Hipster For A Day, Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2

LCD Soundsystem - "Time To Get Away" - I'm going in negatively biased since I'm not overly into this genre. ...Aaand it sounds like I'm still not.

- "New York, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down" - Haaaa: "New York, you're safer, and you're wasting my time." Great lyrics. ...Dude, this is cool.

- "Get Innocuous" - Aaand, back to the dance. See, dude, I'm with you on the one song that's totally and completely not indicative of your style. (Although, knowing that the rest of the album is dance/dance-punk/dance-whatever definitely influences my enjoyment of the previous song. Because if that track was from a whiney indie-rock alt-country artist getting hyped to the stars, I'd probably have puked all over it. ...huh.) This is good, by the way, I guess, but I'm just so very not into dance music, generally.

- "All My Friends" - This sounds weirdly like Embrace. (Maybe I'm on crack.) Accessible, but eh. I'm waiting for this song to explode, and it won't.

No Age - "My Life's Alright Without You" - What the fuck? ...Dude, *what* is wrong with just doing a straightforward punk song? ...Why do I even ask.

- "Everybody's Down" - Ew.

Liars - "Clear Island" - Yeah, this hurts me-- wait. Wait. This is sort of like a... male Le Tigre. Almost. A lot harder to listen to, though.

- "Freak Out" - Yeah, no.

Modest Mouse - Before we go on, you should know that I'm one of those assholes that only liked "Float On" and couldn't stand the rest of that album. The cashier who sold it to me opined to me that that album was too commercial, but I found it way too inaccessible. So, that's where I'm coming from. Which I'm sure is a *shock* by now.

- "Spitting Venom" - Well-done, boring and quiet. Then, well-done and loud but still kind of boring.

- "Dashboard" - Better. Sounds like a single. Love the disco bridge. *g* Doesn't really *grab* me, but totally listenable.

Jamie T - "Operation" - Playful Brit guy rapping, ala Lily Allen. This'd sound good with M.I.A and the Go! Team. Like so much on this list, it sounds good but isn't my bag.

- "Pacemaker" - Eh.

- "Sheila" - Fun. Single-y. But not for me.

Panda Bear - One of the Animal Collective guys. Uh oh. Okay. Here we go.

- "Ponytail" - That was peaceful and choral and pretty and boring. And *short*.

- "Comfy In Nautica" - Beach Boys meet a choir. I feel like I'd need to be on acid to appreciate this. Damn my straight-edge ways.

- "Im Not" - Well, you can't say that the guy's unsure of his sound. I guess I could meditate to this. If I meditated. Which I don't.

Battles - "Atlas" - Playground song for a whole mess of Oompah-Loompahs. Basically. Huh.

As I listen to this, I'm beginning to realize that, while there are definitely times where I feel the need to inject something fresh and weird into my musical diet, generally, I don't need something that pushes, then tears, then completely obliterates and haphazardly tapes back together the envelope. I listen to psychobilly, for God's sakes. '50s sounds slightly updated, with a punk edge. And (often boneheaded) lyrics about zombies. I don't have a problem with verse-chorus-verse. In fact, I love it. I don't have a problem with hooks. I *love* hooks. I like catchy shit. I don't need you to subvert the whole notion of what it means to be poppy. But I don't need you to be painfully earnest, either. I just need you to *sound* good.

I sound anti-intellectual when I say that. Timid. Vanilla. Boring. But god dammit, there has to be a middle ground between tepid Clear Channel crap and experimental shenanigans. I mean, Jesus.

Ahem. Um. Where was I.

- "Ddiamondd" - What the fuck?

Ah. That's where I was.

Wilco - "You Are My Face" - I was kinda bored with this, and then suddenly, around 1:40 -- daaaaaamn. Mmm. Soulful and the guitar and the organ and *yeah*. (See how articulate I am? This is some grade-A articulate music writing, here.)

- "Either Way" - Gentle and pretty and slow. Too gentle and a little too boring for me. I can see why people rave about Jeff Tweedy, though.

- "Impossible Germany" - Too mellow/Adult Contemporary (yeah, I said it), but still respecting the talent.

- "Walken" - More lively! Not quite grabbing me, but fun. Almost gives me a weird Harry Nilsson vibe. (Where do these comparisons even come from in my brain?)

- Their cover of "The Thanks I Get" is pretty damn good.