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What music has shaped this decade for you?

Started by Vitalstatistix, September 29, 2009, 12:10:18 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

boxofslice

I'll go with the underwhelmed by Fleet Foxes camp. Not because they're bad just that I've heard that particular sound before from the likes of My Morning Jacket and Midlake, whose Van Occupanther album from a few years back was far better that the Foxes one.

El Unicornio, mang

My Morning Jacket don't even sound remotely like Fleet Foxes, and Midlake only slightly so. Regardless, it's a personal taste thing but it would definitely be my album of the 00s.

boki

Quote from: Eight Taiwanese Teenagers on September 30, 2009, 10:09:28 AM
Currently, my single of the decade is Estelle with American Boy.

I doubt it will be for long though.

Like so many songs before it, it's been bettered by a parody:

Astile (Feat Cornye Westcountry) - Arable Boy - Countryside Alliance

Quote from: 23 Daves on October 06, 2009, 01:28:42 PM
I sometimes wonder if I'd have been shrugging about "The Stone Roses" debut and calling it retro-psychedelia if I'd heard it at the point where the music press did their about-face and started calling it 'classic'.  I doubt it, but you never know.

You just may have been.  It's greeted me with indifference for twenty years.

CaledonianGonzo

Quote from: boxofslice on October 06, 2009, 02:34:36 PMMidlake, whose Van Occupanther album from a few years back was far better that the Foxes one

Got to agree with that.  Van Occupanther is easily one of my favourite albums of the last 10 years or so.  Looks like the the follow-up (although finished) is still another 4 or 5 months away, though.  Seems like making it was a bit of a struggle for them.

http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2009/09/bella-union-week-simon-raymonde-vs-midlake/

F. Foxes are better live, though.

Serge

I can't stand Fleet Foxes, but then I hate the Beach Boys and Crosby, Stills And Nash, so they're not really aiming for me are they? A lot of (mainly) American bands that get raved over I just don't get - Arcade Fire, MGMT, Shearwater, Bon Iver, Rilo Kiley, Fiery Furnaces, Midlake, Grizzly Bear, Panda Bear, etc, etc. I'm not saying they're bad in the sense of being terrible in any way, but I just find them all so deadly dull - if I was a musician and came up with records with so little imagination or fire, I'd kill myself.

Hmm, I'll bite.

How can you possibly claim that, say, Arcade Fire lack emotion compared to any Krautrock band you'd care to name. Now, this is coming from someone who a) doesn't really like Arcade Fire beyond one or two songs and b) listens to a fair amount of Krautrock.

You're also playing the silly game of not having any genuine criticism of these bands so instead choosing boredom/nonchalance as your stick. Now, I don't particularly like most of those, myself, but I wouldn't lump them all in together as they're different. The only thing holding them together is a Pitchfork/American Apparel/'hipster' (sorry) connection, which I'm not keen on at all but if you disregard what you listen to based on who else likes it, well, music: it's not a ticket for you to pick at other people who don't know what's up like you're so sure you do-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-o.

Roy*Mallard

Quote from: Serge on October 06, 2009, 11:55:08 PM
but then I hate the Beach Boys

Even Pet Sounds? I'm not much of a fan either, and some of the lyrics on Pet Sounds are a little mushy, but the music on that album is sublime.

Have you listened to much outside Pet Sounds, Roy?

I'll massively recommend 'Sunflower'. Existential, self-reflective and tinged with the sadness of ageing but somehow incredibly positive, stunning harmonies...I find Pet Sounds a bit 'woe is me, etc.' Sunflower is the lyrical opposite in some ways and the music is - fuck it - on a par, at least.

vx

Quote from: Serge on October 06, 2009, 11:55:08 PM
A lot of (mainly) American bands that get raved over I just don't get - Arcade Fire, MGMT, Shearwater, Bon Iver, Rilo Kiley, Fiery Furnaces, Midlake, Grizzly Bear, Panda Bear, etc, etc.

because they're shite.


Roy*Mallard

Quote from: The Boston Crab on October 07, 2009, 05:41:38 AM
Have you listened to much outside Pet Sounds, Roy?

I'll massively recommend 'Sunflower'. Existential, self-reflective and tinged with the sadness of ageing but somehow incredibly positive, stunning harmonies...I find Pet Sounds a bit 'woe is me, etc.' Sunflower is the lyrical opposite in some ways and the music is - fuck it - on a par, at least.

