the past year, One Horse Town Productions has been working on a series of mixes documenting the history of alternative country music from the 1960’s through the 1990’s. If you’ve followed closely you may have already seen earlier versions of Volumes 1, 2, and 4. At long last, Volume 3—which focuses on the 1980’s—is finally finished.
Here is the complete set. Enjoy!
Volume 1: We’ve All Got Wheels (Country Rock)
This volume covers the late-60’s/early-70’s country rock scene, centered in Southern California. Featured artists include Gram Parsons and Gene Clark.
Volume 2: Amarillo Highway (Texas Progressive Country)
This volume documents the progressive country music that grew out of Texas in the 70’s. Featured artists include Jerry Jeff Walker and Townes Van Zandt.
Volume 3: Keep On Moving (New Wave, Cowpunk & Roots)
This volume samples the diverse country-inspired sounds (many now nearly forgotten) that came out of the 80’s. Featured artists include Jason & The Scorchers and Lone Justice.
Volume 4: Looking For A Way Out (No Depression)
This volume covers the “No Depression” scene that developed in the 90’s, when the term “alt country” was born. Featured artists include Uncle Tupelo and Lucinda Williams.
*** click on the titles for links ***
Holy. Shit.
grantland.com/story/_… — i don’t buy all of it, but it sort of gets at why i find drake’s sadness more compelling than depressing.I like Hua Hsu and this is good writing. But for me, the problem with Drake’s sadness is that it isn’t really all that sad—it’s more sullenness, the moroseness of someone who lacks the imagination to change. That’s a perfectly acceptable emotion to explore in art, but I don’t feel moved by its expression on Take Care. In fact I have to keep checking my disdain for his callowness, fighting against the uncritical impulse to tell him to grow up and learn how to be a decent human being.
Indeed. To my ears, Drake has an extremely unpleasant vocal timbre and flow. It’s charismatic, in a sexy-ugly way, but for me, he doesn’t have anything to say with his time on the mic. All of his music feels completely dwarfed to me by MBDTF, which isn’t a fair comparison because Kanye’s a genius and Drake used to be on Degrassi.
How do you think kids in skinny jeans and cardigans have felt, for years on years, walking into one of what I am sure are the many places in Philly where most people are wearing Phillies hats and ‘properly fitting’ blue jeans? This isn’t some weird hipster territorial beef, it’s humanity’s natural cliquishness, as old as humanity itself. Either stop worrying about what they think about your jeans, buy skinnier jeans, or go somewhere else. I would choose number one, personally.
Sadly, there is much truth to this article. It’s reinforced every time you walk into a ‘hip’ establishment in Philly wearing properly fitting blue jeans and a Phillies cap.
I’m not going to read this because fuck this shit, but I control-f’d and discovered that the word “hipster” appears 57 times in this piece, including photo captions, links, etc. 57 times.
Update: I started reading it. You do not want to read it, ever. Also, every single instance of “hipsters” could be replaced by “young people.”
Chances are if you’re wearing a baseball cap, your jeans don’t actually fit properly. #menswear
