Today we’re taking a look at Pulp’s We Love Life as it takes on Go Forth by Les Savy Fav.
Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challengeand noted that I’d be writing some of these up.
The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!
Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.
KA—
Pulp – We Love Life
I’m writing (at least) the early version of this on my phone in the basement. Nothing says ‘fun’ like being woken up by tornado sirens at 12:30 AM. At least they work, I guess? This was also how I learned that New Order/Joy Division had finally (!) made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Cue some pithy bon mot about silver linings, etc.
Anyway…
Last year, Pulp made a lot of waves with More, their first record in over 20 years. They were back, baby, and made sure we all knew it. It’s a good record, and even made the annual Best Of list in this here newsletter, with me writing:
Has it really been 20+ years since Pulp put a record out? Man, time flies. Anyway, in my head, I have this vision of someone my age(ish) seeing their kid come home with this record, which leads to busting out a copy of Different Class, and it becoming some sort of “warm memory.” That won’t happen with me; one kid likes metal, and I’m not too sure what the other one is into right now. And tbh I didn’t get into this band until several years into their hiatus. But they’re back, and we’re all the better for it. More is, well, more. I mean, what else were they gonna call this thing? It’s a little more of a muted affair in places. It’s a little more catchy in others. It’s a little more mature. I guess even Jarvis Cocker grows up at some point? Mostly, it’s more of what most people loved about this band, and a whole new generation gets to experience it for the first time. Viva Pulp!
So that was their triumphant return. We Love Life was were they’d left off. And 2001 seems to have found them in a more sanguine—or at least reflective—spot than previous records. To be sure, they were as self-assured as ever, but Jarvis Cocker and co seem to be less interested in caustic wit and more into things like…trees? And FWIW, ‘The Trees’ is my new favorite song by the band. This is not what people are usually looking for when they pick up a Pulp record, which is might explain why it seems to get overlooked or underrated in any discography discussions. It was until last year, the band’s parting shot, and I wonder if people saw it as going out with a whimper. Maybe people prefer anthems about class over tracks talking about weeds.
I think they made the record they wanted to make, and in the course of doing that alienated a huge chunk of their audience. Again, I’m doing a post-mortem here as I wasn’t a fan until long after they’d gone on hiatus. I’m happy to be corrected!
Either way, it’s a shame really, because, well, its a good record! Maybe not on the same level as Different Class or His & Hers, but it certainly holds it own. Besides ‘The Trees,” “Sunrise” and “Bad Cover Version” are both fantastic. No one needs to wade through 8+ minutes of “Wickerman,” though. Take that out of the mix and one could make a solid case for this rounding out their top 3.
Les Savy Fav-Go Forth
Being terminally online as left me completely internet poisoned. When I saw the avatar for this band on Apple Music, my first thought was…fuuuuuuck. One of them is wide-eyed and huffing on a fire extinguisher, and I thought we were in for the same vein of unserious—and incredibly tedious— shit I mentioned earlier this week. Not so fast! This was a good bit of agitpop in some spots, while in others, if you squint you could almost see a Stereolab record in the background. Even the cover reminds me over Emperor Tomato Ketchup. I have to think this is a one-and-done record for this bracket, but well, we’ve seen what happens wen I assume. Either way, it was a pleasant surprise.
Bottom Line: I gotta think Pulp runs away with this one, but if nothing else I found a new band, and that was pretty cool, too. (Insert second bon mot about silver linings…)
Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!
Today we’re taking a look at Drukqs by Aphex twin as it takes on Muse’s Origin of Symmetry.
Aphex Twin- Drukqs
As a teenager, I once read a Flipside review where the writer said they couldn’t get into the record because they couldn’t get past the stupid title. That’s a fair, if a bit harsh, point. It’s also one that I apparently agree with, since I’ve abided by that same rule most of my life. And when I say this, I don’t mean ones that are abstract, or that may point to a joke I’m not in on. I mean abjectly dumb titles- ones that go out of their way to be “incorrect.”
And here we come to Aphex Twin’s Drukqs. WTF am I supposed to infer here? Drug use? J’Accuse? I dunno, and frankly, I don’t have time to worry about it ‘cause almost all of the titles follow this same bizarre nomenclature.
Bbydhyonchord? Vordhosbn? Cock/ver10?!
C’mon.
Titles aside, the music is standard-issue Aphex Twin: some attempts at new-age or even ambient sounds over a hyperbeat, usually set to, like, 684 BPM. Fun for about one song. Two max. Anything after that feels like I’m listening to a strobe light while on a bad trip. Maybe that’s the point? Maybe it really is all a joke that people like me aren’t supposed to get?
