beck and malkmus unite!
 

saw this, should be interesting.


The idea of Stephen Malkmus and Beck working on music in a studio together-- trading jokes nobody else understands, reminiscing about the 1990s, emitting lethal doses of nonchalant cool-- is the stuff of alt-rock dreams. Until now. Because that shit actually happened.
Originally mentioned in a Mojo article and confirmed by Matador, Malkmus and his band the Jicks recorded with Beck earlier this year. (Via Fluxblog.) But, thanks to Malkmus's 2010 commitments with some other band, the fruits of the collaboration probably won't be heard until next year, according to the label. So try to pace your excitement on this one.

http://pitchfork.com/news/38733-step...ing-with-beck/

because we are pitchfork and we have dreams of big waves of indie blandness crushing the earth with its blandness and offering us exclusive first listen and review rights before doomsday.

there is always Mtv.com

Or even sonicyouth.com. Maybe even soundgardenworld.com

Im surprised the two havent collaborated until now, they seem like two very like minded individuals that would go so well together.

I'm pretty excited about this one myself. The last Jicks record was great, and the new songs they've been playing live are very strong so far. People here are getting excited about new stuff by Korn, Limp Bizkit, Deftones, etc and they can have them if that's what they want. I'm most excited about this one though.

~Jeremy~

I'm excited, too! It'll be the most fun album of the year. Because it's always hilarious to see two boring musicians who haven't done anything particularly noteworthy in about 15 years, about to make some boring, bland, predictable poo in the hopes that they'll both be able to afford a nice new mansion by appealing to people who want more of the same. REJOICE!

Pitchfork rating: 8.3 (their record companies bought tons of ad space for the month)

Also..
MTV.com?

Brainwashed.com.

Blastitude.com.

Also, this is somewhat unrelated, but I often wonder this.. we live in the most exciting time for music ever. We live in the most exciting time for HEARING music, with soulseek and torrents which have been around forever -- but also for blogs with tons of great posts, shoving out brilliant, obscure music with great descriptions and such. Every band EVER is a click, and a 5 minute download away. Yet people still cling to the same heroes of yesteryear. It's really a mystery to me. Not directing this at ANYONE in this thread, by the way. People like what they like -- whatever. It's just kinda odd to me, how few people really ever search out music.

you're right in some ways, but it doesn't mean people can't check this out and check out the variety of stuff on blogs as well. after all, your argument could perhaps be applied back to you ... in this era of such diverse and exciting music, you're (from what I've read on here) still concerning yourself with limp bizkit and korn. I think you're being presumptuous if you think people who are perhaps interested and excited to hear this aren't also mining blogs and soulseek for more obscure gems.

To be honest, I really come here to mine for obscure (to me) and exciting gems; because; hey; if I can't trust SY fans in things music-related; who the fuck can I? ^_^

no. he's right in all ways. what he said is like MASSIVE UNDERSTATEMENT.

people are more interested in chasing after some imagined romantic subjectivity that must somehow be lurking inside the albums pitchfork reviews and are NOT interested in new sounds for their brain cos they can't get over the "am i supposed to like this?" stage and are too self conciouss. they are too hooked on power fantasys fed by musicians celebrity. they imagine some kind of status or life must exist for these people that actually doesn't. as if someday my most narcisstic stupidities will MEAN something because pitchfork will review them on my record and take about how ive returned to form and all my feelings and shit in the song and then ill be the big man. they see some fuckbunch posing in a band pic and think it must be real and there must be some magical place everything is like that and these commodities are my tickets to get into that realm. nope.

ok first thing i see on the page today

Paul Weller has said that his most recent album, 2008's 22 Dreams, was in many ways a response to turning 50. It was a gift to himself-- creating something indulgent, sprawling, and guest-heavy. Then again, Weller has never cared what anyone else thinks about him. This is a guy who disbanded the Jam at the peak of its popularity, did the same with the Style Council, then went solo and emerged if anything even more popular than before. Heck, he even dismissed most of his band before recording 22 Dreams, preferring a start-from-scratch approach.

really you fucking douche, he's never cared what anyone thinks of him? are you sure you're not just spinning some bullshit myth here. are you sure thats not utter crap. are you sure you're not just saying "this guy is so cool, he doesn't care what anyone thinks about him, and his products prove it" so that impressionable teenage nerds can buy into your fantasy of music somehow legitimising their personalities.

