#149

Coming up with a list like that is tough and something I’ve been trying to figure out myself. Factoring in both the quality and quantity of albums:

Tier 1a
Deafheaven
Alcest
The National

Tier 1b
Big Thief
Protomartyr
Parquet Courts

Beyond that there are lots of artists who released albums better than most albums by the Tier 1b bands, but don’t quite have the quantity (Holy Fawn, Tropical Fuck Storm, The Antlers, etc.) or consistency (Titus Andronicus, Youth Lagoon, etc.) to back up a best of the decade claim. Greg Dulli probably belongs to be on the list too with three great albums.

Cloud Nothings and Ought are particularly hard to place. I’ve always liked Cloud Nothings but I’ve never thought they did something truly exceptional until Last Building Burning, and Ought is great but there’s something about them that creates a feeling of wasted potential.

(This also comes with the disclaimer that I’m very new to Mark Kozelek, and if he has a couple albums as good as Perils then he should be on the list too.)

2 Likes
#150

I’ve been quiet in this thread, but I think Big Thief are fantastic and find it pretty amazing that Lenker has now released 5 great albums in 4 years. She’s one of the very best and most interesting songwriters out there.

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#151

I can confirm he does but he’s probably better placed on a ‘biggest tit of the decade’ list

#152

What record label would it be expected for the most hyped band of 2019 to be on?

2 Likes
#153

Disintegration State.

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#154

you guys all really like some really boring bands eh

2 Likes
#155

Not that it matters, but I inexplicably forgot Strange Ranger, who are basically to Modest Mouse what Big Thief are to Radiohead (if you want a reductive analogy).

1 Like
#156

It’s number 4 on my list of things I’m looking for in a band

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#157

Yes, that beep can be pretty annoying actually

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#158

of them, i’d have cloud nowts and courtney b

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#159

see i love laura marling and didn’t love U.F.O.F., so

#160

reading everyone comparing them to bright eyes and ryan adams, yeah i don’t like either of them either :grinning:

#161

Calling them a folk band’s doing them a great disservice, and i’m a massive folky toe-tapper.

1 Like
#162

Just been on a 6 hour car journey and listened to all the albums and solo Adrienne Lenker stuff back to back for the first time in ages. This has reinforced my view that @bugduv is absolutely correct.

I’ve been going to gigs for over 30 years, so I’m jaded and cynical. But I would put Adrienne Lenker at Union Chapel last year in my top 5 gigs ever. She’s something special. Proper artist, no compromise of her vision, no filter. They don’t come along often. Comparisons with Ryan Adams and Connor Oberst are pretty fair. I also think Phoebe Bridges may be up there, but she needs more output to confirm this.

Also I don’t think they’re folky at all. Acoustic guitars don’t make them a folk act. If anything there’s a bluegrass influence. Laura Marling is much more in the English folk tradition in terms of chord sequences and vocal style. She’s not in the same league IMO.

5 Likes
#163

100%

Disagree, think I Speak Because I Can is better than any one Big Thief album tbh - though overall their body of work is better, and hard to compare band to solo songwriter etc etc

1 Like
#164

On a train to Gothenburg to see Big Thief tonight. Been looking forward to it since I booked it last August. Just heard it’s been cancelled :frowning:

Thread for events cancelled/postponed due to the Coronavirus
#165

Replaced is such a beaut.

2 Likes
#166

We’ve not even spoke about the lyrics yet.

Have you listened to the lyrics?

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#167

“And the blood of the man who killed my mother with his hands is in me, it’s in me, in my veins.”

Sends chills every time.

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#168

Fragile means that I can hear her flesh, crying little rivers in her forearm.
Fragile is that I mourn her death, as our limbs are twisting in her bedroom.

Literally just the song i’ve got on at the time of typing. But it’s every song. Never heard anything like it.

2 Likes