TheMaker

Wh? No, I didn't hear anything. Probably the dog. Maybe the wind. Hmm. http://download.yousendit.com/2C76AF9C0F8E1DF4 (Somebody please circulate this if the link gets ganked. I likely won't be around for a bit.)

Signed, Canada. (Seriously, we have to live vicariously through your progressive candidate, because we might not have another bona fide one for several generations. Obama is probably the greatest politician North America has produced since Pierre Elliott Trudeau. And Jesus Christ, after eight years of that chimpanzee you've got in the White House right now, you so deserve this guy!)

I thought Stipe addressed this yeeeeeeears ago. And then again a couple years after that. Huh.

If I find a link, I'll toss it up here for those of us who are penalized for living in a country other than the U.S. (Although I'm certainly one of the many folks hereabouts who refuse to pay for an entire set of reruns for just one new song on general principal. iTunes betta check itse'f before it wrecks itse'f!)

Congratulations, pal. Me? I couldn't give a solitary fuck about "The Smithereens," whoever they are, and I consider Leonard Cohen to be one of the ten best songwriters who has ever lived. My point is that your dislike for this song is perfectly legitimate, but your vendetta against it is totally ridiculous, bordering on laughable. Enjoy that yellow cereal! Best version: Cale, because he fashioned the template that every post-Cohen performer has built their cover using. Cohen's is underappreciated, Buckley's really is overpraised/overplayed and Wainwright's is just kind of there, borrowing le

The band streamed this on their site back in '05, as I recall. I didn't understand then why they decided not to release the DVD, and watching this again, I still can't figure it out.

That really is completely off the hook. How the hell did they manufacture that many discs so quickly? I guess this must have been going on behind the scenes for some time.

Except for the part of the range that includes country, Stones-esque rock, power-pop, Replacements racket, et al... I would seriously beg to differ, is all I'm saying. Three totally incredible songs, but there's a LOT more to Wilco than what you find in each of them taken together.

This seems pretty laughable. I'm just saying.

Wow, right on. I've always thought this, too!

I like Up and even Reveal a lot more than this one, personally, hype be damned. I'd slap a 5 on this release if I had to affix a number to it, I guess...which is still a sight better than the 0 I'd give Around the Sun.

I'm not saying that recalling Monster and Hi-Fi's production is a bad thing at all. It's just that the whole "Accelerate is the second coming of Reckoning and Fables" press that has developed around the new album has positioned it as a bit of a letdown, since it's more reminiscent of the middle Warner Bros. period than any other. Three listens in and everything is still blurring together in a sonic mass for me, aside from the two Automatic-esque songs. That's my main gripe, really, if I have one. It's not a bad record, just one I fear I'm already more or less done with.

Man, let's just call it the album of the year and get it over with. These new songs are just jaw-dropping. I guess this is the year that MMJ finally overtakes Wilco for me. Neat.

Not sure if I'm feeling Accelerate or not, to be honest. The band did a great job of whipping their hardcore fans and the press into an "OMG the IRS years are back" frenzy, but this record actually sounds more like the Monster and Hi-Fi era than any other from the band's history. Some hard-charging rockers on here, for sure, but after two spins absolutely nothing has jumped out at me.

And what's really amazing is that I'm Amazed is easily the least impressive of the new songs and still ranks among MMJ's absolute best.

Ha! Yeah, there's some weird line in "Highly Suspicious" about "peanut butter Pulitzer Prize." The whole tune is a blast of self-conscious silliness. Thanks for the portable version of the stream, Lynch!

Yeah, these new songs are friggin' exceptional. The NPR stream has basically been my work music since it aired live! I'm actually one of the few fans who feel that Z didn't represent a step down for MMJ, I think, but just for variety's sake (and because At Dawn is my fav MMJ disc) I'm glad that some of the new stuff is sounding more expansive than a lot of what was on that record. I'm also loving the blue-eyed soul aspect to the slower songs, which is really striking. First Wilco, now my other favourite contemporary band. Woo!

Chompsky is being an asshole, for anybody who might be new to the board. I think Iron Man and The Dark Knight look like fun movies, and I'm looking forward to them. I think this looks like an artless atrocity and could well be the most poorly put-together action blockbuster trailer I've ever seen. I'm sure I'm far from the only person who's savaged it. When something is this self-evidently bad, people will tend to hate it, after all. The Hulk is like the Don Quixote of superhero movies, only his productions somehow actually make it to release, in spite of being abortions.

That Hulk trailer is mercilessly awful. That's what happens when you're so lazy that you effectively opt to remake the recent bomb you were ostensibly trying to erase the public's memory of. And, I suppose, what happens when you give your prima donna star way too much leash and let him cut the trailer himself. Also, Jesus Christ, those effects are wretched. After the amorphous, weirdly-stitched-together Hulk of the last movie, I was hoping for something that looked more impressive, not... well, significantly less impressive, let's say. I don't think I'm gonna touch this one or Watchmen wit

It was Evil Urges. Sounded good, but weirdly, not as good as the YouTube performance...

Now rocking.

I'm definitely staying in and up to catch this stream (thanks to whoever first brought it to the thread's attention). I'll try to record it, but I always seem have bad luck with this type of thing. Definitely hoping for Evil Urges as set opener. I swear, that's their new best song. It's like a rock and roll bullet to the back of the head. I like Sec Walkin' too, although it reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki3yIKn9lf0

You know, I'm going to have to rescind my infamous declaration, officially, based on the number of foo's who can't seem to appreciate m'buche: Nels Cline is essential. Also, seriously, there are fucking people who honestly believe that the low ebb that is the Leroy era was Wilco's peak? Uhhhhhhhhh. You're obviously entitled to your opinion, but WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT, people. Jesus Christ!

Ho ho ho, nooooo, thank you, I'm never getting married, but if I were ever brainwashed or had my fucking brain erased or something, I'd want Remember the Mountain Bed to grace my ceremony, no doubt!

Truth! Wasn't Van's debut just a glorified collection of singles, though? I think this list is required by law to always begin with My Aim is True. Even if you don't like Elvis Costello (we're getting into some tricky theory now, though, because everybody loves EC). My Aim is True Music from Big Pink The Clash Sloan - Smeared Marquee Moon Arcade Fire - Funeral VU and Nico No Dep Trace Constantines Five Leaves Left Waits - Closing Time The Millennium - Begin New Pornographers - Mass Romantic Neko Case - The Virginian T Bone Burnett - Truth Decay Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? Gram P