(the inevitable dumb) BEST OF '06 (thread)
- Thread starter francesco
- Start date
the undisputed truth
Banned
Well that's pretty stupid. Paying big money for a no name, hard to find group with no touring prospects. Did XL ever follow up the album with solid remix action on vinyl or did they just cut their losses and decide not to throw good money after bad and did various ever gig like on a festival circuit or play support to any big acts ???
I don't think we've heard the last of them though. There is just so much they could build off but maybe in another incarnation...
...and i reckon K9 would have been expecting exactly what happened with burial
You can't force people to do what they don't want to do basically, and they were'nt a no name they were a name getting alot of hype and sold those singles well, far lesser known people have signed for greater amounts and done better, you are sounding like you don't like the group undisputed truth, they are afterall a group and not a product.
i don't think we've heard the last of them either though.
Also i can't imagine Burial sold as much as anyone thinks either, just cos a bunch of people in the places on the net you frequent are listening it doesn't mean that much really, but at the end of the day good albums disappear under the radar all the time for loads of reasons.
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Woebot
Well-known member
i'd like to see this thread back on track! i'm taking notes. undisputed truth let it go please you're starting to be a bit boring.
seconded.
Less name-dropping and more writing please, there a few things duller than watching a long list of unknown names with no comments.
seconded.
what about yrself matt?
Please, please tell me that you've been sat in a crackden all afternoon! The Various Prod album has some good ideas, but its arid, sterile, empty, plastic stuff. This album failed for a reason. There will be others who take the idea of song-oriented dubstep further. This isn't the one.
the undisputed truth
Banned
in 5 yrs time and people will get it...
...it's a tralblazer of an album. Look at the title and the songnames. It's supposed to be arid, sterile, empty and plastic. A true album for the times...
...burial being on some music mags best list just goes to show what a crap year it's been for albums and how people don't want to miss out on catching the hipster faddishness of dubstep bus
sorry woebot
...it's a tralblazer of an album. Look at the title and the songnames. It's supposed to be arid, sterile, empty and plastic. A true album for the times...
...burial being on some music mags best list just goes to show what a crap year it's been for albums and how people don't want to miss out on catching the hipster faddishness of dubstep bus
sorry woebot
wow! yes i take that back then
boy dun well and i need to check those lists, any sign of joanna newsom, i'd love to know the opinion of those magazines and others on this years music releases really.
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in 5 yrs time and people will get it...
...it's a tralblazer of an album. Look at the title and the songnames. It's supposed to be arid, sterile, empty and plastic. A true album for the times...
...burial being on some music mags best list just goes to show what a crap year it's been for albums and how people don't want to miss out on catching the hipster faddishness of dubstep bus
sorry woebot
I really wanted to like the Various Prod album, but it sorely disappointed. It wasn't bleak enough, the vocals were almost the definition of BLAND-out coffee shop insubstantial generic dreck (unlike the cream of trip hop where the vox were super distinctive, classy, well thought out, emotive etc). There was also no sense of tension or drama on the album, or emotive punch. Indeed, there was more emotion in two bars of Burials' sampled Diva snips than on a whole album of Various Prod's tasteful tosh. And the much vaunted folk influence was not really integrated in a coherent manner.
The weird thing about Burial appearing on lists like Q's and Uncut's is that they are the epitome of Dadrock convention, not usually hipsterish, especially towards dance music nowadays.
well sort of but not exactly - as far as i know Sibylle recorded the album for herself but then got some vinyl copies pressed up for friends and family. it was never released commercially or at all, really, apart from those few copies.
Binjominia
New member
Without too much reflection, or the album names
TV On The Radio
Grizzly Bear
Clipse
Califone
Tom Waits
Spank Rock
Diableros
Ghostface Killah
Junior Boys
The Knife
Mission of Burma
Yo La Tengo
(And as for reissues, I'm partial to the three Wire albums)
TV On The Radio
Grizzly Bear
Clipse
Califone
Tom Waits
Spank Rock
Diableros
Ghostface Killah
Junior Boys
The Knife
Mission of Burma
Yo La Tengo
(And as for reissues, I'm partial to the three Wire albums)
Guybrush
Dittohead
A Few Half-Baked Musings
1) Space disco's further diffusion, I think, was one of this year's causes for rejoicing, despite its retrogressive undertones and occasional proggy ramblings. In a way the genre is a continuation of the soulful, lounge-y, and slightly bland dance sounds (deeeeeep house) fronted by Faze Action (who actually have a track named “Space Disco”—a mere coincidence?), Incognito (in their instrumental mode), the Svek stable, and a farrago of others; but where the space discoits trump their antecedents, I think, is in the way they manage to not only mimic the imperial productions of the disco era, but to actually surpass them—if not in virtuosity and funkness then in the sound design department.