Never heard Sunflower - in fact i was completely unaware of its existence until you mentioned it. I like some of the early singles, such as Help Me Rhonda and then stuff like Heroes & Villains, but the rest of what i have heard is just too schmaltzy Americana for my ears. I'll see if i can dig out Sunflower, tho probably won't be able to find it here in HK.

ThickAndCreamy

Quote from: Serge on October 06, 2009, 11:55:08 PM
I can't stand Fleet Foxes, but then I hate the Beach Boys and Crosby, Stills And Nash, so they're not really aiming for me are they? A lot of (mainly) American bands that get raved over I just don't get - Arcade Fire, MGMT, Shearwater, Bon Iver, Rilo Kiley, Fiery Furnaces, Midlake, Grizzly Bear, Panda Bear, etc, etc. I'm not saying they're bad in the sense of being terrible in any way, but I just find them all so deadly dull - if I was a musician and came up with records with so little imagination or fire, I'd kill myself.
Have you actually listened to Funeral by Arcade Fire in full for more than a couple of times can I ask. I can understand not liking the others (if you hate The Beach Boys that is) but Funeral is just glorious. I don't understand how on earth it can be called unimaginative or with no "fire" / emotion. Of course, if you have it's your decision, but your reasons for slating it seem pretty unjust.

PaulTMA

Quote from: ThickAndCreamy on October 07, 2009, 10:30:37 PM
I don't understand how on earth it can be called unimaginative or with no "fire" / emotion.

Unlike their second album, which is a heap of of pompous histrionic emo wank with indefensibly crap  Sept 11th-referencing lyrics and the worst "They said this was a good one, so where's the fucking tune" example in the form of 'Keep The Car Running' since R.E.M.'s smug failure, 'E-Bow Shite', from the last century

Serge

Quote from: The Boston Crab on October 07, 2009, 02:40:51 AM
Hmm, I'll bite.

How can you possibly claim that, say, Arcade Fire lack emotion compared to any Krautrock band you'd care to name. Now, this is coming from someone who a) doesn't really like Arcade Fire beyond one or two songs and b) listens to a fair amount of Krautrock.

You're also playing the silly game of not having any genuine criticism of these bands so instead choosing boredom/nonchalance as your stick. Now, I don't particularly like most of those, myself, but I wouldn't lump them all in together as they're different. The only thing holding them together is a Pitchfork/American Apparel/'hipster' (sorry) connection, which I'm not keen on at all but if you disregard what you listen to based on who else likes it, well, music: it's not a ticket for you to pick at other people who don't know what's up like you're so sure you do-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-o.

I don't base what I listen to on one other person or source; I've never even looked at Pitchfork (true). I read a few music magazines, including Uncut, Mojo and Word, have looked in on random blogs over the course of the seven years I've had an internet connection, and have worked in record shops for the last three years, so have heard plenty of people raving about all the acts I named, with barely a dissenting voice. Yet whenever I hear any of them, all I hear is boring music, with nothing that appeals to me in any way. You can't dismiss the fact that I find them boring as not genuine criticism - I do find them boring, so what else am I meant to say? I've mentioned before that I'm no good with coming up with detailed music criticism either way - if I like something, all I can really think to say is, "It's good" and vice versa. I've heard records by all of those acts and find them extremely tedious, and I'll defend my right to say so. And I never said that I 'know' anything about music, I can only state my own opinion. Which I did - why do people still have problems with the idea that other people don't like the records that they do and don't have to give reasons for it - I just don't like them. It is allowed!

Quote from: ThickAndCreamy on October 07, 2009, 10:30:37 PM
Have you actually listened to Funeral by Arcade Fire in full for more than a couple of times can I ask. I can understand not liking the others (if you hate The Beach Boys that is) but Funeral is just glorious. I don't understand how on earth it can be called unimaginative or with no "fire" / emotion. Of course, if you have it's your decision, but your reasons for slating it seem pretty unjust.