One familiar name who returns on Wake Up the Nation is frequent Weller producer and collaborator Simon Dine, who reportedly first delivered several of these songs to Weller in sketchy, abstract form and thus inspired the man to dive back into work. The biggest name enlisted to flesh out this rollicking and free-ranging set, however, is My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields, who crops up on "7&3 Is the Strikers Names" to help further blur the edges of the wobbly psych-rock confection. Move/ELO drummer Bev Bevan shows up on a couple of tracks-- the deliriously loose title track and opener "Moonshine", which finds Weller in ramshackle, rough-around-the-edges VU territory. And then there's the unlikely presence of former Jam cohort Bruce Foxton on bass, recording with Weller for the first time in nearly three decades. In fact, the propulsive low end runs of "Fast Car/Slow Traffic" almost seem designed to showcase Foxton and reference Weller's old sound.

oh really you fucking douche guzzling ultra douches, does a bunch of fucking namedropping make us supposed to give a shit. inspired the man to dive back into his work? are you sure this isnt some old fuckin hasbeen using his celebrity to shift some units because its all he's got left. by now you have made the idea of even making music seem so impossibly unappealing that i cant even imagine anything else.

Then again, the disc is practically teaming over with Weller's various interests and influences, past and present. "Two Fat Ladies" recalls the larger than life riffage of prime Who; Weller's love of soul is reflected in "No Tears to Cry" (Northern soul) and "Aim High" (blue-eyed funk). Scattered throughout are everything from free jazz flourishes and psych-freakouts like "Find the Torch, Burn the Plans" to introspective Dylan ditties like "Grasp & Still Connect", and, on "Up the Dosage", even a bit of disco.

by now im contemplating some nightmare which in my worst enemies lock me up with these reviewer and force me to listen to the whole album while he reads out his review in a really enthusiastic manner. im sorry but you're reviewing a fucking paul weller album. you'd have to pay me to even listen to it.

That the disc doesn't fall apart is a testament to its restless efficiency. Most tracks top off at the mid-two minute mark, and even at 16 songs Wake Up the Nation totals a mere 40 minutes. That's just about a half-hour shorter than 22 Dreams, but the disc in turn is twice the fun. Artists Weller's age often falter trying to chase the past. Weller, on the other hand, simply brings his musical baggage along with him wherever he goes, unpacking or picking up new things as necessary. Whether anyone else follows him, well, that's really none of his concern, but with albums like this one it's hard not to at least sit up and take notice of Weller's creative renewal.

im sorry, i was sitting down. who the fuck are these imaginary douches that are going to sit up and take notice of his creative renewal. are you sure you're just not trying to be come off all cool. who the fuck is this addressed to anyway? the imaginary realm of people that will legitimise you emotionally if you make music? am i missing something here?

see these idiots try to make music somehow a symbol of the self of the "artist". they are just propagating consumer friendly myths for the douchey fuckin acoustic indie wanks that read them and think that "wow, as a musician i really identify with that, you know, since im an artist now, because ive decided that i am. and if i just keep reading how to do it then someday ill be a superstar, and never have to grow up, and my feelings will be important, and peope will chronicle them in reviews, thus keeping me in an infantile bubble forever."

it also gives like 6.7 out of 10 reviews to anything remotely interesting. which is basically another way of killing the fucking album completely. whereas the bigger the name and the blander the product the higher the review. its a business created by the need for advertising. it has exactly fuck of an all to do with new music.

unless you're label can pay for a good enough review you won't get a look in

i mean look at tehir fucking news section. SOME RICH INDIE CELEBRITY HAS DECIDED TO CONTRIBUTE A B SIDE TO A BENEFIT COMPILATION. fuck off and die in a fucking ditch you ultra douche.

the idea that this shit is actually news or somehow related to whats happening in music is a fucking joke

Why do people rip on Pitchfork so much? There are like thousands of websites, blogs, message boards, etc that talk about more underground music that's totally under the radar. It's not tough to find. Generally, I happen upon it without really trying. And I learn about great music that I wouldn't have found on Pitchfork.

Pitchfork is a website that caters to the popular indie rock scene. Many people here do not like said scene. Why bother to get so frustrated with it?

I understand that it often reeks of pretention and there is an element of being "cooler" than mainstream rock that could piss off people. There's, of course, a deeper underground that's far more interesting and has more substance. But, shit, the most surface level of underground is never going to go away.

I read Pitchfork. I'm excited about anything new that the Jicks put out because I like their albums and I like seeing them in concert. Their music makes me happy, and I like being happy. The fact that Beck has a hand in it makes me about 1/10th more excited for the release. I'm happy that a website I look at with a passing interest informed me of this so I can maybe listen to the album and wonder what Beck added to it. I'm not a bad person. If anyone on this website were to recommend an album to me that I might like as a Jicks fan (that I might not have heard of as a "Pitchfork Reader"), I'd probably download it--then buy it if I really liked it.

