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Yo La Tengo - There's a Riot Going On

joshuatxuk

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joshuatxuk Grand Master

joshuatxuk

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did they seriously call their album that

 

that album cover is filthy

 

I honestly think they don't give a shit at this point. It's like they put the minimal effort into both. It's still a great album though.

 

They don't seem to want to play the heavy PR game, just go off reputation and existing fanbase. I can't blame them, they've put these classic indie albums with iconic artwork and now in 2018 you have artists and bands literally putting 90% of their effort in aesthetics, image, and social media with music almost being an afterthought. I've literally heard some of the blandest music packaged with eye-catching art, hyperbolic PR write-up and an edgy album name. I can't help but notice Slowdive's album cover last year was fairly simple. This just seems like a subtle middle finger to the state of indie music in 2018.

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manmower Grand Master

manmower

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Slowdive last year was tragic for me. I can tell they made a really good Slowdive album, but I still listened to it only once or twice, so it made me realize I'm kind of over them I guess. For now at least.

 

Having much better luck with this one. It feels like a sequel to Summer Sun, which lots of people thought was shit but happens to be my favorite Yo La Tengo album.

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zaphod Mentor

zaphod

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did they seriously call their album that

 

that album cover is filthy

 

I honestly think they don't give a shit at this point. It's like they put the minimal effort into both. It's still a great album though.

 

They don't seem to want to play the heavy PR game, just go off reputation and existing fanbase. I can't blame them, they've put these classic indie albums with iconic artwork and now in 2018 you have artists and bands literally putting 90% of their effort in aesthetics, image, and social media with music almost being an afterthought. I've literally heard some of the blandest music packaged with eye-catching art, hyperbolic PR write-up and an edgy album name. I can't help but notice Slowdive's album cover last year was fairly simple. This just seems like a subtle middle finger to the state of indie music in 2018.

 

 

yeah i dunno i think rock music is dead maybe? i've given up on bands. actually i don't really care about music at all anymore. hit my mid 30s and it seems childish to still be keeping up with it.

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joshuatxuk Grand Master

joshuatxuk

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yeah i dunno i think rock music is dead maybe? i've given up on bands. actually i don't really care about music at all anymore. hit my mid 30s and it seems childish to still be keeping up with it.

 

 

 

I've given up on keeping up with it, not on ceasing to listen to such bands.

 

The state of online music "journalism" has really made it unappealing. As you get older people assume you are out of touch or stubborn, it could be the case for some, but it's just as likely you simply don't care because you know what you like already. When I skip though a Spotify EDM or mainstream hip-hop playlist, or even some trendy indie rock stuff, it sounds all the same because it does literally all sound the same. Tastemakers have made pop media so ironically same-y by throwing everything in a blender and picking out what is trendy and cool to promote.

 

I don't actively seek out any indie rock bands anymore, besides a few I'm a big fan of anyway. I consume it passively If it comes on the local public or community radio and I like it I'll check it out. Yo La Tengo is a good example, last year this was also the case for me with New Pornographers and Broken Social Scene.

 

Personally I tell myself it's perfectly ok to be old and picky, damn those who call you elitist or pretentious. Vapid consumption of new music for me is over, now it's streamlining my time spent listening to stuff, old or new, I enjoy greatly and fully...the new music I seek out is pretty damn niche. It's come full circle really - I appreciate stuff I liked as a kid and teen now that have this greater knowledge and context of music. It's also fun for me to look up old obscure stuff that pops up online. I rather sink into those journeys as a listener than bother with narrative of pop music in 2018 or force myself to listen to post-meta or retro-recycled bullshit everyone is hyping.

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zaphod Mentor

zaphod

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yeah i dunno i think rock music is dead maybe? i've given up on bands. actually i don't really care about music at all anymore. hit my mid 30s and it seems childish to still be keeping up with it.

 

 

 

I've given up on keeping up with it, not on ceasing to listen to such bands.

 

The state of online music "journalism" has really made it unappealing. As you get older people assume you are out of touch or stubborn, it could be the case for some, but it's just as likely you simply don't care because you know what you like already. When I skip though a Spotify EDM or mainstream hip-hop playlist, or even some trendy indie rock stuff, it sounds all the same because it does literally all sound the same. Tastemakers have made pop media so ironically same-y by throwing everything in a blender and picking out what is trendy and cool to promote.

 

I don't actively seek out any indie rock bands anymore, besides a few I'm a big fan of anyway. I consume it passively If it comes on the local public or community radio and I like it I'll check it out. Yo La Tengo is a good example, last year this was also the case for me with New Pornographers and Broken Social Scene.

 

Personally I tell myself it's perfectly ok to be old and picky, damn those who call you elitist or pretentious. Vapid consumption of new music for me is over, now it's streamlining my time spent listening to stuff, old or new, I enjoy greatly and fully...the new music I seek out is pretty damn niche. It's come full circle really - I appreciate stuff I liked as a kid and teen now that have this greater knowledge and context of music. It's also fun for me to look up old obscure stuff that pops up online. I rather sink into those journeys as a listener than bother with narrative of pop music in 2018 or force myself to listen to post-meta or retro-recycled bullshit everyone is hyping.