I dunno. But bad titles, 30 songs that are repetitive to a fault, and an almost 2-hour run time are a bridge too far. Is there a record review equivalent to “this could’ve been an email”? ‘Cause this could’ve been an EP…Maybe.
Muse- Origin of Symmetry
If Drukqs is peak claustrophobia, Origin of Symmetry is peak “open.” It is garish, bombastic, and over-the-top in all the best ways. It’s what we keep saying we want from our rock stars! If a metal band ever decided to do a Broadway show, it might sound like this. Queen walked so Muse could run. Freddie Mercury was the consummate showman. Michael Bellamy clearly took notes in class, while his contemporaries like Chris Martin did not. And it shows.
There’s a dip in quality on the back side of the record, but even the biggest wave can only sustain itself for so long. You could also say that, like Drukqs, it suffers from a bit of sameness. Luckily, the pomp and glam that comes before it is enough to carry you to shore.
Bottom Line: I’ve got a feeling that Aphex Twin will carry the day. Because of name recognition and because people are more likely to pretend to like abrasive electro-clash dialed to 11 than they are to admit they like something so pompous. I’m not claiming any kind of high ground here; I’d do the exact same thing. In fact, I did do the exact same thing; my bracket pick went to Aphex Twin. But my vote is another story, and once again I’ll be voting against my own interests and pulling the lever for Muse. Good thing I’m okay with mid-table mediocrity, I guess!
Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!
Today we’re taking a look at It’s a Wonderful Life by Sparklehorse as it takes on The World Won’t End by the Pernice Brothers.
Sparklehorse- It’s a Wonderful Life
Sparklehorse often feels like a car crash. Some of that (okay, a lot) had to do with Mark Linkous, whose life was very much a proverbial car crash for large stretches. That’s not to speak ill of the dead, but it’s true. Sometimes that makes for good records, and sometimes it makes for almost losing your legs after an OD. Linkous had the good/bad fortune to do both.
Like most of us, he contained multitudes, and for context, you should know that “Some Day I Will Treat You Good” is the litmus test for which I measure everything else in the catalog. It’s a high bar, but I think it’s a fair one.
It’s a Wonderful Life works best as a full listen. It stays in one emotional zone, which is to say sorta bummed out, but with flashes of light that keep it from collapsing under its own weight. That balance gives the album its shape, and it helps that Linkous brought some friends along for the ride.
The guest list is impressive, with Tom Waits, Dave Fridman, PJ Harvey, John Parish, and Nina Persson all making appearances, yet the album never feels crowded. A solid roster! All of them are adding something to the album in their own unique way.
The instrumentation is fantastic throughout the record, and while engaging, it doesn’t overtake the lyrics. Speaking of which, Linkous could pen some pretty surreal shit when he wanted to. It’s a fine line between offbeat and nonsense, and with any given verse, it’s always anyone’s guess which side of the line he’ll land on. I suppose that’s part of the appeal. Wouldn’t be a linklus record if it were as AB-AB-AB pitter-patter about puppies and ice cream, would it?
If there is a weakness, it’s that the album can wear thin after a while. Maybe it’s just me, but I can only do “wallowing” or tortured artist for so long. It’s a bit that doesn’t have staying power. A little more variation would’ve gone a long way. I mean, look at this guest list! Do some zigging! Maybe a little zagging! I also miss some of the rougher experimentation (and poppier elements) that show up elsewhere in Sparklehorse’s catalog. If pressed for time, ignore what I said about listening to this in its entirety and check out ‘Piano Fire” and “King of Nails.”
It’s not necessarily an album I’d play on repeat (or even revisit), but I get why others might dig it.
The Pernice Brothers- The World Won’t End
Last night, my wife and I went on something called a “date” and saw a movie. We’re in the throes of the Wisconsin Film Festival up here, and every year I’m reminded of how lucky we are to live in a place that punches above its weight. Ask me this again when it’s -22 and snowing. But I digress.
