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Originally Posted by Green Magnesium
A few recent dissapointments...
Joanna Newsom
Animal Collective
Vampire Weekend
Deerhoof
I realize that these acts are popular with some of the members of this board. I am NOT listing them to be controversial or anything silly like that. I actually checked them out because of mentions/praise on this board. After downloading a couple of albums, I honestly did not find anything to like about any of them. Vampire Weekend are dull, Deerhoof are too silly for words and both Newsom and Animal Collective are simply unbearable.
Maybe I just don't "get it" like some people "don't get" Sonic Youth. Actually, I can completely sympathize with people who hate Sonic Youth. I just happen to like SY's brand of weirdness/uniqueness... these other artists, not so much.
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Bravo for a well-put "don't take it personally" band diss! Still, I feel compelled to say that part of the reason I love Deerhoof is that underneath their silly exterior, they actually appear to be saying something meaningful (when you can understand her, at least). "Plus 44" is about out of control urbanization, "Choco Fight"...well, I'm not really sure. The best I could come up with is a critique of the type of depraved person who would buy a mail order bride. But the best one is "Matchbook Seeks Maniac," which seems to be about power hungry world leaders, like Bush or Kim Jong Il:
"How does no one know what I want? Oh no!
I am not a boy, I got a lot a power
All the power!
Matchbook seeks, matchbook seeks maniac
I would sell my soul to the devil
if I can be the top of the world"
etc.
But to be fair, the first few times I tried to like them (after hearing all the praise), I was equally underwhelmed. I just happened to give them a third try out of boredom (I don't follow that many bands, so exciting new music doesn't come along that often for me).
I saw the "Black Angels" mentioned, and they were kind of the same deal for me. I heard "Black Grease," bought the 4-song ep, then was completely underwhelmed by them. Until much later, when I was bored, and gave it another spin (and smoked a joint, which I'm sure helped). I then realized (dumb that I hadn't sooner--it's not *that* big of a stretch) that "The First Vietnamese War" is a totally awesome critique of "this" Vietnam war (Iraq), and the rest of the songs were good too (especially "Manipulation"--I *love* the "scene change" chimes they throw in between chorus and next verse).
Still, that's not to say a person couldn't listen to these albums a THOUSAND times and still not be keen on them. That's the beauty of opinions!