I think this album kind of sucks, actually. I loved the milk of human kindness and i really like up in flames, particularly because they were a lot more experimental, blending all sorts of genres...electronic, folk, rock, dream-pop, and hip hop. but this album sounds just like straight forward derivative music from the 60's, which is fine and all, but i need a lot more than something that just replicates a sound really well.

on top of all that, the production sounds like shit...it's too muddy, which is cool for sunset rubdown's more lo-fi sound, but not for caribou. the production on the two previous albums is infinitely better. lastly, you could sort of ignore his lyrics on his past two albums, because they often were repetitive and more of an extra layer of sound on the music. on the new album, they're often the centerpiece, which sucks, because they're not very good.

I only listened to the first 5 songs, I was just to anxious to listen to Yearbook 1 by Studio. Maybe soon I'll give it another try.

quote:

Originally posted by DCFan:
I think this album kind of sucks, actually.......the production sounds like shit...it's too muddy

My thoughts exactly.

RavingLunatic, I want a glimpse into your world. Your best-of-the-year is so alien to me, that I want to know more about you. What makes you tick? I'm sure you see plenty of indie-heads like me blabbing about every other Animal Collective and Liars album to blog through. Why do you continue to turn a blind eye?

Well, I think explaining anyone's music tastes, even your own, is a lot of guesswork. The human brain is really the last frontier when it comes to human knowledge. We don't know shit about it, and I think it'll be a very long time until we do. Right now we're just throwing shit at the wall and hoping it gives us clues. I'll give it my best shot though.

You know, I usually do listen to most of the acclaimed indie stuff or at least to some of their back catalogs. I had a rough introduction to Liars when I listened to some live material from their Dug A Trench album. Sounded completely unlistenable to me. I did listen to last year's album of theirs. I don't remember much about it, but it did absolutely nothing for me. I don't dislike all noise-type albums though. I really love Whips by the Wind-Up Bird, for instance, but it has a deeply melancholy feel that I can really relate to. I've spent much of the last 6 years being pretty severely depressed (I've been good for about 10 months as of now), so I think that has had an effect on the kind of music I most like. Generally, I like sad, melancholy, dark, or soft, beautiful-sounding stuff, though there are exceptions. I also tend to like folk and alt-country music, and I think this is because I grew up listening to a lot of Gordon Lightfoot and a bit of Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. But then there are things my parents played that I can't stand now, like Steely Dan, so that obviously doesn't explain everything.

I listened to a few Animal Collective albums, including Feels, Sung Tongs, and one of those earlier ones. I think it had the word "Spirit" somewhere in the title. I actually don't dislike Sung Tongs. The main flaw in it is that the longest song is easily the worst song. For the most part though, the tribal chanting and ecstatic nature of their music just doesn't do it for me. Turns me off really. I think it's because that's just how my personality is. I don't get ecstatically happy, and I have a hard time summoning up the energy to feel that way in order to relate to those type of songs. For similar reasons, I don't like punk or metal or any other kind of angry-sounding music. I almost never get angry. I can't remember the last time I was really angry.

My experience is that if I don't get anything at all out of one album by an artist, I'm very unlikely to like any of their subsequent material. I tried that Satanic Panic album by Of Montreal one time, and I disliked pretty much the whole thing. If there had been a couple songs that I kind of liked, I would listen to their new album, but I'm nearly certain it would be a waste of my time, so I don't bother. So I suppose that explains my turning a "blind eye" to acclaimed indie stuff. I don't really turn a blind eye, but if, from my previous experience, I know the odds of me liking a particular album are exceedingly small, I figure my time is better spent listening to something else.

I think another factor is that I have no real-life friends with whom I can talk music with. Outside of forums like this, music is an entirely private experience for me. I don't even bother playing my music around my family, because I know they'll probably dislike most of it. This means that, for me, listening to the stuff everyone else is listening to has none of the social benefits it has for others, i.e. I have no opportunities to talk with and relate to others about music.

There, I did my best. Gosh, that was long.

We are still your friends and a doorway to an alternate world (and you are ours and vice versa, obviously). I just find it difficult to believe that you live in a hole in the ground and have not one single person to call a friend. I mean, I'm a REAL loner, so when I was your age, maybe I'd believe it, but even then, I had friends and family who were "forced by me" to listen to and share music/movies in the "Gothic Room"! They loved it and share the worthy scars to this very day!

P.S. Be careful about that "probably dislike most of it" crap. Sure, you're "probably" correct, but read what you said! There's a chance that some of them will like it, or at least, some of it!

Now that I've started to meet with this group of about 7 other people to do things with on Monday nights, I probably can't accurately say that I don't have any friends, but it was definitely true 3 weeks ago and for about 4 years before that. It's not that I don't get out or am unfriendly; I just never got close to anyone after I left Middlebury College after 1 year. Went on a few dates with a girl, and that was pretty much it outside of my family.

I'll maybe force some of my family to listen to some Elephant Micah someday though, Mark.

NO!!! The Horror!

Woah. That was brave to share, RavingLunatic. I could say I feel sorry for you, but...it seems like you don't really want many friends, or is that wrong.

Middlebury College, that's one impressive school...Why'd you leave?

I left Midd because I was fucked up at the time. I was depressed and couldn't concentrate or study and couldn't sleep. It sucks. I really wish I'd been able to graduate from there. I loved it there so much.

And I'd like friends, things have just worked out in such a way that I don't really have any. Partly it's my fault for not being proactive enough and partly it's just a result of a bunch of bad shit happening to me, like recurring compartment syndrome, chronic gut pain, a stress fracture, depression, and other shit I don't even feel comfortable mentioning here. It's a long story and not all that interesting, so I'll leave it there. No one needs to feel sorry for me though. I've got a great family and have been doing better for the last 10 months or so.

quote:

I almost never get angry. I can't remember the last time I was really angry.

I can kind of relate. I can't really get angry in the self-righteous teenage way any more, instead I get "vague rage" and become intolerable.

thanks for sharing that with us, RL. I had problems with depression too so I can kinda relate. it wasn't that long lasting though. honest self reflection hurts at times, especially at bad times. its never too late to retry college, though.

and i love that same sort of soft, dark, folk that you do. I really took to heart your songshia recommendation a while back (best of 2003 thread, i think) and i love him.

i don't have many music obsessed friends. i don't try and share my music with other people, unless they're pretty crazy music philes, then we can chat it up for hours. you can find lots of people like this at college RL.

and the jury is in on Andorra: my initial assessment was wrong. it isn't a very good album, its fairly mediocre. i still like some of the songs and the general feel of the album but time testing is the most reliable and Andorra failed.

It's been a while since anyone talked about this.

I am listening to it after a long separation from it, and like it quite a bit.

More than Person Pitch, definitely.

How does Dan Snaith sound so much like Elliott Smith? It's uncanny...