giraffo

I guess I apparently think Beck can do no wrong. This just seems different but better (than Guero and Information at least) to me. I'm not all the way through, but a lot of what I'm hearing is pretty good to me.

Boy, after one listen, I'm declaring this the snoozer of the year. It's putting me to sleep. This is not the Beck I love (and I LOVED Sea Change). There doesn't seem to be much redeeming in the way of lyrics OR music on this one. It seems like it could have been more maybe, but the songs just aren't there.

 

Beck's kinda lost me over the years. This is the third straight miss IMO. There were some really good moments on the last two albums but overall they lacked consistent quality. This album has more in the way of consistency: I just don't enjoy it.

that's interesting, because Sea Change was always lost on me. It seemed like the least adventurous of all the Beck albums. Just some paint the numbers strumming, to me, anyways. This seemed like he's found an interest in arranging things and pushing himself onto aesthetics some more, playing around with his own devices and snagging some from others.

don't forget the acid

I'm just not feeling it yet.

I guess this is just not the album I wanted/needed from Beck right now. I've been listening to a lot of Physical Graffiti lately and it's fun to pretend some of those tunes are new Beck.

what???

I think everyone is too overdramatic and cynical and doomsday mongering about all this shit. calm down.

High 5 (Rock the Catskills)-Beck

#1-Animal Collective

Actually, yes. And they can do it in a smaller venue and spend more time talking to fans after the show, too.

yeah, and to top it off, they won't suck.

any time you ever have a chance to see a band instead of Radiohead-- take that chance.

Midnight Vultures = '70s?

2070s, maybe.

well, it was supposed to be a Prince/70's styled album.

I listened to Orphans, and I'm even more psyched. I think this will be really really good.

did you skip out on Mutations, too?

not at all, I thought it was pretty overrated though. I didn't really find it as 60's as Midnite Vulture's was 70's, which is how I would describe this new one so far: Modern Guilt is as Beck styled 60's as Midnite Vultures is Beck styled 70's.

I'm psyched more. It seems like this will be his "60's" album, but I'm hearing a lot of Beck styled twists that are exciting.

wow, Glenn and Andrew Bird. I'm sold.

edit: 10 bucks says the Tanglewood audience gets a good preview of the stuff.

Paul McCartney also played drums on Back in the USSR.

what has Deerhoof done that was defiant?...

why did he pick What Light for the video...? I feel like if they were talking about guitar, they could've picked a better song.

I can't remember, but I recall Summerteeth having a very melodramatic name before they stole the joke for the title.

I said some of that in this thread - I think.

 

Also - you can not teach talent, you are either born with it, or not. I think he was born with something special, as were others, John Lennon, Brian Wilson, etc.

 

I know that is not the popular view these days, but after listening to these artists (among others) for almost 30 years, that is my belief.

I think that if you don't believe you can't teach talent, you're pretty ignorant. I'm sorry, but you think John Lennon could just pick up the guitar and play it better than me if he's never played it before? Nostalgia deifes these people because they made some pretty bold artistic strides, but I don't think anyone comes out born with an intense passion and talent for something. I don't really think "Nature" really exsists, I think each child and individual responds to their environment differently. You can't call out what child is going to be prodigious or which one isn't. Besides, if Brian Wilson (the only most likely legitimate genius of the 60's crowd) Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and whoever else is oft labeled genius (Jagger, Young, Barrett, etc) then that is a huge amount of geniuses in one field (not to mention it is only pop music, not exactly the most intellectually involving medium, but that goes to show why Wilson might be the only of any of them to be the likely genius). I think people are really downplaying what it means to be genius if they're so quick to label these guys.

I think somone else would have been there if Dylan wasn't. I also think that people tend to give too much weight to people like Dylan and Neil Young, and tend to give them some kind of Olympian treatment. They didn't come out of the womb able to write better than the baby next to them. In reality they're just normal people. Dylan may be a bit of a douche bag and I think he's just huge on his own ego, but I don't think he's not normal because his job is to write songs (which for the past like 25 years or so he's been kind of sucking at hard). People can't really say what's "crazy" about him, he's not like Daniel Johnston where the guy actually is crazy. Most people are too hung up giving these people such high treatment that they can never modestly analyze them. My vote goes for Tweedy. I like 98% of his songs and he has adamantly shied away from being a pretentious dick. Sure, there's a possibility he'll release a bum record down the line but I'm sure it'll be different from the record before it, not some bluesy bullshit he's being doing for the past 60 years or something like some people might do. I like Desire, Highway 61, etc. but I still vote for JT.

I don't really understand the hate against Shake it Off. I kinda like it, there's some groove in there, some sweet parts.

Not quite what I'm saying. If a ghost is born was simply Jeff yelling "Hey, I'm fucking whacked out with migraines!", there wouldn't really be any reason to listen or try to get something out of it because its all laid out there for you.

what about movies? or comics? videogames are more similar to those than music, and they're extremely legitimate. I'm not expecting you to write a thesis, I just wish you would attempted to be educated and open before making a bold, black and white statement.

I have nothing against video games.

 

When my son was 4, he could out play us on one of the Tony Hawk games on the x-box. That shows awesome skills for a 4 year old.

but see, how fucking cool is that. 4 years old and he can beat an intelligent, competent adult? I think that says something for videogames, the fact that a 4 year old has even slight mastery over something that requires so much processing and coordination. I'm not writing off reading or saying videogames are the answer, but I see alot of people shitting on video games who usually can't explain themselves because they have some lofty notion of what they think videogames are, and for the most part haven't taken an honest shot at playing some.

you know what I hate is how people play down creative things like video games or music as "dumb", but I imagine most people don't have enough experience to really articulate why one is dumb. What's so "dumb" about GTA, or videogames? I mean, no one sits down and says, "here, I'm going to do a series of problem solving" but video games provide a lot of creative opportunities for individuals, whether they're conscious of it or not. Tons of videogames have problem solving aspects that require thinking. Not to mention a lot of videogames are art in a bunch of ways; either narratively they employ a range of different ideas or as FAV art. It just seems like people think that's something that's "fun" it can't be good for you, it also works both ways; if it's fun, then it must be bad for you. It's just stupid that everyone rags on these things because they're not words on a page or some socially accepted norm of creative processing. I can appreciate Nathaniel Hawthorne or Wharton, but don't wonder why your average kid might not want to go through hundreds of pages of pretentious vernacular babble. It's not because they're dumb or lazy, but some of that stuff is just plain boring-- and the people who complain about kids are too busy being out of touch and bitchy about kids to find a way to make dated subject matter interesting to them.

I haven't read the article, but I don't think that this generation is dumber at all, I just think from observing my peers that they have a horrible work ethic. if anyone ever wonders why America is on the global decline, it's because the generation that solidified America as the world's greatest was one of the hardest working generations. Every generation since has gotten a little lazier and lazier. I'm in one of the most work intensive schools in the states and even here where you're supposed to be the best and hardest working people still slack off and think that because they are at a place that gives them a lot of work that they're working hard.

to be fair, I'm pretty sure he's shouting because the person in his ear piece is telling him to "just read it" and the person in front of him is also trying to talk to him, so he's getting this frustrating barrage of stupid.