Pitchfork: Judgement Day

Generally, I don't read reviews prior to listening to music.  And if I do, I tend to skim.  I've had bad experiences of letting the reviewer's opinion shape my own, rather than complement it.  I remember reading a blurb about Bob Mould's 1996 self-titled release, which complained to no end about the use of a drum machine on the album.  To this day, I can't get past the drums when I listen to it.  Lesson learned.


One exception for me over the years has been Pitchfork.  They introduced me to Les Savy Fav, The Go! Team, Sufjan Stevens, Grizzly Bear, Jay Reatard (RIP), British Sea Power, Enon, Iron and Wine, The Fall, and countless others.  They've steered me right with their reviews, and gave me a lot of great music which has made my collection that much better.  Amongst other review sites, their historical place (well, internet historical place, at least) has been the home to the best music you've never heard of.  Their ear has always been on the ground.


Are there haters out there?  Sure.  You can find them out there (and no, I'm not doing your research for you), and they love to jump all over Pitchfork.  Not me.  The proof has always been in the pudding, and a Pitchfork 8.0 rating or better has generally resulted in a 60-75% success rate in my keeping the album, year after year.


However, I've had a bad, bad run with Pitchfork over the last two to three years; the metric is now more of a 10-20% rate, which is quite alarming.  In fact, I've had to revise my own formula:  now I won't touch an album unless it's rated 9.0 or better. 


So at this point, I need to decide whether this has been a lull, a trend, or if Pitchfork and I no longer see eye to eye in terms of what is good to great music.  Here are the albums I listened to, and their respective Pitchfork ratings:

1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009): 9.6
   
2. Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity (2007): 8.9
   
3. Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Continued (2008): 9.2
   
4. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca (2009): 9.2
   
5. Girls - Album (2009): 9.1
6. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (2009): 9.0
   
7. Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair (2008): 9.1
   
8. Max Tundra - Mastered by Guy at the Exchange (2002): 9.3
   
9. M83 - Saturdays = Youth (2008): 8.5
   
10. No Age - Nouns (2008): 9.2
    
11. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (2009): 8.4
12. TV on the Radio - Dear Science (2008): 9.2
    

Out of these twelve albums, I expect the following breakdown:

• 3-4 Car CD Changer albums
• 5-6 Portable CD case albums
• 2 CD Rack albums
• 1 Sell-back 1 /Pile of death

In other words, nine out of twelve above average; two that are not necessarily my speed but so good I need to keep them; and one that just misses the mark entirely.  I'm being kind here; really, all nine 9.0's should be at least above average, and three 8.0's should be average or above average.



To be fair, I included 3 "best new music" albums I have reviewed here previously (Grizzly Bear, TV on the Radio, and M83), and probably would have bought regardless of review; the rest were acquired strictly on Pitchfork's review.

The results?  Here's how they broke down:



Car CD Changer 
Projected: 3-4
Actual: 2 

1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009): 9.6 
2. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (2009): 8.4

- Not a good start -- only two CD's makes it here, oddly the best and worst-rated of the bunch.  Animal Collective is borderline CD Rack/Portable, but gets the nod to this level because its so well produced; ultimately it lacks some soul to be rated higher.  I hear a little Howard Jones and The Beach Boys here, oddly -- and it's a little boring at times, but not terribly so.  For The Pains, the updated shoegazer vibe here is great.



Portable CD Case  
Projected: 5-6
Actual:  4

1. Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Continued (2008): 9.2
2. Girls - Album (2009): 9.1
3. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (2009): 9.0
4. M83 - Saturdays = Youth (2008): 8.5

- Strike two.  Not only are we still running behind, but M83 and Grizzly Bear were already known to me.  Deerhunter is quite good, although Microcastle is the strong swimmer of the double album.  The Girls album grew on me, despite the odd vocals (see the trend continue below); here they work. 

 
CD Rack  
Projected: 2
Actual:1

1. TV on the Radio - Dear Science (2008): 9.2

-  TV on the Radio was also part of my previous experience.  So of the seven albums I liked enough to keep, I would have bought three anyways.  We all see where this is going.