And this is the other pointless argument bought up by people who can't bear that other people don't like their taste in music: "You haven't listened to it enough times." I'm not having a go at you personally, here, Thick And Creamy, but again, working in a record shop, I've lost count of the amount of times I've said I don't like a record and had people saying that. Yes, I've heard 'Funeral' more than two times, I work in a record shop. But how many times I've heard it is completely irrelevant to whether I like it or not. When the third Portishead album came out, we played it for the first time in the shop, and afterwards, my boss asked me what I thought. I replied that I thought a couple of songs were good, but that I thought it was mostly shite. He got very red faced and pop eyed and said that I couldn't possibly have an opinion after listening to it once (so why did he ask me for my opinion after one listen?), but having heard it many times since, I still stand by my original opinion - a couple of good songs, but mostly shite.

Quote from: Roy*Mallard on October 07, 2009, 04:48:15 AM
Even Pet Sounds? I'm not much of a fan either, and some of the lyrics on Pet Sounds are a little mushy, but the music on that album is sublime.

I'm tempted to say 'Especially Pet Sounds', but that would be untrue. I like three or four songs on 'Pet Sounds', and a handful of other Beach Boys songs, but overall, I'm not impressed. The amount of bands ripping them off annoys me as well, which I concede isn't the Beach Boys' fault, but it does put me off them as well.

CaledonianGonzo

Quote from: Serge on October 07, 2009, 11:55:59 PMThe amount of bands ripping them off annoys me as well, which I concede isn't the Beach Boys' fault, but it does put me off them as well.

Like mid-period Primal Scream or Super Furry Animals or Flaming Lips, for example?  Winky.

Quote from: Serge on October 07, 2009, 11:55:59 PMso have heard plenty of people raving about all the acts I named, with barely a dissenting voice. Yet whenever I hear any of them, all I hear is boring music, with nothing that appeals to me in any way.

This is totally fair enough, and I'm with you on not having much love for Arcade Fire (finding them full of emotion, but of the blowsy, slightly-pompous U2 sort*) - however, I'm puzzled to see the likes of Sufjan Stevens, The Hold Steady, Laura Veirs and Iron And Wine get off scot free, given that they're pretty much cut from the same cloth as most of the purveyors of rootsy Americana that you're dismissing above.  Acts where the influence is just as much from places like non-pop period Byrds and Beatles, Basement Tapes-era Bob and The Band's second album.


* Though tracks like Wake Up are still pretty good.

vx


Serge

Quote from: CaledonianGonzo on October 08, 2009, 07:23:39 AM
Like mid-period Primal Scream or Super Furry Animals or Flaming Lips, for example?  Winky.
But they're also ripping off other stuff that I like!!

QuoteThis is totally fair enough, and I'm with you on not having much love for Arcade Fire (finding them full of emotion, but of the blowsy, slightly-pompous U2 sort*) - however, I'm puzzled to see the likes of Sufjan Stevens, The Hold Steady, Laura Veirs and Iron And Wine get off scot free, given that they're pretty much cut from the same cloth as most of the purveyors of rootsy Americana that you're dismissing above.  Acts where the influence is just as much from places like non-pop period Byrds and Beatles, Basement Tapes-era Bob and The Band's second album.

I didn't mean it as a blanket condemnation of Americana, though. Obviously, there are acts I like who deal in similar styles, but whose records appeal to me for some reason, whereas the acts I mentioned don't do anything for me at all. I'm not machiavellian enough to have some sort of grand plan of 'This Music = Good/ This Music = Bad'. It's all random, and this is what confuses me when people can't accept that I have different tastes to them. Obviously, a lot - well, probably all - of the bands I love from the last few years are derivative in some sense. LCD Soundsystem, my favourite act of the last ten years, as I mentioned before, wears his krautrock, disco and new wave influences pretty much on his sleeve. Thick And Creamy mentioned 'emotion' above, which isn't quite what I meant when I said 'fire' - I meant that the bands I mentioned don't seem to me to have any feeling that they're enjoying making the records they put out. It's as if they chose 'musician' as a job and dutifully went ahead and went through the motions of 'being a musician'. I admit I'm in the minority on this, and obviously am hearing them in a completely different way to most other people, but I can't really do much about that!

For the record, I didn't for a second say I don't understand why you don't like any band, including some I like and some I don't. My point was simply that your blanket criticism seems totally arbitrary, lumping quite different acts together with the totally reductive criticism that they're 'boring'.

My personal attitude these days is to not waste time slating what does nothing for me and focus on how and why I love what I love. Maybe that's equally pointless and reductive in its own way, you tell me, but I think there's very little for me or anyone else to gain from pissing on someone else's chips.

