MUSIC THREAD

Two I'm surprised haven't been mentioned:

Counting Crows - Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst

 

Oberst was my No. 1, hands down. Crows are among my honorable mention, along with Gaslight Anthem.

 

Anyone heard the new Blondie stuff?

It's played by The Ting Tings.

 

so when both were uber-hot, who through his lyrics had his hand on the pulse of america, billy joel oe springsteen?

 

Honestly? Neither.

I like Bruce, not much of a Billy Joel fan... but as a west coast guy, neither one has had lyrics that speak for my life in the slightest. You could argue that Bruce has his finger on the pulse of New Jersey, and Billy on part of New York, but that's about it. Honestly, I don't think Billy Joel's even close, beyond a small group of New York Italians. Anytime he strayed beyond that to try to represent something larger - like Allentown, or especially Goodnight Saigon - it really rang hollow.

I think the country is just way too big and diverse for any artist to come close to that. Hell, I see more of the country I grew up in when I listen to X than I ever would with Springsteen.

 

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

Don't know how I missed this album.

I hadn't heard the thing until last week but it's already in my top five. I can't stop listening. "Time to Pretend" has to be one of the best singles released this year.

 

Love that song, and "Electric Feel." Heard a couple of other singles on XMU and wasn't a huge fan. But those two songs kick ass.

 

The Plain White T's new one turns out to be really good. I blew it off on first listen, but now every song I hear just sounds great.

 

Wow, I'm a fan of the original song, but that band might even do it better. They nailed it.

 

DAMMIT, I need cool glasses!

 

I don't get Fleet Foxes and Deerhunter. They are boring and sound like church.

 

I haven't heard Deerhunter.

Fleet Foxes is moderately interesting, I suppose, but I can't imagine wanting to hear it more than once. It seems to be near the top of every year end best-of list, but I think it's a case of the critics just being happy to hear something fairly original.