War on Drugs

Destroyer was more about atmosphere/pastiche and less about Melodies.
Also it was more pop and less rock.

Kaputt that is

I don't hear Springsteen or Petty at all, in part because they had riffs and sharp rhythm sections.

review of this in hot press (irish rock mag, bit of a rag tbh no-one takes it seriously anymore) said it was frustrating and brilliant. says that "under the pressure" is an amazing opener but then is ruined by 2 or 3 minutes of "ambient nonsense". said some tracks are great but others are boring and sound like mark knopfler b-sides.

it sounds pretty 80s to me in the sense that it could easily be one of those sub-paisley underground, mildly psychedelic desert rock bands like true west or wild seeds but produced by brian eno

Thing is, the guy has written hooks in the past. Taking the Farm & Arms Like Boulders are particularly good. Maybe the hooks will emerge on more listens but right now for me, it's barf out.

the last track sounds like it belongs in the closing scene of some cult film, to be enjoyed by Teens for years to come

i haven't really heard this record yet but for the last two the 80s influences were really specific to me--they were driving rockers with lots of processing, so songs like boys of summer and dancing in the dark.

you won't find those here

Yeah, "Boys of Summer" is the song that keeps coming to mind when I listen to this album.

Burning= dancing in the dark

ha, those are two songs that i was reminded of too but they're degraded copies rather than pristine replicas

who plays guitar on boys of summer?

Mike Campbell, sorely needed here.

i think the WoD songs are actually better than the originals

ok, Alfred, you don't like the record, we got it.

to recap:

alfred says he doesn't like this band and says he won't like this record
alfred decides to listen to the record
alfred doesn't like record therefore anyone who compares it to anything he likes is wrong

Succinct. Your grade: A-

can we go to recess now?

Apples first.

maaaan this sucks *kicks can*

http://www.principalspage.com/theblog/wp-content/uploads//2011/05/Teacher_gift_apple_thumb.jpg

dude nails the yelps of "barbarism begins at home," a favorite 80s jam. people hearing j-marr and v-reilly in these licks are right on

just looking at this thread now and i feel like pretty much every reference point suggested herein is accurate somewhere on the album, so well done team. i think it is really very good overall. i won't say some tracks couldn't lose a minute or so, but generally so much to enjoy.

I think part of the charm of this is that the dude is nowhere near the level of Campbell/Marr/Knopfler. It's like a Xerox of a Xerox.

i think the charm is that it evokes the 80 MOR but just a weird blurry stoned memory of it

Last post completely OTM.

aor on drugs

^^ redundant, no?

"Burning" is my favorite, and the only one on which I heard the "eighties" influence, here in the form of the synth from Belinda Carlisle's "Mad About You."

i don't understand what's supposed to be wrong with the drums

another 80s influence: dude sounds just like Paul Simon on Graceland, something that's been at the back of my mind until I just grasped it a second ago

Funny you should bring that up. As the story goes, a lot of "Boys of Summer" but specifically the drums came straight from the Campbell demo, because Henley was not happy with the way real drums sounded. I guess this guy pulled the same thing on a few tracks, sticking with the demo stuff rather than trying to recapture the vibe in the studio.

xpost

well, generally, comparisons to Petty and Springsteen need to mention that Max Weinberg and Stan Lynch drummed for them and not a metronome.

Boss demo! WoD template!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgKi2bPatmU

Fuck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgKi2bPatmU

Argh can everyone stfu about the fucking drums?

seriously i just don't even understand what the complaint was, i listened, they're drums

all i know is 'SOME PEOPLE don't like the drums'

i think the charm is that it evokes the 80 MOR but just a weird blurry stoned memory of it

haven't heard this record, and the above may well be otm, but it makes me want to kill

I think alex in mainhattan said "Computer drums suck" or whatever. I feel like the metronomic motorik quality is a lot of what I like about this, though.

oh well that's just bonkers, don't mind me (or alex in mainhattan)

dominique don't kill me pls

If I hadn't heard the record, from that description I'd be expecting weedy chillwave shit, but it does make sense.

xpost

haha don't worry! Just sick of the "weird blurry stoned" thing -- seems like an overused Instagram filter for indie music

xp yeah that sounds like every other Ariel Pink description

Someone's already mentioned this above, but the similarity between "Burning" and Rod Stewart's "Young Turks" is about as strong as you can get without being a sample. I played it for a friend and they had a very negative reaction—immediately mentioned Young Turks. I still love the song though.

Damn. I read that note in a review too and still don't hear it; closer to Belinda to my ears.

it's very clear imo i joked about it on another thread last week

those damn drums. listening to them is like being hit by someone with a hammer on your head. i don't think they have a metronomic quality. that would be jaki liebezeit or even more so klaus dinger. drums played by a human will always have small rhythmic shifts, little imprecisions, which you don't even hear consciously but which make all the difference between dead computer beats and living, breathing human drumming. the same goes fo metronoms i think. they are not 100% regular. they seem to be but the pendulum is hitting the air, it interacts with its environment which computers don't. and the metronome will get slower and slower the closer it comes to being "emptied".