The film we saw was The Last Critic. Half documentary, half hagiography, it traces the rise of music critic Robert Christgau and frames him as sort of the last man standing. Lots of “they broke the mold with him,” type stuff. Love him or hate him, his reviews can be a work of art, telling an entire story in just a few lines. At the risk of cannonballing into the shallow end, allow me to try to channel my inner Christgau here:
With lovely, intricate melodies and an ear for gentle pop that would (should) make most bands pack up their gear, The World Won’t End is a template for some of your favorite bands and opens the door for some of the most annoying. Hipster outdoor goods stores rejoice! Your in-store playlist is here (not derogatory). B+
Bottom Line: Both surprised me and busted my expectations. I enjoyed The World Won’t End far more than I thought I would, and can easily see myself playing it again. On paper, It’s a Wonderful Life is the one I’d gravitate towards, but I found myself clockwatching while playing it. That’s never a good sign. I guess it depends which sort of melancholy you prefer. I am once again going against my own bracket pick and will be voting for the Brothers Pernice.
What do you think? Did I get it right here, or am I way off the mark? Share your thoughts in the comments!
I don’t watch a lot of TV series, but when I find something I like, I’m all in. Very few shows get to this rarefied air for me- mostly because I have the attention span of a fruit fly. To get me to sit down and stare at a screen (without scrolling) for an hour? Are you kidding me? The Americans did it for me. Mad Men before that. More recently, I’ve gone all in on The Pitt. The first season felt like one long car crash (which it kind of was; it takes place in an ER). This time around is a slow burn and more focused on the staff themselves. All have their flaws, and there’s a hierarchy of angels and villains coming clearer into view with each episode. So yeah, Santos can still F off, but my point here is that somehow, despite the nonstop firehose of chaos, they keep finding a way to push through. There’s a real resilience to these people, and given what’s happening today (waves have literally everything), there’s a lesson in there.
Sometimes the indignities are on a grand scale. sometimes, a smaller one, like a shitty commute. When I was a union rep, we’d often crib a phrase from an earlier era: “one day longer.” It was shorthand for “nothing good comes easy or quickly. You’ve just got to outlast your opponent. A better tomorrow is just over the horizon.”
There’s a lesson in that, too. And while no one can fix the bigger problems alone, we can at least make your morning commute a little bit better.
This week, we’ve got new stuff from Arlo Parks, Prism Shores, Paul Bergmann, Girl Scout, and Parlor Greens, along with a good dose of old favorites like Roxy Music, That Dog, and Velocity Girl. My abiding hope is that someday people will come around to Copacetic. One day…
This week, Side A is tracks 1-15 (ends with “Same Kids”). Side B is tracks 16-27.
Today we’re taking a look at Swimming Hour by Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire as it takes on The Coup’s Party Music.
Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challenge and noted that I’d be writing some of these up.
The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!
Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.
KA—
The Coup- Party Music
Earlier this week, I was listening to the Will’s Band of the Week podcast, and in the “banter” part of this episode, one of the hosts was talking about listening to another podcast (meta meta, I know!). That episode covered the discography of one of his favorite bands (Apples in Stereo), and partway through it hit him that he’d never heard one of the records being discussed. This, of course, was much more normal back in the day than it is now. Maybe a new release came out when you were broke. Maybe you were still so into the previous one that you weren’t ready for the next record. Whatever the reason, it could usually betied back to bad timing.
Speaking of which…
We can’t get too far here without acknowledging the album’s cover. The original artwork was a photo of Boots and Pam standing in front of the WTC as it exploded. It was originally slated for a September 11th release. You can imagine how this went (spoiler: not well at all). Riley’s spent a lot of time and energy explaining that it was a metaphor for tearing down the systems that hold us down, and that music is a powerful weapon to tear down those walls. He also doubled down on it all, mentioning more than once that the censoring of the cover was in response to the political climate and not any sort of empathy or sympathy. Where do you see that as staying true to one’s beliefs or stepping on a rake? I’ll leave it to you. Either way, you can also imagine how often this has fallen on deaf ears.
The cover might’ve been altered—it’s now a close-up shot of a drink on fire (a Molotov cocktail. Get it? (nudge nudge)—the music inside is as white hot as ever. Party Music consists of twelve funky slices of politically conscious body-moving music. Their tracks blend punk, funk, disco, and hip hop into a monster palette for their self-described revolutionary Communist frontman, Boots Riley. No one is safe.
“Those in the crosshairs police (Pork and Beef), the government, ‘Ride the Fence’, and anyone else that falls under the umbrella label of ‘the man’ (most everywhere else). That could be any number of hip hop records, really, but what Riley does well is steer away from just sort of blindly swinging at whoever is pissing him off today. There’s an upbeat vibe to it all, and in any revolution, the key ingredient is hope. Party Music might not be music for a party, but it’s perfect for a party takedown. Maybe even at a party while taking down the party in power. Imagine people singing (and dancing to) the chorus to “The Guillotine” (off 2012’s Sorry to Bother You) at the next No Kings rally!