The genre still needs a few extra injections of talent before it's ready to take on the world, though, most urgently skilled singers and song-writers—more pop! That being said, with Dennis Parker's heart-rending “Like an Eagle” allegedly getting canned by the space disco confraternity, my hopes for them getting the right ideas are high. More recent, vaguely space discoish, pop examples could be Annie's Shakatak-sampling “No Easy Love” and the original version of Wamdue Project's “King of My Castle”, just to name two. Both of these (and also “Like an Eagle”) are quite subdued, and that's partly what makes poppy space disco alluring to me: it's melodic, hummable, traditional in its song-structure, and all that jazz, but the songs are never overblown, never ephemeral, and almost always sonically interesting (actually, objectively speaking, most of the time they're not, but I think a well-recorded acoustic instrument is always a sufficiently sonically interesting complement to a captivating melody—if not a terribly imaginative one). In short: space disco is the one genre I can think of that's the most predisposed to elevate a great pop tune to unforeseen heights. What do you others think, do you want space disco to go pop? Is it even that good in the first place?
2) After a grand 2006 I think minimal is in for trouble in the coming year: if it evolves in an organic/latino/jazzy direction it risks losing its menacing qualities, ending up as foppish boutique muzak; if it takes the maximalist route (perhaps coupled with “real” song writing) it likewise runs the risk of losing its uniqueness; lastly, if it chooses the path of escalating minimality it risks disappearing up its (manly) posterior (à la tech-step, say). I really can't think of any viable next steps. Anybody?
1) Space disco's further diffusion, I think, was one of this year's causes for rejoicing, despite its retrogressive undertones and occasional proggy ramblings. In a way the genre is a continuation of the soulful, lounge-y, and slightly bland dance sounds (deeeeeep house) fronted by Faze Action (who actually have a track named “Space Disco”—a mere coincidence?), Incognito (in their instrumental mode), the Svek stable, and a farrago of others; but where the space discoits trump their antecedents, I think, is in the way they manage to not only mimic the imperial productions of the disco era, but to actually surpass them—if not in virtuosity and funkness then in the sound design department.
The genre still needs a few extra injections of talent before it's ready to take on the world, though, most urgently skilled singers and song-writers—more pop! That being said, with Dennis Parker's heart-rending “Like an Eagle” allegedly getting canned by the space disco confraternity, my hopes for them getting the right ideas are high. More recent, vaguely space discoish, pop examples could be Annie's Shakatak-sampling “No Easy Love” and the original version of Wamdue Project's “King of My Castle”, just to name two. Both of these (and also “Like an Eagle”) are quite subdued, and that's partly what makes poppy space disco alluring to me: it's melodic, hummable, traditional in its song-structure, and all that jazz, but the songs are never overblown, never ephemeral, and almost always sonically interesting (actually, objectively speaking, most of the time they're not, but I think a well-recorded acoustic instrument is always a sufficiently sonically interesting complement to a captivating melody—if not a terribly imaginative one). In short: space disco is the one genre I can think of that's the most predisposed to elevate a great pop tune to unforeseen heights. What do you others think, do you want space disco to go pop? Is it even that good in the first place?
2) After a grand 2006 I think minimal is in for trouble in the coming year: if it evolves in an organic/latino/jazzy direction it risks losing its menacing qualities, ending up as foppish boutique muzak; if it takes the maximalist route (perhaps coupled with “real” song writing) it likewise runs the risk of losing its uniqueness; lastly, if it chooses the path of escalating minimality it risks disappearing up its (manly) posterior (à la tech-step, say). I really can't think of any viable next steps. Anybody?
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I mean, that's fair if you want to count it. I just knew a dude who thought it came out at the begining of this year who didn't realize it was recorded in the early 70s.
Also, to the thread about burial. The nature of music criticism nowadays (thanks in part to the blogging community, message board's, and the p2p phenomenon of your choice) has so much emphasis on forced electicism (without actually being eclectic) that you can't dislike an "obsure" album just because pitchfork liked it. I mean, then we are just as bad as they are.
Guybrush
Dittohead
I don't understand what you mean here, what is "forced electicism [eclecticism] (without actually being eclectic)"?
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Apologies for the typo, it's the type of the year (end of the semester) when I need word to check everything for me.
A good example of what I was referring to is the (second) pitchfork list for the 1990s that basically superimposed (former) writer Rollie Pemberton's top albums - which tended towards hip hop - over the very indie pitchfork list. I think it's hard to deny that there is a tendency nowadays in which "snobbery" in the traditional sense has veered away from the indie rock/kraut rock/classic rock hipster (the type of thing ilx has been against forever) to the eclectic dilettante. And while I think the fork (and many other entities in music criticism whether informal or not) tend to pander a bit because of that, to disregard albums like the clipse and burial just because they are an easy "eclecticity" addition doesn't mean that the albums themselves aren't fantastic
I mean discussions of "agency" as a music writer and music listener vs discourse and ideology are kind of problematic, but we can at least assert our preferences over music journalists! Subvert the dominant episteme haha
Maybe if the producers ditched the reliance on a 4x4 kick drum there might be progress. But then they wouldn't be making 'house' anymore and would maybe get confused?