I literally do not care about what you don't like. Sing from the rooftops about what you do...Just my personal stance these days.

23 Daves

Quote from: The Boston Crab on October 08, 2009, 05:53:43 PM

My personal attitude these days is to not waste time slating what does nothing for me and focus on how and why I love what I love. Maybe that's equally pointless and reductive in its own way, you tell me, but I think there's very little for me or anyone else to gain from pissing on someone else's chips.


I don't know... I actually find it interesting to hear about why people don't get along with certain things I enjoy.  On very rare occasions I've even found out about other bands I prefer through people suggesting them as alternatives, so it's not all bad.  Aside from that, hearing people articulate what they're getting from music and finding irritating or awe-inspiring is frequently interesting. 

In terms of my own outlook, I've definitely chosen not to spend too much time slating acts since I haven't actually had to go out and review bands.  Unless something is devastatingly and hilariously bad, or seemingly undeservedly hugely successful, it always feels a bit like a waste of energy.  If enough people I respect are hearing something I'm not, though, I might start to try and find out what they're getting from it. 

Serge

Quote from: The Boston Crab on October 08, 2009, 05:53:43 PM
For the record, I didn't for a second say I don't understand why you don't like any band, including some I like and some I don't. My point was simply that your blanket criticism seems totally arbitrary, lumping quite different acts together with the totally reductive criticism that they're 'boring'.

But...but...that was just the 'bands I find boring' section of my long list of likes and dislikes.

Spiteface

Quote from: Serge on September 30, 2009, 04:56:59 PM
Godspeed You! Black Emperor's 'Yanqui U.X.O.' came out within the last ten years, and is still a thing to marvel at.

I'd have said "Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven" (released in 2000, it counts) was a better album.  Blew me away when I first heard it.  My only exposure to "Post Rock" prior to that was Mogwai, but I'd never quite heard anything as epic as what Godspeed did on that album.

Yanqui U.X.O. is still tremendous though.

Serge

Yeah, 'Skinny Fists' was the first Godspeed album I ever bought, and it is a fantastic record. But 'Yanqui U.X.O.' just edges it for me, possibly because it has the mighty 'Rockets Fall On Rocket Falls' on it. Funnily enough, I remember buying it not long before christmas, and sitting wrapping that years presents while I listened to it for the first time.

Quote from: Vitalstatistix on October 01, 2009, 08:44:42 PM
Call me excitable and kneejerk, but over the past three days I've discovered my new favourite band of this decade! Just in time!!

Why didn't you guys tell me how freakin awesome The New Pornographers are!? Every song's a hit right in the sweet gooey pop spot.

Ditto.

Huge props to whoever mentioned these guys.

Vitalstatistix

Werd.

There's a great collective oeuvre going on there, which I am only on the crest of mining. After ruthlessly caning most New Pornographers, I've been listening to A.C Newman's The Slow Wonder which is similarly great. I'm now enjoying the wondrously bonkers Destroyer (t'other dude from New Porn). Only heard Destroyer's Rubies so far, but there's loads more, can't wait to get stuck in. Definitely hearing the Bowie comparisons which I've read elsewhere.

thugler

The music that has shaped this decade for me has generally been older music rather than stuff actually released this decade. Interesting that so much of the music mentioned is unashamedly retro. The pitchfork list mostly consists of artists who were massively hyped but failed to get more than a couple of listens out of me, and a couple of absolute stinkers in 'is this it' and 'late registration'.

I'm sure they'll try harder to please next time, thuggy babes!

Captain Crunch

I had a crack at my Top 10 Albums of the Decade (woop woop) the other night.  I only managed nine:

  The Black Angels - Passover (2006)
  Witch - Witch (2006)
  Red Sparowes - At the Soundless Dawn (2005)
  Witchcraft - The Alchemist (2007)
  Sonic Youth - Murray Street (2002)
  Twilight - Twilight (2005)
  I - Between Two Worlds (2006)
  Dead Meadow - Feathers (2005)
  Earth - Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method (2005)

I've probably overlooked a few post-rock 'classics' or crossover triumphs but these were the ones I didn't have to think too hard about.

Considered putting The Darkness in but they were more of a live phenomenon than an album act, I thought.

daimoniac

theres been an awful lot this decade - most of which i first got to hear during it, even if it was released beforehand.