Poor timing and that cover cursed this record to trivia status. Most “best of” discussions skip over it. They shouldn’t. The original cover art might not stand up, but the message sure does.
Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire- The Swimming Hour
If you’re pressed for time, here’s the TL; DR: A lot of bands go genre hopping in a way that feels like voyeur tourism or slather it in so much irony and cynicism as to overtake the whole thing. There are bands whose entire discography is built on this quicksand!
Andrew Bird doesn’t strike me that way at all. What makes the record stand out is the total absence of that nonsense. It feels curious, playful, and open-hearted in a way that one just didn’t see in 2001 (or today, for that matter). Whatever bands like Bowling for Soup and Alien Ant Farm are, this is the opposite.
Listening along, I keep seeing this vision of a guy who enjoys a bunch of different genres and just wants to try ‘em out in the studio to see what happens. It feels natural instead of gimmicky.
Not every song works for me—or works in general— but I think that should be expected. None of them is poorly done. This isn’t a bunch of demos strung together, or a “sessions” record dressed up and passed off as an album. But most of them do, and that’s enough to make the album strong overall.
For each of these, I tried to put myself in his shoes or at least in a scenario that would influence these tracks. “How Indiscreet” towards the end really captures what I like about it — there’s a lively, restless feel to it that reminds me of crate-digging for old soul records. Anytime I go to my favorite local shop, I spend some time in that corner, and while I was daydreaming at work, thinking about how best to put this review together, I imagined him there doing the same. In the end, I think that “realness” or authenticity is the album’s superpower. Doing a bunch of genres in a row isn’t easy to do, but Swimming Hour pulls it off.
Overall, The Swimming Hour isn’t perfect, but its animation, sincerity, and mix of influences left a great impression. I’ll be back to visit this one.
Bottom Line: Tough call here. Bit are good, if wildly different records. My bracket pick defaulted to name recognition (The Coup), and my vote later this morning will be largely dependent on my mood. Will I be burnt out on corporatist bullshit? Will I be riding high off a night of good sleep and a morning playing with Gizmo? Could go either way!
Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!
Today we’re taking a quick look at BRMC’s self-titled debut as it takes on Spiritualized’s Let it Come Down.
Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challengeand noted that I’d be writing some of these up.
The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!
Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.
KA—
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- S/T
Put aside the name, kitschy band name, and the fact that you spend a good amount of time thinking you’re listening to Jesus and Mary Chain; Black Rebel Motorcycle Club rips. 2001 might;ve been an era of potemkin-vkillages-as band, but this wasn;t one of them. Robert Levon Been on bass and vocals, Peter Hayes on guitar and vocals, Nick Jago on drums—they came out swinging with actual songs. In short, they came to play 9, no pun intended. Been is also the son of The Call’s Michael Been, so that’s a nohter notch in the win column.
“Love Burns” is a slow burn that gets things off to a strong start. Red Eyes and Tears and “Whatever Happened to My Rock n’ Roll (Punk Song) are two more for your playlist. The latter will also have you thinking more about The Stooges than you have in a while. We’ll see where this bracket takes up, but that’s gotta be an early leader for “best opening run of tracks.”
The rest holds up as well. “As Sure as the Sun” has a steady churn that builds into something almost pretty (maybe that’s just me. I was listening at work before sunrise). “Spread Your Love” brings a fat bass line and a nice dose of distortion. As with lots of records, a couple of spots drop off—like the last seconds of “Whatever Happened…” — but these feel intentional, not because of any sloppiness.
I’m probably the wrong person to ask, but the lasting impression of this band is that People slept on them and this record. Maybe the JAMC comps were a distraction, but besides the fuzz and drone, there’s plenty of hooks too.
A lot of these records feel very much of their time. Or worse, like it’s a nostalgia exercise. This doesn’t strike me as one of ‘em. Besides mistakenly thinking it was JAMC, my other overarching takeaway is that this was a goddamn delight, and a record that could easily have been released last week.
Bottom Line:
Spiritualized vs BRMC seems like the most 2001 contest that ever 2001 contested, but here we are. Both are seeded roughly mid-pack (56 vs 73). On my bracket, I went with the higher seed. Seemed reasonable at the time! With the benefit of a couple of new listens for each, I’ll once again vote against myself and ride for BRMC.
Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!
Today Jason Kolenda’s got the keys to the truck and will be sharing his thoughts on Opeth’s Blackwater Park as it takes on Spoon’s Girls Can Tell.
Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challengeand noted that I’d be writing some of these up.
The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!
Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.
That death metal isn’t in my wheelhouse should not surprise anyone reading this. It’s a genre that’s never lacked for skill or talent, but I’ve just never found a way in. What I am into is hearing people’s backstories around records. What is it about any given release that resonates? What was so sticky that years later you can’t describe the album without superlatives (or utter contempt)? Where were you at (literally & figuratively both)? What was the on-ramp?
These are parts of larger discussions I could have all day- and as we go on through this year, I hope to have that become a sort of theme here. They’re important, and they matter. Sometimes it really is as easy as learning why New Order is someone’s favorite band, but zooming out, I think it helps us better understand the people we’re talking with, and in 2026, lord knows we could use all of that ya got!
So! We’ve got us a death metal album (a genre I don’t know much about), from a year that was a musical desert for me. Earlier this week, we looked at Converge’s Jane Doe, and I couldn’t finish the record, let alone find anything redeeming to say about it.
I didn’t want to do that again. One, it makes for a shitty read, and two, it’s kinda cheap. Like Converge, I kept seeing people online talking about this album in glowing terms. To hear them tell it. This is a landmark release…Changed the game forever…etc.
And I did want to hear them tell it—or rather hear one person tell it; Jason Kolenda. Some context: I run/edit an online publication on another platform, and Jason is a longtime writer. He’s also one of the resident experts on metal- and all of its subgenres- and more than once, his work has been a helpful resource in bringing into relief the appeal of death metal.
The words below the jump are all his, and appeared as part of a larger (much larger!) series. Whether you’re a long-time aficionado looking for a kindred spirit or someone like me looking for a way in, Jason’s writing should be one of your first stops. It definitely helped me see this record in a positive light.
KA—
Opeth- Blackwater Park
How am I to begin talking about this behemoth of an album? Even though it’s not #1, it’s by far the most transformative album in my collection. This album changed my life forever. That may sound like an exaggeration, but it isn’t.
Before I knew about this album, music was just a casual interest for me, like the average person — nothing wrong with that, of course. I liked a few bands, bought a few CDs once in a while, mostly radio hits and occasionally a suggestion from a friend, and that was that.
But my discovery of Opeth led to extreme metal as a whole, turning music into a lifelong obsession for me. From that point on, it was a hardcore hobby that I spent countless hours on — discovering new artists, albums, genres, making tables and graphs, and writing about them. It turned me into a music nerd. There’s no going back, and I would not want to anyway.
This obsession was far from instantaneous, however.
I never thought about the term “death metal” before discovering Opeth. I wasn’t interested in it and didn’t think much of it. But this album taught me that metal could be a lot of things I didn’t realize before. It could be interesting, complex, thought-provoking, and even mature. Despite sounding instantly off-putting to many, creating something worthwhile could still take tremendous talent. Hell, it could even be beautiful. It wasn’t just for angry, rebellious teenagers.
My Opeth introduction story is probably quite unusual. I had an online friend I used to chat with about music. There was no YouTube or streaming in those days, so we actually sent each other MP3 files that we had downloaded through a chat room. He sent me “Patterns in the Ivy,” a 2-minute acoustic interlude on this album. He proceeded to tell me that this is a death metal band, a term I was barely familiar with. I thought, ok, that’s cool, I like what I hear. I listened to this song a few times and then decided to check out more. I don’t remember what I heard next -it’s possible I just outright bought the album.
I did not enjoy the death growls at first. It took me several months to get accustomed to them. But I did like the heavy moments with clean vocals, as well as acoustic and instrumental sections. At first, I couldn’t stand the death growls and reacted like most average music listeners would—instantly repelled. For a while after that, I just tolerated them, really appreciating everything else this album had to offer. Slowly, though, I started to actually enjoy them.
For as long as it took me to appreciate the harsh vocals, Opeth was one of the best bands I could ask for to introduce me to this style of music. Fast forward to today, and I still think Mikael Åkerfeldt is the best metal vocalist out there. His growls are just monstrous, in the best possible way. His powerful, clean vocals have a hardy, roughness but exquisite richness. He can also serenade the listener with a delicate softness when necessary.
Blackwater Park is a record full of contrasting juxtapositions, both within individual songs and adjacent tracks. “Dirge for November” may be the most obvious instance of this — the meat of the song being one of the heaviest moments on the album, bookended by ultra-delicate plucking and singing on either side. “Patterns In the Ivy” — my unusual introduction to this album — is a 2-minute acoustic interlude sandwiched between two behemoth songs. And then there’s “Harvest,” a remarkable acoustic ballad in its own right. Opeth is pretty good about providing “breathers” at just the right time, before the listener gets too exhausted, and to give time to process long, complex tracks.