Sell-back Pile 1/Pile of Death

Projected: 0-1
Actual: 5

1. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca (2009): 9.2
   
2. Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity (2007): 8.9
   
3. Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair (2008): 9.1
4. Max Tundra - Mastered by Guy at the Exchange (2002): 9.3
5. No Age - Nouns (2008): 9.2 
   

- What is it with these odd vocals?  To put it kindly, all of these groups have very, er, "non-traditional rock voices."  (Not so kindly:  stop singing.)  And every damn vocalist sounds exactly the same!  All weird falsetto male voices.  Dirty Projectors is a perfect example: one of those "really trying to be quirky" bands that were failed by their ambition -- if you can buy the vocals, you might love these guys.  I didn't.  Meanwhile Hercules and Love Affair wishes for the return of disco in a way that I really don't.  No Age does try hard to rock it out, but I don't believe they understand how to.  Max Tundra was so terrible one of my CD players refused to even read it.  I think I'd rather gouge my eyes out that listen to Deerhoof's broken English warblings ever again.


Conclusions:  I would have accepted nine above average and two average albums;  I ended up with six and one respectively.  Five albums that don't make the cut is not acceptable.  So their rate of success here is 63% - that's an F where I went to school.  It's even worse if you look at just the 9+ albums -- it's only 5 out of 9!  Dismal.

My final verdict is that I cannot trust these guys any more.  Sure, there are some gems here, but I'll need more than just their word to go get an album these days.  It was fun while it lasted.

- Snilch

New Music, 2007-2008 - Part 1

I'm sure most people want to know what new music I'm listening to -- that's usually what they ask me about as a starter. To be honest, I've done a pretty piss-poor job of spelling that out lately; so I'm going to make up for it and play catch-up with a bunch of albums from 2007 and 2008.

I'd like to make one general comment before beginning: the radio is terrible, and the current state of music is extremely pedestrian. There is a little voice in my head that keeps saying, "Guitar music is done, something else is next," but I can't see what or who that might be. This has been an incredibly stagnant decade for pretty much all forms of music, and thus nothing I'm going to review over the next few posts is revolutionary by any means. There is a lot of good music out there, just not the next Nirvana or My Bloody Valentine.

That being said... I've heard a lot of very good music this year, so I really shouldn't complain. Yet I still do. Ah, poor Mrs. Snilch Report...

In alphabetical order:

• The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (2007). Now when I asked for any thoughts on this album last year, what I got back was resounding silence. So when I saw the album cheap, I figured I would give it a shot. This album is very good; it's just that their first (Funeral) was epic. And this is not. If you've never heard Funeral, it's similar to listening to U2's October without hearing Boy: on its own, it's a very good album; when compared with Boy, its warts begin to show. A couple of classic songs, but I'll pick up Funeral again nine times out of ten over this one.
  Verdict: Recommended. Portable CD Case.
  
  
• Battles - Mirrored (2007). At times this sounds like a demented version of Jesus Christ Superstar; other times it sounds like Mars Volta. In either case it's a highly pleasing cacophony of sound.
  Verdict: Recommended. CD Rack.
  
  
• The Big Sleep - Sleep Forever (2008). At that start, it appears this is album plodding and full of itself; the first three songs are instrumental. By the time the album hits track 5, the brilliant "Pinkies," it's apparent that this is more of a single thought stretched over the glorious map of an album. There's a wistfulness and an epic quality to their ambitions as a group that come through -- a little shoegazer, a little prog rock, and even a little stoner rock. (Okay, light stoner rock.) A little slow at times, and it feels longer than it really is, but still... Winner. Winner. Winner.
  Verdict: Recommended. Car CD Changer.
  
  
• British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music? (2008). Album #3 from this English band, still trying to measure up to their impressive debut album from 2003, The Decline of British Sea Power. I like this album but it overstays its welcome a tad. It sounds very familiar, very safe, very 80's -- it's very "pleasant" music. Probably would be perfect to impress your new potential girlfriend or boyfriend that you're hip, while safe (i.e., not living in your mother's basement planning horrible revenge on people who wronged you in the fifth grade). Great for doing dishes or playing in the background while you're doing something else. I know it sounds like I'm damning this album with faint praise -- I like it more than that. Sort of. How about this: I'm glad I bought it.
  Verdict: Recommended. CD Rack.
  
