Comments on: “Paste” Inspires Many A List-Watching Music Fan To Ask, “She & Him??”

By: Murk

Murk — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:41:50 +0000

Ah, well, I guess I stand corrected.

By: Murk

Murk — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:50:37 +0000

Girl Talk at number 7? An interesting technological exercise, to be sure, but not a great album.

Oh, glad we cleared that up. I say (as do several others) it is a great album. Who cares? Nobody. But what's offensive is the utter disregard for the artistry involved in anything that's not guitar-bass-drums. The inanity of the idea that using technical reproduction to produce music is somehow suspect should be self-evident to anyone even slightly acquainted with the history of twentieth-century music. And rock records are made without technology?

By: Oldboy

Oldboy — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:15:24 +0000

Yes, I liked She & Him, but number one is a little much. On the cover of Paste they even look a little puzzled themselves….and no love for Aimee Mann?

By: Murk

Murk — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:58:30 +0000

Actually, everyone on the internet loves to show that they know what “straw man” means. In this case, it’s very interesting that the phrase “technological exercise” is applied to the very record that was not made by “real musicians.” If you don’t see the condescension inherent in both characterizations – both of which are intended to show that the magazine rated the record too highly on the grounds that it was made on a laptop – then perhaps you’d like to explain to me how they’re not truly condescending, instead of simply denying that the contention they imply is actually being made.

By: Dan Gibson

Dan Gibson — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:48:34 +0000

@Murk: I'm almost certain no one is making the contention you're arguing against, but hey, everyone loves a straw man.

By: Dan Gibson

Dan Gibson — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:46:03 +0000

@Murk: Sigh.

By: bcapirigi

bcapirigi — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:05:36 +0000

i’ve only heard eight of these. really liked five of them (the raveonettes’ is their best yet, i think. also santogold, santogold again, lykke li and tv on the radio) but i despised the other three (she & him, of montreal and jamie lidell) with all of my being.

By: breedavies

breedavies — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:52:55 +0000

When are music nerds ever going to agree on any "Ultimate," "Year End," "Best of," "Top Ten," "I know more than you and my record collection proves it," list? Never.

We all just love to fan our over-informed feathers for each other, never realizing that NO ONE outside of our snot-nosed tunnel vision view GIVES A SHIT. Even if you're respectable like Paste.

I gave Fergie one of my Top Ten album slots last year. That probably means I have no right to even be writing about music in the first place.

I'm throwing Metro Station on my list this year along with The Breeders, Lil' Wayne, and that wretched Girl Talk no one seems to want to give credit to. Why? Because their record did what it was supposed to do, and did it really well.

MS are like the Beach Boys with coke and hairspray and Myspace. And I love them because of it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:23:34 +0000

Maybe it’s just my age, but I only own five of the Paste “top 50″ for 2008 (Hold Steady, MMJ, Silver Jews, REM, Girl Talk) and there are only a couple of others (Walkmen, Okkervil River) that I’d even be remotely interested in hearing. Girl Talk at number 7? An interesting technological exercise, to be sure, but not a great album. Fleet Foxes and Vampire Weekend are probably just this week’s flavor, and Sigur Ros isn’t doing anything that Brian Eno and Cluster didn’t do better (and they did it first).

I’d agree with “unperson” about Meshuggah, Opeth, Gojira and the Sword among the best metal albums of ‘08, and would begrudgingly reconize Metallica, save for the god-awful production. When talking metal 2008, though, you can’t ignore great albums by Ihsahn or King’s X, and the Burzum anthology was pretty sweet, too.

By: Murk

Murk — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 02:29:34 +0000

Lots of people put Against Me! in their top ten. I thought it easily one of the ten best records of last year. Not number one though - that was Lil Wayne's Da Drought 3, no question.

There are things I want to say, but I don't know if they will be to you.