Most overrated band of 2002: Wilco vs Interpol

Aaron: I think that's much of what makes the record good -- I'd rather hear them tear through like they think it's worthwhile than putter around like they think they're mediocre and don't much care. (Who wouldn't?)

I hear you. I just see it as another rehashing of the '80s British indie rock they've been so often compared to. It's a dangerous route to take, if you ask me, cuz they've basically set themselves up to either: Back up the talk and succeed enormously OR fail miserably. The road is litered with those who took the same stance and failed to live up to their own hype (Britpop anyone?). And, in the end, I can't escape the idea that they're really shy, not very attractive boys making loud guitar rawk (with pretty crappy lyrics to boot) covering up their own insecurities. Not that they're the first band to go that way but, well, at least the bands that they're "inspired by" went through a naive period before they got coked up and started spouting off about how their music will change the world. And, I might add, the best music came from the pre-coke naive periods, not afterward.

I'm listening to that Walkmen album that came out this year. That deserves some best-of-ige mention.

This could be said about both Interpol and Wilco records actually. Well said.

Hype is the worst victim of hype.

(Granted I love both bands but... hehe... still. It's similar to a Cocteau Twins fan making fun of Sigur Ros for the lack of English.)

(Aaron I seem to recall you like Ride. Don't you? If not then oops.)

Crap. Caught again.

I'm probably guilty of taking just as defiant a stance as someone who would make them the #1 record of the year (and of course, overall I do really like the album as an "artistic body of work" or whatever). I'm just so wary at the moment of the whole thing, and the more I find out about this band as people the more I don't want to know. (I hate that. I always want to know MORE about a band I'm interested in, which seems logical.)

As a tangent... this is why I like reissues so much and would rather listen to, say, bands from the '80s. They're so much more removed from the hype (either pro or con) of the time and you can listen to the music in more of a vacuum (as a friend said, circa 1983 everyone prolly said, "Oh that just sounds like New Order.")

I hope I'm disproved on all of this, by the way.

(1) "it's like learning a new language"
(2) "the subway she is a porno"
(3) "you'll go stabbing yourself in the neck"
(4) "friends don't waste wine"
(5) "sleep tonight"
(6) "oh look, it stopped snowing"
(7) "stella stella"

I would say Trail of Dead answer the question nicely, if anyone seemed to care anymore...

I'm not feeling interpol. I mean, its basically joy division.... I know everyone says that, but its true to a certain extent.
I found that record rather dull.

But here's where Interpol was smart: Just like the Strokes, this is a band of trust-fund kids (with the surprising exception of Carlos (or at the very least he's rich as fuck but keeps it real working temp jobs, pre-Matador anyway)), but no one knows. Or at the very least, that hasn't been the story. I mean, fuck, Daniel runs Domino's U.S. ops and owns two (2!) NYC record stores! This is a moneyed band, but the focus was kept on the boring ass equation, and not on the background. So even though they're getting lambasted with: which faggotty ass 80s cocksuckers do you sound like? They're avoiding the: How much did it cost you to buy yr fame? And both questions are completely unfair and uncalled for, but so the fuck what. They'll get the latter question with record two (and they need a new sound fast for that one to keep the hack journos at bay).

Oh, and third: Jesus, another Interpol thread? Are you kidding me?

(Andy's the voice of reason on this bitch)

So Beck gets my vote. Christgau put it best. If the most moving part of your heartbreak album is the strings, somebody isn't putting their heart into it. Or maybe their heart just isn't that interesting.

That's exactly what I did. I gave it many proper listens, only to have the album reveal many, many flaws. While I find about half of it to be wonderful, the other half is toss-away awful.

fuck you english fags.

interpol are pretty much ok as well, but i didn't have as high expectations for their album.

Interpol has some really catchy-ass songs. People who bitch all day about "derivative-this and that" should give up listenin to musik.

Everything sounds like Styx now. Or your mama.