this new Taylor Swift record

[s_mcsleazy]

i have a lot of mixed feelings about taylor swift and it's all very complicated but my honest opinion about her is that her music is the least interesting thing about her. i don't even love it or hate it, the few times i've actively listened to it, it's perfectly cromulent but clearly not made for me. i'm not saying she needs to come out with an album that sounds like orchid or saetia..... more just that i know i'm not the target audience for it. although at this point i think she could release an old school screamo album and her fans would love it.

i think there's a lot of conversations that could be had about her (her music, her personality, her fans, her as a fucking economic juggernaut) but i'm not feeling upto writing a 60000 word essay about that.

[andy_tchp]

Haven't gotten through the whole thing - like every other double album it's way too fucking long.

[jakeisjake]

Fortnight sounds like a slowed down version of an 80s pop song. I can't quite place the song...it echoed in my head when I listened to it.

I'm sure I'll wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it, too.

edit for Fortnight is a pretty listenable song.

Edit again for: it sounds like Bizarre Love Triangle

[sal paradise]

Haven't gotten through the whole thing - like every other double album it's way too fucking long.

Truth. I can’t think of any double album that deserves all 4
sides of vinyl, let alone longer ones.

[Jonesie]

Haven't gotten through the whole thing - like every other double album it's way too fucking long.

Truth. I can’t think of any double album that deserves all 4
sides of vinyl, let alone longer ones.

I generally agree with this statement, however, London Calling exists.

[cpeck]

Haven't gotten through the whole thing - like every other double album it's way too fucking long.

Truth. I can’t think of any double album that deserves all 4
sides of vinyl, let alone longer ones.

For a real endurance test, try the newest Smashing Pumpkins triple LP…

[crazyzeke]

INCOMING RANT...

Taylor Swift, to me, is the epitome of what denotes modern pop music suckage.

I remember seeing her NPR Tiny Desk solo show thing, and my god when you strip away the hyper-production they really are barebones and cookie-cutter, not at all innovative or interesting variations on the same old I-VI-IV-V progression that's been a standard thing in music since the doo-wop era and before. At least golden oldies like Earth Angel had stuff like searing/beautiful string, brass and vocal melodies arrangements to elevate them so it's an example of the four chord done right and well, whereas I find whatever she's singing about in whatever sequence of notes to be about as bland as you can get especially when coupled with boringly programmed drum machines.

As a bass playing friend of mine is fond of saying, it's "wallpaper music" - blends into the background because nothing about it grabs your attention. With the rise of what Gen Z call "vibe music" (ironic because the little I've listened to seems bereft of any kind of emotional resonance to me personally) is often formless ambient noodling. It's like people these days hate hooks, but I doubt it because that would be out of step with every other era of music where people love earworms that get hummed and sang aloud even when you're barely conscious of it.

Where the epitome thing comes into play is, people like her and Ed Sheehan would be C-tier also-rans in almost any other era. Put them next to Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan and they really, really suffer, but yet because in modern times there's so little sophistication in pop they're somehow huge? I also think it might tie into short attention spans/TikTok generation wanting recognisable background music that's not distracting from the video they're making but if so - and this point has been argued in YouTube video essays - then it's all part of the problem.

For me because I'm a mostly positive person it's inspired me to really try and get that into my writing so every song, regardless of what I'm going for, is doing several interesting things that aren't just cowboy chords and lyrical cliché, for example recently I've written a load of songs that use unusual chord voicings/extensions but in a way that doesn't draw attention to it because vocal melody and hooks are God as far as I'm concerned, as well as having some kind of message to the lyrics that if anyone bothers to listen can glean something from (put down your smartphone and get out in nature, don't be fooled by propaganda go and find the truth, if you make the kind of mistake the song talks about be honest enough to admit it, stuff like that - generally relatable stuff sure, so it can't get too specific, but it beats "I came to the club in a white BMW and left in a black BMW" vapid shite or whatever that lyric actually is that I'm deliberately paraphrasing).

I have to cover some of this in my wedding band to pay the bills, so believe me when I say I can play a lot of this kind of stuff that I'm ragging on, know how simplistic and empty they are, who they're ripping off, why the things they're ripping off are better than the diluted imitation I have to grin and bear through onstage because a song I actually like and consider to be incredibly well written like Take On Me (awesome live version with real drums here) is still a couple of songs away.

END OF RANT

You want an awesome modern artist doing classicist, brilliant stuff that might well reduce you to tears, check out Laufey on NPR instead, I mean, wow this is great and as much as I like and respect Lana Del Rey for doing stuff that's more interesting and quirky plus plugging away at it for, oooh, gotta be a few decades now, it's Laufey who really floored me. Shoutout for WILLOW and her recent effort Symptom Of Life too, damn this thing has jazz chords and time signature changes combining to make something I wish more pop music was like. The good stuff is still out there, it just doesn't float to the top as much as I personally would like.

