I enjoyed OVERSTEPS on first listen.

I did not. It is on the verge of being deleted. I'll have to try it again some afternoon while working, since I think listening to it after a few beers on Saturday night was a detriment to it.

looking forward to absorbing this thread

i've decided to do micro-reviews on my status updates. so, like, 160 or less characters-worth of my yammerin

This These New Puritans "Hidden" is trite.

how so?

seems weird to me how styles are butting up against each other on this one. you get sections of modern composition adjacent to hipster rock biting rhythms MIA popularized. i don't know i just don't like the sound of most of it, an its lacking in sincerity (not that that's a prerequisite for music, but i think would help in this instance). maybe i just don't get it.

how's that harlem record? i interviewed those dudes and it was an extremely inane and silly non-conversation.

and what's that strong arm steady with the heady artwork?

their first album sounded pretty much like that too, so i dunno.

the harlem record is good but i only listened to it through once so it may take a few more spins to sink in.

strong arm steady = hip hop, on stones throw

harlem - garage rock, less psych black lips

i haven't listened to the SAS yet but it's underground hip hop.

I've only listened a couple times, but I like this new one more than the previous. It takes its own time, and instead of forced garage rock bluster it finds its own identity. More mellow than before, but equally ragged. A nice change of pace imo.

No word on this yet.

not sure if anybody's said this, but Beach House through Yeasayer are bad links now

anyone reupping?

Does anyone have a good re-up of the Four Tet album?

They gotta be in there somewhere...

So, I am finally listening to this Vampire Weekend. Wow - this is worse than I ever thought it would be. I liked it better the first time I heard it, when it was called MGMT, and it didn't have all the conga drum flourishes. And, they were pretty much unabashed at the fact that it was music for drug freaks, made by drug freaks.

This is the sonic equivalent of an Eddie Bauer Edition Ford Explorer. LOMIT!

Isn't your new vehicle the equivalent of an Eddie Bauer Edition Ford Explorer?

The Vampire Weekend sounds nothing like MGMT to me

Except that it is twice as big and I paid for it with my own money and not daddy's, sure

Never mind the fact that both bands debuted around the same time.

I mean I think a more accurate statement would have been "I didn't like this the first time around, when it called Vampire Weekend".

re: Contra

from my FB: joining the chorus of those saying this is Graceland for the trust fund set. liked, but not loved.

and in a subsequent comment, i wrote: and hearing an early-20-something say Graceland was the most important album of his life in an interview is a bit of a put on. if my most important album ever was what i was listening to when i was 4, i'd be writing shit that sounded like chuck mangione's Feels So Good.

Yeah, this one is definitely even more Graceland-ish than the debut. They write fairly solid pop tunes that are easily enjoyable, but it's not exactly the sort of thing I can really get into.

And is the "trust fund set" really that different from the original demographic that embraced Graceland? It's still upper-middle-class white people music.

You know, like practically everything we talk about on here.

seems like back then it was an army of skinny-tied michael p. keatons jamming out to Gum Boots, and with this generation it's a cadre of sloppy-on-purpose needle nerds

same underlying creature, but with an added layer of pretense that makes all the difference.

LOL, oooooooh.

Is there really an added layer of pretense? How do you determine that?