2010 Will Be the Greatest Year in Music for The Decade

[Seil]

I like BSS as much as the next guy, but Forgiveness Rock Record is pretty terrible. Better off it and on The New Pornographers.

[Lumenskir]

YEAH TOTALLY ITS LIKE SHE JUST RUINED ALL TEH OTHER MUSZKCS

No, really, like, that wasn't even funny. Kesha is awful but its no different than any other stupid teen fad pop bullshit. Pointless hateful post towards people who might enjoy her music on top of just not making sense.

Contribute something.

While I agree with the sentiment, I can't help but notice that you're not following your own advice. What are you listening to?

I like BSS as much as the next guy, but Forgiveness Rock Record is pretty terrible. Better off it and on The New Pornographers.

I'll respectfully disagree. Not that the New Pornographers aren't good, but for me personally I never really get the sense that they're rising above their individual contributions and creating something greater than the parts. I always feel like I'm getting B-Sides from the latest Destroyer, A.C. Newman, Neko Case, etc. album, rather than a proper set of New Pornographer songs. Of course, I only really started to feel this way after listening to the lackluster Challengers, and I hear Together is more of a return to form, so I'll probably check it out.

BSS, however, remains my favorite band for bringing the disparate elements of the singular bands together into something...well, BSS-y. There's a common bond in Kevin Drew's lyrical style (which, reliant as it is on words like fuck and bitch and simple sentiments expressed without much flourish, is a joy for me) but the songs feel like they could only be made by having the right mixture of elements.

Is there a particular song(s) that you don't like, or is it just the 'tone' of the entire album?

[Seil]

It's not that I dun like BSS' sound, or the individual artists, but it....

Wait.

Is the form comprised of indie nerds? 'Cause I know that most of us like indie bands, and those that don't have not spoken up yet. So is this an indie forum?

That being said, I was at the above linked performance. It was really crowded because it was free, but it was pretty rad. I just dislike their new album.

---

That being said, I have to say that I don't actively dislike Kesha - I refuse to spell a name with a "$," thank you very much. She's not the worst thing in the world, but at the same time some of her stuff I just plain dislike. I'm not commenting here on the fact that she's terrible, but that she's bringing down music as a whole. I've seen a lot of people saying that Kesha is the worst thing to happen to music since the last worst artist.

I'm defending her because she is an acquired taste. All music is. You dislike it, some other people do. She's not the best artist in the world, but she doesn't deserve to be slanted that way. No one does.

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Minus The Bear is pretty rad and deserves a listen.

[Hanuman]

Who's Ke$ha?
*googles some music*
Oh, oh god.

Ok, ok, guys.
Seriously...

[The Sevenshot Kid]

This is so going to get me laughed at, but I'm really excited for that new album that My Chemical Romance is going to be releasing this year.

[Lumenskir]

Minus The Bear is pretty rad and deserves a listen.

I liked MtB's first (three/four?) albums, but I just can not get into this year's Omni. The songs just aren't doing anything for me, and usually repeated listening will reveal that I've just been an idiot (as seen with my first forays into Clipse and Antlers), but everytime an Omni song comes up on random I instinctually just fast-forward. I'll need to make another attempt, or just listen to Planet of Ice again.

Who's Ke$ha?
*googles some music*
Oh, oh god.

Ok, ok, guys.
Seriously...

Seriously...what? So far, I'm the only one that's offered up something like a defense, while others have just offered probably the best and truest advice in music fandom: Don't assume that there is a definite 'good' taste in music. There are opinions you agree with, disagree with, understand, whatever, but there's nothing approaching canonically, I dunno, correct about the entire process of finding something enjoyable.

I've also just read over what defense I've written, and while I agree with everything, I do want to point out that Ke$ha (it's part of her name, Seil, at least be respectful) isn't a genius or some amazing version of satire on her genre. While I am personally amazed by the actual music (which again, credit almighty to Dr. Luke's genius) and un-subtlety of the lyrics, I'm pretty sure that if I saw her in a club and attempted to explain that I find her songs refreshingly direct she would stop me about three words in, take a swig from a whiskey bottle, puke on the floor, and then attempt to make out with the nearest shoe.*

But, I am a firm believer in the equation which states that the square of idiocy is 'savant'. After reading her interview in Rolling Stone (which I believe, but I'm not entirely sure, signals a return to some sort of pop music narrative factory) and seeing a few sitdowns, I'm starting to think that she started out wanting to be a country singer, ingrained the core ethos of lyrical literalness from that genre, and was then shoehorned by various producers into becoming a pop maker without weaning off her previous . So, when she was told to write a pop song for the club scene, she either didn't conceive of the ability to surround the core message (dance until you fuck) in metaphors, or she didn't care to. Thus we get the breakdown to TiK ToK in which Ke$ha tells the DJ that he is...breaking her down and making her heart pound until she is motivated to throw her hands up. It's like someone asked her to fill out the MadLibs of girl-pop lyrics and she instead just sang-talk "Adjective" and "Noun", which I find hilarious.

TL;DR - Ke$ha is retarded, but retarded like a fox.


Also, in actually good music news, I can not parse out what James Murphy is saying as concerns LCD Soundsystem is this interview. Is the LCD chocolate factory being closed but delicious Wonka Bars will still mysteriously get shipped out or...?

*For those monolingual, this is Ke$hanese for "I have to vomit and want to make out with a shoe."

[Seil]

Seriously...what? So far, I'm the only one that's offered up something like a defense,

...Ahem.

[Lumenskir]

Seil you need to dig into her discography some more, you are missing out by just sticking with the singles. In particular, Mr. Watson might just be the best inverted Police song ever with its depiction of a girl with the hots for a teacher (and the fact that it outright says as much without shrouding the true intentions of the song [deliberate calling out of the creepy stalker vibes in like half of all Police songs] *cough* [/deliberate calling out of the creepy stalker vibes in like half of all Police songs, specifically Every Breath You Take and Don't Stand So Close to Me]).

So, universal question for the thread, what's the primary way you guys first listen to new music? Just rely on reviews/word of mouth and buy the damn thing, youtube leaked tracked, radio? I ask because I think I'm close to Grooveshark abuse.

[Hanuman]

Seil you need to dig into her discography some more, you are missing out by just sticking with the singles.

Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of "popular") is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented towards a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short and simple love songs and utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.

a focus on the individual song or singles, rather than on extended works or albums
an aim of appealing to a general audience, rather than to a particular sub-culture or ideology
an emphasis on craftsmanship rather than formal "artistic" qualities
an emphasis on recording, production, and technology, over live performance
a tendency to reflect existing trends rather than progressive developments

Pop is designed for singles, it's kind of like telling someone that a death metal band has music that's warm and fuzzy but then getting after them for avoiding delving into the band when it's designed for hate.