The new Decemberists is amazing, definitely best album so far this year....

the new decemberists album is amazing...best album of the year so far....

no.

the hold steady IS the album of the year though.

yeah, the new hold steady totally rules. their best album by far.

Crane Wife is def top 3 of the yaer. With Cold War Kids and TVOTR being the other 2...

the hold steady is a joke

i am beginning to wonder about the state of the people who read this blog. I mean, the albums people listed for their #1's of the year were fucking terrible. You claim to listen to good music and then put the fucking Rapture as your #1? The TVOTR is good, but it's not top 5, and neither is the Cold War Kids.

I mean, there are opinions and then there are dumb opinions. Posters on here tend to spout the latter.

i am beginning to wonder about the state of the people who read this blog. I mean, the albums people listed for their #1's of the year were fucking terrible. You claim to listen to good music and then put the fucking Rapture as your #1? The TVOTR is good, but it's not top 5, and neither is the Cold War Kids.

I mean, there are opinions and then there are dumb opinions. Posters on here tend to spout the latter.

check out http://savethealbum.com/ for a cool interview with Colin Meloy!! Love the new record! Favorite of the year!

i am beginning to wonder about the state of the people who read this blog. I mean, the albums people listed for their #1's of the year were fucking terrible. You claim to listen to good music and then put the fucking Rapture as your #1? The TVOTR is good, but it's not top 5, and neither is the Cold War Kids.

I mean, there are opinions and then there are dumb opinions. Posters on here tend to spout the latter.

The Cold War Kids commenters are label hacks.

i am beginning to wonder about the people who read this blog but still don't know to wait for their post to load and end up posting multiple comments.

you got me good....

go listen to your rapture record

im part of the, i-just-dont-get-the-hold-steady-camp. do people thing they're this good? are they a joke band? since when do bar bands get acclaim???

bar bands get acclaim when they sound amazing and write lyrics like this

There are nights when I think Sal Paradise was right
Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together
Sucking off each other at the demonstrations
Making sure their makeup's straight
Crushing one another with colossal expectations
Dependent, undisciplined, and sleeping late.

She was a really cool kisser and she wasn't all that strict of a Christian
She was a damn good dancer but she wasn't all that great of a girlfriend
She likes the warm feeling but she's tired of all the dehydration
Most nights are crystal clear
But tonight it's like it's stuck between stations
On the radio.

The devil and John Berryman
Took a walk together
They ended up on Washington
Talking to the river
He said "I've surrounded myself with doctors
And deep thinkers
But big heads with soft bodies
Make for lousy lovers."

There was that night that we thought John Berryman could fly
But he didn't
So he died
She said "You're pretty good with words
But words won't save your life."
And they didn't
So he died.

He was drunk and exhausted but he was critically acclaimed and respected
He loved the Golden Gophers but he hated all the drawn out winters
He likes the warm feeling but he's tired of all the dehydration
Most nights were kind of fuzzy
But that last night he had total retention.

These Twin Cities kisses
Sound like clicks and hisses
We all tumbled down and
Drowned in the Mississippi River

We drink
We dry up
Then we crumble to dust.

both good albums, but i do agree that many posters on here work for the labels and are forcing some of the hype. good thing about hype is that it doesnt sell records, and both these bands will fade into the oblivion of hipster stardom.

"both these bands will fade into the oblivion of hipster stardom"

rapture and Cold War Kids

or

Decemberists and Hold Steady

?

Giving the Decemberists the best new music tag is so yawn-inducing because you can absolutely rubber stamp that shit for most indie rock music writers who seem to cream their panties over colin meloy and his NPR ready hyper-literate (i guess) lyrics. The bottom line is that rock writers are still waiting for the next In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and until Jeff Mangum rises from the dead on the third day they're going to continue to blow hard on any album that seems "literate." Liberal arts majors can be so tedious and boring sometimes.

so can art majors....

nobody cares about the rapture anymore, cold war kids are not the next big thing, decemberists are cool but are small fish in the big sea, and hold steady are decent, but also not the next big thing or anythign very special that anyone outside of the scene really cares about.

all 4 bands. off with their heads.

I'm not sure I see any label reps here, just a bunch of really grumpy posters. For what it's worth, I like both of these albums.

"all 4 bands. off with their heads."

what bands get to keep their heads?

hold steady reminds me of Bob Mould

im the label hype machine. im hear to hype the hold steady and decemberists.

i've done my job now. the rest is up to all of you to keep talking about them.

i have the easiest job in the world.

What is a label hack?