 

 

i wish i was even this open minded. i used to like broken social scene for instance, even saw them live. went back and listened to you forgot it in people. completely embarrassing music. thought i'd listen to deerhunter the other day, a band i liked as recently as 2015. couldn't get over how miserable it was. even radiohead all starts to sound the same to me. outside kid a i can't be bothered and i was the guy who forced his friends to watch meeting people is easy back in 1999. something is wrong with me. i barely ever listen to music at all and if i do it's either maurizio or aphex. i spent like a week listening to erik satie's gnossiennes. i think i only listened to steve reich - the desert music for most of last year. if i listen to anything it's playing the same album or songs over and over like an autistic person.

i used to be physically unable to make it through a commute without blasting some bullshit album but the other day i was driving and realized i was just listening to the sound of the ac and the bumps in the road. i'm probably on the edge of a psychotic break or something.

anyway this is a conversation for another topic but probably not something people on a music board are going to relate to.

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joshuatxuk Grand Master

joshuatxuk

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^ It's not that crazy. There was a period when my wife and I literally didn't watch anything except Bob's Burgers reruns for a month. Bit ridiculous but it was oddly liberating to not give a shit about what else was on. Years ago I stopped streaming stuff and just listened to old or underground cassettes.

 

Lately I find myself listening to fewer and fewer things while listening to old favorites over and over. Sometimes I feel really fuzzy, "bleh" in a vague sense when I stop and think about how I'm just constantly listening or watching stuff I don't love. Same with media in general. I haven't committed to it at all but I've wondered about simply going to no internet and going back to just books, music I own physically, and standalone movies and tv. There's something liberating mentally and creatively by shutting off outside, especially passively received, influences. I've daydreamed about the past as a kid and young adult before I spent idle time online or on my phone. Back when there was nothing on TV and I'd read everything around the house and found myself imagining things for fun.

 

In other words, try to consume more and more, even valid and good music, and you eventually find no time or energy to pour your passion and love into as a listener. I'd take desert island disc choices for the rest of my life over say, the option to only listen to something new once for the rest of my existence.

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Salvatorin Grand Master

Salvatorin

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i spent like a week listening to erik satie's gnossiennes. i think i only listened to steve reich - the desert music for most of last year. if i listen to anything it's playing the same album or songs over and over like an autistic person.

 

i used to be physically unable to make it through a commute without blasting some bullshit album but the other day i was driving and realized i was just listening to the sound of the ac and the bumps in the road. i'm probably on the edge of a psychotic break or something.

anyway this is a conversation for another topic but probably not something people on a music board are going to relate to.

 

 

 

 

I get this. I forget when it was but I just got bored of choosing so I just listened to Gaucho on repeat for several weeks whenever I was at my computer. Also recently the soundcard blew up on my main laptop so I mostly have been listening to the same three Wyndham Hill sampler tapes over and over again. No complaints here.

Also, Deerhunter sucks.

 

But Deerhoof does not, and they put out one of their very best albums last year.

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zero Grand Master

zero

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Back to yo la tengo...I remember seeing them in the late '90s when they played a free show at the college I was going to. I think they played with a bunch of other bands like Soul Asylum lol. My girlfriend at the time was into them, but this is when I was beginning my descent into squarepusher madness and couldn't stand guitars anymore.

 

I picked up Fade a few years ago and really liked it. I've hesitated working backwards with them since some of the clips I've heard from their 80s/90s albums sound pretty dated. Maybe I will someday since I now seem to find myself liking more jangly recliner chair dad indie rock than electronic stuff.

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someguy Collaborator

someguy

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^I stick to the one after that: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out. I don't listen to any other Yo La Tengo and doubt I ever will.

that whole album is a masterpiece

(especially Night Falls on Hoboken)

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joshuatxuk Grand Master

joshuatxuk

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i spent like a week listening to erik satie's gnossiennes. i think i only listened to steve reich - the desert music for most of last year. if i listen to anything it's playing the same album or songs over and over like an autistic person.

 

i used to be physically unable to make it through a commute without blasting some bullshit album but the other day i was driving and realized i was just listening to the sound of the ac and the bumps in the road. i'm probably on the edge of a psychotic break or something.

anyway this is a conversation for another topic but probably not something people on a music board are going to relate to.

 

 

 

 

I get this. I forget when it was but I just got bored of choosing so I just listened to Gaucho on repeat for several weeks whenever I was at my computer. Also recently the soundcard blew up on my main laptop so I mostly have been listening to the same three Wyndham Hill sampler tapes over and over again. No complaints here.

Also, Deerhunter sucks.

 

But Deerhoof does not, and they put out one of their very best albums last year.

 

 

Deerhunter is one of those bands that has become less and less appealing as they get more and more popular. Not worse but just dull. I used to follow Cox's blog and early solo stuff, dug Lotus Plaza, etc. The "breakthrough" stuff never did it for me. It's surreal thinking about seeing them at a free show with Cox in a dress at SXSW to knowing they opened for Kings of Leon, even though that kind of parallels the paths of a lot of once edgy bands of the 80s and 90s.

 

Fading Frontier had some ok songs but man, I dunno, nothing can top Cryptograms and that album seems like forever ago.

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Extralife Grand Master

Extralife

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Metal has some longevity to it, but rock has gone the way of jazz as a piece of American history, it seems.

You wouldn’t believe the amount of Clear Channel loving ‘Mericans that still dedicate themselves to Bon Jovi and Journey though.

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