Hot Take/ Musical Confession Thread!

Viking Dan said:
Thrice's Re-recording of The Artist in The Ambulance is the best album released in 2023 so far.
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This is hot insomuch that anybody cares.

Is it better than the original version?

If not, than what’s the point? Is it some sort of contractual Taylor Swift type move to gain control over their music ownership/publishing right?

To me this just seems like you prefer an album that was released in 2003 to any releases that have come out during the first quarter of 2023. Which is fine. I prefer The White Stripes Elephant to anything released thus far in 2023 too.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
To me this just seems like you prefer an album that was released in 2003 to any releases that have come out during the first quarter of 2023. Which is fine. I prefer The White Stripes Elephant to anything released thus far in 2023 too.
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Exactly. Its another way of saying the 1st 1/3 of the year has been so terrible that a "revisited" version of an album that came out 20 years ago - is better than what we are getting now.

Did the WS re-release Elephant this year? I was unaware.

Better? 🤷‍♂️
 
Hemotep said:
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Well, I guess that’s as good a reason as anything.

I am bitter about re-recorded albums and songs. I don’t recall the artist but when I was a teenager I purchased one of those cheapo greatest hits comps of an artist on to realize that they had re-recorded all the hits and sounded just different enough that it bothered me. Forget who it was though.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Well, I guess that’s as good a reason as anything.

I am bitter about re-recorded albums and songs. I don’t recall the artist but when I was a teenager I purchased one of those cheapo greatest hits comps of an artist on to realize that they had re-recorded all the hits and sounded just different enough that it bothered me. Forget who it was though.
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It usually bugs me too. If they put a different spin on them I can like it, but generally I think they should just do that live and let the studio stuff live as is.
 
Lee Newman said:
Takes like this make me wonder what people are actually listening to.
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So - every Friday I add new releases to my 2023 playlist.

All the hyped releases, all the stuff by artists I know I'm supposed to like (TS, Beyoncé, Tame Impala, Tyler the Creator, etc.), all the releases I've anticipated, N&G recommendations, and albums with interesting album covers and bands whose name/album titles that catch my eye ALL go on the list.

I listen all day, every day at work on shuffle. 8 am to 6-7 pm.

When I cant stomach a particular release any longer, it comes off the playlist. By the end of the year I've whittled it down to all the releases I liked in that year. Jan 1st I start all over again

Aside from various random "singles" (which on Spotify often have more than 1 song - so they feel like an EP) this is what is on the list as of today:
  • Angel Olsen - Forever Means EP
  • Atreyu - The Hope of a Spark EP
  • The Mars Volta - Palm Full of Crux EP
  • We re Only Human Once - Every Dog On Earth
  • Bass Drum of Death - Say I Won't
  • Heavy Blanket - Moon Is
  • The Tubs - Dead Meat
  • The Men - New York City
  • The aforementioned Thrice AITA revisited
  • Black Belt Eagle Scout - The Land, The Water, The Sky
  • Runner - Like Dying Stars, We're Reaching Out
  • The Smile - S/T Live at Montreux
  • Manchester Orchestra - The Valley of Vision
  • Death Cab for Cutie - Asphalt Meadow Acoustic
  • deathcrash - Less
  • U2 - Songs of Surrender (but this one is about to get the boot)
  • Fidlar - That's Life
  • The Van Pelt - Artisans and Merchants
  • Lana Del Rey - Did You Know that there's a Tunnel.....
  • Depeche Mode - Memento Mori (See U2)
  • August Burns Red - Death Blow
  • Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon Live at Wembley
  • Boygenius - The Record
  • The Hold Steady - The Price of Progress
  • LIES - S/T
  • Wednesday - Rat Saw God
  • Covet - Catharsis
  • Metallica - 72 Seasons
  • Chat Pile - Brothers In Christ EP
  • The National Honor Society - All the Distance Between US
  • Superviolet - Infinite Spring
  • The National - The First Two Pages of Frankenstein
  • Supercollider - Once, But Never again
  • Indigo De Souza - All of This Will End
Here it is in its current iteration:
 
wokeupnew said:
I'm the same way. I can appreciate him but his voice just sounds too gentle and/or weak for me.
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ranbalam said:
Here's my hot take confession: I just can't get into Elliot Smith.
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Have either of you listened to his band Heatmeiser?

If not, and you wanna ease yourself into Elliott Smith this might be the best way to approach it. Hits a much more raucous sound.

Though, for me I find ES solo work to be more mood music similar to Nick Drake. I have to be a the right headspace to fully enjoy his music.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Have either of you listened to his band Heatmeiser?

If not, and you wanna ease yourself into Elliott Smith this might be the best way to approach it. Hits a much more raucous sound.

Though, for me I find ES solo work to be more mood music similar to Nick Drake. I have to be a the right headspace to fully enjoy his music.
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I'll check it out today...thanks.
 
ranbalam said:
Here's my hot take confession: I just can't get into Elliot Smith.
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wokeupnew said:
I'm the same way. I can appreciate him but his voice just sounds too gentle and/or weak for me.
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ranbalam said:
I have given multiple efforts. I added about 30 songs to my Apple playlist that I find myself skipping almost every time.
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As someone who is always ready to slander any number of artists that I know I'm supposed to like but just don't - I appreciate and respect these opinions.

That being said: Elliot Smith Rules.

And I'll double-down on my stan-dom, with this thought here on the Hot-Take thread:

In a year where Ixnay on the Hombre, Freak Show & Thee Dollar Bill Y'All were at the top of the Zeitgeist, where previously dominant arena acts were losing the thread (Pop, Be Here Now, Reload) and handing the Area Rock mantle over to Green Day and Radiohead, as the promise of the early 90s College Rock/Alternative scene was dead (for about 3 years now) and had been subsumed by Corporate interests, and while the rise of the Boy Bands was in full swing and Hip Hop was on the cusp of becoming what it is today .. Either/Or is easily one of the top 5 releases of 1997 (and that's not even ES's best album).
 
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Viking Dan said:
Either/Or is easily one of the top 5 releases of 1997
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a very good year for music. IMO:
  1. Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
  2. Bjork - Homogenic
  3. The Mountain Goats - Full Force Galesburg
  4. Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
  5. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Boatman's Call

searching albums that came out in 1997 and A LOT of lists have Either/Or up in the top 5 as well, so you're not alone in thinking that.
 
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