The musical contrasts may be my favorite thing about the band, not to mention one of my favorite things in music. But this album also has some of the best riffs in the metal world. “The Funeral Portrait” is probably my favorite, but examples can be found everywhere. Also, Steven Wilson’s production of this record results in a highly polished production, another attribute that would continue to define Opeth’s career.
When I discovered this, I wasn’t used to progressive music at all, other than maybe some Tool songs. The sudden, or sometimes gradual, changes in song structure and the length of songs were another new thing for me to adjust to. Looking back, it’s unsurprising that this took so long to grow on me. It was several orders of magnitude more complex and sophisticated than the Smashing Pumpkins and Foo Fighters that I was used to.
I have often contemplated whether this album should be #1 after all. Going back through my records, I don’t think it has ever been #1 and has been as low as #6. At this point, it’s still #2, although I’m constantly changing the numbers around.
Spoon- Girls Can Tell
What can I say about Spoon that I haven’t already? As far out of my wheelhouse as Opeth is, Spoon is in it. Not a whole lotta boxes they don’t check for me.
Ranking the records is an exercise in futility. A fun exercise, but still… really, the only consensus is that the first one is the worst one (Telephono), and even that’s relative. From there, it gets really subjective. Maybe you got Gimme Fiction at #3, and I’ve got it at #5 (or vice versa). It’s all a game of inches!
I won’t bury the lede here; I’d put Girls Can Tell at 4 or 5. It’s a solid record. There’s no easy pick for standout tracks; it’s a much more subdued record where the tracks slowly grow on you. They all sound “pretty good!” out of the gate, and before you know it, you’re spilling ink on the record and struggling to pick just one as a fave. That’s just how they roll.
But in the Spoon canon, this is a critically important record. It’s the first sign of what was to come. They’d caught a bunch of bad breaks with A Series of Snakes, took a couple of years to rework it all, and came out the other side with a new sound and a new mindset. I once read an interview (and I apologize for not being able to find it/link to it) where they noted that each member brought in new material, and the others had to guess which song it was based on. Sounds derivative, but if anything, this marks where they went from followers to setting the bar.
Intentional or not, it’s a lot less derivative than earlier records leaned toward; there’s a noirish (?) feel to it all. Britt Daniels purchased his ticket for the emotive/evocative train. Musically, there’s grooves for days. A & R reps might not’ve heard a single, but it didn’t matter. Reinvention. Pivot. Whatever. This marks the moment when Spoon went from a band lost in the mix among countless others to one of the most consistently fantastic bands going.
Bottom Line: First, thank you again to Jason for his take! This was a record I could’ve easily dismissed. Hearing a new perspective gave me a whole new appreciation for it. Still not my bag, but I get why it’s so important to so many. I can’t see a scenario where Opeth pulls off an upset and moves on to Round 2, but stranger things have happened! After today, I wouldn’t be bummed to see it.
Today we’re taking a look at Kristin Hersh’s “Sunny Border Blue” as she takes on Jim O’Rourke’s Insignificance.
Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challengeand noted that I’d be writing some of these up.
The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!
Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.
KA—
Kristin Hersh- Sunny Border Blue
Kristin Hersh’s fifth solo album is an intense—and intensely—personal record, with the mercurial singer-songwriter writing, producing, and playing instruments on twelve of its thirteen tracks. Like 1999’s Sky Motel, Sunny Border Blue blends the spare acoustics of Hersh’s early solo work with the fuller arrangements of Throwing Muses’ later work. So what’s that mean, exactly?
Not broke? Don’t fix it! So Hersh released Sunny Border Blue in 2001, and it was more of what made Sky Motel so excellent. Once again Kristin takes over the studio, producing herself and playing pretty much everything herself. The songs are accessible, but not easy. Hersh’s famously inscrutable and deeply personal lyrics are at a peak here–she’s the master of the couplet. You can pull so many two-line quotations from her songs, almost at random, and there’s something there to consider. Hersh’s arrangements on these records do a lot to make unusual song structures sound like normal rock/folk music, rendering them catchy enough in parts to ensure you’ll listen to the track again, every time absorbing more about what makes the song tick.
