The Contrarian

I've recently been catching up on my queue of All Songs Considered pod casts and it reminded me of a point that has been nagging me for a while..on several of the episodes I listened to host Bob Boilen bring on Pitchfork Senior New Editor Amy Phillips to go through the albums featured or, in one case, discuss the anthems of the Y Generation. Maybe it's just me, but is it a contractual obligation for Pitchfork editors/writers to be contrarians just for the sake of it?

In one episode, everyone was sort of liking the new Kimya Dawson album until we got to Amy who couldn't stand it. "Thankfully I have not heard that..." She continued "an entire record of that would drive me up the wall. Later she picked the ear pollution "Shake Your Pompom" from upcoming Missy Elliott's Block Party album as something good. Here is a video put together for the song [I don't think it is the official video]:



This is the kind of music they use to torture people in Guantanamo. This song is almost like audible assault with Missy Elliott commanding me to look at her "butty shake."

In another episode, Phillips and Boilen get into what can be called the closest thing to an argument on All Songs Considered. Boilen was agreeing with a listener who wrote in saying that what was great about the 60's music was it threw out all the previous music and invented something new [For example, there was never anything like Jimi Hendrix before Jimi Hendrix]. Phillips disagrees [of course] and says that The Rolling Stones were influenced by 50's blues. To which Boilen gets as close to blowing his stack as I've ever heard:

"It [the 1960's music] did [sound like the blues] until 1966, that's where it all shifted. And you can't hear...you can't listen to Beggers Banquet and hear "Sympathy for the Devil" and think of blues because it was really different. Sympathy for the Devil was not a blues song...there was nothing else like it."

The Black Keys

I've never been in a band but if I was I would imagine that I would hate it if my band was always compared to another no matter what we put out. In every review inevitably the same comparison would appear...I don't know if I could stand it.

This must be the way The Black Keys feel. They have a new album out, Attack and Release, and in each review there always seem to be a comparison to The White Stripes in there somewhere. For example, this is from the Rolling Stone review in which they received 3 1/2 stars:

"That's great for the Keys, who are often obscured by the shadow of fellow Midwestern drums-and-guitar duo the White Stripes. Sure, minimalist stompers like "I Got Mine" and "Remember When (Side B)," all raw rock riffs and cymbal sizzles, echo early Jack 'n' Meg. But "Psychotic Girl" is something else, with its banjo opening and spook-house choir. Ditto the Memphis soul of "Lies" and "Oceans and Streams," which show vocalist Dan Auerbach as a first-rate updater of old-school tradition."

From the very first line of the Pitchfork review:

"The Black Keys seemed doomed to linger in the long, black-and-red shadow of the White Stripes."

From the Spin review [also 3 1/2 stars]:

"All blues-punk duos, the Black Keys included, start with a reverence for the source material and the thrill of ruled composition. They get ragged for a while (in the Keys' case, for four albums), eventually establishing bona fides. Then comes the futzing around (see the thick thrum of the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army")."

The Black Keys -- Strange Times
The first single from Attack and Release.

The Black Keys -- My Mind Is Ramblin'
From the Chulahoma EP.

The Black Keys -- Give Your Heart Away
From the Magic Potion album.

The Black Keys -- Hurt Like Mine
From the Thickfreakness album.

Soft Chew

I think that we have an early entry into Pitchfork's Worst Album Covers of the Year...


Shout Out Louds -- Hard Rain
From the Our Ill Wills album.

Albert Hammond Jr. -- Hard To Live in the City
From the Yours To Keep album.