re: Music Board's Albums of the Year

What the hell?? No..

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

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How many of you listen to SiriusXM U?

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Change out your ironic t-shirt, hipster.

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I mean can you get any more pop indy than that list?

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Yes. By actually being majority indie. Look at the labels of the top ten:

1. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory CARPARK – indie/punk
2. Japandroids - Celebration Rock POLYVINYL – indie/pop
3. Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls ATO – major/subsidiary of MCA
4. Passion Pit -- Gossamer COLUMBIA - major
5. Jack White - Blunderbuss COLUMBIA - major
6. Of Monsters and Men- My Head Is An Animal UNIVERSAL - major
7. Deftones - Koi No Yokan REPRISE – major/subsidiary of WARNER BROS
8. The Avett Brothers - The Carpenter UNIVERSAL - major
9. Tame Impala - Lonerism MODULAR – indie/electronica
10. The Lumineers- The Lumineers DUALTONE – indie/folk

Four of the top ten albums on the list are on independent labels. The other six are all on major labels. Now, the Avetts have some claim to being indie, as they recently "graduated" from the indie ranks, but no band with Rick Rubin as a producer can claim to be a small, plucky underdog. Alabama Shakes' DEBUT ALBUM was on a friggin' major label.

Now, I grant you are top two are very indie rock. But they also are a band apart from most modern indie, which steadfastly does not rock. Cloud Nothings have more in common with Fugazi than Grizzly Bear (and they have Steve Albini as a producer, which is instant credibility with us old farts). And Japandroids are a lo-fi two piece. OK, that makes them a lot like the incredibly popular Black Keys, but they stand against most of the trends in indie, which tend towards over-production (SEE Impala, Tame -- who I like, but they are much more like a "typical" indie band right now)

XMU is too tame for my tastes. Mainly because they rarely play punk or lo fi bands like, well, Cloud Nothings. They are too busy trying to convince me Django Django is good.

Oh since your taste in music is so "hardcore" then I guess you should probably agree that Waxahatchee's American Weekend, The Smith Street Band's Science and Technology, and Hop Along's Get Disowned should be on that list before any other band you could think of...

Oh wait I forgot this is the guy who thinks Cloud Nothings is on par with Fugazi, you are retarded...

Which bring up another point, you say you like lo-fi... Name some bands that you think are "lo-fi"

Clearly you don't know what a hipster is with a comment like that.

Go drive around and listen to SiriusXM U, and act like you know about music.

Oh, jeez. By "hardcore", I meant I liked the musical genre of hardcore, which is generally thought to be American DIY punk of the early to mid 80s. As I've grown older, I actually listen to lot softer stuff just because, well, I'm older. I'm not slam dancing to Flipper anymore (though I still enjoy their stuff). Which made sense in the context of that thread, which asked about "post-hardcore".

I don't connect with the newer stuff, but I won't trash it. I'm just too old for it. I'll stick to my old Screeching Weasel records and not the new Screeching Weasel records. I'm not up on modern hardcore. I tuned out about when Blood Brothers or The Icarus Line were at their peak. Which was what? Ten years ago? Damn, time flies. (Actually, I do own all of OFF!'s catalog, but that's just Keith Morris kicking it old school. And does Metz meet your definition of modern hardcore? I rather like them)

I do think Cloud Nothings new album is on a par with Fugazi. It's a great leap forward. Are you telling me that you can't detect the huge influence of End Hits era Fugazi on a song like No Future/No Past? Ian MacKaye isn't a god, you can compare people to him. His kids go to school with my brother's kids. He's just a dude. He doesn't mind the comparisons, really. And I think an aggressively indie band like Cloud Nothings, which started as a one man project recording all the instruments by himself in his own studio, is not that far removed from the ethics of Fugazi.

I'm not rally interested in your dogmatic lines in the sand. They are boring. We've moved on. Really, like what you like. There's a big wide world out there. Hardcore collapsed in on itself because of these strict rules and scriptures. The rules became too binding.

As for lo fi... I don't know, Pavement is one of my favorite bands. Any band in the Elephant 6 collective. Guided by Voices. I've championed Archers of Loaf a lot on this board. Modest Mouse. Jon Spencer. Yo La Tengo. Do I pass?

Sorry if I was a little offended at the list and your explanation behind it, but I really hate how people view music now. Especially, when people say things like "lo-fi" as a genre, which it is not. Most if not all of the bands you listed recorded their albums in studios, which by definition is not low fidelity.