  
• M83 - Saturdays = Youth (2008). After the bomb that was Digital Shades Volume 1, I honestly wasn't sure whether M83 would ever touch the heights of Before the Dawn Healed Us. This one is not quite there, but it's a step in the right direction. This has a depth and a vibe to it that DSV1 did not; I don't like primarily keyboard music unless it can capture a spacey/dreamy aspect while having at least a slight edge. This does. I will still be enjoying this in ten years.
  Verdict: Recommended. Portable CD Case.
  
  
• Jay Reatard - Matador Singles '08 (2008). This is a CD compilation of a series of limited edition 7"s released by Matador this year. If you don't know his work... well, let's just say Jay Reatard amuses me -- he writes bent pop songs. Great disc but definitely not for everyone. Generally pretty simple musically and lyrically; think Andrew W.K. with more wit and musical chops. He's mid-tempo indie/pop/punk rock... tough to absolutely classify, which is reason #212 I like him.
  Verdict: Recommended. Portable CD Case.
  
  
• Teddy Thompson - A Piece of What You Need (2008). This is Teddy's third album (fourth if you count his album of country covers), and his best one yet. The only son of Richard and Linda Thompson, this album sees Teddy sounding absolutely confident, and surprisingly establishing his identity as a crooner. Think Eric Matthews meets Jens Lekman. Not my kind of music but my kind of album. I find myself shocked that he's progressed this far in such a short period of time. It's nice to hear him find his voice and his own identity outside of his famous folks.
  Verdict: Recommended. Almost CD Changer worthy, but ends up in the Portable CD Case.
  
  
• The Thalia Zedek Band - Liars and Prayers (2008). Thalia Zedek has been fronting bands in Boston since the late '70's, including Uzi and Come, and I've always felt I should like her stuff on principle... but it's never happened. This album is where I can happily meet her halfway. Sounding like Courtney Love in about another ten years of serious smoking, minus the haughtiness, Zedek has a lot more life in her. Musically, it's a standard three piece plus a viola and a piano, which sound great. Vocally, she goes for it as well -- she's got the voice of wisdom combined with the earnestness of youth. The small complaint I'd lodge would be that there is not much variation from song to song musically; but, in the end, I still feel this is an under the radar, great sounding album.
  Verdict: Recommended. Portable CD Case.

Wow... uniformly positive. How did that happen?

- Snilch

Guest Blog: Scott Bishop on M83 (Live at The Middle East)

This is the first in a series of guest columns for The Snilch Report. Well, maybe not a "series," more like "something that seemed like a good idea after a few beers last night." Scott Bishop is a Cambridge-based musician I've mentioned a number of times in this blog, and I'd link to those posts if I weren't so incredibly lazy. Take it away Scott!

Let’s get a couple of things out of the way first:

I’m old. Walking into the Middle East downstairs, I immediately raised the average attendee age by five years.

And the Middle East, what a tough place to see a show—and I stress the seeing part, because a good portion of the allure of a live gig is that you can, you know, actually SEE the performers—and not just a bobbing head or an occasional peek at a guitar neck, but entire bodies, amplifiers, drum kits and the lot. If they posted a sign above the door that said, “Abandon all hope of getting a clear view of the band, ye who enter,” they would not be lying.

Don’t get me wrong—some of my favorite shows have been at the Middle East. Arthur Lee and Love, on his first tour in God-knows-how-long after spending years in prison. My first Sleater-Kinney show and a couple of great Crooked Fingers gigs, all with the Snilch. Rainer Maria in 2004. And of course The Dandy Warhols with Sean and the Snilch, where we actually stuck our heads into the speakers.

Still, if there’s one place in Boston where you absolutely have to get there early and claim a spot, the Middle East is it. And where was I when I could have been marking territory? Out in Waltham, at Bison County, watching game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals with the Snilch.

