Cos, I just saw it got "Best New Music," and I've tried twice to listen all the way through and got bored both times. And, you know, the first one is still all over my top 30 songs list, because I loved it and played it to death.
What do you guys think?
There's a stream up at Stereogum, who calls Belong breathtaking.
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4 comments:
It's BNM, but got 8.2? The album is pretty good, but hardly "brave and necessary" or even as good as the first one. PFM's review reads more as what's wrong with the album than what's right. Overall, I think the problem is less energy and more generic lyrics. There's also slack vocals, guitars that only wish they were on a Smashing Pumpkins album (in which case, why bother as I could listen to them or the new Joy Formidable LP?), and a tendency to just photocopy good parts from the first album. There's nothing wrong with the better production values here, but it doesn't really go anywhere. There aren't songs more horrible than "The Body" but there's not many as good as "Anne With An E" or "Even In Dreams" either. I'd still take this over the new Vivian Girls, but the first album was much better.
Thank you, Andrew.
I never got past the "not as good as the first one" idea but it's nice to see someone do the heavy critical lifting and explain why.
I do like the new Times New Viking a lot.
I was listening to this CD in the car and I felt the same way. It sounds like a Cure album rather than a Lush album. There's less guitars, the drumming seems over processed and some of the arrangements are just too cliched. It's not bad, just very little oomph.
I think Yuck is doing a better job with 90's homage.
I kinda rushed through the Yuck. I should probably go back and listen a few more times.
I don't like Pavement anywhere near as much as I used to, though.
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