[seenoevil II]

I almost want to choke this album down and pretend to like it just so I can talk to people about it. But I'd be sitting there making the "who farted" face, just looking for things to pick apart.

She just bugs me... for all her money and all her popularity, she's just so unremarkable. Like, for oligarchy status, I'm gonna need you to have a 4 octave range, invent several icon dance moves, or publish a coffee table book of Vanilla Ice fingering you. There's no spectacle.

I think (hope) that this is the pinnacle. Or maybe it will the televised wedding at the US capitol. Either way, I'm cursious to see what she does with her dragon's horde. I can see her opening a film studio or even a chain of restaurants. Whatever it is, it will be successful. It will be a thing where we have to remind ourselves that the 2nd most popular EV brand was founded by the "shake it off" lady.....OMG she's gonna buy Tesla!!

[crazyzeke]

Truth. I can’t think of any double album that deserves all 4
sides of vinyl, let alone longer ones.

The Who - Quadrophenia

That thing really quadruples down on the four motif - amount of sides of record, amount of split personalities the protagonist has, amount of main musical themes/hooks that turn up, plus it's a pisstake of the ahead of it's time 4.0 surround sound technology that failed so it's a joke too.

It's sequenced well, it has two of the all-time greatest Who songs on it (5:15 and Love Reign O'er Me which for me is Roger's best vocal, goddamn that man could belt it out like no other in his prime and it's the closest in-studio he got to capturing his live form, it's epic)... honestly it's everything Tommy paved the way fo(u)r, so yeah, although Who's Next is a brilliant record that most Who fans would pick as the favourite, it's a great collection of songs rather than a great collection of songs with a theme/concept so for me this is the best they ever did. Keith Moon also turns in some of his best work between driving luxury cars into swimming pools and then throwing the TVs in there too.

The only real downside is all the shite concept albums that came after it, and having to ignore the fact Pete never did write the book he used as an excuse for having questionable pictures on his computer years ago.

[sal paradise]

Truth. I can’t think of any double album that deserves all 4
sides of vinyl, let alone longer ones.

The Who - Quadrophenia

That thing really quadruples down on the four motif - amount of sides of record, amount of split personalities the protagonist has, amount of main musical themes/hooks that turn up, plus it's a pisstake of the ahead of it's time 4.0 surround sound technology that failed so it's a joke too.

It's sequenced well, it has two of the all-time greatest Who songs on it (5:15 and Love Reign O'er Me which for me is Roger's best vocal, goddamn that man could belt it out like no other in his prime and it's the closest in-studio he got to capturing his live form, it's epic)... honestly it's everything Tommy paved the way fo(u)r, so yeah, although Who's Next is a brilliant record that most Who fans would pick as the favourite, it's a great collection of songs rather than a great collection of songs with a theme/concept so for me this is the best they ever did. Keith Moon also turns in some of his best work between driving luxury cars into swimming pools and then throwing the TVs in there too.

The only real downside is all the shite concept albums that came after it, and having to ignore the fact Pete never did write the book he used as an excuse for having questionable pictures on his computer years ago.

Sorry, I get it. But it’s a no from me. Big chunks of that album would be skipped if I didn’t listen to it on vinyl.

I generally agree with this statement, however, London Calling exists.

Did not know this was a double album. Don’t know the album that well, tbh. Will give it a listen shortly.

[Larry Mal]

.

The only real downside is all the shite concept albums that came after it, and having to ignore the fact Pete never did write the book he used as an excuse for having questionable pictures on his computer years ago.

He didn't have pictures on his computer, he would have been arrested for that.

[andy_tchp]

Haven't gotten through the whole thing - like every other double album it's way too fucking long.

Truth. I can’t think of any double album that deserves all 4
sides of vinyl, let alone longer ones.

31 songs, I assume 6 or 8 sides.

For a real endurance test, try the newest Smashing Pumpkins triple LP…

No.

[stevejamsecono]

She's a hell of a PR campaign if nothing else.

[sal paradise]

Saw this on the way to the tube, couldn’t resist.

[JSett]

.

The only real downside is all the shite concept albums that came after it, and having to ignore the fact Pete never did write the book he used as an excuse for having questionable pictures on his computer years ago.

He didn't have pictures on his computer, he would have been arrested for that.

That is a flaw in the law here in the UK. You can get charged with attempted murder, but not kill actually someone. Attempting to download child porn should be treated the same. The intent and action was there, even if it wasn't successful. He should have been locked up. His cover story was about as believable as Prince Andrews.

But so many of the 60's stars were nonces. For instance, people still seem to give Jimmy Page a free pass despite it being open knowledge he had relations with <16 girls on the regular (16 being the age of consent here in the UK, for our non-British members). Same with Bowie admitting to sleeping with underage boys.