I say this with the utmost respect Atsonicpark (I've been reading your posts and this board for years and years)--you need to lay off the holier than thou shit. You spin things to make yourself out to be so much better than 95% of the world. Things are not that simple. Nothing is ever as simple as you try to spin it. Rather than tell me that I'm full of shit; try maybe saying, "You know, if you like the Jicks, you might really like..."

Then you won't be such an ass anymore--you'll be helpful.

yeah, i dont really like pitchfork's reviews or anything but they update news like a mutherfucker so its worth checking out in the morning for me. not for new sounds really, but for the news about some bands i like. beck hasn't really done anything that great for some years now but I do like the last jicks album so im curious to see what they come up with.

because there is no answer to that question. if you like the jicks you might like.... shit?

and i think you mistook my post for adams cos im the one being the biggest "ass" and id like the goddamn credit for it.

couldn't say it better myself. since becoming more active here, I've been turned onto atleast a dozen bands that I had never paid attention to before.

also, to be serious for a moment. its important to attack shit like pitchfork because it really is damaging for music and peoples health with the myths it puts across.

there is nothing to stop them using their power for good but they won't.

imagine if the mayyors putting out a new ep was what they considered news instead of fucking RADIOHEAD B-SIDE FROM 1993 TO APPEAR ON STARBUCKS TRIBUTE ALBUM.

To be honest I don't really see the point in blaming Pitchfork again and again. Sure, they got this boring hipster thing, etc, and I rarely agree with them (their Best New Music is complete bullshit too). But I mean, it's the fucking Internet. (please note I'm not saying "INTERNET IS SERIOUZ BIZNESS BIATCH". I'm so bored with that). The point is in the fact that the user selects his own content. It's not as if you were in front of a television with one or two channel to watch. If there's content you do not like or agree with you got plenty of things to watch/read instead. If you do not like Pitchfork, why bother about them? (the same applies to the threads in a board actually...) There's plenty of other things to "select". I'm especially saying that for atsonicpark actually, since I've already read you complaining about the payola and stuff many times already... By paying attention to them you're actually reinforcing their power.

That said, I fully agree on the fact that people should care more about music and use the awesome tool that is the Internet. We are in a time where you can basically find anything you want and nobody seems to understand, they still need to follow the advices of said "experts" which can point in the right direction; while everybody is actually able to find out their own music they are going to like. I guess music is not that important for everyone. (this is the moment when I'm not sure what point I am trying to make anymore)

NO U DUNT GEDDIT.

HERE IS ME :




HERE IS MI MASIV#F#E UYNDGERFROUND DICK:








HER IS PUTCHFROK:

omg :eek: damn u sexy bitch

U WNAT 2 BE PHUCKED BI MI SALAMI?

n'ik's post is A+++++. Pitchfork, at the end of the day, is a business. They are part of the culture-industrial complex. There is a need among a rather large, drab demographic of people to be spoonfed packaged tidbits of marketing hype so they can feel great about their capitalistic consumption. Pfork is Fox News.

I WISH Mayyors would be fucking covered on that site but 99% of the people wouldn't give a shit. I think NPR actually wrote them up! Unbelievable, cuz NPR is rpboably even more boring and safer than P-fork: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=121478971

I can see where you are coming from, but you recently started a thread about getting excited for the new Limp Bizkit album. Does that mean you don't search out new music, and instead are relying on old favorites? No; You are simply excited about a band you enjoy releasing a new album, simply because you enjoy their music.

Isn't that what this thread is? People getting excited about a new Malkmus record because they like his songwriting? It doesn't mean they don't search out new music; They just find him to be a reliable songwriter and are showing interest in his work; Doesn't mean they aren't discovering some new band in Europe who has 34 guitarists and a drum machine, you know?

I'm always looking for good bands, regardless if they're brand new or some obscure 80s band who released one album on a extremely small label and maybe 15 people heard it at the time. But while searching for these bands, I'm going to ALSO want to listen to an artist, say Stephen Malkmus (Who has been around for over 20 years) who I can enjoy, for the primary reasons a) I enjoy his music thoroughly, b) he's a reliable listen and c)new material from him grabs my interest. It's all music; Some like to listen to new bands all the time, others cling to the same bands they did when they were in middle school. In the end though, we listen to it for the enjoyment we get out of that band/artist. Different strokes for different folks.

~Jeremy~

Note the part of my post saying I wasn't directing that statement at anyone in this thread, in particular. My statement probably deserved its own thread -- I just don't understand this pitchfork reviews-based-on-how-much-ad-was-bought culture, and I wonder why so many people have the exact same tastes -- it's because their opinions are formed for them.

