I like their non-conformist ways; but if you happen to not, they've conveniently separated their more avant-garde selections from the more recognizable ones and appear to have put together a fun, full feature here. Check it out! What do you think?
Although I still don't like the new Deerhunter, on the whole I like their top 25. It has quite a few of my favorites on there, and others that I thought were ok to good. Honestly I'm probably going to end up preferring TMT's list to pitchfork's by a long shot.
That is a really cool list. All my favourites (except Little Joy and Grouper) are on it: Department of Eagles. Beach House. Fleet Foxes. No Age. Portishead. Even Juana Molina and Atlas Sound are on it. And Deerhunter are a solid No.1. Definitely my favourite list to date.
Posts: 384 | Location: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: 27 June 2007
The writing at TMT is godawful most of the time, but they do have good taste, so I check out the stuff I don't know and skip the words.
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
Posts: 2759 | Location: The ever silent spaces of the East | Registered: 12 February 2007
Originally posted by Ninny Gooptz: The writing at TMT is godawful most of the time, but they do have good taste, so I check out the stuff I don't know and skip the words.
I apply this same practice to all review sites I visit. Seldom do I actually read an entire review unless it seems like it will be an entertaining read. I'd much rather just skim the review for a general idea of what it might sound like and then check it out myself.
One of the best musical innovations of this decade has been the marriage of electronica’s melodies and sounds with acoustic ones.
Errr...what? Some of us remember the 90s. Trailer Park came out in '96, and I'm sure that's not the first example.
Also, I'm not a big fan of Zazen Boys. There's been much better Japanese experimental rock to come out this year (e.g., Midori, though they're a bit more out there).
This is my favorite list I've seen so far, but I'm not so hot on the blurbs. This is mostly due to the fact that I can't understand much of what they're talking about, or at least how it applies to the music.
Case in point: Their #1 album (and my #2) - "Consequentially, Microcastle made a strong case for premeditated self-realization. The subsequent culmination of this diligent construction process, however, was far from fortified. Microcastle was excruciatingly fragile, at times masochistic, and perversely conscious of one’s own indigence, owing as much philosophically to the broken human condition as it did artistically to that treatment of song structure. The allusions to Christ’s crucifixion in “Calvary Scars,” the distorted sense of consolation in “Agoraphobia,” the recollections of “Nothing Ever Happened” — the whole of this record underscored a tenuous, vulnerable existence via probing introspect, precariously resolving itself between a forced quotidian sustenance and a complete, eventual unraveling."
Maybe if I paid better attention to the lyrics (sometimes hard when they're low in the mix) I would spot the thematic messages of life's fragility, or whatever it is they're saying.
Originally posted by odysseyandoracle: Also, I'm not a big fan of Zazen Boys. There's been much better Japanese experimental rock to come out this year (e.g., Midori, though they're a bit more out there).
I didn't get the Zazen Boys at all. It just sounded like annoying wank to me.
I like it. It's skewed funk-rock performed by Japanese(?) people. It's great because it's so far from normal while remaining listenable, it's a great album to hear after trying to enjoy something well-produced but ultimately unoriginal and stale. I'm serious.
I was somewhat surprised to discover it's the best album on my 2 gig mp3 player at the moment.
Originally posted by goathouse's jolliness: I like it. It's skewed funk-rock performed by Japanese(?) people. It's great because it's so far from normal while remaining listenable, it's a great album to hear after trying to enjoy something well-produced but ultimately unoriginal and stale. I'm serious.
The Zazen Boys was produced by Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips). I would hope it's also well produced.
Originally posted by goathouse's jolliness: I like it. It's skewed funk-rock performed by Japanese(?) people. It's great because it's so far from normal while remaining listenable, it's a great album to hear after trying to enjoy something well-produced but ultimately unoriginal and stale. I'm serious.
The Zazen Boys was produced by Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips). I would hope it's also well produced.
Yeah, I misspoke. This is very well produced, I just meant it's far more interesting than something glossy and radio-ready but ultimately insipid and asstastic.
Probably. If you want something glossy and insipid but not radio-ready and only half asstastic, you should listen to the new Mr. Oizo. I love the guy and think he's crazy talented, but there are so many cringe moments.
Trailer Park came out in '96, and I'm sure that's not the first example.
