tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6216066561826697576.post8650802124504281065..comments2023-11-29T00:37:03.771-08:00Comments on Burn Your Hits: 100 Songs for 2009: ContendersAaron Bergstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16241234019286748070noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6216066561826697576.post-40313802970682240032009-03-02T13:08:00.000-08:002009-03-02T13:08:00.000-08:00Ferrario speaks:I see your point -- I can understa...Ferrario speaks:<BR/>I see your point -- I can understand how the layering of melody in Animal Collective's music can sometimes remind one of The Beach Boys. As far as superiority though, that's really subjective. Personally, I think the Beach Boys are so far ahead of AC it's not even funny, but there would be a legion of plaid pants-wearing hipsters that would disagree with me.<BR/><BR/>I do see the point above about the cost of entry for Radiohead. I like Radiohead ... a lot, but they're starting to slip in my book. My favorite Radiohead album is The Bends and their sound has evolved so much since then that it's almost like they are 2 separate bands. I really disliked The Eraser (from Thom Yorke), and it seems like the typical Radiohead album these days has to be so obscure that only the songwriters actually know what everything is supposed to be about. While that may be satisfying for them, it does alienate their fans to a certain extent. It takes me so long to dissect Radiohead these days that most of the time it isn't that rewarding. I spent hours listening to "Paranoid Android" back in the day, but doing that was fun because "Paranoid Android" has melodic strucutre that (to me, at least) is pleasing to hear. I don't get that with a lot of newer Radiohead (say from Amnesiac onward). I do enjoy trying to figure their albums out, but like what was mentioned above, the cost of entry is so high that's is starting to become not worth it -- the music isn't the same.<BR/><BR/>Unlike Honey Mustard (who I assume is BK), I spend a lot of my day listening to music (2-3 hours), but I also believe that their has to be something initially appealing upon the first listen, otherwise why would you listen? However, if there is something that I think I should like (Animal Colelctive was this way for me) I will devote the time necessary to figure out if it's worth it. In AC's case, I found the time I spent listening to their music to be completely devoid of value.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6216066561826697576.post-70588018830182756932009-03-02T13:05:00.000-08:002009-03-02T13:05:00.000-08:00first off, nice rant on U2. i liked them back in ...first off, nice rant on U2. i liked them back in the days of joshua tree and think that a few songs are pretty decent. that being said, i can't stand them now mostly due to just how much of an insufferable prick bono is. god i hate that guy and his stupid red/light gray/light blue glasses. i think U2 has gotten to that point where anything they put out is going to get rave reviews just because they're U2. it's like the beatles. if we could somehow resurrect the maggoty corpses of john lennon and george harrison, get the 4 of them together and have them record the sound of them taking a shit into a bucket of melted cheese, you just know that 15 million people are going to call it amazing. i'm sorry, but "i am the walrus, coo coo cuchoo"? what the fuck does that even mean? goddamnit. some of the beatles stuff is good, true, and yes they did do some crazy stuff for the time (maybe), but just because they're good doesn't mean everything they do is good. same goes for U2. reviewers need the balls to say something sucks, and it seems like no one who does mainstream reviews is going to say that. it's totally an "emperor's new clothes" scenario...<BR/><BR/>now that that's out of the way, i'm gonna have to agree with colonel honey mustard here. i want my music to immediately hit me. if i have to listen to a song 3 times before i actually like it... well... that would never happen, because i wouldn't listen to a song a third time if i didn't like it the first two times. also, if a song is good based on its lyrics, then you've either A) read the lyrics online, or B) listened to it enough times to actually be able to decipher the lyrics. seriously, most songs are either fast enough or garbled enough that you have no fucking clue what people are saying the first time you hear it. so unless that beat/melody/sweet drum solo catches you, why make the effort to figure out if the musician (loose term) is writing some meaningful poetry (even looser term)? you shouldn't have to work for music unless you're making the stuff. music is a release from work, like many other pleasurable things. if i turn music into work, i'm gonna end up hating it like i hate other work... <BR/><BR/>and radiohead sucks. they're only cool when you're on A LOT of drugs, or clinically depressed. now that i think about it, the two of those go together...Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11858514202768293051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6216066561826697576.post-4803108874274332202009-03-02T12:32:00.000-08:002009-03-02T12:32:00.000-08:00Don't get me wrong, I like being challenged by mus...Don't get me wrong, I like being challenged by music, but not initially. Good music to me is music that is easy to listen to initially and the more you listen to it the more you discover. I find this the most rewarding experience and enjoyable start to end. I am sure a majority of Radiohead's stuff is great as evidenced by their large following mostly composed of people I consider knowledgeable about music. I may like Radiohead if I listened to there their album a few times, but then again I may not. <BR/><BR/>My problem with Radiohead is the high cost of entry. Why spend 2 hours listening to an album I don't initially find applying when I could go to Aaron and he could recommend 10 albums, 9 albums I'd like right off the bat? I also think it's a time issue. I would say I listen to 30 minutes of music a day on average. I just don't spend enough time listening to music to make any of it work.Colonel_Honey_Mustardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11318435048018845999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6216066561826697576.post-40296031865661723532009-03-02T11:48:00.000-08:002009-03-02T11:48:00.000-08:00Appreciate the comment, Ferrario. This one's prob...Appreciate the comment, Ferrario. This one's probably my fault, as I think my statement "a kind of super-psychedelic Beach Boys sound that I'm sure Brian Wilson was searching for the whole time" was poorly worded.<BR/><BR/>I'm not trying to say that Animal Collective are better than the Beach Boys (they aren't, not even close) or that they somehow improved on the Beach Boys formula.<BR/><BR/>All I'm saying is that, given what we know about Brian Wilson (the months in bed, the vats of liquid acid, the breakdowns, the fact that it took him 50 years to release Smile), it's fair to say that he was always struggling to translate the craziness in his head into music. As you point out, much of the genius of the Beach Boys rests on their ability to take a simple pop song and give it such incredible musical and lyrical density. Brian Wilson would never have written am Animal Collective song. He was trying to use music to bring order to his own chaos. Animal Collective embraces that chaos, and so they get a totally different result, even if they may have been hearing the same music. Does this make them lesser artists for not trying to fit it into more structured songs? Maybe. Probably. But sometimes they come off a little more organic, a little more unguarded, and I think those moments are worth the chaos.<BR/><BR/>Also, I can't believe that I'm the first person to compare the two bands. Who else would you use as a comparison for Animal Collective? Summery pop vocals, frequent use of harmonies (not as good as Beach Boys harmonies, sure, but definitely in the same vein). I know they're completely different when it comes to song structure, but for 30 seconds, or a minute, when Animal Collective is locked in for a few seconds of structure, they DO sound like the Beach Boys.Aaron Bergstromhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16241234019286748070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6216066561826697576.post-13184473440150256282009-03-02T10:02:00.000-08:002009-03-02T10:02:00.000-08:00So, I have to post anonymously, but this is Ferrar...So, I have to post anonymously, but this is Ferrario. As a die hard Beach Boys fan, I must take issue with your comments concerning them and Animal Collective. First of all, Animal Collective is that band that tries to pass off street music as something beautiful. I saw them perform at the South Street Seaport in New York, and even in a concert setting with thousands of fans, it was still garbage. Their songs lack structure and melody and while I can appreciate that a lack fo structure is still a kind of structure, I find their music altogether unapproachable and get nothing out of it. Kudos to those that do.<BR/><BR/>The Beach Boys, on the other hand, pretty much revolutionized the way we understand melodics. In the mid to late 1960s, no one was mutilayering tracks the way Brian Wilson was. Every vocal harmony, every additional bit of noise was organized in a way that fit with the general meloday. Listen to "Good Vibrations" and you'll get a sense of how not just the vocal, guitars, drums, and bass get along, but also the cellos, tamborines, organs, harps, harpsichord, and even electro-theremin (the weird ghost-like noise) align to promote the melody. I have no doubt that Animal Collective create their sounds from a broad range of instruments (and perhaps that is their Brian Wilson influence), but their understanding of harmony and melody is absolutely primative.<BR/><BR/>Furthermore, Brian Wilson was such a tortured soul, that most of his songs (the meaningful ones anyway: "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", "Don't Worry Baby", "God Only Knows", "In My Room", etc.) are all about searching for a home in this world and trying to find inner and outer peace. Animal Collective have written nothing of such meaning. Pardon the rant, but I truly dispise Animal Collective and I really love the Beach Boys, so I died a little when I saw you comparing the two.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com