Just to let you know, in the beginning of the year we planned on doing local album reviews, but haven't yet because none have really come out thus far. One album of note came out this week however, so I guess we'll start with that on Thursday or Friday (guess which one!). We're going to use a "star" system, and the graphics we will use are on display here, obviously in reverse order from top to bottom. We know that a lot of people from local bands read this blog, so if any of you would like us to do an album review, please email us at weshotjr@yahoo.com and we'll figure out a way to get your CD or Mp3s. This will be very helpful since we don't really have the money to go buying all your goddamn CDs!

In other news, Gorilla vs Bear has posted a short review and some pics from the Sigur Ros show last night. Sounds (and looks) like it was pretty goddamn amazing. There is also an interesting comment (the first one) in response to the review. I happen to disagree with the author about Sigur Ros, but it does remind me of how difficult it can sometimes be to form an opinion contrary to that held by most people in the "indie rock community," especially when most of the people with great taste and good writing skills seem to share many of the same opinions on the same bands. We've talked on here before about how much context matters when people are analyzing music, and the opinions of tastemakers (like Chris from GVB) play an important role in that context, don't they? You might think that you've got pretty original tastes in music and art and that you don't let the hype machine influence you and blah blah, but you can't tell me that you don't sometimes listen to an album (maybe even a few times), decide that you don't really like it, and then give it another chance later because people and media outlets that you respect speak highly of it. Maybe you just didn't get it the first time, you think, or you didn't listen closely enough. And maybe thats true... many albums do take a while to get used to. But it might also not be true, and the album might not really be that great.

This is all so subjective and impossible to really quantify or fully understand, but it just seems that the opinions of tastemakers play a more important contextual role than most people are willing to admit, especially when one considers how most people even hear about bands in the first place. Many times, its because tastemakers have decided to talk about them for whatever reason. This has been true forever, and the internet really hasn't changed it that much, although it has changed who some of those tastemakers are. Its really too much to get into whether or not this phenomenon is good or bad per se, but it simply is a reality of modern music that more people should probably think about.

same here. I can't stand how Elenor or whatever her name is sings along with the guitar on almost every song...

Yeah, I have gone back to albums because of continued praise. Sometimes it works... Wolf Parade I totally ignored due to the annoying hype machine and Arcade Fire entanglements, but now I'm starting to really get into the album late in the game. Sometimes it doesn't work for example with Fiery Furnaces... I have never liked them and will never understand all the fuss that was given over Blueberry Boat.

exactly.

"You might think that you've got pretty original tastes in music and art and that you don't let the hype machine influence you and blah blah, but you can't tell me that you don't sometimes listen to an album (maybe even a few times), decide that you don't really like it, and then give it another chance later because people and media outlets that you respect speak highly of it. Maybe you just didn't get it the first time, you think, or you didn't listen closely enough. And maybe thats true... many albums do take a while to get used to. But it might also not be true, and the album might not really be that great."

this is exactly why i bought BRMCs new album w/o hearing it. everyone kept saying "they grew up and sound just as good".... for some reason or another, i disagree. i kinda think their new album sounds about like something that Eric Clapton or some other old fart would make. Perhaps i'll start to "get it" later, but after about 5 listens i sold that right back to the store i bought it @.