Yes indeed, music fans—sports once again interfered with a music aficionado’s ability to hit the club and rock hard. Snilch had to give M83 a pass and cheer on his beloved Red Wings. In a cruel twist of fate, Detroit gave up the tying goal with about 30 seconds left in regulation, then prolonged the agony into a third overtime before succumbing. In case you hadn’t heard, kiddies, life ain’t fair.

I was committed to seeing M83, so Snilch and I parted ways after the second period, and the #70 zipped me from Waltham to Central Square just in time to grab an IPA before M83 started.

M83 were good—not quite the rocking set that Snilch, Paul and I caught during the Austin City Limits Music Festival in 2005, but some of that may have been the shock from that first time of seeing a synth-driven band really bring it. You’d figure with a lot programmed keyboard and sample elements that a band would be locked into a tempo, and some of the life would get sucked out of the performance, but that really wasn’t the case. M83’s set at ACL was tight, propulsive, and hard hitting.

They had a lot of those qualities last night, but with a longer set—their ACL gig was closer to 45 minutes—they took more time to stretch out, bringing in a lot of the ambient and repetitive elements their longer songs employ. That was an aspect I enjoyed, but it led to the usual Boston response to quiet passages—chit chat.

Many Boston club goers seem to pride themselves on their music knowledge and a certain indie hipness (and yes, I’m pretty sure I would have won Indie Bingo last night—the Chuck T’s and PBR cans were as pervasive as ever). But except when Jose Gonzalez played Paradise earlier this year, I can’t recall a show I’ve attended in the last few years where people failed to talk during quiet sections. And to add a long time beef of our dear friend Sean, these people couldn’t be buggered to shake their asses when things went up-tempo, either. As an acquaintance of mine might say—because I’m all about stealing other people’s ideas today—Boston is not a giving audience.

Which is a shame. For the 50 or so minutes that I watched, I found the byplay of low key, repetitive buildups and mid-to-up-tempo songs to be pretty entrancing. They touched on key songs from Before the Dawn Heals Us and the poppier tunes from the new Saturdays=Youth. Once the sound man got the guitars in the mix—just after the second, “Graveyard Girl”—everything was nicely balanced. But as I said before, downstairs at the Middle East is a bitch for viewing, and the audience response to M83’s mellower elements represented one of the few occasions I’d have preferred to see a group in a seated venue, because it might have encouraged people to listen when things got quiet.

I ended up bailing halfway through, after M83 played my favorite song—“Don’t Save Us from the Flames”—which rocked as righteously as it had in Austin nearly three years prior. Hey, I’m old, I was feeling curmudgeonly… why not leave on a high note?

Great to Good in '08

Many of these are from '07, but you get the idea.

The brilliant and talented Scott Bishop helped me identify this trend, for which I have to thank him. Well, the talented Scott Bishop. Okay, the competent musician Scott Bishop. In any case, the issue with these albums is that they follow what I would consider a great previous album... and this one doesn't measure up. The Cult's latest album falls into this category as well, but I've already reviewed it. In alphabetical order:

• Drive-by Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark (2008). I love most of their music, but they lost me here. I'll take "The Righteous Path" with me as I walk out the door -- I really loved 2004's A Blessing and a Curse, so hopefully this is a blip on the radar of an otherwise stalwart body of work.
  Verdict: Not recommended. Sell-back pile 1.

• Jeremy Enigk – The Missing Link (2007). The former lead singer of Sunny Day Real Estate and The Fire Theft released the brilliant World Waits after a 3-year hiatus. 12 months later, he released this. You do the math. Not recommended, and in time it may be his only album (I own 5 SDRE, 1 Fire Theft, and 2 other solo albums of his) that I sell back. I feel the tug to give him more of a chance, but I really can’t get into this; for the time being his history buys admission to my CD rack. It’s not bad… just not good.
  Verdict: CD Rack.

• Film School – Hideout (2007). Just simply not as good as the last one, but very listenable.
  Verdict: CD Rack.

• José González - In Our Nature (2007). If you don't know who José González is, you are missing a brilliant folk talent. Voice, lyrics, guitar playing -- he has it all. Both his albums are absolutely MUST HAVE'S for your CD collection. Forced to choose between the two, I have to say that this album is very good, while his first album (Veneer) is unbeliveable. But it's splitting hairs. The guy is brilliant.
  Verdict: You haven't left the house yet? Go get this and/or Veneer. Portable CD Case.