The result is a stormy soundtrack of her inner life, moving from acoustic guitar to bursts of layered vocals, electric guitar, and the occasional piano. As always with Hersh, the lyrics are volatile and loaded for bear, full of loss, regret, and occasionally fury. “Spain” starts out calmly enough, only to swerve into a blitz of invective like “I wanted you to sleep with her and hate yourself instead of me.” “Silica” and “Ruby” (my fave on the record, fwiw) might pass for a version of dream pop if not for their edge and visions of sleeping with “idiots and prophets.”
This is business as usual for Hersh, and that’s the point. The acoustic guitar, the odd time changes, and the off-kilter lyrical turns all feel familiar, like a nexus between the Muses and her solo work. She’s not reaching for some grand reinvention here, but she doesn’t need to. The songs have her fingerprints all over them, and that alone gives the record its pull. Her style is as mesmerizing to me today as a 50-year-old listening at work as it was when I first encountered it at 13.
And hey! There’s a cover on this record. I’ll have to look, but that’s not a common thing on her albums, is it? Happy to be corrected! At any rate, it’s a cover of Cat Stevens’ “Trouble.” Hersh gives it a rough, aching spin, and the way she sings lines like “Oh trouble set me free, I have seen your face, and it’s too much, too much for me” sounds like she’s staring straight her demons in the eye and daring them to give her a reason.
In his discussion of her discography, Bowden places Sunny Border Blue near the top, and it’s hard to argue otherwise. The arrangements…the lyrics purpose-built for pull quotes…This is Hersh at her wonderful, maddening best.
Bottom Line: One of the interesting subplots of this tourney so far is how (relatively) close the votes have been. Last time around, these early matches saw a lot of routs as consensus favorites went up against picks that barely squeaked in. This time around, that’s just not happening. On Bluesky, someone posited that with more voters overall, people feel safer voting against their own brackets, and I wonder if that’s true. I hope it is, ‘cause that’s what I’ll be doing today. Bracket pick? O’Rourke. Vote? Hersh.
Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!
It’s overdriven pop vs. minimalist country as Ash takes on Gillian Welch
Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challenge and noted that I’d be writing some of these up.
The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!
Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.
KA—
Ash – Free All Angels
Coming into Free All Angels, I expected a blast of guitars and that familiar late‑90s angsty….or something like 3 Doors Down. Honestly, I had no idea what I was in for (I know! I know!). What I didn’t expect at all was how bright and melodic this record sounds. Ash lean hard into pop hooks and glossy production, and it suits them nicely. Open “Walking Barefoot” bounces with energy, driven by big choruses and a reckless sense of fun. The band shifts from power‑pop charm to radio-friendly and back again, without losing its edge. The vocals are gritty, but the melodies push the songs toward the sunny side of the road, not garage rock.
What stands out most is how clean the songwriting feels. Every track swings for immediacy; nothing drags or hides behind fuzz. It’s all overdrive, man. Even when the themes turn darker, the delivery keeps the songs moving with a lift in tone. By the time “Shining Light” and “Burn Baby Burn” hit, it feels like Ash translating youthful frustration into something almost joyous.
This album captures a band embracing melody without apology. I don’t know what Ash was chasing with Free All Angels, but they found it in sing‑along choruses and unguarded optimism. It’s brash, catchy, and a bit sentimental. All the things! It reminds me of someone fondly looking back at a summer stay at the beach.
Gillian Welch- Time (the Revelator)
In the run-up to the bracket kicking off, this came up as a record people should check out ahead of time. There’s usually a lot of those, of course — everyone’s fighting their corner and wants their pet picks to be heard. That’s half the fun! But rarely does someone else chime in and say (really, really paraphrasing here) “If you haven’t heard this record, you haven’t heard music.” I know I butchered that, but what was unmistakable was the endorsement. You gotta love it when someone goes to the mat for a record, book, whatever. So, being one of the people who had somehow made it to 50 without ever (knowingly) hearing Welch, I had to see what the fuss was.
Turns out “Gillian Welch” isn’t just Gillian. It’s her and David Rawlings — her musical and life partner. Welch takes the lead on these songs, her voice steady and unhurried, while Rawlings floats around her with a dry, golden guitar tone.
Time (The Revelator) is ten country songs about heartache, and it’s a fantastic thanks to the duo’s next-level songwriting.
