Idolator

What's the old saying about how everyone who bought a copy of The Velvet Underground and Nico later started a band? I think the same applies for Spilt Milk, or at I'd like to hope so.

Dude can't sing really and the chorus is neglible. But still, a nice attempt!

I just imagine Sturmer weighing 400 lbs now, having a huge Rick Rubin beard, and sitting there in Japan sprinkling perfect pop songs down, like fairy dust, from a castle (protected by those monkeys that sit around looking old in hot springs) onto teenage j-pop girl bands. Which is as it should be.

I'd much rather be living in a world where kids are aping Jellyfish instead of Nickelback/Simple Plan/Rascal Flatts. So yeah, good on them, and once the guy learns how to sing, this could definitely get interesting...

yeah the voice is still too neo-emo/autotune-y for me, but i can't hate. i do like those guitar lines on the bridge.

it's deceptively difficult to operate in the "power pop"/retro-pop-ish realm, though...while it's difficult to be out-and-out BAD, it's very easy to be painfully average. although on a superficial level, most bands in this genre use some of the same tricks and signifiers, there's a relatively small number of bands who execute them brilliantly. i would not say that panic at the disco are one of those bands. but yeah, totes agree with Thierry.

also, jellyfish, aaaugggh!! i was so obsessed with this album as a wee one. that video actually saw a fair amount of prime-time MTV play as one of their "buzz bin" picks, if memory serves. which is brain-melting to envision in light of today's state of affairs...

for some reason i was especially obsessed with "now she knows she's wrong," despite alcohol and infidelity being, thankfully, abstract concepts at best to my ten-year-old self at the time...probably because it's so damn catchy. (wait, was it really that long ago? my 28-year-old self needs a a drink.)

also: do we need to put an APB out on jason falkner?

Falkner's most recent album came out last year in -- yep, you guessed it -- Japan.

@Mike P.: oh, okay. kind of like one matthew sweet record that was the last truly great thing he'd recorded in, like, 12 years.

'Baroque' is a term that gets thrown about a lot by rock reviewers. And there's nothing baroque about this song, from the instrumentation used, (bass, drums, guitar, hint of Hammond B4), to the lack of melodic ornamentation.

I do like the ascending guitar lines before the chorus, and the countermelody in the final choruses, but it's lacking something. the undynamic mastering does the song no favours.

it's deceptively difficult to operate in the "power pop"/retro-pop-ish realm, though...while it's difficult to be out-and-out BAD, it's very easy to be painfully average.

I'm really into that realm, and even I'll agree with you. It ends up all sounding like pastiche, and you end up comparing them to the better bands who came before.

@thearcanemodel: Kimi Ga Suki is fucking AWESOME. The new Matthew Sweet is sitting on my desk, but I'm hesitant to go near it for fear of the potential mediocrity.

@tigerpop: oh, didn't realize there was a new one...yeah, i'd be a little wary at this point...everything else since "blue sky on mars" has been dodgy. then again, it seems like some other folks with 90s heydays have been refocused and reenergized in the last couple years, so maybe cautious optimism is warranted?

@thearcanemodel: The new one's OK, as it turns out. Not quite up to par with the Girlfriend-Altered Beast-Blue Sky stretch, but about as goood as "In Reverse," which is actually better than you might remember. But seriously, track down "Kimi Ga Suki"--it's easily one of his three or four best.

oh yeah- i have it. thankfully it is on emusic. this is a good reminder that i should (digitally) dust it off...