[ni'k]

no. he's right in all ways. what he said is like MASSIVE UNDERSTATEMENT.

people are more interested in chasing after some imagined romantic subjectivity that must somehow be lurking inside the albums pitchfork reviews and are NOT interested in new sounds for their brain cos they can't get over the "am i supposed to like this?" stage and are too self conciouss. they are too hooked on power fantasys fed by musicians celebrity. they imagine some kind of status or life must exist for these people that actually doesn't. as if someday my most narcisstic stupidities will MEAN something because pitchfork will review them on my record and take about how ive returned to form and all my feelings and shit in the song and then ill be the big man. they see some fuckbunch posing in a band pic and think it must be real and there must be some magical place everything is like that and these commodities are my tickets to get into that realm. nope.

ok first thing i see on the page today

Paul Weller has said that his most recent album, 2008's 22 Dreams, was in many ways a response to turning 50. It was a gift to himself-- creating something indulgent, sprawling, and guest-heavy. Then again, Weller has never cared what anyone else thinks about him. This is a guy who disbanded the Jam at the peak of its popularity, did the same with the Style Council, then went solo and emerged if anything even more popular than before. Heck, he even dismissed most of his band before recording 22 Dreams, preferring a start-from-scratch approach.

really you fucking douche, he's never cared what anyone thinks of him? are you sure you're not just spinning some bullshit myth here. are you sure thats not utter crap. are you sure you're not just saying "this guy is so cool, he doesn't care what anyone thinks about him, and his products prove it" so that impressionable teenage nerds can buy into your fantasy of music somehow legitimising their personalities.

One familiar name who returns on Wake Up the Nation is frequent Weller producer and collaborator Simon Dine, who reportedly first delivered several of these songs to Weller in sketchy, abstract form and thus inspired the man to dive back into work. The biggest name enlisted to flesh out this rollicking and free-ranging set, however, is My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields, who crops up on "7&3 Is the Strikers Names" to help further blur the edges of the wobbly psych-rock confection. Move/ELO drummer Bev Bevan shows up on a couple of tracks-- the deliriously loose title track and opener "Moonshine", which finds Weller in ramshackle, rough-around-the-edges VU territory. And then there's the unlikely presence of former Jam cohort Bruce Foxton on bass, recording with Weller for the first time in nearly three decades. In fact, the propulsive low end runs of "Fast Car/Slow Traffic" almost seem designed to showcase Foxton and reference Weller's old sound.

oh really you fucking douche guzzling ultra douches, does a bunch of fucking namedropping make us supposed to give a shit. inspired the man to dive back into his work? are you sure this isnt some old fuckin hasbeen using his celebrity to shift some units because its all he's got left. by now you have made the idea of even making music seem so impossibly unappealing that i cant even imagine anything else.

Then again, the disc is practically teaming over with Weller's various interests and influences, past and present. "Two Fat Ladies" recalls the larger than life riffage of prime Who; Weller's love of soul is reflected in "No Tears to Cry" (Northern soul) and "Aim High" (blue-eyed funk). Scattered throughout are everything from free jazz flourishes and psych-freakouts like "Find the Torch, Burn the Plans" to introspective Dylan ditties like "Grasp & Still Connect", and, on "Up the Dosage", even a bit of disco.

by now im contemplating some nightmare which in my worst enemies lock me up with these reviewer and force me to listen to the whole album while he reads out his review in a really enthusiastic manner. im sorry but you're reviewing a fucking paul weller album. you'd have to pay me to even listen to it.

That the disc doesn't fall apart is a testament to its restless efficiency. Most tracks top off at the mid-two minute mark, and even at 16 songs Wake Up the Nation totals a mere 40 minutes. That's just about a half-hour shorter than 22 Dreams, but the disc in turn is twice the fun. Artists Weller's age often falter trying to chase the past. Weller, on the other hand, simply brings his musical baggage along with him wherever he goes, unpacking or picking up new things as necessary. Whether anyone else follows him, well, that's really none of his concern, but with albums like this one it's hard not to at least sit up and take notice of Weller's creative renewal.

im sorry, i was sitting down. who the fuck are these imaginary douches that are going to sit up and take notice of his creative renewal. are you sure you're just not trying to be come off all cool. who the fuck is this addressed to anyway? the imaginary realm of people that will legitimise you emotionally if you make music? am i missing something here?

see these idiots try to make music somehow a symbol of the self of the "artist". they are just propagating consumer friendly myths for the douchey fuckin acoustic indie wanks that read them and think that "wow, as a musician i really identify with that, you know, since im an artist now, because ive decided that i am. and if i just keep reading how to do it then someday ill be a superstar, and never have to grow up, and my feelings will be important, and peope will chronicle them in reviews, thus keeping me in an infantile bubble forever."

it also gives like 6.7 out of 10 reviews to anything remotely interesting. which is basically another way of killing the fucking album completely. whereas the bigger the name and the blander the product the higher the review. its a business created by the need for advertising. it has exactly fuck of an all to do with new music.

unless you're label can pay for a good enough review you won't get a look in

i mean look at tehir fucking news section. SOME RICH INDIE CELEBRITY HAS DECIDED TO CONTRIBUTE A B SIDE TO A BENEFIT COMPILATION. fuck off and die in a fucking ditch you ultra douche.

the idea that this shit is actually news or somehow related to whats happening in music is a fucking joke