The 2012 Music Thread!

[METALMAN]

Long have I dreamed of being the person that starts the yearly music thread chat about stuff that's coming up and stuff. That is why, at the very first opportunity - the 28th of January - I rushed to EWB to make this thread!

So yeah all the peeps are talking about the imminent Lana Del Ret album yanow. I have heard some songs and they are okay but ultimately I don't care enough to want to get her album. She has a nice pout though. I love a nice pout.

[SRN]

I don't get what the big hype around her is. I am just listening to her album now and I don't think I've been this bored with an album in a long time; it is just run of the mill big money-produced electro-pop and every single song has bored me to tears.

[Quom]

I like Video Games.

I just found Discovery. They are lovely.

[METALMAN]

Yes we had it on at work (or at least we did until I realised there is a very sweary song and it had to come off) and it seemed a bit samey really. Most of the songs were like Video Games, which I also quite liked, but just not really as good.

I've heard a lot worse though.

I am intending to listen to Lenny Cohen's new album ASAP.

[SRN]

Yeah, I just threw on "Old Ideas". I've never been big on Cohen, never really bothered with him; not because I don't like his music or anything, other bands just got in the way.

[RPS]

Really dig the new Perfume Genius. last.fm says he's like Xiu Xiu, and while I get the comparison, I enjoy it a lot more than Xiu Xiu.

[Xand]

I've tried and tried and tried to like Xiu Xiu. Apparently every band I like wants to suggest him; but I just can't get into it. It tries my patience a lot and...

[RPS]

I really do not like Xiu Xiu. Perfume Genius isn't as heavy or harsh... it's got the same sort of heart on your sleeve/straight from a journal type lyrical content of Xiu Xiu, but stripped down. Most songs are sung with minimal back up, just him and a piano.

[Skummy]

I like "Video Games", so I bought the new Lana Del Rey (yes, she's a girl) album today. Will report back when I bother listening to it. It'll be my first foray into randomly buying a "flavour of the month" type new album in a while.

"Old Ideas" is good, but a little samey. Haven't had chance to listen to it properly more than once, will try it with headphones on the bus tomorrow, see if the lyrics hit me at all. Laughing Leonard's voice is actually getting so deep that you can't hear it.

New Guided By Voices is fantastic.

[SRN]

Yeah, I really liked the new Guided By Voices as well although it is the first thing by Guided By Voices I have ever heard. But it struck me, on first listen, as really good and I'll definetely listen to it again plus check out the rest of their discography.

[RPS]

I listened to Lana Del Rey and it was decent. Nothing ground breaking, nothing offensive. Part of me feels bad for the girl because of all the hype and hate for her.

[Steeb]

Not really listened to LdR, besides catching one of her tracks when she did a gig for us, which I seem to remember kinda liking. She is very cute and polite though

You lot check the news/blogs more than I do; any news/chatter on new Fuck Buttons? They cropped up on my mind earlier, and I want new stuff!

[livid]

I'm really digging the Porcelain Raft album "Strange Weekend".

[Animal]

Yeah the Porcelain Raft album is pretty damn good. I'm also looking forward to the new Air album, the new single sounds promising.

[GA!]

I like "Video Games", so I bought the new Lana Del Rey (yes, she's a girl) album today. Will report back when I bother listening to it. It'll be my first foray into randomly buying a "flavour of the month" type new album in a while.

I listened to it this morning. Not a bad album at all actually. A bit samey production-wise (if you've heard 'Blue Jeans' and 'Video Games' you've heard the entire album's range), and only the melancholic string section in places differentiates Del Rey from every other female pop artist out there. Other than that, fairly enjoyable.

Massive shame the misjudged PR campaign for Del Rey will result in an inevitable, on-going backlash though. I'll be surprised if she has a stable career after this album's fanfare dies down.

[RPS]

Yeah the Porcelain Raft album is pretty damn good. I'm also looking forward to the new Air album, the new single sounds promising.

It's floating around somewhere.

The 2 Bears album is amazing. It's a house duo, with one half being Joe from Hot Chip. Somehow it's far more fun and lighthearted than a Hot Chip album.

[apsham]

Massive shame the misjudged PR campaign for Del Rey will result in an inevitable, on-going backlash though. I'll be surprised if she has a stable career after this album's fanfare dies down.

Can you elaborate on this for me? For some reason I am entirely confused about she popped out of no where to me, and every time I see an ad I am totally mislead to what I am about to listen to.

[RPS]

In a nut shell, the rise and fall of Lana Del Rey.

• Elizabeth Grant, aka Lana Del Rey, has a very rich father.
  
• Elizabeth Grant gets signed, adopts the stage name Lizzie Grant. She records an album, it doesn't light the world on fire. Nobody really knows who she is, but some record labels are interested in her.
  
• Lizzie signs with a few major record labels. She changes her name to Lana Del Rey, her musical style changes and allegedly she has some work done on her lips.
  
• Video Games is released, becomes a big success, hipster loves it.
  
• Lana comes under scrutiny because they think she is a sell-out. Apparently her record label suggest she buy up the rights to her previous catalogue so that there was less of a chance of people associating her with her earlier work. People did discover her earlier work and wonder why she suddenly changed her musical and fashion style and why she got work done on her lips.
  
• Lana does a few live shows, which didn't go over well and people described her as a very weak live singer. She appears on SNL and it's described as one of the worst performances in SNL history.
  
• Her album debuts and is panned by a lot of critics.
  

[GA!]

She was marketed to the Pitchfork crowd until it became clear she basically had bottomless funding from her father and record company. Since then they've tried to deflect away from that fact, tirelessly, despite how the sheer amount of promotion and SNL performances make it obvious. If they'd made it clear she had a Lady Gaga-esque budget in the first place, her legitimacy wouldn't have been questioned like it is now.

[ROC]

She was marketed to the Pitchfork crowd until it became clear she basically had bottomless funding from her father and record company. Since then they've tried to deflect away from that fact, tirelessly, despite how the sheer amount of promotion and SNL performances make it obvious. If they'd made it clear she had a Lady Gaga-esque budget in the first place, her legitimacy wouldn't have been questioned like it is now.

Following this has been utterly hilarious, because this meh song with some naff lyrics became this internet smash and then people (read: critics) backlashed to such an extent that there was a backlash to that. Thus why Pitchfork's grade for it was like a 5.5 or something.

Then again, I like Sleigh Bells and I'll probably freak out over this pop album (with a lot of jarring noise), so I'm no better. Also getting more giggly to listen to what will probably be a pretty shitty new Van Halen album. After being super happy about the musical output of 2011, I'm so ready to just snark.