The new Decemberists gives me chills, and i used to be totally hater.

That's actually me, PSouthern. I'm giving you a cool breeze tight squeeze.

See? Now you got the shiveries.

For anyone who didn't see it: a big piece about the Hold Steady in the Arts & Leisure section of this past Sunday's NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/arts/music/01sann.html?ref=music

are the all the readers here frat boys? I think both Hold Steady and Decemberists are making some of the worst "indie" music out there

BV i'm pretty bummed at your shitty taste

it's not the worst indie music out there. it's not the best. it's just decent, non-revelatory but non-shitty rock that most people who, not having heard heard much beyond contemporary white-boy indie rock, and being relatively closed off in their little womb of culturally isolated music, can be forgiven for getting excited about.

it's hilarious. if you take the entire pie of contemporary music -- classical, zouk, mariachi, cabaret, non-western (especially non-western), r&b, folk (not fucking freak-folk & indie folkster fucks like sufjan), hip hop, in short, all that is *not* indie guitars bass + drums -- shit like decemberists and hold steady occupy one little slice. but from talking to smart, progressive new york 20somethings who should know better, you'd think this shit was the apex of modern music. it's not. not even close. it's just one little voice in the crowd -- and not even the loudest or most interesting.

hey "cw" why don't you enlighten us? What bands should we listen to to be as cool as you?

"All the sniffling indie kids...HOLD STEADY. All the clustered up clever kids...HOLD STEADY."

CW is spot on. It's partially the culture of this blog which reports on such a small slice of music, much of it focused on the "latest and greatest" in light/newbite, almost gossip-y fashion. Therefore, the comments section reflect that very small and uncritical terrian. I'm not trying to hate here, but CW's point about what's significant vs fleeting is a little depressing for fans of music that want to keep learning and digging.

yeah,maybe those lyrics are ok.but the music is terrible,its just stupid classic rocks riffs over and over,and he sings the same way for every song.i saw them live and had no clue what he was saying.

and i just dont understand the decemberists.i cant listen to it.and i hate their stupid faces.

So many constructive comments. hating faces, New Yorkers should know better...
sigh...
isn't it entirely possible to like these bands and not be a closed-minded jerk? I mean, sure, Steve Reich's "Music for 18 musicians" is great. So is Fela Kuti and Beyonce and John Fahey. But can't I also like these two bands? Is that so criminal?

I think the people who believe one has to be ignorant to enjoy The Decemberists, or any of the other bands discussed in this blog, should suggest more worldly artists so we can all be as enlightened as they.

im not saying anyone is ignorant,im just saying i dont like these bands and cant listen to them

im not saying anyone is ignorant,im just saying i dont like these bands and cant listen to them

So, I was looking at Decemberists reviews made by Pitchfork and found something funny about the ratings:

Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts (8.1)
Decemberists - Her Majesty the Decemberists (8.2)
Decemberists - Picaresque (8.3)

.. and guess what's the rating for the new one ..

Decemberists - The Crane Wife (8.4)

Is this intentional? They probably won't make it to 9.0 ever!

I'm sorry, but the Decemberists are just plain awful. The terrible, overwrought lyrics, the terrible, overwrought music, the piercing, overwrought whining of Colin Meloy... they're simply unlistenable.

But a lot of people like them, I guess for the same reason that people liked The Life Aquatic and other cynical products of the quirky-industrial complex. If it's affected and incomprehensible, then it must be good. Why? Because hipster audiences think that affect plus incomprehensibility equals profundity. What that profundity exactly is, no one can say, because no one bothers with it. We just take the band's/author's/director's word for it and attempt maybe one pompous analysis over dinner with a pale date in post-dork glasses, hoping somehow it will help us get into their pants.

That is what art has become. Our media today are supposed to give us hand jobs, not spur us to uncomfortable or difficult thoughts. It must be easy and appealing to the intellect without actually provoking it.

The Decemberists are masters of that. And that is why I hate them.

I know you are, but what am I?

The people who post on here with the attitude that their opinion is indeed fact crack me up. I don't think a blog with quirky youtube videos and snarky jokes about current events is going to convince people of otherwise. If you don't like the Decemberists, that's cool, but I really don't think that they're by any means a reflection of what's wrong with the media today. This is a music blog, posting about music is what such a venue is for. If you really want to get into what's wrong with the media, try larger corporate-owned networks who report "news", but actually give themselves handjobs, and not the viewers.

not too bad
nice!! i can't express how much I love IT, oh yeah, the nation are pretty good too.