The Importance Of Keeping Your Clothes On
Posted on | November 18, 2004 at 11:03 pm | 3 Comments
2004 has been a great year for new music. It’s going to be hard to narrow things down for my year-end best of list. Although at least this year I feel that I’ve kept up with new releases better than I have the past couple of years. It’s impossible to hear everything, and I’m sure I’ve missed some things I’d really like, but I don’t feel as in the dark this year.
The latest new CD I’m listening to and really enjoying is Please Describe Yourself by Scottish band Dogs Die In Hot Cars (awful band name). Criticisms of the album have focused on how extremely derivative it is – the band definitely wears it’s 80s influences on its collective sleeves. But I like those influences, so I don’t much care. The lead singer does indeed sound like Andy Partridge of XTC quite frequently (most especially on the track “Lounger”) and there’s a song called “Apples & Oranges” which brings to mind the XTC album title Oranges & Lemons. There’s also the Madness-type 80s ska-wave of “I Love You ‘Cause I Have To”, but I also hear a lot of Judybats in the sound and vocals (”Modern Woman”). Though I doubt these Scots have ever heard the ‘bats. Favorite song on initial listen: “Pastimes & Lifestyles” (from which the subject of this entry comes from). That tune kind of reminds me of old Game Theory, musically and word-scansion-wise, if not exactly vocally. I hear dozens of other influences also that I can’t quite pin down when pressed. They don’t seem to have much of an identity of their own.
So, anyway, it’s upbeat and poppy and catchy and derivative, and it makes me smile. Cool stuff. Will probably make my top ten. It’s also worth mentioning the disc retails for less than $11 most everywhere, like here, and the big box stores do carry it.
This has been hard to type. I don’t know how, but somehow I’ve injured my right thumb – the part that I use to hit the spacebar. Oh, the humanity.
Latre.
Comments
3 Responses to “The Importance Of Keeping Your Clothes On”
November 19th, 2004 @ 8:24 am
Noooooo-oooooo! Not another one to check out. This really has been a great year, of the 35-40 releases I’ve heard enough to judge, at least 20 deserve top 10 consideration.
November 19th, 2004 @ 12:24 pm
I’m looking forward to seeing people’s lists, because for me this has been an exceptionally slim year, and I want to figure out if it’s my usual divergence from the 1994-2004 indie zeitgeist talking, or if I’ve overlooked a bunch of stuff that I might genuinely like.
I’ve also had my tightest budget constraints in ten years, so that’s probably been a factor too — I can only think of about a dozen genuine 2004 releases that I’ve bought, not counting reissues. But then again, I don’t remember having to pass up new releases I wanted, which in a way is a good thing since I have been trying not to spend so much on music, but it also reinforces my impression that it hasn’t been a year of plenty.
November 20th, 2004 @ 11:28 am
That’s strange, Miles. I feel this has just been a really good year for music. And it’s not just that there are a lot of songs I like, it’s that there are actual entire albums I’m fond of. That hasn’t happened much in recent years.
But you’re right, maybe I’m hearing more good stuff because I’ve actually bought (and legally downloaded) more new stuff this year than in the last few year. Cause or effect?