Mention bands like Jay Reatard and Johnny Hobo and then you find yourself emerged in the sounds of almost "no-fi".

You say you don't connect with the newer stuff yet you post a list of the "best albums of 2012". I mean you seem to have some musical taste, but get real and take a second look at that list. 2012 was an unbelievable year for music, try listening to more than just what is played over the radio.

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Especially, when people say things like "lo-fi" as a genre, which it is not.

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It is a genre. See, here's its entry on allmusic:

LINK

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Most if not all of the bands you listed recorded their albums in studios, which by definition is not low fidelity.

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Well, I think you can record in a studio and still be lo-fi. Hell, the Rolling Stones recorded Exile in Main Street in a villa, it doesn't make it lo fi because they didn't record in a studio. It's the aesthetic which is important. Notably the four-track minimalism that marks lo fi. Things which are incredibly analog.

I'm also not sure why Cloud Nothings wouldn't qualify, as they are a "bedroom band" in the same vein as Wacahatchee. But whatever, I'm not too interested in labelling wars. If they aren't pure enough for you, then ok, I guess. No skin off my nose.

Jay Reatard is also dead, so he didn't put out an album this year.

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You say you don't connect with the newer stuff yet you post a list of the "best albums of 2012".

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Well, it's everyone's compiled ballot. And I said I don't connect with "modern hardcore", not that I don't connect with new music. My own ballot had the Evens as #2, and I was the only one who voted for it. Is that lo fi enough? Does that meet your definition of purity?

It's not "my" list. It's the board's. A consensus list will always, by neccesity, skew conservative. Odd ball choices don't get many votes and won't achieve consensus. Which is why I posted all of the albums that received a vote, to give credit to everyone's opinions.

No, I don't much like twee. No, I don't listen to the radio much. I have no idea if stuff I like gets played a lot because, well, I don't listen to a lot of radio to know. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't. Neither one would bother me much. I stopped trying to be cool 15 years ago.

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Doesn't know what low fidelity is,

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I do know what it is. But sorry I do not maintain the proper level of doctrinal fidelity to maintain proper austerity and stay in the Hipster Club. You're like a Communist Party member, clutching to your rulebook so tightly.

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doesn't like twee, thinks Cloud Nothings is in the same ball park as Fugazi,

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Sorry there are people with different opinions than you. One day, in the bright new tomorrow, everyone will listen to exactly the same thing and we will all agree that Belle and Sebastian are the greatest thing to ever happen to music.

I shall now genuflect to Televison. For no band can ever exceed the greats which came before us. None can ever be mentioned in the same breath.

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listens to new music but not all new music (because his ears can't handle it?),

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Well, it is quite literally impossible to listen to all new music. I much about in the genres I like and branch out if something catches my ear or someone recommends something. But yes, my tastes have mellowed from the hardcore I preferred as a kid. I like melody a lot more now.

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thinks Jay Reatard isn't relevant because he is dead, etc, etc, etc.

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No, I just don't think he's up for Album of the Year unless he starts pulling a 2Pac. No one ranked Jay Reatard because his lack of a pulse made it difficult for him to churn out new material. I have his last album. It's decent. I'm not much of a metal guy, but I see the appeal there.

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Why in the hell should anyone take your advice about music?

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Maybe because I'm not a pretentious dillhole who yells at people for not having the same precise tastes as me, and demands strict orthodoxy in all of my music or they shall be expelled from my classification of good music? Just a thought. I'm more of a musical generalist. I like all sorts of stuff.

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Oh and thanks for explaining to me how the list works, because my original comment didn't say "everyone" right? Remember you are the one who responded...

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Well, you seemed confused. To quote you:

"You say you don't connect with the newer stuff yet you post a list of the "best albums of 2012"."

There's a lot wrong with that statement. Mainly that I never said I hate all new music, just that I don't connect with modern hardcore. So for you to fail reading comprehension and then turn around and complain about mine is... rich. And not a little ironic. But you criticize my taste in music and then how staid the list is and tell me to listen to stuff not on the radio. You were clearly addressing me, not the whole group there. But, anyway. You're clearly just trying to troll. Or you're an especially angry 15 year old and you'll grow out of it.

Either way, music is meant to be enjoyed, dude. Try enjoying it more. This pent up frustration you have just ain't healthy.