Paradise lost, Action Directe, Project Pitchfork, Anne Clark, Moev, Toyah, John cooper clark, Theater of hate, Saints of eden, Deviant UK, Skeletal familt, chrisreedunit, nitzer ebb, the last cry, wumpscut, T3R, Das Ich, Cryogenica, I:scintilla, specimen, the chaos engine, crass

favorite albums released this decade though:

project pitchfork: daimonion
Anne Clark: the smallest acts of kindness
oomph: ego
action directe: counterculture & intervention
interpol: turn on the bright lights
editors: all 3 albums have been great
PJ harvey - White chalk
skinflowers - data in a hurry

off hte top of my head that is.

Lee

My five favourite records from every year of the decade:

2000
The Avalanches - Since I Left You (Modular)
Bohren & Der Club Of Gore - Sunset Mission (Wonder)
Radiohead - Kid A (EMI)
V/Vm - Sick Love (V/Vm Test)
Raymond Scott - Manhattan Research, Inc. (Basta)

2001
The Caretaker - A Stairway To The Stars (V/Vm Test)
Daft Punk - Discovery (Virgin)
Angelo Badalamenti - Mulholland Drive (Milan)
Vernon Elliot - Clangers Original Television Music (Trunk)
Aphex Twin - Drukqs (Warp)

2002
DJ Shadow - The Private Press (Universal Island)
Thomas Bangalter - Irreversible (Roule)
Boards Of Canada - Geogaddi (Warp)
BBC Radiophonic Workshop - BBC Radiophonic Music (BBC)
[The User] - Symphony #2 For Dot Matrix Printers (Asphodel)

2003
PFFR - United We Doth (Birdman Records)
Various - It's Fan-Dabi-Dozi! (V/Vm Test)
Rank Sinatra - Chairman Of The Bored (V/Vm Test)
Cassetteboy Vs DJ Rubbish - Inside A Whale's Cock Vol 1 (Barry's Bootlegs)
Jonny Greenwood - Bodysong (EMI)

2004
Fast Lady - The Money Shot (V/Vm Test)
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike (Memphis Industries)
Nora Keyes - Songs To Cry By For The Golden Age Of Nothing (dualpLOVER)
Rjd2 - Since We Last Spoke (Definitive Jux)
Belbury Poly - The Willows (Ghost Box)

2005
DJ Scotch Egg - KFC Core (ADAADAT)
Kraftwerk - Minimum-Maximum (EMI)
Pistol Disco - Pistol Disco (Push The Button)
Dangerdoom - The Mouse And The Mask (Lex)
Venetian Snares - Rossz Csillag Alatt Született (Planet Mu)

2006
Nico Mulhy - Speaks Volumes (Bedroom Community)
Kling Klang - The Esthetik Of Destruction (Rock Action)
V/Vm - V/Vm 365 (V/Vm Test)
Orbital - Live At Glastonburty 1994-2004 (ACP)
LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (EMI)

2007
Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)
John Callaghan - It Might Never Happen (Uncharted Audio)
Daft Punk - Alive 2007 (Virgin)
Bear In Heaven - Red Bloom Of The Boom (Hometapes)
Twocsinak & DJ Sarah Wilson present - 'Jesus is a brave little toaster' volume 1: Take nothing but footprints, leave nothing but photographs (Wrong Music)

2008
Cats Against The Bomb - Attack Of The Bunny Boilers From The Nth Lagoon: The Musical! (Advanced Lawnmower Simulator)
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles (Warp)
Chumbawumba - The Boy Bands Have Won... (No Masters)
ANE - When Your Cat Gets Mad Ring Bad Bird (Digital Vomit)
aPAtT - Black & White Mass (Pickled Egg)

2009
VHS Head - Video Club (Skam)
Leyland Kirby - Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was (History always favours the winners)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz (Interscope)
The Doomed Bird Of Providence - Laily 01 (Laily Recordings)
Rice Corpse - Mrs. Rice (dualpLOVER)

2007 was bloody difficult to round down - the year also saw fantastic albums by Cheeseburger, M.I.A., Big In Albania, Justice, Justice Yeldham, Dethklok, Maruosa, Murcof, Tristan Perich, David Lynch (yes, really), Von Südenfed...

Label of the decade's either V/Vm Test or dualpLOVER. Probably the latter by the narrowest of margins.