• The Go! Team - Proof of Youth (2007). Thunder Lightning Strike is a must-have for every CD collection -- fun, funky tunes from top to bottom. This one still has that energy, but is just simply not wall-to-wall great songs. "Grip Like a Vice," "Doing It Right," and "Flashlight Fight" (with Chuck D of Public Enemy) are as good as anything on the first album, but otherwise the tricks and licks are much the same. Still a great album to have, just not as good as the first album.
  Verdict: Pick up a Go! Team album to balance that José González pickup. Portable CD Case.

• Iron and Wine - The Shepherd's Dog (2007). This is more of a career indictment than a single album fall-off. Denis wisely jumped off this ship years ago, but I held fast. I wrote off In the Reins as a bad experiment with Calexico, but I can't ignore this one -- we're going in circles here. It's the same damn album again... again. Note to Sam Beam: move forward, please. At least we'll always have The Creek That Drank the Cradle.
  Verdict: Pile of death. Getting off the merry-go-round.

• Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala (2007). Oh You're So Silent Jens, his previous album is an odd, quirky collection of well-written songs. There are similar moments here, but overall it seems like someone told the man to drop the quirkiness and smooth everything. Bad move -- sounds pretty sanitized to me.
  Verdict: Go buy his previous album. Avoid this one.

• Les Savy Fav- Let's Stay Friends (2007). Following up on their most remarkable effort yet, the 2004 compilation Inches (eigtheen tracks from nine 7" singles, released on 7 different labels), this is their best non-compilation album to date (the last was in 2001). I'd start with Inches first, but long-time fans will be happy with this one... very nice stuff. In fact, I had put this album down for quite a while and am realizing only now what a mistake that was.
  Verdict: Recommended. Good enough to make it into the CD Changer... still not as good as Inches. Go see their live show, they are ferocious!

• Low - Drums and Guns (2007). Low is generally a bit... well, low-key for me, but on The Great Destroyer Alan Sparhawk & Co. met me halfway for a really enjoyable album. When I heard this was more of the same, I picked it up. I was lied to. I'll take "Sandanista" and "Bury the Hatchet" and call it a loss otherwise.
  Verdict: Not recommended. Sell-back pile 1.

• M83 - Digital Shades, Volume 1 (2007). With the first strains of keyboards on this one, I keep waiting for Steve Winwood to start singing. I can't believe I am going to say this, but that would be preferable to what transpires here. It's ambient, it's electronic, it goes nowhere: it's pretty but soulless (much like Paris Hilton). It's a movie soundtrack without the movie... and it really needs the movie. Their previous effort, Before the Dawn Heals Us, is a "I will buy the next album, go to the show, and buy everything they've ever done"; this one is "do I really want to waste $7 AND a whole evening to see them at the Middle East?" They've devolved into a less poppy Vangelis, if that is possible. You see where this is headed.
  Verdict: Pile of death.

• Nada Surf - Lucky (2008). This is somewhat unfair. Most known for that irrepressibly catchy song of high school alienation, "Popular," Nada Surf's body of work has gone unnoticed but is just fantastic. This album (which is quite good), just doesn't measure up to their last effort, The Weight Is a Gift, which has stayed in my car since it came out. This album is a bit softer, which is fine, but they've done better than this in the past. If this is your "re-" introduction to the group, you won't be disappointed -- and you'll have the promise of other great albums to follow if you further pursue their back catalog. Make sure you get the bonus disc for my favorite track ("Everyone's On Tour").
  Verdict: Recommended if you don't know Nada Surf, or even if you do. Portable CD case.

• Ullrich Schnauss - Goodbye (2007). His first album, A Strangely Isolated Place, is quirky, offbeat, and great. This one is a little less adventurous, and suffers for it. Still some very nice stuff here and there, but I don't need to keep it.
  Verdict: Buy A Strangely Isolated Place. Avoid this one. Sell-back pile 1.

Hopefully these artists will be back to "Mighty Fine in '09." (What would we do without clients?)

- Snilch