A few songs in, and I would’ve bet my house that Welch was from somewhere like West Virginia — one of those places in a holler that looks to Beckley as the “big city.” Imagine my surprise to learn she’s from L.A. That’s a heck of a pastiche. But the authenticity is never in doubt. These are her and Rawlings putting their all into these songs, and it shows. These aren’t my bag, but I get why the poster said what they did. I suspect that by the time we get through all 64 of the first-round matchups, more than a couple of records will have been flung onto the “sounds of its time” heap. This won’t be one of ’em. Time isn’t holding us, time isn’t after us. Turns out, time is a revelator (and a timeless record).
Bottom Line: Both of these are solid outings. I went with Welch primarily on the endorsement I opened this post with and a little name recognition. I have a feeling this one could easily go either way.
Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!
Ben Folds takes on The Langley Schools Music Project.
Good morning!
Today we’re taking a look at Ben Folds’ Rockin’ the Suburbs (#48) and The Langley Schools Music Project’s Innoncence and Despair.
Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challenge and noted that I’d be writing some of these up.
The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!
Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.
KA—
Ben Folds- Rockin’ the Suburbs
Talk about bad timing.
Rockin’ the Suburbs should’ve been Ben Folds’ ticket to stardom. There’s no more “five” riding his coattails (okay, there’s three of ‘em still, but still…), he’s got a couple of great records behind him and a new one in the can ready to go. It’s chock full of the usual witticisms that brought us all to the party in the first place. There’s plenty of piano and a good chunk of fuzzy bass. What’s not to love?
If only they hadn’t picked September 11th for the release day. And really, who releases a record on a Tuesday?! Maybe that’s a thing? I dunno. Either way, I spent the day at the airport, smoking, “guarding planes” (lol), and listening to ABC radio; Ben probably spent it wondering what might’ve been.
One of the things I’ve always dug about Folds’ writing is how he writes about the human condition but wraps it in a brand of wit that makes you feel good about it all. “Army” could’ve been a dirge about not getting along with his dad. Instead, a whole generation of us has “Grew a mustache and a mullet/got a job at Chick-fil-A” stuck in our head like a sonic sleeper agent, just waiting to be our next earworm. This, of course, makes piano-led music more palatable. I also suspect he wrote many of these not as catharsis but for his own amusement.
The first song on Rockin’ the Suburbs is “Annie Waits,” and doesn’t pivot too far. As Exhibit A for the people, I offer you: “Annie waits… But not for me.” Iseewhatyoudidthere. The title track is also one of the catchiest on the record, and my fave of the lot. Catchy is good, as there’s a good deal of heavier material here. And tbh, after 9/11, that’s the last thing anyone needed.
Folds’ records have always been a mixed bag for me, with some must-listens and some must-skips. I’ve only ever owned/borrowed these on CD; that came in handy. But the highs! So, so high. I suspect at some point, I’ll be wandering the halls of the old folks home and will just start singing “Army,” or I’ll be in the dining hall and the melody to “Don’t Change your Plans” will pop into my head. It’s a high bar.
And it’s a bar that ‘Suburbs never quite clears. It’s good, not great. Some of the tracks are wonderful, but I can guarantee there’s no way I’ll be signing “Annie Waits” at some random point in old age.
What might’ve been.
The Langley Schools Music Project- Innocence and Despair
Speaking of getting old, I hate that time keeps screaming by, but there are a few silver linings. One of ‘em? No more elementary school “programs.” Look, I love my kids, but there is no need for me to ever sit through another music program. No reason to pretend not to be driven mad by off-key crooning or that one kid whose parents made him play the French horn. Remember that weird resurgence Journey enjoyed about 10-12 years ago? Yeah. Just in time for my oldest’s (then ) third-grade class to do a whole-ass thing featuring their songs. You’d think this would’ve been fun, if only ironically. You would be wrong.
But this! This is great. Maybe it’s because I didn’t feel like attendance was compulsory. I mean; literally no one was gonna give a f**k if i didn’t play this. And tbh, I thought about it. But this whole record made me feel some kind of way. Recorded in 1976-1977, it’s essentially a school-assembly-as-covers record using hits of the era. Bowie? Sure, why not? Rhiannon? Okay. Sweet Caroline? Gotta take the bad with the good, I ‘spose.
On paper, there is no reason why I would normally like this, but some sort of Grinch-type stuff happened, and my heart grew three times its normal size. Maybe it’s the shit state of play in 2026, but man, this was exactly what I needed today. They even cover Herman’s Hermits! Something tells me I’m into something good? You better believe it.
Bottom Line: Bracket pick: Ben Folds all day. There are quite a few first-round matchups where I defaulted to picking the higher seed. This is one of ‘em. My vote? Going to the kids.
Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!
Kevin Sent 
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