Thursday, March 05, 2009

Amazonians And Irishmen

Amazon.com has forums now. It's probably a good idea. I a forum called, "What's the best electronic razor to buy?" could be more useful that looking at each razor's individual product page, then scrolling to the user comments. Something tells me, though, that the Amazon customer base hasn't quite grasped the point of these forums.



Go nuts, guys! Any venue is the perfect venue for unconstructive debate!


On Tuesday, the digital version of U2's new album, "No Line on the Horizon" was on sale at Amazon. This made a difficult decision easy. Opting to put four dollars worth of trust toward a band that's earned it, I acted in opposition to my ears, which heard and rejected the record's first single, "Get On Your Boots", and to indie music critics, who panned the album.

Well, two days later, I'm pleased with the purchase. I'd be more than pleased, except that phrase doesn't make sense. It's got eleven songs -- "Get On Your Boots" has a solid beat but a very clunky vocal track (to the extent that Bono's band should press charges against him), "FEZ-Being Born" is ambient and inessential, "White as Snow" and "Cedars of Lebanon" are low-key musings, and the other seven ROCK MY SHIT with BONO VOX and EDGE "PLAY THE BLUES" GUITAR and ADAM CLAYTON BASSLINES and LARRY MULLEN JUNIOR DRUMS AND THE DRUMS AND THE DRUMS AND THE DRUMS AND THE DRUMS AND THE DRUMS AND THE DRUMS AND THE DRUMS AND THE DRUMS.


I think this episode sums up my struggle with interpreting musical trends today. If Pitchfork Media et al had its way, I'd be listening to bands who sound like AIDS patients whispering into four tracks, who think it's a super idea for their press kit to include photos like these or this:

4 comments:

casey elizabeth said...

ha ha ha ha.

pitchfork i read with a large grain of salt. poor hungry kids, with their genitals all constrained, what with the new pants and all. sad, hungry, pale vegan kids. all they can do is whisper about foxes and forests and flannel.

but is the u2 album really all that good? man, i hate that damn boots song. HATE.

dn said...

I'll give the album a 7 out of 10. If you liked their last album, you'll like this one. If not, maybe not. But definitely don't judge it by "Boots".

Anonymous said...

Get On Your Boots would be pretty good with no vocals, or at least the blatant Elvis Costello ripoff parts. I kind of like some of the other parts, and the bassline is kickass.

I've noticed the same thing with hipsters out there, this need to reject anything that's ever been popular or likely ever will be, so that all they're left with is the kids that Casey so aptly described. My roommate listens to some that stuff. I think he should just listen to some fucking Petty.

dn said...

Agreed. The chorus and the bridge are super, but man oh man are there problems beforehand.