As for Limp Bizkit, I can appreciate all sides of music, from the most mainstream shit ever, to the most "Avant garde"; I just like sound. I don't care who likes Beck or Malkmus, I just personally think their best days are behind them.

As for me (?I guess me?) trying to be holier than thou... well, I'm quite knowledgable on most facets of music, but I certainly don't think my opinion matters more, or that I'm better than anyone else here. I mean, I've pretty much given up listening to most music -- since it doesn't excite me much anymore -- and pretty much only listen to electronic music. So, if I come off as a bit jaded, perhaps that's why... I can't help it that I feel like almost every sound I hear is unexciting, and a version of a tribute of an homage to something White Noise did on A Electrical Storm; or Captain Beefheart did; or Zappa did; or something. Music, movies, art, CULTURE simply used to be a lot more exciting than it is now.

But we live in an age where there's this immediacy, this urgency, this simplified formula, meant to get in and get out... the only thing that sells is what's simple, what appeals to the lowest common denominator. I remember when The White Stripes came out and I said, "No way will this band be popular." Well, I was wrong. But why are they popular? They're boring, WAY too simple; shitty riffs, shitty melodies, shitty beats, shitty structures. But it gets in, does its thing, then gets out. And that's most of the music that's popular. Because everything, especially advertising, and payola, costs SO much money now. They have to rely on proven formulas.

There's just TOO MUCH INFORMATION now. Too much to take in. Not only do we have all the present, we have all the past. So, hey, what do they do to give us the best of the past and present? REMAKE THE PAST FOR THE PRESENT!

Seriously, compare songs from the 60's/70's -- mainstream "Hits" -- to songs of today. Worlds of complexities, melodically and in the arrangements, you just don't hear that today. And even these "indie" bands have learned from their mainstream peers, knowing that they can just play simple shit riffs with simple shit melodies and get popular.

Look at a song from the 80's..I'LL STOP THE WORLD AND MELT WITH YOU. Awesome keyboard lines, tons of neat little structural asides and fills, that accapella part, that weird dark "the future's open wide" or whatever the fuck the line is part. Jesus! That songs sounds like the most insane shit ever, from another fucking planet, compared to whatever the fuck is popular nowadays.

Obviously, I like big dumb rock, like Bizkit and KoRn, but that shit at least has some interesting creative guitar playing, or something.. SOMETHING to cling my ears onto.

I dunno. I'm just ranting. I just wish everyone I met didn't have the same exact tastes. But you know, it's odd... cuz I have a lot of DUH HAH FACEBOOK friends, right? And I noticed something odd. If I go to facebook profiles of people in America, their tastes in music are pretty much exactly the same -- every one of them. For people in the UK, the tastes are quite diverse, far-ranging, and sometimes bizarre. Why is that? I've never lived in the UK so I wouldn't know. But that's interesting.

So yeah. American INDIE INTERNET CULTURE is so safe and boring.

i still don't get why you don't like hairdryer peace. i really think you would like it if you engaged with it on a good soundsystem. like to me its up there as one of those whoa everyone else has to catch up with this now albums.

Oh, uh, I like it, but it gives me a headache to listen to it. Something about the non-production... I dunno. It's just a tiring listen, which I suppose is probably the point. I think it's the only album I have these conflicting feelings on, so it definitely accomplished something. It's a pretty extreme album, without just being "power electronicz bro" or something. It's odd.

there is a remastered cd version that i really want to track down.

i think you're just understandably a bit burnt out.

when i was in heavy drug pyschosis hell i was quite creative but never got much actually done. i didn't really enjoy music at that point, just sorta used it or suffered thru it a lot.

now ive been sober for ages i actually enjoy music again. it was funny cos i thought back then "oh if i get off drugs i'll like loose my edge or my creativity or some shit" total crappy illusion brought on by the drugs. i went thru a long while not listening to music. now its totally different and i enjoy it like i used to when i was younger, i just dont have that totally pyscho attachment to it. which is good cos i can actually get shit done now, like finish my ep and learn instruments and stuff. its funny cos i had this like really strong attachment to it but it just wasnt working, hard to give up on that. but once it got all better.

everyone goes thru stages when what they are into isnt working anymore and it isnt helping them to grow as a person. no big deal, just time to detach and do somethin else for a while.

like i know a guy whose going thru some pretty bad mental illness shit right now. when i was going thru it i was partying with him a lot. now its his turn. its inevitable if you do a lot of drugs. he'll eventually be able to go sober and he'll be ok, no big deal. but you can tell he doesnt enjoy music anymore, he's just kinda punishing himself with it. some of the music he's making is good but he can't last at that velocity. also he cant realise that he desperately needs someone to collaborate with. im sure when he gets sober he'll work that part aswell.